A Deep Wound

Nala, the black one on top, I raised her from a chick. 

Adult Nala- She was the friendliest with the kids.

Tonight, inexplicably, my favorite pet hen died in my arms. She was fine this morning and afternoon. Then as I went to put her up three hours later, I found her laying in her coop very weak. An hour later, after I brought her inside the house and began to treat her, she had passed. 

I usually take death well with my animals. We have had predators get them and it always saddens me but I just accept it as part of life and move on. But I've never lost one and not known why. It just sorta eats me up, especially since Nala was just so so sweet. 

So I had big things to share tonight about our fun weekend and some homeschool developments, but right now I just don't have the heart. I miss my sweet hen. 

Until next time, 

Nicole 

A New *No Stitch* Heart Gnome Tutorial

As you all know, I love gnomes. My daughter is responsible for this love and in an effort to make her gnome play things- since you can't really find gnomes in the store- I set about learning how to make my own gnomes. 


About a year and a half ago, I stumbled upon Wee Folk Art's peg gnome tutorial. Since then I have made my own wee folk gnomes, as well as modified them to make my own versions. It seems to me once you work with two artistic mediums enough, in this case peg people and felt, the possibilities are limitless. 


When talking with my friends about my gnome crafting, a lot of them remark, "well what about the blanket stitching and embroidery... all that for one little gnome?" It is true, doing all the stitching does take more time and I do like the look, but it isn't for everyone for sure. I am all about practicality and empowering anyone to craft. If the stitches are a deterrent for you then ditch them! This makes crafting peg gnome even easier for kids as well! 


I will show you how to avoid stitching all together, except for sewing the cloak closed and sewing the hat together. Both of these are essential and easy. They're just joining stitches. If you're especially great with fabric glue then I bet you can figure out a way to avoid this as well, but alas I am not and my gnomes come out looking to gummy. 

Ok, Let's do this!! 

Step One: Go to Wee Folk Art's Blog and download their 'Waldorf peg gnome pattern' and directions. It is free. 

Step Two: Cut out all the pieces for your gnomes as directed. For a girl heart gnome cut a pink hat and body piece and a red cloak and small heart. For a boy heart gnome, cut a blue hat and body with a purple cape and heart. 

Step Three: Instead of stitching all the edges of the hats and cloaks, just don't! 

Step Four: Fabric glue the gnome body piece on. Then, once dry, glue the heart on the middle of the body. 

Step Five: Thread a needle with either blue (boy) or pink (girl) embroidery thread. Drape the cloak around the gnome's shoulders and gather stitch the cloak closed around the gnome's neck. Then if desired, to prevent the cloak from shifting, glue the back of the cloak to the gnome's body. 

Step Six: Take the gnome hat piece and turn it inside out. Stitch the open sides shut with a simple running stitch. Then turn the hat inside out. Stuff the hat with wool. 

Step Seven: Take a copious amount of fabric glue and place it inside the hat. Place the hat on your gnome's head. The gnome should have a large rim on his hat. Gently pucker the edge of the hat down onto the gnome forehead using the glue seeping out from under the hat. If you're not sure what this looks like then see the hats above. 

Then ta-ad, you should be done! Mine took me under 10 minutes per gnome. They are just as cute and as fun for the kids. Enjoy, and I hope you craft many of these gnomies too for your little ones. 

Also don't forget my current giveaway for Sarah Silks. You still have until the 23rd to enter and win a playsilk or silk streamer! 

Always, Nicole 

Sharing the Love: Our First Giveaway to Sarah's Silks

Comments are closed and winner has been chosen by the all powerful Random Number Generator. Thank you to all who entered and all the new followers we have! 

I recently won an extremely generous and lovely giveaway from my favorite silk toy company: Sarah's Silks.  Since the beginning of our Waldorf journey, about a year and a half ago, Sarah's Silks has been a staple in educating us about the importance of free play with open-ended natural toys through their blog , as well as providing my family with fair-trade high quality silk toys. 

After dyeing some of our own play silks at home, we took the plunge and bought our first silk toy, a rainbow streamer from them. The amount of play this one toys has participated in during the past 18 months astonishes me. It has been a fairy magic wand, a tightrope for gnomes, a party banner, a doctor's boo-boo healer, a fishing pole, and pony rein... and the list goes on. 

Since then we've added on a few more streamers, magical pet wands, mini-playsilks, large playsilks, silks capes, and costumes from Sarah's. I continue to be amazed by their quality as well as my kids' love something that seems so simple, yet that is so beautiful and full of possibilities for them. 

So now on to the giveaway. I'd like to share the love a bit too, since as my friend Emily pointed out, I have been winning a lot of giveaways recently!!

Therefore, I am giving one Playsilk (color of your choice) or one Silk Streamer (color or your choice) to the winner. 

Shipping is included and I will ship internationally. 

How to Enter: 

1. Go to Sarah's shop and then leave a comment on my blog letting me know what kind of playsilk or streamer you will want to have if you win. 

For extra entries (you must comment each time you do one of these): 

1. Follow my blog and leave a comment letting me you have (if you already follow me, then just let me know as well in a new comment) .

2. Share this giveaway on Facebook

3. Share this giveaway on Twitter

4. Mention this giveaway somewhere on your own blog

I will pick a winner using the random number generator next Thursday morning here in this post! Make sure you check back so we can get in touch! 

