Crafting

Christmas Paper-Craft Kit

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The girls are reaching an age where they really enjoy being able to participate in making Christmas gifts.  So, for their cousins (ages 5 1/2 and 3 1/2), we put together little paper-crafting kits, so Aasha and Ruby can enjoy an afternoon of Christmas crafting.

This is a very frugal gift, costing us less than $1 per kit, since we used cardstock scraps and last year’s Christmas cards, as well as craft notions purchased at the thrift store.  It’s also a gift crafty kids will love – when I made my girls fall-themed kits for Thanksgiving day, they made cards, collages, and all sorts of really inventive little creations.

If your kids would like to make these thrifty gifts for their young friends and family, they will need:

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Scissors and pinking shears

a hole punch

paper punches (we used cardinal and snowflake punches, which I pick up when they are deeply discounted after the season)

Christmas-print cardstock scraps (we found some 60% off right after Thanksgiving (with a coupon)  for another project and I saved the scraps) or old Christmas cards to cut up

blank cardstock (we used reds and whites approx 3″x5″ from our economical big box of trimmings and discards from a stationer’s)

small cellophane bags (thrifted), and one larger cellophane or paper bag

crafting notions, such as ric-rac, sequins, stickers, buttons, glitter, seam-binding (anything crafty you can pick up at the thrift store)

glue sticks and glitter glue

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Directions:

1.  Use the pinking shears and scissors to cut out small pieces of cardstock and old Christmas cards – various sizes (2″x3″ up to 3″x5″).

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2.  Puch out snowflakes and birds (this is Little Hen’s favorite part), and sort them into the small cellophane bags. (Firecracker spent a very long time glueing the glittery wings on all of the little cardinals and getting them at just the right angle.)  Punch holes and tie with thrifted ribbon or ric-rac.

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3.  Fill additional small bags with craft notions and other small cut-outs from Christmas cards, and again whole-punch and tie these closed.

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4.  Neatly fill the large cellophane or paper bag with the card stock, and add the bags of punches and notions in the front.  Throw in a glue stick and a tube of glitter glue.

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5.  Create a pretty label for the front from additional cardstock, and decorate with glitter glue.  Whole-punch, and run a ribbon through the label and the bag to attach and close.

6.  Give the gift of open-ended Christmas crafting fun!

Princess and the Pea

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We’re back in our old stomping ground – on the Central Oregon Coast – this weekend.  Some dear friends are having a cider pressing party, and we wouldn’t miss it for the world.  The weekend trip is also a gift to my dear husband, who celebrates his birthday today!  So, we’re staying in a yurt on Beverly Beach and I have promised the girls roasted marshmallows over the campfire.  (I hope to write a bit about our trip when we return home.)

We wanted to bring a little something for our friends who are hosting the party – she was the girls’ preschool teacher, with an amazing gift for connecting and communicating with young people – I learned SO much about relating to my own kids from watching her and feel very grateful the girls could have her for their preschool teacher and friend.   So, we decided to make something for her classroom -  a Princess and the Pea playset.

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We used Soule Mama’s playset (and also Tree Fall Design’s) as a launching point, but used a fall color scheme and scaled it down, so little hands could hold the pieces more easily.   I also added a lined drawstring bag in which to store the set.

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The girls and I selected fall colored fabrics from my fat-quarters stash, and whipped up some mattresses, a blanket and pillow.

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We originally thought of making a paper doll, but the girls and I decided to make a cloth doll instead, since we had the fabric and the time.  Now, I am absolutely not a skilled doll maker, so she’s a little rough, but Little Hen helped pick out the fabrics from the scrap bag, and helped me fashion her hair out of some merino roving, and I’m pretty pleased with the results.

She’s all cotton, except for the hair, her vest, and the stuffing, which are all wool – oh, and a little bit of velvet trim on her skirt.

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The pea, made of felted roving.

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The princess gets tucked in, but oh, she can’t get any rest – she tosses and turns all night! That pesky pea!

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The girls and I had SO much fun making this set, and I hope to make one for Firecracker (whose favorite fairy tale is this one) as a Christmas gift.   It was joy to make something for Teacher Linda – we have been so blessed to know her, and definitely stitched our love and gratitude into every piece of this play set.

I hope you have a perfect autumn weekend – I know we’ll be pressing cider in the coastal drizzle and enjoying the company of truly exceptional folks  – definitely a perfect autumn weekend if you ask me!

Little Knitter

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Look who’s knitting on two needles!

