A Hopping Easter Indeed: Baskets, Bunnies + Bogs.

Easter passed with a fluttering of the eye--here and gone before I knew it. Noah was up at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning to seek the stash left by ol' cottontail. So excited that many of his eggs contained bouncy balls to add to his ever-growing collection, he barely noticed the few that did contain a few of his favorite treats. After an exhaustive hunt, we settled down to an oral tall tail tale with felt hand and finger bunny puppets finished in just the nick of time (Fern's got a little stitch or two well into the next day...but, shhhh, she'll never know).

Dean took Monday off and we found ourselves enjoying the cool but sunny day exploring the Sifton Bog. A boardwalk over the bog extends along for most of the main trail and dead ends at a small pier overlooking a pond surrounded by wild cranberries and brush dotted with tiny orange butterflies. The smaller trails that wrap around the outer skirts of the bog were thick with bush and fallen trees--all excellent fodder for the small herd of white-tailed deer spotted nibbling for a late afternoon bite. 

The holiday weekend was all that it promised to be and I am once again reminded of how fun holidays are with little ones around. They infuse the day with such wonder, excitement and awe--the simple little things that bring the kind of pleasure that is harder and harder to often come by as we age.

peter, polly, paul + pedro.

6:00 a.m. hunt

cracked eggs

dos hikers

pier snack

"there are FISH in there!"

bog baby

bog fauna

Hoppity Hopping Into Easter: Felt Bunny Crafts + Naturally Dyed Eggs.

Easter is a wee on the early side this year, but with the spring-like weather I don't mind a bit. We gave another go at coloring eggs with natural dyes this year and achieved the most beautifully muted shades of pinks and yellows using combinations of freshly grated red beets and ground turmeric. I have a hunch that I enjoyed the process more than my little cottontail, but once it comes to seeking out those little beauties from beneath bushes and behind trees he'll be happy we did.

Easter crafting, too, has hit full swing as I busily prepare handmade goodies for Noah and Fern's baskets. Last year, a half dozen crocheted eggs and two bunnies--one knitted and one sewed felt (a la our Waldorf class)--were all I could muster. This year, I am hitting the felt crafts big time thanks to these too-sweet-for-words bunny finger and hand puppets over at The Purl Bee. To be perfectly honest, the whiskers on the finger puppets gave me a hell of a time the first go round. But the rest was as easy as pie. So, whip out your sewing needles and give these little hoppers a go--you've still got time!

Love Is . . .

apple lentil & walnut muffins with beet-dyed cream cheese

cotton yarn in terracotta

fresh berries in february

his favorite chair

knitted valentines

gifts for sweeties

vitamin d in the wintertime

Happy Valentine's Day!

Busy Hands, Happy Heart.

Living in Canada has gifted us a few things-- an appreciation for true seasons, an intimate understanding of numb toes, "free" health care and most applicable to this post, a knack for crafting. I don't mean the popsicle stick and construction paper variety either. I am referring to the type that requires various needles, practice and patience--lots of patience.

My very sweet friend (and first crochet and knitting teacher), Asami, told me just before we moved that I'd return to Los Angeles a clever and crafty crow in the arts of knitting, crocheting and sewing. I chuckled then with doubt and chuckle now, again, at my error. I am still a novice, an amateur, a consummate beginner, but I have begun to fill the home with lots of handmade goodies as I putter along the long road to learning. She'd be proud.

Most recently, I finished a crocheted heart garland to don some mantle or window of the house for the month of February and just last night, I put the *finishing touches* on a re-purposed cotton sweater dress for little Fern after being inspired by these super sweet sweater pants (which are also on the "to-do" list--I am quick felting an old sweater of mine in the wash as I type). It took only two (late) nights and, et voila! It's plenty far from perfect--it's super bulky, the fabric lining has drastically limited the natural stretch of the cotton knit and as time passes I have already devised two revisions that I will make in the coming days--but it was fun to make and very fulfilling to complete something so functional with my own two hands.

Be on the look out friends (ahem, Dean)...you may be receiving knitted underwear for the holidays this year.

The Summer That Was: Babies, Roadtrips & Poutine.

Home Sweet Home.

One nervous meltdown, four toll booths, one rain-drenched car interior (don't ask), and 2,000+ miles of roadway later, w e a r e h o m e and I am woefully late blogging about it. We've been home for several weeks now, but getting back into the swing of things has taken longer than I anticipated.

For starters, we had our dear friend, Gabe (of the band, bikos--check them out here and here!), out for a visit from Los Angeles. Every time friends visit us from the sunny southwest, I ache for it's golden shores even more--I m i s s home. His visit passed with a blur (time flies when you're having fun!) and ended with heaps of potine--a Canadian, or should I say, a Montreal-ian delicacy, that Dean and I had been putting off trying until that perfect moment--and so, with Gabe, on a rainy and chilly Sunday evening it was to be tried for the first time. I hate to say it, but it was sinfully delicious. Who could resist fries topped with cheese curd, gravy and any other heart clogging topping one could dream of?

Gabe & Noah--boys, being boys.

But now that summer has halted abruptly into 50 and 60 degree temperatures this week, I must reflect back on the summer that was . . .

Summer 2011 brought with it sweltering heat, drenching humidity, a new baby girl and a three-week road trip from Canada to North Carolina and back. Are we crazy? Perhaps. Nuts even? I am sure of it. If not before this trip, than certainly after. Traveling with a nearly 3-year old toddler and a nearly 3-month old baby was harrowing, confusing, exhausting, hilarious and downright completely insane.

Here was our harrowing road trip route: Niagara Falls, Baltimore, Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, Raleigh, Greenville, Emerald Isle and Fayetteville in North Carolina, D.C., West Virginia, Pennsylvania, upstate New York--and a few more little stops in between. We went to pools, beaches, mountains, museums, a baseball game (which we sadly do not have any pictures of) and visited more family in more places than you can shake a stick at (pictures of the roadtrip warriors here).

All-in-all it was a fantastic trip--a vacation, not so much. But that kind of goes without saying when traveling with kids. The drive from Carolina to Canada was actually somewhat pleasurable. We had finally mastered the stop and go rhythm needed for naps, playtime and drive times to coincide happily. Therefore, you may have noticed that there are many more picture collages on the back side of the vacation travels for just that reason. On the front side there are very few--and the reason is simple--it was worth forgetting.

Since we've been back, I've been one crafting mama. Thanks to the incredible Lotta Jansdotter simple sewing book for babies and toddlers given as a gift from my sweet friend Cyndy, I've been one bib, drool kerchief and giraffe rattle making lady! And, so much so that I have been derelict on my task of getting to work on Halloween costumes.

Fernie Drool Kercheifs.

With our Parent & Child Program at Waldorf resuming and Dean returning to a teaching schedule this week, I hope to also gain a bit of normalcy in my routine with the kids. Since Dean has had only a partial schedule since the birth of Fern in May, this will be my first stint entirely on my own with the two maniacs. How I will fare is yet to be seen. Especially with winter just around the bend. Winter, in London, Ontario, uugghh, uugghh, uugghh.

In the meantime, we'll harvest our pole beans and frolic outdoors as long as Father Fall permits!

An Egg-tastically Homemade Holiday--And Other Easter Fun!

Half a dozen homemade crocheted eggs and hand-sewn mommy and baby felt bunnies for Noey's Easter basket. For the quick and easy egg pattern, visit this cute crafty site: "Easy Makes Me Happy".

Easter Friday at Thames Park.

Easter Saturday after the Children's Museum egg hunt.

Easter Papa at the bunny ear craft table.

This month has been a trying month no doubt. Turning 32 took a deep backseat to a quick stomach flu bout followed by the month-long influenza that I had been battling...which all proceeded two popped ribs. The pain of that, my fellow readers, rivaled that of natural, pain-med free, childbirth--no joke. It seems that a deadly combination of pregnancy (when women's bodies produce the hormone, relaxin, which naturally loosens the joints) and strenuous and rigorous bouts of yard work, yoga and nighttime coughing is what did the dirty work. Dean took the week off work to allow me rest and several chiropractor visits--my ribs are thankfully, thankfully on the mend.

But with with only a month or so now before our little bambinette arrives, there is little time to rest. I have so many crafting projects in the hopper before her arrival that the list extends to several pages of my notebook. Of these, I have at least finished a few of the Easter ones that I had in mind--sans the crocheted Easter basket for Noey, which will just have to wait until next year!

So far this holiday weekend has turned out to be lovely. We had been enduring continued wintry and blustery days of rain mixed with hail and flurries this week. But, tomorrow, Easter Sunday, it seems is forecasted to be sunny and warm. So, off we'll head for a third day of enjoying the great and fickle Canadian outdoors.

Hoppy Easter to All!

The Handmade Home.

Life has been especially busy this past week--but for all of the right reasons. The craft bug had apparently bitten as I found myself using a lot of my down time keeping my hands in full-on making mode.

