Enchanted Mama

Let it snow::

 

"It's beginning to look a lot like christmas..."  In the mood today to relax by the fire and soak up the "now".  Hope your day is filled with holiday-spirit wherever you are.  

Watercolor wonder::

Today we bring another addition of the "guest posts" for the winter faire children's store.  My dear friend K.  has generously given of her time again to contribe this great idea.  Hope you enjoy it!

 

 

"One Wednesday in October our school had a half day -- a noon dismissal, always fun but also challenging for working or bridge playing mamas.  Two of the crafty moms came to the rescue and invited any child who wanted to participate to bring a lunch and stay after in the classroom to paint."  

"If you know Waldorf schools you know that the wet on wet watercolor paintings are absolutely beautiful, from preschool on the paintings are full of life and luscious colors."

 

 

"Then one of these crafty mamas took the paintings home and created the most beautiful notecards and bookmarks imaginable.  I want my children to buy them all up and give them to me for Christmas.  But I know I cannot be that selfish, I have to leave them (or most of them) for other children to buy."

"I am touched by the beauty of the items our class parents and students are creating, simply looking at them is a gift.  I hope you'll be the recipient of some beautiful gifts this season."

 

Thank you to my lovely friends for contributing so many wonderful gifts to the children's store.  What fun it is to be a part of this adventure.  

One more guest post this week for another fun idea.  There are so many it's hard to chose but I think you will enjoy the next one as much as I did.  

Have a great day.  

 
  
 
 

Festive Flowers::

 

 

Some festive flowers to brighten your Monday morning.  I created these hair bands for the winter faire coming up this weekend.  These will adorn the hair of many girl's after this weekend. 

What a lovely thought.  

 

I used the book, Knitted Flowers by Nicky Epstein.  There are many flower styles to choose from, it was hard to decide on just one.  It came down to logistics.  Twenty-five to fifty of these beauties needed to be made and so a single design was used.  Easy to knit.  Easy to memorize.  Easy to finish, well almost.  All these good things helped create the result.  

My daughter is vying for a dozen to wear in her hair, ummm...well see if this mama ever wants to knit again after this.  They also could be worn, as my daughter does often, on the wrist.  It would look a bit like a corsage that way.  They are festive, fun, and thank goodness done in time for the winter faire. 

Oh, and the possibilities....multiple flowers, poinsettias or holly and berries.  The options are endless, I tell you.  

 

Hope they brightened your day, even just a little.  

Happy Monday!!!
 
 

Warmth::

 

 

There is nothing quite like candles to bring warmth and magic to a table.  Candles create such beautiful light and wonderful conversations.  I love them.  

I'm also intrigued by most things that speak to me of the forest, and nature.  A large part of the Waldorf education is about how to embrace nature outdoors as well as how to bring it inside.  

We recently worked on a project that integrated all these aspects involving wood pieces and some different tools.  Of course, my son was in heaven.

  

 

 

 

 

This past Wednesday we did some woodworking to bring some warmth to our Thanksgiving table.  We used wood from branches that fell in the last storm.  We used log pieces from our last two christmas trees that we tromped into the forest to find.  

We brought out the hand drill that my son received as a birthday present, thank you nana. Then, we brought out the electric drill because boy wood is really hard!  Regardless, it was a fun project for all of us. 

To drill the holes straight in required a bit of patience and a lot of leveling work.  The vice grip also came in quite handy.  I believe in my son's eyes it was a wood workers dream job.   

We became excited with the results and ended up with more candle holders than originally planned.  More fun.  More warmth.  How can there be too many? 

 

Hope your holiday was full of warmth as well.  

Have a great weekend.   
 
 

 
 
 
 

Being Grateful::

 

 

 

Today we are spending time as a family.  Setting the table for our little celebration.  Baking pies and butter-horn rolls.  Ironing tablecloths, I hardly ever do that.  Bumping into one another in the kitchen. Connecting with family and friends on the phone.  And, the children have been in and out creating surprises for the table all morning.  

Yes, today I am grateful.  Very, very grateful.  

Wishing you and yours a lovely, family-filled holiday.  

Happy Thanksgiving.  

 
 
 
 

Felted Soap::

 Another lovely Winter faire project.  This one is presented by my dear friend, K.  This is a great project for little hands.  The results not only smell good but they are always a well received gift.  

So, in K.'s own words...

 

Going through the Winter Faire inventory with the coordinator one day we found some leftover soap from the third grade bath shoppe last year.  Since the bath shoppe offerings have changed this year there was no home for the delicious Pangea soap and wool roving already parceled out and waiting for eager hands to felt.  So of course, I took them hoping someone would make felted soap for our Children's Store.  Eventually they ended up at my house on my 'to do' list.

 

 

Luckily, my forth grader asked if she could felt one.  "Of course", said I.   Then my two six year olds wanted a chance too,  "Certainly you may".  My son only lasted for a few soaps, but the girls were felting all morning and the results are absolutely beautiful.  The girls created 64 lovely soaps, each one inspiring the other to greater felting heights.

