Meet & Greet: Dent*de*lion

Darya Gardecki owner Dent*de*lion (a french word dandelion which means lion's tooth)  is a stay-at-home mom who's creates toys that are as earth friendly as possible.  She uses recycled sweaters, vintage fabrics, soy paints, and ingio fiberfill which is derived from corn for stuffing, and considers herself well rooted in Mother Earth.

Tomato Harvest pretend felt food

To get to know Darya I asked her a few questions about herself and her business, here is what she had to say:

Tell us a little about yourself and what you sell
My name is Dasha. My loving family and I live in a little urban town surrounded by woods, mountains, and farmland. I am a stay at home mom, spending my days taking care of my family and sewing toys in my spare time. As a little girl, I lived in Russia. In those days, my family grew their food and lived very simple lives. Now that I have my own family we try to take responsibility for our indispensable Earth and do our share to not only recycle waste, but also to reduce the amount of waste we produce to begin with.

Family

Why did you decide to work with upcycled/recycled/repurposed materials?
Learning of the increasing amount of textiles disposed of in landfills or incinerated played a role in my decision on material selection.
An amazing fact from www.youthxchange.net
- If everyone bought one reclaimed, woolen garment each year, it would save an average of 300 million gallons (about 1,135 litres) of water and 400 tones of chemical dyes.
All my toys are made as earth friendly as possible. I upcycle sweaters and vintage fabric into new items. I focus on using sustainable and recycled material.

Echinachea Flower bobby Pin

What is your favorite thing about running your etsy shop?
Being a part of the vast network of talented people.

What inspires you to create/sell what you do?
My inspirations comes from my children, nature, and my surroundings.

“ Everything and everyone around you is your teacher.” – Ken Keyes

Marine Life Fishing Game 6 piece set

Share with us where we can find you on the web

shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/dentdelion
facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Dentdelion/120886067970323
blog: http://dentdelion-dentdelion.blogspot.com/
flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/toothoflion

Thanks for sharing with us, Darya!

See you next week,
Valerie
Everyday Inspired Blog