This is a teaser photo mosaic that shows just a little of what my friend and I have been up to lately. For the last two months, Eileen Straiton (of Little Acorn Learning) and I have been diligently working on our latest e-book. We had so many fantastic ideas and so enjoyed inspiring each other that we kept crafting and writing right up until our self-imposed deadline. Furthermore, we created so much content that we decided to release it as TWO e-books instead of one.

One book is our Advent and Saint Nicholas Festival E-Book, which offers poems, stories, songs, crafts, and myriad special ways that families, schools, or childcare professionals can celebrate the whole month of December with children. The advantage to doing so is that you get a more thoughtful, heartfelt approach to the holidays, with less rushing commercialism and more time in each other’s company while making and giving of yourselves. A measured, calm approach to the winter holidays gives children time to dream, live into the stories of their faith and the season, and count the days of Advent. Children can savor the passing of time with peaceful, delicious anticipation and gentle, useful activity, rather than experience the holiday as a single, frenzied, blowout day that is over all too soon. A peaceful Advent full of simple pleasures and togetherness is what they’ll remember later, not the package-ripping and specific, expensive gifts.

The other e-book we created is the Winter Festivals E-Book, and it’s full of ways to celebrate the festivals of Santa Lucia, Hanukkah, Solstice, Yule, and Christmas. Maybe now it makes sense that we have two offerings instead of one? See, the season of winter festivals is packed with beautiful symbols; messages of peace, hope, rebirth, brotherhood, generosity, and love; and so many inspiring and edifying traditions that it was tough to contemplate leaving out anything. And cold and dark days give us the opportunity to dive into the rich and various traditions that inform the winter festivals. This e-book also offers songs, ancient poems and carols, recipies, rhymes for circle time, caregiver meditations, crafts and natural decorations you can make, and a whole bunch of ideas for enjoying the many festivals of light.

We would be honored and delighted if you’d check out these e-books and spread the word a little. We have poured our hearts and souls into them.

It is our aim to provide nourishing opportunities for families and groups of children at school/daycare environments. Our content is firmly based in Waldorf instructional methods and theories of child development. We value the whole person—head, heart, and hands—both the child and the adult alike. We strive to be original, to use natural, affordable materials, and to create beautiful artwork and handwork without it being so complex that readers are intimidated. We strive to inspire and encourage frequent artistic expression and to share the joy and satisfaction of creating handmade gifts. We are Waldorf moms (and Eileen is a professional childcare provider) and we offer this work with love.

Here are a few “making of” shots from the last two months. I’d like to say thank you to my little helpers and models, Lucas and Asher, for being willing to go along with Mommy’s visions, and to Ian who tolerated my clutter of tools and supplies, my having four different holidays’ décor spread throughout our home at once for photo shoots, and my “Just a minute, I’m writing” excuses. I’m grateful for the opportunity to do this work.

We had been planning a family vacation in Eureka, but it didn’t work out. As a consolation prize we took the boys and the dog hiking in Auburn on Thanksgiving Day. We hiked about 5 miles and ate chicken sandwiches at a picnic table. It was absolutely perfect and exactly what we needed.

Do you ever wish you had a physical expression of all the many things your family is thankful for? Here is a simple project that can be just that. Hang this Thanksgiving Leaf Mobile over your dining room table or in your family room to decorate for the Thanksgiving holiday and remind your whole family of the bounty of blessings that you all share together.

Materials

• white circular paper coffee filters
• washable marker pens and spray bottle with water, or watercolor paints
• green floral wire
• two or three strands of raffia
• two sticks
• sewing machine or needle and thread
• scissors
• leaves to use as patterns (optional)
• pen (I used a silver pen, but any type will do)

Create Your Gratitude Leaves

Begin by coloring your paper coffee filters with washable markers. I suggest you use mostly autumn colors. You don’t have to color anything fancy and you don’t have to worry about white spaces in between the strokes of the marker pen.

Now lay your colored coffee filters on a clean dry surface and spray them gently with water from your spray bottle. Because you are using coffee filters, the water will wick throughout the paper, spreading out your ink. The colors of the marker pens will blend together, making a beautiful wash. (Alternatively paint your coffee filters with watercolors.)

