the Wise Robin

easter in autumn

 

 

We busted out some serious crafting over the Easter long weekend. The weather was that delicious autumn blend of thick, golden light, warm sunshine, darkened mornings & early twilights. Easter is perfectly suited to autumn & I feel that it's one of the yearly festivals we've truly claimed as a family through the traditions we've created...candle making, egg dyeing, our easter tree, the egg hunt, harvesting, putting our spring bulbs to bed, golden soup, autumn pie & homemade hot cross buns, stories of easter hares in the pumpkin patch, finding the first fallen leaves & bringing the light indoors in preparation for the cold months ahead.  On a different note, Zahra made gnocchi for us all on Saturday evening, her  chosen night to cook. When I sat down late last year to plan this homeschooling year, one of the personal goals I quietly decided for her was that I wanted her to step into family life in a more physical way. I bought her The Silver Spoon for Children at the beginning of the year &...well, handmade gnocchi really just says it all. She's loving having the kitchen all to herself.  Such a wonderful treat for William & me to not have to cook one night a week. 

 

 

summer days

 

These summer days are so full. Heat & rain, heavy air, darkened rooms, midsummer, christmas, twinkling lights, journeying north, new years, family, crafting, late nights, summer reading, garden time, friends, intentions, new calendars, fresh diaries, blooming garden, frazzled garden, watering, river time, ice cream, swimming, smoke haze, bushfires, summer spring clean, linen sheets, hot winds, cooler humming, always humming....it's hot, but we've bunkered down, shades drawn, awnings beating off the heat. There's the river & the occasional storm to cool things off. Midsummer seems to come when summer is barely summer. She's only just begum to ease herself into our lives. Christmas & New Year came & went in a fantastic, delicious blur of all that is good & after travelling north & back we're now settling into the rest of our summer. There'll be more pool days & river days, camping, cinema under the stars, gardening, harvesting & a little list of things this Mama wants to do before we begin another year of homeschooling. I hope these first weeks of this new turn around the sun dear friends, find you well & happy & full of peace. 

mud

 

  

 I lie in the dark listening to the crescendo of the morning chorus. A clamorous, avian peak hour in the treetops. It's a wonder anyone can sleep through it, it truly is very loud. The light is quickening as I slip on a light dress. The weather has warmed, thirty five yesterday & more forecast for this week. Daylight saving has thrown us & I hope the girls will sleep longer this morning. Our spring break has just ended, first day back today & I'm feeling organised. I put the kettle on. The dog is snoring. We have a lot of work to tie up this term & I have my audit coming up in a month or so which is always a little stressful & involves a mountain of paperwork. Gone are the days when I could stay up late doing this sort of thing. I'm just too tired by the time the girls are in bed & the house has had a quick tidy. These days, evenings are reserved for slow activities like knitting & reading. In anticipation of being busy on the homeschool front, which isn't to say it's never not busy, just different degrees, I've stocked up our craft drawer & made a list of toddler activities I can set up for Niamh. She is just beginning to occupy herself for small moments in the day. When Zahra was little I found it incredibly helpful, for her & myself, to have spaces set up ready to go for creative play. One of the spaces I've been wanting to create for some time is a mud kitchen. With the holidays & warmer weather upon us it seemed like the perfect time to throw something simple together. There are some amazing mud kitchens out there, but not wanting to spend any money, I rummaged in the garage, kitchen & garden to see what would be useful. What I came up with was something basic but functional in a shady part of the garden. There's nothing like messy, outdoor fun. It's been a hit so far with chocolate Dutch babies, blossom cupcakes & an interesting herbal tea blend making a regular appearance on the menu. I'd like to bring this book into our house, or rather garden, to fuel the imagination. Being in a part of the garden that will stay shaded for most of the day means the girls can still go outside to play during the heat of our frazzling summers.  It feels like spring is on her way out & early summer has begun. The blossoms have all but fallen, like discarded ball gowns, lying in pinkish brown heaps in the grass.The garden is already thirsty & dry. It won't  be long before all the doors & windows are shut tight again to fend off the oven like heat.

