Happy Mail

February 11, 2014 by Summer

It’s always so nice getting things, other than bills in the mail. Today some birdies flew in from Northern California and Kansas. I think I mentioned the Birdie project a few weeks back but let me elaborate since they are now seeming to be flying in to my mail box weekly. I have this wonderful group of Mama’s from all over the world who decided it would be fun to show our love and support for one another and make something for each other, a kind of chain mail project of sorts. We all make 14 birdies, keep one for ourselves and then send out the other 13, one for each Mama. I will hopefully end up with 14 birdies of my very own from all over the world in just a few weeks. We loosely used this pattern. Once we get all of the birdies it will be up to us how we decide to hang and display them.

Here are all of the birdies I have received thus far, including my own birdie.

It’s a joy receiving these little birds in the mail. Each one hand-made with love from a mother just like me, mothers I have been conversing with for over half a year through the internet. Mothers that have become dear friends to me. Each bird has come with a handwritten note and sometimes an inspirational quote. Something to lift me up for that day.

This week, I not only received these lovely birds but one of the wonderful, sweet Mama’s sent a whole care package, complete with birdie, chocolate, an original piece of art she had done and even a book for Ellie. It made my heart swell just to see it all!

I am certainly feeling the love. Happy Mail, indeed.

Making + Listening

January 23, 2014 by Summer

There has been lots of MAKING that I haven’t had the chance to document yet, so I thought I would recap what I finished these past couple weeks and what I’m still working on.

A little stuffed mountain for a friend close to the Rockies. A little reminder for her that she has a whole group of women rooting for her through some tough times.

This is Edith. She’ll be the first “softie- doll” to go in my shop. Made from scrappy fabric, wool felt and regular felt and completely hand sewn.

And this is an old t-shirt I jazzed up for Ellie just the other night. She’s been talking about panda’s these days (reading Panda Bear, Panda bear) and the other night she was telling me something very important and serious about a Panda (in her toddler gibberish that for the life of me I could not decipher). All I could gather was that a panda was involved and was very important in her realm of thought at that moment. So I thought I’d make her a panda sleep shirt, so she could hopefully dream of her furry friends. She LOVED it and wore it all day today too! I have no idea how felt washes, so I may be re-sewing this little guy back onto the shirt after tomorrow.

As for LISTENING: Ellie has developed quite the taste for very specific music. Daily, we listen to Raffi’s “Pick A Bale O’ Cotton”, “Frere Jacques” and the “popcorn song”. And in the evening we listen to Steve Martin’s “Pretty Flowers” (you can guess whose influence Steve Martin’s banjo music was) or Dan Zanes’ “Basement song”. Don’t dare try to put on anything different than those five songs, or you will get a scolding by an angry 17 month old!

I’m still working on finishing up Ellie’s felt board characters for the Taro Gomi book and after Cory posted a link on her blog and I decided I wanted in, I know there will be lots of making in the weeks to come. Check out this blogger swap, I’m very excited about it!

– joining Dawn for Making and Listening!

Sandy Snow Sensory Bin

January 22, 2014 by Summer

Ellie has been really interested in sensory experiences lately. Every meal gets wiped across the high chair, washing hands becomes a quick splash in the fountain and taking a walk always includes finding patches of dirt to dig in. So I’ve been eager to find new and exciting sensory experiences for her. The other day I stumbled upon this wonderfully inspiring and helpful blog and found her recipe for Edible Pretend Snow. I had never heard of using bread in a sensory bin before but was intrigued by what she said would happen to its texture when put through the food processor. We happened to have half a loaf of partly stale bread we were going to save for the birds or croutons if Jeff got around to it, so I went to work throwing the loaf into the food processor for a new sensory experience for Ellie. Because it was wheat bread, the color was much less “snow-like” and more “sand-like”. But, that certainly didn’t stop Ellie (and her Daddy) from enjoying a fun morning of exploring what I like to call the “Sandy Snow Sensory Bin”.

I threw in some random containers and some Little People to manipulate.

The texture was so neat. It was soft like snow but grainy like sand and you could squish it between your fingers and form it into masses.