 

 
The girls were happily occupied, their brother played peacefully by himself, Dad was busy with honey-do chores,  and I got to cut out lots of felt in preparation for our candy cane mouse marathon.  The whole house hummed with the happiness of busy hands.

A special thank you to K.!  You and your children really know how to create some beautiful soap.  

And, to all my wonderful readers I hope this gives you another fun idea to try.  

Tomorrow, it's on to the turkey.  Have a great Wednesday.  

Cinnamon Ornaments::

Projects are arriving in daily and I thought it would be fun to have some of the crafty mamas that are working on the winter faire children's store share some of their projects with you.  

This is my dear friend, E.  who found these delicious ornaments to share with all of us.  The only thing missing here is that you can't smell how delectable these little glue filled ornaments are.  Seriously, I almost had to take a bite, almost.

Without further ado, in E.'s own words, the "Cinnamon Ornaments"...

 

***Families have been making cinnamon ornaments for generations.  I made them and gave them to my parents and grandparents, and in turn was given them by my nieces and nephews over the years.  This year, I helped my own children craft them for Winter Faire.  It's such a fun and easy project that children are able to participate in it fully.  

  

We made a dough out of a cup of cinnamon, a quarter cup of applesauce, and a half cup of white glue.  It smelled good enough to eat.  After letting the dough stand covered for one hour, we divided it into quarters and rolled each out on wax paper, sprinkling cinnamon on the rolling pin and dough to prevent sticking.  (Hint: The thicker the ornament, the less it will curl).   

 

We like owls and acorns, but you can use whatever cookie cutters that inspire.  Just remember to poke a hole for the ornament string before you bake them.  We placed our ornaments on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and dried them for two hours in a 200 degree oven.  The house smelled delicious.  An occasional pressing with a spatula kept them from curling.   

 

We gave our owls beaks and wings, but you can string them as is, or decorate with paints, markers, whatever strikes your fancy.  ***

Thank you E. for sharing your craftiness here.  You are fantastic!  

Check back tomorrow for more crafty projects.  Have a fabulous day.

Our Weekend::

 

 

 

 

This past weekend was full.  We had time in the kitchen.  Play throughout the house.  Construction in the middle of the living room floor.  Dinner with friends.  A fairytale sitter for my children who brought gifts (Thanks, Mrs. F).  Heart shaped snow right outside our doorway.  Time spent cleaning, organizing and putting our feet up.  Full but still a nice balance.  Ohhh, and deviled eggs we can't forget those.  

Tomorrow, I plan to bring you a series of projects that have been coming in for the winter faire gift shop.  They are such fun ideas.  A few that would work for gifts and some that would be great for stocking stuffers.  Be sure to check in for these fun ideas.  

Have a great day.  

Just because::

 

 

Just because during this flurry-of-gift-making-time isn't it hard for "us" mamas to put ourselves first?  My mom used to say, "A happy mama equals a happy family."  I'm not sure who came up with that first but I think it definitely applies.  You mean me first?!??  Well, it's not something I'm always good at but for today I am working on it.  

Just because, I made myself a new purse.  Back in June I made another one for summer, love, love it.  But, I have been wanting something that said more Fall less spring and summer.  So....

 

I created this yesterday afternoon while my little one had his nap.  Yes, there were "a hundred" other things I could have been doing.  Okay, maybe fifty.  But, instead I secluded myself in my sort-of clean studio and did some sewing.  I love when I have that opportunity.  

I didn't use a pattern, just guessed at a basic size.  Lined it in a different way because I see lining as a luxury but sometimes, when the little one will wake at any moment, way too time consuming. Then, I squared up the bottom and added big handles that can be slung over my arm without cutting off my circulation.  There is was.  Maybe next time I will think shoulder straps but this is a nice change.  

Just because, I now have a fall-like bag to carry all my various things to and fro.  Isn't that lovely? 

Hope you all have a great weekend, just because.  

Stamp it::

 

 

 


Remember these?  From the family Stampin' Sunday?  Well, I decided to create a few notebooks with these lovely hand-carved stamps. The idea of stamping on moleskin notebooks is not a new idea, it is everywhere in the blogging world.  What I hadn't anticipated though was it being quite so fun.  It is!  I wanted to keep stamping long after I ran out of books.  

These will be joining the rest of the winter-faire-craftiness.  The notebooks themselves are not exactly handmade but the stamps are...we are in gray area here people.  I think it counts, right?   I ended up finding these notebooks for a lovely price so they just had to be done.   

 

Using some paint I stamped about 20 of these.  What fun.  What possibilities.  Next time when I don't need so many I have plans for some out of card stock? cardboard?  Anything out of the recycle bin.  Doesn't that sound intriguing?  I even looked at the back pages of my 2009 calender, you know the pages that never officially get used, I think they could be used as pages in a book.  More on that later.  

It was lovely to pull these stamps out and use them again.  And, reminisce about that delicious Sunday we all spent around the table together creating. 

Hmmm...maybe time to do that again, soon.  

Hope you are having a day full of inspiration and happy holiday creating.  

Are you?