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...

Gratitude

Gratitude is such a powerful thing. Whenever I get into a funk, it's always because I'm forgetting to be grateful. It's a cure all. 

Today I am grateful for brothers, who when they're not fighting are best friends. 

for last minute crafts that make their day. 

For "ham" with our turkey. I'm not sure which one he is a ham or turkey but we love his silliness.  It drives me insane and keeps me sane at the very same time. 

For an abundance of food and love. What are you grateful for this holiday season?

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...

fairy made...

So here is the completed Sugar Fairy gift, a little bit worn and played with. Last year Owen was really too little to care about the Sugar Fairy.  He loved trick or treating and the candy but he was 2 1/2 years old and not as aware as he is now.  This year I told him the story of the Sugar Fairy and he loved the story but as we got closer to Halloween he made comments like, "I am not giving my candy to the fairies!" Michael told him he had no compassion!  As we started off trick or treating in our neighborhood, Owen told one of the first people we saw, "This is supposed to go to the fairies but I am not giving them one bit!" lol.  So I figured I would maybe set their tree stump and owls aside and give it to them for Christmas. The problem is Michael still really wanted the Sugar Fairy to come! What would happen if Michael found a gift and Owen didn't?  I wasn't sure what to do. When we got home they ate plenty of candy.  Then we picked out 10 pieces and put them back in their bags.  The rest was to go to the fairy. I waited for arguments from Owen and none came. He was very happy to have his 10 pieces.  How much more does a child need, really?  So, we put the candy outside and I waited for their reaction in the morning.  They were both very excited to see their gift and played with it all morning.

I think Michael suspects this year.  He is almost 8 but really still wants to believe.  He said, "Mommy, the fairies stole your wool again!"  I said, 'Honey there is plenty of wool in the world".  Later when we were talking about what to make or buy for their cousins for Christmas, Michael said maybe you could make them a tree stump like ours?  I said, "I wouldn't know how Michael, that's fairy made! "  That seemed to satisfy him.  Oh, but that day is coming.  I have told him sincerely that Santa is the spirit of giving.  & that gnomes & fairies are something I've never really seen but choose to believe in & I have no evidence to say they don't exist. Don't we all love to play at these games?  It seems parents are having just as much fun as their children playing Santa, hiding gifts and keeping the magic alive.  What's more real than the love behind that?

Anyway, I digress. Halloween was a fabulous time. I put no effort into their costumes.  Owen was a bee, Michael a vampire.  We wanted to draw a vampire face with our Lyra face pencils but Michael refused. We had friends over, a Ninja & Star wars character.  I took horrible dark, blurry pictures all night and no pictures of the food!  We had pumpkin stew, bone bread, warm cider & cream cheese pumpkin muffins.  It was too much fun.  How was your Halloween? 

Until next time...

Halloween fun & crafting...

 

Happy Halloween!  We are getting into the spirit with pumpkin carving today.  The boys had a blast and just loved sitting in the dark, watching their pumpkins glow in the dark and then running all over the house pretending to be ghosts.  Quite the evening we had.  We pulled out the Halloween books and snuggled in for a bit of reading before bed.

While they slept I worked on their Sugar Fairy gift.  The colors in this photo aren't accurate as I took it inside & at night but you get the idea.  This will be a tree stump home for two little owls.  Owls will be made tomorrow hopefully.  I'm not a fan of this last minute crafting, especially when it's in an area I'm not at all confident with.  I told Owen the Sugar Fairy story today and he grew wide eyed and didn't seem too sure about trading his candy.  We shall see.

Until next time...

Autumn Felting

I've been playing with felting lately.  I needle felted two pumpkins for our holiday decorations and then another couple for my shop.  I think I have to make some more too, they're addicting! 

Then I tried to wet felt the perfect red felt for some dolls.  Sadly it ended up as prefelt.  Not the most successful first try but it made some very pretty leaves, one is featured above.

 

Shhh, don't tell the boys, I'm working on their sugar fairy gift.  I was super nervous to tackle this project. I'm very happy to say that it came out much better then my red felt, thanks to some great advice from fellow toy makers at Natural Kids.  I plan to needle felt this into a log with two little owls to peer out.  I'll show you photos as it progresses.

What autumn projects do you have going? 

Until next time...

Autumn...

 

 

We're waiting expectantly for madam Autumn to arrive, so far she is late as usual!

The cool down here in the desert Southwest is always so exciting for us.  It feels so much more subtle here than where I'm from in the East.  The light begins to change and a cool breeze comes through in the evenings. My dear friend who has lived here all her life can feel Fall coming at the end of August.  I am not as sensitive as her to the change but I'm really starting to appreciate Autumn in the desert. 