Jeff would form these “sandy snow castles” and Ellie would happily break them down chanting “more, more, more!”

Ellie decided to get in and feel the textures with her feet too of course (watch out for bread eating dogs too).

Ellie found that the Sandy snow would get stuck to her foot though and ended up enjoying it from outside of the tub instead.

It was a neat sensory tub and I’m glad we got to try it. I definitely wouldn’t do this very often, seeing that you use up almost a whole loaf of bread (when we were done with ours, we added the bread crumbs to the bird feeder outside and watched the little sparrows flock). It also doesn’t keep well. By the end of the day, our bin was smelling like yeasty mush (thus it became bird food). But, it the Sandy snow was a different texture for Ellie to explore and a fun part of our day.

New Pieces for the Felt Board

January 17, 2014 by Summer

I realized the other day when Ellie brought me a felt Christmas tree off her felt board that it was time to make some new felt characters. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to make for the New Year until she continually brought Jeff and I the book Mommy! Mommy! by Taro Gomi, to read to her. I thought it would be so much fun to make her, her very own “Mommy” and “chickies” to play out the story on her board. So this week I went to work and last night I finished the “Mommy” and one of the “chickies”. They were super easy to make and turned out completely adorable. Ellie has been putting them on the felt board and taking them off all day. I’m still working on the grumpy dog critter and would like to make the barn, the sun and some rocks for the “Mommy” to hide behind. If you don’t have this board book, you have to check it out. It’s quite adorable. And obviously a favorite around here.

And playing along with Dawn’s MAKE + LISTEN today, we’ve been listening to a lot of RAFFI, (specifically this one) and we have this playing while we clean up after dinner to put everyone in a relaxed mood before bed.

Getting Creative

January 15, 2014 by Summer

The new year has brought a sense of renewal and redefinition for me. I’m wanting to try things out and get more creative. I’m wanting to make more and buy less, I’m wanting to create and craft. This weekend I started a journal. I used to keep journals for years and then I started scrap booking in high school and my journaling ended up part of the scrap books. And of course like many things, as I got older I just stopped journaling as much until it got thrown completely by the wayside. This blog is a journal of sorts, I guess you could say, but I missed putting pen to paper. I stumbled upon this amazing lady’s blog a couple of days ago and fell in love with her art and her ways of journaling. She’s inspired me to start journaling again as well as practice adding some extra creative elements to the mix like stamping and watercolors (things I’ve dappled in here and there but never really practiced). I stopped by the arts and crafts store this weekend and picked up a few things and went to work in my little bursts of free time (during Ellie’s nap-time, while Jeff played or read to Ellie or while Ellie was engrossed in an activity, which is happening more and more these days). I worked on my new journal and I made Thank you cards with ink and watercolors. And not only was it was so much fun but the cards turned out lovely. It feels really good being creative. I’m learning new ways to express myself and I’m discovering that fine art of practice. Practicing a new skill, especially a creative one is always good for the heart and soul.

Lambie-Pie

January 13, 2014 by Summer

My Mom and Dad got Ellie this adorable lamb dress for Christmas but sadly it was too small and none of the local Gap’s had it in her size. So when I realized I needed a present for my friend’s baby shower last Sunday, I knew exactly what I was getting her. That dress (in a teeny tiny size, because that just makes it even more adorable) and a matching sheepie shirt (which we ended up trading Ellie’s dress in for as well). I had been working on a little doll softie for the baby shower too but late into the evening last week, I looked at those sheepie clothes and realized what I should be making. I put the doll away and went straight to work on the lambie softie. I had never made a lamb before and used the shirt and dress as a template of sorts. It turned out quite adorable and even Ellie couldn’t let it go after she saw me taking photos of it. (I think I’m going to have to make her one as well, don’t you think?). The lambie was a hit at the baby shower and I can’t wait to see what other animals I can try my hand at.

* Lambie-Pie was made with upcycled chenille, wool felt, regular felt and fabric from my scraps bin. She was all hand sewn and embroidered. And… I’ve been going back and forth for months now. I’m thinking of starting a little etsy shop with my softies, should I take the plunge?

