mamaroots

make your own rainbows

It may have be in the 30's, cloudy, and rainy today but that has not stopped us from making our own rainbows.  Rainbow #1- threw caution to the wind and got some Fruit Loops for the boys for first breakfast. Needless to say they were so excited!  Sugar cereals can't seem to cross the threshold in our house.  I am not sure why, there seems to be some high-tech crap detecting laser that zaps it.  It came with house.  But sneaky leprechauns obivously know who to disengaged the laser system- tricksters.  Good thing second breakfast was little more healthy with omelets!

Rainbow #2 is very fiber oriented.  While hanging out with my dear crafty friends this past weekend I experimented with yarn wrapping letters.  I have been wanting to try this for a while and this was a good intro.  I would like to do this with sticks for the boys this summer.  

This inspired Jasper and I to do some rainbow stick weaving.  We are taking turns and doing little by little but really enjoying it.  Our own little version of yarn bombing.  Thanks to Natural Suburbia for the great tutorial.  

A good re-reading of some leprechaun books accompanied corned beef, cabbage, and warm soad bread in our bellies was just right.  All in all I think we had a good amount of luck today.  Maybe tomorrow we will have some sun so we can experiment and make real rainbows!

discovering Heather Ross

I have caught glimpses of the fabrics on different blogs and Etsy, but some of the fabric lines pulled on my storytelling/folktale heartstrings quite a bit.  Enough to remember the name.  But it was really the fault of a book to no surprise, that really got my attention.  While I was going through some booklists to order in for the local bookstore where I work I saw it.  It all started to come together and now I am quite enjoying learning more about her!  

Yes I am talking about Heather Ross, what a sweet discovery this month!  If you have not checked out the book yet, please do.  Nothing gets my attention quite like monogrammed Snow White dish towels!  The book comes with a DVD to download art and there is a spot on Spoonflower to get the fabric.  This will be my first project!

Growing up my mama had a wallpapering/painting business for a while when me and my sisters were a bit older.  Many times I spent helping brush on the wallpaper paste and line up the straight lines, wipe down the paste off the walls.  I never considered wallpapering anything on my own but seeing the option to make Heather Ross unicorn wallpaper is making me re-consider.  Maybe just one wall some where hmmmmm . . .

Go ahead and treat your self to this one- it is certainly very very worthy of your crafty library!  Off to work at the bookstore today, what possible discoveries await me?  

love what you have , use what you have

I was on a bit of a mission to try and have a simple valentines and try to stay as close to possible with using up the craft stash supplies.  For our school mate Valentines we took a que from Pinterest and used some watercolor paper from the art cabinet and created some handpainted individual cards that we then upcycled some sheet music given to us for the hearts.  It took a couple evenings but we ended up with 46 valentines for teachers and classmates.

Daddy even got in on making and reused some of the scraps into creative cards for us.  For a simple high tea yesterday afternoon I used some frappaccino jars, wood hearts for the stash and bakers twine for a cranberry sprite fizz.  The tablecloth and bunting were made from recycled dishtowel and and vintage sheet stash which is quite out of control.  I have a feeling I will be having a vintage de-stash event soon!

One thing I did buy was the cotton yarn to make the boys monogram washcloths.  Washcloths are my world right now!  I love their perfect size for learning off of these yarn patterns.  Hmm- what pattern to start today?  Hope you all had a wonderful Valentines with your sweethearts!

snakes for tea

High Tea this afternoon had us enjoying a little snake learning time after our snake crafting time in celebration of Chinese New Year and the Year of the Snake.  We enjoyed learning a few things we did not know about snakes and then also a spot of tea.  We also decided to create a little spot on the table for the next few days with a felt fortune cookie and some blank slips of paper to leave each other New Year fortunes!  

If you would like to make a snake of your own to explore some stories, I created another Once Upon a Table project for you.  Enjoy!

Download Once Upon a Table-Snake

 

Luck Tokens

The start of the week before Chinese New Year and I thought I would share a couple projects with you. The first are some Year of the Snake Luck Tokens. These are super easy to whip up and make a sweet little token to give to your kiddos.  

It is up to you how you use them.  Maybe they could turn them into you for a date night, getting out of a chore, breakfast in bed . . .you get the idea.  Just a little something to bring some Chinese New Year Luck all year long!

