navratri celebration

 :: we celebrate the beginning of autumn with new friends. seeking blessings for new endeavors and enjoying traditional music and dance.

(notice my little one wearing a playsilk. always a reason for a playsilk :) )

summer solstice wet felted doily

:: we made our doily using the wet felting process. here are some instructions on making it, from the other day. as the piece became firm, we were able to add some details to it. we added details to each side individually, using a small amount of fairy sprinkles:) and gently rolled in the beginning. adding detail to each side gives you two different looks and our doily could even be hung on a wall or used on our nature table. smaller ones would be great for coasters. wet felting is pretty fun and i really like the end result.i am still getting the hang of it and used to the process. 


have you tried wet felting? if so, what have you made? i'd like to try something new

moments from our summer solstice

:: magical floating flowers from all year round and a silk streamer i made for my little one. i also made up a little sun decoration the same way i did for rhythm of the home. our paper flowers flattened as soon as we placed them into the water, as i ventured off the directions. (i thought the beeswax would allow them to keep their cupped shape, but they did not) they were lovely for breakfast.

:: a fairy basket filled with treasures i found around the house.

:: the little guy discovering some rainbows from our sun catcher just before he went down for his nap. my daughter was so happy celebrating and asked about a treasure hunt. how could i say no. so, i quickly came up with a handful of clues, which took her on an adventure about the house and the yard. during the treasure hunt we enjoyed some orange tea, searched our gardens for newly blooming flowers and read a seasonal book out on our swing. the last clue brought her to a basket of golden hued roving for a wet felting project ~ a sun doily.

:: we started by laying out short pieces of wool roving to create a circular shape on bubble wrap. the pieces were fluffed apart and put down in thin layers, alternating the direction of the wool. to create depth used a bunch of different colors in the same colorway. we used yellow, golden yellow, pale yellow, tangerine, and pumpkin. we then we added some fairy sprinkles of soapy, warm water before we tightly rolled up the wrap.

 ::it was gently rolled on the ground then unrolled to add more fairy sprinkles. then we wrapped up the bubble wrap in the opposite direction and repeated the process a bunch of times. i completed the last few rolls with piping hot, soapy water which really felted up the edge.

 :: zesting and juicing some oranges for our tea and muffins

my little one also loved this verse from a little verse from a child's seasonal treasury.

sunshine fairies by betty jones

we are the sunshine fairies

and with our sparks of light

we shimmer and glimmer in the air

hugging flower with colors bright

hope you having a beautiful solstice. we have a few more pictures of our sun doilie that i'll show you later. please stop by wonderment (my new community space) to share stories and pictures about your summer solstice celebration.

happy solstice

:: happy summer solstice.

ideas for planning your summer solstice

please join me over at wonderment to discuss and share ideas in planning your summer solstice celebration. 

wonderment is a space that i created for capturing childhood moments of magic and joy. i hope that we could share and exchange ideas, stories, inspirations and moments of wonderment that bring us to look at the world in a different way ~ through the eyes of our children.

connect. share. inspire moments of magic and joy. visit wonderment

anniversary love

:: my husband and i celebrated our anniversary of 8 years. this year has been the most challenging by far, deep intense feelings that don't always bring out the best in us, but none the less bring us closer together in the end. we had served chocolate covered strawberries at our wedding and it's always nice to enjoy them this time of year.

happy mother's day

every day is a gift in life to experience their loveliness. happy mother's day to all the mamas!

