mamaroots

bits on the bench

 

Just another couple of glimpses from the Ol Cobbler's Bench- hubby has been loving making us homemade bread for a few weeks and he put out the call- "and who will help me grind this wheat" I will said the Jasper, Silas, and mama and the grinder set to work!  It reminded me to also make a Little Red Hen- dubbed Little Red Como- since my little community of Columbia MO passed the Urban Chicken proposal last week.  I have been getting hubby the magazine Urban Farming and we have been talking about what our set-up would look like.  I don't think it will happen this spring, but hoping that by next spring we can have a few gals in our backyard!

 

Also on the bench is the start of the Valentines.  This is such an easy crafty- take 2 sheets of wax paper, place crayon shavings in between, iron, let cool- draw heart shapes and cut out.  We punched holes in the top, added string and Jasper wrote his to and from on them for classmates.  Held up to the window they are our poor man's stain glass!  Just a reminder to put newspaper under your paper for ironing, and also on the top to absorb the wax.  I forgot and got wax all over my iron board- I am remembering now that was probably the last time I got a fresh ironing board cover the first time we made these!

 

 

Look forward to sharing more pictures with you this week that is all about handmade love!

fortunes on the bench

We are in handmade valentine land here at the house getting ready some Valentines for school, and also to send to family and friends.  This past Friday was the monthly Crafty Mamas and with sewing machines in tow, felt and some fun paper, we made felt fortune cookies for our little Valentines and exchanged old vintage postcards over some yummy snacks and wine as a light snow fell outside of The Womb Room windows.  

 

I found a pattern that was really super well done and great for quick cute fortune cookies.  One of the mamas tweaked the pattern a bit with great success for use with a lovely heavier felted upcycled wool sweater- came out really cute.  She added another stitch in the center creating a cross which gave the cookie a bit more definition.  Definitely give these a try- you can even hand sew these.  Another easy fun little thing to remember is you can make fun little journals for your sweeties just like that by cutting heavier cardstock for your cover, cut a few pieces of paper smaller than your cover and staple together, stamp the front and bam you have a cute little Valentine journal!

 

 

 The crafty mama's and I were all deeply grounded sitting around together reading these vintage postcards from upwards of 100 years ago- one that they had been saved, the simplicity of that was how folks communicated, and lastly that we were reviving the words from people we didn't know- it was all quite special and we decided to make an effort to send each other postcards on a whim!  I think that means that I need to go antiquing tomorrow for more postcards!

 

 

Tomorrow it will be time to track down the wax paper and shave some crayons per Jasper's request for his Valentines this year.  Love that smell of melted crayons!

Shadow Play

Oh heck, shadow or no shadow we are really looking forward to spring coming.  I noticed a common sentiment, even though February is the shortest month it is  that cusp month- the end of winter and yet sensing spring coming that sometimes makes it grueling!  

 

    

We enjoyed getting ready to celebrate Groundhogs/Imbolc starting on Monday night.  We practiced making shadow puppets by lamps and candlelight, which led somehow to the boys creating a magic dew drop forest that only occurs on Groundhogs Day.  Brigid the Groundhog became surrounded in glass pebbles and candlelight!  Dew Drop Forest entertained us quite well!  Even after hearing that the shadow had been seen yesterday we talked about how winter will be ending, those sleepy seeds in mama earth will start stirring, and we all came up with ideas about what we wanted to plant in our garden this year.

   

 Jasper wants blackberries, pumpkin, sugar snaps, and pretty flowers.  Silas wants sunflower, carrots, strawberries, and tomato.  Mama added elderberry, spinach, and popcorn.  Daddy said well okra and cucumber or course.  Sounds like a good start!

And just like that another day of February is done.  Brigid my groundhog had some wonderful travels and I wanted to give a shout to the wonderful folks who featured her:

Fey Handmade,  StuffbyXtine,   Green Cricket,  Cutable,  and Etsy Storque.  She loved all the love she got yesterday.  

 

 

Of course at our house we start and usually end it all in books!  Here are some we enjoyed:

Fun with Hand Shadows

Celebrating the Great Mother

How Groundhog's Garden Grew

A Seed is Sleepy

Fireside Stories- Bag of Warmth

family presents . . .