A Winter-Time Treat

January 8, 2014 by Summer

I really wanted to make Rice pudding for Thanksgiving. Never got around to it (I did get my Sweet Potato Pie done though). Then I thought I’d make rice pudding for Christmas. Never happened. I thought for sure I would get it done in time to ring in the New Year. And yet, somehow, I couldn’t get it made. The other day, Ellie was playing in her own play kitchen. She had been playing independently for quite some time and I realized, now is my chance. I collected my ingredients and although we did not have real Vanilla bean’s, which this recipe called for, I substituted Vanilla extract instead and voila, we had rice pudding on a Tuesday. And what’s more special than that.

Maple Ginger Rice Pudding adapted from Joy The Baker

1 cup arborio rice

4 cups whole milk (I used non fat milk because it’s what I had on hand)

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or 1 vanilla bean split and seeds scraped)

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch of salt

maple syrup to taste

ginger snaps, crumbled

Place the rice, milk, sugar, vanilla, spices and salt into a medium saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally for 25 to 30 minutes or until rice is tender. Drizzle maple syrup over the cooked pudding and top with ginger snap cookie crumbles to serve. Serve warm or cool.

An Advent… a Little Late

December 26, 2013 by Summer

So, I started in with this advent calendar a whole month ago. I sewed and I sewed, any time Ellie napped, any time we were in the car, any time I could find, I sewed. But as much as I tried, I could not get this thing finished. I wanted to have it done the first week of December. I don’t know what I was thinking. There was no way sewing an advent calendar all by free form and by hand was going to get done in less than a week. So, it became my December project. A treasure we would hopefully have for many Christmas’ to come. Just not this Christmas. On Christmas Eve, I put in the final threads. It was finally done, the night before Christmas. Although we didn’t get to use it for it’s intended purposes this year, this project will truly be remembered for years to come. It was fun, it was tiring, my husband is thrilled the felt pieces are no longer all over our house and I’m really proud I finished it.

Since visiting the library this holiday season and bringing home The 12 days of Christmas, (Ellie likes this version best) Ellie has been obsessed with the song and the book. It was a Christmas song I never really cared for because of obvious reasons. But, after my darling daughter showed such joy over the lyrics. It has quickly become and will probably always be a favorite now in this household (a love and hate favorite Jeff says). I thought it would be fun to create the 12 days as advent caricatures. So what you see in the pockets and eventually on the tree are 12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 10 lords a leapin’, 9 ladies dancing, 8 maids a milkin’, 7 swans a swimming, 6 geese a layin’, 5 gold rings, 4 calling birds, 3 french hens, 2 turtle doves, and a partridge in a pear tree. The other 13 advent pocket buddies are stars and presents to finish out the vision on top. I got very close to the ways of sewing with felt with this project and I think I may be smitten. I’m sure you will see much more felt (especially the wool kind) in my crafting future.

A Very Merry Christmas

December 26, 2013 by Summer

A wonderful, marvelous, perfect Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Jingle Bells

December 10, 2013 by Summer

When I taught preschool, I started collecting bells at the local antique markets, for my classroom. Every year I would bring them out around the holidays, presenting them during a group time and then allowing the children to explore their shapes and the sounds each one made. I think I also started collecting bells because of Jeff’s Mom. Every time Jeff and I would go back east to visit with his family for the holidays, we would spend Christmas Eve at a church service with his family. His mother would give us all bells to bring to the service and we would get to ring them while singing Christmas hymns. It was (and still is) a lovely tradition in his family and so a fondness for bells was born. I have around five antique bells, all with their own unique sound and look. This week I brought them out for the first time for Ellie to explore. It was fun watching her try each one out, carrying them around and ringing them for the dogs (trying to get Linus to howl most likely). I have been keeping them out in a basket on her table for her to enjoy as well as a box of jingle bells too. We’ve been singing and ringing them to Christmas music and she has been picking them up through out the week and experimenting with the cheerful sounds they make. Bells are such a magical thing.

Silver bells! What a world of merriment their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, In the icy air of night! While the stars that oversprinkle All the heavens, seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells– From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. -Edgar Allen Poe (1850)