Felted sheep...

Here's a picture of Avril's little felt sheep we made with my 4-H kids at Foothills Academy. Thanks to Catherine of Foothills Farm for an educational and fun time learning about and working with fiber! Catherine is hosting a needle felted honey bees class and has a local honey bee farmer sharing about life with bees on Friday. Looks like fun, want to join me?

Repairing an old friend...

Sometimes an old friend needs a little help, a little work done. As I stitched a patch on my old Raggedy Ann Doll's leg, I was reminded of her journey.

In the 70's she became my doll, in all her red yarn hair glory, with her chest tattoo reminder that she loved me. I remember when my Dad said we were going to meet my future step sister who had red hair, I asked him: "Does she have red hair like my Raggedy Ann doll?"

I'm certain I played with Ann for several years, but for the rest of my childhood years and into adulthood I simply forgot all about Ann.

Then one day, when our daughter was about 9 months old, a large box arrived. I opened the box, and to my surprise there she was! Along with a little note from my childhood friend Terra reminding me that I had given Ann to her years ago, and that I had probably forgotten doing this and all about the doll. Terra had been waiting for me to have a baby girl to send her back to me. I cried tears of joy seeing Raggedy Ann! Instantly I peeked at her tattoo to see if she still loved me. Then through the tears I couldn't help but smile seeing my daughter give her a huge squeeze.
Today, Ann needed some more work: a nice red and white spotted felt leg patch. We are so happy this vintage Knickerbocker Raggedy Ann doll still loves us and we love her.

Tasty pasties...

We were headed to a “naughty & nice” themed holiday party at our friend’s house, but due to the lovely weather we sadly missed that party, as well a couple others. C'est la vie. But, I even made the perfect thing for those Dirty Santa gift exchanges! Tasty Pasties!


OK, shhhhhh, I’m a self taught, closet pasties maker. I needed a pair for someone’s Halloween costume, honest. So a friend of mine and I tried making them for fun, with success.

Looking for something fun for Valentines day? I can certainly make you a pair or show you how.

There is nothing like a little fun with feathers and some dark chocolate to go with it.

If you are not into “HOT” chocolate, I can always make you something a little different.

Email me for price and or details on making them together. Twirling tassel lessons, NOT included. Sorry.

So I was a little bored today...

OK, we are snowed in yet another day. No big deal, but I was looking for something fun to do that didn't require a dangerous sled trip into town. In the mean time, I went into the closet to hang up some clothes, and I saw this...


Do we really need to keep all the dry cleaner bags and hangers hanging in our closet? Even when there are no shirts left hanging in them?

So I do this...

And then I think about tossing it all away and think about all those poor animals that get injured by plastic bags. You've probably seen all the gross disturbing pictures of that. I'll spare you the photographic details, I mean it is almost Christmas and all.

But I can't imagine throwing all this away. Such waste! So in honor of the animals, I made a couple of these tacky lovelies out of bags and hangers to hang in our kitchen window.

Ah much better, and a big Merry Christmas to the animals I potentially saved by doing this. You too can save a few critters, just ask me and I'll show you how to do this easy peasy save some animals wreath.

Feeding feathered friends...

Our feathered friends can't get to any of the seed pods I leave in the gardens for winter snacking. So we're filling the feeders with seed. And today the kids and I made some simple bird treats.

Tie kitchen string on pine cones, then coat with peanut butter or Crisco, roll in birdseed, and hang from a metal hanger.

And a bowl of seed just outside the window makes great winter entertainment for our cat. Does this Spotted Towhee know it is eating out of her cat bowl?

Saving earth...

Over the years I have saved bits of earth from my travels. We add to it and display it in simple glass spice jars. These little mementos of color and texture, bring perspective and remind us of journeys and stories past. Our friends venture and return bearing samples for our collection too.

Ash from Mount Saint Helen's eruption in 1980; soil from Eureka Farm; pebbles and beach sand from summer boat trips to San Juan Islands and Canada; Costa Rica beach sand; sand from Lake Malawi, Africa; chunks of the Berlin Wall; fossilized sharks teeth we found on the beach at Top Sail Dunes North Carolina; Narragansett, RI beach sand, rocks and shards from my sister’s visit to Petra; soil from Roussillon, France; volcanic rock and beach sand from several Hawaiian beaches, and more.

And the journeys continue, tonight I add sand from a recent trip to The Big Island, Hawaii: and our morning at the lovely Kekaha Kai Beach Park.

With the winter winds blowing and snow on the way, it is hard to believe we were walking on this beach only a few weeks ago.

A new friend for Aidan... sack boy

Aidan has been playing the most amazing game: Little Big Planet.
The game play, creativity of the levels and the tools for building your own levels are incredible. I love watching Aidan play and build his own levels. It is an amazing interface, and even more amazing to see a 7 year old navigate and create amazing worlds with ease! Even Avril at age 4 can manage the easy levels.

You can't help but fall in love with the little sack boy characters you customize in the game. We tried to find where to purchase one for Aidan, but no luck. They are only available currently in Japan.

So leave it to me, I sewed him one out of felt by hand. Not an exact replica for sure, but quite similar. The little fellow is rough cut out a felt. A couple buttons for eyes, red embroidery thread for the mouth, and he was ready to play with in an hour. Aidan wants me to find sack boy a little top hat.

Aidan can't put him down. He takes the little fellow with him all over the house, sleeps with sack boy, and has me safe guard him when he's at school. It's a tough job, that little squirt keeps trying to jump all over the place!

Into the woods...Christmas Holly Trees

Every winter we venture out into our forested property in search of Christmas Holly Trees. This year we had help from our friends Molly, Max and Alex. On the last day of November, the sun was shining, beckoning us outside for the great holly hunt.

The kids road around scouting the trails with Matt on ATVs. While Molly and I climbed through the dappled sunlit forest, over logs and branches, to find the perfect holly trees.

These glossy green leaves and bright red berries are celebrated by Celts as a symbol for the coming winter solstice.

Although the berries were sparse on the lower branches, we clipped plenty to start decking the halls with.

My Hands Smell Like Rosemary

Rosemary grows with vigor in our kitchen garden. The kitchen garden is sheltered from harsh weather and has open southern exposure which is a perfect place for rosemary to thrive. Every year around this time, a couple weeks before the first frost, I prune the bushes back to maintain somewhat of a topiary shape.

This year the fragrant branches filled our little red wagon that Aidan gave me for Mothers Day years ago.

Instead of composting the branches, with a wire wreath frame and black ribbon, I decided to make two wreaths to hang in our entry way. To add a final touch to each wreath, a small cluster of grass, dried Eringium flowers and Crocosmia Lucifer seed pods were added. For smiles, I hid a black rubber spider on each wreath for the kids to find when they get home.