Handmade tree blocks

The party starts in about an hour, but my baby is getting sicker and is asleep in my arms so I think we will be late – he needs to sleep more than we need to party. But since the party girl’s Mum won’t have a chance to read this before we get there I thought I’d share with you the gift we made for our friend Willow.

Willow is turning one and she is rather cute, a tiny walking ‘hippy chick’. I had the pleasure of making her birthday invitations and she is having a ‘hippy, natural, environmentally friendly’ party to celebrate her birthday. Her mum wrote a very clever poem to put inside her invitations which included this line about gift suggestions –

“think wooden, think natural, even handmade or organic…”

I was lucky enough to buy her some gorgeous handmade overalls from Buggz (proceeds to help with the Chibobo Orphanage appeal too!) which are just divine but I really wanted to come up with something that the kids and I could make for her. Something that wasn’t too hard (as usual we left it pretty late in the game to start), something that would be usable and enjoyed, and something that would look good when it was done. We came with the idea of some natural wooden stacking blocks!

Blocks for Willow

The Baldy Boy sawed them and the girls and I sanded them, and then this morning we sewed a bag to put them in and I am really pleased with how they turned out. I wish we had some natural bees wax though, that would have worked better than the olive oil we used to give them a light coating but still… we think they look great and I think we’ll make some more for Muski for Christmas!

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12 Comments

  1. Oh kewl!! They look awesome! We might have to borrow that idea, I think!
    I love the idea of a hippy, natural, environmentally friendly birthday, too. Have a great time :)

  2. They are gorgeous and The bag makes them even more fun I reckon they will be highly sought after
    Yum

    PS
    Am working on the quilt block Thanks again Its working well

  3. These were seriously divine I think I have to pick your brain as my boys would love to make these sorts of things and it may just keep them occupied for a bit I reckon:D

  4. oooh gorgeous!!
    They are so lovely!!

    wont the olive oil go rancid though? Just had this feeling you aren’t supposed to use food grade oils on things like that? .. could be something I have pulled out of my you know where :P

  5. Kate! I love the blocks! re: the oil, as Dee mentioned about it going rancid… I can highly recommend Danish Oil. Alex picked it up at Bunnings and used it on some toy trucks he built out of scrap timber for the boys. Is non-toxic so ace for babies and little folk who love to put toys in their mouth. Rach xx