wood toy news september 1, 2011

Wood Toy Newswww.toymakerpress.com

September 01, 2011

“ Making wood toys from Toymaker Press plans and giving them to kids is the joy of my life. ” Armando Miranda

Armando Miranda is

Dedicated to Helping Kids

Vanessa Martinez, Armando’s

granddaughter, loves to play with

the Carpet Buddies John Candypig.

www.toymakerpress.com

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“ Since I retired I have been working every day to bring joy to the children I

am working with. ”

Armando’s hands are constantly busy making toys, comforting children and helping his community. His favorite shop tool is the scroll saw.

Wood Toy News September 01, 2011

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Daughter Karla and her husband George Martinez are an important part of Armando’s life. Granddaughters Adriana, Stephanie and Vanessa love sharing grandpa’s toy creations. They live in Norwalk, California and visit Armando and Maria often.

Armando believes that family should be close and supportive and his family supports him with his hobby of toymaking. He feels that his toymaking has improved by his discovery of Toymaker Press toy plans. He finds the plans easy to follow and the toys simple to make. And both kids and adults love the unique designs of the toys.

His toymaking efforts have provided a lot of fun for all the kids in his life. They love the toys. This is the first year that he has built toys for the Christian Bible School. The toys were a big hit and everyone was impressed by the designs and play value of each toy. They also had great fun painting them!

“I was born in 1946 in San Diego, California, in the midst of the boom that followed WWII. I was the oldest of five children and have 3 brothers and a sister. What I remember of my early years is playing with trains. My father loved electric trains and that is what inspired my railroad career of 29 years.”

Armando celebrates granddaughter Vanessa’s second birthday with his wife Maria Miranda, his son Armando Miranda III, and his daughters Elizabeth Miranda and Karla Martinez. The two younger kids all live in the Santa Fe Springs, California area and the family gets together often. Daughter Karla lives in Norwalk with her husband and daughters.


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All the kids love the Armando’s Noah’s Animal Cracker Ark. It was a challenge to make but worth the effort just to see the look on their faces. They love taking it apart and assembling it and walking the animals up the entry ramp. And there are plenty of animals so everyone can share.

Noah’s AnimalCracker Ark


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Armando’s granddaughter Adriana plays with the Ark quietly and with intense concentration.


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Nazarene church youth leaders assist kids with painting Armando’s Armada of rockets, space-men and space shuttles.

Armando’s handmade toys from the Toymaker Press Red Planet Rockets Plan Set create a large armada of rockets, space shuttles and space men. The kids are wildly enthusiastic and unbelievably creative with their artistic efforts.

Volunteer Pablo carefully and lovingly instructs the group in how to paint the toys. The looks on the kids’ faces say it all.


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Nazarene church youth leaders assist kids with painting Armando’s Armada of rockets, space-men and space shuttles.

The church provides a beautiful yet practical facility for worship and activites.

The congregation gathers often for worship and fellowship.

An insirational sermon is given by Pastor Pana while his wife Barbara translates it into English.


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The Nazarene Church wisely provides crafting opportunities across a wide age group. The younger boys enjoy painting their rockets and shuttles as a team. The experience builds a lot of self confidence within each of the young artists.


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The youth project reveals how important and fulfilling it is to provide experiences in crafting for kids. After group participation each child looks into the mirror and sees a face that reflects new inner self confidence, and sees a face that has a new appreciation for the talents, needs and wishes of others.


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The Red Planet Rockets Armada is prepared for the great imaginative adventure that will rapidly transport it’s

creators into the far reaches of the Universe.

“ Beam me up, Armando! ”


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“ Beam me up, Armando! ”

The Red Planet Rockets were created right here at Armando’s “ Space Rocket Central ”. All of the Armada toys were created using just this scroll saw. The only

other process required was sanding and finishing.


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Armando’s practical, efficient and well-organized work shop is the secret to his

incredible output of fun wood toys.

The possible uses for each of the hand and power tools is carefully planned within a disciplined budget. Armando’s experience, maturity and training creates a dynamic workshop in a small and well-managed space.


Armando’s granddaughter Stephanie loves playing with the set of dragon toys that he created using

scroll saw patterns from Toymaker Press.


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In folklore, Armando’s Wyvern Dragon is known as an angry and violent predator with a fierce head, bat wings and a spade tail. It is a favorite image for the medieval Coat of Arms displayed on the shields of ancient knights and warriors.

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The belief in the reality of a Lindworm, a giant serpent with strong jaws and tail is shared in many European countries. It is a wingless, serpent-like, monstrous snake dragon with a poisonous bite. The sighting of a Lindworm Dragon is thought to be an exceptional sign of good luck.


17Armando created this dynamic Lindworm dragon with just a scroll saw and sandpaper.


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In conclusion, Armando says: “Making wood toys from Toymaker Press plans and giving them to kids is the joy of my life. I worked for the railroad for much of my life here in the Los Angeles area. I saw lots of need to help kids have a happy life and spent a lot my spare time trying to help them do that. Since I retired I have been spending every day creating wood toys to bring joy to the children I am working with. It’s so much fun and it’s also so relaxing to me. It brings me great peace to share my work and see the smiles on the faces of the kids. I love working with the kids and I love making the toys for them.”


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For a reference to all the toy plans used in this article read more >


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Cover: Vanessa is holding John Candypig from the Carpet Buddies Pattern Set $10.95

View and purchase Carpet Buddies Pattern Set at:http://toymakerpress.com/website/PlanSets/CarpetBuddies.html

View and purchase Noah’s Animal Cracker Ark Toy Plan Set at:http://toymakerpress.com/website/PlanSets/NoahsArk/NoahsArk.html

Visit www.ToymakerPress.com for more exciting toy plan sets and books.

Pg 4-5: Adriana is playingwith Noah’s AnimalCracker Ark ToyPlan Set $12.95

Toy Plans Reference Toymaker Press Toy Plans and Booksused in this issue of Wood Toy News.


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View and purchase Noah’s Animal Cracker Ark Toy Plan Set at:http://toymakerpress.com/website/PlanSets/NoahsArk/NoahsArk.html

Pg 8-9: The kids are proudly holding theirpainted Red Planet Rockets creations. The Red Rockets Plan Set is $10.95

View and purchase Red Planet Rockets Toy Plan Set at:http://toymakerpress.com/website/PlanSets/RedPlanetRockets.html

Toll Free USA 1-888-962-4714 eMail us at: [email protected]

All Toymaker Presstoy plans, patterns and books are

available as Printed Plans or PDF Downloads.

Pg 14-15: The Dragons Stephanie is playing with are from the Toy Dragons, Knights & Fair Maidens book $19.95

View and purchase Toy Dragons, Knights & Fair Maidens Book at:http://toymakerpress.com/website/Dragons/DragonsBook.html


wood toy news september 1, 2011

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