Lime and Tangerine Spring

 

I remember standing on the beach, with only minutes left of my vacation, saturating myself in each brilliant blue and green shade of the ocean, the white gold of the beach, and the unbelievable azure sky, thinking to myself "absorb it all, Becca."

Our family just returned from a week in Akumal, Mexico, thanks to the unbelievable generosity of my hubby's parents. Spring here in Utah has been almost non-existent, weather going from rain, to sun to even snow two days ago.  So, I have been pining for the brilliance of that beach ever since. 

As an extremely visual person, the striking colors of the Yucatan make the dull grey spring here in Utah pale in comparison. I think these colors are trying to spill out of me this last week, as every new item I have been making is super bright, with green and orange felt scraps plastering my desk. 

So, hopefully Utah will catch up a bit and act like Spring/Summer this week and I will not have to express my color-longing in my felt play food as much.

Earth Day is Coming!

In celebration of Earth Day this Thursday, I am going to post a fun DIY tutorial of something you can make to help reduce garbage and green up our earth! I haven't made the final decision on which project to make, so keep your eyes peeled in the next day or two for some crafty green fun!

The Big Ta-Da

You know the feeling when you work on something you are really proud of, are just itching to finish it and show it to the world, because it is the most spectacular, wonderful and brilliant idea you ever had - and its conception has been barraged through the gauntlet of design vs logistics for weeks... Know what I mean? That is my experience with my new items - BBQ Spare Ribs.

To my knowledge, I haven't seen any other felt food item quite like these (and this is after many many Google searches), which is why this idea has been bouncing around the idea room in my head - banging the door down before someone else snatches this one up. Because in the felt food world, there are only so many felt food items that can be made before you have "seen it all" - of course there are variations of a food item - color, design, etc... but most play food items have been done-to-death by everyone and their grandmother (me included), so when the opportunity to create a totally new item comes up, I snatch it! The funny thing is, it wasn't even totally mine - my husband is the creative genius who gets credit for this one. My favorite part of this new design is the magnets that can be added to the small piece so the ribs can be "pulled apart" like the real thing. My kids giggle, and I smile.

I am a vegetarian, so the idea of me creating drippy meat play food is laughable. So as I sit with my kids, playing with their new play food pieces (my kids get the first crack at the new designs) I pretend we are gnawing on delicious soy-protein and tofu "riblets" dipped in organic vegetarian rib sauce. Or a meat popsicle. One of the two.

A Snow Cone in January

Maybe I am just pining for sunshine and beach days during this cold gray winter, but I a little color is just what I need lately.

These little treats came about through a special request from a customer, and I got a little crazy with colors and letting my nostalgic tastebud fantasies go a bit wild. I started out with solid colors, but then remembered my summers as a kid - when no less than 3 syrups were lavishly dripped over my snow cones. So, with those memories in mind, I recalled my favorite color and flavor combinations from those days.

Of course I was treated to several "licks" of the first felt versions by my 2 year old daughter, who insists she sit on my lap as we share the new treat together. She always gets my first prototypes for her felt food collection, and if they pass her inspection - meaning, if they survive her, the next in the batch go in my shop. She is a great product tester! I love her little imagination, because after I had my 20 minutes of taste-sharing, her snow cone was then lovingly jammed down the throat of her all-too-willing squeaky tub-toy shark. I am sure he liked it too.

Movie Night

We love movies at our house. Escaping everyday life into worlds of intrigue, thrills and quite often, a sweet love story. The lights go down, we don jammies, toe socks and warm blankies and mix up a batch of our favorite snack - POPCORN.

My husband and I love the old-school popcorn popper we received for Christmas 2 years ago (thanks Mom and Dad!), especially because it makes the best cinnamon kettle corn ever! So, in tribute to our favorite movie nights, I decided to make a felt version of our favorite movie treat.

Special Order Surprises

I love getting custom orders!  It can be easy to get stuck in a bit of a play food rut when making multiples of one item over and over again. The creative juice just dries up. Then along comes a lovely custom request that shakes things up, gets my problem-solving left-brain clunking into gear, thinking of new ways to approach a play food item and its design logistics.

I have some really fun items "cooking" lately and wanted to share a few. The Burrito Chips and Salsa set makes me drool for my favorite local Lone Star Taqueria, if only the felt version could taste as good!  I also love the yogurt cups that were a custom design requested from a large wholesale order. My kids love taking the lids off, grabbing their spoons and playing snack time with them. Now I just have to hide a few for my customers!

