Spring Sale for Pumpkin+Bear

Looking through the Sold archives of my Pumpkin+Bear etsy shop is one of those activities that's chock-full of nostalgia. The dinosaur stuffies and quilted blankets remind me of Will's obsession with dinosaurs. The T-shirt dresses and buntings for every occasion used to delight at tiny Syd.

There are crayon rolls from when I used to keep one in every pocket and every bag, moveable alphabets of all sizes and sorts from when I was focused on providing a language-rich hands-on environment, felt sets and bean bags and remade crayons and all kinds of things that little ones love.

We're beyond much of that now. These days my girls mostly ask me for custom clothing and novelty blankets, and many of the handmade items that they want they're fully capable of making for themselves--and they do!

I let all my listings for little ones linger in Pumpkin+Bear for years longer than I needed to, violating my original principle that I made things for sale as I made things for myself and my children, a side hustle that was more an extension of crafting for my family than a business--if I ever quit my day job, it's never to be a full-time artisan!

Anyway, my Girl Scout troop is preparing for a big garage sale fundraiser next month, which means that of course I'm on the hook to go through all my stuff and see what I can stand to get rid of. I was crouching down, digging through crafting supplies and thinking about what I needed for what, and out of the blue I thought, "Huh. I don't actually need felt play set materials or crayon roll materials or play silk materials anymore, other than for Pumpkin+Bear. And what if I didn't actually even need them for Pumpkin+Bear anymore, either?"

Well, I'd have more space, that's for sure. I might have more time to invent creations that I'm more passionate about. I might have time to make and sell some things that are better suited to the tween and teen that I've got now.

So deep breath, because I'm putting everything that I'm no longer going to make on BIG SALE--like 50% off big! When it's gone, it's gone. Here's what's going:

30"x30" Play Silks--Originally $16, Now $8

To be fair, Syd DOES still use her vast collection of play silks once in a while, and whenever we're going through our possessions and I ask her if she wants to keep them out or move them into keepsakes, she always wants to keep them out!

Still, it's been years, probably, since she's asked for a new size or different color...

Duck and Cat Wall Quilt on Recycled Denim--Originally $15, Now $7.50

You can tell the things that I've been making so long that I didn't know how to properly photograph them when I started. Also, how long has it been since I've made my children some nursery decor?!? The last thing that I made for the kids' bedroom was embellished picture frames for their Comic Con art purchases...

Fairy Tale Flannel Christmas Stocking--Originally $16.25, Now $8.12

I actually will probably continue making the odd Christmas stocking, particular as the kids' interest change, but regardless, there's no need to buy more fairy tale fabric, not with kids who are much more into Greek myths and post-apocalyptic literature and European history memes.

Star Wars Flannel Christmas Stocking--Originally $16.25, Now $8.12

Since I'm on a roll, I might as well clear out all of my Christmas stocking flannel altogether...

Felt Cake Puzzle Play Set, Originally $9.00, Now $4.50

The preschool years really are over, if the kids are no longer playing with their felt boards and asking me for new felt pieces and making and embellishing their very own felt pieces for all of their pretend play.

I love the felt play sets the most, because they're all based on something specific that a kid asked me to create for her at one time.

Felt Paper Doll Set--Originally $9.00, Now $4.50

Felt Rainbow Play Mat with Felt Rainbow Play Set--Originally $18, Now $9

Do you guys remember when Syd was OBSESSED with rainbows?

Felt Rainbow Play Set--Originally $10, Now $5

Horse Lover's Travel Felt Mat

My Little Pony American Girl Doll Skirt--Originally $11, Now $5.50

Sydney is outgrowing her American Girl dolls WAY faster than I am!

Pink Skulls American Girl Doll Skirt--Originally $11, Now $5.50

 Upholstery Fabric Crayon Rolls--Originally $8.00, Now $4.00

I should have suspected what an artist Syd was growing to be back when she was a toddler and I had to pack crayons and paper or chalk or markers or play dough every time we left the house. I still do that, or rather Syd does it for herself, but now it's generally fashion design notebooks or comic book templates and Prismacolor pencils.

Vintage Superman Colored Pencil Roll--Originally $18, Now $9

I've tentatively set my sale to run for a full month, and I'll still have most of my supplies through then, so let me know if you've got a custom request.

Right now, though, I've got to get back to sorting stuff for that Girl Scout garage sale...

When Your Kids Outgrow Their Building Blocks, Turn Them Into Art!

My kiddos are BUSY this summer, which means I've had a little more time on my hands than usual.

And when I have time on my hands, my hands tend to get messy!

After I've written lesson plans and finished all my freelancing for the week, I've found myself, more often than not, watching Downton Abbey and messing around with my stack of super-old and completely value-less vintage comics. I have decoupaged comic books onto some crazy things in my time, but lately I've been confining myself to the harmless obsession of making decoupaged building blocks using my vintage comics and the blocks that the kids don't play with anymore.