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We are all recovering from a pretty awful family-wide bug, so the past two days we’ve taken things very easy.  Sunday afternoon, Little Hen said she wanted to get some knitting done and set to work on her first real “project” -  a little wool cape for her beloved Waldorf doll, Princess Rooth.  It’s going to be a simple garter stitch rectangle made from purple heather worsted-weight wool (from my stash) on size 8s.   We’ll lace a purple velvet ribbon through one side when she’s done to make it into a cape for her doll.

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Firecracker had fun sitting next to her big sister, pretending to knit for a while, but eventually moved to the dining table to doodle monsters and princesses and such.

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Even the baby took an interest – attempting to disassemble the shawl I’m working on.  🙂

My ambitious girl has said next she’d like to make a scarf for her sister.   Just like her mama, she’s already thinking ahead to the next project.  I think we’ve got another knitting addict in the family!

Paper crafting – freestyle

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The past month has left me feeling stretched pretty thin because of obligations and responsibilities to my family and others.     Tackling domestic duties and  “home schooling” the girls while my non-stop motion toddler “explores” the house into a distaster zone has also been a challenge.  Crafting has been particularly tricky – Tum Tum either attempt to eat or destroy anything the girls are working on – and he’s especially good at climbing up on the kitchen table and flinging art supplies across the room in a lightning flash.

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This day, he took a nice long nap after lunch, so as soon as he was sleeping,  I quickly whisked out some craft supplies for the girls to do a little fall paper crafting.  We didn’t have anything in mind  – I put out some supplies with a vaguely autumnal theme and let the girls’ creativity lead them.

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We had a huge pad of fall-colored  scrap book paper (on clearance for $3 this past summer at Michaels),  paper scraps, some oatmeal and coffee tins, glitter glue, sequins, etc, chrysanthemum and maple leaf punches (I am addicted to the Martha Stewart craft punches – whenever they have one of those 50% off the sale price ” coupons and the Martha Stewart items are on sale, I snatch one up.).  After punching out some maple leaves for them, I went into the kitchen to make brownies, and let the girls explore on their own.

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I love what they came up with – Little Hen’s (left) is a “treasure box” (it’s hard to see in this shot, but she wrote “treasures” on it) and Firecracker’s is a bank for “collecting coins for Heifer”.

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We saved the last canister for Tum Tum, who was happy to turn it into a drum after he woke from his nap.  🙂

Note : I hope to get back to some more regular posting by the end of the week.  Life has been a bit overscheduled I just haven’t found the time to sit down at the computer much the past few weeks.  We have some family birthdays, out of town company, and a trip coming up, so I hope to squeeze in some blogging late at night!!

Vaux’s Swifts

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Kortney at One Deep Drawer told me about the congregation of Vaux’s swifts in NW Portland, and this week we made it over to the Chapman School to see them.   For a bird nerd like me, it was a huge thrill.

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We set up early, with hundreds of other families, enjoying our picnic dinner (homemade hummus, Greek yogurt, tomatoes, flatbread, pear sauce), and reading books until the sun began to set.

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The school had some well-made signs up about swifts – with sections at the bottom geared for children.  One sign suggested we try  tracking one swift in the sky as long as possible before losing it in the swirl of birds (which we did!).  We learned from another that a single Vaux’s swift can eat 5000 bugs a day!

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Then, the swifts began to congregate, and we got out the binoculars to watch.  It was truly breathtaking to watch the birds spiraling together and hear their constant vocalizations.   And the evening only got more spectacular as a Cooper’s Hawk attempted (and finally succeeded!) to catch his dinner from the cloud of birds.   The crowd reacted in unison to his swoops and dives – it was quite a show!

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I wish I had a better camera that could have captured just how stunning the whole display really is.   If you’d like to learn more about Vaux’s swifts, and see some better images of their temporary residence at the Chapman School, check out this segment from Oregon Field Guide –

Oregon Field Guide – Vaux\’s Swifts

Water-coloring

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Like most children their age, the girls are prolific artists (esp. Little Hen, who loves her water colors).  Our living room was looking pretty bare, and despite amassing a  substantial collection of their artwork, it’s just not in the budget to get anything professionally framed right now.  Why should that prevent us from displaying their art?  So, we strung up a line, hunted down some scrapbook paper on clearance at the craft store, and a little glue and a few clothespins later…the walls aren’t quite so empty.

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Some of my favorites -  The Lady with Grey Hair by Little Hen , who loves to paint people, and Untitled by Firecracker, who takes a sweeping, abstract approach.

