Felting

Right now, the biggest rage amongst young mothers in a small prairie town is felting. I started felting a few years back (just to be clear and to brag) but have only made a few little things thus far. These ladies are on fire. Holy Toledo!! There are field trips, morning coffee while felting and evening felting parties. So, frantically, I made this little thing. I must say, it looks pretty darn good.

Bringing the Ocean A Little Closer

We made some fantastic seashell mobiles with the girls today. I even used Scott's power tools. :) Only a week until they start school full time. Our evenings are getting cooler....even frost warning last night (insanity!!). Trying to enjoy these lazy summer days as much as we can. hillbilly Jillies has a wonderful step by step instructions on here if you are interested. I used some wooden beads and hemp string. Our shells have been collected at the Oregon Coast as well as there are some that came from East Coast Canada (friends brought back a bagful for the girls for taking care of their garden while they were away). East meets West mobiles :)

After making the mobiles, we still had many more seashells. I went down to the thrift store and found a large glass fish bowl and filled it up with the shells. I thought this makes a fantastic bookend.....

It's lovely having those wonderful reminders of the ocean in my home.

Valentine's Stuffie

Sunshine warming our cheeks through our kitchen window. It's still frosty outside. How can it be!? Learning that even though I am with the kids all day every day, it is still important to spend one-on-one time with each of them. This is a great project, but also teaching my 5 -yr-old how to sew buttons on.

A Magic Trick

Do you have these Cheesy Souvenir Tea Towels hanging around in your house.....you don't know what to do with....??? I'll bet your grandma has a few........
Voila!! This is what I do! Fully-lined with a little pocket inside. Vintage button accent. Pretty neat, hey? They will be available around Christmas this year..... No one steal my idea!! :)

Birds

I heard somewhere today that one of 'the secrets of happiness is to find beauty in small things in nature".  I think it's so true.  I love it that my kids and I can spend days discovering little miracles of this life.  Plants and animals, stars and clouds.  One of the favorite games we play as we drive is to try to find animals or anything at all in the sky.  We look at the clouds and tell each other what we see.  It's so fun.  They are so imaginative.  We also stop our truck in the middle of the farmer's field at night to show our kids the stars.  We are fortunate to live in a place where we can still see the stars.  

Yesterday, We had amazing bird sightings right in front of our house.  We saw Bohemian Waxwings and Western Tanagers.  Yes, I am turning into bit of a *geek.   We use our Birds of Alberta book to discover and keep track of what we see.  Kids are always eager to enter their discoveries in their 'nature books'.  I really thought they did a fantastic job.  Maya's getting quite good at adding details.  I quite like Mona's chubby Tanager.....very lovable.  

Garden

We are sharing a garden with a friend this year.  The spring has been very slow and cold....but look at these garden stakes.  The planting season is just around the corner.  We are excited.

The are just made with paint stir sticks with acrylic paint.  I may varnish them before taking them over to the garden.

Stinky Dollies

In the parcel my parents sent us were these dolls.  I laughed so hard.  They are the dollies my mom and I made when I was twelve during the summer vacation.  That makes these dollies over.....ahem.......25 years old.  I must admit that they have this smell about them.  Musty and old.  I still haven't figured out how to wash them.  maybe I will hang them in the sun when spring comes???  

From the pictures, it looks as though there are 4 different dollies.  But in fact, there are just two.  The one on the right is the dolly I made.  You see the doll with dark skin, but when you flip the skirt over, you get the lighter skin doll hiding under the skirt, upside down.  If that makes any sense.  

Mom took it a step further.  You see the little red riding hood.  You flip her skirt and you get grandma.  When you flip her bonnet, it turns into a wolf!  Just like in the story.  

In spite of the musty smell, my girls LOVE these dolls and play with them for hours at a time.  Maybe one day we can make one together.....

Practice, Practice!

I found some beautiful Japanese craft books on etsy.  It seems like Japanese things (fabric, books etc.) are quite trendy in the craft circle right now.  One nice benefit I have is that I can still read Japanese.  My parents were so very wonderful to find me some of these books for Christmas gift.  So, I've been really enjoying reading them and making some things from them.   One of the books has these gorgeous embroidery designs.  I remember when I was little, my mom always embroidered flowers on my dresses, backpacks and lunch bags etc.....Now, I do the same.  I love getting simple and plain clothes for the girls and embellish them with personal touch!  Here is the bumble bee I did.  I really like this design.  I am thinking of embroidering the bee on some of my zippered pouches instead of those little flowers....what do you think?

St. Patrick's Day!

Hehehe....I like how awkward this photo is.....I look kinda stunned.

Here is a fun craft to do with your kids!  I found this here.  If you do not know the story of St. Patrick, you should definitely find it.  It is an amazing story!  Here is one.....

Anyways, I am going to make 'green noodles"--pasta with green pesto with some steamed broccoli and green salad for supper tonight.  

P.S. Please take a look at my flickr photos (click on the moving image on the left).  I've updated them with some of my most recent projects.  

Teach Me How

When I was a little girl, my mom taught me to do some small sewing projects. When I started to show interest in it, my mom gave me a pair of gold scissors which resembled a crane and a hat shaped pin cushion. I think my mom's hope was that I will always enjoy sewing and the use of creative energy. I have those little items still after 25 years or so and I think of one day passing them onto my girls. I think of the little cat pin I made with my mom, an "upside-down doll" and all the little projects. I wonder if my mom still have those things at home? I am glad my girls enjoy sewing as well. We have made some small cute projects together and they really treasure the time we spend together and the end results. I hope that there will be many more afternoons we can pour our creative energy together to create some master pieces...


