Spring into Action for Earth Day 2012!

Earth Day is coming up, and here at the Toy Garden we think it's one of the most important days of the year!

At the Toy Garden we make a point of trying to provide quality, ecologically friendly toys for our community by buying from earth-conscious companies like Plan Toys, Kathe Kruse, Green Toys, Myim, Eco-Kids and Kiss Naturals (just to name a few!).We look specifically for toys that are produced in an eco-friendly manner, and that promote earth-friendly living every day. Whether it's through local production, use of organic and recycled materials or energy efficient manufacturing, it's our goal for customers to be able to feel good about what they're buying and where it comes from.

This year we're celebrating the big day with another all-day Kid's Club event. From 11 am - 5 pm on April 24th, stop by the store to plant some seeds and do some fun, Earth Day coloring projects.We'll be planting flower and vegetable seeds in egg cartons that can easily be replanted in your own gardens later on. We'll also be asking for your help to brainstorm some fun ways to help promote green living in our community! Don't miss this great opportunity to celebrate springtime and do something helpful for our environment! 

All aboard for Trainfest 2012!

It's March again, and that means Trainfest!

After a few super successful and fun-filled years of hosting this event, the Toy Garden is happy to once again bring Trainfest to the Old Firehouse cafe in Fairhaven. The event will take place on March 31st, from 1:00-4:00 pm and costs $10/group. Bring your wooden train (remember to mark your pieces so you know they're yours!) and help build the biggest and best train set yet! Space IS limited, so please call or stop in to the store to reserve your floor space for building!

See you there! 

New for Spring!

These wonderfully sunny days have already got us looking forward to spring! Be sure to stop by the store and check out some of our new goodies, as we've started carrying a few new brands in the last months and will continue to be receiving awesome new items every week!

Here's a little bit of a sneak peek of what you might get to see:

Contraptions from Keva- Awesome build-it-yourself kits from Keva/Mind Ware. Build your own catapult, trebuchet or plank tracks!

   

Big Sister Rosy Cheek Dolls- Lovely soft-body dolls from The North American Bear Company. Three "Big Sisters" plus multiple adorable outfits to dress them in.

The Puppet Company stage puppets - Our newest line of puppets all the way from England! Specially made for puppet shows!

Clayzee Eraser Kits- Make your own erasers in wild colors and imaginative shapes! We have the learn-how kit as well as the refills!

The Piggy Story art aprons and play mats - We are SO EXCITED to finally carry some aprons that are great for art as well as cooking! The Piggy Story makes great, plasticized aprons with pockets in fun and colorful patterns. They also make portable play mats in the same cool patterns that are great for protecting table tops or picnicking in the park!

Newly redesigned Cuddlekins line by Wild Republic - After a lot of waiting, we've finally gotten in a huge shipment of the newest Cuddlekins from Wild Republic. These realistic, ultra-soft animals come in big and small sizes, and are true to the animal kingdom! The orange octopus and Asian elephant are some of our new favorites!

Snow-my-gosh!

Well, it's been quite the week in Bellingham! Starting with Monday's snow and then the wind and torrential rain yesterday, we finally experienced all the winter weather we were beginning to think we had escaped! Though it did make getting around a little bit of a hassle, everyone was definitely glad to get some time to play outside and enjoy the winter sports that only snow can make possible!

Today Robin led a "King Winter" felting workshop and it went wonderfully! All these wintry kings look very regal and sparkle just like the snow.Felting is a great activity to do during these blustery, gray months when being outside is just kind of icky. In fact, all of us have been feeling more inclined to stay indoors lately, and that's why we're really excited to be getting many new arts and crafts kits in stock!

Robi and Tina went to the toy show in Seattle last week and brought us back many new exciting items, including make-your-own erasers, the original Doodle Art kits and awesome new activity aprons with pockets and cool patterns! Our make your own soap and perfume kits have also been very popular lately-- they're great projects for a rainy day!

...and a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from all of us at the Toy Garden! We are hoping for a happy, creative, fun and prosperous year here and for all of you as well!

Now that the holiday craziness has finally subsided, we're turning our thoughts forward to the new year and the fun and exciting things happening soon at the Toy Garden. January brings back our felting workshops (Saturday mornings 11:00-1:00 pm) with a great lineup stretching all the way into March:

• Felted Gnomes
• Felted Little Red Riding Hood
• Felted King Winter
• Felted Wolf
• Felted Grandma
• Felted Heart Decoration
• Felted Purse
• Felted Nest w/ Eggs
• Felted Baby Chick
• Felted Basket
• Felted Bunny

For more details check our website's listing here or click the link at the top of our blog page to see what classes are coming up next. Due to space restrictions, classes are limited to 10 people (ages 10+) so be sure to call and pay over the phone or stop in at the store anytime to reserve a spot on the list!

