Rooted, Issue 7 (August
2008)
Summer is in full swing and our little rowan tree is in its glory and you can see the buds forming for the fall flowers and berries to come.
This month we bring you a feature with a clay artist, a tour through some handmade bath products we love and some updates on BTRT.
We always welcome feedback, comments
and suggestions about our little publication.
Feeling Orange
 Rowan's favourite colour is orange.
It is now a running gag that
when we see something orange we say 'Hey, Ro, look at that!' and she
says 'That's orange! Orange is my favourite colour!'. And if you give
her an orange cup or spoon or whatever, you are a hero, as she marvels
'that is my favourite colour spoon! It's orange! Orange is my favourite
colour!'.
And I, clever mother that I am, use this to my advantage with my increasingly 'challenging' almost three year old~ I save the orange and red clothes ( growing collection) for difficult days and then I always have an ace in my pocket when it is time to get dressed!
So recently at lunch we were colouring (restaurant) and
(for some reason) I was telling Rowan that 'feeling blue' meant someone
was sad. And she gave me a big smile and said (wait for it)... 'I feel
orange!'.
'What feeling is orange?'
'Happy!'
My daughter makes me feel orange, even when I am feeling blue.
Give Peas a Chance: Polpette Clay
 One of my favourite parts about working with other home businesses is that you get to meet so many cool people. Holly, the crafty hands behind the whimsical and hilarious clay creations at Polpette Clay, has to be the sweetest of them all. Holly is a joy to work with and everything she makes has a sense of fun and lots of glorious colour, too.
BTRT: Tell us about yourself.
PC: I am a wife and mama of 2 young boys (ages 4 and 6). I handcraft chalkboards, magnets, and other little goodies out of polymer clay. The shop is named after my oldest son. When he was in utero, my husband adopted the idea of cravings and was constantly eating little meatball
sandwiches at one of our regular restaurants (little meatball in Italian is polpette). We weren't sure of the baby's gender yet, so instead of repeatedly saying repeatedly 'he or she,' we nicknamed him Polpette. The name makes me smile, and my children are a great inspiration for my shop, so it just seemed to make sense.
BTRT: So, how did Polpette Clay get started?
PC: I have always been interested in arts/crafts in one way or another, but the only formal training I've had was a small handful of college courses in drawing, lithography, and photography. Ironically, though, I fell in love with a more 3-dimensional medium. I began working with polymer clay with my roommates in grad school- we were kind of a three-woman
earring-making team and would sell our creations at local craft fairs to help with expenses (and trips to folkie concerts). I really didn't return to it, though, until my boys began preschool and K, and I felt I needed a creative outlet. I gravitated back to polymer clay, and have loved
reexploring it again on my own.
BTRT: What is your favourite/ least favourite part of your business?
PC: My favorite part of the business is being able to use my imagination in a way that I haven't in awhile. I love too that it is something that I can do and share with my children. I really enjoy working with them, playing together with their ideas, and seeing what they dream up. I enjoy
interacting with other crafters and being exposed to some really jaw-droppingly (if that is even close to a word) beautiful work. I guess if I had to choose a least favorite part, it would be holding my breath until fragile items make it to their destination. But I am a pretty cautious packer, so thankfully it hasn't been a problem.
 BTRT: What inspires you?
PC: My children, and experiencing things again with them. We explore so much together, and they give me the opportunity to look at things in a different, fresher way, regularly. Their positive nature and peaceful way they approach the world is a very powerful inspiration for me.
BTRT: What do you love about your medium?
PC: What I love about clay is that it is incredibly versatile and that blending colors can be more than half of the fun. It cures so quickly (only 30 minutes in a regular oven), too, so it can be a perfect medium on the days when you crave immediate results. My kids are crazy about the idea
that you can dream something up and have it right in front of you in just one sitting. I like that too!
BTRT: OK, now for the serious questions! What is your favourite noodle?
PC: My favorite noodle? Tortellini - I like things that are a little cheesy!
BTRT: How about favourite colour, since we are all about that at our house right now!
PC: Usually deep indigo, hands down, but often orange- depends on the day!
BTRT: Rowan would approve. So what is your favourite song?
PC: I really don't think I can answer this- I could name one/some and then minutes later remember one I love even more! Some that have hung on over time include REM's "You are the everything"- mostly because it has a haunting tune, crickets, and sentimental value, Edith Piaf's "La vie en rose", Staple Singers' "I'll take you there"- very groovy. I don't know! See, I didn't even mention Elvis Costello- augh!
BTRT: Oh! I love that REM one, too! Tough question!
Please be sure to visit Holly at her Etsy shop and her creative space at the Take Off Your Shoes congo on Hyena Cart.
The Nativity Project
One of my great passions is children and their development as well rounded, empathetic and wonder full people. This passion gives birth to all of my creative work, and especially a current project: The Nativity Project.
After developing a set of Bible times figures for my own church congregation so that the children could play hands on, not only with the characters of stories they hear, but also with natural toys, I decided to create similar figures for Nativity Sets.
Every child learns in his or her own way. And regardless of their strongest learning style, there is value in hands-on play. So when we teach the faith stories (whatever our faith may be) ~ children benefit from moving, and holding and experiencing the stories as well as simply hearing them. And the benefits of a natural toy that warms in their hands and connects them to this earth of ours is not inconsequential to their development, either!
