Since we're on the subject of toys and going handmade this time of year...it's very important that we rally around our cottage and home businesses in this country and....
This company, Mahar Drygoods, is a great example of a cottage business who makes very affordable and very adorable handmade toys. I recently discovered this one and many others on Hyena Cart - a collection of earth-friendly shops with homeworkers (both male and female) going homemade offering everything from cloth diapers to carriers. As if it weren't difficult and challenging enough for these small cottage industries to compete with the big chain stores and malls out there, now our own government is on the verge of making it impossible...
Here is their excellent article on saving handmade toys with all the facts and pleas for assistance...what we can all do to inform our respective legislators to support - as opposed to destroying - our country's cottage handmade toy makers across the nation. Please go to this link and take action! We can make a difference! We handmaders, homeworkers, homesteaders, homeschoolers, homemakers...and anyone and everyone in between who supports these ideals...need to let our voices be heard! : D