Sponsored giveaway : Wooly Moss Roots

I am delighted to introduce you to one of my wonderful sponsors, a fellow Oregonian(even though I'm not a native) and quite easily my favorite button shop Wooly Moss Roots. You may remember seeing some of their handmade goodness in my latest KCCO post. I have to say, pictures do not do justice to the beauty of their work. You truly have to hold one of their creations in your own hands to fully get a sense of all the love and detail that goes into them. You can read more about the shop and the talented family behind it at Taryn's blog.



Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your shop?

Hello Frontier Dreams readers! My name is Taryn. I live on a small homestead in the Oregon Coastal Range with my husband Jeff and our son Bracken (who will be two in October.) We love gardening and creating with our hands.
Our business, Wooly Moss Roots, offers high quality artisan handmade wooden buttons, herbal goodness and wooly delights. We love providing artisan buttons for knitters, sewers, crafters, and creative people of all kinds and we're happy to make custom sets for your special projects. We enjoy coming up with healthy herbal products, like herbal salves and natural tooth powder, and have lots of fun crafting wooly delights for wool lovers.

How did Wooly Moss Roots come about?

We started with our first shop, Mystic Orb, offering natural wooden jewelry and wood creations for the home and garden. When we started offering herbal salves and artisan buttons, we realized it was time to start a second shop. The name of my blog was Wooly Moss Roots, and it felt like a good name for our second shop too. The name was an inspiration that came, encompassing three things my soul deeply loves- wool, moss, and roots. Wool feels like home to me, when I saw the moss covered trees around this area I knew I wanted to live here, and sinking my roots into this place has been the best feeling.



How long have you and Jeff been creating together?

We met in 2005 and it wasn't long before we were creating together. Then we started selling at the Eugene Saturday Market in Eugene, Oregon. Next we started our online shop Mystic Orb, then our online shop, Wooly Moss Roots. Now we balance doing the market, our online shops, and also selling in a few local stores. We squeeze in homesteading activities whenever we can.



Do you think your son will be creating along side of you in the future? (or does he even help you now??) How has he influenced your shop?

Yes, I do think Bracken will be creating along side us. Jeff and I love seeing where Bracken's creativity leads. Our home life and work life are woven together, so Bracken participates in it all. Bracken is always with us and watches everything we do. And he does help us now. His favorite way to help these days is to gather ingredients for our herbal products in the garden. He's happiest when he's outside and wants to be out there all the time. (I'm writing this while he is napping next to me and as soon as he wakes up we'll be heading back out there.) He loves picking Calendula and St.John's Wort flowers and putting them in the harvest basket. He sees me set the flowers in the basket and he puts them in there too (along with some other little treasures he finds here and there, which always surprises me and makes me laugh when I'm emptying out the basket inside.)
He was the inspiration for our new Blissful Baby Balm. His picture is even on the label. He continues to inspire ideas for new things to make.



What do you think makes your beautiful buttons so unique?

I think what makes our buttons so unique is the amount of time that goes into them. Our buttons are worked on Jeff's machine that was actually made for cabbing stone, so the shine it gives to the wood is simply amazing. It makes the wood look like polished stone! Not only does Jeff sand them on four stages, then he polishes them on two stages, to get an "eyeglass" finish. He goes beyond making them silky smooth and actually shapes them, which brings them to life. Most buttons are flat because shaping them takes a lot of extra work, but we think the extra effort is worth it and it really sets our buttons apart. Also, we have the most gorgeous reclaimed woods that we are so grateful to work with and they really create some amazing buttons. Those who pour so much time and energy into their special handmade projects appreciate finishing them with Wooly Moss Roots buttons, knowing they're created with that same dedication and love. Each button is a work of art, lovingly handmade. It's something you can feel when you hold them in your hands.



Any thing else you'd like to share?

