Sunday, August 2, 2009

Star House on Etsy

Star House Folk are sweet, handmade wooden figures that are perfect to use with blocks, dollhouses, and for all sorts of imaginative play.

The figures are made of local, sustainable poplar wood. They are drawn, cut out with a saw, sanded, the details are burned onto the wood, then they are sanded again, painted with US made non-toxic water colors and finished with bee's wax and jojoba oil. All very safe.



Heather says that her designs are often inspired by her six year old daughter. They often sit and draw together, and that is when she come up with her designs. First, Heather has an idea and gets really about a new design. Then, her daughter starts talking about how she really wants one and about how she is going to play with it. Their collaboration is a fun way to spend time together, drawing and talking.

Heather's designs were originally intended to be a children's book. One day, Heather plans to write and illustrate her own children's stories. She says that her goal is "sending love and light to all the littles and bigs and biggers of the world through positive fun stories!"



When Heather was creating her first folks, some family friends came over. Their nine year old daughter had a lot of input when Heather was developing her initial style. Her father was one of the first people to encourage the Star Folk designs as a business by lending Heather his uncle's scroll saw. And, so a toy business was born.



Right now, Heather thinks about how children and adults use Star House Toys to create their own stories and finds that exciting and inspiring. Recently, she was asked to create the Bremen Town Musicians for a special order and just loved the way they turned out. Soon, she will do some for her shop, and she plans to add other classic stories as well. So now, inspiration comes from customers too!

Heather has a new baby now, and is looking forward to seeing what future inspiration comes from her new daughter. Congratulations, Heather!

Arielle is playing with a set of little rainbow "tweets" ($28.00) and a set of pink and blue lovebirds ($20.00).

Arielle's Story.

Once upon a time, Mommy Cardinal met Daddy Blue Jay and they fell in love and then they kissed and got married.



They built a nest, and the Mommy Cardinal lay six eggs. They kept the eggs warm until they hatched. Then they had six little chicks named Arielle, Linnea, Merlin, Elfie, Frank and Brett, and Daddy Blue Jay went to get worms and grubs.



Then they stacked the chicks in a pile and took care of them.



Then they fed them all day because the chicks were very hungry.



After they ate, the chicks played.



Mommy Bird and Daddy Bird put the chicks in bed after dinner.



They told them a story and pecked them gently on the head and said "Good night beautiful birdies, sleep tight."



The end.

1 comment:

Ashley said...

We love Starhouse! We have a couple sets of their friends and our daughter loves to play with them. They get many blocks houses, couches and beds built for them and are lovingly referred to as her "girls". Etsy is such a great place to find quality toys for our children and it is completely worth the extra cash, even in today's economy.