Also, don't forget that our monthly Kid's Club event is coming up on January 16th! Since many of us have been patiently waiting and crossing our fingers for the snow to fly at Baker this winter (mostly to no avail) we thought we'd make some flakes of our own! This month, bring your best scissor skills and your imagination and we'll provide the paper to make all kinds of wintry weather of your own!  Recommended ages 5+ (younger children welcome when accompanied by extra scissor supervision & assistance) January 16 4-6 pm

Decking the Halls for December!

Stop by and check our our Elves' Workshop!

December is almost here, so get your advent calendars and Menorahs ready! If you haven't been in yet to check our our felt stockings, handmade German wooden ornaments, candle fans and nutcrackers, be sure to stop by soon as things are going fast! 

The first and closest-to-our-heart event this month is the Community Toy Store. The Community Toy Store serves families that are having a difficult time financially during the holiday season. They accept brand new toys, clothes and gift cards and sell them at for at least 75% of the original price to families in need.The money raised is then donated to local charities such as Rebound of Whatcom County and The Whatcom Dream, organizations that support families and work to break the cycle of poverty. This year come in to the Toy Garden and recieve 10% OFF any toys purchased for donation. For more information, visit their website at http://communitytoystore.org/whatcom/. 

One other way to help the community this season is by getting your gifts wrapped at the Toy Garden. All throughout the holidays, the Whatcom Humane Society will be wrapping presents by donation in our store. We're so glad we get to provide an opportunity for this wonderful charity to raise some money and also help you cross one task off your holiday to-do list! 

Also, don't forget that there is still a Kids Club event despite the holidays! We know that sometimes sending thank-yous can be hard to remember, so get a head start by joining us to make festive cards of your own! We'll provide the art supplies, you bring your imagination! Join us Wednesday, December 28th from 1 to 3 pm; space is limited so call to sign up at (360)-714-8552 

Happy Holidays from the Fairhaven Toy Garden!

Felted Santa!

As the end of the month and Thanksgiving approach , it's time for all of us to start thinking about snow, twinkling lights and especially delicious food! At the Toy Garden, it means practicing our wrapping skills, restocking the shelves and gearing up for a wonderful (and crazy-hectic) holiday season. 

Last weekend we kicked off the holiday shopping craze with Neighborhood Toy Store Day, which was a ton of fun and full of crafts and games for all. Robin and the felters crafted lovely little Tomtens on the 12th and yesterday Maria led a full class in making wonderful felt Santa Clauses (check out our facebook page or picasa web album to see the pictures!). Tuesday the 22nd is this month's Kid's Club event (leaf rubbings into place markers), which we hope will be a ton of fun. Space is limited so call and sign up today!

Post Thanksgiving, Fairhaven begins their celebrations with the Holiday Artwalk (November 25th & 26th, 5-9 pm) where merchants will display locally made arts and crafts materials, ornaments, jewelry, holiday cards and much more! Here at the Toy Garden we'll have hand-crafted German ornaments, candle holders and candle fans, nutcrackers and wool/felt decorations on display. Stop by the store to pick up a map of participating locations in Fairhaven today!

It's November already?!

I can't believe it's already November! This fall is flying by. We wrapped up October with a wonderful kids club event (painted pumpkins galore!) and a Halloween filled with awesome costumes and passing out tons of tiny toys. Almost 1,500 trick-or-treaters came down to celebrate the spooky occasion with us, and we saw everything from a mini Michael Jackson to a Port-o-potty.

Last Saturday workshoppers made miniature snowmen, and today Maria led the class in crafting felt ornaments. She used cool holiday colored felt and beads to make some of the most festive decorations I've seen so far this year! We also received the news that our Faber-Castell castle won the window-display portion of their contest, which is awesome! We were so happy to be able to participate in such a cool contest and we wish all the other winners and competitors a big congratulations! We were competing with some incredible displays and we feel very fortunate to have been chosen as the winner!

November is bringing many new events to the store as well, with Hape's "Play it Forward" contest wrapping up next weekend and Neighborhood Toy Store Day on the 12th. Stop by the store between 2:00-6:00 pm on Neighborhood Toy Store Day to participate in all kinds of crafts, game demonstrations, and juggling. We'll also be building a remote control machine, giving out prizes and cookies, and announcing the winner of Hape's play-kitchen contest. NTSD is sponsored by Astra, and all of their picks for best-toys-of-the-year will be on display!