What I'm Working on Today

After a delightful soiree to Pumpkin Land with my little Man's Kindergarten class this morning, I am back at my desk, feverishly trying to crank out Ham Sandwich Sets, Chips & Grape bunches before school lets out for the day - the time when I switch gears into full Mommy mode. Sometimes I dream of "self-stitching" grapes that will just magically assemble themselves together, because 10 grape sets can get tedious when you hit that 100th grape ball. Though, that negates the whole purpose of "handmade" so I'll just keep plugging along.

I am planning several new items for my shop in the next few weeks. Especially with the plethora of pumpkins today (we picked out 2 GIANT pumpkins for the front porch) it is making me think that I need a little pumpkin & squash set in my shop.

Wool Felt vs. Eco-Fi Polyester Felt Comparison

Ahh, the great debate - ok, for BugBites Play Food that is... The question of which material is better to use for felt food toys. I have been debating for years which felt to use & have come up with a complete breakdown of Wool/Rayon Felt vs. Eco-Fi Polyester Felt, with both Pros & Cons listed.

Wool/Rayon Felt

1. Wool is a Natural Fiber
   
2. Rayon is made from Cellulosic Fibers (made from cotton or pine wood). Rayon is one of the most peculiar fabrics in commercial use today. Rayon is a manufactured regenerated cellulose fiber. Because it is produced from naturally occurring polymers, it is neither a truly synthetic fiber nor a natural fiber, it is a semi-synthetic fiber. Strictly speaking, it is not an artificial fiber, because it is derived from naturally occurring cellulose. It is not, however, a natural fabric, because cellulose requires extensive processing to become rayon. Rayon is usually classified as a manufactured fiber and considered to be “regenerated cellulose”. This complex process results in a great deal of environmental pollution. Courtesy: wisegeek.com
3. Stronger than polyester, doesn't stretch.
4. Renewable & environmentally friendly resource.
5. Highly resilient, retaining its strength & unique properties for decades.
6. Dry Clean Only
7. Allergy Risk for those with wool allergies.
8. Expensive - around $8 a yard (36"x 36") - or $16 a yard when compared to the 72" yard of eco-felt.
   

Eco Felt

1. Ecospun is a polyester fiber made from 100% recycled plastic bottles.
   
2. Ecospun enables billions of plastic containers to be recycled each year, instead of them being buried in landfill. 10 bottles = 1 pound of fiber or 2 yds of felt
3. Recycled Eco-Felt is compliant with the Consumer Product Safety Act, including lead limits, making it a great choice for children.
4. Machine washable
5. Allergy-Free
6. Vegan
7. Inexpensive - $6 a yard for a (72"x 72")
   

Also, Eco-Fi has the capacity to keep billions of plastic PET bottles out of the world’s landfills each year by using post-consumer plastic bottles instead of virgin materials in the fiber manufacturing process. By doing this, we can lower harmful air emissions and save millions of barrels of oil from being used which, in turn, reduces the harmful effects of acid rain, global warming, and smog.

Fabrics made from Eco-fi fiber are chemically and functionally nearly identical to those made from non-recycled fiber. The difference is that Eco-fi fiber is made without depleting the Earth’s natural resources. With properties such as strength, softness, shrinkage-resistance, and colorfastness, market applications for Eco-fi are expanding every day. Courtesy: Eco-fi.com

Here’s how the Ecospun process goes:

1. Plastic containers are collected from curbside and community recycling centers
2. The containers are sorted by type and color
   
3. All labels and caps are stripped off
   
4. The plastic containers are then washed
   
5. Then they’re crushed
   
6. Then they’re chopped into flake
   
7. The flakes are then melted and extruded to create fiber
8. The fiber is crimped, cut, drawn, then stretched into the desired length (based on its strength), then baled. Courtesy: Eco-fi.com

I have been using the Eco-Felt for 2 years & am loving the durability, color selection & price, above all, as it lets me keep my costs down to make felt food more affordable. I also love the fact that Eco-felt is machine washable! I wouldn't dry it in the dryer, as it tends to "pill" up, but the thought that I can wash the toys - especially after they have been mouthed & played with, is great. One of the only downsides to Eco-felt is that it tends to stretch, which can be helpful when making the toys, as it "gives" a bit when making certain shapes, but the downside is that it can be torn out of shape if stretched & played with too roughly. Wool felt does not have this problem.

After working with wool felt exclusively for a rather large wholesale order for Palumba toys, I am seriously considering offering wool felt food in my shop as well. I am enjoying the feeling of the wool, its strength, its softness & the beautiful colors available (though I have to order it online). I greatly dislike paying almost twice as much per yard as the Eco-Felt, but I think there are people out there who love the feeling of wool despite its price & non-washability.

