I had to share this Etsy shop with any of you who are reading. I don’t wear fashion rings, but this shop is the very first one to ever make me rethink that!
Behold Midwest Alchemy
I am ALWAYS on the lookout for wooden toys for my son. We’ve got a small collection from Plan Toys, but find them really expensive, and we have some from Melissa and Doug, and even though their website feels misleading and you get the idea that each item is handcrafted in their basement, they’re actually made in China and Taiwan (and other places far, far away). They’re readily available at Winners, Chapters and Calendar Club around xmas, which I think is great, even if they are made in China, because they’re still not plastic and they give wooden toys a chance in the mainstream (which is dominated by plastics, of course).
We occasionally find wooden toys at Value Village and other thrift stores, and I usually buy them even though I don’t know what the paint is made up of etc. My son is past the putting things in his mouth stage, so it’s not a huge of a concern as it once would have been.
We have a very limited collection of plastic toys, I can probably count them on one hand, so it’s a very conscious decision to choose wooden and cloth. I’ve been a member of Etsy for a couple of years, but have just recently came across a few wonderful wooden toy companies. I haven’t ordered anything from anyone yet, but it’s SO tempting!
Here are a few of my favorite finds! (If they’re sold by the time you click on the link, just go to their main shop and find another listing for the same thing.)
From Little Sapling Toys
From Small Town Toys:
From Clickity Clack:
(Great for party favors)
Have you seen CatherinetteRings’s shop? HOLY MOTHER OF SWEET MARY AND JOSEPH, I do not wear jewlery, but I would wear SO much of this stuff I cannot even believe how beautiful it is. I want to shout to the high heavens [what is with all of these religious references in the first paragraph of this entry??] and to all of my friends and to the strangers on the street about just how beautiful this stuff is.
Seriously amazing, folks. These are a few of my favorites. I am seriously considering buying at least one of these.
