Visiting the Rockies...Bilingual / Ein Besuch in den Rockies ...Zweisprachig!

My sister came to visit this summer. We had a great time together visiting the Rocky Mountain National Park. It is about an hour's drive to the mountains from our house. Still, we hardly ever go there. Why? I don't understand. It is so beautiful in the mountains. I took some pictures to share.

My sister complained about how I hardly speak German to the children. I have been living in the US for so long. It is hard when you don't get to speak your mother tongue every day. I find more and more words are slipping from my memory and being replaced with English only. Maybe it is time to actively fight that. I will try and write more German. How about a bilingual blog, I thought. So here it goes.

For all of you who do speak German: Enjoy. And for those who don't just skip the German parts (colored in red). =)

Meine Schwester kam zu Besuch diesen Sommer. Wir hatten viel Spass bei unserem Ausflug in den Rocky Mountain National Park. Es ist ungefaehr eine Autostunde von unserem Haus bis in die Berge. Trotzdem fahren wir selten dorthin. Warum eigentlich? Ich verstehe es nicht. Es ist so schoen in den Bergen. Ich habe ein paar Bilder gemacht, um sie hier mit Euch zu teilen.

Meine Schwester beschwerte sich, weil ich so selten deutsch mit den Kindern rede. Ich lebe schon so lange in den Vereinigten Staaten. Es ist schwierig wenn man nicht jeden Tag seine Muttersprache spricht. Ich merke, dass ich immer mehr Woerter vergesse. Nach und nach werden sie mit dem Englischen allein ersetzt. Vielleicht ist es jetzt zeit diesen Verlust aktiv zu bekaempfen. Also dachte ich mir: Wie waer's mit einem zweisprachigen Blog?

Fuer alle, die hier Deutsch sprechen: Viel Spass. Und fuer diejenigen, die kein Deutsch sprechen: "Lest einfach ueber den deutschen Text (red parts) hinweg!"

How to make your own labels

A few months ago I read in the Etsy forums about the new labeling laws going into effect on August 15th. Immediately I started looking into ways to label my product and searched for label makers on Etsy. In the past I had labels on my dress-up-dolls. I ordered them from a label maker in Australia. They were the old-fashioned looking, really pretty, and high quality woven label. I remember when I first researched the market for labels I was very frustrated by the few options. Since I did not want to put a huge label on my doll, I was very limited in terms of how much information I could put on a label. Therefore my old doll labels only had my business name and my name on them.The new labeling law requires that a business put a lot more information on their product such as: Name of the Business, Address, Place Manufactured, Materials, Care Information

When I started to ask around on Etsy, I found that many label makers did not respond to my questions at all. The small label making businesses were either on vacation (due to exhaustion) or too busy with current label orders. Bigger outfits, located in Hongkong and Overseas did not respond to my questions in a serious manner. When presented with my problem they simply told me it was not possible to put all that information on a such a small label (0.5 inches by 2 inches).

Luckily I found the answer to my problem in discussions with my Etsy team. I love my Etsy team, the naturalkids team! One teammate, beccijo (http://www.theenchantedcupboard.etsy.com/), had found an alternative option. In order to solve the labeling problem for her wooden toys she contacted a stamp maker on Etsy: http://www.robertosand.etsy.com/. When I contacted Robert I found him super helpful and kind. It took about 4 convos to figure out what I needed. He managed to put ALL the information I asked for on my cool new wooden stamp. I had my stamp in hand about a week later. While waiting for my stamp, I ordered two 72 yard rolls of cotton twilltape online. I ordered two different colors: white and natural. I found the ink stood out much better on the white tape.

Next I had to figure out what ink to use. I needed something that was washable and non-toxic that would work on fabric! I found an inktype called VersaCraft. It works on fabric, wood and paper. The only drawback being that it needs to be heat-set. After stamping the twilltape with my new stamp I had to iron the tape. I washed the tape afterwards to make sure the ink did not bleed out. And voila it worked well!

I think my new labels look great. They may not be perfect since sometimes the stamping is not totally even. But why not have cool handmade labels on your cool hand made product? I think this is a great alternative to ordering expensive labels from a label maker. Do you know what they put in those labels? It may not be safe for children.