Some I am making entirely for myself. I would NEVER sell my now most treasured Captain America block, for instance!

Comic book shops often sell their "worthless" comics for small change, and that's where I find comic books to craft with. I collect only comics featuring characters whom I really like, of course, but then the danger to that is that I often can't part with what I've made with them.

But part of the deal that I make with myself is that when I make something FOR myself, I try to make some similar things for my Pumpkin+Bear etsy shop--gotta pay for those craft supplies somehow, don't you know! So even though I super love Thor, I've listed this block featuring his bromance with Iron Man in Pumpkin+Bear,sigh...

I'm keeping my GI Joe block, though, because Snake Eyes!

But, fine. I'm selling this Iron Man comic book block. I love Iron Man, but that Civil War movie still has me pissed off:

And here's Hulk!

Some of the comics that I'm crafting with are the really beat-up ones that I had as a kid. I LOVED this Tom and Jerry comic in which Jerry sneakily feeds Tom until he's too fat to chase him (which huh. I had a lot of food issues as a kid, and I STILL have them. This comic could not have helped with that...), but it's absolutely falling apart, so now it's a super cute decoupaged building block:

Nobody is tearing my brand-new Thor block out of my grasp, however!

But, yeah. You can have Archie:

But NOT Captain America!

Spider-man, though--I've got a couple of Spider-mans. You can buy him as a rectangular prism--

Or a delightful cube:

But you just can't have my Captain America!

Or my Thor:

Here are another couple of comics that I owned as a kid. I clearly didn't have enough comics, because I have this old Richie Rich one memorized, and also worn down to a nub except for what I salvaged to make this decoupaged block:

Here's my weirdest block, though. I don't know who on earth bought me an Adventures of Kool-Aid Man comic, but did you know that it was published by Marvel? Kool-Aid Man could be an Avenger!

For now, though, he's just a very, very, VERY weird comic book block:

This will likely be my last Pumpkin+Bear update for a bit. I want to try to sneak into my studio to make some comic book magnets using upcycled Scrabble Tiles as a base, but I'm also road tripping and camping with the kids, packing them for camp (and making 100,000 trips to the store for everything on the packing list that I don't own), sewing them some summer clothes, planning some fun unit studies for them, and helping Will finish up her Girl Scout Silver Award project. 

Of course, making Scrabble tile and comic book magnets while watching Downton Abbey would be a nice, relaxing break from my to-do list...

Hand-Dyed Wooden Beads and Blocks in Pumpkin+Bear

"Aww, look!" I thought. "The chicken wants to seee what I'm doing out on the deck on this gorgeous afternoon!"

"Isn't she pretty?"

"HEY!!! Those are not berries!"

So there you go. My hand-dyed wooden beands and blocks are so pretty that chickens think they're berries.

I can't even tell you when I dyed these--a couple of years ago, perhaps?

We were doing several projects that involved hand-stained wood, and I was working out just the perfect technique to share over at Crafting a Green World.

While working out the technique to my satisfaction, I made waaaaaay more dyed wood pieces than we needed for the projects.

Apparently, I just squirreled the surplus away in my stash, because I am actually a hoarder.

I rediscovered them the other day while I was cleaning and decided I might as well peep into that plastic drawer in the closet--I'm still finding containers that I haven't unpacked after our move (which was four years ago now, for those of you playing the home game), so perhaps that drawer could contain my wedding ring, or my folk music anthology!

It didn't.

What it did have, however, were projects that I'd meant to list/relist in my Pumpkin+Bear shop. Some were projects that I used to have listed but wanted to rephotograph or rework in some way, and some where projects that I wanted to list in Pumpkin+Bear, but I'm guessing the light was poor on the day that I wanted to photograph them, or I got busy, and set them aside, consequently forgetting all about them.

Of course.

Fortunately, last week we had our first sunny, above freezing days in FOREVER, and there was nothing I wanted to do more than spend the afternoon out on the deck photographing stuff.

These cubes are 1/2" across, nice and light and brightly-colored now.

These beads are 3/4" diameter, with a 3/8" hole.

The kids actually use our stash of undyed wooden cubes as a sensory material. I pour them out onto a tray that sits on our homeschool table, and off and on all week I'll notice a kid fiddling with them as she thinks or reads. They're stackable, arrangeable, and they just feel good in your hands.

Syd really wants to turn some of these beads into Camp Halfblood beads, so that's a project we'll be taking on before too long.

I've used these stained beads to make magnetic mosaic tiles for our giant metal memo board. I'll probably use some of these to make more, and I'm tempted to upcycle a metal tin from somewhere and make a travel-sized version.

Of course, if you bought these from me, I'm sure I'd find something else to happily hoard and/or occupy my time with...