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This one – Moon and Sun in the Corner – is  Little Hen’s favorite.

I plan on scouring the thrift stores the next few weeks for some frames I can paint or decoupage to match, and then we’ll get the girls’ work framed and properly displayed.  But for now, we can fill an empty wall, enjoy their creations and stay in the budget.

The last two days, I find I’ve been setting up my spinning so I can look at their paintings while I work – it still amazes me what is working inside their heads and hearts that they can make such beautiful art at such a tender age.   I don’t get ever tired of looking at them, and look forward to what they’ll create next.

Totes

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Now, my sewing skills are pretty basic, (nothing like the beautiful sewing at Pleasantview Schoolhouse), but this week I tried my hand at making some farmer’s market totes. (A few more tote tutorials can also be found here, but I like how the pattern I used has the lining fabric peeking up above the edge of the bag).

The first tote is made out of some vintage (1950’s?) fabric from the thrift store, with plain muslin lining and blue contrast stitching.  For the pocket on the front, I used a little heart I had been holding on to since I hand-quilted it at Girl Scout craft camp two decades ago.

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The other two totes are made from old sheets (two thrifted, and one Little Prince toddler-bed sheet with worn out elastic. ).  They are very soft, and I like the blue-on-blue in both.  The girls have already claimed the Little Prince one as a sleep-over bag for visits to Grandma’s or Auntie’s.

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I also had enough fabric leftover from a quilt I made the other day to make a little (10″ x 12″) out of the scraps.

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The outside material is from a skirt I cut up, and the inside and pocket are made out of the same sheet material that lines the other two blue totes.

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I think making totes is pretty addictive, and several folks will be receiving some for Christmas (yay for the Handmade Pledge!!).  The girls picked out fabric for their own totes at the Knittn’ Kitten, and I also have fabric for two more large farmer’s market-sized cut up and waiting to be sewn together.   Hopefully, I’ll get to sew them up when the baby is napping later today.

Wishing you a thrifty, productive week!

Pink and Blue Quilt

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The other night I stayed up ridiculously late finishing a little scrap quilt, and I really paid for it the next day! Of course, the children decided to wake up almost two hours earlier than normal the next morning!  I needed two cups of coffee just to be able to make toast and eggs for breakfast!

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The quilt is based around a little stack of 15 pink, blue and raspberry colored blocks that came to us in a large bag of fabric scraps.  At first, I put the blocks in the bottom of my fabric drawer, because my initial reaction was that they were super ugly (circa 1992?).

I went through my fabric stash, and found a strip of equally ugly early 90’s fabric, a vintage sheet with a large rip in it, and an old summer skirt of mine, (back when I used to wear skirts above the knee!) that all sort-of coordinated.  Soon, a little quilt began to take shape.

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The sheet was cut into strips for the middle of the quilt (to join the blocks).

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The skirt became the sashing around the outside of the quilt, with that strip of extremely-floral fabric tucked in, too.

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The batting is two layers of a pale-blue flannel sheet that had become quite worn and was in my rag bag.  And more of the torn vintage sheet fabric was used for the back.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with it, even if it’s not my kind of color-scheme.  It was a frugal use of some blocks that might otherwise have sat in my fabric stash for years, and I was able to repurpose all sorts of fabric odds and ends.  Of course, my super girly-girls love the pink on baby-blue look, so even if it isn’t my cup of tea, it made some folks happy.  🙂

Have you been able to utilize or repurpose a craft supply that someone else has cast off?  I’d love to see what you and your kids have created!

Peaches, Preserved

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Peach-Brandy Jam = 18 -  1/2 pints

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Peaches in Light Syrup = 12 Quarts

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Peach Honey (a delicious, thrifty, vegan honey substitute) = 6 1/2 pints

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Peach Honey Butter on Applesauce cake (with peach jam between the layers.) – 1 stick unsalted butter, 6 tbsp peach honey (or regular honey) , beaten together in the Kitchenaid Mixer with a whisk attachment until combined and fluffy.

The best thing about home-preserved peaches, in my opinion, is opening a jar in the middle of winter and tasting a sunny summer day.

These ladies are taking preserving the harvest to a whole new level – Dana, Beth, Rural Mamma, and Amanda.

Egg-dyed yarns

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I have always wanted to dye my own roving (mostly because of the Twisted Sisters Sock Book!!), but wanted it to be something the children and I could do together – something safe, easy, and non-toxic.  So, when I was pregnant with my son, the girls and I dyed 2 lbs of white Brown Sheep mill end roving (super economical!) with Easter egg dye bought at 75% off after Easter.    The needed ingredients are food-safe dye, vinegar and water.

