Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know of an event I'm planning with the store. September 3rd thru 5th I'm having a pop up shop - taking over a storefront on the Danforth for a few days to bring out all the fun and let you touch and try before you buy (or just come and check us out - but that rhymed!)

Below is the blurb we shared with local bloggers and event calendars.
Hope I see you there for a bit of lemonade!

Little Footprints Eco-Friendly Back to School Pop-Up Shop Sale

Come join Toronto e-tailer Little Footprints September 3 -5^th on the Danforth to browse and shop their unique selection of Eco-Friendly toys and games for kids of all ages. There will be lemonade to enjoy, toys to try out including a Piggy Paint nail bar where you can try out the 'Natural as Mud' nailpolish. That's not all! There will be special sale prices on our educational products - including 10% off all our Stockmar and Clementine Art products. Little Footprints is Canada's leading on-line Eco-Friendly toy store dedicated to sustainably, responsibly and ethically sourced products for kids of all ages and we hope to see you there!

Event details:

1390 Danforth Avenue (east of Greenwood station)

Hours:

Friday 1pm – 8pm

Saturday 10am-6pm

Sunday 12pm-3pm

More information available at www.littlefootprintstoys.com

One in the Hand Equals Three On The Tree

We went on a pear pick the other day. Last year I signed us up as volunteers for Not Far From The Tree a local charitable organization that gleans local trees for their fruit and shares the bounty. Without clobbering them over the head with it, they are only 3 and 6 after all!, I have been looking for ways to teach my kids to understand where their food comes from as well as to be socially aware and giving. I must admit my family did bring me up to be very self sufficient but not very philanthropic - I hope to do a bit better with my kids.

Anyway....

Back to the trees. After patiently waiting a whole year to be called to pick and missing a few chances we finally made the picker cut and the three of us went a' pickin'. The kids loved it! My daughter was a dab hand at the picking tool as she gleefully picked any pear she could reach. My son, a wee bit smaller, was quite happy to collect the fallen fruit into a separate bag - an occasionally eat a few . Their chatter kept everyone laughing and it was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

Fun as it was it was also wonderfully productive. NFFTT is a food share program. The owner of the tree lists their tree with the organization and when the fruit is ready to pick a team of 'gleaners' is dispatched to pick the tree as clean as they can, as well as tidy up any fallen fruit mess and debris from the pick. The bounty is divided into thirds; 1/3 for the tree owner, 1/3 divided among the pickers and 1/3 goes to food banks and organizations that feed those in need. Pretty neat, huh? Over 6,000 pounds have been picked so far in Toronto alone.

For our pick we weighed in at in excess of 250 pounds of pears and since no one took their full share over 100 pounds of fresh ready to ripen pears were taken to a local food bank that evening. All the while a gentle lesson in community, sharing and ecology was passed onto my kids that afternoon.

Pretty fruitful day if you ask me ;)
Sign up your tree if you have one - we'll happily come pick it for ya!

Thanks for stopping by for a read, BHappy and have fun.

Why I Love... Piggy Paints

We received our 1st shipment of Piggy Paints back in March, I even blogged about them coming into the shop.

So why do I love them so much? For starters they have no harsh chemicals, no funky smell and a range of beautiful and fun colours. Up until I found them I didn't let my daughter use nail polish. Well that's *almost* true. I did buy her a bottle of natural polish when she was about 3 at the health food store once, spent over $12 on it, but the colour went on so transparently that she was hugely disappointed with the results, it was an epic fail. Then Piggy Paints came along and after doing my research and trying them myself I decided they were both safe enough and vibrant enough for us both to be happy about it. I was sooo right! Of course by this time she was 6 and I had my 3 year old son watching us so naturally he wanted in on the fun. Luckily Piggy Paints come in some boyish colours like green, yellow and blue and since I'm a mom who tries to not pigeon hole my kids into gender specific play I let him in on the act. Green 'Dragon Nails' I called them and he proudly sports them on his toes whenever he gets a chance. And yes, some parents give us the oddest looks but we generally try to laugh about it.

A client just told me that after she picked up 3 different colours and a remover for her daughter they has spent the following week doing each others nails every day, not because the colours fade or chip that quickly, but because they are having so much fun changing them up and bonding over the girlie experience.

When she bought them I shared with her that they are now my polish of choice for my own nails. At first she was surprised but I went on to explain that I wasn't very happy about wearing such harsh chemicals myself and found them to wear really well if I followed the directions. So while she put it on initially because her daughter wanted her to she found that she really likes them as a big girl polish too!

I also think they are fantastic for new moms. I stopped wearing polish all together when I had my first-born. She would suckle my finger for comfort and I was not at all comfortable with the idea of her sucking traditional polish. Sometimes I would put polish on to go out in the evening, away from my kid because of the strong smell, and promptly remove it the next morning followed by a nice long soak to remove any chemical residue. But that's a lot of extra work for a new mom with a newborn so I quickly abandoned the polish and the ritual.

Course my kids are both beyond the finger sucking age now but for new mothers I think Piggy Paints can make a great gift, a little something to pamper themselves with and they don't have to worry about exposing their wee ones too the chemicals or smells of traditional polishes and removers - even Piggy Paints remover is virtually odorless and made from natural corn.

So I love them because they are vibrant, natural and have a creative colour selection that appeals to kids but I also love them because I think they are great for mommies too!

I love them so much that the shop has begun to offer Piggy Paint Polish Parties bothy privately and at store events. If you want to try them out yourself and your in the Toronto area we will be having a Piggy Paint Nail Bar at our next pop-up shop September 3rd - 5th. For more details for location and times check out our News page at the shop and call the shop for details on how to host your own girlie polish party.

Thanks for reading, BHappy and have fun today!

Wow how time flies! It has been a long time since I posted here and I am sorry for that. My only excuse is time and inspiration -they seem to escape me now-a-days, at least for this blog. But I'm back and I am newly inspired.

My challenge seems to have been that I hit a white elephant, well not literally, but figuratively. I kept thinking my posts had to be inspired and engaging but didn't know where my voice for this blog. I'm not 100% comfortable sharing information about my kids and family or my life as a mother. I like to share what we do and how we have fun but honestly I was never one to keep a journal so I often feel odd writing it all down here. Then it struck me, one of my greatest inspirations is the store, or more specifically the products in it and so very often I find myself telling people I meet, customers and friends about what makes the products in the shop so especially great (IMHO) - so there you have it, I plan to write about "Why I Love..." toys and games that I have chosen to carry at Little Footprints and I hope that also inspires me to share a bit more about the things I do with my family that I think you might enjoy or be interested in too.

My next post will be my first "Why I Love..." post. I hope you like it!