morning sun rae

and the winner is......

2011-05-26T04:21:00.000-07:00

the winner of the sew, mam, sew giveaway is *jayne*. congratulations, jayne!! i am lacking an e-mail address for you so please contact me.

thank you to all of you for your sweet comments!! this was a lot of fun and has me in the blogging spirit again. we are off to atlanta for a visit to the lovely waldorf school of atlanta. will return to this space soon....

may giveaway day!

2011-05-23T05:49:00.000-07:00

happy may greetings everyone!

***for my regular readers and old and new friends, i know it has been a while since i have been present in this space.....more on that later. ***

i have once again been so blessed to have won many generous giveaways myself this year. i have been wanting to host another giveaway of my own and when i saw that sew, mama, sew's may giveaway day was approaching, i jumped on board! in case you don't know, there are hundreds of incredible blogs participating giving away handmade goodness and supplies!!
i am giving away this beeswax nest. i made it using the same technique as the larger beeswax lanterns. it is filled with spanish moss and wee wet felted eggs.
in addition, i am gifting this mini edition of *the story of the root children*. it is identical to the larger version but a smaller, handy size for traveling perhaps.
to enter, just leave a comment here. i will ship internationally.

thanks for visiting, now go find some more great blogs and giveaways by visiting the master lists (there are 3 of them) of participants at sew, mama, sew! have fun!

****comments are now closed. thanks for playing along!****

this moment

2011-04-29T04:19:00.000-07:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

more at soulemama. have a blissful friday!

thrift share monday

2011-04-24T22:54:00.000-07:00

i am determined to play along with dear selena over at apron thrift girl, even if i am a day behind. on saturday we went to our first yard sales of the season. the big score of the day was at the local, hip charter school in our neighborhood. i knew a friend had found some great castaways there last year and was motivated to venture out with the children....i'm so glad that i did!these gorgeous wooden puppets were my first find. they were each marked $5. they are in pristine condition and i fell in love with them right away. i held onto them even if it meant shelling out $10 to take them home with me.
next i found the craft supplies. i have never scored wool yarn or roving at a yard sale (or thrift store) before. it was far too exhilarating! ;) there are five skeins of the blue mohair, and a partial skein of the chunky orange. i have another partial ball of that same yarn. it is great for making pumpkins with the smaller children!
as we were browsing, it was announced that you could now get a box and fill it......for $5!! not only did both of the puppets and all of the wool go in but we added these buttons, a pair of hand blown glass earrings, this wooden fan,
five silk ties for egg dying magic, an apple cookie cutter, a sweet little planter, a few children's books, and all of the clothes pictured below. everything in the first photo plus all of the clothes....for $5!!
i know a couple of glass blowing daddy's whose children attend the school. can't wait to see if one of them made these.
the dress hanging from the rail is a wee bit snug in the arms but i had to have the fabric. i think i can easily alter it for sienna. she scored a wool blend sweater that she can grow into and a cute skirt that was already in wear (pictured in yesterday's egg hunt photos). in the box also went this blue shirt for me and two sweaters for felting...one with the sweetest flowers!i felt a wee bit guilty about giving them so little money for so many great treasures. this was a fund raiser for their school after all. so i didn't mind that this incredible wool sweater i found didn't fit in that box at all. the tag says *highland home industries. 100% pure new wool.* i gladly handed over three dollars for it. it is a bit big and will be perfect for teaching. the apron that i wear in the classroom is big and full and this sweater will fasten over top just right. it is really scrumptious and i love that it buttons on without the added belly bulk of most cardigans. this was a real score for me. i have thrifted oodles and oodles of sweaters over the years for my crafting purposes but rarely do i come across a nice wool sweater for me to wear.
the children have enjoyed the puppets very much. they must use them gingerly and it is so sweet to see them slow down and maneuver them with care. they set up an entire scene for them with bark chairs and acorn cups of water.
they took turns telling stories and worked together to act them out.

my other scores of the day (without pictures) at other sales were a hard bound copy of the book *gnomes* for $3. our copy had fallen apart and i was literally giddy when i randomly came across this in a box at a yard sale we almost didn't stop at.

we also came across a huge collection of greeting cards. you know the fancy kind found at the health food store with gorgeous illustrations of fairies and mermaids, and all sorts of other magical scenes. we rescued a small stack of them and brought them home. most are to send out to friends but the children each have their faves that they are hoarding.

thanks for humoring me while i shared my finds!! i love giving discarded items a new home. we are planning to move soon and are thinning things out around here so i am more intentional than ever about what we bring in. it is such a gift to find things we truly will use and cherish for such a great deal!

eggs of easter

2011-04-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

do you know why easter falls on the day that it does? it is the first sunday after the full moon following the northern hemisphere's vernal equinox. true story.
this is our fave of the silk dyed eggs this year. we have done this the last few years with my mom, bakka. no bakka visit this easter but matt came over this morning and shared this tradition with us.

we have used only silk ties in the past. this one was a silk shirt (from my mom, she collects silk thrift finds for this project). the shirt had black floral designs on a red background. it bled into the dye water and onto the other eggs a bit but it was so very vibrant and stunning in it's transfer.we had a quite day with our egg dying, a couple of hunts, and a dinner cooked on the grill.
i had a number of felted eggs in various stages of progress and got them all to completion over the last few days. i can't believe we have a dozen and a half felted eggs now (with one knit egg one in there from the lovely jessi!)! i love having this alternative to the plastic eggs. we still easily fill these with a single piece of candy or a little treasure. not only do we avoid the plastic but they bring a playful and sensory rich element into our egg play.
it's so fun to see their little faces peeking out at you from their hiding places!
only half a dozen of them are monsters and it is fun to come across one of their little personalities. it has been comical to watch the children's interaction with each of them. i have never seen this kind of magic with plastic eggs.
jasper really likes digging in for the treasure! he plunges his little fingers right into the wooly cave and feels about.i enjoy going to the health food store and getting a handful of candy to supplement their eggs with. it is nice to say *yes* to sweets for a day, knowing that i know what is in those treats...even if they are still loaded with sugar. jasper eats his as he goes. sienna collects all hers and puts them away. she rations out one for each of them each day as long as it lasts. ;) so nice that she shares with him despite the fact that he scarfed his own as fast as his fingers could dig them out of those wooly caves!
the four new members of our egg monster family. i made many monsters last year but only two stayed with us. these four sprang to life this year. two of them the children had seen already but two of them they discovered during the hunt.
this guy has a little bit more of a sculpted face than i have done before.
the plastic egg inside this one popped open during the felting process creating an odd shape. (i had it taped shut but the tape came undone. i use my eggs a lot and should probably retape some of them.) i set to it with my felting needle and turned it into this little box!
the first time it was filled with two chocolate coins. even though there was only one box to discover, it held a coin for each child. they shared without hesitation and i smiled.
***disclaimer: many other irritating, disappointing sibling interactions occurred throughout our normal day. this is the one i choose to remember and record today. ;)
one of the only things in their easter baskets that i personally made was this little johnny jump-up fairy for sienna. she saw me making a similar one for a swap recently and asked for one of her own.
the fairy was woodburned and painted with watercolor pencils. she has a sparkly acorn hat. i think she may get a petal cape, too. her cradle was one of my eggs that i knew sienna would love given all those lovely shades of blue.
the walnut candles from our earth day hunt were set afloat giving this tea cup yet another life.
our easter centerpiece.

earth day egg hunt

2011-04-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

yesterday we shared a most magical egg hunt with some dear friends. it was a damp, cool day in the mountains and we gathered at sweet tracy's home for some fun.the land across the street from her home is a very special place. it is on the national historic register and there rests one of the oldest cabins in buncombe county. the children wondered through field and forest gathering eggs in their baskets.

though we pulled this together on rather short notice, the crafty and clever mamas involved still managed to create a special hunt for the children. there were dyed eggs as well as plastic eggs filled with simple treasures. among the goodies tucked inside were earth balls (it was earth day after all!), a couple of other natural candies, home made nut butter balls, shells, stickers, special stones, shark's teeth (jasper got two!), marbles, and bits of nature. do you see the blue egg in the picture above?

the passing rains left the moisture kissed greenery glowing with new life. i love the smell of these mountains after the rain.

there was even a boxwood hedge maze. the children had so much fun winding through these tidy hedge paths!this path opens to the previously mentioned ancient cabin. it is kept in beautiful condition and is used as a family retreat. jasper was ecstatic to find these two marbles in one of his eggs! he clutched them, along with his bunny (below), for the remainder of the hunt. once we returned hone, all of his prizes went straight into his treasure box. ;)
when each child had collected 10 eggs, they came to tracy to collect their felted egg full of goodness. this is how we distributed the hand mades. each child received one felted egg filled with a wee peg bunny, a wooden spring token, a beeswax walnut candle, and a special message. tracy made these adorable bunnies!! love them! a few of us mamas contributed felted eggs so that each child would have one. the one pictured above was actually made by this woman. i offered it to the cause, but was delighted that it ended up coming home with us again.
spring was in full show for the event. the dogwoods in bloom above us and these gorgeous white bells dotting the landscape below (anyone know what they are?).
to run and be free with friends of shared values is invaluable to me. i cherish the community we are creating together. we are all looking forward to our next hunt already!
if you find yourself hiding eggs or hunting them, have yourself a beautiful day.

beeswax egg candle tutorial!

2011-04-08T09:33:00.000-07:00

today i will share with you how to make this sweet smelling egg candle!
you will need:
eggs that have been blown out (tutorial at magic onions)
beeswax
wick (i used braided for 2-3" candles)
a long needle or a piece of thin, bendable wire
a small bit of clay
scissors
*melt your beeswax in a bain marie. this is what my set up looks like. i use an aluminum percolator that i found at the thrift shop for $1. the pan is from the thrift store, too. i use beeswax often and these two items live in a box of my beeswax supplies.
*thread your wick through your blown out eggshell. i used a needle to get it through the holes. you could also use a piece of thin, folded wire to thread it through. you want a bit of wick sticking out both ends.
*on the small end of your egg, cover the hole and the wick with clay. keeping your clay very moist will make this step much easier. you can use a little water to smooth out the edges and to ensure you have a good seal.
*place egg in carton with clay side down. i doubled my cartons while working to help soak up any wax spills.
*once your wax is melted, pour it into your egg.
*beeswax shrinks as it cools so you will need to top it off. you could tie your wick around a toothpick or something to hold it in place. i just adjusted mine as the wax began to harden and it worked out fine.
*allow your egg to cool for a considerable time. we left the house to run some errands while ours cooled. then, gently crack it open and begin to peel your shell away. note: if you smash your egg on the counter to break the shell, you will damage the beeswax inside!
most of the wax had shrunk and separated nicely from the shell making the task of peeling rather painless. we did have this problem spot where the shell stuck to the wax. we just kept picking away at it until we removed all of the shell. we were then able to wash off the white residue with soap and water.
*trim your wicks and find a stand for your bee-utiful egg!
notes and variations:

*you can use a blow dryer to warm your egg up and then smooth out any surface scratches or smudges.

*if you do not have a stand, you could make a flat bottom for your egg to sit on by touching the wide end of your egg to a warm pot on the stove. this will melt the wax down just a bit and give you a nice flat surface.

*the wooden stand above was bought at the craft store in the unfinished wood section.

*peel only half of the shell off for a fun, just cracked looked!

