By Sun and Candlelight

Thursday This and That

Good Thursday morning, my friends!

I hope your week's going well. I won't be online much today because I'm hosting a gathering here at the house tonight and in between the boys' lessons and activities and a quick grocery stop - there will be much neatening and setting things up! The meeting I'm hosting is our homeschool support group's monthly "support" meeting. The host gets to choose the theme of the meeting and I have chosen to make this night a "Craft Night." :)

I'm not sure what I'll be working on myself - aside from making calendars, I haven't been doing much crafting lately! I may work on my journal, or I may just look through some "idea" books and magazines. Whatever I end up doing, I'll have fun though - just setting up the tea and refreshments and getting to chat with some lovely friends of mine.

{Now, here's a quick question for you, if you have a minute to answer ~ if you were coming to my Craft Night, what would you bring to work on? I'm always curious to know what people do when they craft!}

Also, while I'm here and before the morning tide pulls me away ... I wanted to answer a couple of questions. Folks are wondering where I find out about the special "national" days that celebrate things like "Winnie the Pooh," "squirrels" and "popcorn," etc.

Well, first of all, if you google any date - along with the word "holidays" - you should come up with a few good hits ... but I like the following sites:

Holiday Insights

The Ultimate Holiday Site

I hope that helps!

Now, another bit of quick news - my new desk is being delivered today! So you can just imagine how excited I am about that. I'll share all about it once I have it set up ... lots of fun "desk" posts to come ... :)

Have a great day, everyone ... I'll see you again very soon!

❤

Our Advent Calendar is Ready to Go!

Finished just in the nick of time ... with a little a lot of help from my mum!

Remember all those months ago, when I came home from the craft store with this?

Well, I really must laugh at myself. There I was thinking I was so ahead of the game, when that tree sat on the top of my bookshelf until just after Thanksgiving! Honestly, I was thisclose to just leaving it plain! But my mother very kindly offered to take it home to paint in time for December 1st. We discussed colors and design, and off she went to the craft store ...

And just 24 hours later, she brought over the nearly finished product! (I say nearly finished only because it still needed numbers and a few embellishments which we did together while the boys ate lunch.)

And here's how it turned out!

I just love how it looks!

As you can see, we chose soft Christmas-y shades of red, gold, green and blue ... and my mum picked out lovely, silvery snowflakes and tiny bits of vintage clip art. For the countdown, we used simple black number stickers (I attached them with tweezers as they were fairly fragile).

And at the very top we placed a beautiful angel ...

Inside the drawers will be tiny treats and notes for the boys ...

And on the back of the tree is a special message:

Now, earlier today I started organizing the things for inside the drawers ...

These are strips of scrapbooking paper and some brightly wrapped chocolates. On the strips of paper I will write an activity or idea for each day (sometimes something special, often very simple) and then roll it up tightly and tuck it inside the drawer alongside a chocolate.

(Note: I write out the strips one night at a time, working off my big list of ideas. I find it hard to plan too far ahead when weather, sickness, and all kinds of other intrusions can upset our plans.)

Now, a word on the chocolates ...

I bought a couple of bags of mixed Lindt "Lindor" truffles, and they conveniently come wrapped in three different colors. So each boy gets a chocolate every third day. Bookworm's are blue (dark chocolate), Crackerjack's are red (milk chocolate) and Earlybird's are gold (white chocolate). Except that, EB can't eat these particular chocolates ...

So what we will do is this:

He will trade me his truffle for a special treat I have on hand just for him.

That's a win-win situation in my book! ;)

Now, I took the above pictures in the front room because it had such great light, but I've since moved the Advent tree to its permanent home, on top of the nature shelf:

The Tree is surrounded by favorite (nature-related) Christmas books, as well as ...

... our little Star Children ...

... and my Holiday Peace candle:

I'm just so very pleased.

So here we are on the last night of November, and our Advent Tree is ready to go! I can't wait for tomorrow ... December is such a wonderful month, because there are so many special pleasures in which to take comfort and joy. It's my hope our Tree will guide us through Advent, and help us prepare - inside and out - for the happiest day of the year.

~**❤**~

Have a lovely night, my friends, and thank you very much for stopping by. I will see you all again here very soon ...

:)

Comments and a Really Cool Video!

I'm catching up on my comment replies this morning, but I wanted to pop on and link you all to this NEAT journalmaking video Barb left me recently. It appears to be a clever product line called "Smash" but basically it's what I've been doing with my plain old Mead notebooks - making messy but meaningful journals. :)

So take a peek and enjoy! I'll be back later today with another post (I think, I hope) ... just wanted to stop in and say hello this morning. 

Have a great Wednesday, my friends!

 

February is for Family

"My Family Tree" is the focus of Earlybird's bulletin board this month. I worked on the board just after we got home from church today. Well, after we got home from church and after we made pancakes for the kids ... our parish breakfast was canceled due to the terribly icy conditions, and Crackerjack was just crushed! He absolutely loves attending parish breakfast each month. It's his one chance to eat "Froot Loops" and as many pancakes as he wants! (At home he has to fight his brothers for Daddy's flapjacks, lol.)

Anyhoo ... after cleaning up the pancake paraphernalia, Bill and Bookworm headed outside to shovel and I got to work on the bulletin board. I started by taking down the January decorations and leaving just the white paper behind as a "snowy" backdrop.

