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!!

from the infirmary

we began last week with my suffering with severe allergy attacks which basically had me out of commission. i had to leave school one day and one night sienna saved the day and pulled together dinner and got herself and her brother ready for bed because mom was just to sick to function.

just as i was coming around on wednesday, jasper came down quite suddenly with a nasty virus that has wiped out half of our class. this virus is nasty and comes with a high fever and an awful cough. jasper had a fever of 104 for 5 consecutive days!

by friday night his dreadful virus had developed into pneumonia. he was such a sick little boy. (the above photo was taken during the first days of the virus before pneumonia hit.) his pediatrician was kind enough to come into the office on saturday to see him. within hours of leaving his office, sienna was feeling dreadful herself with a head cold!
it had been rainy and overcast here for the past two weeks (hence mom's severe allergy issues). wouldn't you know the sun came out and the temps climbed to the high 70s when we were all feeling too poorly to go out and enjoy it! a similar fate befell us last spring when they had chicken pox back to back. i remember the forsythia's were in bloom then, too.so we had snippets of sun time on the back porch. smoothies loaded with fruits and veggies, mom's sun hats, and their rocking chairs made for a lovely little stint in the great outdoors.
he actually smiled!! i couldn't resist breaking the camera out when these dappled bits of sunshine lit up his face. to my surprise he perked up a bit and became playful with the camera. this is the first time i had seen this sweet smile in five days. you can see how sick he is but his glow is starting to peek through again. he has such a bright spirit that it is such a shock to see him feeling so forlorn for so long.for five days i was by his side. he needed me to wipe his nose every five seconds, hold the water cup to his mouth, feed him the bits of food he would eat, carry him to the bathroom and hold him up while in there, and carry him back and forth from the bed to the couch. on top of that, there was the endless battle with his cough. trying different techniques and remedies again and again trying to get him some relief, especially through the night. we did not sleep for more than a wee bit here and there for several nights.

so yesterday when they were finally both at rest (both with fevers), this mama should have collapsed into sleep herself but instead i tiptoed outside to soak in a little more sun. that's when i spotted the violets. i guess they have been out for several days (according to sienna) but this weary momma had no idea of such! so i grabbed this cute little teacup i thrifted with just this very thing in mind and ran out to the yard. i dug up this sweet little violet and planted it with some moss and brought it inside to greet them when they woke.
sienna spent a couple of stretches out there doing some sewing. can't show you what she's working on here just yet though!
when she went out in the earlier part of the day, it was all sunhats and being mindful of heat exhaustion. after her nap, our porch was shaded so she bundled up with her fairy quilt and finished her stitching. she relearned the back stitch and was very proud of her work, indeed!

today we woke up to a fever free household!!! we actually slept for a four hour stretch last night. i showered today. jasper is walking and feeding himself again. they played together! sienna will return to school tomorrow. jasper will continue to cycle a bit as he recovers. he will have some more feverish times and we will be very mindful of taking things slow. i have read that the recovery time for pneumonia can be long and that the cough can take up two months to disappear!

here's to our increasingly good health,
rae

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