Amber Dusick

Pebbles in the road...

To make a long story short, our car was broken into and it made me realize even more how things are so impermanent and unimportant.  We can have everything stolen and yet we are fine.     

"Nobody trips over mountains.  It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble.  Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain."  ~Author Unknown

Just when I thought I was all caught up with my Etsy shop...  Among the items stolen were Woodmouse packages destined for the post office in the morning - I've contacted everyone already so if you didn't hear from me your items are either on their way or still in my house waiting to go.    

Whomever was needing to break into cars on Thanksgiving night while we were spending time with family obviously needs those items much more than we do.  I sincerely laugh when I think about how disappointed they must have been to find simple wooden toys in those packages.  I hope they can find a good home for them.   

New Items for Next Week

Here is a little preview of some of the new designs that will be part of the stock update next Wednesday!

A wee little country neighborhood set that includes a house, barn, chuch, gingerbread house, pine tree, Christmas tree and a tiny snowman!  I really adore this set and it opens up a whole new miniature world - literally.  This may be the start of a whole new Woodmouse World line.

    

New Children of Nature designs - one banana, grapes and lemon.

The Children of Nature needed a mama!  Introducing Mother Nature!  I'll have just one of these available in the update. 

Odin & his two ravens, Hugin & Munin!  Many parallels between the pre-Christian Germanic god and Saint Nicholas/Santa Claus have been drawn.  It is really fascinating!  Red all about it on Wikipedia under the Influence of Germanic paganism & folklore section and How Odin Became Santa Claus.  I've always questioned "but why do we do this" with traditions and enjoy learning the historical roots to holiday symbols.  

Which brings me to Santa, lol!  The classic American version of santa, the one I grew up with and believed in.  I can remember truly believing in him, the magic of it all.

  

This set isn't new (my first nativity sold last January) but seeing as I'm talking about Christmas and meanings behind it, I'll mention that I'll have one Holy Family available in the update, as well as a full nativity set.

  

Speaking of historical significance to holidays, my Chanukkah Story playset is available in the shop and includes Judah Maccabee and Antiochus IV and a menorah - well technically it is a Chanukkiah since it has 8 candles plus the shamash.  Read the Chanukkah story here. 

So there is my holiday round-up for the update next week!  Hope everyone had a restful Thanksgiving if you got the day off!  

Thankful for...

Thankful for a day to lounge around in our PJs with this one...

for my son & husband & extended family, learning, the internet, the mamas of the world, LA sunshine, Yuca's tacos, trees, our home, my comfy bed, friends who listen, cheese and so many other things that I'm very fortunate to have on a regular basis.    

So thankful...and stocking update

With Thanksgiving just around the bend I'm looking forward to taking a couple days off to relax and be with family.  No work for a full 24 hours!  That will be bliss, but also honestly pretty hard because my work is my bliss.   

The next BIG stock update (and it will be a whopper) will be Wednesday, December 3rd at 11:30 AM Pacific!  

This will be my last big stocking pre-holidays.  I'll add a few things here and there after that, but this is the last major one.  

NEW - Santa, Odin & 2 Ravens set, miniature neighborhood, three piece holy family, lemon nature child, grapes nature child, apple nature child and a few other special things!  

All the nature children (excluding the handful offered last week), Christmas tree, rainbow fairy, toadstool fairy, candy cane houses, two FULL nativity sets - my last two of the year.  And more - I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff.

Have a restful Thanksgiving!  

I'm still learning...so please forgive me (Scheduled Stockings are Back)

After saying I wasn't going to schedule stockings I received convos asking me to tell them next time I was listing.  This started to feel overwhelming so I counted them.  It was 27!  This means I'd need to send out 27 convos next time around when I list.  It just isn't going to work.

So I'm having some growing pains and finding the best way to keep everyone happy.  Please forgive my back and forth on this issue, I'm still learning how to do this thing I call my "profitable hobby" that others might call it a "business".  Just semantics, I know, but I try not to call it a business, it takes the fun out. 

      

Until the holidays are over I will do larger scheduled stockings and will announce them here.  I will also likely continue to throw in a random item or two as I have them, like these angels from the other day.  All but the purple have sold.  

The next stocking is going to be a BIG one and will include some new designs so will share more details later!

Interview with Blissfully Domestic

This morning, Blissfully Domestic ran the interview I did with them a few weeks ago!  

Check out their site if you haven't, it is HUGE and amazing and they have sections on kids, creative, family, frugal living, homeschooling, etc.  I was so honored to grace their pages!  

Yesterday was an interesting day.  I woke up to an unexpected delivery of six dozen long stemmed roses!  Before you get any romantic notions, they were actually from a company who sent them in exchange for a mention on Do It Yourself Weddings.  