 Add to this that children want to touch special and holy things (and are often prevented), and you have the BTRT Nativity Set! Intended for hands-on play by young children, these sets are made with 100% new wool, hand dyed in a lovely array of colours and tones. Each piece is needle felted by myself in our own unique 'fish stick' figure shape~ they stand up, are easy to grasp and have no small parts. Each set consists of Mary (wearing her baby, Jesus), Joseph, 2 shepherds, an angel with a star and three wise men/ kings. The figures stand from 4-5" tall and are created with a variety of skin tones and clothing colours. An animal set is also available (donkey, sheep and camel) in the fish stick style (no limbs to come off!). With careful storage, these sets should last many,many years.
Due to the great amount of time each set requires, I have sold subscriptions for the bulk (sold out), but there will be 3-4 more sets available in the fall, and hopefully some smaller 'Holy Family' sets, so I will keep you posted. The pictures you see here are of the completed work to date. By my math I have 176 figures to make, at approximately 1 hour per figure and more for the animals~ hence the PROJECT in the title, and a very sore shoulder!
Non-seasonal sets of figures are also available for play and learning for churches or other uses, contact us for details.
 TRUE
COLORS
Our Fall True
Colors event is set to launch on September 30th!
This season we have 25 dyers all set to create with the newly chosen colorway~ red, brown and natural/cream. This colorway was voted strongly over 9 others, all suggested and voted on by the Hyenas at Hyena Cart.
We are expecting yarn, clothing, toys and more.
Each item will be auctioned off for the dyer's chosen charity.
Hope, The Traveling
Doll (Update)
UPDATE: Hope has made her first visit (California) and has since winged her way to the UK. From there she returns to the West Coast of Canada and then to our house mid-September~ we can't wait! be sure to click the link below for Hope's blog and see pictures of her journey so far!
Hope is the creation of Annette of Wool Creations~
a super talented and sweet felter. Annette has a dream she is bring to
life in order to support children and families in need and crisis.
That
dream is Hope. Hope is a Travelling Doll~ she will start out in North
Carolina and spend a year travelling the world. As she goes she will
blog (with the help of her host families), get her passport stamped,
keep a journal and collect small gifts in her suitcase.
At the end of the year she will return home to be raffled off (journal, suitcase and all!) to raise money.
Hope is a lovely handmade doll in the Waldorf tradition.
Please be sure to follow Hope's
journey! She will be visiting us at BTRT inNorthern Ontario sometime in the fall, we can't wait!
 A
Few of My Favourite Things
The following reviews are independent and unsolicited, I
just love these things and want to share the love! I will try and
include a review or two each month~ gives me a reason to
shop!
Tired of Scrubbing the Tub?!
Me too! No, wait, that is Andy's job.
How sweet is that?
OK, so getting your husband to do it is one way out of it.
But there is a more attainable way!
We used to make our own soap but got away from it. In recent months we have gone back to using handmade soaps and we are loving it!
I thought I'd share some of our finds, as we have some 'special needs' when it comes to bath products!
It took us a while and quite a few trials to find soap we really like from a seller with shipping that didn't break the bank when sending to or within Canada.
Something good for sensitive skin, dry skin and eczema.
Something nicely scented, but NO florals (me) and not overpowering (try to be scent free when we leave the house). Something that is good for the skin types above, soft and moisturizing, but hard enough to last a while. That  is a lot of expectations for a bar of soap!
We have found some real winners, and some great products for Rowan too (and her eczema prone skin). For myself I am deeply in love with Blue House Soaps. Melissa is professional, ships super fast and has great stuff! I love her Honey Almond essential oils scent and we have ordered (and reordered, or will!) soap, body sugar (the honey almond is good enough to eat!), Crunchy Mama All in One, hair detangler and Gentle Bath Wash (orange for Rowan, yum!) and we also love our Extreme Cream in Bananarama (although it is missing, thanks to a little someone~oops! found it under the bed, perfect for my new tattoo!). We use it ourselves and have given many of BHS's products as gifts, too (all the soaps come packaged in pretty fabric!). Nice chunky natural soaps, no artificial flavours or colours, and very creative scents (like Caesar!).
I am also a huge fan of True Vine Soaps. Attractive, generous soap bars with gorgeous marbling and luscious scents. Andy has some Cedar and Coriander and I am nuts about the Anise and Lavender (especially since the lavender in this does not bother my allergies). Like BHS, nice hard bars that last, but lather and moisturize. And Kelly is a treat to work with.
Tory at Frost Fish Cove Soaps has the prettiest soap I have ever seen! Perfect for gifts and so many natural choices. Everything she makes in Vanilla Lavender smells delicious (though it makes me sneeze a little) and her Supernatural Lotion is fabulous for eczema (my hands, Rowan's face).
Natural Madison is the place to go for incredibly creative soaps, especially for the little ones! The Goldfish in a Bag soap was a hit at Christmas and she has amazing desert soaps and even soap popcorn!
We recommend a crocheted cotton soap saver from Jessica at Crochet Funtime! Fun colors and themes and great for conserving soap or using up bits and pieces.
Oh~ and all this to say... if you are sick of scrubbing the tub, go natural! No more gunky bathtub and icky residue. Like your skin, your tub will be clean!
NEW~ Blog Sponsors!
We are pleased to introduce our new blog sponsorship opportunities. With the steady growth in our blog traffic, we are extending a very affordable ad option to small businesses who would like to expand their audience and get their products out to fresh viewers.
Our blog is a mix of business, parenting, life, humour, reviews and features and is kept up to date with 4-6 new postings each week, as well as promotion.
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Please take a moment and visit this month's sponsors (at the bottom of the page).
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Next issue: September 1st
(God willing and the creek don't rise, as they
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