 

 

 

 

make

 

 

Here are a couple of this week's creations. Every year I like to add something different to our seasonal table. Now our winter gnomes have a fire to warm their toes by & dance around. A Nordic rather than Australian themed tree adds to our snowy theme. We keep a nature table as well, filled with bits & bobs from the bush & garden to reflect our southern seasons. Oh, but I do so love snow & the idealised images it conjures in my mind...hot chocolate, skating, quiet snow falls, layers of wool, snow laden fir trees, white landscapes, cosy cabins, log fires....

 

 

 

 

midwinter make

 

 

Just popping in quickly with my weekend makes.

I made my first knitted pocket! With a little who has just discovered pockets & wonders why there aren't pockets on all of her clothing I think there'll be a whole heap of pockets in my future. The very sweet pattern is the Petites Feuilles Vest. 

Secondly, that's me playing around with Zahra's watercolours. With a lot of picture books on our shelves I find I'm always drawn to those with watercolour illustrations...Freya Blackwood, Julie Vivas & Anna Walker are among my favourite illustrators. 

And not forgetting all the little things I made...beds, my girls hair, pancakes, clean laundry, midwinter intentions, connections with friends, images, s'mores, a couple of new recipes....

Happy Midwinter 

 

 

 

 

made

 

 

 I thought for the next little while, perhaps a week or two, I would make room for a small, creative project in each day, because truth be told it just't hasn't been happening lately & I miss it. It may be as simple as joining the girls to paint & draw or as ambitious as spending a couple of hours trying out a new sewing pattern. Something made with these hands. Something to get the creative energy flowing. A little winter crafting to nourish the soul.

Today... paper cut snowflakes.

 

 

 

 

petal & green

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everywhere I turned this week there were petals & green.  Petals in candy floss sprays, petals fluttering like wedding day confetti, petals in skirts on the ground, petals still waiting, curled in bulging buds & the green, oh the green, it's practically flourescent. The bush is bursting with freesias & chocolate lilies.Thank goodness the freesias are a weed because their smell is irresistable & we can't but help stop & pick some when out walking. The whole house smells like sweet spring, the growing season has begun! We've been mowing for the past month already & its quickly becoming a once a week job. Sometimes I like getting behind the mower but we live on a hill.  I've been casually eyeing our gutters, full to overflowing. It won't be long before fire season so I guess I'll move the ladder down the hill from the mandarin tree & leave it in view from the bedroom window as a reminder for me & a hint for Will. He's on night shift for three weeks so my days and nights are l.o.n.g.  He creeps into bed around five thirty & we creep around the house during the day trying not to wake him. Thank goodness it's spring & we can go play in the petals & green. Last Monday was Zahra's birthday. She was rapt in Miss Juniper Kitty. Turns out we had a teensy suitcase which was the perfect size for the kitter's spring wardrobe. I love how it all turned out, Alicia is one talented lady, but it didn't come together without some pain & a few late nights. My machine could only just comprehend the miniature seam allowances, often grabbing the fabric by it's teeth & dragging it under {perhaps I was using the wrong foot}. Lawn is sensitive stuff. I love it, but responding to fragile was not on my list of sewing skills. It was more reaction than response with a few choice words thrown in. But we both pulled through & now Miss Juniper has a spring wardrobe for walks in the woods & wildmeadows, garden tea parties & library adventures. I even threw in a nightgown and breakfast jacket for those lazy mornings reading in bed. I never understood the concept of the breakfast jacket until someone explained it to me last week. Now I'm thinking I'd like one. Not that I get to laze in bed or sit up having my breakfast brought to me & it certainly wouldn't be one of those frou frou things one finds in the op shops. I imagine something hand knitted, maybe with a delicate fair isle or lace work yoke, three quarter sleeves, swing jacket like. Something you could put on for reading in bed, but get away with leaving your pyjama top on underneath, & strolling around the nighbourhood in, without anyone knowing you were still in your pyjamas and breakfast jacket.  Miss Juniper has taken to sitting up in bed most mornings wearing her nightgown & breakfast jacket as Zahra reads, then it's into her garden party dress and legwarmers for a Sunday in the secret garden. On the day, I spent all afternoon baking. Zahra requested her favourites, caramelised onion & feta tart, homemade tomato soup & rhubarb pie for dessert. I didn't get an after shot because we were so busy eating but I do finally have the vanilla almond cake recipe for you. It's easy peasy to make, dense & moist & morish, just how I wanted it.  I don't know why but I'll just mention this... I never read Charlotte's Web when I was a kid, or maybe it's that I don't remember reading it, surely I'd remember a story like that. Zahra & I finished it together last week & now I've smuggled it onto my bedside table to read it again. What a gorgeous story. The part where he describes the swing in the barn & how the humans don't see how marvellous Charlotte is & how Charlotte dies at the fair, all alone, I was blubbering. What a great book, go grab yourself a copy.