P.S. Gingham fabrics are great for teaching your kids how to do cross stitching. Here is my 4-yr-old doing a fantastic job! Click on the pic to enlarge it to see her *amazing stitches.

Mardi Gras Mask

An awesome link for a printable Mardi Gras Mask! I printed on a card stock and embellished them with feathers, yarn, glitter glue, felt and buttons.....how fun!

Books, books, books.....

I love children’s books and I am so pleased my children like them too. We spend countless hours reading cuddled up in a cosy blanket. I was noticing though that we have so many books that some of them have lost their charm or kids simply cannot find them in the book case. I decided to gather all the ‘winter’ books in a basket and find a little corner in the living room. Of course when the spring comes, I will switch them to suit the season. Or maybe I will do a theme like animal books for a time. Kids are thrilled to rediscover some of these wonderful stories!

Bird Watching

My kids are fascinated by nature and its living things. For Maya’s birthday this year, we bought her the book, “birds of Alberta“. Two weeks ago, we saw 3 different kinds of birds right in our front yard. There was precious screech and panic. scrambling to find binoculars. Nothing more precious than your 4-yr-old running out of her bedroom stark naked with binoculars hanging around her neck. We saw a Northern Flicker, Hairy Woodpecker and a Blue Jay. We have a nature book where we draw pictures of memorable discoveries. Here is one of Maya’s entries from that day.

Gingerbread House

After spending money on silly little gingerbread house kits every year, I have finally made my own!!! Click on this link to find recipe and template. It was a good beginner’s house. In fact they looked like little bird houses. The trick is to have the house built before giving them to the kids to decorate. I have a friend who makes an elaborate gingerbread house every year with her kids. Last year it was a “nutcracker’s cottage”. This year, she told me that it was going to be a castle. Just give me a couple of years and I may catch up, but for now, I am very happy with my little bird houses. This recipe made 4 houses which was great…kids love having their OWN and not having to share.

Card Making

I always feel ripped off buying greeting cards. You buy a gift for 20 bucks and card and wrapping paper is another 10 bucks. I’d rather spend 30 on the gifts and give the receiver a hug. “I’m too cheap to buy you a card, but happy birthday!!”

The one on the left is our last year’s Christmas card. Maya spent hours drawing the Christmas ball. We took it to a copy and print guy and he shrunk it (shrinking makes the image sharper too) to fit on a card. Best card ever…and Cheap! Sorry I always talk about being ‘Cheap”. Maya was thrilled that everyone got her artwork for Christmas card. She felt very important The one in the middle is a photo I took one day of Tori playing with a balloon. THe balloon happened to say “Happy Birthday” so we printed it and use them as birthday cards for various people.

How fun is that!?

Thankful

My kids and I started journaling. It’s just with a duo-tang with lined papers inside. We call it “Thankful Journal”. Every night (at least we try), I help the kids write down things they are thankful for. I am pleasantly surprised how much they are into it. Somedays, I am dog tired and I honestly hope I can skip it. I go to their bedroom to hoping to say a quick ‘good-night’. There they sit in their beds writing things down, drawing pictures about their thankfulness. They look at me with a look of anticipation, “mom, I’m ready to pray”. WOW. I try to teach them something, but they often teach me so much more. How wonderful to go to sleep with hearts filled with thankfulness.

Pine Cone Ornaments

This is an easy way to have simple ornaments that will fill your tree nicely. Collect pine cones. It doesn’t matter if they are evenly open or not. Put them on a cookie sheet and put them in the oven at low temp., probably around 250 degrees. You will hear some popping sound–but don’t be alarmed! When you take them out, they will all be dry and open evenly. I just take some small eye screws and screw them into the base of the pine cones and use string or ribbon to hang them on your tree.

Ladybugs

These were super cute and super comfortable for kids to wear. They are made out of felt. Cut two red circles, 6 black ‘dots’ and one black line. Glue the dots and line on one of the red felt circles. Sew around the red circle right sides in and flip them out. stick a cardboard circle inside and stuff only one side of the cardboard with foamy. Sew it shut. Get 2 wide black elastic bands and sew them on the ’shell’ like a backpack. Make antenna out of pipe cleaners and pom-poms. I put ones for my 7-yr-old on a head band and for my little one I just sew them on her black hoodie. Get kids to wear all black clothing underneath. I think you can totally adapt this and make a turtle next year!

Happy Halloween!

Felting Fun

Felting has been super fun for all of us. We are fortunate to have a custom woolen mill close by, so we can get a big bagful of un-spun wool for less than 10 bucks. We got foamy from the upholstery place and felting needles for 50 cents each from the woolen mill. Even my 4 yr old can make some fun stuff with no help. You just have to make sure kids are careful not to poke themselves with needles. They are real sharp. Can’t you see awesome Christmas decorations?

Trick or TREAT!

With Halloween fast approaching, here is Maya’s halloween costume from last year. It was the cheapest and definitely the COOLEST costume. A bit time consuming but makes it a memorable occasion.

The trick is to find a box that is an appropriate size. Cut holes for the head and arms.

1) Paint the box with white paint. We just used some left over primer.

2) Use painter’s tape and make stripes. Paint the exposed part Red. We used spray paint. You can also use colored duct tape.

3) Pop popcorn with air popper. Cool and glue it to the top of the box. This part is time consuming but makes all the difference…your patience will pay off

4) Make 2 signs “Popcorn” and Glue them on front and back of the box

5) Get a used touque and Glue some popcorn on that too.

Happy Halloween!!