*decorate your finished egg with decorating or modeling beeswax.

have fun!!

from the infirmary

2011-04-03T20:13:00.000-07:00

we began last week with my suffering with severe allergy attacks which basically had me out of commission. i had to leave school one day and one night sienna saved the day and pulled together dinner and got herself and her brother ready for bed because mom was just to sick to function.

just as i was coming around on wednesday, jasper came down quite suddenly with a nasty virus that has wiped out half of our class. this virus is nasty and comes with a high fever and an awful cough. jasper had a fever of 104 for 5 consecutive days!

by friday night his dreadful virus had developed into pneumonia. he was such a sick little boy. (the above photo was taken during the first days of the virus before pneumonia hit.) his pediatrician was kind enough to come into the office on saturday to see him. within hours of leaving his office, sienna was feeling dreadful herself with a head cold!
it had been rainy and overcast here for the past two weeks (hence mom's severe allergy issues). wouldn't you know the sun came out and the temps climbed to the high 70s when we were all feeling too poorly to go out and enjoy it! a similar fate befell us last spring when they had chicken pox back to back. i remember the forsythia's were in bloom then, too.so we had snippets of sun time on the back porch. smoothies loaded with fruits and veggies, mom's sun hats, and their rocking chairs made for a lovely little stint in the great outdoors.
he actually smiled!! i couldn't resist breaking the camera out when these dappled bits of sunshine lit up his face. to my surprise he perked up a bit and became playful with the camera. this is the first time i had seen this sweet smile in five days. you can see how sick he is but his glow is starting to peek through again. he has such a bright spirit that it is such a shock to see him feeling so forlorn for so long.for five days i was by his side. he needed me to wipe his nose every five seconds, hold the water cup to his mouth, feed him the bits of food he would eat, carry him to the bathroom and hold him up while in there, and carry him back and forth from the bed to the couch. on top of that, there was the endless battle with his cough. trying different techniques and remedies again and again trying to get him some relief, especially through the night. we did not sleep for more than a wee bit here and there for several nights.

so yesterday when they were finally both at rest (both with fevers), this mama should have collapsed into sleep herself but instead i tiptoed outside to soak in a little more sun. that's when i spotted the violets. i guess they have been out for several days (according to sienna) but this weary momma had no idea of such! so i grabbed this cute little teacup i thrifted with just this very thing in mind and ran out to the yard. i dug up this sweet little violet and planted it with some moss and brought it inside to greet them when they woke.
sienna spent a couple of stretches out there doing some sewing. can't show you what she's working on here just yet though!
when she went out in the earlier part of the day, it was all sunhats and being mindful of heat exhaustion. after her nap, our porch was shaded so she bundled up with her fairy quilt and finished her stitching. she relearned the back stitch and was very proud of her work, indeed!

today we woke up to a fever free household!!! we actually slept for a four hour stretch last night. i showered today. jasper is walking and feeding himself again. they played together! sienna will return to school tomorrow. jasper will continue to cycle a bit as he recovers. he will have some more feverish times and we will be very mindful of taking things slow. i have read that the recovery time for pneumonia can be long and that the cough can take up two months to disappear!

here's to our increasingly good health,
rae

sweater sleeve pen holder

2011-03-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

the jar we had been keeping our pens and scissors in at school (for teacher use) broke leaving us with a pile of writing implements with no home. a skinny jar was salvaged from the recycling to temporarily house them but i needed something more attractive, of course. ;)

enter this sweater sleeve (pictured inside out here). using a can as a guide, i cut the sleeve to fit snugly over the can.
***i used an eden organics can as they are the only ones that i am aware of that are bpa-free.***

then i needle felted a pair of toadstools on the sleeve and pulled it over the can. instant makeover! i am going to make lots more of these in many colors and designs. a fast and easy makeover and you could use the can for so many organizational solutions!

oh sweater sleeves, how i love thee. there are seemingly infinite ways to use thee.

egg monsters, take two

2011-03-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

i have had a lot of inquiries about the egg monsters in my header photo. can't blame you, they are pretty darn cute and oh so fun!! the post i did on them last year can be found here.there are a lot of tutorials around the web about wet felting eggs around a plastic egg form (or a wooden egg). after felting i cut an opening to remove the egg and i blanket stitched the opening with a contrasting color thread. then i needle felted eyes and added tufts of hair (i cut a chunky square of foam to stuff inside the egg while i worked with the felting needle).

some of the hair is just tufts of roving, some was some rainbow leicester locks, and i even used a single strand of yarn for one. these are a huge hit here. most of the ones pictured went to friends in an easter swap last year. each of my children still have one that they adore and we will be making more soon.

check out joy's eggs here. i want to do some of my next ones with the opening cut in this jagged way. what great monster mouths!

hope this is helpful. have fun and i would love to see pictures of your creations!! ;)

daffodil root children

2011-03-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

The sun is now shining,

Thy sky blue and clear,

The birds are all calling,

And so Spring is here.

The children are ready,

And up, up they go ~

All the beauty they've made

They are longing to show.

~Sybille von Olfers, The Story of the Root Children

for the peg doll swap i made these little root/flower children. their root garments are made from a wool scarf i bought at a yard sale a couple of years ago. i remember that the woman was so happy that someone was going to love her deceased mother's scarf. little did she know that i was going to intentionally shrink it and cut into many, many pieces! i have used this wool felt in many projects, mostly autumnal given the warm, mottled earth tones. i like to think she would delight in knowing the creations that have come forth from the destruction of said scarf and the many people who now enjoy those treasures in their homes around the globe.

these little sweeties have daffodil dresses to don for their spring emergence and a variety of little nut caps. their little flower dresses fasten on right over their root bodies.

some of them have snaps and some have small round velcro tabs. it is so fun to dress them! sienna enjoyed switching their outfits around before they started out on their journeys. three of them have hopefully landed by now here in the states. two of them are en route to australia.

i only had one of these special little caps so it went to our lovely hostess, ms bloom herself. i sure hope the cap survived as the little tips of the *curls* do like to snap off.

this swap was so fun!! i have said that before, haven't i?

more pics here.

branch border

2011-03-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

spring is here and it has been quite warm already! we have been digging in the earth at school and planning some extensive playground improvements. we had a parent work day this past week and will have another this coming weekend. one of the projects we completed recently was this lovely flower bed.
some of these bulbs were already here when we first moved in. some we have planted over the past couple of years. they spring right to life when the weather begins to shift despite the fact that they are rooted in firm red clay. i have wanted to give this bed a proper border for some time now.
one of our dad's built mini sawhorses and came to class to saw some maple branches with the children to get us started. there wasn't enough though and i squealed with delight when i found the perfect branches to complete the project on the side of the road in someone's discarded brush pile. i am not sure what kind they are (a type of birch??) but the bark is so, so smooth. matt came over and sawed them down to size for us (thank you doug and matt!!).
some mamas brought some grape hyacinths and some blooming ground cover to add to the bed and put some sweat equity into the project. a few of the children (including my own, given the many hours we spent here over the course of two days) enjoyed helping out, too.

to make the border sturdy took some serious work but the end result is charming. we dug a trench to embed the branch pieces, pounded them in with a mallet, pounded the mud back in on both sides, and then pounded some more! there is almost the same amount of each branch under the soil as there is sticking out. i added some clay soil conditioner in as mulch and to help break that clay down.
of course a sweet little gnome and fairy moved in right away! this colorful little gnome i found at the thrift store a few weeks ago and i was just itching to get this bed done so that he could find his new home. today was our first day back in class since he arrived and it was so fun to watch the children discover him and go over to greet him. ;)
this border mimics the sandbox on the other side of the playground. soon we will have more of the larger ones throughout the yard for walking and balancing on!

spring greetings

2011-03-20T06:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;

To-day the glint of green is there;
Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;
I know no thing so wondrous fair,
No miracle so strangely rare.
I wonder what will next be there!
~L.H. Bailey

her peg dolls

2011-03-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

i joined the peg doll swap featured over at we bloom here. i was delighted when margaret decided to offer a smaller swap for the children, too! sienna has had one swap experience previously and it was honestly a bit disappointing. i thought she might be excited to give it another go.....and i was right!

she has made many peg dolls over the years and i love them all. for a while they became her go to gift for birthdays. for this swap, there were four 7-9 year olds matched up. so sienna made three dolls and sent them off to one little girl and two little boys.

for the girl she made a poppy fairy and for the boys she made an oak fairy and a water fairy. i adore them all but am especially smitten with *poppy*!! i have requested that she start on one for me right away but we must get ourselves some more blank peg dolls first.
she has been very keen on poppies lately and knew right away that she was going to make one. she rolled a black pipe cleaner into a spiral for the center of the fairy's flower hat. she made a little pattern for the petals.
i came across the paper she practiced her faces on. i so enjoy these little glimpses into how her beautifully artistic mind works. her imagination and creativity have always been nurtured and it is humbling, being a fairly creative person myself, to step back and watch what comes forth from her when left to her own devices.
the note she included with them was personalized for each fairy. this one says i made 3 peg dolls 1 is named water he has a brother and a sister look on the back. they all have this little verse on the back. the tree grose {grows} over the poppy and over the water.
poppy, water, and tree.

i shall share mine soon. our new little peg dolls from our swap partners are starting to come in, too. such delight to see the variety and the creativity that can start with a blank wooden peg doll!

in the meantime, you can see lots of peg doll sweetness over at the gallery. enjoy!

more february birthday makings

2011-03-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

as i try to find my voice in this space again i am also coming out of a bit of a haze that i have been in since the separation. so i'm sure you'll excuse me if i dip back into the past couple of months and share some things i have finally gotten around to photographing. maybe if we start with february it will seem less absurd when i finally post the pics of matt's creations he gifted the children for solstice that i never shared? maybe?

this outfit i made for sienna just before her birthday. she proudly sported it to her birthday celebration at school. the top i printed at jean's (thank you, jean!). sienna and i made each other sculpey heart necklaces. i still need to string mine. we have plans for a trip to the bead store, but it hasn't happened yet.

the skirt is the real star here. my mom brought this angora/lambswool/cashmere sweater for me to upcycle (thanks, mom!). sienna fell in love with it right away. it is oh so scrumptiously soft! i turned it upside down, and using the waistline of the sweater for the waistline of her skirt, i pinned it where it would fit her just right and then cut as much length and width as i could out of the sweater without having to do any piecing. it worked out just right! then i simply stitched up the sides and needle felted a little heart on the front. voila! easy peasy.

i LOVE repurposed wool sweaters (just in case i haven't said it enough here) and this project was a fave. i will have to make more skirts like this for her. this one is so darn soft that she pets herself most of the day when she is wearing it. ;) the production of this skirt is what led to the impromptu sleeve skirt for her doll, birthday.

this sweet little owl accompanied the dolls that i repaired for her on her birthday. he is from the book *wool pets*. i haven't done any needle felting in this style before but it was a lot of fun to learn some new techniques. i did not enjoy wrapping the wire for the talons so gratefully my little sister took that on when she came to visit. they are adorable, heather!

sienna became an *owl expert* when she was studying appalachia (where we live) in first grade. now they are studying africa and she is becoming an impala expert. she has already asked for a needle felted version. um......!@#@!!! not sure i can pull that one off!

this moment

2011-03-11T06:02:00.000-08:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

more at soulemama. have a lovely friday!

this moment

2011-03-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

knits for birthday

2011-02-26T07:14:00.000-08:00

just after christmas, sienna and i had a chat about projects that we loose motivation for and that get pushed aside, left waiting for someone to get the urge to finish them off. admittedly, we both have a bit of this kind of thing going on. it is one of my quests right now to tackle the unfinished projects that are cluttering our lives.

one request sienna often has is for her dolls to be mended. i suggested i focus on doctoring her dolls for her birthday (feb 6) gift and she jumped at the idea! not only was i pleased that she wasn't insistent that she get new presents, but this would also give me a chance to check something off that ever-growing to do list. (for the record, i also needle felted a special animal for her and she received a book.)
four dolls received the first round of treatment. i have much more work to do, but she was pleased with my progress thus far. first up is her most beloved companion (next to her brother), *birthday*. birthday was custom made by fabs of *fig & me*. she came to live with sienna on her sixth birthday. she is so loved here and a regular part of our family.
fabs has such skilled hands and pours so much love into her creations. birthday really did not need any mending from me. despite the fact that sienna has taken her on countless adventures all over the place in the past year, including camping at music festivals, much frolicking in the woods, numerous picnics in the yard, and hundreds of trips in the car, she had only one popped stitch on her shoulder and a slightly dirty nose to show for it.
so birthday got a new outfit instead. i bookmarked shelley's doll sweater pattern when it first appeared in living crafts. i told myself that i could not knit sweaters yet though. then i just decided to tackle it....and i did it! it was so much fun i am kind of surprised that i didn't cast on for another one right away!
the buttons were jasper's contribution. i intended for us to make our own from fallen branches in our yard. however we found these little wooden disks in our playroom and went with those instead. he sanded them, drilled the holes with his hand drill, and gave them a watercolor wash before rubbing them with beeswax polish. he was so proud when sienna saw them!
i based the hat and the leg warmers on patterns i found online for american girl dolls and adapted them to my needs. i should add some ties on the hat to help hold it on all that gorgeous hair!
the tube dress was an impromptu fix. i had spent my allotted time for this project on knitting the rest of her attire, but she needed something to complete her outfit. i had just made sienna a skirt out of this amazingly soft sweater and cut the sleeve of it for birthday. it slipped right on!
eventually i will share pics of the other dolls as well as various other completed crafty adventures. however i am having trouble getting decent pictures and making the time to edit them and fight with blogger to get a post out.

wishing you a beautiful and inspired weekend!

crow hoodie

2011-02-15T13:59:00.000-08:00

first, a huge and heartfelt thank you to all of the warm and encouraging sentiments you have shared. each one brings a tear to my eye and a ray of hope to my heart. i am sure that i will reread them many times in days to come when i am feeling low and needing a lift. i appreciate each one of you!

we have a friend, todd crowe, also known as *mr crowe* or *the crowe*, that jazzy is rather fond of. he is also quite fond of the color black....he has claimed it as his favorite color for some time now. last fall, when i suggested he be a bird for halloween, he chose a crow (do peek if you haven't seen it!) right away. this involved a black hooded sweatshirt that had a hideous (to me) graphic on the front, which was fine because it was all covered up with feather boas.

after halloween, when the costume was deconstructed, i had the idea to put a crow on it for him as he continued to call it his crow hoodie. it was a bit too small though so i didn't fully commit to it, but i had a vision that would not get out of my head until i brought it to life. when my mom showed up with this gray hoodie recently, i got to work right away.

here are the pieces i started with. printouts of a crow in two sizes and plastic mesh.

i feel very blessed to be friends with the uber-talented ms jean from the artful parent. this project was inspired by two different techniques that jean has taught me, freezer paper stenciling and doily printing. in this case, i printed with the plastic mesh covering our box of clementines.

