Monday, November 29, 2010

Tiny tea luminaries.....

I was at a friends house a few weeks ago when I noticed a beautiful homemade lantern on their dinner table that her son had made in preschool. Since I teach a weekly craft hour with children and I am always looking for simple and beautiful craft ideas for children. I was so excited with the idea of making these sweet little luminaries in time for Thanksgiving. My friend also happened to have box of baby food jars that she gave me to use. Later I found a bunch of tea lights at a thrift store that fit in the jars perfectly.
All you need to do is brush a layer of glue onto the jar, then stick on pieces of torn tissue paper and then cover tissue with another layer if glue to smooth it out. Light and enjoy!
Warning they are incredibly addictive to make. I can't seem to stop making them. They are slowly filling the dark corners of our home.They glowed on our Thanksgiving table as we gave thanks for our blessings. As we near the Winter Solstice these warm little luminaries warm our souls and bring much needed light into the darkness.
These would make perfect gifts for family and friends from your sweet child.
Thanks for the idea Hope!
p.s. You can see more beautiful homemade lanterns here.

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Saturday, November 27, 2010

Rare and simple beauty.....

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The little puddles of light that the sun creates in our home are rare and simple beauties these days. I often try and get outside as much as I can when the sun makes a rare appearance here in the Pacific Northwest winter. When I am caught at home at such moments I find myself chasing sun puddles around the house like a cat...basking in the rare moments of golden light. This time of year reminds me what a gift the sun is... and not a simple gift at all.
A true blessing indeed.

Friday, November 26, 2010

This Moment...

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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. Inspired by Soulemama.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

So Thankful.....

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Thinking of family far away and wishing we could all be together. Sending everyone love and light!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Knitted Gnome

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Just wanted to share my knitted gnome from the Craftalong. The pattern as with all the other projects are from The Children's Year By Cooper, Fynes-Clinon, and Rowling on page 84.
It was made up of several knit squares sewn together to make the gnome. It was fun to see it all come together. There is a little bell a the top of the gnomes hat that I cropped off accidentally in the photo. This will be a cute stocking stuffer for my little guy.....

Monday, November 22, 2010

A storybook hike....part 2

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Another inspirational Autumn hike. I am finding it hard to believe it is the holiday season already as we have had such a mild November, until recently. So many handmade items to be planned for my family and friends, for the holidays and birthdays. I am welcoming this cooler weather(and the chance of snow!) with open arms as I knit or sew with my tea by my side...and as I think fondly of our recent times in the woods. Nature is the sweetest gift and all the inspiration I need....bring on the crafting.

Friday, November 19, 2010

This Moment...

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(I couldn't pick just one photo this week..these were too funny)


A Friday ritual. - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soulemama.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

knitting to lift a heavy heart.....

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(pattern: Fetching from Knitty.com Yarn:Cascade Yarns Lana D'Oro Ruby)

I made these mittens for a dear friend of mine who I have been thinking about a lot lately. I though about her so much I felt I just had to put my energy and love into creating something for her. There is love in every stitch of these gloves. I sent them off in the mail today. I hope her favorite color is still red.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Autumn's Glory....

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We have been hiking whenever we can these days, between downpours. I find Autumn walks in the woods to be very inspiring and peaceful.
Mushrooms of many colors and sizes were every where. I also saw a huge bird fly off with a small furry animal from the forest floor. It looked like a hawk with a bunny. I didn't get a photo of that as it happened very quickly. Ben missed it, and I am not sure if he believed me until we heard the bird shriek from the tree tops as we hiked down the trail.
I just love the totem pole with the gnome couple on top. It is adorable.... and very multicultural. There were Native American symbols and animals carved all around it. It was in a dark area of the forest and hard to photograph.
All these photos were taken at The Magness Tree Farm. If you happen to go there, keep an eye out for a green hat with eyes on it. We lost Solomon's turtle hat out there somewhere....bummer. At least it happened after Halloween.

Monday, November 15, 2010

A contest and a funny story.....

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At the end of September we entered a contest to win milk for a year through Organic Valley. The contest was to take a photo of a person drinking Organic Valley milk. I though It would be cute to dress the kids up as cookies or little cows and we came across a perfect little cow costume for free at the Swap Shop. My plan was to have Solomon wear it and make Sophie a cookie costume to wear. Well we waited to long and the cookie costume never happened. So baby cow Solomon would have to do. The problem is Solomon refuses to drink milk, even chocolate milk, he really doesn't like it. I was going to put an M&M candy in the empty milk carton to bribe him put it up to his mouth long enough to take a picture or two. I thought my sneaky plan would work.
Well things didn't happen that way.
The day of the photo shoot we went to Canby, Oregon for the Flock and Fiber Festival. I brought along the milk carton, and the cow costume and a few M&M's so we could stop by the beautiful Dahlia farm to have a beautiful setting for our photo shoot.
Well, by the time we got to the Dahlia farm it was afternoon and Solomon was late for his nap and really not in the best mood after being at a festival all morning. Sophie and I were ale to get him dressed in the cow costume and get him positioned, but when we gave him the milk carton we noticed it was pretty smelly. I guess I didn't rinse it out well enough. The carton sat on our fridge for a week or so before we got around to taking the picture, so the bit of milk that was in there had turned very sour, and after sitting in the hot car all day at the festival it was really bad. There was no way I could put an M&M candy in it. We gave Solomon the milk carton anyway to see if he would pose for the photo, well he got one whiff of the milk I though he was going to barf. He was hot and sweaty in his fuzzy costume, and he started to throw a bit of a temper tantrum. I was frustrated that maybe our contest picture wasn't going to happen. There was a couple having a picnic near us who just sat giving us the stink eye. I heard the woman make a few rude comments, it wasn't helping the situation at all.
Well after I was about ready to give up and go home Sophie volunteered to be the baby cow the photo. Luckily she is very petite and was able to squeeze in to the tiny size 2 cow costume. We were able to get quite a few cute shots. At one point she got a bit of the stinky curdled milk juice in her mouth. I almost peed myself laughing, she was laughing too, and the couple having the picnic was still giving us dirty looks. Then when we had all the shots we needed and Sophie had enough in the 80 degree heat wearing a fuzzy tight costume, we tried to take it off which became quite the event in itself. She got stuck in it for a good few minutes. It was so funny and frustrating at the same time. Then the kids fought over the five pieces of M&M's I had in my purse, and we drove home.
Thanks for stepping up Sophie!
Well we didn't win milk for a year, unfortunately, be we were one of the second place gift basket winners. Now we are the proud owner of a bunch of Organic Valley paraphernalia.....and a coupon for free milk!

Friday, November 12, 2010

This Moment...

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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. Inspired by Soulemama.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Monday, November 8, 2010

Faerie homes

Wandering through the woods on a beautiful Autumn morning I came across several potential Faerie homes. These homes were beautiful but much more humble than the castles we discovered in the past of the Faeries who live near the ocean.


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