Try Handmade

Shopping blog featuring products made by people not factories.

Skudfisher

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Cartoons! I watch tons of cartoons.

That was Mike from Skudfisher‘s response when I asked him what inspired his fun plushies. How can you argue with such enthusiasm?

Everything from Invader Zim to Rocky and Bullwinkle (both of which are responsible for huge chunks of my sense of humour). I also pretty obsessively try to absorb as much cool art as possible from the internet. Flickr has so many amazing independent artists that it kind of blows my mind sometimes. I can spend hours just going from artist or artist on flickr. I have some pretty amazing people on my contact list on there that I really admire.

Mike has been obsessed with drawing silly characters and monsters since he was little. Then 2 years ago he decided to try and make one of his monsters into a toy for his nephew as a birthday gift, lucky kid. It only took that one toy to turn sewing into an obsession and he’s been making plushies ever since. Each monster has it’s own story along with it’s likes and dislikes to ensure monster/child compatibility.

There is something very satisfying about coming up with an idea, cutting out the fabric and sewing everything together, into something you can hold in your hands, that I just don’t get from drawing. I still love drawing though!

Mike’s current favorite is Acorn! He thinks she is just so adorable and huggable and really loves working with faux fur material. And as I was working on this, my 2 1/2 year old son told me he wanted THAT monster – so I guess she’s not just Mike’s favorite!

Currently Skudfisher’s plushies are only sold through Mike’s shop, but after many years of attending craft fairs and enjoying Montreal’s great craft scene he hopes to get involved as a vendor there soon. So if you’re in the Montreal area, keep your eyes peeled.

If you’d like to keep up with Mike’s creations he keeps a blog of all his work at and updates his Flickr very regularly.

"Brass" Knuckles Wood Teether

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Check out this teether for your little badboy (or girl) from EcoAyris!

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Why settle for a boring duckling or ring shaped teether when you can get a grip on your teething pain with a much hipper design. This shape seems like it would be really easy and soothing for a teething babe, and lets face it, funny. Funny is important when you have been up all night with a teething babe, trust me. EcoAyris also has an adorable sign language “I love you” teether for peaceniks and those kiddos who are lovers, not fighters.

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EcoAyris says these are made of natural maple, sanded silky smooth, without any finish added. They are filled with rice grains so they are also rattles, which is amusing to your teething tot. I find both designs totally charming.

Nikki McClure

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I’ve been a fan of Nikki McClure for some time. Her exquisite paper cuttings are simply wondrous in their detail. She uses an exacto knife to create her beautiful images, each from a single sheet of paper. The painstaking detail. The complexity. I find her work enchanting and perfected suited to children’s illustrations. Her collection of books are available at Buy Olympia, along with a lovely assortment of notecards, gift tags and other paper beauties.

Mama Is It Summer Yet? is a heartwarming tale of a little boy who asks the same question of his mother, again and again; a theme familiar to mothers who try to satisfy the curiosity and eagerness of their little ones, and to children for whom waiting a few weeks might as well be a few decades.

The First 1000 Days is a baby journal unlike most. Parents have long enjoyed chronicling their children’s early days of life, but Nikki’s illustrations elevate the experience to a creating a work of art that will be eventually passed on to your child. There’s lots of room for notes and such, and tons of her beautiful work to inspire to more than a record of the order that solid foods were introduced. This journal makes you want to write something wise and eternal. My children are six and three and I’m thinking about buying two of these, just because they are so beautiful and poetic.

“The Great Chicken Escape is a true story, or as close to truth as I could ascertain from the chickens themselves.” These are Nikki’s own words about this book. And judging by her illustrations of nuns wrangling chickens, this will probably be one of those books that your child requests over and over.

Nikki is a self-taught artist who has been making paper cuts since 1996 and who produces her own merchandise. You can find Nikki’s books, t-shirts, notecards and other merchandise, as well as her original paper cuts on Buy Olympia.

Little Alouette

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My sister-in-law is having a baby in July. So, of course, as a doting aunt I’m always on the look-out for something wonderful and handmade for my soon-to-debut nephew. And, being a mom myself, I know that a newborn’s innate instinct, and the one that stays with a child well into toddler-hood, is to “get it and put it in your mouth”. Tiny fists, toes, mommy’s chin, and car keys work, but really, nothing compares to a good wooden teether. I found some at Little Alouette { previously interviewed here } that are smooth, satisfying, and thoroughly gnaw-able.