Let the filters dry. Once dry, they won’t adhere to the work surface.

Now, fold each coffee filter circle in half and cut out a leaf shape, using real leaves as patterns, if you wish. You may want your leaves to be all the same type, varying only in size. Or, you might like to have many types of leaves. Cut out a bunch of paper leaves (I made 31).

With your family’s help, write what you all feel thankful for on the leaves. Write the name of each family member and pet on leaves. Write down the material things you enjoy, such as a house, a car, and food to eat. Also write abstract concepts such as safety, peace, harmony, education, freedom, friendship, and health. You may be surprised by what your children are grateful for, when they give you their ideas.

I bet that once you start counting your blessings, you’ll have no trouble creating many gratitude leaves.

Create Your Thanksgiving Leaf Mobile

Your leaves are ready now. It’s time to sew them into a long string or banner that will hang vertically from your mobile. The simplest and fastest way to do this is by using a sewing machine set on a long stitch or very wide zigzag stitch. (You don’t want a short stitch because many needle holes very close together may actually cut your leaf into halves as you sew it.)

You want a fairly long “tail” of thread on your first leaf, as this thread will tie the whole sewn string of leaves to your mobile. While you’re sewing, allow the machine to continue sewing even off of the leaf. This results in a string of interlocked thread that provides some spacing in between your gratitude leaves and allows for additional motion in your mobile. Consider feeding the leaves into the sewing machine in a variety of orientations. If you do this, you’ll create a windswept look instead of a static look that would result in leaves pointing all the same direction.

See how the leaves come off the back of the sewing machine, with some space in between them? Sew several strings of leaves. Four or five strands works very nicely. Remember not to trim your threads yet! (You can also create these leaf strands by doing a running stitch by hand with a narrow needle and thread.)

Next, construct your stick hanger. Cross your two sticks in the centers and use the floral wire to bind them together. Wrap the wire around both twigs in all directions until they feel securely bound together. This is also the time to make a wire loop that will serve as a hanger for your mobile.

You can get fancy here if you want by adding some real or artificial fall leaves and berries to the top by poking them into the wire. Just keep in mind that the most beautiful part of your mobile should be your gratitude leaves. Whether you choose to add decorative items or not, disguise the wire by wrapping some raffia strands around the joint.

Find a place to hang your crossed sticks at about shoulder level so you can work on the mobile with both hands, or get a helper to hold it for you. Now tie your leaf strands to the ends of each stick by their extra long top threads. If you have enough, also tie a strand to the center of the mobile. Last of all, clip any extra thread from the tops and bottoms of your leaf strands.

Hang your mobile somewhere prominent in your home, perhaps where some airflow may move it or where autumn sunshine might make it shine. When you look at it, you’ll see how very blessed and grateful you and your loved ones are. Blessed be!

This, my friends, is Flygon. Flygon is a Pokémon, a Ground and Dragon type, to be exact. Asher loves dragons, loves this chartreuse color, and loves coming up with challenging Halloween costumes. At first he was talking about being the Grim Reaper. I think he got it into his head that big kids go for scary costumes and wanted to do the same, but I drew the line. I think five-year-olds aren’t really ready for scary costumes. So when Asher picked Flygon out of an old Pokédex book, I said yes and kept my doubts private.

This costume is more involved than anything I’ve made to date. It started with some green fabric and some red duct tape. I had no pattern, but I did have the experience of making the rainbow dragon tail last year. Figuring out how to make the stipes on the tail concentric was a bit tricky for me. I consulted with my pro costumer friend Nicole to get her advice before I did any cutting. I bought a white cotton sweatsuit from Dharma Trading Company and some chartreuse dye. That was great because I’m not much of a seamstress. But just dyeing the outfit took half a day. I worked on this costume little by little over about a week. The wings were bumble bee wings until I pulled off the yellow fabric and bent them into diamond shapes. Ian helped me recover the wing wire with fabric and hot glue; we needed several hands. Then we added the red tape to the edges. The tail piece is made of cardboard, covered in the same wing fabric, and then outlined with red tape.

This is what we were going for. Super cute, right?

