sweater sleeve pen holder

the jar we had been keeping our pens and scissors in at school (for teacher use) broke leaving us with a pile of writing implements with no home. a skinny jar was salvaged from the recycling to temporarily house them but i needed something more attractive, of course. ;)

enter this sweater sleeve (pictured inside out here). using a can as a guide, i cut the sleeve to fit snugly over the can.
***i used an eden organics can as they are the only ones that i am aware of that are bpa-free.***

then i needle felted a pair of toadstools on the sleeve and pulled it over the can. instant makeover! i am going to make lots more of these in many colors and designs. a fast and easy makeover and you could use the can for so many organizational solutions!

oh sweater sleeves, how i love thee. there are seemingly infinite ways to use thee.

egg monsters, take two

i have had a lot of inquiries about the egg monsters in my header photo. can't blame you, they are pretty darn cute and oh so fun!! the post i did on them last year can be found here.there are a lot of tutorials around the web about wet felting eggs around a plastic egg form (or a wooden egg). after felting i cut an opening to remove the egg and i blanket stitched the opening with a contrasting color thread. then i needle felted eyes and added tufts of hair (i cut a chunky square of foam to stuff inside the egg while i worked with the felting needle).

some of the hair is just tufts of roving, some was some rainbow leicester locks, and i even used a single strand of yarn for one. these are a huge hit here. most of the ones pictured went to friends in an easter swap last year. each of my children still have one that they adore and we will be making more soon.

check out joy's eggs here. i want to do some of my next ones with the opening cut in this jagged way. what great monster mouths!

hope this is helpful. have fun and i would love to see pictures of your creations!! ;)

daffodil root children

The sun is now shining,

Thy sky blue and clear,

The birds are all calling,

And so Spring is here.

The children are ready,

And up, up they go ~

All the beauty they've made

They are longing to show.

~Sybille von Olfers, The Story of the Root Children

for the peg doll swap i made these little root/flower children. their root garments are made from a wool scarf i bought at a yard sale a couple of years ago. i remember that the woman was so happy that someone was going to love her deceased mother's scarf. little did she know that i was going to intentionally shrink it and cut into many, many pieces! i have used this wool felt in many projects, mostly autumnal given the warm, mottled earth tones. i like to think she would delight in knowing the creations that have come forth from the destruction of said scarf and the many people who now enjoy those treasures in their homes around the globe.

these little sweeties have daffodil dresses to don for their spring emergence and a variety of little nut caps. their little flower dresses fasten on right over their root bodies.

some of them have snaps and some have small round velcro tabs. it is so fun to dress them! sienna enjoyed switching their outfits around before they started out on their journeys. three of them have hopefully landed by now here in the states. two of them are en route to australia.

i only had one of these special little caps so it went to our lovely hostess, ms bloom herself. i sure hope the cap survived as the little tips of the *curls* do like to snap off.

this swap was so fun!! i have said that before, haven't i?

more pics here.

branch border

spring is here and it has been quite warm already! we have been digging in the earth at school and planning some extensive playground improvements. we had a parent work day this past week and will have another this coming weekend. one of the projects we completed recently was this lovely flower bed.
some of these bulbs were already here when we first moved in. some we have planted over the past couple of years. they spring right to life when the weather begins to shift despite the fact that they are rooted in firm red clay. i have wanted to give this bed a proper border for some time now.
one of our dad's built mini sawhorses and came to class to saw some maple branches with the children to get us started. there wasn't enough though and i squealed with delight when i found the perfect branches to complete the project on the side of the road in someone's discarded brush pile. i am not sure what kind they are (a type of birch??) but the bark is so, so smooth. matt came over and sawed them down to size for us (thank you doug and matt!!).
some mamas brought some grape hyacinths and some blooming ground cover to add to the bed and put some sweat equity into the project. a few of the children (including my own, given the many hours we spent here over the course of two days) enjoyed helping out, too.

to make the border sturdy took some serious work but the end result is charming. we dug a trench to embed the branch pieces, pounded them in with a mallet, pounded the mud back in on both sides, and then pounded some more! there is almost the same amount of each branch under the soil as there is sticking out. i added some clay soil conditioner in as mulch and to help break that clay down.
of course a sweet little gnome and fairy moved in right away! this colorful little gnome i found at the thrift store a few weeks ago and i was just itching to get this bed done so that he could find his new home. today was our first day back in class since he arrived and it was so fun to watch the children discover him and go over to greet him. ;)
this border mimics the sandbox on the other side of the playground. soon we will have more of the larger ones throughout the yard for walking and balancing on!

spring greetings

Yesterday the twig was brown and bare;

To-day the glint of green is there;

Tomorrow will be leaflets spare;

I know no thing so wondrous fair,

No miracle so strangely rare.

