Fairy Garden Accessories...

We've been in miniature mood lately.  The boys and I began by making some sweet little bowls and cups out of acorn caps.  They are surprisingly easy to make with just a file.  Then we had to set the tiny table and of course Mommy decided a couple of place mats were in order. To be honest I'm not sure the boys really cared about the place mats.  That's ok, Moms can play too.

We also played with some of the other miniatures in our craft stash.  We made wreaths to decorate the fairy garden and our gnome tree house.  We also made a little bird nest with wax eggs.

Then I happened to see this post & video, at Anne of Green Gardens.  It's a whole fairy village!  The video tells all about her process of putting it together and what plants she used.  Anyway, in the video there is a cute little hanging basket behind them while they talk.  Since I had a few of those baskets lying around I decided to make one!  Owen and I went and bought little rosemary & lemon thyme "trees" & tiny peppermint ground cover along with some teeny tiny gravel.  Where the pine cone is I want a little house.  Perhaps I'll make one.  I can't wait to see it once the plants have filled out a little.  I can see the basket from my place at the breakfast table and I kind of love it!

We also bought some herbs for the boys' fairy garden or as they like to call it the "gnome garden". So far they have put it together all by themselves. When we're finished with it, I'll post some pictures. 

Until next time...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hi all, hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day! I was so inspired by all of your comments about what you were doing with your littles for Valentine's Day.  Ulitmately we celebrated very simply.  We made eachother handmade Valentines and chocolaty brownie treats.  My dear husband suprised me with chocolates and a hilarious card that my boys and I read over & over laughing about. I called my Gram who I hadn't talked to for far too long.

My husband took us all out to dinner and there was the sweetest Dad there with three Valentines.  He was treating his three small daughters to a nice dinner. What a loving Dad!  It made me think those little girls are going to know exactly how their future mate should treat them because Daddy already showed them how to love. 

So how did you show your love this Valentine's Day? 

Until next time...

Embroidery Hoop Jack O' Lanterns

I thrift-ed these beautiful, vintage, embroidery hoops awhile ago and was looking for just the right project for them.  Finally a fun Halloween sewing project came to mind.  I found this bright orange patterned fabric and we cut up a black, felted wool sweater to make jack o' lanterns. I was going to have the boys cut out their own shapes for faces but they had their own ideas.  

Owen loved the idea of them but was not so interested in the actual making of them.  Instead, he was busy making his own Halloween project. More on that later.  Michael was excited to make a specific jack o' lantern he saw on some napkins we bought at Target. He wanted nothing to do with the cutting part.

The top jack o' lantern is Michael's.  For his I traced an oak leaf and cut out eye holes for the mask-like eyes.  He was thrilled with the spooky effect.  Then for mine, the one on the bottom, I did the same by tracing maple leaf patterns & cutting holes in them.  If you want to make these, Google leaf patterns and you'll find many to choose from.  Michael is still working on his bit by bit.

As for 4 year old Owen, a cute story:  lately he's been obsessed with cutting paper, gluing and drawing.  So this day he was busy making Halloween costumes for the birds.  He made a tiny shirt, pants, a mask and hat.  Without saying a word he put them outside under a tree.  It was only later I found out what he did when he came inside excited they were gone.  He just new some little bird was excited about his new Halloween costume!  Oh kid cuteness, my heart just swells...

So, how are you celebrating the season?  

Until next time...

Our Fairy Garden, 2013

I keep meaning to put up photos of our fairy garden this year.  Last year we made this garden box to fit on top of an old kid's table.  This Spring, after moving, we fixed it up.

We made the moss house in the back out of an oatmeal container.  We found the hollow "tree" in the front in the desert.  Michael made a hobbit hole in the center like last year and we re-sanded and polished our wooden gnome table.  That's a sweet Margaret Bloom peg doll in the boat.  Little Owen has a fascination with hanging ropes and ribbons from trees.  So that's his funny little noose hanging from the tree.

After we got the basic design in, we planted, impatiens, lobelia and peppermint.

We moved our arbor from the nature table to the fairy garden.  Years ago I trimmed that from a twisted vine I found in our yard.

The Fairy garden, referred to in our house as the "gnome" garden is placed just outside our back door. So the boys go there nearly everyday to play with it. It keeps evolving and changing with their play.  Right now the lobelia & impatiens are looking a bit sad in our summer heat.  I may have to add something new, any ideas?  Did you make a fairy or gnome garden this year?

*Don't forget to enter the Little Woodlanders giveaway of a wooden frog cycle learning toy!  It will be up and running until this Friday evening, June 21st.*

Until next time...