after the stenciling and printing were finished, before assembling.

i love the way the mesh printed!! i want to use it to do more prints. my mind is actually far too full of ideas for fabric printing now. ;)
i chose to do a rough, fringed edge on my patch giving it a bit of a punk rock feel. maybe it disguises the fact that i actually don't know much about how to operate my sewing machine properly?
this hoodie will not fit him for too long either, but for the meantime he is loving it has worn it the past two days in a row. it is the perfect jacket layer for this 60 degree weather we have been having. seriously amazing!!
there had to be one of the front so that he could actually see his crow. ;)

it feels good to get this one out of my head. i will soon share the outfit i made for sienna when i can manage some decent photos. until then, may you enjoy the weather wherever you are. don't worry, i'm sure king winter will return to us before too long!

grow a crystal heart

2011-02-11T19:54:00.000-08:00

we have been growing borax snowflakes for years. they are fascinating to watch. you can almost see the crystals growing! they are equally dazzling when they are finished and we hang them to shine and sparkle above our nature table.

this year we gave it a little valentine's twist and i love how these crystal hearts turned out! here's a brief recap so you can make some, too. great last minute valentine's as they take only a few hours to crystallize.
you will need borax, wide mouth glass jars, pipe cleaners, and hot water. if you wish to color yours, you will need a coloring agent, too. we happen to be a house free from food coloring so we used our watercolors and it worked wonderfully.

borax is a laundry booster and is labeled *all natural* but please use caution when working with children. mine never touch the borax and we work in a ventilated room just to be safe.
to make the heart shape, first fold your pipe cleaner in half.
now twist the two ends of the pipe cleaner together and pull them down into a heart shape.
tie a string around your heart and tie it to a pencil. this will rest on the lip of the jar, suspending your heart in the borax solution. set it aside and put some water on to boil.
when you have poured hot water into your jar, begin to pour in borax powder. stir, stir, stir. continue adding borax until it will no longer dissolve. we are very unscientific in this process and just keep adding until the powder starts to gather on the bottom.at this point we added color. we usually have some primary watercolors already mixed up so we squeezed it into the jars. we added varying amounts in each jar to produce different shades of pink and red.

i had some beet juice concentrate in my freezer waiting for a dye project. we tried some of that too but it reacted with the borax and turned brown! of course you could use food coloring here, too.
aren't they lovely? we used all sorts of ribbons to hang them.i wish my camera could really capture the sparkle of these crystals!we found a budding branch on the side of the road and brought it home. i hung it over our dining table and our hearts and our valentine fairy now dance above our heads.yesterday we did some more experimenting. we did one with epsom salt (red), one with borax (purple) and one with sugar (clear with read pipe cleaner). only the borax has produced crystals for us so far. the other two are still on our table under observation.here's a peek at the borax heart after only a couple of hours.i can't wait to see what this one does! from what i've read, the sugar solution can take several days to make crystals. i think this heart will be spectacular with the red pipe cleaner inside the white crystals.

have a wonderful weekend and happy heart crafting! i have a make up birthday party to get ready for......

separating

2011-02-09T14:27:00.000-08:00

i have been silent in this space for a long time. one of the reasons that i blog is to intentionally focus on the positive and beautiful things in our lives. taking note of moments or projects that would otherwise be lost in the whirlwind of emotions and activities throughout a normal day brings me joy. that focus is not ever meant to portray our lives as picture perfect as they are anything but. behind this blog is a regular mom who has daily struggles along with those triumphs. i just choose not to highlight those parts of my day so much. blogging takes a lot of time and energy and i just can't see doing it to post about all that is stressing me. we get more of what we focus on, yes?
that being said, many of you are my friends and i wish to share important moments with you, positive or no. this year has already brought many, many challenges to my family. the greatest of which is the decision for matt and i to separate. dividing our family is something that i have not taken lightly and have worried so much about. things have been stressful for so long and i have held on as long as i can. i wanted to be absolutely sure before we made a choice to raise our children without both of their parents under one roof.
matt is truly a wonderful man but he suffers with severe stress and anxiety, among other things, and with it comes a prevailing sense of negativity and a constant flux of emotions. i feel this provides an unstable home for our wee ones and wish to find our way back to creating a life of peace and contentedness. years of living in this situation have changed me, too. i have become reactionary. i have so much anger and disappointment that i don't recognize myself sometimes. i want to find my happy place again.
10 years and two gorgeous children takes a long time to unravel. it is a slow and rather painful process. fortunately, we have remained friends and are both keeping it rather positive for the children. but it hurts. i am hurting. so many days i don't feel like i can do anything without crying. other days i feel numb and mostly stare into space. knitting has saved me those days. i am able to sit with my children and occupy myself with my yarn and needles and mommy doesn't seem quite so out of it. ;)
i have continued to visit your blogs. they bring me joy and sometimes tears. often, if something has really moved me, i can not even comment. i know that sometimes when i have commented in the last few months on one of your posts, it hasn't even made sense. i am just not all there.....but i am trying. i know that it will get easier. i just wish that were sooner.
we have been doing lots of valentine crafting and getting ready for a makeup birthday party tomorrow. so, i have some joyful things to share, but i had to get this out there first. don't expect me to post about it a lot, but know that this is where i am at.....dealing. and being incredibly busy with school! february means open houses, plans for summer camps, fall enrollment, and so much more!

with love and appreciation for each one of you,

rae

p.s. to those of you who notice, my apologies for the double post here. i simply could not live with those non-transparent corners! i really hope it's right this time.....

handmade holidays wrap up, part II

2011-01-11T06:14:00.000-08:00

sienna's canvases. age 6 and 3/4.

butterfly for bakka (my mom) on stretched canvas. she painted this one, outlined it in marker, and then stitched around the butterfly.

sunflowers for grandma debbie. watercolor pencils on stretched canvas.

drawing of st lucia. colored pencils on her most requested art material...*white paper*. ;)

here she is hard at work on daddy's gift.

daddy's painting is of an owl family. there are white baby owls tucked under each wing of the mother and father.

this one is for uncle scottie. a boy and girl dancing to some record tunes.

this one is poppa hum's. the christmas tree farm, complete with blow up snowman, strands of lights, and a girl driving her tree home on top of her truck.

handmade holidays wrap up, part I

2010-12-31T16:36:00.000-08:00

i showed you the beginning of this flying snake a while ago. here he is finished. this pattern challenged me as a novice knitter, but i enjoyed feeling as though i conquered it (relatively speaking here). my circular knitting certainly has much room for improvement, but being that this was my first project on dpns, i think i did alright. the long body of the snake is hollow and his round head is stuffed with beans.
jasper loves him!! he has provided us with several opportunities to talk about appropriate play, too. ;) a favorite thing to do with him is to slide him across the linoleum floor. in the springtime, he will enjoy much wilder play outdoors, i am sure of it!

the other project i shared at that time was the princess in the forest outfit. well, i started with the felted slippers. i knit them larger than the pattern called for and yet when i felted them, they shrunk to jasper's size! a long ways from fitting sienna.

at that point, i knew i was not going to stress myself about trying to get this project done by solstice. i went ahead and ordered another skein of yarn and the second set of slippers are currently on the needles. it's at times like these that i am thankful that her birthday is just six weeks after christmas!
sienna made such thoughtful and beautiful gifts for jasper. i wanted to give jasper the opportunity to gift something just as meaningful that he helped create for her. i found this wooden box at the craft store. i used my wood burner to embellish it a little and then handed it over to him. he chose pink and blue (and therefore purple) watercolors as they are her favorite colors. then we rubbed it with beeswax polish. i just love how it turned out!! it is a treasure box. a proper place to put those special tokens that she previously had no home for. i lined the inside of the box with a piece of felted sweater.

i also purchased two wooden blanks that matt painted with chalkboard paint so that each child now has their own chalkboard.wishing you all many blessings and good fortune in the new year!!

tomorrow i will show the gifts that dad made. he really outdid himself!

dreamy white christmas

2010-12-27T18:23:00.000-08:00

christmas eve we went up to the blue ridge parkway for a little excursion. it was a gorgeous, sunny day and relatively warm. the ice was melting and the water was running behind the sheets of ice still clinging to the rock faces. fascinating to watch....and taste! it was a bit nippy, but there was no sign of what was to come.
christmas morning we awoke to our first big snow of the year!! it continued to snow until monday morning. long ago, i lived in these mountains during the latter years of my childhood. snow of this volume was just unheard of at that time. we once had a blizzard and that was a freak occurrence. otherwise, the little snow we did get, just melted right back away. from the look of things last winter and the start of this one, times are once again changing.
so delightful to spend christmas snowed in with the family. we were due to travel to poppa's house for christmas dinner but plans were canceled when the snow arrived.
we played games, drew lots of pictures, listened to christmas music, did some baking, some cleaning and rearranging, and played in the powdery goodness outside our door. upon our return, we indulged in hot chocolate and my new favorite delight, peppermint whipped cream. mmmmm!!! the mini trampoline grandma sent for christmas came in very handy for working off that chocolate rush. ;)
matt has been working a lot and has rarely even taken two days off in a row for months now. to have him home for three days in a row and snowed in for two of them was a real treat indeed!
sienna was born in colorado but sadly does not remember it. i am always thrilled when she gets to experience plentiful snow like this.
their blissful joy is such a thrill to experience!
here's hoping you are loving your weather wherever you are!

for the love of beeswax (and renee)

2010-12-23T18:21:00.000-08:00

inspired by my very talented friend tracy hildebrand, i set out to make some beeswax ornaments last night. being the middle of winter, tracy had no pressed botanicals handy when she went to make her beeswax lanterns. she improvised with tiny cutters and decorating wax and came up with a sweet star and moon motif. i loved the idea and had been wanting to make this smaller version of the lanterns to have some to hang on the tree.
after the kids were in bed and the beeswax was melted matt and i set about dipping our wee water balloons. he has been busy this season both working long hours and doing quite a bit of making himself (more on that to come!) so this is the first time he has gotten in on the holiday crafting with me this year.
i love his completed ornament! he chose to hang his as a bell rather than a bowl.
it glows bee-utifully when strategically placed near a christmas bulb and releases its soothing aroma (thanks to tracy's daughter, emily, for the tip!).
it's one of my favorites, to be sure. it was difficult to get the balloons to be anywhere near symmetrical when filling them with water. because we were only filling them a little ways, they had a tendency to be lopsided and terribly off center.
finally i had a great shape and was so tickled with the way the above ornament turned out! i am blessed to be in a very special ornament swap (more on that to come, too) and knew this would be just perfect for my partner.

then today i needed that outdoor photo. as i headed out with the two ornaments above and my camera, the ever present multi-tasking monkey on my back took over and steered me toward the mailbox. well, it's christmas eve eve and there are cards and wee packages in the mailbox. as i go to retrieve the first parcel, i dropped my precious ornament, cracking it nearly in half! :( lesson learned. i spent the next hour or so with my hair dryer trying to repair my error. i have patched it well enough to grace my own tree, but not to gift to another.

the beeswax is hot and the intoxicating scent is filling the air and i am ready to go give it another go! i will post pics of the final ornament after it is sent. this one came out much too large to hang on the tree. it sat upright on the counter until inspiration hit and i went to scavenge an led tealight.
this little beauty is now by sienna's bedside. tonight she said she wished she had an extra large one to light the night for her. ;)jasper is obsessed with the beeswax. well, we all are, to be fair. he likes the chunks that haven't been used or the scraps and leftover bits and he also likes to carry around the mold ornaments and make little beds for them. he holds them to his nose and inhales, he rubs his cheeks with them, and breaks the scraps into tiny bits.

his other new habit is sticking his arm down my shirt and fondling my *nurnies* (somehow that word evolved from *nursing*). *they are so warm!*, he will say in his cutest little voice. when these two beeswax forms above were deemed rejects i thought of jasper right away. i tried to pass them off as his beeswax nurnies as a replacement for the need to stick half of his upper body in my sweater. though that didn't work entirely, he did enjoy playing with them today (because they are nifty beeswax cups, not because they are portable breasts!). ;)one last photo for you. since solstice, the beeswax has been flowing around here. we have made a couple of lanterns, poured ornaments into molds, poured our own beeswax tea lights, and made these candles above. also inspired by tracy h and a project she did with her daughter's 2nd grade class, we rolled sheets of beeswax, then dipped them to make them more solid and to burn longer. then we decorated with modeling wax. so fun! the scent of warm beeswax is now interwoven into our holiday traditions for evermore.

