CLOSED: Anniversary Giveaway--Felt Midwife Play Set from Mama's Felt Cafe and One Month Supply of Oatmeal Butterscotch Lactation Cookies from Mommy's Milkin Cookies ($83 Value, Cookies US Only)

It's so hard to believe that a whole 12 months has passed since I open my Etsy shop last February. This has been an amazing creative journey that has taken me places I haven't expected. My felt tamales and enchiladas are in a Children's Museum in New Hampshire. My Mama's Milk Carton has been in the presence of  midwifery great Ina May Gaskin. I've shipped items as far as Australia, Spain, Nova Scotia, Sweden and all over the United States and have Facebook fans from 19 countries around the world. 

To celebrate this Etsyversary, I wanted to giveaway my most cherished item, the one closest to my heart. Enter this oatmeal and chocolate colored Midwife Play Set. You can read all about the pieces of this midwife kit HERE. 

This makes the perfect gift for the midwife, doula or birth junkie in your life or a great way to introduce new siblings to the tools of a midwife. I also donate a portion of the sale of this set to Citizens For Midwifery. 

To sweeten the deal (and stay on an oatmeal theme), Katie of Mommy's Milkin Cookies is providing a one month supply (3 dozen) of her scrumptious Oatmeal Butterscotch Lactation Cookies. These yummy treats contain 6 galactagogues known for boosting milk supply and are delicious even if you aren't lactating. I recently sent a couple dozen as a gift to a girlhood friend who is pumping for her micro preemie NICU twins. If you are interested in ordering some of Katie's cookies, you can contact her on Facebook or at MommysMilkinCookies (at) gmail.com. Thanks, Katie!

You can also save 20% off an order at the Mama's Felt Cafe Etsy Shop with coupon code ANNIVERSARY at check-out in the month of February. 

To enter the giveaway, just use this handy, dandy Rafflecopter entry form. Contest will run from February 8th to midnight, February 15, 2012, EST. Winner will be notified by email and must respond within 48 hours or a different winner will be selected.


 NOTE: Due to their perishable nature, the lactation cookies will be shipped in the US only. The Midwife set is available to international entrants. If the winner selected is  a US resident, they will win both prizes. If the winner is outside the United States, they will receive the Midwife set and a small set of FELT "lactation" cookies hand sewn by me. A second winner in the US will then be chosen to receive the Mommy's Milkin Cookies prize. If you have any questions, please email me: Mama(at)mamasfeltcafe.com. 

Thank you so much to everyone who has lent their support to Mama's Felt Cafe. I wouldn't be here without you!


Happy Winning!

~Brittany

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Midwives-in-Training

In case you are wondering why my blog has been so dead lately, I'm finally writing up a post to tell you. Recently, Brittany over at Bella Lane Boutique had asked me to make a felt doctor set for her kiddos. I had found a pattern for a doctor kit in Jeanette Lim's Big Little Felt Universe, but the idea wasn't really unique. Knowing Brittany had her youngest baby in a birth center with midwives in attendance, I started to ruminated on what a felt midwife's kit would look like instead. I asked on the MFC Facebook page what items should be included in the birthy set, and got lots of great responses. I ultimately decided on a kid-sized fetoscope, blood pressure cuff, red raspberry leaf tea, bottle of homeopathic arnica, measuring tape and a carrying bag. Here is a little run-down of everything in the set and how real life midwives would use each item.

 
Before the days of hand-held dopplers and readily available ultrasounds, midwives used fetoscopes to listen to the baby. Many midwives still use fetoscopes as the safety of ultrasound devices is still rather questionable. The flat end generally rests against the midwife's forehead and the cone end is placed on the mother's belly. You can see my silly husband demonstrating on my 37 week pregnant belly here:

Next is the blood pressure cuff:

This item is used routinely in prenatal care to keep track of the mother's blood pressure. Her pulse is also taken. High blood pressure can be a sign of complications like pre-eclampsia, so it is important to keep an eye on it throughout pregnancy. I sewed a bellowed squeaker toy (ok, it's really a Kong dog toy squeaker) into the bulb part of the cuff so that it would have a realistic pumping feel.

Red Raspberry leaf tea has been used by midwives for ages. Raspberry leaf tea helps tone the uterus, making contractions more effective. It is also known to help stave off hemorrhage, ease morning sickness, reduce labor pains, and aid in milk production. Red raspberry leaf contains a slew of good vitamins such as C, E, A, and B complex, as well as minerals including phosphorous and potassium. 

Arnica Montana is a yellow flower that looks like a daisy. This remedy has also been used for centuries to relieve bruising, sprains, reduce inflammation and promote healing. I took arnica right after Asher's birth and the day after when I was one big ball of sore. This felt bottle has a removable lid and a bell inside so it makes a fun sound when the "medicine" is dispensed. 

