{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.

repurposing watercolor paintings

the students paintings are collected in their painting folder throughout the year. they are sent home in bundles once at christmas break and once at the end of the year.

a friend asked me for some ideas to re-purpose some of her children's watercolor paintings that are accumulating. i remembered a post i started writing nearly a year ago on this very topic. i revised it for her and thought i would share it here with you, too (finally!).

i would not always advocate for cutting into your child's art, however we do this sort of painting on a regular basis and have acquired quite the collection of paintings! we always choose a few to keep or to display and then make a pile for crafting with.

here are some ideas to get you started:

* use it as a mat to frame another picture

* signs, signs, signs! as teachers, we use them for all sorts of postings at school. the morning meditation and the daily schedule which are both posted on the cabinets, for one example. honestly, anything is more beautiful when written on a watercolor painting!

* cards. our paintings come home from school twice a year, once being at christmas break. having a fresh supply is handy when it comes time to send out those thank you cards after the holidays.
* hanging stars. the watercolor paper is a little thick for this project, but it still worked and they are beautiful!
* star lanterns. more beautiful photos of these stunning lanterns.

* martinmas lanterns. here's one. here's another.

* another lantern. i haven't tried this yet, but really want to! when you use watercolor paintings they come out looking like this- second picture down.
* balancing butterflies. cut out a butterfly that has exactly symmetrical wings and then tape a penny to the underside of each wing, spaced evenly. the butterfly will then balance on the tip of your finger or any other groovy place your children can think of.
* pinwheels. oh how i love that she uses a real stick! ;)

* coins. my friend, joy, punched circles out of some watercolor paintings with one of those craft punchs. her children loved them and turned them into all sorts of things in their play (think money, play food, game pieces, and on and on).

* you could make your own angel cards.

* silhouette pictures. these are gorgeous and could be made to fit any theme throughout the year.

* flash cards (and greeting cards from scraps). i made sienna *flash cards* with some of ours recently. each card is square with rounded corners (also with a craft punch) and has both the capital and lower case letter on it.

* birthday banner. again, you could adapt this for any celebration. be sure to look at the side bar on her blog as she has lots more ideas for using watercolor paintings.

i would love to hear ways that you have made new art out of your children's watercolor paintings! please share in the comments and feel free to leave a link if you have posted about your creations.

thankful for our angels

specifically jasper's own angels that work overtime keeping this little guy safe. he has given me several real scares in the past month. they say that it comes in threes, so i am hoping that we are all done!

1. at the halloween carnival at sienna's school, my children enjoyed a jump in the bounce house. enjoyed, that is, until the darn thing collapsed right on top of my three year old!! seriously. sienna had just exited but jasper was still in there bouncing away when suddenly it lost power and instantly it deflated right on his head.

this sent me into survival mode. it felt like i was in a war zone or something. i crawled into the huge deflated pile of vinyl that had sandwiched my son inside. as i crawled in, i peeled apart the two layers that were the ceiling and the floor and tried to follow the sounds of his muffled screams. i quickly found him and pulled him to safety. i have never heard him scream in terror like that.

he recovered rather promptly and then my trauma set in. ;) it took me some time to settle after that.

2. a few weeks ago, jasper and i were in a car accident. thankfully, we are both fine. we were traveling on *the big road* (as my kids call it, otherwise known as the expressway), but had just slowed down as we split off to go in another direction when a woman decided she needed to change lanes immediately....right into the side of my car, which happened to be jasper's side.

as i looked up, i see this car scraping down the side of our car, passing right by my sweet child's head, just outside his window. so traumatic for this mama! this trauma took a little longer for us both to recover from.

it is just so frightening to think of the risks we are taking when we get into our car (practically) every day. yes, there are inherent risks in most everything that we do, but this experience brought back for me a serious car accident that i was in as a teenager and am so blessed to have survived. i have also lost a friend and had two friends lose their moms in car accidents, so the dangers are very real and close to heart for me.

3. i am so grateful to our sweet friends for opening their home to us on thanksgiving. we were planning to go to my mom's house but then the starter went out on my car and we are now spending our travel money to have it fixed.

so, last night the children are playing with their friends and everyone is having such fun. then jasper opens the door to the basement and falls right down the steep staircase, landing on the concrete floor below! be still my heart. once again, a short time of mild shock and then he is bounding about again with nothing more than a few minor abrasions to show for it.

i am thankful for the gifts and the many life lessons that our children bring to us. though these moments have been terrifying for us, it has helped to keep me present and grounded. it also helps to put all the other seemingly frivolous worries into perspective.

i'll be holding them both a little tighter today!

handmade holidays.....mostly

i signed on to tonya's handmade holidays long ago and am only just now getting a post up. i will say that it is my intention to gift primarily handmade, mostly by matt or myself, some from other talented people. however, there will be a few other little non-handmade items, namely books. a few beautiful children's books that i have scored at the used book store (more on that later) and some bare books for sienna.
here's what i'm working on at the moment. just finished knitting these slippers. now i need to sew them up and felt them. i am excited about this process! i am planning to make this *princess and the forest* ensemble for sienna and the slippers were the first of the three projects that i tackled. thank you, ginny, for sharing your brilliant work!
this is a sibylle von olfers book (also author of *the story of the root children*) with a simple and sweet story line and of course, her captivating illustrations. we own and love this book already. i like that it portrays a wholesome and innocent princess who communes with nature. sienna is starting to get some disney princess exposure and i am happy to offer a counter image to balance that out. ;)
here is the tail of the flying snake i am making for jasper. this is my first project with dpn's!! i have a friend coming over tomorrow to council me. ;)
this adorable little guy, nils, was made by suzane from down in the meadow. i was lucky enough to spot nils in her swap shop and we did a little trade (her site says she is taking a little break but check back to see the amazing creations she posts for trade for beautiful goodies that you create). i made her one of my sweater fairies (this one) and she sent me nils.

i used my swagbucks to score a copy of *the wonderful adventures of nils* to go along with it (making it absolutely free!) and will gift them both to sienna.

there are other little things in the works, but that is all i have to share for now. what are you busy making?

***see more handmade holidays at plain and joyful living.***

craft school

i have had the great fortune to spend a bit of time at sienna's school crafting with the children there. a few dear friends and i offered a nature craft class after school for four sessions. this was a mixed age class of grades one through three. i don't have pictures of all the projects that we made, but here are a few of them.
first up we made these gorgeous tree weavings as found here. such a beautiful and approachable project for all!
one week we made fairy looms. we laid out many types of interesting foliage for weaving into their y-sticks.
the variety and creativity the children expressed with this project was delightful!
we also dyed silks with plant dyes. something i have little experience with but enjoyed oh so much. from left to right above: black walnut, blueberries, poke berries, onion skins, and turmeric. so gorgeous and the kids were absolutely delighted!
i happened to be in the classroom when ms rachel and the first graders were stringing these peppers (they were green then). the beautiful colors they have changed into blend right in with the autumnal scenery around them. a beautiful sight indeed!i assisted the executive director in a really cool project that she brought to the first graders. we made sorghum brooms from the tassels of the sorghum plants that she grew on her farm. i loved every minute of this project and the brooms are so darn practical, too. they work really well!sienna wanted to demonstrate just how well it performs.
this week, i went to class to make corn husk dolls with them. both of these projects tie in with their appalachia unit (as in the appalachian mountains that we live in). on friday, we will gather in their classroom for our appalachian feast. the students will then share all of their work that is on display. so looking forward to it!

handmade exchange

if you have signed up for the exchange and have not gotten back to me with your info, please do so promptly. i wish to get you all paired up and on your way! thanks for all the interest in the swap!

i go with my little lantern

i have so enjoyed all the beautiful and inspiring posts about martinmas these past few days! it is such a lovely little festival. this was my third and we have made a different style lantern every year. this year we did the paper mache balloon ones. they turned out lovely!jasper chose to carry a beeswax one that we made last year. it is such a joy to witness the children's anticipation of the event. returning to school at night time is a thrill itself. carrying their own little flames inside lanterns they made themselves out into the dark night brings unparalleled joy! a short and sweet little walk, our lanterns lighting the way, our voices filling the night air. if you do not have a group to do this with, you can make a lantern and go for a walk with your own children around your neighborhood. it is such a delightful experience for young and old and a most meaningful way to signify the carrying of our lights in to the darkness of winter.
cody's turnip lantern shining brightly!

thank you to all of you that have shared your own lanterns and walks! it is refreshing to both celebrate common ground and to explore new traditions.