I spent a couple hours cleaning, prepping, photographing and doing arrangements.  My diningroom table is filled with roses and our house smells like roses.  Does anyone else find that most storebought roses have no scent?  Well these do, they are lovely!   

I'm working diligently on custom orders and new designs...will have an update soon.    

Have a restful weekend!

Natural Kids Store from the Natural Kids Team!

I've been meaning to post about the Natural Kids team for almost a year now.  I created the team back in December of last year after seeing all the camaraderie on the forum between like minded sellers who make natural products for kids so I set out to make an official team out of them.  

Being the "start-up" type I got it together, named it "Natural Kids", solicited members, set-up the blog, google group, wrote our team page and hired a graphic designer to do our awesome logo.  Being the "start-up" type and not the maintenance type however, I handed off the keys, knowing that the team would better evolve without me as the leader.  Evolve it has!

I still consider it "my baby" since I started it, although get no recognition for it, sniff.  Just kidding.  You win some, you let some go. 

A group of 40 sellers from the team have banded together at Natural Kids Store to do some collective advertising and here is a small sample of our beautiful gallery to shop from!

 You can also sift through all the offerings from the team right here on Etsy under naturalkids team.

Looking back at my first ever sales over a year ago, many of my first customers were from fellow team members...and a few purchased from me today during my shop update as well.  It feels pretty great to be part of this collective eco-friendly group.  I really appreciate ALL the natural options for children that we have to offer and together we pack a big collective natural punch!    

Children and Animals

My son can speak animal.  I think all children can do this and most of us lose it in adulthood.  When our cat is meowing (which is 80% of the time, he is a talker) I ask the him "What does he want?" and the answer will always be accurate.  He'll say "food" and sure enough, the bowl will be empty.  He'll say "poop" and sure enough the litter box needs scooping.  Last night the cat was meowing in the kitchen but he had a full bowl of food, the litter box was sparkling fresh so I asked him, "What does kitty want?" and he said, "Mama."  Sure enough the darn cat just wanted me to pet him.  

  

Went to the aquarium the other day and the animals seemed to gravitate right towards my son.  We joked that maybe it was to eat him because he is small, but really I think they connect somehow.  

Reminds me of all the stories of animals adopting human babies and raising them.  Here is a great article, When Animals Adopt Human Infants and it is pretty fascinating.  Some of it is myth for sure, but most of it is real and surprisingly recent.    

The shop is all stocked but I didn't really enjoy doing the scheduled stocking and apparently neither did many of my customers.  (Thanks for the feedback, it is so important!)  I won't be doing it on a regular basis, I'll go back to listing things here and there as I have them.  

    

Shop Update Tomorrow, Wednesday 19th at 11:30 AM Pacific!

I'll be listing some things in the shop tomorrow (Wednesday) starting at 11:30 am Pacific!  My son goes to music class with grandma every Wednesday so that will be my stocking day until their class ends.  

Included will be - one seasonal tree, large NEW trees, winter & autumn fairy, deer/tree set, fox/tree set, a few cell phones, giraffe, snail, candy cane house trio, TWO toddler blocks sets, TWO toddler house blocks sets, nursing mama figure and a very special one of a kind christmas tree, presents and children set below.  Also NEW present ornaments, birdies, bulb ornaments, snowman ornaments, etc.

  

The next stocking after this one (likely next Wednesday) will include nature children and some NEW stuff - like robot ornaments and more!      

PS - I'm currently accepting custom orders again.  Customs fill up fast!

Savoring the little moments...

I've been busy, busy, busy!  With three websites and an Etsy shop that needs stocking I've needed to make a conscious effort to take a few moments each day of just pure relaxation time.  Enter my tea ritual!  Every day during my son's nap, rather than rush off to work, work, work like usual, I sit down and have a cup of tea and write in a journal or do nothing at all.

  

I recently got this lovely little "Savor" tea bag holder from Etsy seller wabisabipottery and I adore it.  She has a great shop with tiny dishes that would make great affordable gifts.  There is something so simple and sweet about her work.  

  

I also got this adorable wee house dish from the same shop to hold my rings while I beeswax my wooden figures.  My rings used to get all gummed up with beeswax, but now I have a designated spot for them and actually remember to take them off.  This little dish also serves as a reminder to slow down and enjoy the process, something that gets harder to do as the holiday rush approaches us.

Speaking of holidays...next Etsy shop stocking will be Wednesday the 19th, 11:30AM Pacific!  I'm going to try out scheduled stockings for a spell and stick with Wednesdays and see how it goes.