Martinmas Lanterns

Martinmas has become very dear to me.  I love the act of kindness at the heart of this festival.  This year in addition to telling the story of Saint Martin I also told another story after circle time for both boys but especially for my littlest one. We also had a guest yesterday, a friend of ours who is four years old.  Last time he was with us he LOVED circle time, so even though it was Friday and we normally don't do any school activities, we did circle time and story time for him.  Circle time always seems to be a bit more magical when he joins us, we like the larger group dynamic & sharing the magic of Waldorf with him.  The story I told is from this post at Joyful Toddlers, called "A Story of Autumn Light".  Such a sweet story for little ones and a beautiful & simple way to explain the darkness this time of year.  My favorite line in the story is "...we can keep ourselves and others warm by doing acts of kindness, to warm our hearts.” 

We also made horseshoe Martinmas cookies from the recipe at Raising Little Shoots.  The boys loved them, although they invoked the same sugar cookie cut out frustration for me, lol! (You can read about my history with cut out cookies here.)

We made our lanterns from the instructions in All Year Round. Out of all my Waldorf books, I think this one is my favorite. It has instructions for every Waldorf craft I can think of.  I often wonder why I even bother with Pinterest when I have all the instructions to these projects sitting on my bookshelf!  We made the lovely circular lanterns from stiff watercolor paintings they painted just for Martinmas.  Then I cut out stars and moons and suns and we glued kite paper onto the cut out shapes.  I couldn't help making the 5 sided lantern as well.  I chose a gnome picture (pg 264)  at the back of the book to decorate it with.  I enlarged the image to 120% and then cut through the copy and watercolor paper with an exacto knife.  If you do this make sure you have very sharp exacto blades, mine could have been sharper.  I love how it came out though.  We glued the blue cut out gnome to Michael's lantern and he's thrilled he has a gnome too. 

I love how the lanterns brighten up our dark evenings this time of year.  Tomorrow we will head out at dark for our lantern walk and hopefully be joined by our friends as well.

How will you be celebrating Martinmas? 

Until next time...

WIP Wednesday... Making old clothes new again!

 

We have been working on making old clothes new again!  We used freezer paper stencils and fabric paint.  There's a toadstool for Owen.

 

Making some cut offs out of old holy jeans.  We added the car and Michael made this bunny shirt.  

 

 A toadstool shirt for Michael.

 

Making a couple of new T's fun, a hedgehog for Owen.

 

 

And a two made of cars and roads for 2 year old Owen!

Until next time...

Watercolor Easter Egg Tree

This week we've been talking about and telling the story of the Resurrection.  I used this very simplified version for my little boys.  It focuses on the resurrection and ascension.  The moment when Jesus' tomb was found empty, the joy when his disciples heard and saw that he was alive, the wonder and awe of his ascension.  Also, one verse that I've been focusing on is (Matthew 28: 20 at And)  "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."  This verse is so meaningful and comforting to me.  "I am with you always".  All that Christ is; love, good, truth, clarity and understanding is with us, forever.

So, with this sense of renewal and restoration that the season of Spring and Easter brings I've found myself thinking about what I want and don't want for my family. It's helped me to look at negative cycles of thought and behavior and think about shedding them.  Like shedding the cold, snow and ice for the warmth & new beginning of Spring.

In this spirit I decided we would make an Easter tree.  I took a beautiful bowl that my dear husband actually made in a glass blowing class and filled it with seeds that we've been finding in abundance in our neighborhood.  The boys have helped me gather these. Then we used some of our old watercolor paintings and traced and cut out eggs shapes.  Michael helped me with the cutting.  We talked about Spring, and renewal and what we want for our family.  What qualities do we want to focus on?  Michael came up with some good answers.  Some I translated into spiritual qualities and others I wrote exactly as he said.  For instance he said, "For Owen to stop getting sick all the time", so I said, "so, you want health for Owen and our family".  We wrote health on one egg.  Others he offered were: Joy, love, hugs and kisses, fun, yummy things to eat, to hear the birds all the time.  Michael also wrote 2 joke words, that is he writes some letters and I read it as it would sound.  He thinks they are hilarious! Mommy contributed peace, laughter, abundance, affection, safety and security.

We used a pin to make a small hole and then hung them up by yellow and blue thread.  We found a pine branch to hang them from.  Along with this line of thought and craft activity has come a spirit of clearing out.  I've cleared out old paperwork and belongings that have been hanging around & cluttering the house.  We still have more to do but we're on the right path.

Needless to say this has been a meaningful project for us.  It's helped us to focus on the good in our lives, shed unwanted thoughts and things and feel uplifted and renewed.

Until next time...

Little House books & Peg Dolls

"Little House on the Prairie" began airing the month before I was born.  I grew up watching it and LOVED it! My Mom likes to tell the story of me watching the episode where Jack, (Laura's beloved dog) dies and sitting there at 2 years old crying my eyes out.  She said it was one of those times where you realize just how much your little one is grasping and it surprises you.  Recently, we read the chapter where Jack dies in the books and I could barely get through it! Michael and I were both crying.  The love of Little House continues. 

Michael and I began reading the Little House Series in September and we're now on the 5th book, "By the Shores of Silver lake". It's been such a wonderful journey for us.  The "Little House" books take you back in time learning history, geography, farming, cooking, food preservation, crafting and so much more.  It's actually my first time reading the series.  We've had so many snugly times reading in our cozy, warm bed in freezing cold NY and traveling back in time with little Laura.