 
As the 12 Days of Christmas wind down and we are approaching the end of the holiday season I wanted to share with you some of the simple gifts that were shared this holiday that were so simple and so meaningful.  First from the family:  Silas has really just started drawing figures and making art.  He made a whole batch or little wooden monsters that he took to our annual swap this past month at The Womb Room.  He saved one back for me that sits lovingly atop my computer.  He has been working through some big fun imagination play regarding some critters he calls Guants- it is fun seeing his imagination work- so this fella is my Guant!

Jasper made me a "Book Mama" bookmark as he knows how much I adore books, particularly children's books that I love to share with them and also with you.  If you love kids books as much as I do or would like a good start with children's books, you might enjoy both of these titles:  Reading Together by Dianne Frankenstein or also 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up by Eccleshare- both wonderful!

My hubby and I actually do not do Christmas presents to each other- we go on a lovely Christmas date each year.  This year we went antiquing for a couple hours, had a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants owned by friends, then walked around downtown stopping by the microbrew for a beer before heading to see Avatar.  It is always one of my favorite presents- the simple joy of just being with all my boys is really better than anything else!

I did find a couple small treasures at the antique mall- a new hankie for me, a fun old owl block to use as a prop for photography, and some lovely old vintage postcards- love these!  I was looking for one of those old German New Year's mushroom cards and didn't track it down- but found this old German printed New Years girl from 1912!

I look forward to sharing more lovely presents with you tomorrow, hope you enjoy the eve of Little Christmas or Epiphany- do you know about Old Befana or maybe heard her called Babushka from the Russian tales- she is a kindly old witch that visits the homes of children on the eve of Jan 6- she travels by broom and often leaves children treats in their socks!  There are many different cultural stories of her in different religious aspects, I enjoyed this essay about her also and the simplicity of what she brings and represents.  We will be cooking up a little something to leave out for her tonight along with a glass of wine- she is Italian after all!

In the words of an old postcard:

Long May We Live

Long May We Love

and

Long May We Be Happy

happy thanks!!!

Happy New Year's Eve everyone!  Just wanted to take a moment before heading out to ring in the new year after spending the day with the family to say thanks for all your kind comments, friendships, and crafty mama love!

 

 

I thought I would leave you with the really funny thank you image the boys and I made from some of their wood monsters combined with Flickr's Picnic features- they remind of a couple of fellas straight from a Dickens novel- oh ya we are sure there were monsters in Ol England too- don't you doubt it!  

We turned these into postcards to give to friends and family for our loving thanks for a wonderful holiday!  Have some bubbly for me tonight- see you next year!

really green . . .

One thing from the holidays that I have loved doing each year is using our cloth bags for presents.  Each night when it is time to wrap up the presents I pull out the cloth bags and match them to the presents.  Some years some get handed on, some make their way back, some years I need to make a few quick, but I have some that I have had since the boys were babies!  This year it dawned on me that instead of making new tags for them each year, I would make little wooden tags this year with their first initial on the front and a little message on the back.  

Each year then I can just keep moving them from bag to bag as needed.  I found these little thin wood tags with holes already done and safety pins to boot on clearance this summer at Michaels and bought all that I could find without know what I would do with them.  It is nice to know I found one use for them so far!  **Should be noted that said cloth bags are not used for Santa presents, they are far too smart to do that! 

I haven't decided if this is really going green or maybe just lazy on my part but it makes wrapping soooo much easier and you should see my discard trash pile after the opening- virtually nothing!  Heck I will go with going super holiday green!

sweet

 hello all- I am catching up from taking a holiday break from the computer.  I hope all of your holidays were wonderful and full of simple peace and joy!  I will be sharing some of our joyful pictures and times from the past week during this last week of the year.  It was a sweet time and just reminds me how much I enjoy playing elf, watching my boys adore the simpliest things with the season and always coming back to the love of my family, friends, and sharing of good food and drink!

One of the best presents we got from Santa was a white Christmas this year- it was so wonderful to wake up to snow flakes on Christmas Day.  The snow was magical and yet not enough to deter some travel for us either.  As I was pelted with snowballs yesterday, sliding down hills, and laying down making snow angels I just had to laugh.  Hot cocoa and kisses in the afternoon just made for a lovely holiday!  Here are some more pictures from the holiday.

I am gearing up for the New Year's celebration to share some new traditions and reflecting on the past year.  One of my favorite new additions to mamaroots this year is my friendship and partnership is Kristine at Herbal Roots.  Her monthly zines always provide moments of learning and quiet joy with the boys!  It is instinctual and wonderful each month!  She is generous to send me a copy each month and one that I am able to give to you each month.  In exchange you will find a mamaroots made critter that she gives away and we send one to her family also.  It has been a wonderful year with herbal learning and I am so looking forward to 2010 Herbal fashion! 

So fun giveaway time- leave a comment here, let me know what was your favorite herb from 2009 Herbal Roots, or if you are new what is your favorite herb.  If you sign up on the mamaroots Facebook Fan page you will get an extra chance to win the January Herbal Roots Zine issue.  Deadline is Dec 31 at midnight- I will draw a winner the morning of Jan 1-  One more way to get an extra chance is to sign up at the Herbal Roots Facebook Fan page. 

Now fly on over to Herbal Roots Zine and sign up for a chance to win a mamaroots Owl.  Happy holidays to all of you!

Solstice was . . .

 

 

swaps

As I sit preparing for the darkest night of the year I am relishing in some wonderful swaps I recently took part in.  For the second season I participated in the Season's Round exchange- just a fun seasonal handmade swap for new fun handmade goodies to honor the season.  The theme was "light" and I received the most beautiful white and light lovely package from my partner Nancy.  It is so sweet gracing our nook near one of our big front windows where we watch the birds!  She made us a lovely crochet white snowflake that is just gorgeous, a winter candle holder, very sweet trio of birds that her children also helped make.  She also made up a sweet beeswax Angel candle that I am saving for Christmas Eve to burn!  It was all lovingly packaged and welcomed into our nature loving home- the boys are intrigued by making salt dough and I will have to get the recipe from Nancy- they are so precious!

I made Nancy a Tupilak and Raven set from the story Raven Steals the light- one of our favorite "solstice stories" I had alot of fun making this for her.  Happy Solstice Nancy and thanks for such a lovely swap!  I am already excited about the next Seasons Round exchange!  Here are some more photos of both my sent and received from the past couple Season's Round.  Oh and if you would like to see a source for the Raven story and a few other Solstice favorite reads for you to use for reference.  We love to cuddle up with stories on this darkest night with only candlelight!

Download Winter Reads

The other fun swap was from this weekend, I hosted my annual swap and shop with friends this weekend.  This is such a fun easy thing to do with your crafty friends.  Some folks shop, some swap, and all enjoy hanging out!  I made up some more wood goodness and then was able to swap for some yummy fudge, beautiful photography, and ornaments.  I also got some sweet kids art and my boys had fun making and swapping some monsters!  Always a fun event each year and just one more chance to go handmade for the holidays!  Have a wonderful Solstice and enjoy embracing the mystery of the darkness and the joy of the knowing the sun is cycling back!

twinkling stars!

Mama could not pull the wool over these Star Boys eyes for St. Lucia Day!  Even though I tip toed past their rooms in the wee hours of the morning they both got up- so plan B  they helped finish the St. Lucia Buns found some star hats in the dress up bin and delivered breakfast in bed to daddy!  I think they really liked being in on the secret and it was fun having breakfast in bed- though I am still finding a few crumbs!  A few more pictures are here.

I used the recipe from my Baking with Children book and they were quite tasty with coffee and tea!

Speaking of coffee- it was great fun reading all of your favorite teas and coffees and I am making my list to try out!  I used the ol random number generator and 15 was the winner for the Goblin ornament and book!  Shana if you could e-mail me your snail mail!

BTW- the above fun picture is from Flicker- The Commons quite addicting to look through!  Have a sweet night under the twinkling stars!