Then I rolled out a length of brown craft paper and googled a tree image to go by:

After drawing the tree (first in pencil, then in black marker), I cut the shape out. Truth be told, the cutting part was pretty fussy work. The paper kept curling and the smaller branches took patience and very careful cutting. Still, it looked pretty neat set against the white backdrop:

(Obviously not drawn to scale, lol.)

Next I added some seasonal embellishments ...

  

 And then I started adding some familiar faces ...

Since it's his tree, I put EB's picture smack dab in the middle. Then I started hanging more photos around him. I printed out small images and adhered them to ecru gift tags - then tied them to clear pushpins with a bit of red and white baker's string.

His brothers hang off to either side of EB ... with Bill and myself just above, and his grandparents on another branch above that. Dangling down below we have the toad and cat, too. :)

Through the next few weeks we'll add to the tree - great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, etc. 

As a final touch I moved our monthly "message" to the top of the board. January was "peace" and February is "blessed" ... and what greater blessing do we have than our family?

Well, I hope you all are having a good weekend. Today is just beautiful - it feels nearly like spring it's so mild! (Relatively speaking, of course.) Forty degrees, bright blue skies and almost-warm sunshine. Best of all - no snow in sight for the rest of the week! 

Goodness, do we need a break. Especially these guys ...

Today they shoveled the deck. Yes, the deck had mountains of snow on it! (From the snowfall itself, as well as what came off the roof.) And we still can't get out to the feeders, so the FotF weekend has been kind of a bust. Ah well ... there's always next year! (Another good message to remember on this "Superbowl Sunday." *wink*)

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday my friends ... I'll see you all again sometime soon.

:)

A Quick & Cheerful New Year's Banner

Late this afternoon, Earlybird and I made a very simple, colorful banner for the learning room windows. This is a really nice craft to do with kids of all ages.

We started with just a few materials ...

 

*Construction paper (card stock would be sturdier, but this is what we had on hand)

*Art tissue paper

*Yarn (or twine or a metallic cord would be fun)

*Scissors, hole punch, tape

* A craft punch (ours is in the shape of a snowflake)

(Note: If you don't have a craft punch you could just cut a shape - say, a heart - into the triangle using scissors. Lightly fold the triangle down the middle to center the shape as you cut. You could also use the hole punch to make a design.)

And here's what we did ...

(It took us about 30 minutes to make this - but to be fair, I had Bill's help with some of the cutting and punching.)

1. Cut out triangles in varying shades.

2. Use the craft punch to make an open shape in the middle of the triangle.

3. Use the hole punch to make a hole in the top corners of the triangle. (You could brace the holes with those little reinforcement stickers if you'd like.)

4. Tape a piece of tissue paper to the back of the triangles, covering the punched-out shape.

5. Run a length of yarn through the triangles.

6. (Save the punched paper shapes for decorating the windows - or anything you'd like.)

7. Your banner is ready to hang!

It looks especially pretty in a sunny window where the tissue paper can catch the light.

 

With very young children it would be wise to have the triangles and tissue paper already cut out. Let them do the punching (with supervision), taping and threading. They can also help with the hanging, and of course, all the oohing and ahhing. :D

Happy New Year!

Friday Fun: Sleepy Hollow by way of Lego

Inspired by his favorite American folktale, Crackerjack created a Lego scene depicting the mysterious "demise" of Ichabod Crane ...

Here we have the final, climactic scene when Ichabod almost makes it safely across the old Sleepy Hollow bridge ...

Ichabod is wearing his signature tricorn hat, while his old horse Gunpowder flees the scene  ...

(Note the river reeds, lily pads and small splashes of water. :))

Alas, the tireless Headless Horseman never misses his mark ...

Crackerjack first became enamored with this tale watching the old Disney movie - remember the one narrated by Bing Crosby? - and then years later we purchased a beautiful picture book version illustrated by Will Moses. 

A timeless, spine-tingling adventure!

Little Lanterns for a Cool Spring Night ...

... or for any time of the year!

So, I've wanted to make these little glass jar lanterns for some time now. The original craft was found in an issue of Family Fun magazine (a clipping that went in my journal at the time) but the base was a jam jar and there were some ribbons as well as beads involved. Possibly, I saw the baby food jar variation somewhere else - or possibly I thought this up myself, I can't be sure. 

I completely winged this craft (as I couldn't find the journal page I needed - see previous post for more on that) and gave it my best shot. I started with eight empty baby food jars - soaked in a sudsy sink and stripped of their labels. 

 

(I'm only showing you three prepped jars in this picture because it became clear pretty quickly I was only going to have the time/patience/energy to make one lantern for each of my three boys. I'll save the other five jars for a future project.)

 

I also had purchased tiny beads - metallic stars, silver butterflies (a favorite subject of Earlybird's recently) and some multi-colored jewel-like beads. I picked up a spool of beading wire and Bill rustled up the wire cutters for me to use.*

 

*Strangely enough, the wire cutters did not cut the beading wire. If you can believe it, I ended up using my fabric scissors - these tiny hot pink scissors were much stronger and sharper than the cutters!

(In case you can't tell, I have very little experience with beading. Like I said, I was totally winging this craft!)

So my first step was to lasso the rim of the jar with a length of the wire, tie it on one side in a knot ...

 

... and then start stringing my beads on the long end (the end still attached to the spool) ...

 

Here is a set of beads - I actually used double this amount.

 

Half the beads rested on one end of the wire (where it attached to the jar rim) and the other half rested on the opposite side. My final step was to tie off the other side of the wire. I already had a small tea light tucked inside.

 

I kept it pretty simple - like I said, I don't have much experience with beads and I was really just trying to lend a little color and sparkle to the lanterns. the boys of course could care less what beads I put on the lanterns - they were way more interested in the fire element!

 

Done!

 

We hung the lanterns in the garden and then waited for night to fall ...

 

 

They came out pretty well, I think!

 

And they were fun - to make and certainly to look at. :) (The boys also had fun walking their lanterns around the dark back yard.) These would be neat at the Fourth of July (I'm picturing red-white-and-blue beads and stars), Halloween (autumnal colors and shapes) and of course, Christmas (I'm envisioning a possible Advent project).

So there is my lantern craft! I hope you've enjoyed seeing the steps involved and the final product. I would do this again - but I would need to have a few hours of quiet (no distractions) and someone to keep the cat off the worktable! (Lol, Smokey was intent on batting those beads and chewing that wire!)

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone! :)

Pretty in Purple ~ Lilacs for Mother's Day

For as long as I can remember, Mother's Day has meant lilacs. My parents have a lovely bush growing beside their porch, and as a child, I would fill vases with blooms for the breakfast table on Mother's Day morning. I would set those flowers on the table, alongside the blue and white china and pink-hued wine glasses and the house would be filled with the most magnificent smell. To me, that sweet heady fragrance is the very essence of May.

Nowadays I feel very fortunate to have not just one, but five lilac bushes growing in my yard! They are all in full and fine bloom right now and as I watched them near their peak this week I formulated a little Mother's Day craft in my mind. I had seen a vase like this in a magazine recently (cannot for the life of me remember which one) and adjusted it to our own requirements.

I used cans of pumpkin as the vase base (emptied and washed out, natch). I also used wide pretty ribbon, small doilies and glue. That was all we needed for the vases - for the gift tags I gathered plain white tags, a red stamp pad and a black permanent pen.

Using just a touch of glue on the ribbon ends, I wrapped the clean cans with ribbon as tightly and as neatly as I could. I then glued a doily to the bottom of the cans. I set them to dry while the boys worked on the gift tags. Each of my boys pressed a thumb into the ink pad and stamped the plain white tags. I then used a black marker to turn their prints into ladybugs!

As a final step, I filled each can with freshly cut lilacs.

A closer look at the tags:

Now, the ironic thing in all of this is that Bill just so happens to be allergic to lilacs! So here I have all these wonderful bushes to take advantage of, but I can't keep the blooms in the house for any length of time! So I make sure to stop by the bushes on my morning walks around the yard - to breathe in their aroma and appreciate their varied and subtle shades of purple. As for today's lilac-filled cans - once they were assembled, they were placed in a basket and set out on the front steps to await the grandmothers' arrival. :)

Here are a few pictures I took as I cut the blossoms this morning. As you can see, the sun was just coming up and the bush was literally lit up from behind.

(I also came across tiny wild pansies hidden underfoot. They always make me smile.)

Before I go, I'd like to share a few pictures from our Mother's Day brunch:

Above you see a pretty wrought iron bird's nest candelabra - set against a white doily tablecloth sprinkled with rose petals. The small stone birds once perched on the side of a bird bath that cracked long ago. (I bought the candelabra at Target a few weeks ago.)

I filled a teapot with "fairy roses" in shades of blush and orange, and set out the cream and sugar. A lit candle shone within a butterfly cloche (also a recent Target purchase -how much do we love Target?):

I am so in love with this candle holder.

For coffee I also set out my white china tea cups but instead of using the matching saucers, I placed the cups these small acrylic plates:

I bought the plates ($1.99 each) to use at our little nature teas. I figured they were the right size, botanical in theme and fairly unbreakable. These too make me so happy - it's always the littlest things, isn't it? :)

Speaking of happy little things, here's my Mother's Day gift from Bill and the boys:

 

Earlybird made the butterfly at his social skills class - the body is his foot and the wings are his hands! Crackerjack drew the flower on the present. :)

A final note about lilacs ~ later this month we'll be taking a field trip with our Nature Club to the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain (just outside of Boston proper). Today was their annual Lilac Sunday - and they certainly had a beautiful day for it. The arboretum boasts over 180 varieties of lilacs and I hope when we visit in a few weeks there will still be some in bloom - but even if the lilacs have passed, there will certainly be plenty to see and admire. The Arnold Arboretum is the oldest public arboretum in North America and a leading center for the study of plants. Perfect for our May nature study.

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and I especially hope all the mamas had a relaxing and refreshing day. Thanks for stopping by my little corner this evening - I will see you all again sometime soon!

~ An Early Spring Garden Surprise ~

Just look what we found today, growing in the shade of the chimney:

 

A Snowdrop!

And not just one, but three!

Aren't they lovely?

I cannot tell you how ridiculously excited I am to find snowdrops in our garden! I have always wanted to grow snowdrops - Anglophile that I am - but it was only last autumn that I finally made certain to purchase the bulbs. One blustery day last October Bill planted them for me ... but then he couldn't remember where he planted them! So I've been watching the ground for signs of these tiny spring heralds, and had just about given up hope, when Bill spied the above beauties this morning while raking the yard. Lol, he called me at the supermarket to tell me! The first thing I did when I got home (after putting away the frozen things, of course) was to run outside and take pictures. :)

And now, naturally, it's time for ...

The Song of the Snowdrop Fairy

Deep sleeps the Winter,

Cold, wet and grey;

Surely all the world is dead;

Spring is far away.

Wait! the world shall waken;

It is not dead, for lo,

The Fair Maids of February

Stand in the snow!

(From The Flower Fairies of the Winter by Cicely Mary Barker)

Now see, this poem makes much more sense in the UK where (I believe) snowdrops pop up from the late winter ground. No matter ~ I will happily welcome these little blooms in whichever month they so choose to awaken - but I'll admit I'm glad there's no snow for them to stand in. 

And now I am sorely tempted to dig out our copy of The Story of the Snow Children - though a decidedly winter tale (and therefore stored away with the wintertime books) - it does feature snowdrops on each beautifully illustrated page. But I'm still working on digging out the Easter books, so instead, I'll just enjoy this little tale I found online: The Snowdrop by Hans Christian Anderson. How did I ever miss this? What a sweet story!

I have to represent the snowdrops, our Merry Maids of March, at our nature table in some way. I'd love to make a Snowdrop Fairy - maybe something like the simple one described in All Year Round - because I could never hope to make one as pretty as this. A reasonable facsimile could be attempted, however, and now a quick trip to the craft store might be in order for tomorrow ... ;)

What have you found in your early spring garden? 

Any surprises to share?

I hope you're all enjoying the weekend. I will see you all again sometime soon!

A Year @ a Glance Bulletin Board

Good Monday morning, everyone! I hope your weekend was nice. They always fly by too fast, don't you think? 

Here's a little peek at a project I worked on yesterday, while Bill had the boys out and about. (Technically I was supposed to be paying bills and planning lessons, but I took a little break to putter.)

Our learning room bulletin board has been empty for well over a month now, and I was trying to decide how to use it this year. I love the idea of using it as a current events board - filling it with newspaper clippings, etc. - but that takes a lot of maintenance. And to be honest, it bores the kids silly. (Maybe this will work better when they're all a little older.)

Anyway, I bought a set of wooden numbers a few weeks ago - "2009" - and decided they would look nice, painted and set at the top of the board. I chose to paint them black - which is, generally speaking, a strange color choice for me, but I thought they would pick up the black of the appliances in the kitchen just behind the board.

It's hard to tell in the photo, but the numbers also got sprinkled with some Martha Stewart "onyx" glitter. The glitter does catch the afternoon sunlight that fills the learning room most days. 

After the pieces dried, I used a little mounting tape to secure them above the board.

 

Now, my plan is this ... As we move along through the year, we will print out a few pictures each month and attach them to the board. These photos will showcase our homeschool and family activities (field trips, nature walks, social gatherings, etc.) as well as the season at hand. So January will probably include the picture of the boys building Legos at Tufts, a family picture from my birthday party, snowstorm pics and the hanging icicle picture, etc. Each month I'll add more pictures, starting in the top left corner, and by the end of the year, we should have a whole Year@-a-Glance!

I'll post about this project again when I've added the first batch of pictures. And by the way, the sun is a wooden nursery decoration I've had since Crackerjack was little. The boys have outgrown it, but I haven't. :) I bought it here, but I don't think they carry it anymore.

So, if you have a spare bulletin board hanging around your house, consider setting up a Year @ a Glance photo display! It should be a fun and visual way to record your home- learning/family-living year! And what a great conversation piece, too.

Well, I'm off now to get this day started. Another cup of coffee is called for, I think. It is Monday morning after all. :)

Have a good one, my friends!

From My Desk: Pretty Little Notebooks

As addicted as I am to office supply stores and the myriad materials found within, nothing beats the fun in making my own desk accessories! So, remember the pretty papers I showed you last weekend? Well, here's what I've been up to ...

 

The papers feature all those sherbert-y colors I love and the cutest little owls. I adore owls these days - and according to the scrapbook store lady, they are very "hot" right now. (Who knew, lol?) I bought several sheets in coordinating colors and patterns. These are all produced by a company called Sassafras. Check out that link - such cute papers! (They even have a blog here.)

So what kind of notebooks did I make up? We'll here we go ...

  

A budget & marketing notebook. A page to write out the month's budget and all the weekly expenses/shopping lists in between. I even made up a coupon packet for the back cover:

(I'll only add the coupons I'm planning to use each week. I'll take this notebook with me while I shop.)

Next comes a new gardening journal:

(That middle image is a rub-on.) I attached a pencil with some twine. When I walk around the yard making notes it's handy to have a pencil.

This will be a master-to-do list - just a running list of things to "remember."

This is a small assignments notebook I bought at the start of the year. I had intended to use it as a place to write down brief "teacher" notes each day, but I haven't really been using it like I thought - or at all. Maybe the paper will make all the difference, lol! Peeking out from the bottom is an alphabet ribbon pagemarker.

