mamaroots

fevers

I have been seeing them around and about for a while and am starting to catch the vintage sheet fever. One of the fun parts of watching this emerge as a trend in the DIY craft world is recognizing some of the sheets from both my childhood home in the 70's and also from my grandma's house.  

I have a small stash that I got that are already washed and cut into fat quarters that I will be creating into mismatched party napkins.  But since I have been on the lookout for these in the thrift stores, I realized the pillowcases have a plethor of uses.  

My first "case" in point is from a little party I hosted yesterday for some work folks.  One of the gals is getting married and the vintage pillow case made an awesome gift bag!  I loved it and now she can either use it for gift bag themselves, store sweaters, or heck even a retro guest bedding!

Pretty sure Martha would be proud of this vintage upcycling moment.  Thus a new Pinterest board begged to be created!  

goodbye April giveaways

Silas said just the other day he is sad the April is saying goodbye!  Me too buddy!  But May is a pretty sweet month too!  Before we say goodbye to April it is time for a give-away.  It is time for herbal love from Kristine at Herbal Roots Zine.  Kristine generously offers one reader here a chance to get the next issue of this great zine for kids.  

Leave me a comment here between now and Thursday and you will entered for a chance to get the May issue delivered right to your e-mail.

Bonus entry points for following:

mamaroots facebook

mamaroots twitter

herbal roots zine facebook

Be sure to be watching for the little bluebird to be given away at the Herbal Roots Zine this week- good luck!

enough

So I have this addicting thing I like to watch . . .Hoarders.  I don't have cable but the magical world of the internet and mobile computers allows me the pleasures of such things as blogging from my bed right now, or sometimes watching this show via the Hoarders website.  It is a bit of a guilty pleasure I give myself on music lesson nights while the boys are bettering themselves with learning a bluegrass tune, I like to kill a few braincells and zone out.

I am not quite sure why I keep going back to it.  I think it is so interesting and to be honest I sometimes look around my own house and am like ughh- the piles and clutter etc . . . and then I watch an episode and then resolve to clean out a little something the next day!

So if there were a new picture book to go along with Hoarders, this would be it!  More by I. C. Springman caught my eye because of (can you guess) the marble!  It is a good book for kiddos to open up the conversation about how much is enough and excess.  Besides the brillant illustrations by Brian Lies, two things that I like about the book:  one is the friendship role of the mice to the magpie, second how there is a sparseness of text in contrast to the excess in objects.

It is a fun book that can be used for ISpy like exploration and inspiration to go outside and try and find some magpies to watch and observe.  Here is some more magpie info to explore if you want to read up on them.

Back to those marbles, I love that it is one of the first and last objects the magpie holds onto- smart birdie! You may notice the outhouse in the picture.  I could not resist showing you the first glimpse of my outhouse garden shed that my folks got me- I need to lay the foundation this weekend, but I am pretty excited!  Did you know that many highly collectable marbles have been found on old "privy" sites?  You know falling out of pockets and such.  I am thinking of adding a little secret stash of marbles in the outhouse for when little friends step inside because it is fun!  

Marbles are always treasures and worth holding onto!  And yes in case you noticed, that is a stained glass moon on the door- seriously could that be any cuter?  

simply April

It is usually the calm after the whirl of April birthdays that hit this week right before the whirl of an annual inventory at my day job at a local bookstore.  The word that I can describe Silas' birthday this week was "simple"

We started this little tradition a couple years ago on the day of their birthday we set up a little wood leaf/branch candle holder with a single candle.  I made a little "7" gnome, added some fresh from the oven breakfast muffins, and made a trail of 7 gold dollars out to the candle.  When he woke up he counted his way along the trail and then we sang happy birthday and he blew out the candle.  

My big ol 7 year old went onto school to share a snack of his choice with friends, while mama worked in the woods and did a little shopping and last minute making!  