The other great part of this day is that there will be an opportunity to help support a local charity, Blue Skies for Children. A silent auction of some of our most popular toys will be held during the week prior to NTSD and will conclude on Saturday the 12th. We especially encourage all of our customers to come in and check out this part of the event as Blue Skies for Children is a wonderful organization that does a lot of good things for our community that are especially important at this time of the year.

Last but not least, our free kids club will be happening on the 22nd of this month! Just in time for Thanksgiving, come in and make leaf-rubbing place cards for the holiday table with us! Using crayons and beautiful fall leaves, we'll make rubbings and then cut and decorate them as place cards. Space is limited so be sure to call and sign up! (Ages 5+ please)

Playing it Forward

Meadbha O'leary with her Faber-Castell Prizes!

Just in case you haven't seen the announcements on our Facebook page, the winners of the Faber-Castell 250th Anniversary Castle Contest have been announced (and we'd like to give another great big congratulations to Meadbha O'leary, our grand-prize winner)! We submitted all the castle drawings to the national contest (winners yet to be announced) and handed out some great runner-up prizes of art supplies to five other participants!

And now we've got a whole new kind of promotion going on! In an effort to promote charitable giving skills at an early age, Hape Toys is encouraging kids and parents alike to "play it forward" and enter charities of their choice to win a $1,000 donation. As extra incentive, Hape is also giving away 10 of their Gourmet Play Kitchens at 10 nation-wide retailers (1 per store). Customers who purchase any toy under the brand names Hape, Educo and/or Beleduc are eligible to fill out an entry form to win a play kitchen and also $1,000 dollars to their favorite charity! We're really excited about this contest because it gives us and our customers a chance to give back to important organizations in our community. Customers who have already filled out entry forms have submitted the Bellingham Food Bank, Sustainable Connections, Whatcom Humane Society, Nature Conservancy and Blue Skies for Children into the running (and that's just a few of them!).

Boo! Check out this week's felting class: Ghosts!

We're also pretty excited about this year's felting workshops, which have been producing so many awesome felt creations! Yesterday Maria showed the class how to make ghosts. Some were "classic", some had feet or trick-or-treat bags, some carried pumpkins...they were spooky and cute all at the same time! Next week's felted snowman class with Robin is sure to wonderful, and there are still a couple of open spots if anyone is interested! (Be sure to call ahead and reserve your spot).

Last but not least, don't forget that trick-or-treating in Fairhaven this Halloween is the best place to be! Stop by the store for a treat, we can't wait to see all your wild costumes!

For more information about trick-or-treating in Fairhaven, click here.

Woolly Witches!

The past two Saturdays have been super busy at the store, filled with felting and Halloween preparations. Our first felting workshops of the season went fabulously, with witches and notebook covers coming out wonderfully!

Last Saturday Robin taught our kickoff class of the season, guiding felters through the process of making their notebook covers using sheets of wool felt and roving. Some people chose to make spooky fall scenes, while others made colorful pictures from their imaginations! There was even a mermaid!

Yesterday, Maria taught her very first felting class (hooray!) and filled our store full of woolly little witches of all shapes and sizes. Workshops have been incredibly popular this year, with our sign up lists already reaching capacity for some weekends...that means all the more reason to call ahead and reserve a space! Still to come in October are felted pumpkins, ghosts and a felted snowman!

We are also getting pretty excited for the conclusion of Faber-Castell's Dream Castle contest (we can't wait to find out the winners!), and of course for the most imaginative holiday of all: Halloween! More and more costumes and masks have been coming in every day--none of us can decide what we're going to dress up as yet, but we are sure having fun trying on all kinds of different disguises!

To stay up to date with what's going on in the store, or to see more pictures from our workshop series, check out our Facebook page.

Workshops Return for Fall & Costumes Galore!

This weekend felting workshops are making their return to the Toy Garden! There's been so much interest this summer about when the classes will return to the store, so we're expecting a great turnout this season (see schedule at the bottom of this post). We're beginning the felting season with an awesome felted notebook cover. Robin has her display copy up in the store right now and it is so cute!

Robin's Felted Notebook Cover

We've also gotten so many cool new art supplies in over the last few weeks, including more of our fabulous felting kits. If you're in need of colored pencils, origami paper, or any kind of face/body painting supplies for the upcoming holiday, we've got you covered.

Speaking of Halloween, there are tons of new and classic quality costumes in our store this time of year! Whether you're aspiring to be a mermaid, a tiger or an astronaut, we have all the supplies to make this October 31st your best one yet! For older children and adults we also have crazy and creative hats, masks and "embellished" glasses (the dinosaur mask is my personal favorite!). If you're feeling crafty, we even have a make your own glow-in-the-dark mask kit!