We followed this Kathryn Ivy tutorial, using spray bottles, brushes  and spoons to experiment with different patterns of adding the dye to the roving.   We worked outside, putting down lots of newpaper,  so we could make a huge mess, and have fun.  The girls had a blast squirting different patterns into the white roving, and were surprised at seeing the final results after it the roving was steamed, rinsed, and hung to dry.

It takes a LOT of  very concentrated dye to get the vibrant colors in the tutorial, and mine came out very pastel (as you can see).   It spun up nicely (you can tell this is some early spinning, however – it’s pretty uneven), but after we set the twist (just singles), the hanks have just been hanging out in my yarn dresser, because I haven’t been much in the mood for pastels.  With the wave of friends/family having babies the last several months, now is a perfect time to crack into that oh-so-pastel yarn!

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So far, I’m really enjoying knitting with it, and when it’s all used up, I think we’ll try it again, but with more concentrated dye for more vibrant colors.  Who knows, maybe Little Hen will be old enough to spin some up herself by then.  🙂

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If you’ve tried your hand at home-dying fiber, I’d love to hear about it and any advice you can offer.  If you’ve posted about it on your blog, I’d love to share the link.  Thanks!

(Only 3 days left to enter the giveaway!!)

First Giveaway

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Welcome to the first giveaway at An Exaltation of Larks!

The girls and I are giving away a handmade scrap doll quilt,

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some soft, dove-gray Rowan-spun 4-ply 100% new wool yarn (enough to make two pixie hats),

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some vintage linen napkins, and assorted other goodies, yet to be revealed!

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This is a comment giveaway – please leave a comment telling me 1) which Category (in my sidebar on the right) is you like best, and 2) what crafty/domestic/culinary/mama activity you enjoy doing the most (feel free to include a link to a related post on your blog so I can get to know you, too!)

If you link to my giveaway on your blog, post about it on Facebook, etc, please let me know, and I’ll add THREE extra entries in your name to the drawing.

The drawing will be held on Comments will close at 11 pm Pacific time on Saturday, August 15th, and the drawing will be held Sunday, August 16th.  Thanks!

Giveaway closed.  Thank you all very much for the lovely comments!

Summer Nature Table

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The Magic Onions is hosting a Friday Nature Table group.  I should have posted yesterday, but life got busy, so for us, it’s a Saturday Morning Nature Table sharing.

This was a great idea – I was able to catch up on a LOT of blogs I haven’t had the time to get back to in a long while.  The girls and I had a good time looking at everyone’s nature posts (Firecracker especially loved the fairy fortress at Muddy Schoolhouse) .  We will have to make the rounds again next Friday – lots to learn from and enjoy.

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A few more shots of our Nature table in the early morning sunshine.  Little Hen found the old bird’s nest in a stand of bamboo we are clearing out of our backyard.  The honeypot was a gift from her grandmother.

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Some little treasures the girls have collected in the past week or so and keep in a dolly tea-cup.

Our summer nature table tends to be less cluttered (like Heirloom Seasons says, it’s constantly changing and will fill up with autumn’s bounty soon enough!).  The Clean Plate Club also has a restful, uncluttered nature table – with a beach theme.

I confess, with Tum Tum walking and able to reach EVERYTHING on the nature table, I keep the items on a tray up high, and when the girls are interested in it, I bring it down.   With so many chokeables, breakables, delicates on the nature table,  it’s the best – if an imperfect – option for right now.  (I also like Kinder Beginnings’ shadow box approach.)

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What’s on your childrens’ nature table?  What are they connecting with the natural world?  Join the sharing at The Magic Onions.

Oh, and one more reminder – giveaway coming up VERY soon!

Doll Quilts/ Giveaway Update

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Little Hen and I had such a good time making our doll quilt for the show, and the weather has been so hot, we thought we’d spend yesterday and today indoors, keeping cool, and making some more scrap doll quilts.

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I cut 2-inch squares from more fabric scraps in my stash, and Firecracker joined us as we played at laying out the pieces in different arrangements until we each had our tops laid out.

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Firecracker lost interest and went to listen to Strega Nona on bookCD,  so Little Hen and I sewed the pieces together for both her (in the foreground) and her sister’s (in the back) quilts.

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I added borders, backing and top-stitched them while we all listened to Daddy read from our current chapter book.