So for me, I think I am going to enjoy the best of both worlds & use Eco-Felt & Wool/Rayon Felt interchangeably throughout my sewing, enjoying the benefits that each material has to offer.

Candy Dreams

I just can't stay away from chocolate - I will admit it openly... "Hello, my name is Rebecca & I am a choc-o-holic." Even my play food business cant escape my chocolate addiction. So here is the newest item cooked up in the Bug Bites sweet shop: Chocolate Candy Bars! Just please don't lick it, the fuzz doesn't melt in your mouth...

This life-sized bar fits into its felt wrapper perfectly & is held inside by a velcro tab - so much fun for Little Chef's, my daughter loves to carry her bar around, wrapping & unwrapping it. A future Willy Wonka someday?

Now, if you want to try the real thing - I highly recommend Green & Blacks Organic Ginger, Organic Mint & any of their Organic Dark Bars. For a real twist, & for the adventurous chocoholic like myself, try Chuao Spicy Maya Chocolate - spicy, tingly & ooooh so delicious! Now, off to my chocolate stash to indulge!

Unintentional Environmentalism

I am not an environmentalist. I repeat, I am not an environmentalist... but am I? Now, please don't misunderstand, I LOVE the earth & strongly believe in taking care of Her, cleaning up trash, recycling, using less packaging etc... I just don't want to be labeled as a radical, card-carrying, save-the-planet, stop-global-warming-neo-nazi Al Gore fan - because I am NOT. What I am, however, is a very earth-conscious, pro natural-living mother who is trying each day to do my part to lessen the impact of garbage & pollution. Leaving the planet a better place for my beautiful children.


Example #1: I use 100% Recycled Eco Felt in all my BugBites Toys. I believe that we shouldn't be afraid of toxins, lead & other nasty garbage in our children's toys. I am an advocate for soft, tactile play food that teaches good eating habits & care for the earth through play. What better way than to play with recycled post-consumer plastic bottles? http://bugbitesplayfood.etsy.com

Example #2: I use Cloth Diapers on my baby. This actually started out of desperation at the rising cost of diapers - $70 a month, money I thought could better be used elsewhere (flyfishing trips or buying orchids). Doing my homework on how to cloth diaper also enlightened me on how much damage conventional diapers really do. It is estimated that a child will go through 9,100 diapers in 2 1/2 years of diaper wearing. see Verybaby.com for more: http://verybaby.com/faq . Imagine the landfill space that one child's diapers takes up - by the way, conventional diapers DON'T biodegrate, especially when wrapped tightly & then placed in individually twisted sausage-sections of plastic bag. If only the Diaper Genie® magially made diapers decompose as well... PLUS disposables never look this cute! I found these darling diapers from monkeysnugglesdiaper at her shop on etsy: http://monkeysnugglesdiaper.etsy.com


Example #3: I use handmade Cloth Wipes on my baby. Figure the cost of cloth diapers plus the cost of wipes that just go in the trash - you might as well wipe your child's bum with a dollar bill each time & toss it in the trash... Reusable, cute & much sturdier than the thin, don't-wipe-too-hard-or-you'll-be scrubbing-ick-out of your-fingernails, store-bought wipes... need I say more? I found these adorable wipes from Bundled on http://bundled.etsy.com

Example #4: I use Cloth Lunch & Sandwich Bags. Again the cost of lousy ziplocs that just end up in the trash made me rethink the logic of ziploc. I make my sandwich bags with a nylon inner fabric & cute cotton prints on the outside. They work so much better, are easily washable, & take about 5 minutes to sew myself. These are from Britgaldesigns at http://britgaldesigns.etsy.com

Example #5: I use Cloth Feminine Pads. Okay, I am the biggest hippocrite in the world on this one. Growing up, I had never heard of such a thing & thought "eeeeew gross!" at first, wondering why anyone would ever try cloth menstrual pads. However, after finding out the hard way for years I never knew that I was actually allergic to plastic maxi pads, suffering each month from uneccesary infections & discomfort. Natural cotton is a million times better next to your skin than cancer-causing SODIUM POLYACRYLATE, DIOXINS, & TRIBUTYL TIN (TBT). Besides, if lovely, soft, natural cloth is good enough for my daughter's bum, why not mine? These cute pads are from an etsy seller named Pleat - see her shop here: http://www.pleat.etsy.com

Taking stock of some of my habits over the last year, I have come to the conclusion that I am inadvertently a serious advocate of "Green" living. We all would do better to improve our lives, pocketbooks & of course Mother Earth by switching from harmful, cancer-causing, chemical-laden plastics & synthetics to natural renewable fibers like cotton & bamboo. Go Green!