I think it turned out pretty well! I sewed the tail and stuffed it with a little wool and then some bubble wrap. There’s a coat hanger inside that made it stand up and wobble around nicely when he walked. It tied around his middle and was also supported by suspenders that he wore underneath his hoodie.

I had just enough dark green to make the head spikes. They are stuffed with wool and hand-sewn to the hood of the shirt. He liked when they flopped over his face.

The glasses we bought years ago for Burning Man. I think they made the costume. I really feel that I sneaked up on this costume. I pondered and plotted a lot before I did anything, and I took it on one bite at a time.

At the last minute, Asher decided he had to have green and red makeup too. No problem. I’ve got that!

I love the way he got into character!

I am kind of amazed he was able to keep up with all the big kids that night. He enjoyed trick-or-treating immensely.

And now it’s time to remove the head spikes so he can wear the hoodie.

I try not to get too sentimental about my children growing up. They grow. They are made to. They strive and learn and change and discover and grow every day, with or without my consent. And I approve. Most of the time I am too busy being astounded and amazed by their leaps of intelligence, judgement, compassion, and understanding, and feats of strength and skill to be the least bit sad about their not being babies anymore.

These are pants and shorts and pajamas that my mother and I have for Asher to wear. They were sewn for him and made with love (and in my case, with mistakes and a fair amount of learning frustration). They are all too small for Asher now, and I have sent them on their merry way to another sweet boy (and his baby sister) who may get some further use out of them. They are not the first set of handmades to be passed along, and they certainly won’t be the last. Growth and change are guaranteed.

Nevertheless, I was sentimental enough to take a photo before passing them on. These clothes are loved, soft and colorful, and unique in the world. They are special not only because they once covered my sweet son’s soft skin, but because they were created with loving hands and clever tools and eyes for detail. They are special because they were made first in our hearts before they came to be objects in the world.

May they be useful in the years to come, until they are once again outgrown.

Halloween was a big deal for us this year. Big projects, big fun. Today I’ve been so tired that I just felt like trying to put our home back together again, creating some order out of the costuming chaos, and getting back to normal (chaos). More about Halloween later, but …

I meant to make these groovy witch finger cookies on Halloween, but there wasn’t time to do it. I wondered if I could use a similar recipe to create something fun for Dia de los Muertos. Honestly I didn’t know if these would work.

1 cup butter softened (which to me means microwaved for 35–40 seconds after being in the fridge; is that what it really means?)
3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups whole wheat flour
flowery sprinkles or stars (optional)

Cream together butter and sugar, add vanilla and almond flavorings, and then add in flour, a half cup at a time. Roll about a tablespoon of dough into a ball. With the end of a big spoon, chopstick, or other poky object, poke two eye holes. With a knife, draw a mouth line. With the tines of a fork, make a quick stroke up from the mouth line to make upper teeth, and another stroke down to make lower teeth. With a narrow skewer or similar object, make a little triangle nose hole. Now with your thumb and forefinger pinch the jaw of your face a little to make it narrower than the cranium. Place the skull on a greased cookie sheet. The most important feature of your caldera is the eye holes, so if they’ve become too squished while making the other features, use the same eye-hole making object to poke the eye holes again to make them nice and round and dominate the skull shape. Do this a bunch of times till you use up all the dough. Asher (5 years old) enjoyed making skulls too, and his are pretty great.

Now, if you want your calderas skulls to be flowery, push some flower sprinkles or stars, or whatever into the skulls. Personally, I think a few flowers go a long way toward creating the Dia de los Muertos look. I didn’t put flowers on all of my cookies and the plain ones look pretty cool too.

Here they are baked—simultaneously cheerful and spooky—and ready to eat. They got a bit bigger in the baking, but kept their basic shape beautifully. By the way, I used whole wheat flour because that’s what I had. Because of the whole wheat flour, I upped the sugar to 3/4 cup. Your skulls will look whiter if you use all purpose flour, and you might not need as much sugar.

How’s that for a recipe post created late on the night of the holiday for which it is appropriate? OK, night-night. I hope you’ve had a lovely day and that you were were able to take a moment to remember those you love who have passed out of this world. Remember them fondly.

So inviting, this golden tree, shining in the setting sun.