 

 

The Long Track Vanilla Almond Cake

1 cup sugar

1  & 1/2 cups almond meal ( I make my own in our thermomix using raw almonds, so the texture is quite heavy & grainy compared to the fluffy texture of store bought almond meal. You can make your own almond meal too in a food processor. Just make sure you don't over mill the almonds because you will end up with almond butter. They are a greasy nut. Store bought almond meal works fine, your cake will just have a lighter texture)

2/3 cups dessicated coconut

6 eggs

Seeds from 1 vanilla pod 

1/2 to 1 tsp. almond extract, depending on how much you like this flavour. I usually add just over 1/2 a tsp.

1 tbsp. of your choice of vegetable oil { I use a lightly flavoured olive oil or grapeseed oil}

A good handful of flaked almonds

 

Preheat oven 180 ^o  C. Line a cake tin with baking paper making sure to use enough paper so that you can lift the cake out using the paper 'handles' & also to cover the top of the cake once baked ( see the picture above). In a bowl combine the almond meal, sugar & coconut. Mix in the eggs, vanilla, almond extract & oil until the mixture is thoroughly combined. Alternatively you can put everything into an electric mixer & mix on a medium speed until it is well combined. Transfer the mixture to your lined baking pan & sprinkle with flaked almonds. Bake for 30 mins or until a skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake. Using your paper handles take your cake out of the pan, leave the paper underneath the cake and set it on a cooling rack. We usually eat a piece right away, while it is still hot from the oven. When your cake has cooled use the excess paper around the sides of the cake to wrap up your cake & store in an airtight container. I store mine in a glass cloche which is not airtight but wrapping the paper around the cake keeps it moist. We find the cake gets better with age.  If I am making this recipe to take to a friends house I will bake it the day before. Happy baking.

 

 

 

 

 

violet breezes

 

  

It's dark out. The girls are asleep. The house is quiet & sleepy. There's a blackbird piping in the crepe myrtle outside my window. The garbage truck is groaning it's way up the street. I can't sleep so follow the lamplight out into the loungeroom where William is putting on his layers for the ride to work. Neckwarmers & thermals, fleecies & bicycle jackets. It's odd seeing him at this time of the morning, like I've walked in on something private, his morning solitude. It's usually a few more hours before the house stirs, the girls wake, we enter the day tousled & bright eyed. The days are full right now. Full of sunshine & bare feet, warm breezes that carry violet perfume & birdsong & dry washing on the line...outdoors...for the first time in what feels like a long time. There's cornflower buds busting at the seams & sprays of frothy, white blossoms & magnolia trees dotted around the neighbourhood singing in the spring. There are chook eggs, finally, at the bottom of the garden & perfect little spider webs glistening not with the heaviness of fog but with glorious, golden sunlight. There's wattle in the bush & hayfever to be had. There's billowy puffs of cloud in the sky which block out the sun, but if you lie long enough in the grass they blow by & the sunlight glows through your eyelids & warms your toes. Spring, she is here, & it's all so very exciting.  

On the flipside, our pretty girl Stella died yesterday. We are all feeling rather teary & sad. She was one of the chooks from the first batch we hatched three years ago. We sang her a little song & dug a hole, laid some camellias & the first blossoms over her.  "Night night" said Niamh when she saw her, then off she pottered, up to the chook house "chicken, chicken? she calls prying the lid off the feed bin. A few handfuls of grain from her teapot, the chookies keeping one step ahead of her.