The shop owners, Joe and Amy Sharp, are a writer and master carpenter who have joined forces in life and in business to create a line of delightful teethers, rattles and toys for babies and toddlers. Incidentally, they also happen to have one of the most endearing shop profiles I’ve read in a while. I love it when parents create a business for their own children, because the love shows through in each product. Little Alouette crafts wee gifts using quality materials and master techniques, and with a parent’s eye and heart for what a little one needs and wants most.

I also like that these toys will serve a child’s needs from infancy on. First as teethers, then for make-believe fun. Bunnies, fishies, even a group of dinosaurs are available to inspire imaginative play. I am personally enchanted by the Egg Shakers. Talk about super-sensory stimulation. From the smooth surface, to the swirly wood grain, to the discovery of “music” with every shake, I have a feeling that even adults might have a hard time keeping their hands off this one.

Visit their shop and check out all of their beautiful offerings. And be sure to look into their Wood of the Month Subscriptions. They’ll ship out a parcel every month for three months. I am so going to be the World’s Coolest Aunt after this.

Summer Darlings: Kids in Handmade for Summer.

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There is something about Hillieballoo, a charming little Folksy shop that sells gorgeous items; kids clothes, pillows, custom made drawstring bags and one of my most favourite things ever: personalised items. I dream about creating in the same way that Hillieballoo does but I know I don’t have the time or energy required – and I think I have about 20 other projects on the back burner, anyway.

So, I’ll stick to buying from people like Hillieballoo (or at least dreaming about buying from) and leave the crafty stuff up to them. But while we’re on the note of kids clothes I just want to say something: I LOVE handmade kids clothes. Of course not just any old handmade and I wouldn’t purchase something that had been poorly made just for the sake of buying handmade.

When I was younger I used to adore going to Remnant Kings in Edinburgh with my Mum so we could pick out fabric for T-shirts, shorts, dresses, trousers; cropped and long leg and she’d sometimes rustle up a hair bobble with the leftover fabric from her creations. I loved picking out my favourite patterns. I loved flicking through the massive knitting pattern books; my little hands searching for the baby knits and cooing at the pudgy baby models dressed in white Arran. I loved the overpowering smell of wool and ladies perfume in the place.

The shop always seemed like a wizard’s lair; it had a magical ambience about it. The women who worked behind the tills were always so polite and helpful (if memory serves me well!). The shop was always bustling with customers; mostly women, who would come in looking for that perfect pattern/fabric/something to top off their own creations.

I loved being amongst it all, being a young observer and thinking to myself ‘one day I’ll be on the look out for my own material for curtains, for clothes.’ But that never seemed to happen.

My Mum had a skill for making T-shirts in particular. She always said that things were easy to make and when I tried my hand at making dolls clothes I didn’t find it easy in the least. That’s why I am a buyer and she is a maker.

My Mum also knits amazing things for her grandchildren. One of the blankets she made for my son when he was newborn led to my husband asking the question; “Where did we get this?” when I responded with the fact my Mum had made it he looked really taken aback. “Oh,” he said. “I thought we got it in a shop or something.”

I know us Westerners have fallen prey to the throwaway fashion trend; buy something, wear it for three months (or less) and then throw it out, replace wardrobe again. I simply don’t understand this way of thinking. For a start, doesn’t it cost people a small fortune? Throwaway fashion wasn’t an option 15 years ago. It was Borrow It, Hand Me Downs, Spend A Small Fortune On It or Make It. We went through variations on all of those themes but mostly it was Make It for my Mum. And I loved this. I love it now that she can create things for my son and I can ‘oooh and ahhh’ at those creations.

Much like I ‘oooh’ and ‘ahh’ at any creation I catch on Folksy, Etsy or crafter blogs. I admire the items, but I don’t think I can reach those heights. A perfect example of my oooh and ahhing is the above image of the Blue Strawberry Dress from Daisy Chains And Grass Stains.

Or this 1950s style dress Daisy Chains And Grass Stains. Perfect.

So, what are you? A buyer, like me, who can’t create clothes as easy as ABC or a maker, who can create everything in a blink of the eye?