Our new favorite spot for printable toys: Smallful

One of our great joys with this site is supporting small businesses and fellow indie publishers. (Hey, we still have a blogroll. Remember those?) And now one of our favorite bloggers and friends, Mari Richards of the fantastic design site Small for Big, falls squarely into both camps with her new shop Smallful, which is all about printable toys and other playthings for kids. Mari is a toy designer and graphics artist by trade--with phenomenal taste, I might add--so it's no surprise that the printable toys in her shop are exquisite. Right now she's transitioning from Halloween (though masks are good for any time of year, if you ask my kids) into seasonal holiday-specific goodies like a gorgeous printable advent calendar as wonderful as all the favorite advent calendars we just featured. Plus you'll find playsets, puppets, crowns, planes and more.   Because I'm printing out new paper dolls for my girls nearly every weekend,  I'm especially stoked about Mari's printable Willow paper dolls and the new winter clothing, since Willow can be a superhero, a fairy, and a scientist.  Maybe all three at once, knowing most kids' imaginations.   The designs are more professional than a lot of the free printables that we see on the web and hey, for a $3 or so download fee ($12 for the advent calendar), it seems like a great way to whip up some affordable DIY holiday or birthday gifts. Or subscribe to the site, and get a free printable emailed to you each month. The best part is, as meticulously designed as they are, the toys are not hard to put together. If you check the FAQ you really don't need more than a printer, scissors and clear tape--unless you want to get a little fancier with good card stock and double-stick tape. All of which is great for moms like me who just want to print, hand it over to the kids, and listen to them play paper dolls or write their own unicorn princess rocket scientist play for the next hour. Check out the gorgeous  printable toys at the new shop, Smallful. Plus subscribe and you'll get one exclusive, free printable each month emailed to you.