I've been baking scones & roasting what may be the last pumpkin for the season & I think I've come up with a vanilla almond cake recipe that fits the bill.  My nights have been full of stitching & knitting for Zahra's birthday next week. Miss Juniper Kitty is all put together & now I'm working on a spring wardrobe for the adventures she's going to have. I've been thinking that storing Miss Juniper's clothes in a kitty cat size suitcase, something she could take with her on all of those adventures, would be just the ticket, but I'm not sure where to get one. Does anyone know if such teensy suitcases exist & where one would find them? I tend to get ideas in my head about these sorts of things, particulaly about how I'd like them to look & then go out looking for this picture in my head only to run around in circles not really finding anything that matches the picture or better yet finding exactly what I need only to find that the price tag says something absurd upon which time I return home empty handed & fall in a dishevelled & disgruntled, google eyed heap on the couch. 

 There isn't much, if anything left in old man winter. I was feeling sad about how quickly the darkness & rosy lamplight, early bedtimes & frosty mornings seemed to pass, but oh, that fresh violet breeze & sun starched laundry, you just keep on rolling.

 

 

 

 

meet ivy

 

 

the weather is definitely starting to turn here. yesterday zahra and i spotted leaves that were positively autumnal in tone, not because it's been so scorchingly hot but because it really is autumn now. the weather is sooooo much more mellow. no hunkering down inside after nine o'clock to avoid being frazzled. our house has cooled off completely and now i'm throwing open the windows to let the warm air in. we're living in one of those 40's double red brick homes that typifies the architecture of this town, (unless your counting the revolting developments that have been allowed to go ahead, replacing lovely old houses. local council ya'll know what i'm talking about) which seem to have their seasons all misconstrued. hot in summer, cold in winter. maybe you're living in one too. just means when we're in between seasons it could be short sleeve weather outside but inside we're all rugged up. it's exciting though. i love autumn, she's my favourite season. spring follows pretty close behind but nothing beats those mild days, chilly mornings, the colour, the golden light, thoughts of wool and hot chocolate, cinnamon and warm ovens. bring it on.  i feel like i completely missed autumn and winter last year, spring too now that i think back. we were deep in babyland, trying to catch some shut eye, working out our rhythm as a family of four. now we've emerged. not fully, we only have windows of time with which to work. two hours in the middle of the day, first thing in the morning or late afternoon. and quite frankly who could be bothered even trying to leave the house before niamh has to go back to bed, lucky duck, by nine. we flop around in our pyjamas instead, the girls playing while i get the laundry happening, breakfast cooked, dishwasher unstacked then restacked. i was thinking just now how lovely it would be to have a cleaning person. i was about to say lady, but who says they have to be a lady. that would rock. going out for a wee while only to return to a sparkly house, none of which i lifted a finger to do. however i would feel the need to tidy up before they came. hmmm. where was i more to the point. meet ivy, that's right. this is ivy. she likes sleeping in, lazy afternoons curled up in a sun filled corner of the house, taking long walks in her perambulator, lots of cuddles, being smothered in cosy bedlinen, and general laying about in comfy velour housewear. i made her for niamh's first birthday. the quilt and the cardigan are still works in progress, but ivy, ivy i managed to get finished before the big day. she even comes complete with her own little handstitched quilt that zahra sewed for her. i must admit i'm rather proud of ivy and have been spotted on more that one occassion snuggling with her. oh, and niamh loves her too. she has a round tum and i even gave her a little bottom. she's definitely not the grumpy type, unlike zahra's belle. sorry belle and zahra. this time i had success with a somewhat neutral expression. i used this tutorial rather loosely but it was definitely helpful. the hardest part i found, and only because i'm no good at it, was the mossy green jumpsuit. i love, love this colour, and a suitable autumn shade for my autumn babe i do think. but velour, hooley dooley what a nightmare to sew. i've never worked with stretch fabrics before, i even read up about them in my sewing machine manual, but still had a lot of trouble. in the end all was good and there she was. our ivy, well niamh's ivy.  there you go.