Impossible to resist, with its rustling leaves like stained glass of every warm hue.

It doesn’t take long for a boy to find his way up.

Stretching and climbing, gilded by light,

into the heights, where no one can reach and he is best and bravest.

This is a post about turning something we made a couple of years ago into something new. We made these terrific homemade felt Halloween decorations in 2009. I love them, and every year since then, we’ve hung them up on the walls of our home and in windows for the holiday. This year, we made a few more and turned them into a banner. (I love banners because the decorations don’t have to sit on flat surfaces of our home. We have plenty of things sitting on tabletops and shelves as it is.)

I admit it’s kinda wacky to break out the crafting stuff at 7 p.m. on a school night, but that’s what we did. Daddy was out and I wanted something fun to do with my kids, rather than just wrangle them into bed. So I pulled out the felt and we got to work!

Asher (5) designed a monster by drawing it on paper. He had a bit of trouble cutting the felt with our crummy scissors, so I cut out the pieces for him. He had total artistic control. I just executed it for him.

This is what we made in one 40-minute session. Lucas (10) was engrossed (ha!) in making a zombie head. It’s missing an eye and its skull is showing through. “It’s got to hang upside-down, Mom!” OK!

So, anyway, here’s how to do this fun craft, if you’re so inclined.

Materials

• felt in Halloween colors (orange, gold, yellow, white, black)
• scissors
• white glue
• bias binding tape (1 inch wide, about 3 yards)
• straight pins and push pins/thumb tack
• needle and thread (optional)
• googly eyes and fabric paint (optional)

Tutorial

Your project starts out looking something like this: kitchen table, kids, piles of felt bits. Working with felt for this project is a whole lot like making things out of construction paper, so if you can channel your inner grade school student, you’ll be fine.

Ask yourself and your kids, what means Halloween to you? What kind of creatures would you like to make? Older children might like just a touch of creepiness in their creations. Younger children might prefer to stick with jolly jack-o’-lanterns and friendly ghosts. Here are some ideas to get you thinking: ghosts, jack-‘o-lanterns, witches, spiders, bats, monsters, dracula, skulls, skeletons, coffins, gravestones, haunted mansions, creepy hands, zombies, owls, scary dogs, etc. Just be sure to gear your creations to the ages of the children in your household. (Nobody wants to feel afraid at home.) Remember, googly eyes make anything—ANYTHING—cute. A felt Dracula with a smile—also cute.

Felt has got to be the most forgiving fabric in the world. You can cut it and layer it and you never have to seam anything or make it perfect. It sticks to itself beautifully, so you can place a piece, see how you like it there, and then move it elsewhere if you don’t, until you have a design you’re happy with. Furthermore, the synthetic felt is cheap at $0.20–$0.29 per sheet, which means you don’t have to worry about turning it over to kids with scissors.

So, decide what you’re making. Draw the creature first, or just start cutting. It’s your choice. Cut out the main shape of your creature first. Then cut other, smaller pieces for eyes, mouth, clothing, hair, teeth, etc. out of a contrasting color. Arrange them on top of the main shape until you’re satisfied, then apply some white glue to the topmost piece and lay it onto the felt creature. Add googly eyes or fabric paint for details if you wish. Let it dry. That’s it. Repeat for as many creatures as you’d like to make.

You can now hang your creatures in windows or on walls, or even suspend them from trees if you like. But if you want to make a banner, lay out your bias binding tape on the floor. Place your Halloween creatures along the tape in a pleasing way. Maybe your kids have an opinion about which ghoulish guy goes next to what creepy critter?

You can either sew each creation in place, or if you’re in a hurry like me—or if you might want to use these critters again in a different way another year—just pin them to the bias binding tape using straight pins! If you pin from the back, you won’t see the head of the pin on the front of the banner, and chances are you won’t see the pin shaft at all.

Now find the center of the banner and the center of the wall where you want to hang it. Using a push pin/thumb tack, hang the center of the banner. Stretch out one side at a time, make sure the bias binding tape is flat against the wall without any twists, and then tack the ends. If you only pinned rather than sewed your creatures onto the bias binding tape, you can even adjust their positions at this point.