I set up a little afterschool snack on the deck and then he played with brother while mama and daddy made his requested dinner: hamburgers, mac and cheese, sparkling lemonade, and ice cream cake!

 Of course presents were opened, and I do believe I had a mama genius moment of just using my stash of vintage linens and colorful yarn for wrapping.  Eco-friendly, lovely, and easy!  Hubby said he was sure Martha would be proud!

Pokemon fever hit our fella this year and it emerged just a bit this birthday with his custom mama made Pikachu candle holder, and a one of kind painting by brother and mama!  

Sigh . . .seems just like yesterday when I was slinging my baby and now he is slinging his "babies" he bought with his birthday money!  Cheers to all you Aries folks out there.  I will be back in full swing both on the blog and in the shop starting next week.

Congrats to Rain- you were my lucky winner #13 for the Root Children book.  I will be in contact to get your addy to mail it out to you!

40 Roots

So I entered the earthside world on this day 40 years ago and precisely 3:15 in the afternoon at a relatively high altitiude in the Rocky Mountains!  I have been of course pondering turning 40 for a while.  One of the college students I work with asked me if I was going to have a midlife crisis.  I had to chuckle!  Nope I said, I am just making sure to remember all the parts of my girlhood that I loved and hold onto them!

I dig birthdays quite a bit and as I may have mentioned my love threw me a surprise party that was so unexpected and so fun last weekend, hence the "surprise" part of surprise party!  But also a few months back I came across this print on Etsy and knew just how I wanted to honor turning 40.  I wanted to re-created this print as a photo of me.  The print represents so much of who I am.  Not to mention that the title is "Looking Forward"!  My dear dear friend Amy took the photos for me.  She has been my rock for the past few years.  A friend I know I will cherish and have for many of our years to come.  You local folks, she takes fantasic photos by the way!

The print, the photo- this is what I am holding onto.  What I know about myself is that I grew up barefoot, wearing dresses, playing with my dolls, under the trees in an old house with my parents and sisters that I love so deeply.  My parents are awesome role models and my sisters constant friends.  I can't really imagine my life without my family.  It is part of what keeps me rooted in the midwest instead of going back to the mountains.

I was taught how to make things, how to grow things and play outside.  Did you know my first playhouse was the old outhouse for the farm?  More on that in future posts- and no it had not been used in years and had been moved and cleaned!

I grew up in the country in the midwest.  I had cats often, my first was Sylvester.  I loved my dolls, Priscilla was my favorite and I think I always wanted to be a mama.  Mushrooms- well frankly they are food of the gods!  I have drank warm cups of tea since I can remember and cry at the drop of a hat.  Books are like candy for me!  It is all apart of my roots.

So when I imagine myself as a 40 year old woman, I still can't help but seeing this girl in the mirror. Trying to keep her near my heart.  Trying to learn from my mistakes- and oh yes there are plenty of them to learn from!  Trying to mother the best I can, and honor and love my partner in life.  

I am sure those braids will be turning grey (or silver as my boys like to say) but hopefully I will still be barefoot in a dress under a tree when I turn 50!  "Maybe" I will part with this heirloom doll I treated myself to when I become a grandmama- hmm maybe!

So when you get ready to hit those milestone birthdays, don't forget that little girl that is a part of all of you- she is so much of who you are as a woman.  

And as you know, I have a little tradition of gifting a present to one of you, my readers that I am so thankful for sharing this space with me.  Since books are such a part of my roots, I want to give away a copy of the new board book version of Root Children.  This is a favorite I know of many of you and now there is a board book edition.  

Just leave me a comment between now and Tuesday at midnight and I will draw a winner Wed!  Good luck my friends on this Friday the 13th!

hungry for a read

So I am sure you have at least heard about the buzz of the Hunger Games right?  They fall outside of the realm of books I normally ready and review for you here, but I did read them a few months ago.  I am torn on completing my whole opinion on them.  I am glad I read them, definitely glad I read them before my 10 year because he is too young for them.  But truly I kinda wish it was a stand alone, with just the first novel. I really thought the idea was super interesting but I had trouble creating the literary landscape in the second and third books.  