 

 

springtime quilt

 

 

 

ah, spring is nearly over. the air still has a chill to it some days but the blossoms disappeared long ago and the hills are beginning to turn the golden, straw colour of summer. this spring i finally finished zahra's birthday quilt. my very first quilt [exciting]. it was three years in the making, mainly because i couldn't settle on the right fabrics, which now means i have a heap of fat quarter bundles in my fabric stash. this time, instead of picking a quilting bundle i just let loose and keeping zahra's favourite colours in mind, went with my intuition, picking individual fabrics. pinks, purples and turquoise, with the odd splash of red. i used alicia's ollalieberry ice cream quilt for the design and construction, playing with the square size to suit my beginner's needs and the time constraints of having a newborn that didn't sleep much. after a little math to work out how much fabric i needed, i was really surprised how easy the whole process was. i must say i'm a little proud of this springtime quilt. it's light, cosy and fits my girl to a tee. 

 

 

 

 

that's her on the morning of her birthday after unwrapping it. made my heart swell it did. she's growing fast this not so little girl of mine. i embroidered a little message on the back so in years to come when she is snuggled deep in her springtime quilt she'll know how loved she is. now, what's one to do with all that left over fat quarter goodness? a quilt for niamh or a lap quilt for late night knitting? happy last days of spring my friends and happy weekending too.

 

 

 

fast, last minute birthday bunting

 

 

Yesterday was William's birthday. Presents were wrapped, a cake baked, paper chains hung and party hats made. Then half an hour before he was due home I decided to make bunting, because a) it was an excuse to sew, b) what's a party without a bit of bunting and c) I work best with impending deadlines. Zahra and I pulled out the fabric suitcases and picked out five fabrics from vintage sheets, fat quarter's, ticking and old shirts. My trusty assistant cut the triangles with pinking shears, while I traced using the template I'd kept from the last batch of last minute bunting I made. I have learnt to never throw templates away. With no ribbon or bias on hand that was long enough, I opted for a thick, wrapping string. At which point William called to say he was on his way home to which I responded that maybe he could go do something 'nice' for half an hour.

 

Off to the machine we went. Zahra sat under the table and worked the pedal to the instructions of stop, go, faster, while I stitched.

 

And before William walked through the door half an hour later we had it finished and hung. Super fast, super easy birthday bunting!

 

I love the go, go, gadget arms.

I think this idea of birthday stitching is fast becoming a tradition for our family.

Now to find a hook.

 

Happy Birthday my love

Cxo

PS: the cake, waiting for it's icing and roast hazelnuts, was Nigella's Torta Alla Gianduia.  So yummy.

autumn crafting

 

 

We are warm at last. Hooray! We can use our whole house now instead of camping in one room all day. Moving about again feels like I've just exhaled. So good. And now the sun is shining down on us to boot. We've been going crazy with simple little Autumn crafting projects of late. Autumn wreaths, felted acorns, gnomes and beeswax leaves. I do so think that delicious smell of beeswax fits Autumn so well.

 

 

Felted acorns had been on my crafting list for a few years. After Niamh was born I was itching to get my hands making again and this little project was perfect. Small and quick to fit in between feeds or settling, and it didn't have me staying up way past my bedtime. I've figured out I can do one late night, get up  a few times in the night to nurse and still function the next day without being cranky. But two nights, that's a different story. I'm a wreck the next day.

 

 

 

I try and head to our local (albeit 2 hours away) Steiner school for their Spring fair every year mainly to check out the craft stalls. The green gnome was made by a talented Mama there and he quickly became a stocking stuffer a few years back. I thought it was time he had a friend to visit with on our seasonal table. He was joined by a third gnome, which Zahra made and named Turquoi.

 

 

Yesterday we spent the afternoon in the kitchen dipping Autumn leaves in beeswax  then stringing them up in the window to catch that golden afternoon sunshine.

 

 

Oh gosh, I suppose I should clean those windows.

Happy last days of Autumn

Cxo

seeds & solstice

 

 

Today I found myself in the studio again.  The Crape Myrtle outside my window is bare except for its dangling seed pod jewellery. The river fairy wrens come to visit, sprucing themselves right outside my window. Becoming lost in the view is easy in this space. It feels like I finally have a nice little rhythm going after the lull of Summer. The cooler seasons always seem to get the creative juices flowing.

 

Inspired by the Ginkgo tree in our local botanical gardens, with its fan shaped leaves and intricate vein patterns, I tried out a new, extra fine, lino cutting nib. The Ginkgo is such an extraordinary tree, donning a beautiful golden coat in Autumn which slowly transforms into a full circle skirt for Winter. 