With my new modest crafting table set up in a cozy corner of the family room and my sewing machine fresh from a much needed tune-up, I found myself inspired to take on several projects at once. I am still very new to sewing and even newer to knitting, so my projects and the finished products can, at best, only be deemed humble attempts with great aspirations. Nevertheless, Noah now has a new fuzzy gray mouse (a craft begun at our Waldorf mom & tot weekly program) for imaginative play to add to his handmade toy collection, our stairwell dons a new curtain (to help prevent the next door neighbors from seeing directly into our upstairs bathroom)--purposefully (I hope that is apparent?) made a little short to still allow in a little bit of sunshine--green linen dishrags, and the beginnings of what will be a doll for Noah (for both imaginative play and in hopes of easing the transition when the new baby arrives--he can have a baby to call all his own).

In the true spirit of handmade craftiness, I began attending a knitting circle this week. It's two-toddler free hours with a gang of old ladies clucking in British accents and a stay-at-home Japanese Daddy friend that recently joined the mommy group I formed here, "The Green Moms of London". Included is a very large and enthusiastic black lab named Huxley and a fluffy unnamed lap cat who is surprisingly immune to all of the yarn flying about the parlor. I think that from the outside we must make for an awfully motley crew. But I have to honestly admit that several hours twice a month of focused and self-indulged anything utilizing my poor orphaned brain sans interruptions and tantrums is so worth it--and the muffins and tea aren't too bad either. Plus, in just 3 months or less, I'll have another human being needing every loving second of my attention and breasts. So, I realize that I better enjoy this taste of freedom while it lasts. And, hell, what else are you supposed to do in this blasted snowy small town?!

All in all, I truly enjoy the process of using my hands to create as much as I enjoy the satisfaction that comes from finishing and using what I've made. One day I'd like to have a truly handmade home--one in which nearly everything has been thoughtfully crafted by me for the use of those I love. But for this week, the dishrags, the mouse, the curtain, and partially made dolly will have to do.

As an aside: For any knitting (as well as crochet, embroidery, paper crafts, felting, sewing, etc.) lovers out there, here is an absolutely beautifully inspiring website based out of SoHo, New York (they own a yarn shop there), that I have longingly drooled over for at least a year now. It is only recently that I may actually be able to try and craft some of the simply magical creations pictured and patterned there: www.purlbee.com. I could comb through their archives for days . . . enjoy!

Love, By Hand--Crocheted Valentines.

Okay, so these are no gleaming copies of the beauties over at the purl bee--those cute little inspirations that I spoke about just the other day--but for my first crocheting attempt ever, I'd say they are a.o.k. Crocheting is much, much harder than it looks. Who ever thought that pulling a loop of yarn through another teeny tiny loop with a long hooked needle was a good idea? Probably the same man who thought pantyhose, bras, and thongs were a good idea too. Not to throw the tradition of crocheting in with lingerie, but it's h a r d and just about as tiring as a persistent wedgie.

But, I'm excited to have a new notch on my crafting belt . . . and my Valentines here at the homestead got one of these hard-won beauties and (the other I made on Weds.) on that dreamy day of love at the end of all of the toil.

I hope you and yours enjoyed a love day as lovely as I.

xoxo

Happy Hearts Day: A Day For Love, Kisses & Crafts.

The day of love, of romance, of sweet tart candy hearts, of trading pieces of paper that contain mushy sentiments, is upon us and I simply love this day. Not for the aspect of hyper commercialism surrounding it--cheesy Kay's Jewelers commercials, boxes of cheap chocolates decorated with silk flowers, cards with pre-bought/pre-thought generic messages in them--but because it is a day that forces us to slow in our hurried daily pace and remember to say "I love you" to all of those that we hold dear.

This week, Noey Finn and I had a few mama/baby friends over for a make-a-card-for-daddy afternoon. It was an opportunity to meditate out our own heartfelt messages of love into cards made by hand. And though the mamas ended up doing most of the crafting with the exception of a glued button or red scribble here and there, it was a ton of fun had by all.

Dean and I went for a date in St. Valentine's name last night--we ventured to a sheik little pub in Culver City specializing in artisanal craft microbrews called Father's Office. The munchies were fair but the beer was divine. While I sipped away on an exotic ale, Dean ventured into more hearty and frothy lagers. After a few vows to talk no more about Noah and kids in general, our conversation drifted into territory more similar to those had before bearing a child--when we were just us--before we became three. Though the whole event was an extensively pared down version of the more extravagant ways we used to celebrate during the 8 years before Noah, it was just perfect for us now.