You can also make corners by pinning or sewing critters to each other.

Happy crafting!

[Shared on Natural Suburbia’s Creative Friday, 10/26/2012]

This is what Asher’s Waldorf Kindergarten has been working on for the last couple of weeks to celebrate Michaelmas: a cape of light dyed with marigolds (and a little dye to boost the color), a finger-knitted belt he made, and his sword.

He sanded the wood carefully three times, each time making it as smooth as he could. Then he stained the pieces a golden yellow. Then he assembled it, placing two little bits of silver paint (iron) into the blade where it meets the hilt. Older children in the (mixed-age, two-year) Kindergarten get to make their swords. The younger children have to wait until next year.

Making a sword at school is a big deal and a big responsibility. This is his first sword and he made it himself.

All the while, the children were learning Michaelmas songs and were told the story of the humble boy, George, who, with Archangel Michael’s help and a sword forged from iron from the stars, defeats a dragon and saves the all the people of the land.

And this is what he was told when he was given his finished sword to take home:

“Listen, Asher, to the words I say.
Your sword you may take home today.
We know your heart is brave and true.
Courageous, strong in all you do,
Michael will always be with you.
Now you are a knight of Michael.”

I am a knight, kind and good,
Helping others as I should.
I am a knight, gentle and true,
Bringing love to all I do.

I’ll use this sword for the right,
Not for some silly quarrel or fight.
But to drive away evil, I will try,
And protect those who are weaker than I.

(I had to give Asher a small piece of chocolate to get these photos. It was worth it.)

Candlelight is favorite way to illuminate October evenings, and what says October more than jaunty, glowing pumpkin faces? These pumpkin globe lanterns can be made by children of all ages with your supervision. The process is simple and the materials are inexpensive. Why not create a jack-o-lantern that you can enjoy year after year?

Materials

• tissue paper in yellow and orange
• wax-coated strings in yellow or orange (brand names are Wikki Sticks and Bendaroos)
• globe glass candle holder
• mod podge and a paintbrush or foam applicator

Begin by gathering your materials. The first step in the project is optional. If you want your pumpkin globe lantern to have the iconic vertical rib lines of a real pumpkin, gently squish the end of a wax string to the top edge of the globe. Guide it down the side and squish the other end to the bottom of the globe. Repeat this for as many lines as you like, placing the wax stings equidistant to each other. You might want to omit one line that would naturally appear at the pumpkin’s face. These lines will be visible when the candle is lighted in the finished pumpkin.

Rip your yellow tissue paper into small pieces. You won’t need much. Now apply a small amount of mod podge to your glass and apply a small piece of yellow paper. This is your first eye. Smooth the paper with more mod podge and the applicator or paintbrush. Add a second eye, a nose, and a long mouth. The shapes of these pieces of tissue don’t matter all that much. Smooth them all down.

At this point, your face might not look much like a face. You’ll use your orange tissue paper to define your pumpkin’s features next. Rip your orange tissue paper into small pieces. (Alternatively, rip some small pieces and then rip some into strips about 6 inches long.)

Using your small pieces of orange tissue paper, apply them around your pumpkin’s eyes, nose, and mouth. Now is your opportunity to define your pumpkin globe lantern’s personality. Small children may prefer smiling, happy pumpkins. Older children might enjoy figuring out how to make theirs spooky. Does the pumpkin have squinty, frowning eyes or a snaggletoothed grin?

When your pumpkin is mostly découpaged with tissue, turn it over and cover the bottom of the glass globe. You’ll have to let it dry in this position, setting on its top rim.

If you wish to use long strips of paper, your in-progress pumpkin lantern will look like this photo above. You’ll add adjoining strips, working your way around until the whole globe is covered.

Now you have to wait patiently while the mod podge dries. Examine your pumpkin for any thin spots or places uncovered by tissue. Add or patch as needed. The more layers of paper you add, the better defined the pumpkin’s features will be.

Fill your pumpkin globe lantern with some rocks, gems, or sand, add a tea light or votive, and wait for nightfall to meet your pumpkin friend in all his glowing glory. It will happily share its light during chilly autumn nights.

It’s nice to have a friend in the darkness.