October Felting Schedule: Classes cost $8.00 and are appropriate for ages 10+ Payment is requested when registering to reserve your spot (only ten spaces available) 

Call: 360-714-8552

Workshops Presents:  October 1: Felted Notebook Cover  Start with a 3 ring binder with a plastic sleeve cover, felt a picture, insert into sleeve, and you have the makings of a beautiful, unique gift. It could be a photo album, personal cookbook, or great school presentation! Ages:10 and up. Cost: $8 per person October 8: Felted Witch Get ready for Halloween with this lady! Ages:10 and up. Cost:$8 per person October 15: Felted Pumpkin One of our most popular workshops, you can make yours large or small, and any color you want! Sign up early for this. Ages:10 and up. Cost: $8 per person October 22: Felted Ghost Just in time for Halloween, yours can be cute or scary! Ages:10 and up. Cost: $8 per person Call 714-8552 to register Payment is requested when registering Click here for a complete listing of workshops:  Fairhaven Toy Garden Workshops

It's Finally Fall!

Fall is here and summer is over, but it was great to see everyone at the barbecue and sidewalk sale on Saturday! Even though the weather was a little bit crazy, a lot of people showed up and it was a great time (and the salmon & corn sure were tasty, too!). Even our gnomes were spotted Saturday afternoon down on the green, making all kinds of mischief!

We also got off to a great start building our big colorful castle, and handed out the castle contest forms all day. I really hope we get a lot of beautiful entries back in to brighten up the store even more as the days start getting shorter and darker. So far not too many people have turned their drawings in so everyone's odds of winning are good!

If you're in our Kids Club, don't forget that our next monthly event is coming up on the 27th at 4:00 pm.! We're all so excited because Libby will be visiting just for this special afternoon! We'll all be dressing up in our pajamas (you should, too!) and reading some of our favorite stories aloud. Since summer has come to an end and Kids Club events have now returned to the store location, space is limited to 10 kids. If you're interested in coming down, call and let us know (360-714-8552)!

One other thing to note this month is our new online trivia questions. Be sure to check the Fairhaven Toy Garden facebook page to stay up to date with our latest toy-and-game themed puzzlers. Come in with the correct answer and choose a prize from our treasure chest!

Tuck, Trixie and Toggin playing dress up on the green!

(Photos by Jen Martin Studios)

Last but not least, it that time of year again for the Best of Western Washington contest. If you've enjoyed our store and have a few extra minutes, we'd love to have your vote! Go here to vote for us, as well as your other favorite local businesses! We appreciate your time and positive feedback so much!

Fairhaven Salmon BBQ & Sidewalk Sale

Here at the Toy Garden we are all very busy this week preparing for the big weekend ahead!Once Again the Old Fairhaven Association is hosting the Fairhaven Salmon Barbecue, sending summer off with delicious local food, music and general fun for all ages. Many Fairhaven businesses (including the Toy Garden!) will also be having sidewalk sales with all kinds of great specials and surprises. Our lovely gnomes, who are all big fans of a good barbecue, will be out and about all afternoon too!

This year we are also participating in Faber-Castell's 250th Anniversary "Dream Castle" contest. We carry many of Faber-Castell's great art supplies and are very excited to use some of their products (the twist-up gel sticks are my absolute favorite!) while building & decorating! Saturday we'll be out on the sidewalk pasting, painting and assembling our castle; kids ages 3 to 12 are invited to come down and color or draw castles from their own imagination and enter to win a Grand Prize of $500 in Faber-Castell children's art products, a year of art classes at Yong Rembrandts and a $500 Visa gift card! To get a head start on the contest, or just to check out some of the other cool entries Faber-Castell has received, anyone can visit their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/CastleContestUSA. We're really encouraging everyone to put their wildest imagination to use and enter the contest because the prizes are awesome!

Alongside the castle-building extravaganza, we will also have all kinds of great toys on sale at our sidewalk sale. This includes a last chance to snag some discontinued items that we'll no longer be carrying at the Toy Garden so be sure to stop by!

Fairhaven Salmon BBQ 2011

Sidewalk Sale 11 am - 5 pm

Barbecue 1 pm - 4 pm

For more information, click here.

Hedgehog Pincushion Workshop

The 5th season of felting came to a close today. I lead a class on making felted hedgehogs. If made compact enough, the little critter could even be used as a pincushion. I got this idea out of a book we sell entitled "Wool Toys and Friends" by Lauren Sharp. I made my first one in March. I was leading a tutorial at an employee meeting to teach some of the others how to felt and thought that it would be a good beginning piece. Since then I have made several as presents for family members and friends, which were all well received.