here's hoping you have a wonderful christmas weekend with your loved ones! i appreciate each one of you and the beauty you share in this space. with love and appreciation, rae

p.s. happy birthday, renee!!! we love you! xoxoxo

the shortest day

2010-12-21T10:43:00.000-08:00

sometimes when you are absent from blogland it can be tough to jump back in. what started with a technical difficulty (note to self: surge protectors only protect through so many surges!) grew into extended silence in this space. i thought i might do a jumble post to *catch up* so to speak. however, i decided instead to take this special day to log back in and wish you a wonderful solstice!
we were so looking forward to the lunar eclipse last night. everyone was prepared to arise in the middle of the night to get a glimpse of the magic in the heavens. mother nature had other plans though and by the middle of the night our skies were too cloudy to view the moon. the overcast mood persists today so our sun prints will have to wait until the sun visits us once again.
so we are nestled inside awaiting the longest night of the year. yesterday we dried and strung orange slices to hang on our tree in honor of the sun. we have done this for several years but this year we added cinnamon sticks to our ornaments after being inspired by linda. i love that they represent warmth as well as add another delicious scent to our home.
this afternoon, we will leave our lights off and allow the darkness to slowly overtake us. we will light candles as needed rather than flipping a switch as usual. we will enjoy a candlelight meal together, another sun pavlova (with secret holiday topping!), and then have our family gift exchange.
the new header photo deserves a little mention. on the left is sienna's st lucia crown she made at school. next is a beeswax candle that jasper rolled in class nestled in a moss garden adorned with crystals that ms jessica made for each child to take home with them over the holidays. we light our candles nightly and think of our classmates as a way to stay connected over the long break. that stunningly beautiful glowing orb is a beeswax lantern made by one of my students, bryce. i just love that he made it for me and feel the love that he put into it. his mom has become quite the beeswax lantern pro and i will be back soon with a little update to my tutorial full of her words of wisdom.

wishing you a warm and light filled night,
rae

handmade holidays: children's edition, part II

2010-12-11T19:50:00.000-08:00

more goodies from the children. we planted paper whites a couple of weeks ago. we used various christmas glassware that i had collected from thrift stores. lone glasses that had once belonged to a set but had since been cast away. all were priced between 25 and 50 cents a piece. we planted them in pea pebbles. i purchased a very large bag of it at the hardware store for $4.
we did not start them early enough for them to be blooming when we gift them. however, this way the recipient will get to enjoy a bit of the anticipation of the bloom as well. the children love to monitor the growth and changes of these stalks and their roots daily.
this year i will try the alcohol trick that i picked up from liv at 54 stitches. last year, ours were so tall they kept toppling over. it will be interesting to see if the alcohol really prevents that from happening. another sneak peek. another of sienna's canvases for another grandparent. this one was with watercolor pencils. jasper has been busy painting canvas, too. ;)
and the best for last. sienna made these balls for jasper. they look like they are still balls of loose yarn in the photo, but they are actually quite firmly felted together. she started with the littlest scraps of my wool yarns that i had been collecting. she balled those up firmly and then wrapped some longer lengths around it to secure it. we felted these in the washing machine.
the pastel one is a gorgeous handspun from dear jen at syrendell. sienna had been coveting that yarn for some time and was thrilled that i let her use it for this project!

i love how these turned out. jasper is somewhat ball crazy so they will be just perfect for him. we are planning to make some more for another little friend, too.

this weekend we are working on wrapping up a few of the unfinished projects still hanging about. dad brought home a tree tonight so we will hopefully decorate that soon. i have been completely occupied with preparations for tomorrow's advent spiral. now it looks like it may get snowed out!!! that would break my heart more than a little bit and it may be the only way our tree gets decorated tomorrow!

handmade holidays: children's edition

2010-12-07T07:35:00.000-08:00

the children have been hard at work on christmas preparations here. sienna has always been my little crafty sidekick. at her age now, she is really diving into making gifts for everyone this year. it is so endearing to watch her work. we are enjoying some snow days at home and are in christmas crafting overdrive! here is some of what they have been working on.
we made festive felted acorn ornaments. we started by painting the caps with glitter. we did have some glitter paint about, but we also used craft glitter. my favorite new trick is to mix the glitter into glue (we used our new clementine natural glue) and paint it on. practically mess free glitter fun!
one of the very best tools we have at school or home is this hand drill. i highly recommend it for your children and you! children absolutely love turning the handle and i have used it several times for projects of my own. one of the ways we use it is to make holes in our acorn caps for stringing.here are some of our completed ornaments. we used red and white baker's twine to string them. the children did almost all of this project on their own. they painted the caps, drilled the holes, wet felted the balls, and sienna tied knots in the twine. i threaded the twine through the hole in the cap. i also operated the glue gun and as they fit the ball with the *right* cap, i glued them in.
this is my favorite one. i found these giant caps (still not sure what tree they are from. do you know?) and squealed with delight! they are a bit crumbly but i still love the way they look. our felted balls have some sparkly nylon fibers mixed in but the sparkles don't show well on camera.
sienna has been hard at work on several presents for her brother. this is a puzzle blank from *bare books*. she drew an enchanted family with an elf father and little brother and a fairy mother and big sister.
she used her watercolor pencils. she likes to dip them in water and then draw with them. it pilled the paper a bit but i can see why she enjoys using them that way. she then has the control of a pencil, but the color flows from the tip like paint. it was a pretty captivating color experience!
here is a sneak peek of another completed project of hers. this one she made for a grandparent who might read this blog. she painted on canvas and then used her stitches to accentuate the outline. i was fascinated by this project and wanted to give stitching on canvas a try. i loved the way it turned out but she seems to be content having done it just once. ;) i may experiment with this method myself in the future.

being that we have now had two days home for snow, they have completed a few more projects, including our christmas cards. i will do a follow post soon. what are your children making?

our first st nicholas day

2010-12-05T17:41:00.001-08:00

this year we have added st. nicholas day to our festivities. we have been reading christine natale's sweet stories since december 1st. they are short stories meant to be told each night ending on st nicholas day. the children have enjoyed learning about this saint and his kind and generous deeds.

i have also enjoyed learning about st nicholas and his many different companions (some of them quite scary) as well as the various ways he is celebrated around the world. in christine's story, his companion is knecht rupert, which happens to be the name of the etsy shop where i ordered jasper's new solstice doll!

one of the things i love most about blogging is getting glimpses into how other families celebrate festivals through the year. my partner for the *seasonal handmade exchange* is kaya. through her blog, kriebevel, i was able to experience the festivities that take place for st nicholas day in her home of holland. it looks like so much fun!

after seeing the gorgeous wooden shoes of some of my dear blogging friends in past years, i wanted some of our own for this special day. it is not necessary of course, as many children polish their own shoes and leave them out in hopes that st nicholas will leave a treat. however, being that i am in love with all things wood, when i spotted three pairs at my favorite antique store this past summer, i knew i should pick up a pair right away, but instead waited.....until the very last day before st nicholas day! we lucked out and there was still a pair there waiting for us.

this sweet little fairy and hedgehog crafted by erin of *tiny twist creative*. great timing, erin! ;)

the children were delighted to set their shoes out with a carrot and an apple for st nicholas' donkey. when they awoke, their shoes were filled with golden chocolate coins, a wooden toy, and a beautiful book!
i love how this simple piece that we added to our holidays gave us an opportunity to recenter our thoughts around giving and doing for others in this busy season. we have packed up a box of the children's toys that they are ready to part with and will be taking them to a local women and children's center. this is something we do annually but it is so wonderful to have the story of st nicholas to illustrate our intentions so nicely.

this website is full of all things st nicholas if you wish to learn more.

leaf banner

2010-12-04T08:54:00.000-08:00

i thought i would finally share a few picks of the banner i made from my leaf poundings before it gets tucked away for the season. i strung buckeyes in between the pennants. i do love how the prints turned out but pounding them was a lot of work!

i have since seen this and been inspired. she tapes the leaf down with packing tape and then rubs it with a pencil to transfer the image. so much easier! i will give this method a try next autumn.

hope you are enjoying a stellar weekend!

{this moment}

2010-12-03T15:06:00.000-08:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

repurposing watercolor paintings

2010-11-26T20:27:00.000-08:00

the students paintings are collected in their painting folder throughout the year. they are sent home in bundles once at christmas break and once at the end of the year.

a friend asked me for some ideas to re-purpose some of her children's watercolor paintings that are accumulating. i remembered a post i started writing nearly a year ago on this very topic. i revised it for her and thought i would share it here with you, too (finally!).

i would not always advocate for cutting into your child's art, however we do this sort of painting on a regular basis and have acquired quite the collection of paintings! we always choose a few to keep or to display and then make a pile for crafting with.

here are some ideas to get you started:

* use it as a mat to frame another picture

* signs, signs, signs! as teachers, we use them for all sorts of postings at school. the morning meditation and the daily schedule which are both posted on the cabinets, for one example. honestly, anything is more beautiful when written on a watercolor painting!

* cards. our paintings come home from school twice a year, once being at christmas break. having a fresh supply is handy when it comes time to send out those thank you cards after the holidays.
* hanging stars. the watercolor paper is a little thick for this project, but it still worked and they are beautiful!
* star lanterns. more beautiful photos of these stunning lanterns.

* martinmas lanterns. here's one. here's another.

* another lantern. i haven't tried this yet, but really want to! when you use watercolor paintings they come out looking like this- second picture down.
* balancing butterflies. cut out a butterfly that has exactly symmetrical wings and then tape a penny to the underside of each wing, spaced evenly. the butterfly will then balance on the tip of your finger or any other groovy place your children can think of.
* pinwheels. oh how i love that she uses a real stick! ;)

* coins. my friend, joy, punched circles out of some watercolor paintings with one of those craft punchs. her children loved them and turned them into all sorts of things in their play (think money, play food, game pieces, and on and on).

* you could make your own angel cards.

* silhouette pictures. these are gorgeous and could be made to fit any theme throughout the year.

* flash cards (and greeting cards from scraps). i made sienna *flash cards* with some of ours recently. each card is square with rounded corners (also with a craft punch) and has both the capital and lower case letter on it.

* birthday banner. again, you could adapt this for any celebration. be sure to look at the side bar on her blog as she has lots more ideas for using watercolor paintings.

i would love to hear ways that you have made new art out of your children's watercolor paintings! please share in the comments and feel free to leave a link if you have posted about your creations.

thankful for our angels

2010-11-26T07:23:00.000-08:00

specifically jasper's own angels that work overtime keeping this little guy safe. he has given me several real scares in the past month. they say that it comes in threes, so i am hoping that we are all done!

1. at the halloween carnival at sienna's school, my children enjoyed a jump in the bounce house. enjoyed, that is, until the darn thing collapsed right on top of my three year old!! seriously. sienna had just exited but jasper was still in there bouncing away when suddenly it lost power and instantly it deflated right on his head.

this sent me into survival mode. it felt like i was in a war zone or something. i crawled into the huge deflated pile of vinyl that had sandwiched my son inside. as i crawled in, i peeled apart the two layers that were the ceiling and the floor and tried to follow the sounds of his muffled screams. i quickly found him and pulled him to safety. i have never heard him scream in terror like that.

he recovered rather promptly and then my trauma set in. ;) it took me some time to settle after that.

2. a few weeks ago, jasper and i were in a car accident. thankfully, we are both fine. we were traveling on *the big road* (as my kids call it, otherwise known as the expressway), but had just slowed down as we split off to go in another direction when a woman decided she needed to change lanes immediately....right into the side of my car, which happened to be jasper's side.

as i looked up, i see this car scraping down the side of our car, passing right by my sweet child's head, just outside his window. so traumatic for this mama! this trauma took a little longer for us both to recover from.

it is just so frightening to think of the risks we are taking when we get into our car (practically) every day. yes, there are inherent risks in most everything that we do, but this experience brought back for me a serious car accident that i was in as a teenager and am so blessed to have survived. i have also lost a friend and had two friends lose their moms in car accidents, so the dangers are very real and close to heart for me.

3. i am so grateful to our sweet friends for opening their home to us on thanksgiving. we were planning to go to my mom's house but then the starter went out on my car and we are now spending our travel money to have it fixed.

so, last night the children are playing with their friends and everyone is having such fun. then jasper opens the door to the basement and falls right down the steep staircase, landing on the concrete floor below! be still my heart. once again, a short time of mild shock and then he is bounding about again with nothing more than a few minor abrasions to show for it.

i am thankful for the gifts and the many life lessons that our children bring to us. though these moments have been terrifying for us, it has helped to keep me present and grounded. it also helps to put all the other seemingly frivolous worries into perspective.

i'll be holding them both a little tighter today!

handmade holidays.....mostly

2010-11-22T14:01:00.001-08:00

i signed on to tonya's handmade holidays long ago and am only just now getting a post up. i will say that it is my intention to gift primarily handmade, mostly by matt or myself, some from other talented people. however, there will be a few other little non-handmade items, namely books. a few beautiful children's books that i have scored at the used book store (more on that later) and some bare books for sienna.
here's what i'm working on at the moment. just finished knitting these slippers. now i need to sew them up and felt them. i am excited about this process! i am planning to make this *princess and the forest* ensemble for sienna and the slippers were the first of the three projects that i tackled. thank you, ginny, for sharing your brilliant work!
this is a sibylle von olfers book (also author of *the story of the root children*) with a simple and sweet story line and of course, her captivating illustrations. we own and love this book already. i like that it portrays a wholesome and innocent princess who communes with nature. sienna is starting to get some disney princess exposure and i am happy to offer a counter image to balance that out. ;)
here is the tail of the flying snake i am making for jasper. this is my first project with dpn's!! i have a friend coming over tomorrow to council me. ;)
this adorable little guy, nils, was made by suzane from down in the meadow. i was lucky enough to spot nils in her swap shop and we did a little trade (her site says she is taking a little break but check back to see the amazing creations she posts for trade for beautiful goodies that you create). i made her one of my sweater fairies (this one) and she sent me nils.

i used my swagbucks to score a copy of *the wonderful adventures of nils* to go along with it (making it absolutely free!) and will gift them both to sienna.

there are other little things in the works, but that is all i have to share for now. what are you busy making?