But I digress, because what I really wanted to review was this simple but overlooked series Green Angel/Green Witch that is also written for teens, is a dystopian series that I thought was amazing.  It truely was the cover that grabbed me of the second book.  I realized that I need to read the first book and tracked it down at the library.

The beauty of what works for this novel series is the short concise beautiful writing and actually all the space in between that lets the reader enter the world but also create that landscape and visual field.  I read each one in a single setting for each, but I give this my thumbs up award for the trendy dystopianesque books for teens.  It has a fantastic strong female character and all the juiciness of survival and magic that we are craving in this the year of our Mayan prophetic domesday.

ps- don't be confused if you find the single book "Green Heart" it contains both the first book Green Angel and the second book Green Witch.  

all a flutter

Have to say, this past weekend was by far one of the most exciting in a while!  The chicks came home on Friday and we are smitten!  They are our girls hanging out in the brooder for a few weeks and I think I can just watch them for hours!

And if that was not exciting enough, my hubby pulled off a surprise party I did not even see coming!  I have so much gratitude for all these amazing family and friends that just made me feel so incredibly special this weekend- good grief my heart grew and went all a flutter!  

I did not even know that my house would hold that many folks and how incredibly moved I would be. Gratitiude to the umtenth degree! I tear up still just being in that moment- everyone should have such a loving surprise someday!  

I maybe turning 40 in a few days, but I still feel like a young chick!  Hope you all had wonderful Easter celebrations.  Here are a few pics from our Easter fun this year.

ready

Time to get ready for eggs, chicks, and rabbits.  The eggs need to be dyed, the chicks are getting picked up tomorrow and well the big traveling rabbit will be coming on Sunday.

So our word for the next few days is just "ready".  I will have to admit, even though I got the Martha app for egg dyeing (I am such a sucker) we will be going with some old traditional dyes this year.  This simple little packet called out to me at the grocery.  I learned that it is this old egg dyeing company that has had its headquarters in my homestate since its beginnings in 1888- love that history.  I love the simplicity of the packaging and the history.  We will see how it does on the eggs!

I am struggling just a bit with putting together baskets for the boys this year.  As they get older and older, they are not quite as woooed by all the simple wood toys as they were when they were babes and toddlers. But I have a couple things up my sleeves.

Hoping you all are ready for the spring weekend!  Don't forget to set aside some time for reading with yours this weekend!  

spooling around

While we are normally fooling around on April Fool's Day, this year I have been spooling around, and wanted to give you an idea for your Easter Egg stuffers.  I had seen this idea floating around the blogisphere, and thought it would be great for Easter.  I love fun alternatives to fill Easter Eggs!

Supplies:

cotton fabric in colors of your choice

stamps

fabric ink

spools (antique or modern)

yarn

Step 1- Acquire some cotton muslin like fabric.  I got some simple solid cottons in spring colors.  Wash and dry like normal.  Tear into strips that are the width of your spool.  I have several old small vintage spools that I used, but you can also get wood spools from the unfinished wood section of Michaels, Hobby Lobby or online from Casey's Wood

Step 2- Iron your strips.  Decide on the stamps that you would like to use.  It can be a simple Easter message, or I have heard of folks who do scavenger hunts on Easter.  This would be a great way to give the clues!  After you have the fabric stamped, iron one more time to heat set the ink.  I like to use the inks from this company that are specially made for stamping on porous surfaces.

Step 3- Wrap the message on your wood spool, secure by tying a bit of yarn around the spool.  Tuck into your eggs and hide!  Super easy and fast, the hardest part will be in creating the clues for a scavenger hunt! If you do not celebrate Easter, this could easily be a spring scavenger hunt as well.  Happy Sunday to you all.