I bought some of those old library style envelopes, the sort that held the card on the inside cover of a book that the librarian would take out and mark the date with their roller stamp and ink pad.  I have a friend studying to be a librarian, how lovely to be surrounded by books and quiet all day. I imagine I'd get quite distracted in amongst all those books when reshelving the returns.

The envelopes I bought were for last Summer's seed saving. You see I  have grand plans of doing a small print for each plant and then labeling the envelopes with the prints. So far I've finished sage, the rest of the seeds are still in brown paper bags in a corner of our dining room. I'm wondering if they might get planted before even making it to the envelopes. After all Solstice is well, now, and a spring garden is just around the corner.

 

 

I used one of the envelopes to do a test print and before I knew it I had a tidy pile of printed envelopes.

 

 

The Gardens

 

 

The hill behind our home

 

 

Seaside

 

I think they'd make lovely little gifts in packs with some watercolour or cotton rag paper notes inside.

 

Happy Solstice, whether it be Winter or Summer wherever you are

Cxo

 

And a big thankyou to the lovely Mama who generously gave me this time today.

a few finds

 

 

I finally finished my craft swap treasure pouch. It's been waiting patiently for some french knots for a few weeks now.  It will be on it's way to Louise in New Zealand just as soon as I make my way to the post office. Check out Louise's beautiful blog Bibliographica and all her lovely, lovely handmade treasures.

 

 

Yesterday we headed South out of town and a sidetrip landed us at an op shop. There were a few finds including a pack of old zippers for $1, perfect for this zipper novice. I've been putting it off for too long... it's time! There was also a simple knitting pattern to be had for 80 cents, a poncho for Zah and a copy of Alexandre Dumas' version of The Nutcracker. Zahra has been asking for this book since last Christmas. But the best find of all was this...

 

 

...a lovely little ceramic vase for 99 cents, with a splash of blue and purple that reminds me of pansies and winter violets. When I unwrapped this treasure this morning Zahra quietly disappeared into the garden to find a sweet something for it to hold.

 

My girl loves her little arrangements just as much as I love my botanical collections. I'd been looking for something earthy to hold our nature collections, when, digging in the garden a few weeks ago, I came upon this piece of granite (I think). Fits the job perfectly.  

 

Cxo

collecting

 

 

Every morning Zahra and I lie in bed and chat about the day ahead. What we need to do and what we hope to do. While snuggling this morning Zahra came out with some of that six year old wisdom..."let's not plan anything, let's just see what the day brings". And so that's just what we did.

In amongst the baking, laundry, stories, drawing, visitors, music and phone calls I printed, sewed and pressed.  A plant press to be more precise, for all the botanical treasures that always seem to find their way into our home from the garden and our walks.

 My love of books means that not only have I progressed to a first name basis relationship with our regular postie van driver but that we also have a steady supply of cardboard. Cardborad that is perfect for my plant press plans. While I've been able to ignore the growing pile of book envelopes for the past four months the time came yesterday to make a dent in the stash.

 

 

With a makeshift press set up on the dining table this afternoon I found myself opening a fresh pot of relief ink and printing a plate I cut a few months back onto a piece of marine ply.  

 

 

Then sewing some webbing to snap locks

 

To make a press for my little collections.

Cxo

for the birds

Yesterday we made a little winter treat for our local birds. Birdwatching is a regular activity in our home, especially in winter when we can stay cosied up inside and watch the birds through the window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now we sit back and wait for our feathered friends

 

Cxo

window light

 

Yesterday we folded and glued for most of the morning. Well, it turned out that I did most of the folding, Zahra helped with the first one and then skipped off to play returning occasionally to find a new star for me to make. I really didn't mind, playing with paper and light is one of my favourites, especially if it means an extra hour or two of easing into the day with a cup of tea. The patterns these window stars make are so beautiful.

The designs came from Crafts Through the Year, a great little seasonal craft book. Easy instructions and heaps of designs to choose from. We used waxed kite paper which you can buy from craft stores (I think we bought ours here ). Seeing as its Autumn we chose earthy colours and then stuck them on our front window. I've posted a Make tutorial in the sidebar of 'one I prepared earlier' if you'd like to give it a go.