***see more handmade holidays at plain and joyful living.***

craft school

2010-11-17T19:29:00.000-08:00

i have had the great fortune to spend a bit of time at sienna's school crafting with the children there. a few dear friends and i offered a nature craft class after school for four sessions. this was a mixed age class of grades one through three. i don't have pictures of all the projects that we made, but here are a few of them.
first up we made these gorgeous tree weavings as found here. such a beautiful and approachable project for all!
one week we made fairy looms. we laid out many types of interesting foliage for weaving into their y-sticks.
the variety and creativity the children expressed with this project was delightful!
we also dyed silks with plant dyes. something i have little experience with but enjoyed oh so much. from left to right above: black walnut, blueberries, poke berries, onion skins, and turmeric. so gorgeous and the kids were absolutely delighted!
i happened to be in the classroom when ms rachel and the first graders were stringing these peppers (they were green then). the beautiful colors they have changed into blend right in with the autumnal scenery around them. a beautiful sight indeed!i assisted the executive director in a really cool project that she brought to the first graders. we made sorghum brooms from the tassels of the sorghum plants that she grew on her farm. i loved every minute of this project and the brooms are so darn practical, too. they work really well!sienna wanted to demonstrate just how well it performs.
this week, i went to class to make corn husk dolls with them. both of these projects tie in with their appalachia unit (as in the appalachian mountains that we live in). on friday, we will gather in their classroom for our appalachian feast. the students will then share all of their work that is on display. so looking forward to it!

handmade exchange

2010-11-15T14:09:00.000-08:00

if you have signed up for the exchange and have not gotten back to me with your info, please do so promptly. i wish to get you all paired up and on your way! thanks for all the interest in the swap!

i go with my little lantern

2010-11-11T20:50:00.000-08:00

i have so enjoyed all the beautiful and inspiring posts about martinmas these past few days! it is such a lovely little festival. this was my third and we have made a different style lantern every year. this year we did the paper mache balloon ones. they turned out lovely!jasper chose to carry a beeswax one that we made last year. it is such a joy to witness the children's anticipation of the event. returning to school at night time is a thrill itself. carrying their own little flames inside lanterns they made themselves out into the dark night brings unparalleled joy! a short and sweet little walk, our lanterns lighting the way, our voices filling the night air. if you do not have a group to do this with, you can make a lantern and go for a walk with your own children around your neighborhood. it is such a delightful experience for young and old and a most meaningful way to signify the carrying of our lights in to the darkness of winter.
cody's turnip lantern shining brightly!

thank you to all of you that have shared your own lanterns and walks! it is refreshing to both celebrate common ground and to explore new traditions.

black and white wednesday: mother nature's leaf prints

2010-11-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

leaf prints found in front of our house on a damp autumn day.

sign ups are still open for the seasonal handmade exchange! sign up by commenting on this post or at jen's beautiful blog, sewn natural studio.

found art

2010-11-07T19:36:00.000-08:00

pumpkin carving happened on halloween afternoon this year. it was so sunny and warm matt and the children worked on their pumpkin together on the back porch. matt laid cardboard down to contain the mess and they used a marker to draw the face on.when i went out later to clean the mess up, i found this sweet fairy on the cardboard. when i came upon this scene in the playroom i was taken aback. she must have worked on this for an hour. every little thing is placed exactly so. the most played with *toys* in our playroom are seen here. they are: 1) our treasures from nature. these include buckeyes, acorn caps, sweet gum balls, beechnut hulls, etc. 2) silks. this is one that i had from long ago. 3) little people of all sorts, mostly wooden or felt.
there are so many little figures here! many that she made hersekf, at least one that i have made, a fisher price guy from my childhood, a couple of playmobile figures, several random wooden figures from different games or other toys, an alkelda doll, her wild child, a corn husk doll, a mamakopp gnome, princess nimble thimble mermaids, a very old baby doll that our old neighbor george gifted to her many years ago, and so many more!

i love where her richly developed imagination takes her. i sat alone in front of this scene just taking it all in. there was surely a story and a progression as to how they each ended up in those specific spots. today she set up a whole scene and told us a story. it was so inspiring! perhaps i will share a little of that tomorrow.

thank you to all that have signed up for the handmade exchange! i am excited at the talented group that is forming and can not wait to see what you all come up with. there is still time to sign up if you want to join us!

kinobe

2010-11-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

back in the spring i posted (bottom of the post) about an amazing show we experienced at leaf, kinobe and soul beat africa. during their performance in the kids village on mother's day, jasper walked right up on stage with them and greeted one of the musicians with a big bear hug around his leg! the sweet soul scooped jasper right up into his arms and kept going. at the time, he was doing a little call and return chant. he couldn't get jasper to do it. so, he switched it up and began chanting *mo-mmy, mo-mmy*. jasper joined right in! it was mother's day and this special moment brought tears to my eyes and touched me in a way i will never forget.
when i learned that sienna's class had the opportunity to work with kinobe (pronounced “CHI-NO-BÉ”) for a one day workshop, i was overjoyed. he is an incredibly gifted musician and one of the brightest, warmest souls i have ever encountered. he has been traveling internationally since he was 10, he makes all his own traditional instruments, and provides workshops for children all over the world.

he worked with sienna and her classmates on a thursday. that afternoon, when jasper and i went to pick her up from school, kinobe was standing out on the deck. jasper zoned in on him right away and asked, *who is that man, mommy?* i reminded him about his spring encounter with him and his face lit up.

we carried on our way, gathering sienna and her things and heading back to the car. all the while, jasper never took his eyes off kinobe. when we reached the car, i attempted to buckle him into his car seat. he began to resist, trying to get out. ms joy wandered up and we became engaged in conversation while i distractedly continued wrestling my son back into his seat.

after a few minutes of this, i released him. he was nearly jumping out of the car by this time and pointing. i thought he wanted to see ms joy, but he was pointing beyond her to kinobe. i took him back up to the deck where he stood and watched for a moment as the big kids were close to kinobe. as soon as there was an opening, he darted in and embraced him fervently! i told kinobe who we are and he remembered that show vividly, saying that it had made a big impact on the band, too, and that they had talked of jasper often.
jasper would have let kinobe hold him for hours, i am sure of it. i was able to move him along knowing that we would see kinobe again in two days when he performed for the school's fall festival. on that day, jasper held us on the deck for possibly 45 mins while the band set up. he wanted to stay near this beautiful soul.

while they performed, he was glued right in front and would interact with kinobe between songs. when the music was finished, he ran to kinobe once again. the two of them embraced and kinobe took him to greet his band mates. jasper grasped his neck so tightly and just held there in a firm embrace. it warms my heart in a way i can not describe to see this connection between these two!again, jasper would easily have sat here for hours, i know it. when he is with kinobe, he rarely speaks. he just is. content and blissful. it's as if they have been reunited. what do you think?

the band has just finished up their tour and are heading home, but kinobe is still in north america on solo tour. if you have the chance to see him, do go! you won't be disappointed.

:><: announcing handmade exchange! :><:

2010-11-04T19:28:00.000-07:00

i am excited to announce a seasonal handmade exchange! i have so enjoyed the swaps that i have been involved in. it is such a joy to receive the gift of another's time and creativity in exchange for something you have created yourself.

for this exchange, you are invited to create an item intended to enhance one's nature table (or other special niche of one's home). you will be paired with a partner anywhere in the world and you will exchange your item with your partner.

i have the honor of collaborating with jen of sewn natural studio for this project. you can sign up at her blog, by commenting here, or e-mailing either one of us.
inspiration for the swap:
this seasonal swap is inspired by the beauty in the changing seasons and the small tables and collections we have for our young children to mark and enjoy nature and its cycles. we also love to learn about other climates and places in the world, and enjoy having pieces from countries like south africa and australia on our nature table - places where spring is now emerging, instead of fall.
guidelines:
- this swap is open to anyone worldwide

SIGN UP BY Friday, NOVEMBER 12th, 2010
MAIL ITEM BY Wednesday, DECEMBER 1st, 2010

- as a participant, if you sign up, you should be willing to mail overseas and honor the swap commitment in terms of timelines

- by signing up you agree to send (swap) at least 1 item that is handmade by you, with an optional 2nd item that may or may not be handmade but should be as natural as possible (ideas could be a stone, some wool or yarn for crafting, a favorite recipe, etc.). any item(s) should be safe for the mail.

- no returns

- participation is in the spirit of sharing, openness and appreciation

- you don't need to actually have a little nature table or corner in order to participate, you just need to be interested in celebrating nature and the seasons and handcrafting something for someone else, and appreciating the swap of another from somewhere in the world.

in creative appreciation,
rae

p.s. thanks again for all the comments and love for my acorn fairy! the winner of this little beauty is seaside siblings! i will e-mail you shortly for your snail mail address!

signups are now closed for this exchange. thank you!!

the costumes

2010-11-03T16:33:00.000-07:00

given the speed that my life is running at currently, i am not going to attempt a thorough halloween post. suffice it to say that there were a lot of festivities over four days! a halloween celebration at my school thursday, one at sienna's on friday, a huge festival at her school saturday, followed by our annual walk in the dog parade (no, we don't own a dog but this is our fifth year walking in a halloween parade with a slew of them dressed in outrageous costumes!). halloween morning we went to a birthday party and a wee bit of trick or treating to our neighbors houses that night.
at home we made an altar for those that have passed back over the rainbow bridge and decorated sugar skulls.
sienna saw a picture of a butterfly costume in an old volume of childcraft (make and do) ages ago and knew that was exactly what she wanted. she did insist her body be black (like a real butterfly's) not blue like the one pictured but wanted the wings the same.
matt and i made these wings together the night before. (yes, i said she picked her costume ages ago and we saved making the key element until the night before. that's just where i'm at right now!) i wish i had done the middle felt piece differently. it was a structural element and i modeled it after the pair of wings we deconstructed to salvage the frame. matt pointed out that we should have made it part of the design by mimicking the lines we painted. good idea.jasper was a crow.i took elements from a couple of different martha stewart costumes and came up with this. the body is a leotard with feather boas safety pinned to it. he is obsessed with black so he was pretty happy. he insisted that none of the ticklish feathers touch his skin though. daddy was his scarecrow when we went out halloween night.
this was my next favorite costume spotting. ;)
how cool are these burlap scarecrows? i love them!!

***a big thank you for all the comments on the giveaway post! wowsers. i had no idea my little fairy would generate such excitement. ;) you can still enter once a day until tomorrow night.***

autumnal giveaway!

2010-10-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

over the past couple of months, i have once again been the recipient of quite a few wonderful giveaways. i continue to be amazed at the generosity and kindred sense of sharing within this community. i don't often think to blog about my wins but i am extraordinarily grateful for each of these gifts. i don't enter giveaways unless it is an item my children or myself would really enjoy, meaning we have ended up with some very special treasures!
it is time for me to give back. i have not had a giveaway since right after i started my blog. more than a year has passed now, i just topped one hundred posts, and have nearly one hundred followers! never would have thought it. me, a blogger. (i'm still not joining facebook though!) ;)
you don't have to follow my blog to enter. please do that if you really want to, but not just for this giveaway. ;) you do not even have to have a blog. just make sure that i can get in touch with you through e-mail. i admired and gained inspiration from several blogs for some time before i ever commented. i didn't have a blog and thought myself somehow not a part of the conversation. everyone is always welcome to comment here...just so you know!
this acorn fairy was crafted using felted sweaters. she has mohair on her head and is made with natural materials, including the cotton pipe cleaner in her arms but excluding the polyester invisible string she hangs by. she is 5" long. she would love to come and live with you (or you could gift her to a friend)!

to enter the giveaway, just leave a comment. you can tell me what your costume is. you can tell me how (if) you celebrate this time of the year (halloween/samhain/all sts day/dia de los muertos, etc). you can just say hi.

giveaway will end thursday night, nov 4, at 10p est. you may enter once a day, if you wish (because i love when others of you do this!).

a week ago

2010-10-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

we are in the midst of another busy weekend here but there are some pics from last weekend that i haven't shared yet. on saturday i attended a WECAN conference (waldorf early childhood assoc) in chapel hill. i made the three and a half drive by myself!! 24 hours without my children. that has happened only one other time that i can remember.

the conference itself was engaging and rewarding. so lovely to be in a room with 40 colleagues. the setting was the emerson waldorf school, a beautiful campus nestled in the woods. i love soaking up the early childhood classrooms. here are a few pics of the nursery class.
veil painting done by the teacher, ms kathleen.

i returned home after the conference and when we all woke up the next morning, sienna and i set out for our now annual date at the fiber fair!
she got to try her hand at some spinning. this wheel is huge and hand crafted by a local artisan. she worked the wheel while momma attempted feeding the wool onto the spool (not sure of the correct lingo here).
she loved it so much that when we were leaving she insisted we go back and do that once again. so we did.