Today, I am crafting for Valentine's again with Asami and Kai--we hope to make these incredibly so, so sweet crocheted cards that Asami found on "the purl bee". Most of the action probably will not occur until we wrangle the babes into bed. But once we do, we are expecting sheer cuteness-by-hand.

Tomorrow, on Valentine's Day, Dean, myself and Noah Finn are headed for a family picnic on the beach in Malibu and perhaps some fresh seafood by sunset. We may even spend a few minutes perusing the area for a possible new homestead, but more about that later. In the meantime, we intend to spend Valentine's Day together as a family--doing what we love to do most--being together. We hope you will be spending it in the same way too.

Happy Hearts Day from us to you.

Birthdays By Hand.

Our time spent here in North Carolina so far has been lovely. It's been quite a bit cooler than the warm 70 degree weather that we are used to in sunny socal--and we may even get an early white Christmas tomorrow *fingers crossed*.

Aside from visiting with tons of family and struggling to keep up with my busy little guy who is taking more and more steps towards his first birthday both figuratively and literally, I am also busy at work putting finishing touches on his birthday crafts that I had begun in L.A.

Because many of our friends' tots back west will also soon be celebrating first birthdays, and seconds, I thought that I would share some of what I've been up to in the case anyone wants to craft together an eco-friendly celebration too! Making your own party decorations not only allows you to customize your party wares down to the smallest detail, but it also makes for an incredibly loving and eco-savvy way to decorate with handmade wares that you'll have to reuse and create traditions with for many birthdays to come.

All of the following craft ideas are surprisingly easy and a whole lot of fun to make! So pull out that sewing machine or needle and thread and craft together a birthday bash!

P.S. I'll be sure to post pictures from the festivities this weekend.

Fruity Birthday Cupcakes

• Okay these aren't a sewing craft necessarily but they are a kitchen craft, indeed! The recipe can be found at my "Feeding Little Foodies" website.

Fabric Flag Banner

1. Draw a large triangle on a thick piece of paper, preferably cardstock
2. Trace the shapes onto the back of your chosen fabrics
   
3. Place cut out triangles, two-by-two, together front to front--the back side of fabric facing out and the two patterned sides facing in
4. Sew along two pointed sides of the triangle leaving the third top flat side unsewn
5. Continue to sew flags until you have enough to create your desired length of banner
6. Turn flags inside out through unsewn top edge so that you now see the front of the pattern and the back of the fabric is inside of the flag, unseen
   
7. Choose a long strip of fabric or ribbon
8. Pin each flag to the strip of fabric or ribbon by folding the ribbon over the top of each flag
9. Leave about 2 inches of space between each flag
10. Sew along the top third edge of each flag so that it attaches to the ribbon
    
11. *extra*: if time permits, get creative and personalize it with a name, initials, or the event name

Double Sided Cupcake Wrappers

1. Download and print template from here
2. Trace template on the backside of your chosen paper
3. Cut out template shapes
4. Place two shapes back to back so that the front of the paper is showing on both sides
5. Glue together
   
6. One the cupcakes have completed baking in the traditional foil wrapper, simply drop cupcake and foil wrapper down inside your new paper wrapper for instant pizazz!
   

Cupcake Birthday Shirt

Now, I wish I could give detailed directions for how to make this little guy, but to be honest with you, I made this little ditty on a whim with extra fabric the night before takeoff. Here's the best I can muster . . .

1. On a piece of cardstock, I hand drew the cupcake
2. Next, I cut each part of the cupcake out into separate pieces (cupcake top, wrapper, candle, flame)
3. I then traced each piece onto my chosen fabric
   
4. After cutting out each piece, I pinned them onto the shirt in the position that I wanted them to be sewn
5. Using my sewing machine, I attached each piece to a plain white long-sleeved t-shirt

Balloon Cupcake Toppers

1. Using a 2" round paper punch, punch out as many circles as desired to spell your special birthday message
2. With rubber alphabet stamps and black ink, stamp letters onto the middle of the circles
3. Once dried, hot glue each circle to the top of lollipop sticks (found at Michael's)

Felt Birthday Crown

Take a break and reap the rewards of other people's craftiness: shop Etsy. I found this precious felt birthday crown made by Shannon over at Flip. Skip. Jump! She did an amazingly incredible job--I just can't wait to see Noah Finn celebrate #1 in this special little hat.