We have been borrowing most of the books from the library.  So I was so excited when I found these 2 little gems at the used book store.  I bought both on trade credit.  I love trade credit!

I'm super excited to read "Laura Ingall's Wilder, A Family Collection".   The Little House books end with Laura at only 22 years old.  This book is a collection of newspaper articles she wrote well after that time when she was in her forties and well before she ever dreamed of writing the "Little House" series.  The articles are categorized as, "Life on the farm and in the country, Making a Home, The Ways of the World and A Woman's Role".  I expect it will be a fascinating read. 

So far Michael and I have made doughnuts as described in "Farmer Boy", a book about Laura's husband Almanzo's childhood.  Making doughnuts was not a process I enjoyed sadly.  To me it was frustrating keeping the oil hot enough to fry and not too hot to burn.  Not to mention getting them cooked through and not raw.  The way in which it's described in the book, Almanzo seemed to have doughnuts every day!  They were his go-to snack.  Suffice it to say I will not be making doughnuts again and I now have so much admiration for Almanzo's dear mother.

Recently we made sourdough bread from a starter that took about a week's process.  A much more fun process in my opinion.  I thought it would be interesting for us to experience how bread was made before yeast was available in a packet at the store.  It came out really tasty though a little crunchy.  I'll have to perfect my process.

We've also made pancake men as described in "Little House in the Big Woods".  Michael and Owen LOVE them!  And Michael requests them often. 

I was looking for another "Little House" project when I saw Chasing Cheerios, blog post about their adorable Ingalls family peg dolls.  We just had to make some of our own.

I thought Michael would want to use paint but he said "Mom, I want them to look like your dolls.  And with no face." So,  I got out the fabric, roving & yarn scraps and here is the Ingall's family from left to right, Carrie, Laura, Mary, Ma and Pa.  I think he did such a good job! He loves them!  So our Little House fun will continue.  I'll keep you posted on what we do next. 

Until next time...

Hedgehogs, hedgehogs...

Michael and I just love Hedgehogs.  I think it began with this Jan Brett book. If you are as in love with Jan Brett as we are you'll love this Free Jan Brett Activities page.  I love this idea, for Hedgehog cookies. 

After I made this little wooden Hedgehog for Christmas we decided we needed to learn more about our new little friend.

I added this poem to our circle time.

Prickly ball, unroll yourself-

Show your sniffly snout,

Show your shining little eyes, 

Patter all about;

Prickly ball unrolls himself-

Comes a hedgehog out!  

(Spring, Whynstones)

We learned a few facts from National Geographic, Kids. Like why they curl up into a ball and why they have prickly spines.  What they eat, etc.  There's also a cute little video and audio of the sounds they make.

 For baking day we made Hedgehog hard rolls.  I found this idea on Rhythm of the Home, here. 

Michael's favorite part of bread making is the punch at the end of the first rising.  I used a wheat hard roll recipe from one of my cookbooks.

As you can see I can't seem to catch Michael unaware anymore.  He is always the ham!

We didn't have any currants or cranberries for the eyes and nose.  So we used a combo of Coriander and Peppercorns.  I made sure the kids didn't eat them.  (Can you imagine?!)

We had so much fun with them we just had to invite some friends for an impromptu hedgehog party.  Homemade chicken soup and hedgehog rolls.  The boys loved them! 

The next day I found another project we just had to try.  This on Zakka Life.  Pom pom hedgehogs!

Introducing Meadow and Clover.  I used what wool I had- a medium and dark brown and some cream upcycled felt. Michael made the pom poms and I sewed the faces.  He loves them! They've found their way into our bed time stories as well and have taken on a life of their own.

 Until next time...

Gramma

It was so nice to have my Mom here all the way from New York. She came a few days before my due date to be sure to make it to Owen's birth. Owen came 3 days past due but mom still had a week with us after he was born. We had a great time and she was such a help but it wasn't nearly long enough.

We all love to bake. Mom bought this great cupcake book called "Hello, Cupcake!" and made bug cupcakes with Michael. Bugs are the theme of the season with Michael. He's been keeping a bug jar of beetles and he spends hours looking at them.

They started by making the cupcakes. Banana cake, yum! Mom even made the cake gluten free for me.

Then she made the bugs using chocolate and candy. She put a piece of wax paper over the bug page and traced them in chocolate.


Michael helped by sorting the candy by color (I think he ate more than he sorted) & placing the candy on the chocolate bugs.


They used peanuts, almonds, M& Ms, Skittles, Tic-tacs, Sugar Babies, & Junior mints.

Then Gramma placed the bugs in the fridge to harden and carefully took them off the wax paper to place on the cupcakes.

Aren't they just lovely in a creepy kind of way! Michael loved the entire project. He must of told Gramma he loved her twenty times! We know the key to my boys heart! We miss you Gram!