Yes! We are offering an ongoing deal, with a chance for you to win three sets of Wooly Moss Roots buttons of your choice. We would love to see our buttons in Yarn Shops around the world. Do you have a favorite local yarn shop where you'd like to see our buttons? Or several? Here's how our offer works: you tell your local yarn shop about our buttons, letting them know that you would like to see Wooly Moss Roots buttons there, give them our website and let them know we offer wholesale prices (50% off retail.) Then send me an e-mail letting me know your name and the yarn shop you contacted. If they place a wholesale order with us, we will contact you and you'll get to enjoy three sets of free buttons! You can read more about our offer here. It's a win-win for everyone and makes lots of people happy!

...................................................

For the giveaway: we would like to give the following to one winner:







Three Sets of Buttons

-1 set of 3 small heart buttons in reclaimed purpleheart wood
-1 set of 4 small buttons in reclaimed sassafras
-1 set of 2 large buttons in reclaimed sassafras



And one Magical Healing Salve in Mini Size

Giveaway is open for international entries.

For a chance to win, simply leave a comment on this post!

If you would like a second entry "like" Wooly Moss Roots Facebook Page.

Also, we are offering a coupon code to Frontier Dreams readers for the duration of the giveaway. Use the coupon code:
FDFREESHIP and get Free Shipping Worldwide! (This is the first time we've ever offering free shipping worldwide, it's a really great deal!)

Thank you Taryn and Jeff. This is such a generous giveaway. I can not say enough about how absolutely stunning their buttons are in person. Don't miss out on this chance to have some of your very own through this giveaway or by checking out their shop for even more handmade creations.

I will close comments the evening of Wednesday September 5th and announce the winner within this post that day. Please be sure to check back to see if you won!
Good luck everyone!

Comments closed

The winner is:

cokelush
"These are beautiful! Thanks for the giveaway.
Robin Phillips-Knotts"

Congrats!!

Sponsored giveaway : Wooly Moss Roots

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture and share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.



Things are moving along on C's special project using the yummiest of yarns. I put it down a few times this past week to work on a couple of things for K. School starts next week for her and I am nowhere near ready! But let's not think about that, this is a time for being calm. So back to C's project - Does it seem a bit odd that I already have the perfect buttons ready and waiting? Just look at them, though. Aren't they beautiful? I mean can you really blame me? *swoon* They are handmade from local (Oregon) cedar wood. I keep them on my desk as motivation to 'just keep knitting'. Sewing them on when it is all done will be the icing on the cake. I can't wait!

I realize that not only is the first day of school quickly approaching, but so is K's birthday. I need to really get on the ball and start thinking about what to sew her...

p.s - If you are as in love with the buttons as I am, make sure you come back later this week for a fantastic giveaway!

If you would like to link up and share your current works in progress (or finished works) please leave your link below. It can now be either to your specific blog post or Flickr photo. There are no rules, only that your link is current and something about a craft project (of any kind) you are working on. Don't forget that there is now a KCCO Flickr group for you to share your crafting photos at anytime.

Please remember to link back here so that others who may want to join KCCO can find us.

It's as simple as that. Remember your post can be from any day of the week, it doesn't have to be today. We all love feedback so if you have a moment please leave a comment on some of the KCCO posts you may visit. I know from my own experience just how much your comments really motivate me! Now please share and inspire us all!

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

The ache for home lives in all of us

K wanted her picture taken in front of the door with rainbows and hearts





















Last week's visit from Purple Grandma is quite a blur now, but a happy blur. It was good catching up with her after more than a year since her last visit. She enjoys going out and doing things so we try our best to cater to that. It's a nice way to be a tourist in our own town. We have lived here three years now but we tend to go out in nature when we do head out, so we haven't explored much of the city around us. Of course the girls just wanted to stay at Grandma's hotel and swim the whole time. Unfortunately the weather wasn't agreeing with their plan. It was quite chilly for an August week but they did get one day of swimming. As I am sure you can see in the pictures above, they were freezing afterwards, but it was worth it to them.