Inside our home you would think a cool, crisp Fall had arrived. Along with a consignment order & crafting for my shop, I've found time to do a few quick Autumn crafts.  I made some more wool acorns and I found the above metal acorn bells at our local craft shop for 40% off.  I think they were about a $1.50 for the pack.  I also bought the small wreath to hang them from.  I'm still adding evergreen greenery & other natural things from it, so it's a work in progress.

We have begun homeschool this week.  I'm so glad I waited for a little cooler weather to slink in a bit.  Michael and I now feel ready for a year of fun and learning. I'll check back in here before the week is up for a post on our first days of school.

Until next time...

Thrifty Autumn Wreath

It's been so unusually cool here, it has thrown me into a little Autumn crafting. I've been wanting to make a large Autumn wreath for our door ( and pinning lots of ideas on Pinterest) but wreath making supplies at our Hobby shop are a little too expensive for me at the moment.

At a thrift store this weekend while looking for wool sweaters to felt, I spotted these!  A couple of small wreaths and some "woolesque" yarn in Fall colors.

With some of the lovely wreaths in mind from Pinterest, an image began to form.

I began by wrapping my wreath in this warm, soft, orange.  Next I invaded my stash of felted sweaters and cut out a red maple leaf and two other leaves in dark purple felt.

Then I made some warm yellow flowers from another thrifted sweater. For these I cut a long strip from the sleeve.  This piece is about an inch wide.  It can be as long as you want. The longer  it is the bigger your flower will be.  I glued it in half and then before it dried I began rolling the flower.

After it was rolled, I stitched it together, adding a little glue at the end to keep it wrapped firm.   

To hang it, I finger knit a cord in the thrifted red yarn.  All of the flowers, leaves and cord are stitched and glued on to make sure it stays together through the years.

I love the crafts that come together with things you already have on hand or that you can find inexpensively. 

Are you getting into the Autumn, crafty spirit?  What are you making?

Until next time...

Tiptoes Tales & House...

We LOVE the Tiptoes Lightly series of books by Reg Down.  Last year was our first year reading them beginning with The Festival of Stones.  We loved following Tiptoes, the fairy, & Pine Cone & Pepper Pot, the gnomes, through all the fall & winter festivals.  Michael was so thrilled to be clebrating the same festivals as our favorite charachters in the book.  

We still have a couple of Tiptoes books to collect, that's why I was super excited to win a Tiptoes book of our choice from Reg Down himself at Life as a Schoolhouse blog!

We chose The Magic Knot & Other Tangles & were thrilled to see he had signed and drew a picture of the gnomes Pine Cone & Pepper Pot.  This book is indeed a comedy, we laughed out loud throughout. Michael's favorite part was when the gnomes were trying to get Tiptoes' birthday present into her acorn house at the top of the oak tree.  Owen, who often runs around & plays during our evening story became very interested when a certain character thought a snake was invading his home.  Now Owen is excited about Tiptoes as well and he loves her house.

My dear friend Mari gave us this fun idea.  We found a wooden acorn ornament at our hobby store.

And I wood-burned Tiptoes' door and two windows onto it.  It now hangs over our nature table with a felt oak leaf. Simple & fun.

Thank you so much to Reg Down for our book and to Lacey at Life as a Schoolhouse blog for hosting the giveaway! 

Until next time...

Shop Update: Autumn Waldorf Gnomes & a Witch or Two!

 

I'm so excited to present my new line of gnomes! These little gnomes are a little more simple with just a decorated hat and painted bodice. I'm hoping to increase my stock to have something for everyone.  Here is Maple the gnome with a lovely needle felted maple leaf sewn to her hat.  

 

Here's Maple with her friends Oakley, the Oak leaf, and Howden, the pumpkin.   If you've been to my shop before my shop you may have noticed I have a fondness for naming my little gnomes.  Howden is the name of an actual pumpkin variety and Maple and Oakley, well those are pretty obvious.

A close up of Oakley.

 

Here's a close up of Howden the Pumpkin Gnome.

 

This one might be my new favorite!  He is Ignacio the Autumn Fire Spirit. His hat is needle felted in red, orange and yellow flames.  He also has a little painted flame on his bodice. 

 

And as Halloween is coming up, a couple of witches have joined the ranks.  Here are Agatha and Gwendolyn.  All now in the shop, at MamaWestWind.

Please come and join my MamaWestWind facebook page.  I have said I'll have a giveaway at 200 fans and we're quickly approaching that number.  Come and join to get in on the fun.  Hmmm, which doll should I give away?

Until next time...