I am particularly excited about this little book. It is a blank "chipboard" tab book made by October Afternoon (a new favorite of mine) with 16 pages of soft, lined paper and 4 tabbed sections inside. I plan to fill it with notes for Earlybird's nature-based K-1 curriculum. Kind of a catchall for my thoughts regarding nature, learning, crafts and simple celebrations for each quarter of the year.

A peek inside:

 

I stamped those tabs myself, in case you couldn't tell, lol. They're not done very well, but they'll do. :)

I'm so scrap-happy right now, I had to use a little scrap to make a bookmark for myself. I added the monogram tag as an afterthought. 

Speaking of monogram tags, I added a new pagemarker to my current journal:

Another little side-project today - gussying up my new clipboard (the one I posted about last year was long ago commandeered by the kids). 

Those are scrapbook paper punch-out letters - I secured them with a length of clear mailing tape. I use this clipboard to hold any "action items" for the week.

Now, my final picture has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of this post, but I wanted to share it anyway:

As you can see, we got a LOT of snow over the weekend! And in the foreground is one of my leftover birthday cupcakes ~ vanilla cake, penuche frosting. Oh, so very delicious. :)

Well, stay tuned! I still have lots of paper leftover, so there may be more notebooks to show you before long. In the meantime, I  hope you all enjoyed a lovely long weekend. Thanks for stopping by ~ I'll see you all again sometime soon!

Sunday Puttering ...

It's a cold, snowy day here (I say that a lot, don't I?) and we're all hunkered in for the afternoon. I don't really have time for a full-length post just now, but I can tell you I've been taking lots of pictures today - of craft projects, bookshelves and the nature corner, in particular. 

I'll be back soon to show you've what I've got up my sleeve. :)

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

*Planners for the Seasons*

The other day I mentioned the seasonal planners I am setting up for the new year. I wanted to share a little more about them, since I now have them ready to go.

Before I get started though, can I just mention how nice the winter sunshine feels today? It's pretty cold here (31 at the moment) but the sun seems so much brighter than it did just a month ago. On days like these, it's easy to lull ourselves into thinking that spring might not be all that far away ... of course, there's a storm coming in tonight, so that will put us right back in our place.

Anyway, back to those planners! Each one is assigned a season (there are six in all), and the whole set is coordinated with my household journal:

(Those are tiny alphabet stickers I bought at Michael's last month - for an Advent project that will now have to wait till next year - but I've been finding lots of uses for them anyway. I love how old-fashioned they look - they work well with the paper I chose.) 

Setting up the binders was actually very quick and easy. I chose paper to match each season and cut them to fit inside the cover of a clear view-front binder. Then, inside each binder I placed a yellow index page, a print-out of my Themes and Plans for those months, looseleaf paper for project planning and the calendar pages. (I'll mark the individual projects with press-on tabs.)

Lastly, I placed alphabet tags on the spine of each binder signifying the months held inside:

Six Seasons to Plan:

Winter ~ January & February

Early Spring ~ March & April

Late Spring ~ May & June

Summer ~ July & August

Autumn ~ September & October

Holiday ~ November & December

I made room for all of the binders on my workspace shelves - see them tucked in there on the 4th shelf down?

 

They fit in rather well, and they're at an arm's length from where I sit when I work. (And by "work" I mean - teach, pay bills, plan meals, blog, plan, surf online ... etc.) 

 

Well, I'm running out of time today but in a future post I'll list the projects that I have filed in each binder. Thanks for joining me here today. I hope your week is off to a good start! :)

A Craft Store Run~

I have tried to stay away from the craft store as much as possible this summer. For one thing, I don't really need any craft supplies right now - I'm not crafting much during these hot, busy months - and for another, I still have all kinds of supplies stocked in the bins I keep stashed downstairs. (Remember the bins?) Before I go craft shopping, I really must go through the bin contents first (now somewhat depleted and rather discombobulated) and take inventory before I buy even one more package of something like hot glue gun sticks. (I have more of those than I can shake a fist at, lol.)

But there's just something about this time of year - between all the autumn and holiday planning I'm doing these days, and the fall magazines appearing in my mailbox, I'm feeling a familiar itch. I can hear the siren song of the craft store (you know the one, don't you?), and I'm eager to heed that call.

A list would be a good thing to start with, but I don't have a list just yet. However. I did have a reason for running into my local AC Moore's this weekend: Bookworm and I needed neon-green t-shirts for VBS. But, of course, while I was there, I had to take a good look around and see what was what - and, of course, I came home with a few more things than were strictly necessary.

Would you like to see? :)

1. Scrapbooking paper:

I love to have a steady supply of pretty scrapbooking paper on hand. I use it for my journal covers, card projects and the myriad binders I make up through the year. I especially love the first two patterns on the left. They are so sweet; they look as if they've been embroidered.

2. Ribbon:

Darnitall, I had a third spool and it must have gotten left behind at the store. Oh well. I like to use ribbon to trim various crafts or handmade cards and also as page markers for my journals. The alphabet ribbon will be used in my September journal and the starry-red ribbon will be used in my holiday planbook.

