New Things; Timeless Things

Good morning everyone. No, I have not dropped off the face of the earth again. Bear and I have been hard at work getting AppleCrateToys ready for this year's shows. There are so many things we are proud of and I thought that you might like a sneak peek of some of our projects in progress. We have lovely bunting banners of felt made from100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. There are a lot of these that we are working on but the one in the picture is my favorite so far. It features the Alphabet and is made with warm earth tones. Next to that is our version of a bendy doll. The wire we used for her core is lead free steel wrapped in soft rubber. This is another alphabet we've been working on. No lead or cadmium here either. Each square has been carefully cut and sanded from bass wood till it is baby smooth. Using a wood burning tool I then carefully burn in each letter. These make lovely tools for learning the alphabet and beginners spelling. They also are wonderful sensory tools. I may have to keep a set for myself. I love the way they feel; the ridges of the letters against their smoothness and the way the light hits them in my wooden bowl. They even retain a slightly smokey wood smell that is just delightful.
Since we are making alphabets out of wood it only made sense to make number sets as well. These squares number 0-9 and each set comes in a wooden box with counting chips.
And finally because they were just so much fun to make here are some tiny embroidered pins that I've made. Everything will posted very soon. Bear and I are very pleased with the direction AppleCrateToys is taking and we hope you all liked this sneak peek. Take care and Have fun!