I eagerly requested to teach this workshop and was so excited to see how the different hedgehogs would turn out. Since this is a great introduction to felting, a couple of younger students were able to join. They were very patient and excited to learn and give character to their creatures with lots of color. As Carol has mentioned, one of the best parts of teaching the classes is seeing all the different variations that the participants will take from what you show them. Several of the adult students decided that instead of using the curly roving that takes the place of quills, they would keep the smooth, brown surface and just add the decorative head bow. They turned so well, that I want to try one for myself!

Classes will start back up in the Fall. Check back in on our website for a schedule.

Puppy Workshop

We're getting down to our last two workshops of the season. There is a little break at the end of May for summer, but don't worry, we start up again near the end of September. We all know there are dog people and then there are cat people and for those who didn't come to last week's kitten workshop, Carol taught today's students how to make a felted puppy.

I wasn't in the store during the workshop, but I got to talk to Carol about how it went. She said, "Everyone loves puppies. This seemed to be true as our workshop this time was full with people on the waiting list. Participants brought photos of favorite canine friends. There was a nice mix of children and adults and as we got into the project I heard a lot of sharing of tips about how to create an ear or a collar. A few had to leave early and not everyone finished, but the photo shows the range and creativity of this project."

Not only were there lots of different breeds created, but oodles of color not usually seen on dogs. Employee, Robi, commented, "There were blue dogs, there were green dogs, it was like Go Dog Go!" It sounds like quite a bit of imagination

Kitten Workshop

Every Saturday from late November until the end of May, we have felting workshops in the store from 11:00-1:00. This week local artist, Carol Hewitt led the class is making a felted kitten. The ages ranged from 91/2 to adult, but all students had high energy. Everyone was equally ecstatic to learn how to turn a pipe-cleaner feline skeleton into a cuddly kitten.

When asked how the work shop went, Carol replied, "I am impressed by the variety of colors used. We have orange & black, lavender striped, orange, blue & gray cats as well as black & white. Participants had time to make sparkley collars and even several cat beds and play balls". Next week is a puppy. I can't wait to see what colors and breeds are created!

Dirty Dan Days

I was recently told that this is the coldest Spring on record since....forever! And I believe it. We've had so much rain and and freezing temperatures that it is hard to believe that it's closer to Summer than Winter (technically of course). In Fairhaven, there have been a lot of fun events to attempt to usher in the sun. Accompanied by Robin and Carol, I worked at the Fairhaven Toy Garden booth at Dirty Dan Days. We were teaching children (and anyone who wanted to learn) how to make wet felted balls. In order to do this, you put wool roving into a nylon, dip it in warm soapy water and then alternate pounding it on the bricks or rolling it between your palms. By far the best part was watching the children smacking their balls onto the ground, sending sprays of sudsy water every which way. Over 150 balls were made and we had a great time helping the kids and listening to the live music.

Spring is in the Air

We had two Kids' Club events in the last 30 days. We did egg games and window painting in April for in anticipation of Easter. And this month, for Mother's Day, the club members made glass bead necklaces. Both of these activities were really fun. During this last one, it was really interesting to see all the different designs and patterns that kids came up. All of the necklaces turned out beautifully. You can see all of them and their creators on our Facebook! Our next activity will be a picture frame for Father's Day. Check out Fairhaven.com for complete details.

I Spy....A Toy Store!

Another exciting activity that is part of working at the Fairhaven Toy Garden is constructing a variety of window displays. Since we have a corner location we have a lot of windows, which means plenty of space to create different scenes and images with any of our products. Recently, fellow employee, Ben and I built a display in one of our front windows. It consists of a little doll and the assortment of creatures and automobiles within her dream. Not only is this a magical sight to behold, but it has also been turned into a game! There is a chalkboard in the background with a list of different objects to discover. Find them all, come in and tell us and you receive a prize!

Reuies: Reusable Snack and Sandwich Bags

It's back-to-school time and the Fairhaven Toy Garden has all sorts of fun and nessessary items for your child's backpack. One of our new favorite products are Reusies. Made by a group of moms locally in Seattle, Washington, Reusies are a new green way to pack lunches. The fabric comes in many different, creative patterns and colors. It is 100% cotton with a leak resistant nylon liner that is PVC, lead, BPA and phthalate free. Reusies can be washed along side either your dishes or laundry. These great bags save hundreds of plastic bags from being thrown away and eliminate the contact of plastic and your favorite meal.