I wonder what will next be there!

~L.H. Bailey

her peg dolls

i joined the peg doll swap featured over at we bloom here. i was delighted when margaret decided to offer a smaller swap for the children, too! sienna has had one swap experience previously and it was honestly a bit disappointing. i thought she might be excited to give it another go.....and i was right!

she has made many peg dolls over the years and i love them all. for a while they became her go to gift for birthdays. for this swap, there were four 7-9 year olds matched up. so sienna made three dolls and sent them off to one little girl and two little boys.

for the girl she made a poppy fairy and for the boys she made an oak fairy and a water fairy. i adore them all but am especially smitten with *poppy*!! i have requested that she start on one for me right away but we must get ourselves some more blank peg dolls first.
she has been very keen on poppies lately and knew right away that she was going to make one. she rolled a black pipe cleaner into a spiral for the center of the fairy's flower hat. she made a little pattern for the petals.
i came across the paper she practiced her faces on. i so enjoy these little glimpses into how her beautifully artistic mind works. her imagination and creativity have always been nurtured and it is humbling, being a fairly creative person myself, to step back and watch what comes forth from her when left to her own devices.
the note she included with them was personalized for each fairy. this one says i made 3 peg dolls 1 is named water he has a brother and a sister look on the back. they all have this little verse on the back. the tree grose {grows} over the poppy and over the water.
poppy, water, and tree.

i shall share mine soon. our new little peg dolls from our swap partners are starting to come in, too. such delight to see the variety and the creativity that can start with a blank wooden peg doll!

in the meantime, you can see lots of peg doll sweetness over at the gallery. enjoy!

more february birthday makings

as i try to find my voice in this space again i am also coming out of a bit of a haze that i have been in since the separation. so i'm sure you'll excuse me if i dip back into the past couple of months and share some things i have finally gotten around to photographing. maybe if we start with february it will seem less absurd when i finally post the pics of matt's creations he gifted the children for solstice that i never shared? maybe?

this outfit i made for sienna just before her birthday. she proudly sported it to her birthday celebration at school. the top i printed at jean's (thank you, jean!). sienna and i made each other sculpey heart necklaces. i still need to string mine. we have plans for a trip to the bead store, but it hasn't happened yet.

the skirt is the real star here. my mom brought this angora/lambswool/cashmere sweater for me to upcycle (thanks, mom!). sienna fell in love with it right away. it is oh so scrumptiously soft! i turned it upside down, and using the waistline of the sweater for the waistline of her skirt, i pinned it where it would fit her just right and then cut as much length and width as i could out of the sweater without having to do any piecing. it worked out just right! then i simply stitched up the sides and needle felted a little heart on the front. voila! easy peasy.

i LOVE repurposed wool sweaters (just in case i haven't said it enough here) and this project was a fave. i will have to make more skirts like this for her. this one is so darn soft that she pets herself most of the day when she is wearing it. ;) the production of this skirt is what led to the impromptu sleeve skirt for her doll, birthday.

this sweet little owl accompanied the dolls that i repaired for her on her birthday. he is from the book *wool pets*. i haven't done any needle felting in this style before but it was a lot of fun to learn some new techniques. i did not enjoy wrapping the wire for the talons so gratefully my little sister took that on when she came to visit. they are adorable, heather!

sienna became an *owl expert* when she was studying appalachia (where we live) in first grade. now they are studying africa and she is becoming an impala expert. she has already asked for a needle felted version. um......!@#@!!! not sure i can pull that one off!

this moment

{this moment} - 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.

more at soulemama. have a lovely friday!

this moment

{this moment} - 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.