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A while back, I intended to have a little giveaway, but life got hectic, and I didn’t get around to it.  So, here in the next week, I am going to have a giveaway, and will include, among other goodies, one of the doll quilts above.   Keep checking in, and let folks know.  Thanks!

Scrappy Doll Quilt Virtual Show

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Little Hen, who loves to help me sew, has been asking if we could put makes some quilts for her dolls.    And then, a while back, I saw the invite to a Virtual Scrappy Doll Quilt Show and Challenge on From my Scrapbag and thought it would make a great project for Little Hen and I to do together.

We’ve been so busy, I haven’t had time to get out the sewing machine and dig through my fabric stash until two days ago!  We look through the fabric scraps (I haven’t made a large quilt in ten years, so the fabric was a little dated, but the rules of the show dictated we must use up scraps), and decided on a blue on blue theme.   Little Hen picked out the block fabrics, and I selected the border fabric from leftover strips of a fabric I had used in Little Hen’s crib-sized Ohio Star baby quilt.

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We went with a simple 4-patch quilt – something a 6 year-old could have a real hand in making.  The finished quilt is 10″ x 14″, and I must say, Little Hen has a careful hand when it comes to piecing – the corners all meet nicely.

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Little Hen sat in my lap, and together, we guided the pieces through the machine.  Her favorite part was top-stitching to finish the quilt (with three little ones, and the late date of beginning this project, there was no way I was going to have time to hand quilt it!) It was a fun activity for us both, and we are planning on making her cousins and sister some doll quilts for Christmas gifts this year.

Please check out the comments section to visit the other quilts in this show.   That’s where the girls and I are headed right now!

Magic Potion

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At day camp this week, Little Hen made a magic potion, which she has been applying on everyone – to cure anything from splinters to a grouchy mood.  She loves bestowing “goodness” on everyone.

Here’s her recipe as she dictates it to me ( how she remembers it from camp)

Magic Potion Recipe by Little Hen

24 handfuls of shredded beeswax

a medium sized jar of canola or olive oil (not sure which)

a whole boquet of flowers (such as roses, clover flowers, and every type of flower you can think of)

Directions – First, take some flower petals and soak them in the oil overnight.

The next day, strain the flowers from the oil.  Then, take the oil, put it in a pot and sprinkle in the shredded beeswax.  Put the pot on the stove and turn on the stove.  While you do this, you tell the fairies what magic things you want your potion to have in it (like good things to help people).

Pour  the melted potion into jars and let it cool down for half an hour so you don’t burn yourself.

To use it, get some of the potion lotion on your finger and put it on your owie or whisper a wish and rub it between your eyes.

I hope you like this.  – Little Hen

Spring-into-Summer Nature Table

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While not technically summer, the very warm, sunny weather of late has been pointing us in that direction.  The girls and I have cleared away the spring table and begun to gather items for our summer table.  It’s just beginning to take shape – rocks from a nature hike, sweet alyssum from the yard, beeswax flowers Little Hen made, some shells from the beach…

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We are looking forward to seeing it grow and change as the summer progresses, and also seeing and drawing inspiration from other families’ nature tables.

Some blog and flickr posts that showcase nature tables -  Chickadee Nest,  LadyKnit, Syrendell, Home Baked Education, Granola Girl, Madam Fafa,  Lyneya.

For the Moms in our life

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Some thrifted linens we sent my mother for Mother’s Day, amongst other things.

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And for my husband’s sister, mother, and grandmother, we made earrings (Firecracker picked out the beads), and coupons (from repurposed Starbucks gift cards sleeves my sister gave us for crafting) for things like babysitting, a morning at the zoo with the girls (lunch included), a tray of brownies, etc.  Also, some Martha Stewart craft paper for Grandma and the girls to create with together.

Better watch your back

Tum Tum was sleeping on the sofa, and the girls were cutting pink paper snowflakes on the living room floor.  I was mopping in the kitchen, and when I finished and came back into the living room, my hulking baby boy had been transformed…

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…into a pink fairy prince in an enchanted sleep.   I think my boy is destined to spend many many hours of glittery, fairy-tale, tea party, dress-up adventures in the years to come.

Get well soon, my little Valentine

On top of the cold we are all battling, Firecracker has been throwing up all afternoon and evening.  Poor kiddo.  While she slept (for 3 hours!), her big sis suggested that we make her some get well/Valentine cards.   That’s my Little Hen, always thinking of ways to show her love and care for the sick, the sad, the lowly – especially when it’s someone in her family. 

