Fidgets - they're always on my mind!

Fidgets, fiddles, stress relief thingys, squishers...whatever you want to call them they are occupying my mind. I can't stop thinking about them. What is a fidget you might ask?

Do you find yourself chewing on a pencil top, tapping a pencil, rubbing the texture on your jeans, squeezing a stress ball, twirling your hair? These are all different ways of helping you focus. Fidgets are just that. Like so many of you, I too need a fidget. My fidget is sewing/crocheting/crafting/cooking.

I have been focusing on opening my new store, Therapeutic Threads and have so many ideas of fidgets. They have been taking a lot of my attention lately but they are so fun to do and I know they will be so helpful to so many people. As a friend says, I'm just combining 2 of my talents (speech-language pathologist and crafter).

Here are a few of the fidgets I am putting in my store:

My take-along fidgets are perfect for hanging on a keychain, clip or belt loop. Filled with poly pellets, they are the right size to fit in most hands to allow for fidget behaviour. In addition they are fairly inconspicuous for those who don't want to carry large fidgets.

My next fidgets are the perfect sensory experience. The black and white vivid fabric on one side provides a great visual stimulation. The opposite side has a texture - soft, bumpy, or smooth. Each one is unique and the patterns and colors and textures vary by each group. Inside each is filled with varying weights of poly pellets so each bag feels slightly different to play with.

My larger alphabet fidgets (each one is about 5") are great for the classroom. The top fabric matches the letter (A=airplane, B=boots, C=construction/crane or cat) or they can be made with the initials of the person. They too have poly pellets and have a marble inside to push around the bag. They will come as whole alphabet, as individual letters or as a set (initials, school letters, ABC). They will be in my store soon.

My "shapes" fidgets have been designed to accommodate the need for texture and flexibility in hand fidget toys. I crocheted them in various shapes (sphere, cylinder, cube, and pyramid) and stuffed them with polyfil. They provide a great texture and squish when held. They are currently found in bright primary colors but pastels are on their way. Want a specific color and shape? Just ask. I'd be happy to accomodate.

Fidgets are ideal for those who need something on their desk, in their pocket, or in their hands with which to fidget. So go ahead, fidget!


For more information on sensory processing disorders or on managing it, this is a great article.

Therapeutic Threads featured

As you know I just opened my new store Therapeutic Threads less than a month ago and the response has been quite favorable. I have received emails from so many people expressing their interest and commending me on creating a store for these items. I have also received requests not only for product but for fliers to put up at their therapists' clinics. All of this (with a vacation thrown in there too) has kept me quite busy recently. In all of this it was great to hear from a fellow Speech-Language Pathologist. She featured my store in her blog today. I am hoping that my items can make a difference in so many more lives.

Wordless Wednesday -

Vacation is over...for now

Well our summer routine is now starting. My husband had the past 2 weeks off and we made great use of every day. We started the summer off with the end of school party. Our son was honored at the all school assembly for Perfect Attendance - he was the only one in the Kg-3rd grade so it was quite a special thing. He was very proud to go up with the older kids to get his award. Then the class had a little "graduation" ceremony with the kids singing the school song and the PeaceBuilder song. Very cute. Then we were off....as you know we started the time off with a trip to Lake Chelan. What a gorgeous time! We stayed at a fabulous house overlooking the lake and mountains and enjoyed the weekend immensely. On our way back from Lake Chelan we stopped by the Reptile Zoo in Monroe, WA. What a cool (and creepy) place. The boys loved it and we got try to match a snake skin we found at Lake Chelan. Very cool except we couldn't figure out what kind of snake it was - one of the zookeepers thinks it is either a gophersnake or a Western Rattlesnake (not what I wanted to hear after spending time in the area where we found it barefoot). When we arrived home we began work on quite a few remodeling projects. I've mentioned before how we are slowly but surely remodeling our home. This round of remodeling focused on the family room. We started working on this area when we remodeled the laundry room last fall. After many attempts with getting the paint right to match the rest of the house (don't ask) we painted the ceiling and removed the old ceiling fan (that we couldn't use anyway as it wasn't installed properly by previous owners). While hubby painted the walls of the room, I went to work on painting all the trim boards to frame all the doors and windows. The room looks great now. The new ceiling fan will go up next weekend - we hope - as we just ran out of time.

The rest of his time off we spent playing. We went to the Muppet exhibit (Jim Henson's Fantastic World) at the EMP, rode the monorail downtown Seattle, went to the aquarium, went to the zoo, went to the beach and finished it all off with going to a great fireworks show. Through it all we also had playdates for our son. What a great way to start off our summer. It seems that our summer is not going to be a lazy one. We seem to be already booking up with set playdates, camps, and events. We'll also be having another vacation later this month too. It won't be long before school will be starting. - augh let's not go there now - Happy Summer!!!!

Well it was a great surprise

As I mentioned last week, it was my birthday and yes my boys did spoil me. First a spa trip and then a weekend trip. It was great. We haven't done much traveling around our state of Washington and this was a perfect trip to a place so many people have told us about but we hadn't been yet....Lake Chelan. We had a great time - lots of swimming, some sunning, great vistas, and lots of relaxing. It was great. The second part of my surprise was that my wonderful hubby (who has been putting in tons of hours on the new Dark Void game) is finally getting 2 weeks off. We are planning to do some work around the house (including painting the computer room) and hopefully he will be able to do some relaxing. I am looking forward to having my hubby around after so many late nights and weekends away for the past almost year. In the meantime while the paint is going up and around the computer room, I'll be off the computer - at least until it is hooked up again. So until then, have a great week!

Happy Birthday to me!

Well today is my birthday and I am feeling very positive about reaching this big milestone. I had planned on offering specials in each of my stores (Original Cyn Studios and Therapeutic Threads) but have decided to do that later. For today I am taking the whole day off - my hubby made me breakfast in bed, is sending me to the spa, is picking up our son from the bus and making lunch for me. I feel pampered. I think he may have more up his sleeve because I keep hearing the 2 boys whispering about stuff so we'll see what else might happen today. For now, I am going to relax and prepare for my pampered day and enjoy all the fabulous memories I have from the past xx years.

Have a great day!

GRAND OPENING!!! Therapeutic Threads by Original Cyn Studios

Today I want to share something that has been in the works for a while: Therapeutic Threads.

As a speech-language pathologist, I have worked with so many different kids. I have also worked in so many kinds of settings and locations. Through it all, I found that most schools and families cannot afford the kinds of "therapeutic supplies" that are offered through the catalogs. Everyone has a budget and pricey items that will be used only for certain students are hard to justify to the large audience of whom the school reports. In order to provide the students with what was needed, I found myself making most of my therapy materials (games, activities, picture cards etc) and making many of their sensory accessories (weighted vests and lap pads, switch toys). I have decided to offer some of these items in my new store, Therapeutic Threads. Here are some of the great items available in my store: lap pads, lap pets, weighted shoulder wraps, fidgets, and compression belts. (As I get them listed I'll update with more links). More will be coming including the weighted vests and some of my therapy games but this is where I am starting.

Come by and check out this new adventure and be sure to watch for specials coming later in the week.