Supplies:

Ink Pad- look for the ink that works well with wood such as the Brilliance Line of Inks (available at Michaels and Hobby Lobby)

Alphabet Stamps (available at Michaels and Hobby Lobby)

Wood Tokens of desired size keeping in mind choking hazard for smaller kiddos (I like the rounded edges from Hobby Lobby)

Snake Stamp (this stamp came from NoraJane at Etsy)

Assemble your stamps you would like to use stamping your snake on oneside and "luck" on the back.  Go ahead and heatset the ink with an embosser or hair dryer for a few seconds if you have it.  If not let the ink dryer for about 15-20 minutes.  Seal with beeswax polish if desired and then tuck into some special bags or boxes for giving.  

Enjoy! Check back with me this week for more snake inspired posts!  

joyful

I am really in-love with the red and white Scandinavian themes for the holidays.  Most of our decor is simple, handmade, natural or been gifted.  I was loving the plethor of "joy" buntings and thought it might not be too hard to make.  With some stencils and less than $5 in supplies I made one for the front door.  I have some fabric left so I might have to make a "god yul" version for our Scandinavian corner in the works! For the fabric you can use red burlap, or I got a red heavy canvas that worked well.

Here is a link to some inspiration from Etsy.  Be sure to check back tomorrow for the first of my 12 Days of Giving!

coming soon . . .

Happy Sunday folks!  There will be a shop update coming tonight at 9 pm central.  I also could not resist such a fun day at the upcoming 12/12/12 and thought I start my own 12 Days of Giving.  It will be fast, it will be fun.  Be sure to join me each day!  It will be some books, some toys, and a few other surprises!  

vintage inspiration

I found this wee little vintage linen and thought it just screamed to be made into a little red elf.  Maybe it was just an excuse to get the linen or practice my knitting skills!  

Either way it was fun to make in the midst of our holiday weekend.  He is at the shop.  Now that Dec is almost here it is time to kick in the making machine!  What have your inspirations been so far?

just sweet enough

Crafting together with my friends this weekend got us making some felt sugar skulls in prep for Day of the Dead this week.  I found this complete gem destined for a cardigan sweater this week.  I adore the intricate detail and wonderful stitches.  It has great stitches that I am not sure I will ever be able to do.  

I gave it my best and made the boys a couple little sugar skulls, it is a great treat to make to take part in the Day Dead festivites after Halloween, a way to celebrate our dead without fear, but with storytelling and joy.

This is a fun book to check out for more ideas, or just grab your felt, needles, and embroidery thread and see what you can stitch up!

boo

I have a bit of a love/scarred relationship with ghosts.  I grew up in an old farm house that my folks lovingly and beautifully restored complete with the family cemetery plot out back.  I had probably at least one experience at that house that I felt was ghostly.  I dream about old houses and ghosts almost my entire life.  My hubby says it is on average 1-3 times a month.  I love old stuff.  I love scary movies of the ghost sort but here is the hitch.  I then get scarred out of my wits- I am a bit of a ghost adrenaline junkie that does not know what to do with it when she gets bits of it!

The dark- you bet I am scarred of it, always have been but I am drawn to it also.  I don't make much sense I know but that means I really dig Halloween for so many reasons!  So I made a sweet happy wood ghost but that is how I feel most of the time about them.  

I am working on some Halloween cards to send out that share my current obsessive love of old vintage sheets.  I can't get enough of the vintage sheets right now!  You know ghosts, sheets it is all related right?  So here are the first couple I made last night with just some vintage sheets, black and white scrapbook paper (heavier cardstock) and glue stick.  I will be adding some boo stamping to the envelopes this weekend.  

But before I leave you for this Friday I wanted to start my favorite book shares for the spooky season with this beauty.  You may recall that I love Italian illustrator Nicoletta Ceccoli.  She illustrated this new book that combines my love of ghosts and books!  The story itself seems not as smooth as it could be at times, but it is well worth it just for the illustrations.  I really can rave enough about her.  It is a soft surreal style that always makes you feel as if you just entered a dream.

I think your kiddos will enjoy, especially if they like ghosts like me!  Now do I go see a scary movie with hubby on date night tonight?  You bet!