A little pink, a little glitter, a little love note – that has to cheer a girl up, right?

The evening prescription was a dose of The Jungle Book and a back rub, and lots of being fussed over by a concerned big sister.   Get well soon, my little Valentine. 

Crayon Heart Pendants

 

 

Last night’s Valentine crafting – silly me, trying to work on Valentine’s crafts with the girls and cook dinner at the same time while Tum Tum crawls everywhere and all before my husband is home from work!  They turned out pretty well – I adapted the “recipe” from Feb 2009 Wonder Time magazine (although I skipped the cookie cutter bit and just used a heart-shaped cupcake mold).  Tomorrow we will string ribbon through them.

These were a great use of leftover broken crayons, and surprisingly, the girls’ favorite part was peeling the paper off the crayon nubbins. 

Up next – pink marshmallows, or maybe chocolate flowers.  The weather outside is so nice, we may just head out to the park.  Hope your day is full of sunshine, too!

Little Things

Some little things that have added beauty to my day:

A handmade, fair trade leather ring from 10,000 Villages here in Ft. Myers.

A startling little pitcher plant growing right outside my parents’ front door.

 

And most of all, a teensy fairy that Little Hen made for me.

Sewing

I mentioned yesterday that we’ve been hit with a cold front (50 degrees in Florida??), so we’ve had to make ourselves busy with things besides the beach and swimming in the pool the past few days. 

Little Hen asked if I’d make her a pouch/sleeping bag for her dolly.  I said sure, on the condition that she work the pedal (she has more control if she uses her hands instead of her feet). 

We used some 50 cent fabric Little Hen had picked out at the thrift store (she always seems drawn to red), and some old shorts of my mother’s that she was going to donate otherwise, so this was a pretty thrifty project. (Anyone else love my mom’s sewing machine?  Ancient, but it runs beautifully, and I feel like I’m transported back generations when I use it.)

 

Afterward, Firecracker asked if her dolls could have a quilt, so with the scraps of leftover fabric and some remnants of Lamb’s Pride I had in my knitting bag, I churned one out in ten minutes or so.  Not perfect, but two little girls and their dolls (Princess Ruth and Lisa Blue Dress) are very happy.

(Sorry for the delay in posting – isn’t it crazy how busy you can be on vacation?  The past few days we’ve been to the circus, the beach, the park, and making trips to the thrift stores and craft store, not to mention trying to get some homeschooling done!  I promise I will do my best to get caught up on my blog reading this week – I’m so hopelessly behind, and I’m sure I’m missing out on all sorts of wonderful recipes and ideas!  Maybe the kids to get to bed early tonight…)

Felted Tomten

We have continued to enjoy reading The Tomten the past week or so, and we were so inspired by Mamaroots’ little collection that we decided to make some ourselves.  The girls each have one, and have already scurried them away to their room before I could snap a picture.

This little guy will be going to a certain big brother whose baby sister was born on Christmas Eve.  His mama sends the girls the best Waldorf goodies, so I figured her son might like a little Tomten for his winter nature table.

The snow has all melted in Portland, and the children and I are looking forward to heading out to Florida tomorrow.  Grandma and Grandpa are anxiously awaiting our arrival.  My next post will be full of sunshine!   Yay!

Beeswax Honeycomb Candle Craft

 

We were sent a surprise package from some wonderful friends down in the Medford area.  It arrived in St. Nicholas’ day – a beeswax honeycomb candle kit from Southern Oregon.  This was a craft made for little children – it was easy to complete in a short amount of time, the girls had fun making them.  Plus, as Little Hen pointed out, they made your hands smell sweetly of honey.

We will get to enjoy their glow for many candle-lit dinners to come. 

Thank you Eva and Lela!

Children’s Christmas Market

Our table at the Portland Homeschool Children’s Holiday Market, where our family sold homemade gift tags, peppermint bark, and marshmallows.  It was a wonderful venue for the girls to show off their projects, to raise money for various charities, and to network with other Portland homeschoolers.   

We raised $28 dollars for charity and sold nearly everything we brought (prices were kept low, so all children could participate in the buying as well as the selling –  $1 each, or 3 for $2).  We met lots of other great homeschooling/unschooling families.  The girls came home with tummies full of brownies and a bag full of homecrafted goodies they bought from the other kids at the market – fairy wands, playdoh, postcards, stationery, bean bags, chocolate lollipops. 

Many thanks to Lyla, who put on the event!!  There are future events in the works, and we will definitely attend again!