Yarn:

This blend is called "Crayon," and I love it! What I'd like to do with it is make "school scarves" for the boys. (You know, kind of like how the Hogwarts students all wear scarves representing their house colors, only not nearly so formally patterned?) I bought this particular yarn mainly because the colors appealed to me, but from what I understand, this yarn will yield stripes when I knit, or a pattern of some sort anyway. It will be fun to see how it knits! I don't know as I feel like knitting just now - the days are too hot - but it shouldn't take much time to knit three, possibly four (one for me), scarves once September rolls around. Generally speaking, there's no need for woolens here in New England till the first of November. (Hmmm ... scarves might make nice Martinmas gifts!)

3. Note Cards and Stamping Supplies:

I saw this adorable craft in the August issue of Martha Stewart Living. Martha always has the best ideas! I was sorely tempted to try making the blueberry Keds, but I thought the note cards might be more practical. These would make a lovely gift set - tied up with a blue gingham ribbon ... or you could make a set of recipe cards ... or a gift tag for a homemade loaf of blueberry bread. The possibilities are endless! (And how about a dark red ink pad for cranberries in the fall?) I'll try this project out sometime next week, and let you know how it goes!

4. T-shirts and iron-on paper:

The green shirts, as I mentioned, are for VBS. The yellow shirt and the transfer paper is for Crackerjack. He wants to try making a t-shirt with an image found online. His friends make shirts all the time with this method, and he loves how they come out. He'll probably go with a Star Wars or Pikman theme. (I'm not sure the image will work on yellow - maybe white would be better - but it was what he wanted. We'll see how it goes.)

5. Glue:

In my opinion, one can never have too much glue - especially when it's Martha Stewart glue. ;) It just looks so much prettier than Elmer's! (More importantly, it works really well.) Here I have glue sticks, a bottle of plain craft glue and a ballpoint-tip glue pen - which will be really neat used with glitter. (I'm envisioning homemade holiday cards this year - which is so easy to do when it's not even August, lol.)

And speaking of glitter - oh, how I wanted the Martha glitter. There were so many beautiful glass jars of glitter in the most dazzling, sumptous shades. But at $4.99 a pop, I'd better know just what I'm going to do with said glitter before I buy it. (I have a few ideas - i.e. the holiday cards - and I'm working on more.)

6. Bake Sale magazine:

I had to pop into a Michaels (yes, a second craft store) to return the t-shirts I originally bought for VBS (which were an all-wrong apple green, rather than the neon green required). I had a 50%-off one item coupon to use (burning a hole in my pocket) but by now my head was spinning and I could hardly concentrate. This particular Michaels was having a grand opening and the store was packed - with people and products. I spied this specialty baking magazine and had Bookworm (my baker's apprentice) take a look-through. Several oohs, aahs and oh-mama's! later I figured we should buy it. It only cost me $3 with the coupon. :)

Well, I think I've kept you here long enough, lol. Bill and the boys are just getting back in from an afternoon jaunt. It's time to rustle up some supper and get the boys into baths. Thanks for stopping by and letting me prattle on about my latest craft adventures. I hope you are enjoying your weekend and I'll see you all again sometime soon. :)

Making Herbal Oils and Cleaners

I've had the supplies for this project sitting on my craft shelf for some time now. With the school year at an end, and the bustle of the holiday weekend behind me, I figured it was finally time to try it out! I've always been intrigued by the idea of herbal oils and homemade cleaners ... I've read plenty about them, and taken copious notes. I've grown my own herbs, and dried them. I've envisioned container possibilities and labeling methods ... But I was surprised at how easy it was to do once I got down to doing it! (Isn't that true with most projects?)

Below you see my supplies ...

I found the little glass jars for .99 cents at the craft store; there were plenty of styles and sizes to choose from. The base oils (sweet almond) and essential oils I found at my local supermarket (in the health food section) for 50% off! A lot of mainstream grocers now carry oils, but you can be sure to find them at your local natural markets. Make sure to check expiration dates, or ask store staff about turnover time. You wouldn't want to purchase old oils. The little floral stickers I had on hand.

The project was as simple as this ~ I filled each glass bottle with the base oil and then added a few drops of essential oil for fragrance. Lastly, I added a color-coordinating sticker to denote the blend inside. As you can see in the top photo, I made up Orange-Geranium (brightening and comforting), Lavender (calming) and Lemon (renewing). Depending on my mood, or the time of day, I could pour a little oil in my bedtime bath or smooth some on my skin after a morning shower. Even just a few dabs on the pulse points would be a nice touch. I plan to store my oils in the fridge ... how refreshing would that feel on a hot summer's day?

Literally, this little project took me 15 minutes to complete, if that. These oils would make nice gifts - or party favors!

Next on my list, were some herbal homemade cleaners. These, too, were lickety split to whip up ...

In the foreground are my two favorite books for this subject area: Better Basics for the Home by Annie Berthold-Bond and Natural Beauty for All Seasons by Janice Cox. Lots of great recipes and advice in both of these books. Also pictured some ingredients (oils, tea and vinegar) and plastic spray bottles I picked up at the craft store for $1 each.

I made up the following blends, the first three from Better Basics:

Vinegar Deodorizer "Vinegar is an effective disinfectant."

• 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
• 2 cups water

Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle, shake and spray along the inside rim of the toilet. Leave on for 15 minutes or so before scrubbing with a toilet brush.

