Toddler Tootsie Warmers

They're finally here! Toddler sizes with leather soles for increased traction and durability... but you don't lose any of that marvellous flexibility that allows tots to feel the earth's contours beneath their feet, and learn to walk properly in response to their own bodies and the natural curves of the ground.

Bye-bye stiff soles and "blind" feet! Still made with 100% wool (excluding embellishments) and Canadian leather.








Pre-Christmas Sale on Bum Care Goodness

Home from the One of a Kind Show... how wonderful it was to be in a "happy booth," with people giving me smiles and coos all day long-- because who can resist baby stuff?? Thank you to everyone who visited my booth; your positive energy definitely kept me going!


I have some extra inventory, so I thought I'd offer a little sale on the BumbleTush products. They are a dream come true in preventing and healing diaper rash- I highly recommend them for the diaper-wearers in your life. Here's an informative little blurb, in case you're not familiar with these So-Natural-You-Could-Eat-Them-If-You-Wanted-To products:

An excellent diaper rash preventative and healer.  With its base of arrowroot powder (rather than commonly-used cornstarch), this powder is free of the starches which are known to feed fungal infections. The kaolin clay assists in drawing out bacteria, while keeping baby’s tush dry and soft. The lavender further acts as an antibacterial agent, and provides a lovely light fragrance to the powder, and my own home-grown calendula flowers soothe baby’s tender skin. (Also great for adults, to sprinkle into your shoes or onto your palms if you have a tendency towards clamminess)


Made with a base of natural olive and coconut oils and high-quality beeswax. Like the powder, the salve has the antibacterial benefits of lavender and the soothing quality of calendula. Soothes, softens and moistens baby’s tush.  The Bo-Bo Butter is a slightly different product, more all-purpose for cuts, scrapes and other bo-bos. It is much like to bum salve, but with the additional benefits of the following herbs, wild-crafted from my backyard in the Beaver Valley: comfrey, St. John's wort, plantain, voilet leaves, and of course calendulan and lavender.



“I live in Germany and Kate sends me the powder and salve because I can’t find anything else that works as well. I put it on at the first sign of redness, and it disappears overnight.”
                                             – Jennie Derenzis, Gangelt Germany

“I was not able to use conventional diaper powder because it gave my daughter a rash but this powder is soothing and great for use with cloth diapers, since they get wetter than disposables against by daughter's skin. I use it for my baby's diaper routine and as a deodorant for myself.”
                                            – Serena Guenter, Fergus Ontario

“I have a lot of allergies and sensitivities, so I am careful about what products I use. This salve is great for everything, I love that it's natural, with only a few ingredients.”
                                            – Jane Jones, Nobel Ontario

For a limited time, these “Number One for the Bum” All-Natural Bum Care Products are available at the following prices:

2-oz bum or bo-bo salve: $6 (regular $9 and $10)
4-oz bum and bo-bo salve: $12 (regular $18 and $20)
Powder: $10 (regular $12)

OR if you’d like to try both:

1 powder and 2 small salves for $20
1 powder and 1 large salve for $20

If you're interested, please contact me at bumbletoebooties@gmail.com. Happy December!


One of a Kind Show-- Just around the Corner!

With only 3 weeks left until the Christmas One of a Kind Show in Toronto, I am completely immersed in booties, bum powder, and bum salve creation. As my inventory grows I can't help thinking of all the little baby tootsies that will be kept warm and cozy this winter-- makes me smile!

Here are a few of the latest:








A Little Background...


My husband Skeet sensed I was pregnant even before I did. He claims that as soon as I tenderly showed him the first little brown-and-pink pair of baby booties I felted, he knew we must have a wee one on the way.  Sure enough, he turned out to be right—although I might have gone with a different colour scheme had I known our first born was to be a boy.

Since then I’ve felted hundreds of pairs of booties, with the desire to bring soft warmth and comfort to tiny precious feet everywhere.

I want my babies to always be able to feel the earth beneath their feet, its intricate contours, so that they might learn to pattern their walking properly, in a way most healthy for the alignment of their bodies, and with a feeling of connection to and respect for the earth. Such soft-soled footwear allows for this in the gentlest, quietest possible way. And so BumbleToes was born. For little Earth Walkers.

Another Day at the Office

Can't complain when a "day at the office" consists of me standing in a sunlit art room, looking out over an incredible rolling view of the beaver valley and hills, watching Cuinn chasing butterflies in the backyard, with my hands immersed in hot soapy water, sculpting cute little baby booties that will warm some tiny tootsies in the not-so-distant cooler months of winter. The sound of the wind in the huge poplar tree out back is a beautiful accompaniment to the delighted squeals of a little boy enjoying the feel of soft grass on his bare feet.

OOAK

Well it looks like I'm going to be a felting maniac for the next several months-- I have a booth in the 2012 One of a Kind Show in Toronto, November 27- December 2. I am really excited about it, fantasizing about all the hundreds of pairs of booties I will make between now and then, and imagining all the cute little baby feet that will be wearing my soft creations next winter! Not to mention all the "troubled little tushies" that will be soothed by my bum powder and salve. I will also be making flannel-fleece baby sacks with hoods, which act as a final swaddling layer to be bundled around babies. They will have the option of being strapped into car seats, for travelling convenience cuteness and coziness!
Here are a few of my latest booties:

   










And our bum products:


Hand Painted Cards

The snow melts quickly with the winds and mildness outside... I see green and start dreaming of more colours of Spring. Poppies dance in the warm breezes of my mind and have spilled into miniatures-- hand-painted cards.


T
Other styles......

 Watercolour painting mounted on handmade paper


Butterfly Lino-prints

Run, Mouse, Run!

A new one for Skeet's office collection......

One Little Mosaic

My baby boy slept for 2 hours straight today, and then his Popsie took him for a car ride to the grocery store... it isn't very often I have such a lengthy chunk of time available all at once, to get my hands immersed in the magical mystical realm of pure creating... so I made 3 new pairs of tie-up booties, which I will post pictures of when I get the chance. So cute!

 Despite using rubber gloves for much of the process, my hands are pretty dry and chapped after playing in so much hot water. My fingertips scrape the keys now and make the tiniest sandpapery noise...

I've found it works great to re-use the water as I'm felting through the various layers, as the process requires lots of piping hot water and some soap--so it's definitely more efficient and environmentally-responsible to pour the used water back into the kettle, and stick it on top of the roaring wood stove.

In other news, I wanted to share a couple of pictures of the first mosaic I made, a few weeks ago now, out of several broken dishes we have no trouble accumulating in our house. This sunflower sits atop a wooden box, in which many of my teas are kept:




Latest Booty: Booties

Here are a few of my most recent felted works:





Setting up the Workshop

With one-thousand-and-one projects on the go and in various stages of the works, I am really happy to have such amazing studio space, full of large windows and natural light, as well as plenty of shelves to neatly and beautifully cram my supplies and materials onto. We just moved into this uniquely-designed house a couple of months ago, and it overlooks the Beaver Valley. What an incredible view we have from every window! And there are 100 acres of retired farm land in various stages of natural succession for our son to play on. There is many an apple tree to climb here, and in a few decades what are now sparsely-growing saplings will be towering oak tree Grandmother wonders for our great great great grandchildren to lie in the shade of.

Here are a few images of my new studio space. There's always something on the go, so I tidied up for the "photo shoot" but we all know that there's usually a good spread of craftiness covering the tables, shelves and countertops...

Art Room 
Countertop Boy



Looking into Art Room from the Living Room
Bird Jars by my friend Brooke Erickson
Southeast View from Art Room Window