A Flower Shop

The other day, while the weather was beautiful outside, and the two little ones were not too motivated to go outside and instead were not getting along very well, I suggested they open a flower shop.

So outside they went with a pair of scissors for each and tray of "vases".

gathering the flowers on top of the chick tractor

Of course I had to buy some bouquets at just 50 cents each.

With Cardboard, Hot Glue, Tape and a Yogurt Container

Abby was flipping through my old magazines and came across this idea in an old Martha Stewart Kids and set right to work.

a car and truck garage

It is amazing how much play it is getting.   She made multi-levels, with ramps and that yogurt container with the evergreen branch in it is the car wash.  There is a gas pump too.

It has been getting lots of use.

Warm wishes,

Tonya

Blue Jay, Hobo, Man in Black, Pumpkin and Cowboy

Our children get so excited about Halloween each year. Talk was overheard as soon as the end of summer about costume plans.

This year each of them made and put together their own.  I have nothing creative to show you from my hands, it was all them this year. Abby even helped Abraham gather what he needed and she helped Sarah cut out her pumpkin shape and paint the cardboard.

the man in black from The Princess Bride

a hobo

pumpkin and cowboy

Abby consulting the bird book as she paints her face.

(Isaac wasn't feeling well, but he did manage to put on his old man's costume  together enough to go out with the others, but I wasn't able to snap a picture.)

Also, our family's business is part of a Vermont handmade team on etsy and we are offering a giveaway for  branch hooks and coasters at the team blog here.

Handwork in Progress

I am working on a pair of mittens for Abraham using this beautiful new shade of blue from Peace Fleece.  I have started offering some of their yarn in our shop.  They have a wonderful mission of paying smaller farms all over the world a fair amount for their wool.  Peace Fleece is based in Maine.   This picture didn't capture the blue as beautiful as it truly is.

Sarah is working on a wool felt alphabet banner.

Abby made this two finger puppet from the book Feltcraft for Abraham's Christmas gift.  Two fingers fit in the pants to make him walk.

Warm wishes for a beautiful day, Tonya

Tree Forts and Friends

Abby and Isaac who really are truly the best of friends, our 10 and 12 olds respectively, have built themselves a tree fort. 

They even have a pulley with a basket to summon their little sister when they need a snack.   I love looking out the window from the kitchen seeing them together, often working on their academic work.   Now to just keep encouraging them to build some short side rails......

Warm wishes, Tonya

Also, Two Little Seeds if having a giveaway for two of my knit gnomes. 

Pumpkin Painting :: A Simple Children's Craft

This is a simple natural painting activity for you to do with your children to add a touch of autumn splendor to your home.

We each started with a blank birch branch slice.

Using Lyra watercolor paints (these are just wonderful!), we each got to work.

Depending on your child's age and skill, you could drill a hole in the top and then carve the end of a branch to fit in the hole snugly.  Cut off top of branch to length of pumpkin stem you desire.

Each one was made by a different age level, in case you couldn't tell:)  We allow for creative expression through art.  I added a piece of wool roving to my pumpkin's branch stem.

We put our pumpkins on our seasonal shelf.

Warm wishes, Tonya

Make Your Own See Saw

After being inspired by this project in The Children's Year, my husband built this last evening in under an hour using found materials.

Warm wishes, Tonya

Violas and Birch

It has been lots of fun collecting these flowers with Sarah. And then as Isaac suggested (my 12 year old) - we put them in our big heavy dictionary on the same page as the entry for "flower" so that we can easily find them two days later.

We have been using branch slices to make tags, ornaments and these hangers with them. Thus far, I have used Modge Podge to adhere them and cover them.

We are also going to make birch bark bookmarks with the flowers on them for gifts as well.

Warm wishes,

Tonya

(Thank you for all the encouraging words. I will write more about that soon.)

Branch Suns

Inspired by this at Wabi Sabi Wanderings ~

We embarked on our own creative process. I encouraged the children to paint their own circles. We used birch slices.

As they painted their branches, my brain was swirling with the possibilities. The very tips of birch branches are these lovely multi-branch pieces. With holes drilled closely together around the slice, maybe a fuller branch wreath might take shape.

Here are the children's finished painted pieces. Today they are going to finish them up and we will screw them on the top of our rustic branch fence that borders a small portion of the pond.

Here is my piece that I left unpainted and applied our homemade beeswax oil finish to the faces.

~ I applied a bit of wood glue to the ends of the each branch before putting in the drilled hole. ~

Here it is finished and hung on the side of our home (the side you see as you drive up our driveway.

Warm wishes, Tonya