We ate out a lot and the children looked forward to trying new things each night. They especially enjoyed a playground next to Native Foods. Baby L made us all crack up with his antics. He would climb through the tunnel and come out doing this funny chicken walk with his neck sticking out and his arms flying behind him. What a character that boy of mine is. Speaking of eating out - while the restaurants we ate at were all vegan and relatively healthy, we all felt pretty sick by the end of the week (not to mention that Kevin and I gained a few pounds). On Saturday we officially began our Forks Over Knives diet lifestyle. (I don't like the word 'diet' because to me it implies that it's a fad and will come to an end.) It was a spur of the moment decision. The hardest part for me is no more coffee. I pretty much suffered caffeine withdrawal instantly. I had no clue how addicted I was! When I woke up Saturday morning Kevin had some tea (a gift from my wonderful friend Mackenzie) steeping for me instead of my usual coffee. That was a nice surprise but I was really regretting my late night Downton Abbey Marathon the night before. Psst Mom, if you are reading this, you'd love Downton Abbey.

I knit quite a bit in the car during all of our sightseeing and re-read Ibsen's 'A Doll's House' for about the thirtieth time in my life. I have now happily moved on to A Severe Mercy. I am only about fifty pages into it but I am hooked already.

I didn't mean to be so absent here. Just before we had to drive Purple Grandma to the airport on Friday I had a minor (ok, it was major to me at the time) issue with the blog. I almost had to temporarily shut it down. It appeared that some of my photos were being stolen. I tried not to think about it and enjoy our last bit of time with Grandma but it weighed heavily on my mind. Thank goodness for kind, sincere people like Jeni who came to my rescue and saved the day. I have a feeling I will be moving my blog in the near future, and when I do you can bet I will be going through her. Thanks again Jeni!!

So that's where I am at now. I think I will go sneak in a few more pages of my book before I go to bed. How was your week?

The ache for home lives in all of us

Bringing balance

I have been in the process of cleaning out our pantry to follow the Forks Over Knives diet. One day as I did just that, Baby L did some work of his own. He pulled out all the items on the bottom shelf of our pantry and spent about a half hour organizing and reorganizing them. He was very serious and quite intent about what he was doing.

Another day I found our sweet potatoes neatly lined up on a windowsill in our dining room. Baby L struck again organizing the way he saw fit. Who is this little baby? He is not like his sisters and he couldn't possibly be the child of unorganized, hopeless me. I know, I know, this is probably just a phase. But maybe, just maybe this is a little bit of who he is. Did I mention that he loves to follow me around the house with a duster and dust all the way?! Oh boy, does he ever. Then there's cleaning the windows. He'll come rushing into any room he hears that familiar squeak of the rag and the vinegar on glass. I have learned to always have an extra rag already waiting for him.







And dishes! Oh how he loves to help Mama wash the dishes. I am sure he, somehow or other, intentionally wore clothing to match our dishes, too. He's sneaky like that, you know!





With so much work to be done my little boy gets tuckered out easily and falls asleep just about anywhere. He reminds me a lot of Freddie (and I foresee projects from that book in the future). I have never had a child fall asleep in the middle of eating before. He literally pushed his food away, put his head down on the tray and was out in seconds. I had to snap a photo or two before wrapping him up in my arms and carrying him to bed. Wouldn't you?

Oh my,I can hear the angels singing. His helpfulness and organizational skills are just what we need amidst the chaos around here. I do believe he was sent to bring balance to the force our family.

Bringing balance

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture and share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.



Please forgive my absence yesterday, Purple Grandma is in town for a visit and I am exhausted at the end of the day! This explains my quick project photo in the back of our van (as we were driving, no less). But please notice the pretty wooden crate it is in - we've been flea market shopping! I'll have to share our finds later. You should see what my K picked out...

And as you can see, I couldn't resist the temptation of my Luna Grey yarn any longer. It's knitting up beautifully. I am anxious to get past the garter stitch portion and on to some lace.