~Cxo~ 

P.S. Found this link at Dreamy Whites for natural egg dyes that I thought you might like. Those soft colours are something aren't they? Don't know if I'm doing it right but my cheeks are getting sore from egg blowing....pacing myself with two eggs each morning.

make

Earlier this week Zahra and I kickstarted our Solstice and Christmas crafting by making these sweet and simple clay decorations. They are a treat to whip up and are fun for littles too. As promised here is the tutorial so you can all admire your own handmade, seasonal keepsakes.  

SEASONAL KEEPSAKES

YOU WILL NEED

Cookie cutters in designs of your choice

Air dry clay

(we love DAS modelling clay which can be found in most art/craft stores or here)

Rolling pin

Stamps, lace, buttons, objects from nature...or anything that creates a pattern when pushed into the clay. Experiment with lots of different things, use your imagination!

Ink, watercolours, pencils for colouring your clay cookies

a nail file

scissors

a skewer or something similar to make a hole for hanging

ribbon or string

and lastly a ceramic, glass or marble board so the clay doesn't stick when rolling. I used a large ceramic outdoor tile that I found down in the garage. A wooden board with some freezer paper between the board and clay also works.

* * * * *

Now you're ready

Roll your clay until it is no less than 3mm thick

Press out your shapes using the cookie cutters

Decorate your shapes any which way you like.

Materials such as lace can be gently rolled over the clay, leaving it's pattern behind.

Objects from nature like leaves can also be gently rolled into the clay, then removed, leaving the

leaf outlines and veins imprinted in the clay

Painting can be done while the clay is wet or dry.

We like to stamp words into the clay while it is wet, this way it leaves an impression in the clay instead of sitting on top, creating a lovely texture. It also makes the tidying up part that we do later a whole lot easier. 

Using your skewer make a hole in each decoration where you want it to hang it from, making sure the hole is the right size to easily thread your string or ribbon 

Pop your decorations in a sunny or warm spot to dry. Don't forget to turn them over to dry the underside too.

When your decorations are dry you can tidy up the ragged edges and any unwanted marks using the nail file

Now your ready to thread your decorations for hanging

At this point you might want to seal your clay by spraying with enamel or painting with clear nail varnish. We love the earthy, raw feeling of the unglazed clay...just be careful not to get them wet!

Now you have some simple, seasonal keepsakes that you can use as gift tags, to decorate your Christmas tree, use as jar labels or even make a seasonal branch.

Happy Solstice and Christmas

~

warmly Chontelle

 

 

 

make

 

This project came about because I was wanting (not needing, I know there is a difference, but sometimes one can find many reasons to turn wanting into needing, like "I need beautiful magnets to  make looking at the bills a more joyful experience) some lovely magnets much like the beautiful ones gifted to me by a friend from  Little Nest  (below).

I'm a visual kind of gal so when my eyes are at ease my mind has space to be quiet. I truly believe that my home and my life are made more joyful by the small gestures of beauty that I can offer...even if it is something as small as handmade fridge magnets. 

 

To make your own repurposed,

EASY ON THE EYE MAGNETS

You Will Need

Old magnets ( I used old business magnets that were already on our fridge)

Craft glue

Scissors ( small ones that cut close) or a rotary cutter

Cutting mat

Fray Stop (optional)

Fabric scraps (heavier weight fabrics work better than light cottons as they are not see -through)

 

Cut your old magnets into any shape

 Keeping the shapes fairly sizeable allows the magnets to retain their strength 

 

 

Glue your magnets onto scraps of fabric

Allow to dry

 If your material is thin and the text or images from the magnet show through try peeling off the front sticker on the magnet or use two layers of fabric

 

If you don't mind frayed edges (above) then leave the next step out

Trim the material to within 2-3mm of the edge of the magnet as shown

 

Run the edge of the fabric through some Fray Stop

Make sure the fray stop is absorbed by the fabric beyond the edge of the magnet as shown

Allow to dry

 
 

Trim excess fabric

 

 
 

Happy making to you.

P.S. I'd love to see some of yor magnet ideas. Leave a comment and even an image of what creations you've come up with to please your peepers!