Christmas Eve

Its been a busy week for us!  Cooking, sewing, giving, crafting, and lots of celebrating.  Merry Christmas!

this moment ::

Inspired by Soulemama's {This Moment}

{this moment} - a friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from my week. I want to pause and savor this moment.

This Week in five ::

This week there has been lots of ::

:: Crafting ::

:: Wintering ::

:: Constructing ::

:: Playing ::

:: Celebrating ::

*** Hope your week has been filled with lots and lots of goodness!! ***

this moment ::

Inspired by Soulemama's {This Moment}

{this moment} - a friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from my week. I want to pause and savor this moment!

She totally energizes me!

Monday, a week ago, Lena came home from school talking about her journal writing she had that day. She had written "I want to make the Earth a better place." So I seized the opportunity to take it a little farther and asked her if she would make recycling bags for our family.





She spent the afternoon writing, cutting, taping, and sorting. I had felt tired from my morning, but after her project was finished, I was inspired. She totally energizes me!!!

Works in progress ~ {as dinner is simmering on the stove}

In our family, we each have our creative outlets. For me, I typically have yarn going on the needles and a sewing project in the works lying somewhere on my cluttered craft table. I love knitting projects that I can leave around the house and pick up whenever the mood strikes.

In reading one of the Tasha Tudor books I mentioned in my last blog post, I read that she frequently weaved yarn in the next room as a meal was simmering on the stove. I too have behaved similarly, habitually walking to the next room, sitting down in my blue and white checked chair and knitting a few rows of {this} sweater as I cooked dinner for my family. I love how we are all made from the same mold, habits that extend culturally, maybe even genetically, always wanting to keep our hands busy, making something for our family.







I’m finding that our children also enjoy working and creating with their hands. For Lena, she typically has some kind of book she is writing or drawing she is painting.

For Jonmichael, he’s been heavily involved with Legos for over a year now.



But back to this sweater project . . . to show you how small this sweater is . . . it fits inside the dimensions of a sheet of paper . . . it’s so little and I keep ooing and aaahing over it as it has manifested itself on my needles!!!

Father’s Day Crafting ~

We’ve been busying drawing and I’ve been busy embroidering and sewing . . . this Father’s Day we created these bookmarks as gifts. Using Amanda’s tutorial from Mothering, I thought it was such a clever idea to use this for gifts this Father’s Day for all those readers in our family. You can find the tutorial here on Amanda’s new website for her new book coming out in August. You will definitely want to create some of these for yourself and family members!! They are truly treasures!

What I truly love about her project and sounds like the whole approach to her new book is to use what you already have – not to feel compelled to go out and buy the latest fabric, but to truly reuse, repurpose, recycle from something you already have. I have found in my last several projects that cutting up curtains, old linen pants has been quite satisfying knowing that I’m being thrifty, creative, and re-inventive all the same time!!



Speaking of those fabulous size 12 linen pants I've been sewing from since this bag, this doll, this pillow, these few pieces of linen on the fronts of these bookmarks, 'marks' the end of those few scraps I had left over from the "pants." Thrifty! Yes in deedy!!

Inspiring Summer Journaling

The crafting and journaling that's been going on in our home this summer has been inspiring . . .

something for everyone ~

Sometimes finding something for everyone in the house to do at once can be quite a challenge. On this day, I was able to find something, just the right thing in fact, for Lena to do. Getting a head start on some Mother's Day crafting, she was able to enjoy some quiet time in my room, on a day when I needed some extra rest and we were able to still enjoy some special time together.



By the way, I love these art boards!! They make it so easy to take art wherever we need a table to go!!



Wishing all you moms a very special Mother's Day weekend!!!

what we've been up to

It feels like we've had two weeks filled with nothing. It's been harder for me to focus on a new project these past two weeks so I thought it might be a fun time to share little bits and pieces of our days/evenings until inspiration strikes again. I will note that after pooling all these photos, we have in fact had two weeks that were very full, but with the gloomy weather, I have had a harder time feeling inspired myself, looks like I may be the only one.







Elise is coloring with crayon rocks that you can get here. The lady who started Stubby Pencil Studio is just fantastic. I had a great phone conversation with Kate early in December and would highly recommend her art supplies to kids of all ages! I know we have really enjoyed them!!



During the past two weeks I finished up another pair of booties to be given to a friend who just had a baby girl. Everytime I make a pair of these, they are so well received. The moms just rave at how well these booties stay on their babies. I think they are so rightfully named - "Stay-On Booties."



Lena has had a fun time discovering some of my old books on record. She could sit and listen to these for hours, {and change the records for hours too!}



Another favorite area of the house these days is a music corner Daniel created for the kids soon after Christmas. The girls love singing and hearing their voices through the amp.



We've been wearing some of our new handmade dresses we received at Christmas, they have been so much fun!



Sunday afternoon we sat down and watched the movie "Miss Potter" - Lena has always loved her books. That night before bed she got out her Peter Rabbit collection book and spent some time retelling the stories. I always love to see her do this. She has quite an imagination and all who know her say she'll make a great writer.