While chopping fennel for tonight's soup, I remembered that I wanted to say...

...Happy Valentine's Day!

Christmas Gift Idea--Fairy Babies

This is another one from last year. Anastasia made (with a bit of help from me) these Christmas Fairy Babies for her aunts and uncles last year.

You probably can't see that we included a gold string, so they could be used as ornaments if that was the wish of the recipient. J split walnut shells in half along the seam (please do not use a butter knife for this task... it just may slip, slice your finger rather painfully, and require the use of many bandaids as well as assuring your concerned child that you will eventually be okay). We sanded the edges of those that needed a little smoothing. We placed the gold string in the shell with a dab of tacky glue, then added some fluffed up (that's a technical term) wool yarn to be the baby's bed. As that is drying, you can make your baby.

Take a bit of pipe cleaner and wrap it all but a tiny bit with colored (or not) wool roving. This is one of the tasks that your young child can feel successful with completing. Glue a wooden bead on the unwrapped bit--this will be the baby's head. Glue a small acorn to the head to be the baby's hat (See! It's a good thing I told you about this now. You still have plenty of time to go out and collect acorn caps!). I clipped apart silk flowers to use as the baby's wings and we glued them on to the baby's back.

After everything is dry, snuggle the baby in her shell bed. We did not glue the babies in, in case the recipient wanted to take it out and hold it--they are so cute, it's hard not to hold them!

Enjoy this one. Another present done!

Christmas Gift Idea--Candle Wrap

It's beginning to look a lot like...Christmas! I know Halloween just happened, but this is what the stores would like you to believe, right? Well, they have a point. It wouldn't hurt to start thinking about it and get a few things tucked away, so you are not nutso in a month. I'll give you a couple of ideas to get you started. Here is a candle that Anastasia wrapped as her gift for her grandparents last year. She also made smaller versions for her teachers.

You can get the glass candles for very little money at a number of different stores (hint: shop the day after Christmas and stock up for gifts for next year!). Have your little one choose a piece of scrapbook paper. Measure and cut it to fit the candle. Ask your little one to color (making sure to include her name somewhere, if she is able) the white side of the paper. Use tacky glue to glue the ends of the paper to the candle. These candles were a little too large for the paper to wrap all the way around, which is why there is a strip of ribbon covering that blank spot. Let it dry.

You have a gift finished and ready to give. Good for you!

Pillowcase Dress and Matching Capris

I made another pillowcase dress for Ana to wear to our school's May Day Festival (yes, I am really late in writing this post). It had been rather chilly, and the pillowcase was white, so I wanted to make something to wear underneath the dress. She had some jeans that still fit really well in the waist, but were making her sport that highwaters look that we weren't really going for... So, I cut a few inches off the bottom of the legs and added a ruffle, using the same fabric I used to make the bias tape for the pillowcase dress. This will save me the trouble of buying any capris for her this summer, as there are many more jeans that have holes in the knees and will receive this same treatment (stay tuned!). Here is the sweet little outfit she wore to the May Day Festival: