A tea party and cu'capes

Today we had a tea party with some of our favorite friends. My mom gave Claire a set of 4 matching antique teacups and saucers for her birthday in December. We decided that Valentine's Day would be an excellent time to invite some friends over and share our pretty things. There were cookies, cupcakes, fresh raspberries, cheese and crackers and two different kinds of tea. The big brothers stopped by the table occasionally for snacks, although they declined to sit and giggle with a table full of mostly little girls. :-)

Violet ended up under the table with her "cu'cape" before it was over. I love this age, when they really start communicating well, but still have cute little words that they use for some things.

Rice play and mosaics

On Friday we had some friends over to play. I had just colored a bunch of rice, so as soon as it had cooled from drying in the oven I set it on the table in reach of the little ones. It was a matter of minutes before Emmett had run back to his bedroom and brought out a collection plastic and wooden animals and invited his little friend to play "Farm" with him. She thought that was a great idea! Claire wandered through after a while but didn't stay for too long. Elowen and Emmett however, played for about 45 minutes with the colored rice and the animals. When they finally wandered away to play something different I printed several simple coloring pages onto card stock and put out glue and lots of different colors of rice and beans and seeds to work with. Pretty soon the kids came back through the kitchen and saw everything set up differently. I explained what a mosaic was and showed them how to do put the seeds onto the glue to color their pictures. The bigger kids did everything themselves while I helped the little ones by applying the glue for them, and they did the rest on their own. They had a great time! The clean up really wasn't too bad. I just raked all of the spilled rice and seeds etc. off of the table onto the floor and swept it all up when they where done!

craftiness of late

A cuddly first Waldorf inspired doll for a soon to arrive baby. (A friend's soon to arrive baby... ! Goodness people, my little Emmett is only 6 months old, it's much too soon for us to be having another baby! Seriously! ;-)

And a cute "owlie" car seat cover for the same eagerly anticipated baby. I made up the pattern because I couldn't find a pattern or a tutorial online that was exactly what I had in mind when I set out to make it... All in all, I think it turned out pretty cute. I even made the buttons. The holes in the buttons are off-center and a bit wonky, but we'll just say that it adds to the handmade charm, right? *rolling eyes* I'm sure their wonkiness had nothing to do with the fact that I seem incapable of drilling four tiny holes in a perfect square...  We'll go with the charming handmade description!

linking up with Nicole at  Frontier Dreams {Keep Calm, Craft On}
And with Linda at Natural Suburbia {Creative Friday}

A playmate for my little friend

I recently asked a dear friend of mine if she thought her sweet girls might each like a doll of their own. She said "Yes!" so I went to work. It took me quite a while to finish this doll, since life has become so busy around here, but I was quite happy with how she turned out.

This is the first of the dolls, and the only one I've completed so far. I gave her pretty curly brown wool hair, and bright purple eyes. I think she has the sweetest expression on her face. I made her several changes of clothes, which was it's own experiment. Since I had made up my own pattern for the doll, I also had to create patterns for clothes to fit her! That was one of the hardest parts for me. Hopefully when I get to that part of the process for her sister's doll, it won't take me nearly so long or be so difficult, now that I have made clothes patterns to fit this little doll!

Before she went to her new home she told me she likes to climb trees and...

 search for frogs and goldfish in the pond!

Her new little mommy is also a little girl that loves to play outside, so they should get along just fine!

Linking up at Creative Friday! Made by you Monday! And Will See it Wednesday!

Seasonal Handmade Exchange Part 2

Yay! Today we received our package from Jen for the Seasonal Handmade Exchange. What fun! There wasn't much light in the house as the sun was already sinking in the sky when we open it, but I still managed to get a few pictures of the items she sent us before it set completely.

In our package we found five sweet little wool heart ornaments made from upcycled felted (fulled) sweaters and stuffed with wool...

And my favorite item... a delicate roving angel. She is so pretty on our Christmas Tree right now!

The boys thought it was such fun getting these things in the mail! I can't wait to participate in another swap sometime soon!

Seasonal Handmade Exchange

I just participated in my very first swap ever! The Seasonal Handmade Exchange hosted by Jen of Sewn Natural Studio and Rae of Morning Sun Rae. The idea was to swap a handmade item for one's nature table crafted from natural materials. Jen turned out to be my swap partner. It was pretty exciting to get paired with someone known all over blogland for her creativity, but a little bit intimidating as well! I had just designed these cute little wooden snow babies complete with a sled to pull each other around (or even to give their favorite snowman a ride!) So, I decided to make those for her, and make another set for us later.

I waited to post pictures of them until she emailed me that she had received them. I wasn't sure how long shipping would take all the way to Canada from here, but it wasn't too bad actually. Aren't they cute? I was pretty happy with how they turned out!

Rodrigo (my husband -for those of you who haven't been reading my blog for long) keeps trying to get me to open up an Etsy shop and sell my little wooden creations, because he thinks they are adorable... that really intimidates me! (The opening the shop part, not that he loves my little wooden toys!) I feel like "What if I devote all of that time and energy and love into making sweet little things and then no one wants them?"

I got as far as signing up, and choosing a shop name... but still haven't listed anything. Someday... maybe...

Warm and Wonderful Gifts in the Mail!

Yesterday there was a box waiting for us in the mail with "New Zealand Post" printed on it! What a fun surprise! It was packed full of adorable gifts for us from dear Marie of Softearth's World. I began following her blog right about the time I first started my own blog. She is a very talented wool needle felting artist with an Etsy Shop full of beautiful needle felted treasures! (If anyone is looking for something beautiful, natural and handmade to give as Christmas Gifts, be sure to check her shop!)



She is having a giveaway on her blog this month for a beautiful Nativity Scene. So be sure to go over there and leave her a comment so you can have a chance at winning!

You should have heard the boys' excitement as we opened the box. Speculating as to what it could be inside... all the way from New Zealand! That phrase was repeated about 50 times, while Ethan had to get a map and look and see just how far this package had come to make it's way to our home.

The boys loved these sweet Toadstool Babies! She sent us 4 of them, so now each of the children has one! Aren't they adorable?! They are on our nature shelf right now, and will probably stay there for a long time. :-)

We also discovered this pretty little snow white bird, and a tiny wee baby nestled in a soft little cradle of her own. Ethan said he would let Claire play with the baby as soon as she's a bit bigger... And the bird he informed me will have to "nest" in our Christmas tree, "so we can remember the nice little lady from New Zealand who sent us all of this fun stuff!" as he put it.

Marie also included several lovely photos and postcards of her work. My favorite one of those is this print of the Nativity scene she created.

Thank you Marie, for sharing such lovely gifts with our family! We will enjoy them for many years!

P.S. Everybody make sure you do go to Softearth's World and sign up for her giveaway! It is such fun to get things from far off places in the mail! 

Wandering about town

On Tuesday we went wandering about town with some friends. We explored the Knoxville Botanical Garden. (Most of the garden pictures where taken by Logan!)

When we had finished exploring the Garden, our friends had to go home. So we wandered over to the park and some of our favorite fountains to cool off a bit.

 Claire slept while I sat in under a big shade tree and watched the boys run wild through the fountains, once she woke up from her nap we headed across the street to the park.

Watching her brothers spin around up in the air!