Tea Tree Deodorizer "Tea tree oil kills bacteria, and the strong smell of the oil will dissipate in a few days."

• 2 teaspoons tea tree oil (I used a bit less)
• 2 cups water

Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle, shake and spray along inside rim of the toilet. Leave on for 30 minutes or so before scrubbing with a toilet brush.

Lightly Lavender "Use this spray in the bathroom as a final rinse on the vanity countertop or after cleaning the toilet. It has a lovely scent, and lavender is highly antiseptic."

• 1 teaspoon essential oil of lavender
• 2 cups water

Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle, shake to blend, then spray. There's no need to wipe off.

And this last recipe comes from Natural Beauty for All Seasons:

Fruit-Tea Freshener "The fruit teas make wonderful skin refreshers. For a quick pick-me-up on hot summer days, store the freshener in the refrigerator."

• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 fruit tea bags of your choice (I used Red Zinger)
• 1 tablespoon witch hazel (optional)

Pour the boiling water over the tea bags in a ceramic, heat-resistant bowl. Allow the tea bags to steep for several hours, or until the mixture has cooled completely.

Add witch hazel to the infusion. You may want to strain the solution if you see bits of tea at the bottom of the container. Do this by pouring the liquid through a paper coffee filter.

Bottle the fruit-tea freshener and enjoy. Use a clean cotton ball to apply or use a spray bottle to splash on your skin.

(I didn't happen to have witch hazel on hand, so Bill is going to pick some up for me on his way home.)

This project was also ridiculously easy and quick. And now I have a fridge full of cool scented oils and a basket-ful of natural cleaners at my disposal ...

And on that note, I'm off to try them out! :)

Have a great week, everyone!

A pansy for your thoughts ...

Well, I made good on at least one of my promises this weekend ... I saved all the wild pansies in the front lawn, plucking their cheerful faces from the grass just moments before the mowing began ...

So now, what to do with all these pretty little blooms? Well, before they wilt, I will press them in between sheets of newsprint and stacks of large heavy books. The result will be lovely dried blossoms, ready for cards or bookmarks, or the pages of the family field journal.

Here are some I've already done:

(I couldn't help pressing some of the flowers with the roots still attached; I liked how earthy and authentic it looked.)

And while we're on the subject of flowers, don't forget to keep an eye out for the Full Flower Moon this evening! You know, I'm thinking some little moon-shaped (flower-topped) cookies will be just the thing to serve after dinner tonight ... :)

Happy Monday, everyone!

What I'm Knitting Now ~

Well, to begin with, here's what I just finished ~ my first EVER completed project:

This is a short scarf I knitted for my grandmother. She's 94, and loves purple. :) It might seem kind of off-season for scarves, but Gram is often cold. My mum helped me with the button hole - some little tricky bit a few rows from the bottom. As you can imagine, this project was very easy - 15 stitches, knit the whole way.

Here's how it looks on, to give you a better idea:

*Photo by Bookworm.

It's very soft and comfortable, actually. I hope Gram likes it. :) (And by the way, the spring blend I started with last month was also made into a similar style scarf. I haven't added a button yet. And I forgot to take a photo.)

Because I am still new to knitting, I am sticking to things that are very easy, to get myself comfortable with the basics. I started another scarf, in a nice cotton green blend, but I got a bit carried away. Knitting it longer and longer at Aquarium school one day, it dawned on me it would make a cute stuffed toy. Crackerjack said he'd like it to be a snake.

I plan to stuff it and sew on little eyes, maybe insert a red ribbon tongue.

The thing I'm working on now is another - you guessed it! - scarf. ;) I picked up this "creamsicle" blend cotton yarn thinking how nice it would look with my favorite cardigan (see picture at top of this blog) and trusty old sweatshirt jacket shown below:

I wear this jacket a lot in the fall, but it's always great for nature walks in the woods. The orange really stands out, and it's quite warm. The boys said they think this yarn looks like candy corn. :)

Other projects on the horizon ~ I am still planning to knit Crackerjack those red cotton socks, but I need to pick up a pair of double-pointed needles for that. Also, my friend Mary wore a beautiful knitted shawl to our Knitting Circle the other night; she said it was one of her earliest projects, and that she still has the pattern. I'd love to try making one myself in a blend of plummy tones. (Or maybe greens, I'm never sure what colors are good for me.)

I am working up to something in this book ~ hopefully the Weasley sweaters, one for each of my three boys - and hopefully by October! But October is only five months away, so I guess I'd better get brave enough to move on from scarves. ;) 

Now, for a real (and really lovely) knitting project, stop by my friend Leigh's, and check out her soon-to-be-felted spring tote! The colors in her bag remind me of these ...

... which are so in season right now. We have them growing all over our yard. Unfortunately Bill is allergic to lilacs, so I dont bring them into the house, except, as in this case, for a picture. (These were intended for my friend Kim who hosts our knitting circle each month.)

Well, I'd best be off to get this day started. Much to do in the morning, and then we have our Nature Club meeting in the afternoon. I'll be back soon with pictures from our spring day by the river. (Keeping my fingers crossed these clouds rolling in are not bringing rain!)

Have a great day, my friends. See you all again sometime soon. 

Pictures from the First Day of May ~

We watched the clouds. The sky was so blue!

