Today’s giveaway is from a lovely little toy shop called Armadillo Dreams! While I’ve admired their shop for some time now (and have purchased their toys,) they are new sponsors here so I asked them to introduce themselves today:
Hi Small Things readers! My name is Dustin. I own/run Armadillo Dreams with my wife Amanda. We are really excited to be sponsors of such a great blog!
A little about us…
We have lived in Central Oregon most of our lives. I met Amanda during sophomore year in high school. After graduation we moved to Portland, Oregon for about 3 years and then moved back. We got married in 2004, had our daughter Lucy in 2007 and had our son Lincoln in 2010. Central Oregon is a very beautiful and inspirational place to live. We have the Cascade Mountains and the Deschutes National Forest to the west, the high desert to the east, two large rivers nearby, and lakes in all directions. When we aren’t too busy with our five Etsy shops we enjoy exploring Central Oregon and spending time outside.
Armadillo Dreams started in late 2010. We started the shop after I discovered a passion for woodworking. I completed a backyard chicken coop/run in the summer and was looking for new woodworking projects. We always wanted more wooden toys for our children, but didn’t have a lot of money. Amanda had already been selling on Etsy for about 5 years with her shop Wild Plums. We combined Amanda’s artistic skills and knowledge of Etsy with my passion for woodworking and Armadillo Dreams was born.
A little peek behind the scenes…
All of our toys start out as a paper pattern that Amanda draws. I then trace the designs on wood and take it out to my wood shop to be cut and power sanded. I then bring them back inside and the rest of our processes either take place at our dining room table or in our work room (converted 400 sq. ft. garage). Next we hand sand down the edges. Then Amanda uses a 1000 F wood burning pen to make all the eyes, ears, lines and other designs. Then we paint the toys using AP certified non-toxic water color. Next we seal the wood with natural food/baby safe beeswax polish. Finally there is packaging, where the toys are carefully wrapped and put into American made cotton draw sting bags.
There’s a few trade secret steps and details that I left out, but this gives you an idea of our processes. It’s a lot of work that takes a lot of dedication. People are often surprised to find out all the steps involved to make each toy. We just feel that quality and attention to detail is very important and we think it shows in our workmanship.
Over the next few years we have a lot of plans for expanding our business. We currently have almost 200 items in our catalog and plan to grow that much more. We normally try to come out with a few new toys every month. We also have plans to expand our online presence, plans to expand our local retail presence and plans to have our toys in more stores around the world.
We plan to run Armadillo Dreams until we retire some day… well, maybe even into retirement. We have a lot time until then, so don’t worry about us going anywhere anytime soon! We love the business so much we might even run it into retirement years. We’re not the type of people who can really see ourselves just sitting around.
For today’s giveaway, we would like to offer a $40 shopping spree to one Small Things reader. We are also offering Small things readers a 10% off coupon code “SMALLTHINGS” that can be used on anything in our shop good until November 21.
We’d love for you to follow along on our blog, and be sure to “like” us on Facebook or “follow” us on Twitter for daily specials, news, sales and giveaways!!!
For your chance to win, simply leave a comment on this post! Comments will close and a winner will be chosen on Monday, November 19th. The winner will be announced within this post.
Comments are closed. The winner is Lili: “Love their stuff! Thanks for the opportunity.”
Thank you, Armadillo Dreams!
p.s. They have a little honeybee playset!
Heather says
These are so sweet. I love that the details are wood-burned. Thank-you for sharing, and for the opportunity!
Lori B says
Oh my word- the bees!
robin phillips-knotts says
Oh am I too late?? My granddaughter just loves little wooden toys! Thanks for the giveaway! cokelush at gmail
Jamie Salvucci says
Love these little wood toys!! Thanks!
Christina says
Thanks forthe chance!
carissa says
How Adorable!!! Love the bees!!!
Meredith says
These are so nice. Love the bees!
Kate @Lady Bird says
These toys would be wonderful to add to our wooden barn! Thank you!
Courtney says
We got a couple of their pieces for my daughter last year. They are still a big favorite. I would love to add to our collection.
Lydia says
fun toys!
CRISTINA says
Thanks for the opportunity! Really beautiful 🙂
Jane says
Oh, I love those bees! So sweet!
Mary Beth says
Just the kind of toys I want to fill our house with. Thanks for the opportunity to win. I’ll definitely be checking the website as I do my Christmas shopping.
Dawn G. says
So awesome! We live in Central Oregon, too! This is a fabulous giveaway of a wonderful line of handmade toys. Thanks for introducing us to Armadillo Dreams!
Sandra says
Such lovely toys! I love, love, love the fairies!
TJ @ Any given moment says
Oh my goodness- every single one of their pieces is stunning!! If my little boy wasn’t so into the undersea mer-world right now, it would have been a tough decision, but since he’s so smitten, I’d have to go with the mermaid, merman, and merbaby set if I were to win. Thank you Ginny and Armadillo Dreams!
Amber says
Simply beautiful! Thank you!
Chinacat says
Beautiful! I know what my godson is getting for his birthday.
Helen says
I have a little “honeybee” (Beatrice) myself and might just need one of those for a stocking this year! Love it all- so gorgeous.
erin says
beautiful. thanks ginny and armadillo dreams. 🙂
Taryn Oakley says
I LOVE this shop! I just bought a few things from them last week but I would love to do a little more shopping!
Carrie says
My niece loves her pixie from Armadillo dreams!
Lyn says
The workmanship is beautiful. Thanks for the opportunity to win
Stephanie says
I love these toys. It would be so much fun to win. Thanks.