this is sara beth and she is a master rug hooker. i wish some pictures of her larger works had turned out. she somehow makes each and every little loop exactly the same. amazing! she learned when she was a young girl from her grandmother who used strips of old clothing to make rugs and bed throws to keep the family warm.
she took such an interest in sienna as sienna loved watching her work. she let sienna give it a try with some wool roving. they made a little flower together. she made a point to remember sienna's name and told her to come back and visit next year and then the year after that she would be ready to start on her own. sienna is already excited!
these fun felted toys were made by disabled children in a local school. i don't know the full story there, but i do know that the proceeds go back to them.and of course, lovely animals to ooh and ahh over. i know the bunny pic is fuzzy, but so was the bunny! ;)this sweet mama and baby had had enough of the crowds, methinks. they kept their backs to us, but sienna could have still watched them for hours.
off for some halloween fun now! i'll have pics of their costumes soon as well as a giveaway.

found art

2010-10-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

little pieces of beauty found in random places. both made by my ever creative daughter.
while taking pictures of my jack-o-lantern on the back porch yesterday, i spotted these crayon drawings on the floor. love the way they resisted the rain. the rest of the wood is wet, hence the darker color.
this beauty was found in the playroom (pretty darn close to actual color here) . we have these large cedar blocks (some of them stump size) that the children use for all sorts of big building. the surface of this one is at least 9" x 12". this gorgeous work was discovered behind the easel which had been set up with chalk recently. we use these (we have sidewalk chalk for outside). pricey but amazing. we have had the same set of chalk for at least 3 years. sure, they are in pieces now, but they still work beautifully. i keep them put away unless they are in use. they took to the wood so amazingly. we are definitely going to revisit that idea!

sweater jack-o-lantern

2010-10-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

while working on another autumnal project recently, i pulled out this orange sleeve (consequently, the same sweater i used for this project). felted sweaters are one of my most favorite materials to work with!
i proceeded to cut off the cuff and use the rest of the material for my project. meanwhile this cuff was calling out to me to become a jack-o-lantern. what, don't your sweaters talk to you? ;)
i started by turning the cuff inside out and pulling it over the recycled jar i planned to use. for this lantern, i chose a squat, wide jar that had previously housed almond butter. i drew a face right on the cuff. then, using sharp scissors, i cut the face out.
here he is trying on his new face. this is where i lack in photos, sorry. i decided i wanted a more finished look for the cut-outs and added a blanket stitch around the eyes and mouth using black floss.then i painted the jar yellow. i didn't do this step at first, but i wanted to have a feeling of *glow* and depth even when the candle is not lit.
we put one of those little led fake tea lights in him and he glowed almost the entire day. at dinner, we swapped the led for a real tea light and he warmed our table beautifully.

don't have an orange sweater? how about a frankenstein or a friendly ghost?

i'll keep trying to get a better picture of him lit....just one of the many challenges of owning a crappy camera. ;)

autumn leaf

2010-10-20T19:31:00.000-07:00

i have found it difficult to get this post out there. one day the pictures got edited. one day they made it to the blog. then to find the time to write. i still don't really have it, so here is the edited version.

yes, the tents are that close together and their are hundreds!

i have attended this festival off and on since i was in middle school. it has changed a bit, and so have i, but it is still an experience that is close to my heart. festival life is so far from our everyday routine and it is such a joy to share this with my children.

this season we camped the whole weekend. considering that i went into it with a bit of a cold, i overdid it considerably but it was worth it completely.

we camped together with three other families. dear friends that we share connections with through our children. we awoke each morning to a warming campfire, thanks to daddy! the children were adorable all cozied up in their pajamas and blankets circled around the fire.

we are one of the green tents to the right of the teepee on the hill.

letting go of our schedule, the computer, meetings, school, and everything that comes with all of that was so necessary for us right now. i do wish we could have savored that freedom for a bit longer!

a huge highlight for the children is getting to stay up later one night for the fire show. unifire puts on an amazing show that captivates the children and adults alike.
one of the amazing things about this festival is their community outreach efforts. leaf in schools and streets puts musicians from all over the world in local schools working with children of all socio-economic backgrounds. it is inspirational for us to see these children on stage.this is dende of dende & hahahaes. we missed his performance with his band but we did get to see him lead a group of children drumming on five gallon buckets following his native brazilan rhythms. he is so warm and encouraging with the children. both of my kids loved him. afterward, jasper connected with him for a little one-on-one drumming.
there were several bands from haiti there this time. it was so touching to experience the love and incredible energy of these people and to hear their story firsthand.

this is the lead singer of boukman eksperyans. their music was unlike anything i have heard before. they had a very vibrant and energetic stage performance, which truthfully did not remain entirely g-rated. given that we were right up front, i did feel a bit uneasy at one point. however, the music was greatly enjoyed and sienna named them as her favorite musical act.
we also saw the wood brothers (chris wood of medeski, martin, and wood). about as far on the other end of the spectrum as you can get from boukman! incredible vocals and a very enjoyable show. a low key and lovely way to spend a sunday morning.
these fairies on stilts wander through the festival. the children are completely captivated by them. i enjoy watching the children even more than watching the fairies. their little faces awash with awe and wonder.
i even got in a little girl time! one of our gals isn't pictured here. so nice to boogie with the ladies. that has not happened in a very, very long time!

it is almost mandatory when at a festival dubbed *leaf*, in the autumn no less, that one adorn themselves with leaves. relaxing together during the pack up.

we also saw the original wailers, , a great puppet show medley with several area puppet companies presenting, an incredible salsa band, and one of the most unique and entertaining bands of the weekend, slavic soul party. their *balkan soul gypsy funk* was incredibly lively and infectious. with six horns, an accordion, and two dancing drummers, they put on a show that i won't forget soon! many thanks to matt for remaining at the campsite on child duty so that the rest of us could take in this late night show. so fun!!

you can see some pics of spring leaf here. off for more adventures now! see you soon!

corn husk candle holder

2010-10-18T18:14:00.000-07:00

corn husks are one of my most favorite autumnal crafting supplies. though i have used them fresh before, i generally buy them from the hispanic/latin market in a big bag for $4.99. last week i found the same bags at our discount grocery for 99 cents!! i bought them all. sorry asheville i can be greedy sometimes. ;)
when i saw these corn husk candle holders, i couldn't wait to make them. literally they moved up my ever growing crafting list that i have little time to allot to already.

it was a fun and gratifying little project. i used a wide mouthed salsa jar from the recycling bin. i attached the husks as in the tutorial above, gluing the tips to the base, gathering them around the jar and securing them with wire. i then tied colored raffia around snugly and removed the wire that had been holding the husks in place. i tucked one of our beeswax coated leaved in the front.
viola! i love it every bit as much as i knew i would!

re-acclimating

2010-10-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

i am re-acclimating to this busy life of mine. we spent a glorious weekend camping at leaf, a much loved world wide music festival held in these mountains twice a year. i came down with a cold the day before we were due to be there so honestly camping with small children with extreme temperature drops each day was overdoing it a bit, but it was so worth it! we all needed the unplugged downtime.

i have loads of pictures. i will share some in this space soon when i have made the time to sort and edit them.

hope you all enjoyed a glorious fall (or spring) weekend, too!

leaf pounding

2010-10-11T18:43:00.000-07:00

today we pounded leaves. i have been wanting to do this for some time. we often pound flowers and ferns in the spring and i wanted to see if we could make it work with the gorgeous fall foliage around us this time of year. the results were not as gratifying as i would have liked, especially for the kids, but we did enjoy moderate success with some of our selections.i cut muslin into triangles and rectangles on a fold so that they were double-sided. i used pinking shears to do so. we also needed our rubber mallets. they are our preferred foliage pounding tool though we have used regular hammers, too.
the leaves were selected and arranged between the folds of fabric. the top layer was then folded over onto the leaves sandwiching them in.
then the pounding begins! most of our leaves took some serious effort to transfer the color. you will know the color is transferring when you see the juices coming through the fabric. the juicest, freshest leaves make the nicest prints. here, the little red ones (no idea what these are but they came from a bright, bright bush) performed the best. japanese maples are excellent specimens for this project but we could not find any of those today.
opening up the fabric, we peeled away the crushed leaves to reveal the prints.
the inside of the panel, where the leaves where touching the fabric directly during pounding, becomes the outside of the piece. we then chose sticks from our yard to drape the fabric over. hemp cord was used to tie a hanger to the stick.
the children enjoyed this project, despite the effort needed for real results. i wish to make a banner with the triangle pieces i cut (in the first picture). only one of those turned out to my liking so far. i will gather more materials for experimenting and get back to pounding. i'll post pics when i am finished.

{this moment} rainbow day

2010-10-08T06:18:00.000-07:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

she chose me!

2010-10-07T11:08:00.000-07:00

today for spirit week, it was dress as your favorite hero day. last week she told me it was her. she was her hero. ;) i liked that answer.

then, yesterday afternoon she tells me she wants to dress as a firefighter. um, really? we have nothing even close to a firefighter's uniform and i had zero time to gather supplies.
-hmmm....do you have any other heroes honey?
-yes, mom....you!

of course i asked her why. she said because i protect her and keep her safe. it is only fair to note that she did then declare both dad and jasper as her heroes, too, but she still wanted to dress up like me. ;)
i wasn't really sure where to go with this one either, but this is what we came up with. we twisted her hair up last night and attempted curls. we got mostly frizz which probably hits closer to the mark! she wore one of my aprons and a sweater. though she wanted to go for out of the classroom mom, teacher mom was a little easier to mimic clothing wise.

what she doesn't know is that she is my hero, too. i love this bright little star so very, very much!

black and white wednesday

2010-10-06T07:15:00.000-07:00

school chums

find more black and white wednesday at natural suburbia.

making fall friends

2010-10-05T19:53:00.000-07:00

inspired by all of our nature finds, we grabbed some of our wooden pegs, the overflowing basket of felt scraps, and the glue gun. sienna created an autumn mermaid. ;)
i made these two. the taller one is a wooden clothespin. i started this one last year and left him half finished in a box of autumn things. it was so gratifying to bring him to life after all this time! the guinea feathers were not found on our adventures, but in my craft supply. this is jasper's. he cut the felt and wrapped it around the peg just the way he wanted it and i glued it for him. he had his sister draw the black face on. he is obsessed with black! apparently, this guy does not like to have his picture taken as i can not get his face in focus no matter how hard i try. could be my naughty camera's fault, i suppose.then we abandoned the wooden forms and the felt and started gluing the nature bits together. this one is sienna's. she has a wild side, this one. this is mine. he is more on the reserved side, as you can see. and here is jasper's. he chose the tiniest acorn cap he could find and had me glue it in just this spot. it is a ladybug crawling to the end of his stick. ;)

inspiring autumn

2010-10-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

autumn is a favorite season here. one of our absolute joys in life is grabbing a basket and heading out on a trail to discover what treasures have been left for us to uncover. bringing our basket home, the items are then sorted. some are carried off to the playroom to go to work in the play kitchen, feeding dolls and the like. many are left on the table in various wooden bowls so that we may ponder what they shall become next.
we have been doing lots of fall crafting! the materials waiting to be worked with are so inviting and everyone has ideas and can't wait to get started. this weekend we dipped our first round of leaves in beeswax. a well loved yearly tradition. i have had these last for multiple years when stored away gently!
mother nature's gift of color is so uplifting! it is a pleasure to surround ourselves with this beauty inside as she has decorated so beautifully outside.
i had been wanting to transform this wreath for a couple of weeks now. today, i just dropped the five hundred things i was doing and spent a few minutes with myself and all these gorgeous treasures. such a welcome respite, even it was short lived. our shabby front door is now magnificently adorned in autumn splendor!
today kicked off spirit week at sienna's school with *crazy hair day*. still feeling the autumn love, she hit the yard with her scissors this morning and came back with these clippings and the request to attach them to her hair. it turned out so lovely!

