Felt again for Halloween

This might be the last year for Halloween costumes made by Mom. Solomon (6) made his own adorable tree costume and Satchel (4) made an awesome super Satchel costume, but they BOTH insisted on specific super heroes this year for trick-or-treat.

Thank goodness for the library and a sticker book. I had no idea what Iron Man and Blue Power Ranger look like. I'm not sure how my boys know so much about these heroes since we lack a television and their schools don't have commercial action figures lying around. I think super hero knowledge must travel from kids-to-kids wherever they play! (I think Solomon really wanted an LED light shining from his chest.)

I hope they will get a lot of wear our of their costume PJs. (Thanks for the hand-me-downs Aunt Jody!)

Happy Halloween!

Eco Fashion Show

Last month, Satch & Sol participated in an eco-fashion show with other members of Green America.

The show took place in Deer Lodge, Montana and was accomplished by Anna Hermann of Herman's ECO Inc.

Thank you for including Satch & Sol, Anna!

Felted Purses Return

Back by popular demand, Satch & Sol is offering a limited supply of lovely hand-felted purses in soft pink, deep blue and light burnt orange. All felted purses are handmade in Mongolia by one artist who is located close to the slipper artists.

I am so happy to be able to offer three colors in one style for 2009.

Reminder: Slippers for School Program

Solomon begins Kindergarten in 13 days. He is keeping a calendar in his bedroom and marks off the days at bedtime. Solomon is excited and nervous, and, well, so am I. Solomon is ready with school supplies, including his "indoor shoes" to keep in his cubby at school. He selected the blue mocs that he decorated for himself a few months ago.

All this preparation reminded me of the Slippers for School savings program that was a success during our online launch last year. A few schools have already taken advantage of the 25% savings for their group this year.

If your group can commit to purchasing at least six pairs of slippers, Satch & Sol will send you a savings code for your group to use for anything in the online boutique. You select the dates for the savings code to be in effect and the ship date. Satch & Sol ships all the items to one location for you to distribute. Shipping is free. If interested, please email me at handmade@satchsol.com. Thank you!

Happy Birthday to the online boutique

Our online boutique celebrated its one year anniversary several days ago, and I forgot to celebrate until this evening. Happy 1st Birthday!

I will now celebrate by wrapping gifts, writing cards, and printing shipping labels for today's orders. Although first, I need to go put my four year old back to bed, for the third time tonight. This small business owner really knows how to throw a party!

Although we opted for homemade popsicles rather than cake tonight, we selected zucchini from our tiny garden and made a special zucchini pancake dinner. And, there was face paint (applied by the kids). My children loved it, although neither seemed to understand what aspect of our family business we were celebrating.

I am so thankful for this past year of learning, community, successes and trials. I am especially grateful to the artists in Mongolia who have been a pleasure to work with (since long before the online boutique began) and to the customers who have visited us online. For a birthday present, I will send a savings code out to the newsletter list sometime soon. If you want to receive it, please sign up by creating an account and checking the newsletter option.

I look forward to Year Two!

New New New

I am excited to add new colors, styles and products for Fall and Winter. You will see them appear gradually in the online boutique by September 1.

Some of the lovely new items the artists made have yet to arrive...and perhaps are lost in their travels forever. I hope someone, somewhere will enjoy them and appreciate the handcrafted beauty of each piece. Ahhhhhhh, but I am so happy to have the ones that arrived! My favorite are the natural flowers with their muted burnt orange pedals. They make me pine for toddler feet in our household again. I will happily gift a pair to my newborn niece.

Watch for new felted wool mittens, hats and gloves in baby and toddler sizes!

Calling all Local Crafters

The 2nd annual Fun Fair for Northwest Center Child Development Program (NWC) will be Saturday, October 3, 2009, 2-6pm. If you live in the Seattle area, please join us and definitely bring the kids! This event is for the community. There will be a bake sale, fun for the kids, live music, a silent auction and local craft vendors. Please see the website for directions to the Queen Anne school at 2919 1st Ave N, Seattle, WA 98118.

Satch & Sol will be offering a sample sale, as one of the vendors, with very low prices for discontinued colors and styles of slippers, apparel and animal ornaments.

If you are a crafter or small business looking for a family-focused audience, please email me for a vendor application at susan@satchsol.com. NWC has a modest fundraising goal for the event, so all vendors will be asked to donate a flat dollar amount or a percent of sales made at the event - you decide.

I have been involved with NWC for a few years and absolutely love the place! We all enjoyed attending the inaugural Fun Fair last year. My kids are so excited to go again this year.

eco summer fun

The boys are getting increasingly crafty this summer. Suddenly, I am not allowed to put anything into the recycle bin...at least not until it has been made into a boat, a bridge, or something else and repetitively played with.

I am overjoyed that my thriftiness and desire to leave a small footprint is rubbing off on our sons. Their efforts (even beyond the consistent art projects) have inspired me to look for more eco-friendly products and business practices for Satch & Sol. Here are a few of our recent efforts below.

Recently, we decreased the size of our Seattle city garbage can to the smallest available, about 2 cubic feet. We (work and home combined) still don't fill it. Affording ourselves less weekly garbage space has made us even more cognizant of our purchases at the grocery store and elsewhere, i.e., to purchase less and to search out items with very little packaging.

Although some boutiques still require a paper catalog to make their purchase consideration, I have narrowed it down to just one simple page (from three previously) and I continue to print on recyclable, high PCW content paper. More and more, boutiques are happy with web images and emailed paperless brochures to view on their screens.

I applied to Green America for certification of Satch & Sol! I hear that it is a long application process, so I will provide an update on the blog when I hear about acceptance or suggested improvements to be made. I am looking forward to this process.

Fundraising with Satch & Sol

It's a win-win opportunity. Savings for you, friends, and family when you shop online. A check to your school or non-profit organization for a percent of total revenue.

In a nutshell, you can raise funds for your school or organization by spreading the word about Satch & Sol. Anyone who uses your group's savings code online will be saving a little from their purchase. And, a percent of total sales revenue generated by the savings code users will go to your organization by check at the end of the designtated time period.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please email me at handmade@satchsol.com.

At Satch & Sol, we love to support schools and family-oriented nonprofit organizations. We want to help you grow!

more adult size slippers are here!

New slippers for grown-ups are in Seattle. I will add them to the online boutique Wednesday afternoon. Please watch for woolly grey hitch, more raspberry moccasin sizes, missy pinks, and sunshine flowers - all for grown-ups!

This is great! (an option for CPSIA preparation in Denver)

Several small businesses in the Denver area came together to lead test with a certified XRF tester. This blog gives the details about their testing 'party'. Another NWEM small business owner sent the information to me. (Thank you!) I am interested in a similar effort here in Seattle. Anyone else want to participate?

In the meantime, I sent many products to The Smart Mama to lead test with her wealth of experience using her XRF machine. This will ensure that I have the proper GCC forms for customers for February shipments. However, I would like to help organize a 'party' here for my new products to arrive in late February and several more small quantity handmade items that are in my current inventory. (These items are not availabe in the online boutique currently.)

And, of course, I am planning to do the required digestive testing for August 2009. I am in the queue for setting up the testing with an approved third party tester.

(The photo has nothing to do with the post. I just adore the woolly white yak made from fabric scraps.)