Rooted, Issue 10 (November
2008)
November and December are such dark months~short days, gray skies.
This month we want to share some colour and brightness with you as we all look forward to the holiday season! Our November issue is a little late and a little light, but please enjoy and be sure to share your feedback, comments
and suggestions about our little publication.
Skunked
This summer we went to our local wildlife center (rescue and rehab) and
Rowan got to pet the skunk (named Flower~ she is de-scented due to her
epilepsy which caused her to spray herself and skunks hate their own
smell, go figure!). We heard all about the incredible power of skunk
spray ~ their range and ability to shoot in a direct line or to spray a
wide area. I was deeply impressed by their power to defend themselves.
Flash
forward to Sunday night. I had a long day and it was nearly midnight.
Andy let the dog out on the long line to do his business. Dog charges
animal. Husband perceives animal to be skunk. Skunk sprays. Husband
perceives skunk smell. Husband was at the above wildlife lecture.
What does husband do?
Let the dog INTO the house, of course!
Yup.
Dog proceeds to roll on carpet, couches and bolt upstairs to roll on our duvet.
I
immediately smelled something~ like perm solution, and when husband
moseys upstairs, ask him about it. Oh. No. Husband insists dog is
clean. (And here is where my dumb moment comes in, overshadowed as I
was by the enormity of my husbands bad choices). I stick my face into
dog's fur and come up gagging and skunked.
Oh. No.
The
blessing was that the dog had been shaved down this week and that the
skunk seems to have chosen dispersed general attack instead of
targeted spray. Poor dog had to spend his first ever night outdoors
(in crate in garage) and had I a crate large enough, husband would have
done the same.
Seriously. You see skunk, you smell skunk. Don't you assume skunked?
Thank goodness the baking soda/ peroxide/ dish soap solution does work.
Stocking Stuffers~ A Few of My Favourite Things
I thought I would share with you some of the tiny treasures we have found for our family gift giving this holiday season~ we are going natural and simple and there are so many options out there!
Mama Kopp deserves another mention~ because every Daddy needs a Super Daddy! Yep! That is *our* Super Daddy!
Hues of Nature is a lovely shop full of darling little treats for young and old~ bendy dolls, felted creatures and lots of wonder and fun!
Hi Tree! rocks my world~ whimsical designs, well made and so appealing~ there will be at least one huggable tree in a stocking around here!
Bugz*n*Bean~ maybe not *in* the stocking, but for bedtime Christmas Eve? It is difficult to find simple nightgowns for girls in natural fibers and we are in love with our nighties, made custom in cotton knit or flannel with lots of fabrics to choose from, from this shop.
Vladmaster~ I haven't bought from this shop, but my husband has a Viewmaster laying around, and maybe this Christmas I'll get him one of these cool, edgy sets!
PendantFlair has some lovely, positive pendants for giving~ I particularly like her dictionary line and I am keeping my eye out for them for a couple of people on my list.
Earth Belly is up and running~ slowly! Our search for a suitable organic syrup has been a comedy of errors,  but we are very happy with our choice of agave syrup as a main ingredient and we are slowly developing our own flavour recipes from scratch (root beer, anyone? mmmmm!).
Our website shopping cart is in progress and we are stocking at Hyena Cart and Etsy.
We highly recommend the peppermint candy as a candy cane alternative~ rich, smooth flavour made from organic peppermint~ it knocks the artificial stuff right off the tree!
Custom orders welcome~and these make wonderful WAHM samples to share with your customers, too!
Playscapes~ Worlds of Wonder
 Felting opens up endless possibilities or creativity and art as well as play. Recently I have been playing with making playscapes and playscape elements. A playscape is a three dimensional scene or theme. It could be a fairy cottage, a walk in the woods, a garden, a cave... you name it!
The playscape is made as a landscape, a mat with features to encourage open ended and imaginative play. Add pinecones or gnomes, bendy dolls or playsilks and the world of wonder unfolds. A playscape could be used in a nature table, as a centerpiece or as a play station.
I have pictured our Tree of Life playscape~ I rarely make anything for our family and this was a delight to make with our daughter giving her input, too. Felted onto a piece of felted, recycled wool sweater, this tree, stream, cave and rock scape is open ended so that we can 'dress' our tree appropriate to each season.
It sits on our nature table and is home to wooden animals, a couple of fairies and gnomes, and whatever other creations Rowan adds to her play. It is so easy to slip into play and imagination, even as I made it I was sittng on the rock by the stream enjoying the fall sunlight (in my mind!).
Look for more BTRT playscapes in the days to come!
Stocking News
 Things are pretty quiet this month as we strive to keep up with holiday orders and get Earth Belly off the ground and fill local orders for wholesale and do a Christmas Craft show or two. We will be stocking Nativity Sets this week, as noted above.
We also plan to continue to stock at In Their Hands on the first and third Thursday of this month as well as Black Friday.
 Our Etsy shop will continue to offer playsilks and felted toys, as well as our new felted brooches, Holy Families and Playscapes. We have over 25 items on clearance in a special sale section~ huge reductions, great deals!
Please note that the shipping deadline for the holidays for air mail from Canada to the USA is the first week of December. While we will accept orders past December 5th, we cannot and will not guarantee their arrival for Christmas.
The Nativity Project: DONE!
 Yes! Done!
128 needlefelted figures. 8 pounds of core wool. 3 pounds of outer wool. Lots of silk, locks, needles...
11 sets will be on their way to homes of subscribers, one will stay here and four more are going up for sale this week~ three at BTRT on Hyena Cart on Wednesday, November 5 at 1 pm and the last one for auction on November 6 at noon at In Their Hands on HC.
Each set includes 8 pieces~ Mary and Child, Joseph, 2 Shepherds, 3 Wise Men and an Angel. They are 100% wool, completely needle felted. You can click through the links above for all the details.
We are also listing some 'Holy Family' Sets at Etsy (several available now) of miniature figures of Mother/ Child/ Father and plan to offer more as soon as some of our errant roving arrives!
What a wild ride, and talk about honing my felting chops! Now on to other projects!
 Natural Kids StoreThe Natural Kids Team on Etsy has been working on some shared advertising ventures, and has developed a shop front as a gateway to 40 of our team shops~ all natural, eco-friendly kids' items.
Take a peek and meet some wonderful artists while you do some holiday shopping!
We have a new look for the fall/ winter!
Be sure to stop in
and visit us at:
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Next issue: December 1st
(God willing and the creek don't rise, as they
say!)
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