How about you?! What are you working on? Happy creating!

If you would like to link up and share your current works in progress (or finished works) please leave your link below. It can now be either to your specific blog post or Flickr photo. There are no rules, only that your link is current and something about a craft project (of any kind) you are working on. Don't forget that there is now a KCCO Flickr group for you to share your crafting photos at anytime.

Please remember to link back here so that others who may want to join KCCO can find us.

It's as simple as that. Remember your post can be from any day of the week, it doesn't have to be today. We all love feedback so if you have a moment please leave a comment on some of the KCCO posts you may visit. I know from my own experience just how much your comments really motivate me! Now please share and inspire us all!

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

Our latest child friendly arranging (and rearranging)

I love to arrange my home to make it as child friendly as possible. Some may say our house is more geared towards children than adults and I would have to agree - Our money tends to be spent on things for them more often than us. As our children enter new stages of development or if another little one joins our family I reevaluate our current set up and make any changes needed. Just recently, Baby L was so kind to bring a few necessary adjustments to my attention. I thought I would share some of them with you.





I like to keep the girls' drinking cups along with a child sized water pitcher out for them during the day. We have always just kept them on their table (you can see a bit about it here), but Baby L is a little monkey that loves to climb (as well as play with water). If you turn your head for just a moment he would climb up onto the table and proceed to pour out the entire water pitcher. I needed to figure out a new space that was high enough to be out of Baby L's reach but still low enough for the girls to easily access. One of our very dear friends out grew her wooden icebox a few months ago and gave it to us and we placed it in our children's play kitchen (older pictures here, we have simplified our toys quite a bit since then). That seemed like the perfect thing for the 'water station'.









Although I have a feeling I will need to move it again in the near future. I wonder if Baby L and his furry accomplice will devise a plan to get to it in the meantime... Rascals, I tell ya!





Besides being a monkey, Baby L is also a little daredevil. He still co-sleeps with us on our bed and seems to enjoy waking us up with a start early in the morning as he crawls at ludicrous speed towards the edge of the bed. Needless to say, we went ahead and put our mattress on to the floor.

I also set up a little corner just for him in our room. I like to keep it simple for my own sake. I can remember our dear teacher Miss Elizabeth telling us, "If you dump all of your children's toy into one pile on the floor and you feel too overwhelmed to pick them up - they have too many things!". So he has a stump with a little knit pig, a set of nesting bowls and a little book basket on it. I added two wooden trucks, too as they are his favorite toys at the moment. I rotate the books out quite often and in general like to limit it to about three in there at a time. Above he has Mine! A backpack baby story (but our copy is just in english), Mama Mama, The Prickly Hedgehog, and Buiten Spelen by Ronald Heuninck. This little spot of his really saves us in the morning. He goes right over to it when he first wakes up, giving me a chance to get a few extra minutes of sleep. (Since I don't get any at night anymore with his molars coming in, poor guy!)

So that is where we are at now. I really enjoy making my children feel like this home of ours is their space as much as it is ours.

In unrelated news, I spilled the beans to C tonight about our homeschooling plans for this year. She asked me if she was going to school when K goes this fall. I told her that she wouldn't be going to school with K but that she would be attending Kindergarten at home with Mama. K asked me if I was going to pretend to be C's teacher. I told her I wouldn't be pretending but really teaching. I am not sure what C thinks of it really, I don't think she fully understands. I'll ease her more into it over these next few weeks.

Our latest child friendly arranging (and rearranging)

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture and share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.





These legwarmers are flying off my needles. I finished the first one and I'm about half way through the second. Loving this little project and the way the yarn is knitting up.