I compared prices and found that label sellers charged about 35-40 cents on average.

It cost me around $60 to buy my stamp, twill tape, and the ink pad. With these supplies I will be able to make hundreds of labels. If I want to change the information I can order a new stamp from Rob.

I hope this will encourage you to make your own label. I had a lot of fun on my first label making day!

http://www.germandolls.etsy.com/

Tea Party with Adele

Adele is a sweet little thing. She likes to have teaparties with her friends. Do you see her jumping for joy?

I made her dress of yet another irresistable fabric from Japan. I know we are in a recession but I just ordered a bit more of this fabric. It is so darn cute...

Summer Poetry...

Sorry, if I have not been around much this summer! The children and their summer activities are keeping me busy around the clock. There is hardly time to breathe between running to swim lessons, dance lessons, baseball and softball practrices and games, library events. Only in the early morning hours do I get to sit for a minute and think.
At the end of the school year my daughter brought home this painting with a poem attached to it. I have no idea who wrote it. It brought tears to my eyes.

CHILDREN ARE LIKE KITES

You spend years trying to get them off the ground
You run with them until you are both breathless.
They crash...they hit the roof..
you patch, comfort and assure them that someday they will fly

Finally, they are airborne

They need more string, and you keep letting it out.
They tug, and with each twist of the twine,
there is sadness that goes with joy.

The kite becomes more distant,
and you know it won't be long
before that beautiful creature will snap
the lifeline that binds you together
and will soar as meant to soar
...free and alone.

Only then do you know that you have done your job.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am enjoying my beautiful kites this summer. Watching them take off every day, soaring higher and higher. Soaking it all in. When school starts again, I will go back to my computer and try to catch up with blogs, flickr, and facebook accounts...

More Cute Shoe Offerings

I have made a few more sets of doll shoes using the needlefelting technique. Paired with Japanese Kawaii fabrics these doll clothing sets are simply irresistable. Don't you agree?

Custom shoes to match

Anyone here in the mood for some fresh strawberries?
Or would you like to go on a hike to the woods for some mushrooms. Please don't eat the toadstools, though...They look delicious but are only for decoration.




I have been making a lot of doll shoes lately. It is so much fun! Wool felt is such a wonderful material. It is soft and pliable and comes in so many colors. I have quite the collection of colors. I get kind of sad when I run out of a favorite color...

Check out my rainbow of shoes! My hands were quite sore after making them. But wasn't it worth it?

Once the raw shoe is finished they are decorated by needlefelting a design on them. It can be anything from a piece of fruit, piggies, a bunny...I love to match the new Kwaii fabrics in my stash. They are the cutest material on earth. If you want to know more about them, please read my previous blog entry on Japanese fabrics.

Needlefelting is an amazing craft. If you have lots of time on your hand you should try it. The limit is your imagination. Just make sure you have good eye-sight and a magnifying glass, for some of those details will make you blind. =)

I hope you enjoyed my happy shoe rainbow!

Your German Dollmaker

Bees in Our Backyard

On April 19th my husband and I received a beehive as a birthday gift. A friend of us built it from scratch out of wood. The style of hive he built is called a top bar hive. Until I received this gift I did not know much about bees. Frankly, I was a little afraid of them. So were the children as you can see from the very skeptical look on my daughter's face....

From a library book we learned that this type of hive is quite common in Africa. Beekeepers like it because the bees build the honeycomb directly onto a set of slats/bars that lay across the top of the box. See pictures below.
This makes harvesting honey quite easy. You also get a lot more beeswax for making candles that way. I am thrilled by the idea of making candles. I think this would be a great activity to do with children in the cold winter months.


The first set of pictures shows the bees being put in their new home on the day of their arrival in our backyard April 19th.

The second set shows the hive less than a month later. Watching the bees every day, I came to a much better understanding of the phrase "busy as a bee". They are such cool animals. The children are very excited. Every day they run outside and check on the progress of our new pets. 10 000 of them... Contrary to what most people seem to believe, honey bees are very peaceful. Nobody in the family has been stung or bothered by them. They go about their work every day never paying any attention to us watching or even standing close by.






We even got a little lick of honey when we opened the hive. Yummy!

I will keep you posted on the first harvest!