may giveaway day!

happy may greetings everyone!

***for my regular readers and old and new friends, i know it has been a while since i have been present in this space.....more on that later. ***

i have once again been so blessed to have won many generous giveaways myself this year. i have been wanting to host another giveaway of my own and when i saw that sew, mama, sew's may giveaway day was approaching, i jumped on board! in case you don't know, there are hundreds of incredible blogs participating giving away handmade goodness and supplies!!
i am giving away this beeswax nest. i made it using the same technique as the larger beeswax lanterns. it is filled with spanish moss and wee wet felted eggs.
in addition, i am gifting this mini edition of *the story of the root children*. it is identical to the larger version but a smaller, handy size for traveling perhaps.
to enter, just leave a comment here. i will ship internationally.

thanks for visiting, now go find some more great blogs and giveaways by visiting the master lists (there are 3 of them) of participants at sew, mama, sew! have fun!

****comments are now closed. thanks for playing along!****

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 blissful friday!

eggs of easter

do you know why easter falls on the day that it does? it is the first sunday after the full moon following the northern hemisphere's vernal equinox. true story.
this is our fave of the silk dyed eggs this year. we have done this the last few years with my mom, bakka. no bakka visit this easter but matt came over this morning and shared this tradition with us.

we have used only silk ties in the past. this one was a silk shirt (from my mom, she collects silk thrift finds for this project). the shirt had black floral designs on a red background. it bled into the dye water and onto the other eggs a bit but it was so very vibrant and stunning in it's transfer.we had a quite day with our egg dying, a couple of hunts, and a dinner cooked on the grill.
i had a number of felted eggs in various stages of progress and got them all to completion over the last few days. i can't believe we have a dozen and a half felted eggs now (with one knit egg one in there from the lovely jessi!)! i love having this alternative to the plastic eggs. we still easily fill these with a single piece of candy or a little treasure. not only do we avoid the plastic but they bring a playful and sensory rich element into our egg play.
it's so fun to see their little faces peeking out at you from their hiding places!
only half a dozen of them are monsters and it is fun to come across one of their little personalities. it has been comical to watch the children's interaction with each of them. i have never seen this kind of magic with plastic eggs.
jasper really likes digging in for the treasure! he plunges his little fingers right into the wooly cave and feels about.i enjoy going to the health food store and getting a handful of candy to supplement their eggs with. it is nice to say *yes* to sweets for a day, knowing that i know what is in those treats...even if they are still loaded with sugar. jasper eats his as he goes. sienna collects all hers and puts them away. she rations out one for each of them each day as long as it lasts. ;) so nice that she shares with him despite the fact that he scarfed his own as fast as his fingers could dig them out of those wooly caves!
the four new members of our egg monster family. i made many monsters last year but only two stayed with us. these four sprang to life this year. two of them the children had seen already but two of them they discovered during the hunt.
this guy has a little bit more of a sculpted face than i have done before.
the plastic egg inside this one popped open during the felting process creating an odd shape. (i had it taped shut but the tape came undone. i use my eggs a lot and should probably retape some of them.) i set to it with my felting needle and turned it into this little box!
the first time it was filled with two chocolate coins. even though there was only one box to discover, it held a coin for each child. they shared without hesitation and i smiled.
***disclaimer: many other irritating, disappointing sibling interactions occurred throughout our normal day. this is the one i choose to remember and record today. ;)
one of the only things in their easter baskets that i personally made was this little johnny jump-up fairy for sienna. she saw me making a similar one for a swap recently and asked for one of her own.
the fairy was woodburned and painted with watercolor pencils. she has a sparkly acorn hat. i think she may get a petal cape, too. her cradle was one of my eggs that i knew sienna would love given all those lovely shades of blue.
the walnut candles from our earth day hunt were set afloat giving this tea cup yet another life.
our easter centerpiece.

beeswax egg candle tutorial!

today i will share with you how to make this sweet smelling egg candle!
you will need:
eggs that have been blown out (tutorial at magic onions)
beeswax
wick (i used braided for 2-3" candles)
a long needle or a piece of thin, bendable wire
a small bit of clay
scissors
*melt your beeswax in a bain marie. this is what my set up looks like. i use an aluminum percolator that i found at the thrift shop for $1. the pan is from the thrift store, too. i use beeswax often and these two items live in a box of my beeswax supplies.
*thread your wick through your blown out eggshell. i used a needle to get it through the holes. you could also use a piece of thin, folded wire to thread it through. you want a bit of wick sticking out both ends.
*on the small end of your egg, cover the hole and the wick with clay. keeping your clay very moist will make this step much easier. you can use a little water to smooth out the edges and to ensure you have a good seal.
*place egg in carton with clay side down. i doubled my cartons while working to help soak up any wax spills.
*once your wax is melted, pour it into your egg.
*beeswax shrinks as it cools so you will need to top it off. you could tie your wick around a toothpick or something to hold it in place. i just adjusted mine as the wax began to harden and it worked out fine.
*allow your egg to cool for a considerable time. we left the house to run some errands while ours cooled. then, gently crack it open and begin to peel your shell away. note: if you smash your egg on the counter to break the shell, you will damage the beeswax inside!
most of the wax had shrunk and separated nicely from the shell making the task of peeling rather painless. we did have this problem spot where the shell stuck to the wax. we just kept picking away at it until we removed all of the shell. we were then able to wash off the white residue with soap and water.
*trim your wicks and find a stand for your bee-utiful egg!
notes and variations:

*you can use a blow dryer to warm your egg up and then smooth out any surface scratches or smudges.

*if you do not have a stand, you could make a flat bottom for your egg to sit on by touching the wide end of your egg to a warm pot on the stove. this will melt the wax down just a bit and give you a nice flat surface.

*the wooden stand above was bought at the craft store in the unfinished wood section.

*peel only half of the shell off for a fun, just cracked looked!

*decorate your finished egg with decorating or modeling beeswax.

have fun!!

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.