Nature Dyed Easter Eggs

It's a little late to be posting pics and how-to's for dyeing Easter eggs with natural ingredients, I know. But I'm a little late for everything so really, this is just how it is. You could use this technique for dyeing all sorts of other things like silks, wool, food, etc. :)

This cup has water, a tablespoon of vinegar and a tablespoon of turmeric in it that has been boiled for a few minutes. I should have let it boil longer until the turmeric dissolved but we were in a hurry. And it washed off so not a big deal!

 This dye was made using the same method above but instead of powdered turmeric, I used a handful of frozen blackberries. Just strain before using.

 This cup of dye was made with beet root powder. You could use cut up beet pieces but I happened to have some beet root powder so I used that!

 Sophie liked colouring on her egg before putting it in the dye bath!

And here's the finished Easter eggs!

I enjoy using natural materials to dye our eggs with over the chemical filled dyes you can get at the grocery store and I felt better about my kids eating the eggs afterwards. But you don't get the instant satisfaction that you get with the store bought stuff... these sat in the fridge overnight to get this colour. It probably didn't need quite that long (an hour or two would have worked) but I kinda forgot about them. :)

Toddler Watercolour Art Project

Parker and I spent part of our rainy afternoon yesterday creating a hanging piece of art. A few nights ago I was reading Rhythm of the Home and came across a neat art idea.

So I mixed up some watercolours and prepped a painting space for him and away we went! He had a hard time with the scotch tape (had I used masking or painter's tape as suggested it would have been fine) so I laid the tape down. The rest was all him:

Christmas Memories

 Looking back through my camera I'm realising there wasn't very many photos taken during Christmas. I got some when we went Christmas Tree hunting at Go-Go's and Christmas morning and that's it. The rest of the time I was too busy spending it with my family and enjoying myself to take photos. Sorry for the awful layout... I'm doing this while updating my iPhone which just makes both of these jobs annoying! ha!

The kids and I dragging our tree to the van after Dave cut it down.

Dave and Sophie topping the tree.



                                                                                            Opening his new stocking that his great aunt made for him.





Sophie asleep during most of the gift opening





Ally opening her stocking



Happy Dave.





Parker loves his new car ramp!

Ally wearing a mustache I made for her with Kate, the unicorned woman. Hmmm....

Oh yes, this baby was gifted to me for Christmas. :)

I needle felted Dave a barberpole ornament.

 

I felted each of the kid's a ball: the little ones had their names felted on it and Ally had the Nightmare Before Christmas guy on hers. I think it turned out alright, his eyes are a bit wonky but meh...

Make-up remover pads I made up for the women's gifts.

My first attempt at making a felt toy. This horse is for our friends' little guy.

Sophie approves of the tree!

I quickly sewed up a gift bag for a friend's gift. I think I'll make these for all gift giving now.



Crafting Fun!

I've been a crafting mad woman lately and I love it! Being creative is my therapy, creating something instantly lifts my spirits. And as you can tell from my last post, I've been needing my spirits lifted lately. :)
After the holidays, I"m going to either open up my etsy shop again (http://www.mamakims.etsy.com/) or start up a new one (probably a new one, name suggestions anyone?). I think my focus will be on needle felting and other natural/ Waldorf creations. I have a few ideas on some needle felted figurines with the theme of natural mother (breastfeeding, baby wearing, etc). So excited... now here's hoping that I'll actually find time to get around to doing it!

I can't share all that I've been working on as a majority of my craftiness is for Christmas gifts but here's some of what I've been doing:

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well, not really but I did start making ornaments this past week! Parker is on the wait list for speech therapy (which is ridiculously long btw!) and while he's waiting, we joined a playgroup geared towards children on the wait list for speech. There's a lot of focus on language, signing, singing, turn taking, etc. Most of this we do anyways and I didn't think we'd go to more than a few classes but Parker really enjoys it. He really enjoys routine and loves anything repetitive which this group is all about. It's the same thing every week: same songs, same style of snack, same toys, same children, same routine, etc. It really works for him and he absolutely thrives in it! Plus it's really nice to get some one on one time with just him and I. :)

Tomorrow is the last class though and I know Parker's going to be sad for a little while. He always asks to go to "school" so I might find another music type class for us to do together during the week.

As a thank you to the wonderful playgroup leaders, Parker and I made a Christmas ornament for them. I've been into needle felting lately after buying a kit from the Sunrise Waldorf School winter festival. I find it to be so relaxing and love that I can finish something in one sitting. I lack the attention span for long term crafting projects: knitting is the worst for me!