forest festival day

2010-10-03T08:01:00.000-07:00

the kids and i ventured out to the cradle of forestry in pisgah national forest this weekend for *forest festival day*. the cradle of forestry is the site of america's first school of forestry and showcases what forest conservation looked like over a century ago.
sienna helped this over-sized gnome cut down this tree using a crosscut saw while brother supervised.
the gnome said this was one of the most stubborn trees he had come across and tried to use his brute strength to topple it. ;)at last! t.....i.....m.....b.....e.....r!they had a chance to climb aboard this old engine and even give the bell a ring!
sienna's first grade class spent last week making fairy houses. this made quite an impact on her and she was spotting these fairy holes all over the place. she would see a perfect spot and just stop right there on the trail and start decorating it for them!
she did not fell this tree herself. ;) she did enjoy getting to see underneath this giant though. they have also had a block of study on trees at school so this was a nice extension. there is a tree nursery here and we got to see lots of little saplings being tended. we had a lot of fun identifying trees by their leaves, bark, and their nuts or pods as we wandered the trails.
together we tackled this log to slice off our own tree cookie.
the look of intense concentration on her face was priceless. she worked so hard for that cookie!
they then burned the cradle of forestry stamp into it for her.jasper took advantage of learning opportunities, too. ;)there were many artisans and craftsmen there doing demonstrations. when sienna learned that there was a corn husk doll maker, she insisted we seek her out. i was impressed by this nativity scene.
here's the gal i really wanted though. i only had a few dollars in my pocket being as we were in the forest and all, and i let sienna choose a doll (this woman's prices were ridiculously low!). i was proud for her that she stuck to her guns and got the one that she wanted....which was not the one mommy wanted. notice there is no picture of the one she did choose..... ;)there was a kids craft table with supplies for leaf rubbing. i love that she immediately turned her rubbing into a leaf fairy!the wash area was a favorite. minus the wringer, we have this same set up at dandelion hill for washing our napkins, so both of my kids are familiar with scrubbing laundry. they dove right in! the wringer brought a whole new aspect to the chore. pictured here is another dad helping sienna out. when it was jasper's turn, sienna and i turned the handle together and jasper (carefully) fed the pants into the rollers. it took all three of us to wring a pair of pants out!
it was a magical day in the forest with my sweethearts. i regret that i chose to do it solo (dad was working) though as it was a LOT of walking with all the events and displays being spread out amongst miles of mountain trails. they were paved trails yes, but jasper refused to walk for much of it meaning mom did a lot of carrying. the little bugger is protesting being carried in his carrier these days which makes his load a lot heavier. by the time we called it a day, we were all completely exhausted, but enchanted!

michaelmas

2010-09-26T18:17:00.000-07:00

yesterday we celebrated michaelmas! as a budding waldorf community, this special day marked a significant point in our growth. this was our third michaelmas together! we started holding community wide festivals with michaelmas as our first and so with this season we begin a new year of celebrations together!

the children weaved fairy looms and wet felted comet balls.

there was a lovely waldorf style puppet show with marionette puppets! i was so impressed with what these beautiful friends were able to pull off in such a short preparation time. now that we have such a professional puppet crew, i look forward to more shows in the future. ;)the skies opened up and a great thunderstorm rumbled overhead as we were gathered under this shelter for the show. this dragon was made for the first michaelmas. there was some controversy over whether or not the dragon should be present again as he is quite large and most of our children are quite young. when the vote was made to have him make an appearance we had no idea we would end up huddled in a rather small space with sheets of rain falling around us and thunder cracking overhead! it certainly added to the intensity for some of the wee littles which is unfortunate. i enjoyed his show though, especially knowing that matt was under there (as he was for the first michaelmas, too)!as has happened with several of our festivals now, the rains parted and the children proceeded in merriment splashing and running through puddles. it brings back so many memories for me as i loved to lay in mud puddles and roll around when i was young. it was always by myself though and i feel blessed that my children have a whole tribe to have these adventures with.mother earth snuggled sienna warmly.

the cider press is a staple of michaelmas for us and mr crowe is the cider master. such a fascinating bit of machinery and such a rewarding process for the children. not to mention the delicious cider to drink!

my sad little camera never captures the day as i wish it to....some day i will have the camera i long for. until then, i send you to my dear friends' blogs to see a much lovelier representation of the days festivities. both moment to moment and golden sun family have posts up from yesterdays celebration. if you consider that matt is inside the dragon (sounds grim, eh?), you can spot my whole family in their photos.

i can say that autumn is officially here. just two days ago it was in the 90s and the trademark colors of fall were missing from the branches around us. with that downpour that started at michaelmas, the rain has continued off and on and the temperatures have cooled down considerably. our yard is now speckled with the dappled yellow leaves of the great maple tree just outside our door.

welcome autumn! we are so glad to see you!

autumn tidings

2010-09-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

yellow the bracken, golden the sheaves.
rosy the apples, crimson the leaves.
mist on the hillsides, clouds grey and white.
autumn good morning, summer good night.

words by florence hoatson

a crystal for a tooth

2010-09-21T18:13:00.000-07:00

number three has come out!! when she leaves her tooth under her pillow, her tooth fairy comes and takes it back to the gnomes. they love childrens' teeth as they help the crystals grow bigger and brighter. in exchange for her tooth, the fairy brings a crystal back from the gnomes' cave and tucks it into her tooth pillow.

she says that each child has their own tooth fairy. your tooth fairy is always with you until you are all grown up and you have stopped losing your teeth. then your fairy finds a new little child to look after but is always nearby if you need them. so sweet!

staying put

2010-09-15T18:12:00.001-07:00

for those of you who may be wondering, we have decided to keep sienna in first grade. honestly, for a while there it seemed as though this was one of those parenting decisions that has no clear answer. we have to make a difficult choice based on intuition and hope for the best.

then one of my colleagues asked me which class seemed like her karmic group of peers. good question! i had not thought of it this way before.
i have to say how incredibly blessed i feel to be able to sit down with a teacher and talk about my child's karmic group of peers! that would not happen in many schools. both the kindergarten and the first grade teachers were open to my coming to get a feel for each group.
though the kindergarten was a lovely bunch and i truly enjoyed being part of circle time with ms joy again (an added bonus!), when i joined the first grade class i knew right away that she is already where she belongs.

each class votes on a name for themselves and her class chose the wolves this year. this little wolf pack just fits together so nicely and sienna seems to be comfortable amongst her peers.

interestingly enough, when it came time for them to sit down with their writing journals i suddenly felt very anxious. i thought to myself *this is what she can't do!*. i wasn't sure if i should tell her the letters to spell the word she wanted to write or correct her as she sounded it out or just let her figure it out. as i relaxed and observed the other children around me, i was so relieved at what i saw.

some were taking their time sounding out each letter, some just started writing using their *inventive spelling* (which looked foreign to me!), and some didn't even know what they wanted to write. this is first grade!! they may be *reading* but they are all still figuring out this whole language arts thing. i believe sienna fits right in with where these children are and will do just fine.

i'm not worried about the reading either. it will come in time. i am of the opinion that writing before reading is the most beneficial anyways, though there are many different methods out there. i am bringing her the alphabet the beautiful waldorf way on my own at home. i am telling her a story of the letters. we introduce a new one and then *sleep on it*. the next day we draw, paint, color and write the letter as well as recite alliteration poems. she is loving doing this work with me.
today she wanted to show her little brother her classroom. of all the beautiful things to see, she took him right to her notebooks to show him the math, writing, and drawing work she has done. she is so proud!!
though her classroom is small, ms rachel has done a lovely job creating a warm and inviting space. there are silks and beautiful wooden figures that sienna is used to being surrounded by and they have opportunities to use these props and others to tell stories to each other. an area she excels in!

it feels wonderful to have settled back in to first grade. we both love ms rachel and we are all glad that she is still part of the wolf pack! she has so much to offer the group and it will be wonderful to see how they learn to work together. as a small class, they won't have a choice in the matter!completely unrelated, but i had to share. this is her latest creation. i love her!! she has been making little dolls like this for some time. i am loving how they have evolved. she creates them pretty much independently now and always has a clear vision of how she wants to go about it.

here's to settling in,
rae

LAAFFing it off

2010-09-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

this past weekend we attend a local festival, LAAFF, held downtown on lexington ave. this is one of the many free festivals we have here in our town. this one is a fave of the locals as it brings all the colorful characters of our community to the street. in the nineties, rolling stone magazine dubbed asheville as america's new freak capital. LAAFF gives everyone an excuse to get their freak on and, as you might imagine, makes for some incredible people watching.

all geared up and ready to go!
**stroller pictured is a joovy caboose. there is a jump seat and a standing platform in the back allowing options for the older child. we LOVE it!!**

throughout the festival, there are musicians and artists of all sorts. i believe taking children to see live music is an incredible opportunity that all children should be given, if possible. this was an interesting four piece that sienna planted herself right in front of. she loves to experience all kinds of music.
what's a festival without face painting? just isn't one at all if you ask these two.we even had a special frozen treat! it was such a hot day on the city streets.
usually daddy breaks out some fun duds from his immense wardrobe collection, but he played it pretty tame this year. could be because he came straight from soccer (four games that weekend!), so i'll cut him some slack. ;)this silver gal stands frozen as a statue until a dollar is dropped into her bucket. then she comes to life and rattles of a little number on her drum, bowing to the donor before becoming motionless once again. my kids could watch her for an hour.
there were several artistic opportunities for the wee ones, but the art car was the highlight for these two.
such a nifty piece of collaborative art!this festival is significant for us as it marks four years we have been in asheville. four years ago we moved here the week before LAAFF. having gone to middle and high school here and those having been some rebellious and formative years for me, i was pretty darn resistant to moving back here. it seemed like the universe just pulled us here anyways though.

when we first arrived, my dear friend renee and her family were living here. we were pretty miserable the first few months and wanted to bail. when renee and jason decided to head back to colorado (where we originally all knew each other from), they so sweetly and generously offered to pack us up and take us with them. it was very tempting!!

though i wasn't sold on being here, i knew we must be here for a reason and knew whatever that reason was that we had probably not realized it yet. we asked for a sign. please be careful if you ask for signs!! you never know how you may get them.

we knew we needed money in order to move. we put matt's car in the newspaper to sell and decided to let that be our gauge. if the car sold, we could move. if not, we stayed. the day the ad went in the paper, matt and sienna were in an accident in matt's car. they were fine but the side of his car was smashed. we canceled the ad and settled in to being here.....for now.

and here we are four years later. i know why i had to come here now. not only for the work i have been called to do with early childhood, but also to bring the many facets of myself and my past together. i have had many separate lives and distinct phases of my life, some of which i previously chose to shut away and hide from. living here has forced me to look at my past and my mistakes and come to terms with all that has brought me to where i am today. this is a whole other blog post though!!

we are still here. it is a wonderful place to be a young family. there are so many opportunities for our children and ourselves. the landscape is gorgeous and there is much to explore. there are also many challenges. we miss the west (and renee and fam!!) so very much. i am so far from my dear friend candice (at least her and renee are near each other again). the humidity and moisture are difficult for me to handle. my allergies are drastically more intense here. i know that matt still struggles with being here. he has yet to find his niche in this town. i am still hopeful for him! i am also still hopeful that someday we complete our work here and find our way back to the west.

scenes from LAAFF 2006.

dandy back to school

2010-09-04T10:27:00.000-07:00

we returned to school this past week. what a week it was! we have a vibrant and energetic group this year!

there has been a bit of shifting in the program. one more area of my life where i am learning to *let go*. when joy and i co-founded dandelion hill last year, we shared responsibilities 50/50. we had a partnership in the business and we were co-teachers in the classroom.

when she decided to leave dandy, i was not up for finding another person to fill that same role. i opted to take on the role of director, handling all of the administrative tasks and to hire a lead teacher. having young children of my own, i have energy for only so much else and i did not feel that i could take on both at this time. rather than hire an assistant as i had once planned, i decided to remain in the classroom as the assistant myself.
enter ms jessica. she is a delightful young lady and i am thrilled to have her leading the classroom! she has such enthusiasm and passion and has brought with her an inspiring energy that we needed. she does not have children of her own (yet) and i find that to be a bonus honestly. it can be exhausting to work with children this age when you are with this age group 24 hours a day (ask me how i know).

part of our original mission for dandy was to have a place for teachers to grow. providing continuing education funds is a priority for us as well as giving teachers (like ourselves), working toward their waldorf certification, an environment to continue their work in. i am excited for jessica as this is an excellent opportunity for her growth as a teacher.

it has been interesting to step back from classroom management and let her take the reigns. especially considering that this program is one of my babies. i am able to do this because i feel completely confident in her abilities. we are adjusting. learning our new roles (she was previously an assistant herself). it is an interesting relationship in that i am both director and classroom assistant and we are but a two woman operation.
this sandbox was a new addition to our classroom this year. jessica acquired the stumps for us and split them. matt and another dandy dad dug them in and unloaded a truckload of sand (thanks matt and doug!!). it has been a tremendous hit!! all summer i have been collecting *toys* for the sandbox from various yard sales and thrift stores. they are all metal and consist of enamel cups, vintage funnels, mesh strainers, slotted spoons, various buckets and containers, and shovels.
i love to see them engaged in play here. this is but the first step in bringing some more natural elements to our outdoor space. much more to come!
jessica has such a sweet and tender way with the children. we are all blessed to have her and i am so excited about the upcoming year!i was actually there, too, making silly faces apparently! ;)

joy and i see each other regularly as she is now teaching at sienna's new school and our daughter's are in the same class. interestingly enough, she became an assistant this year, too.

speaking of sienna's school, in case you are wondering, we have not made any firm decision yet. i am leaning toward keeping her in first though still not feeling 100%. this is one of those parenting decisions that feels like you can never be sure of the answer. you just have to make a leap with what you think will be the best for your child and hope it works out favorably. i'm pretty sure those kind of tough decisions we parents continue to face aren't ever going to stop, are they? ;)

here's to new beginnings, embracing change, and learning to let go!

