Fourth of July Shoes

We got a special request in to make some patriotic shoes for the upcoming holiday. Our newest elves - Hava and Sherilyn - took up this challenge and created these great little shoes.

Sherilyn made these sweet little Roo moccasins - Royal in the front and Red in the back. The button is a special double star inlay and the cutouts on the upper have a bit of a firework pop to them!





Hava created these special Ramblers. They have a Shiny Blue front and White back. The front is sporting multiple star inlays - including a special star button. The back has a few little stars so you know they are patriotic even when walking away.

Thanks Hava and Sherilyn for making somebodies holiday special!

Soft Star at the Waldorf AWSNA Summer Conference

We were luck in that the Associated Waldorf Schools of North America held their summer conference in Portland Oregon this year. Since Portland is just a hop and skip away, Soft Star decide to participate as a vendor.

We had a great time introducing many teachers and administrators to Soft Star Shoes as well as putting faces to some of the names that have endorsed us over the years. The conference was held at Portland Waldorf School, an absolutely beautiful campus.

Over all a lovely way to spend a couple days.

Color Your Own Shoes - an Experiment...

Inspired by an idea we came across in a book, my 5yr old daughter Tivi and I decided to try our hand at creating shoes with our own personalized drawings. Armed with 18 different colored Sharpie markers, we each designed a pair. Tivi initially started thinking she would do a full color fill.... but after one back on one shoe... she opted instead for a unicorn and flowers on one foot, and geese on another.



I decided to make a pair for my son who is ALL ABOUT trains. My dear friend Melissa helped me out with a train stamp to start with, and then I colored it in while my son watched intently. We will try this again when we need the next size up and possibly try colored leather instead of a white leather... although the colors really POP on the white.














The next day Keita sewed the shoes together for us and the kids were delighted! My son can't wait to put on his "choo-choo" shoes... although he DID decide to subsequently add to them himself with the markers a few hours later. (ooops). I guess I shouldn't have made them in front of him... either that or lock up the Sharpies next time.























Let us know if this is a project you would be interested in... perhaps we could add it as a product option?

The Great Flood of 2009

It was a dark and stormy... day... which is strange since we are in Western Oregon. Two weeks ago we had a couple days of dark, muggy, thundery weather. Definitely not standard fare for the Pacific North West. Then on Thursday all the built up weather came to a head, the sky opened up, and buckets of water came pouring down.

At first it was fun and several of the elves were enjoying the spectacle on our back porch. It's not often that we get to see with rain come down so hard the pressure on the down spouts is causing water to shoot three feet in the air.

But then I decided to check the windows at the front of the shop.... "What's that I hear? Water? Must be on the roof outside our window... NO!!! It's water pouring INSIDE OUR SHOP!!!" Needless to say I was stunned. There were major four leaks... but 'leaks' is not a sufficient word for what was happening. Each of these 'leaks' was basically the equivalent of a fire hose turned on full blast and aimed directly at the floor. Not something I was expecting when I came to work that day.

Once I snapped out of it and sounded the alarm, the other elves jumped into action. Keita jumped up on a table and began to throw hides of leather out of harms way. Sherilyn and her son, Sage, started to grab every container available and put them under the leaks. Scott quickly put the red wagon into service and began to wheel full containers out to be dumped. Tim and I jumped on the phone to call in more help. It was quite exciting.

After about 15 minutes of major turmoil the rain began to ease and the clean up began. By that night, all our shoe-making materials were safe or drying out and the only concern was the carpet. Luckily we were able to get big vacuums and fans going right away so no permanent damage was done. What a crazy few hours!

According to the paper the next day we had one inch of rain in an hour, but most of that came in about 20 minutes or so. It was amazing.

In all the chaos, I did not snap any photos of geysers, but here is one of the stairs coming up to our shop with all the buckets trying to catch water that was leaking down.

The reason for the leaks is now known and will be fixed before we head into the rainy season... we hope!

Expanding the Workshop!

This month the Elves have been moving, stretching and growing.... WIDER. And in this case, it is a good thing. We took down the wall that formerly framed our workshop and expanded for a little more breathing room.

Here is Larkin putting the wagon to work moving sheepskin

Tim and Scott built new walls, storage and work tables

If only we could keep it this clean!

Thanks "A TON" Tim, Scott, Jay, Oti & Michael for moving the clicker!

Taking down the old walls

Sharing...

Yesterday I came across Kahlil (3yrs) and Cruz (2yrs) sharing the chalk board together in the Soft Star workshop. One of those sweet "Aawwwwhhhh" moments when having your kids at work with you feels like heaven!

(OK... so a scuffle DID ensue shortly after this "aaawwhh" moment was captured on camera and we DID have to resort to drawing a line "down the middle" of the chalkboard... but it was great while it lasted :-)

Do you have a Superhero in your house?

Kahlil, my oldest son, is now three and he has been picking out his shoe colors for about a year now. Much to my husbands chagrin, Kahlil LOVES shiny red and blue shoes. They are flashy! And they work great with Kahlil's cape and superhero mask... he zooms around the grocery store and saves strawberries in distress like no one else.

So when we were developing our line for 2009 I had to add a little sparkle for the boys. That is why the new Saddle Shoe is a bright Ultra Blue with a Shiny Blue saddle. They will keep your superhero-in-residence flying high!