  
Brittany, who sparked the first midwife set I made, requested a bottle of "Juice Plus," the brand of vitamin supplement she takes. The label has a little apple applique on it. 

I originally made the measuring tape 12 inches long. After the first set, I decided to switch the unit of measure. Most midwives (especially those outside the US) use centimeters to record fundal height (how big the uterus is growing), dilation and baby's measurements. Since there are 30 cm in 12 inches, this tape also has more digits for number recognition and counting fun.   

Lastly, there had to be a bag to carry all the midwifery items. The first one I made was cranberry (placenta?) red with a cream colored lining. It's always important for a midwife to keep her bag packed and ready, as you never know when a baby decides to enter the world!


This set is probably the best I've created and closest to my heart. Making each one is a labor of love. If you would like me to make one for you, you can find it on Etsy. Ten percent of the purchase price goes to Citizens for Midwifery, a non-profit organization working to increase local access to midwives and supports the Midwifery Model of Care. 

 Encouraging midwifery play is important. If we wish to normalize birth for our children, we must give them the tools to understand the mechanism of birth and allow them to process the information in a way that makes sense to them. Imaginative play does both.  I have seen parents who are planning home or out-of-hospital births look for ways to help prepare their child for a sibling's arrival and come up rather empty handed. There were no other midwife play sets on Google or Etsy, though doctor toys are common place (and medical idolization starts early in our culture). But as an increasing number of families look to have their baby outside the hospital setting, we can work with the next generation to make peaceful birth a realized, every day occurrence. 


~Brittany

Felt Veggie Garden, Revisited

A couple weeks ago,  I asked my friend Kristin over to photograph my felt veggie garden. My pictures never did this set any justice and I was hoping she could capture them in a more favorable light. Over pumpkin oatmeal bars, she snapped a few photos I wanted to share. Felt garden building basics are HERE or I would be happy to make one for you.

Thanks, K!

Happy Felt Fooding!

~Brittany

Guest Post and Giveaway at The Natural Parents Network

  

I'm super excited to share my first guest post, written for the Natural Parents Network. Though the local news stations have dubbed this "June-uary" in my area, I wanted to do a tutorial for a warm weather food and nothing says "summer" more than a juicy slice of watermelon. 

Read how to make this felt food favorite HERE. You can also see the review Amanda from Let's Take the Metro wrote about my felt fruits and veggies basket and the corresponding giveaway for a $25 gift certificate for Mama's Felt Cafe on Etsy. So go enter for your chance to win some felt goodies!

Be sure to keep an eye our for my next felt food tutorial: Red, White and Blueberry Brownie! Can you believe Fourth of July is less than a month away?!

Happy Felt Fooding!

~Brittany

It's a Felt Play Food Giveaway!--CLOSED

It's time for a giveaway! As a fun way of celebrating reaching 200 fans on the Mama's Felt Cafe Facebook page, I wanted to spread some felt food love. I decided a gift certificate to my Etsy Shop would allow the winner to choose the item or items of their choice. So, if you would like a $25 credit for my hand sewn felt toys, here is what you have to do:

Leave a comment on this post telling me which item or items you would like if you win. Be sure to include a valid email address so that I can contact you if your comment is chosen. This entry is mandatory to enter the giveaway.

Want a chance to enter more than once? Here are some ways to up your odds of winning. Be sure to LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT FOR EACH ENTRY:

1. Become a fan of Mama's Felt Cafe on Facebook (Of course you already are, right?)

2. Follow Mama's Felt Cafe with Google Friend Connect (there is a handy button over to the right)  or sign up for the Mama's Felt Cafe RSS feed

3. Follow @MamaFeltCafe on Twitter

4. Post about this giveaway on your Facebook page or Tweet about it on Twitter. Be sure to link back to the giveaway in your post: http://www.mamasfeltcafe.com/2011/03/its-felt-play-food-giveaway.html. Include a link to the Facebook post or Tweet in your comment.

That's all you have to do! If you already a follower/fan/subscriber of  Mama's Felt Cafe, just leave a comment saying so. Each of these actions counts as one extra entry, so each person can have up to 5 entry comments (including the mandatory entry). Remember to leave a separate comment for each entry. Multiple entries in one comment will be disqualified. I'll leave this contest open for a week, until March 23, 2011 at 11:59 PM PST. I'll use random.org to pick the winning comment  from all the comments and contact the winner via email. If the winner does not respond within 72 hours, I'll draw another winner. Contest open to residents of the USA and Canada with free shipping for the winner. If you have any questions, please email me, mama@mamasfeltcafe.com.

Thank you for your participation and Good Luck! 

Happy Felt Fooding!

~Brittany