(trying to capture a ppic with my children still)

cinco de mayo

:: happy cinco de mayo todos

may day blossoms

:: little blossoms grace our seasonal nature table. we gathered blossoms in the garden and around the yard and put them in small little bud vases and spread their goodness around the house. what flowers are you enjoying in your garden?

happy may day everyone

blissful simplicity

 :: my children are very blessed. blessed with people who love them dearly. blessed with family and friends to share in their birthday celebrations. blessed with family, who would do anything for my children and would give my children the world. and children just do not need a world of material goods, but it always nice to have a few special gifts for a birthday celebration. gifts that are chosen with much thought and consideration. gifts that are beautifully made and well crafted. gifts that have meaning and purpose. and sometimes myself, i am left wondering if what i have to give is enough. 

many questions run through my head. should i make something more? should i purchase something else?  will there be enough to fill up the easter basket? 

after a wonderful birthday celebration, sweet memories shared and a bounty of new gifts, we shared the remainder of the evening building fairy houses, playing with the fairy trinkets from the treasure hunt, drawing some pictures with on her new drawing pad and reading. we read a story from her new grimm's fairy tales book and a second-hand copy of Miss Rumphius, which is a wonderful story with a message about doing something to make the world more beautiful.

and today, my daughter had been watching out for butterflies in the garden, listening to the little chirps from our bird house, looking at the ants in the sidewalk cracks, picking violets and playing with her wooden warbler water whistle. she is blissfully swimming in her pool, searching for some of her new birthday treasures underwater: a piece of granite, a foreign coin, a rose quartz point and a bracelet made from new beads her brother (and i) picked out for her. she is eager to hang her new wind chime and plant her sunflower seeds later on today and is excited about making more "fairy wands", which are the fruit skewers we made for her birthday party. 

and it is a reminder to me that children do not need much. there have been a few gifts that have been played with, but mostly she is fully content engaging in the wonder and beauty of nature.

a very fairy birthday

:: to my sweet little baby girl, who is not so little anymore. the time has gone by so fast and now you are 6 years old. words can not explain how your love and beautiful soul has brought boundless joy into my life. you teach me more everyday about life. i love you so.

:: birthday preparations coming together. some projects i was able to finish and others i did not. i mistakenly did not have a single piece of wool felt long enough to back the crown, so that will sadly be a belated birthday present. i am bummed about her crown but i did made a new decoration for our birthday ring. i have a special song that i sing to my little butterfly, which is why i made her a little butterfly. we also made some delicious wands from chocolate covered pretzels and skewers of fruit. 

 :: my little one has really enjoyed our valentine's day scavenger hunts for the past few years, so i made up a little scavenger hunt for her birthday party. this time, with a fairy theme. i had collected pine cones, acorn caps, dried echinacea from the garden and i added some geode slices, treasure eggs, little star sequins, little brooms and miniature wooden rolling pins & clothespins. we also had some fairy toad stools and i made up some tiny seeds packets out of waxed paper, in which i enclosed sunflower, snap pea and pumpkin seeds. 

the children ran around with their fairy ribbon wands looking for the fairy treasures. they were pointing out all sorts of things around our yard that the fairies could use and it was great seeing them take a closure look into nature. they all had fun breaking open their treasure eggs, drawing and running around the yard barefoot. 

i overhead my friends saying amongst themselves that our party was refreshing and that parties for children are so big nowadays... and i feel some sort of acceptance from our friends to some extent. a lot of times i really do shy away from any discussions as to why i do what i do with my little ones because it is just beyond their reality. but that's a whole other blog entry.

:: my daughter loved the echinacea wands so much. (the carved stick was a gift from one of my daughter's friends. the friend's grandfather did a little carving on the stick and he decided to give it to my daughter for her birthday. so sweet) 

:: and i think these feet speak for themselves. 

birthday song   anonymous
found in a child's seasonal treasury

In heaven shines a golden star
an angel led me from a far.
From heaven high unto the earth 
and brought me to my house of birth.

Oh welcome welcome lovely day
With sunshine bright and flowers gay.
With painted birds that sing their song 
and make me kind and good and strong.

wip

:: we have a birthday coming up - lucky number 6. 
 

happy earth day

 

  

we celebrate earth day exploring local history and nature. connecticut had 7,000 native americans prior to the eurpoeans coming over. we also discovered that  the mystery insect was a caddis fly. the naturalist knew exactly what we had found the other day. and during the pond discovery, we ended up netting the same caddis fly. it was neat to be able to share that with all the other families. 

happy earth day