handmade gifts

2010-09-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

it warms my heart that when birthday parties for friends come around, sienna now thinks about what she can make them rather than what she would like to buy them.
she made this prince and princess for maia. she did almost all of this herself. she just asked me to cut out the crowns for her. she used bits from my felt scrap basket. she used the hot glue gun for most things and stitched their royal robes on.
she wanted them to have a playmat too and decided to gift the first one she ever wet felted (she has quite a few now!).
this princess' pink cashmere robe is my favorite. she is so glamorous!

i wish i had taken pictures of the card as it was hilarious! she is drawing many pictures a day again and her pictures are so interesting and detailed these days. i have loved watching my avid artist's drawings progress over the years.

first day of first

2010-08-25T18:21:00.000-07:00

sienna started school last wednesday. first grade. she was with me in my program last year and this is the first time that she has gone *away* to school. the first time for this full time schedule. we are adjusting. honestly, she was over the top giddy to go to school. it was mom who had the anxiety (imagine that).

her first day!

in an ideal world, i would either be homeschooling her or she would be in a waldorf school. since i am engrossed with my own early childhood program at the moment and their is no waldorf school here (yet), we made the best choice that we could. i never thought we could really afford private school, but we received a bit of a scholarship and are committed to some lifestyle changes to make this work.

her homework for the first day was to bring a nature treasure that fit into the palm of her hand. she carried this dried flower so delicately all morning long as she waited for me to be ready to drive her to school.

i have raised her in the waldorf way, meaning that imagination and creativity have been the priorities, not academics. her new school uses experiential learning and does not do testing or textbooks. her teacher uses stories to teach and has the kids in nature for many of their lessons.

i shared with her teacher my concern about sienna's lack of academic knowledge and she reassured me many times that she was not worried, she had no expectations, and that she would work with the children wherever they were at. however, on the third day of school she asked me to stay and talk with her. it seems all the other children in her class (there are 9 total) are already reading. there is a significant gap in what sienna has been exposed to and where the other children are. the concern seems to be around her potentially developing social anxiety as she realizes she is not where her peers are. specifically, they have reading time for a small block each day. during this time she looks at books while the other kids around her are reading.

it seemed so appropriate to me that i ended up parked next to this graffiti just hours after i dropped her off for her first day. fortunately it is more a statement on my personal sentiments rather than hers! ;)

now i face some big decisions. move her to the kindy where she will be the oldest in her class again (she had this experience already in my program and it was wonderful, but as a born *leader* i was pleased that she would be joining her own peer group this year)? try to accelerate her learning of the lower case letters and letter sounds at home using waldorf methods whilst still allowing time for letting the lessons resonate inside her? allow her teacher to tutor her after school in a more traditional way?

ah, this has been an intense time of letting go for me. i have worked so hard to protect and honor my children's early childhood which included creating programs that i wanted to see them in as we went. as this year approached, i had sudden feelings of abandoning my ship and turning my focus toward first grade. however, i have invested a lot in bringing waldorf early childhood education to this community and it feels good to share that with others. my work is not done at dandelion hill. besides, jasper has three more years with me there! ;)

a sweet mama friend sent me a heart warming message the first day sienna went to school. it brought forth the tears that i was holding in all day. a release i so needed. i hope she doesn't mind that i share some of them here. they are words that will stay with me always.

as you send off your first born out into the school world...the pain and sadness and tears and nostalgia you feel... those emotions are all reflective of the consistent and deep ways you lived life to the full with sienna in her "preschool" years.........that depth makes today and this week hard, but be encouraged that you in no way diluted that experience to make today easier. the good road causes pain but what a good pain.

the same day, the beautiful post at wabi sabi wanderings echoed the sentiments in my deepest soul. such a delicate balance, holding them so close and letting them move so far away.

the upside (there are many others, i know) for me in this is that i get much more of this:
this sweet boy and i have never had consecutive mama/son time. he is usually off playing with his sister for much of the day. i find that with her out of the house so much, he is by my side all the time. i am loving nurturing this relationship with my dear boy!

and on that note.....he and i start school tomorrow ourselves! i must get back to work now!

wandering wednesday

2010-08-25T18:17:00.000-07:00

here i stand on the trail with my children, hunting for the first gifts of autumn. the sight of this shiny chestnut peeking out from the forest floor at us brings squeals of delight every time. they are a most treasured find.
were have you wandered this week? see more wandering wednesday at garden mama.

black and white wednesday

2010-08-25T03:30:00.000-07:00

photo booth fun on our last day of summer break together.
we miss her already.

more black and white wednesday at natural suburbia.

elements of self: shadow

2010-08-22T13:05:00.000-07:00

after reading shakti mama's shadow post, i was inspired to look for textures in my own shadow on our hike to the river. it was a lot of fun waiting for the sun to peek through the canopy above and offer a glimpse of my silhouetted self. my shadow and i played a fun game of hide and seek in the forest this day.
this served for me as a gentle reminder of our interconnectedness to all that is. the love that unites each and every thing in the universe. a lovely children's book, all i see is part of me, comes to mind.
this was a much more light hearted challenge for me than the other elements of self posts i have done. shadows are so forgiving that way.

i had my hair in poofball pigtails on this day!

i do realize this is a self portrait series, but seeing as how this one is about shadows....it does seem appropriate that i include my two smallest shadow friends.

retreat to the river trail

2010-08-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

despite the fact that school starts for me in less than a week and a half and i do not have my ducks in a row, despite the fact that i was out sick for half a week during *crunch time* and feel completely beside myself with the list of things to do , despite the fact that this was the last business day of the week to line some of those ducks up, i decided to forsake it all and soak up some time with my kiddos today. sienna starts first grade in just a few days. this will be the first time she has been in school away from me and the first time she has had a full time schedule. i want to savor every minute before that shift happens.we used to go to this trail quite a bit. we lived down the road and we would mark the seasons on this well worn path along the river. however, several moms have given me reports of rattlesnake sightings and the trail is highly trafficked by the neighboring college kids, so we don't go as often as we used to.
the trail winds through the forest, the river to one side and the open pasture of the college farm to the other.
there are many trees along this path that hold a special place in our hearts. nooks and crannies revisited through the years. sienna climbing higher and higher each time we go. jasper just getting big enough to start reaching some of her favorite spots.
jasper did his share of squealing today. that is where we are at apparently. lots of squealing, almost a screech really. he wanted to be carried on the way there and definitely wanted to be carried back out. we did lots of negotiating.
though he had been geared up for an hour and had wanted to jump in the river every time he spotted it through the trees, once he actually got wet, he pouted and wanted me to dry his suit for him. sister helped persuade him out to the wee rapids that she was having so much fun in. he laughed and played but never let go of my hand, my sweet timid child.
we spotted bits of autumn peeking out already! the forest trail was the perfect temperature. breezy at times with a shower of leaves falling from the canopy. such a lovely change from the intense heat and leaving us with a longing for the cooler days to come.we we returned to the car, the cows were there waiting for us. the kids love watching them graze and swish the flies away with their tails.

on a side note, our new dandelion hill teacher, ms jessica, parked at this same spot a few hours later to go for a swim and returned to her truck to find her window smashed in and her computer bag stolen. all her curriculum notes and her studies from her teacher training at sunbridge this summer. it makes me feel sick inside. not to mention it greatly complicates things for us, especially during said crunch time. we really on the internet for our constant communications with one another as well as with the parents.

i can not imagine having emerged from the trail with my kids in tow, communing with the cows, anticipating the dry clothes and lunches awaiting us in the car to find our window smashed in!! i have had a hard time with this today. i'm sure ms jessica has too.back to the happy thoughts....these beauties are the real reason i like to go to this trail! we found a handful of buckeyes peeking up at us through the decaying forest floor. their smooth skin and their rich colors make them a delightful treasure for young and old alike.
sienna allowed me a few photographs of these beauties in her finished bowl from wood day, then she whisked them away to a special spot in her room. the bowl she sanded (with some finishing help from mom and dad) and polished with mamakopp's beeswax polish. it turned out so lovely and warm.

last year we found only two or three buckeyes, but the year before we hit the mother lode! they were abundant on the forest floor and we brought home a basket full while leaving hordes for the squirrels, too. these treasures are still in play in their play kitchen at home and the one at the preschool, too. they are one of the most played with items in our home (along with acorn caps)!

tomorrow is full to the brim with school preparations. we have sienna's first grade picnic in the morning and then ms jessica and i have a few more home visits to complete. somewhere in there we need to go shoe shopping as the little lass is in need of some new shoes for the school year.

wishing you a rewarding and relaxing weekend! xoxoxoxo

catching the sun

2010-08-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

we made these sun catchers at *fun in the sun* camp a few weeks ago. since sienna was off at her own special camp that week, i saved the leftover supplies to do with her one day.
this is not a new idea. just my take on a classic.
i cut the sun shapes out of yellow card stock and cut a circle in the middle. then i cut out two circles from waxed paper, just slightly larger than the opening in the sun.
i keep all of our crayon shavings from sharpening as well as all those random crayons that we pick up at restaurants, etc. we are crayon snobs ;) so these are all saved for crafting. however, all my sunny colors were used up last fall. so we grated some of the ancient block crayons that are being replaced at the preschool.once grated, we sprinkled some shavings on our wax paper circle. it doesn't take very much! too many and you will have a waxy mess oozing out the sides. we laid another circle on top of the shavings.

next comes the ironing. i recommend using an old cloth of some sort. we use a mismatched pillow case. sandwich your wax paper circle in between two layers of the cloth and iron for 30 seconds or so.
sienna liked hers less melted so all the bits were still individually visible.
we glued our crayon melts to our suns and hung them in the window!
do you see the second sun behind the sun catcher?

here are the ones from camp.

wandering wednesday

2010-08-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

here i stand, weak but persistent, amidst the cord of the vacuum reclaiming my house from the chaos it fell to. three days on the couch for any mama means there is much to do when we can stand again.

please visit garden mama for more wandering wednesdays.

black and white wednesday

2010-08-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

having fun playing with this photo. i had to let her eyes shine through. ;)

see more black and white wednesday photos by visiting linda at natural suburbia.

wood day

2010-08-15T18:53:00.000-07:00

yesterday was *wood day* at the folk art center up on the blue ridge parkway. this event is annual and free and there are many demonstrations of all sorts of woodworking going on. being the wood lovers that we are, we had to go check it out!
the first demonstration we saw was joe ruminski turning this natural edge bowl. sienna and jasper both enjoyed watching him at work with the lathe, but sienna was absolutely spellbound. she watched him finish one bowl and then stayed to watch the entire process again!
he gifted her the bowl he made for her incredible patience and focused interest. such a sweet gesture! his instructions were to let it sit overnight and then to sand, sand, sand and finish it. we have worked on that a bit today. i will post pics when it is finished.
we saw only one woman (and i failed to take her picture!). she is a carver. she was working on a gorgeous nativity scene. we engaged in a lovely conversation about the beauty of wooden toys, the imaginative play of children, and the barrage of plastic toys her grandchildren are surrounded by. i want to adopt her!

my children have played with wooden toys as long as they can remember so it was really incredible for them to see the different steps these figures progress through before they come to life.
this was my favorite sign! the best part was that the sign itself was the first thing that jasper picked up. this is the work of jim mc phail. his display was intriguing because he uses lots of exotic woods and had squares of them all and showed what they looked like before and after they were finished. he also stacks these woods to make these layered bowls and he had clever little displays to show this process....and you could touch it all. ;)
his lathe was much smaller as he works on a rather tiny scale. once again, sienna waited patiently for him to begin, stayed for the entire process, and asked poignant questions. and once again....he gifted her the bowl!! as you can see here, these tiny bowls are quite pricey! we won't talk about how that price tag is likely because some of the woods he uses are from endangered trees. no, i'll just let her enjoy her little bowl. it has gone off to live in that extravagant dollhouse. a shaving horse at work. this guy was cute and didn't quite know what to do with the kids. he gave them some curly-q shavings. ;)
and yes, it gets even better!! she got to turn her own pen! the carolina mountain woodturners were on hand to help folks make their own keepsakes. technically, children were to be 7, but they let her slide under the radar.
she started with a block of wood and worked with this fellow to carve the pen shape and make lines in it for her design. she wore this face shield and they held the carving tools together.
then she moved outside to work with this fellow and began sanding her piece. at this point, she was able to do most of the work by herself. here she began adding color. it was a fascinating process. using a sharpie marker, she held it at the bottom edge of the pen and the color went on quickly as the lathe continued to spin. after the color was on, she waxed it with a block of beeswax and polished it with a cloth.
here is her final work! she could not have been more proud.
her treasures from the day. they even gave her a certificate for completing an introductory woodturning lesson.
as we picnicked together afterward, this bowl became an impromptu nature display.this little guy was a real trooper. there was not much for the three year old crowd to do but look. once (a long time before we were finished actually) he said *me want to get out of this place*, but other than that he hung in there for three hours while his sister indulged herself! this is his pouty face afterward when he lamented *me no make anything*. i love his toddler lingo.

sienna lay with me last night, clutching her pen tightly, going on and on about all the things she wants to make on a lathe. she was particularly impressed that she got to do the same project as the grown ups that were there. she slept with her pen in her bed last night. ;)

today....i have strep throat. :( i'm going back to bed now. hope you all enjoyed a wonderful weekend!