We hunted down dandelions ...

And set the little seeds free. ;)

We worked on a craft (or I should say, I did), one found in this book.

Step 1 ~ Remove the contents and label from an old can (any size) and wash and dry it thoroughly. Find some scrap yarn in colors you like, and then find some plain glue. (Or better yet, make your own.) Start spreading the glue - followed by the yarn - around the outside of the can ...

Continue the process until the whole can is covered with yarn:

The can is now a vase for the nature table!

While the can dried, I served up some Ascension Day cookies ~

Light vanilla meringues ~ so scrumptious!

A final touch: flowers for our vase, a sampling of what's blooming:

Don't you love the Wild Pansy (aka Heartsease or Johnny Jump Up)? 

By the way, the tin can vase was a very easy craft, and I think it would make a nice gift for the the grandmas and nanas and aunties, etc. come Mother's Day. I made it myself (only because the boys were busy with their own projects), but it could easily be done by a child as young as 3 years old (with assistance). Also, if you wanted to make this a May Day basket, you could punch holes in the top of the can and attach a twine or wire handle. :)

Quick note ~ I'm finishing up the May Themes & Plans post (hopefully for tomorrow!) and I anticipate the next Mitten Strings post will be up sometime this weekend. Thanks for your patience, and thanks, as always, for stopping by!

I hope your day was a good one and I wish you a very merry May!

Spring Crafting ~ A Little Earth Loom

This is a really fun way to spend an hour or so in the backyard with the kids. You'll be surprised how much you "discover" as you hunt around for your weaving materials!

The original idea for this craft came from Earthways: Simple Environmental Activities for Young Children ~ a favorite book for nature crafts, by the way! The book suggests weaving yarn into the loom (which would be lovely in the fall) but we went directly to the backyard for our spring weaving supplies. ;)

First thing to do, have the kids look around for small branches that have a Y-shape. They are quite easy to find, but if you think this might test their patience, scout out some branches yourself beforehand. Then, wind a length of twine across the V-portion of the branch for the warp. (You could use yarn here, but I liked the neutral shade of the twine as well as its sturdiness.) Secure the twine at the bottom, weave it back and forth across the branch to the top, and then tie it off at one side. Voila ~ a little Earth Loom!

Now, have your children start finding bits of Spring to weave into in their looms ...

We all worked on one loom together, but you might like to give each of your children their own.

Our final results:

What made this activity especially fun was the way it got the kids down on their knees examining all the things growing around the yard. They also found lots of dried bits of nature leftover from the fall.

Some of things we wove into our loom:

• blades of grass
• pine needles
• small twigs
• dried helicopter seeds
• dried hydrangea blossoms
• dandelions
• tree buds
• tiny acorn caps
• forsythia and lilac branches
• a bit of birch bark found on the ground
• a fuzzy herb leaf
• a feather

When our loom was complete I placed it on our nature shelf. As expected, the living things started to shrivel pretty quickly. (A good lesson there.) The boys pointed out this loom would make a fun plaything for younger children ~ it seemed something like a fairy wand or maybe a royal elven staff. :)

I hope you will try the earth loom with your children sometime ~ and if you do, please let me know! In the meantime ... have a GREAT day, everyone!

~ Knitting Night News ~

At my Knitting Circle last night, I worked another several rows onto my spring scarf! I am so crazy for these colors, and the knitting itself came right back to me, just as I'd hoped it would. Of course - I completely forgot I was intending to purl after knitting four inches, but that's ok. I'm not following any set pattern, just trying to get back into the groove. Maybe I'll purl my next project. ;)

I must show you some pictures I took at my friend Kim's, our monthly knitting night hostess. She really spoils us, I must say, welcoming us each month with candlelight ...

And fun little surprises like lanterns on the deck (she made them!) ...

And a table full of freshly baked goodies ...

Kim always serves the most delicious things, but this month she treated us to Greek Easter specialties ~ like the traditional Tsoureki (a sweet bread baked with brilliant red eggs), and cinnamon rice pudding (recipe on request!) and yummy little crescent cookies all powdery with confectioner's sugar. Friends brought fruit salad and baklava and of course, knitting night is never complete without steaming cups of tea served in beautiful pottery mugs.

After we ate (and ate) we gathered in the living room to knit (and talk) and before we knew it it was almost 11 p.m.! But before we left, Kim had us partake in a fun game, another Greek Easter tradition. Each of us held one of the red eggs in our hands and we went around the room cracking egg onto egg, saying, in turn:

Christos Anestes! Alithinos Anestes! (He is risen! He is risen, indeed!)

The goal was to see who would be left with an un-crackable egg, thereby earning herself a year's worth of good luck. And guess who went home with that egg (and that luck) ... ? :)

Hooray, it was me! I never win anything, so this was a real treat! Can you freeze a hard boiled egg? I really would like to keep it. ;)

Knitting night is so fun; I am blessed to have such a lovely, supportive group of friends. And now I've made myself a small goal for our May circle ~ that my spring scarf will not be in my bag, but draped around my neck! (Weather permitting of course.) And just what will my next project be? Well, I'll have to get myself back to the yarn store sometime soon ...

Thanks so much for stopping by today ~ I hope you had a good Wednesday! See you all again sometime soon. :)