Good luck and don't forget to share the love with those around you :) 

http://sarahssilks.com/

Real Snow and a little Valentines

A view of our school room, Seasonal tree, and the gifts the kid's received today.  

Finally it seems winter is here... or was at least! We had a lovely little dusting this past Saturday (the same day as my son's 2nd birthday party).  Altogether that makes for a great day. Especially since, two years ago, it snowed on the day he was born too. What sweet memories that snow brought back to me. Plus we got to play in the snow before it melted away on Sunday. It was bliss for my kids! 

I will post later on more about Jonas' actual party and why we choose to do parties. When each birthday and holiday pops up I find myself reflecting of our Waldorf journey a bit more than usual, mainly due to the gifts and materialism issue. This time around all of that went well and I'd eventually like to share about that. Thank you for your wishes also. Jonas felt quite loved in blogland! 

Today was also Valentines day here for us. I find it very funny that my daughter and my son (and this baby) are all/will be born quite close to big holiday (Christmas, Valentines, and possibly Easter respectively).- but I digress. Our little family tradition is giving some small presents right when the kids wake up. They always have been a book and little toy. This year both kids got a book and a silk toy. Then we go somewhere fun together and make a special dinner. Crafts are usually involved, but today we did not craft any since we will be having a nice big co-op Valentine's day party later this week. I also made gnomes for all the kids, so I held off on giving my kids their gnomes until then. I also plan of wet felting hearts with the kids that day- oh I am just so excited! I also am excited about exploring with them who Saint Valentine really was as well as a better idea of what this extremely commercial holiday is truly about. 

Today was overall a pretty good day. My son was pretty fussy, much more than usual, so just my daughter and I went out at lunch time to a frozen yogurt place. While Jonas and Daddy played outside and hunted for worms to put in our compost. 

DD and I had a sweet Mommy-Daughter time together. She, in her 4 year old wisdom, opened up to me about how her friend just got her ears pierced and she liked it. I was really happy with how the conversation went, I asked lots of questions and listened a lot. Then, by herself, Deirdre concluded that she doesn't need her ears pierced yet and that she wants to talk about it again when she is 10. I thought that was a great idea. 

So I hope you all had a sweet and relaxing Valentine's day with your little sweeties! I can't wait to see all the fun crafting we all will be up to this week! 

Always, Nicole 

{this moment}... and a happy birthday to my son

Minutes old

 Dear Sweet Emil Jonas, 

Two years ago you came into this world with your eyes wide open. What a blessing you were and still are to this day. You helped me become a better stronger mother to not only you, but also to your older sister too. You showed me just how great my capacity for love was and how a mother's love really knows no bounds. 

All my worry about how I could love another child as much as I loved my first vanished when I held you in my arms. Now as we all get ready to welcome another new baby into our family, I have no fears or worries because of what you have taught me. 

Oh sweet Jonas, we are just so so thankful to have you!! You brighten all of our lives. And boy are you so much fun, so brave, yet so tender. I am very excited to see where you go in this life.  It is a true privilege to be your mother. 

Love you to the moon and back, 

Mama

6 months- and his first non-breast-milk food

One Year Old at his first birthday party

a little over 18 months old

Outdoor Co-Op

This past Friday we had our co-op outdoors at a local park. I really love this park and we frequent it often. It is not ridiculously crowded and in addition to having some very kid friendly trails, they also have a great outdoor classroom, playground, and nature center. You can even camp at the park! 

During the winter it becomes pretty obvious to me that during the other seasons of the year, we are outdoors a lot. Rain or shine, we always seemed to make it outside for a sizable portion of the day, everyday. This winter however, whether from the random temperature changes or the plethora of cold rainy days (ones that are just so yucky that my kids don't want to go out)- we have been house bound a bit more than I like. 

I notice it more mainly because of our daily rhythm. When we cut out outdoor time, for whatever reason, we move through our days slower. We continue to do the activities we usually do daily, school work and free play, but then there is an hour or so leftover when there used to be none. I don't want that time to be filled up with TV, so I have had to get creative (board games, scavenger hunts, play dough play ground) but I also want to get back outside. 

I love the outdoors, I always have. I was forced to be outside as a child (albeit a little too much- but that is a whole other issue), so I grew to love it. Being outside in my yard was when I felt whole. I could breathe and be myself there- away from the chaos indoors. I was blessed enough to live close to the bay and ocean as a young child, so I am quite attached to the water. So for me being indoors too much, is not good for the soul. 

So I resolve to do more outdoor co-op away from the house, as to not be tempted to go inside. We spent probably 2 1/2 hours totally outside. We played, we hiked, we discovered, we learned, and we picnicked! My kids also came home with a pretty sweet nature collection (which is proudly on display on our seasonal nature table) and they took a great nap. Plus, I felt refreshed. 

Win-win!

Always, Nicole 

Camus

Winter

In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. 
-Albert Camus

Summer

This quote today popped up out of an old college notebook I was thumbing through today, and it has really stuck with me. I don't quite know what it is about them, but there are power behind these words. (And there are few words apart from the scriptures that I find powerful in my life). I guess I just really needed to read this today. 

I am an invincible summer. 

Always, 

Nicole