To make these fabulous ornaments simply trace around a cookie cutter shape (I used a tree) onto pure wool felt and cut out (do this twice). On the front of one of the cutouts, needle felt on your design. On the back of the second piece, I needle felted on the year. You can either blanket stitch with embroidery thread or machine stitch along the edges like I did, making sure to stitch in a looped piece of ribbon to hang it by. Stuff the inside will wool batting (Parker loved this part) and stitch it closed. That's it!

(sorry the picture isn't so clear... I can't find my camera so I just used my iPhone)

Operation: Organize the Cupboard!

Organization has never been my thing. I'm full of ideas and bursting with creativity but cleaning up afterwards: meh! But I get really frustrated when I can't find what I'm looking for or if I forget a project I was working on because it was buried under piles and piles of crap.

                                                                            See:

So my goal is to have this crafting/misc. cupboard and computer area cleaned and organized. By the end of Saturday. Which is only two days away. And I haven't even started yet. Yikes!

At least Sophie is excited about the project!

 

Then maybe I'll have the motivation to finish the million of projects we've been working on so I can share them all with you!

Waxed Autumn Leaves

I've always loved Autumn and the colourful leaves have always been my favourite part. I've read about and seen photos of waxed leaves before and have always wanted to make some of my own.

Well, today I finally did! I already had the beeswax on hand that I bought from Freidrich's and I definitely had a yardful of fallen leaves so Ally and I browsed online on how to do it and we went for it!

It was fun, super easy to do and they smell so yummy!

We gathered our leaves

 We melted our beeswax.

 After pouring the melted beeswax into a plastic lined bowl, we dipped a leaf to coat both sides.

Let the excess wax drip off and let dry on wax paper.

 Once they were dry, I hung them from floss.

 And hung them on the windows!



Sophie's Waldorf Doll

I've decided to try my hand at making Sophie a Waldorf doll for Christmas. I've wanted to make one for a while but was intimidated by the process, it looks so hard! But I went ahead and ordered some basic supplies from Maple Rose, a natural toy and supply shop in Nelson. This shop is great, the supplies arrived within 3 days which is flippin' amazing, imo!

There's tons of tutorials out there on how to make waldorf dolls, some have better written tutorial, some have better photos. For me, I used a combination of several online tutorials.

So far, I've been working on her head. Here's some pics, the first is a front view of her face, the second a side view. I still need to make a nose and then cover the head in doll skin before moving on to the body.

Menu Board

I came across this tutorial on Little Birdie Secrets and I had to make one! Up until now I've been using a old dry erase board from the dollar store that was pretty stained and ugly.

But not anymore....

All you need is a picture frame (I used 8x10), a sheet of scrapbook paper in your favourite design, sticky letters if you have atrocious writing like me, a dry erase marker and some heavy duty magnet tape. I bought all my supplies at the dollar store and spent less than $5!

Waldorf Stars

I've been loving waldorf stars for a few years now but this is the first year I have attempted to make a few for my own windows.

Waldorf stars bring in a beautiful coloured light into your home when placed in a sunny window. Very welcome in the otherwise dullness of winter.

Here's a simple tutorial on how to make an 8 point star:

You will need:

8 sheets of coloured kite paper (I bought mine from Hestia)

a paring knife

glue

a toothpick

1) Lay your square of kite paper on a white sheet of paper or other light surface. This makes it easier to see your fold lines.

2) Fold in half lengthwise and using your paring knife, cut the paper in two.

3) Fold along the  length of the centre and open to leave a crease downt the middle.

4) Fold the corners in to the centre.

5) Repeat for both ends.

6) One one end, fold in the corners to make a long point.

7) Repeat until you have all 8 pieces completed. :)

8) Using a toothpick (or a glue stick) dab a tiny bit of glue as I've shown.

9) Lay another folded piece onto the glued piece, being careful to line up the edge of the top piece with the middle crease of the bottom piece. Also, make sure the points meet at the bottom.

10) Repeat until all folded pieces are used. When you get to the last piece, glue it down as usual but lift up the piece next and tuck under the last piece.

11) Voila! I like to stick it in a book for a few hours to help it lay flat.

12) To stick it in the window, I add a teeny bit of glue to the centre and a few of the points.

I have ordered this book and am excited to learn how to make more complex stars!