I took way too many pictures of this delicious yarn that arrived at my door over the weekend. I wanted to fully capture the beauty and depth of it. It was a custom order dyed by the talented Jackie at Luna Grey Fiber Arts. I had a very particular colorway in my head and she nailed it perfectly. This yarn is destined to be made into a project for C. I admit gray is a bit out of my comfort zone, as I usually tend to knit with brighter colors for the girls, but it is really the only thing suitable for what I am envisioning. When I told Jackie what I was looking for and my fear of a lack of color, she just got it. I'm tickled pink over it all. Now I just have to hold myself back from starting C's project until after I finish up a couple of things already in progress.

How about you?! What are you working on? Happy creating!

If you would like to link up and share your current works in progress (or finished works) please leave your link below. It can now be either to your specific blog post or Flickr photo. There are no rules, only that your link is current and something about a craft project (of any kind) you are working on. Don't forget that there is now a KCCO Flickr group for you to share your crafting photos at anytime.

Please remember to link back here so that others who may want to join KCCO can find us.

It's as simple as that. Remember your post can be from any day of the week, it doesn't have to be today. We all love feedback so if you have a moment please leave a comment on some of the KCCO posts you may visit. I know from my own experience just how much your comments really motivate me! Now please share and inspire us all!

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

This day of mine

Today was my birthday and what a fine day it was. My little ones woke me up in the morning with a birthday crown on my pillow (it was K's crown. She said hers worked best since our birthdays are only one month apart) and lots of hugs and kisses. We attended Mass and then came home for a celebration. The girls had set up a birthday table for me all on their own (they woke up extra early to do so) and all three of my children made me a card. C found her birthday crown in the process of setting up the table and decided to wear it for the day. Why not?!

There was even a handmade card from Kevin (gasp) and in it he wrote that they would take me out to eat for my birthday (Yipee!!!) along with another gift - which I will get to in a moment. We departed for Native Foods shortly thereafter and enjoyed some of the best vegan food around. Just as good as I remember it being in California - seriously yum.

After we filled our bellies (perhaps a bit too much!), we went on to the next gift. In the card he said we would go looking at wedding bands to get ideas, and my size and then he would give it to me on our 9th wedding anniversary coming up next month. You see, Kevin and I got married rather quickly and a wedding ring wasn't a big deal to me at the time. It still isn't a huge deal but I admit I rather like the idea of forever wearing a symbol of our marriage wrapped around my finger. I guess I can be a bit romantic and girly after all!

After our browsing we came home and it was bedtime for my children. I thought I would let them get away with staying up a bit later for some sprinkler fun, though. It was quite a hot one today and playing in water seemed like just the thing to say 'thank you' for all that they did for me.

To be clear - the material things did not make my day. The fact that I was remembered and that my family wanted to make me feel special is what made this day so remarkable. I am so grateful! I found out that Kevin and the girls stayed up planning this day on their snuggle night this week. I have to say I feel pretty darn wonderful knowing that they did that. The picture in my head of the three of them cuddling and scheming together just melts my heart.

I am not trying to gloat in any way, either. I just want to remember this day and savour it. Similar to this year's Mother's day. (That was the first one celebrated in the 6 years I have been a Mama so it's rather a big deal for me.) Some of you might remember my birthday confession from last year, and that was a typical birthday for me. This is the first year that K was able to remember when it was. I admit I slightly took the matter into my own hands this time around with a few precautionary measures of my own such as writing 'Mama's Birthday' on our calender and verbally reminding Kevin on Friday (when I did so he mumbled 'Oops, guess I'd better cancel that puppy play date. Hee,hee), but I'm ok with that. Poor Kevin is sitting next to me playing catch up on work now, but I hope he thinks it was worth it, too.

Well, I am off to curl up with a dog or two and read for as long as I am able to. I had the ultimate pile of books waiting for me at the library today and I can't wait to dive into them - A Severe Mercy, Forks Over Knives:The Plant-Based Way to Health, and The Mcdougall Quick and Easy Cookbook , to name a few. Sounds like the perfect way to end my day.

I hope you all had a beautiful weekend!

This day of mine