With the magic of Autumn approaching, the leaves are beginning to change their glorious colors, the harvest is bountiful and the apple are falling from the trees.
We decided to celebrate with these sweet apple print tees!
My favorite part...the lovely fall walk to collect our apples.
For this craft you will need
- apples
- a potato
- fabric paint
- cardboard
- paint brush
Cut your apples. One lengthwise, one across ~ to bring out the star!
Cut a leaf print and a stem print from your potato.
Place a piece of cardboard on the inside of the shirt to prevent it from leaking through.
Blot the surface of your apple and potato to dry up any moisture.
You can dip your apple into paint or (what I prefer) use a paint brush and paint on the color.
Press apple down firmly and carefully where you wish the image to be...
Voila!
Voila!
They were a hit!!!
A beautiful little story I found to share with your young ones...
The Story of How the Apples Got Stars Within
by Madge Bigham
There was once a tiny seed sleeping in its blanket of earth all winter long until one early spring morning when Father Sun began to shine. The little seed awoke and began to stretch and yawn and stretch until its legs pushed deeper into the earth and its arms finally stretched up above the earth. Then, with one last stretch, the little seed poked its head up and looked around at the wide, wide world.
After all those long winter months in its brown earth bed, the little sprout thought it had never seen anything so beautiful as grass and flowers, and it gazed in wide-eyed wonder at the world. All day the little sprout listened to the music of the birds and the breezes and was full of wonder. She watched the clouds sail by in the blue sky and then saw the sky turn golden as Father Sun sank into his bed. And then, as everything grew dark again, the little sprout saw a wonderful sight: up in the sky diamond-stars were twinkling! She wished so much to touch one that she stretched and stretched to reach the sky. But she couldn't touch the sparkling stars. And finally she began to cry.
Suddenly, there appeared a fairy, wearing a crown a just those sparkling stars. "Why do you weep?" asked the fairy. "Because I so want such a star for my very own," answered the little sprout. "Ah, some day your wish shall be granted," said the fairy. "But first you have much work to do. You must grow strong and tall and full of love." And then the fairy vanished.
The little sprout worked hard to grow tall and strong and after some time she became a young sapling. King Storm came with his winds and rains and beat her down almost to the earth. But each time she struggled to stand tall again, and grew stronger and stronger. And after some time she was no longer afraid of him for she knew he helped her to grow.
After many visits from King Storm, one morning the little tree awoke to find her branches covered with pink blossoms. "Oh, how lovely!" she cried, and she took great care of them, day after day, until one day tiny seed babies appeared. Now the little tree was becoming a mother, and she was so busy caring for her tiny apple-children that she forgot all about her wish to the fairy. Summer came, and her children grew golden and green, and the little fairies came and kissed each little apple until it blushed bright red.
The little apple tree was so proud of her children -- she felt she could not be happier. Then suddenly the fairy with the crown of stars appeared beside her. "I have come to grant your wish," she said, "to bring you a star from heaven for your very own." "Oh," said the little apple tree, "I no longer need a star. I am quite happy with my apple children." "Well then," said the fairy, "I shall give my basket of stars to your apple children. But I will hide them deep inside where only the Earth-Children can find them." And so she did. And that's where you will find a star waiting for you: inside each apple, guarding the little seed babies for you to plant in the earth again.
~Shanti~
In the Spirit of Johnny Appleseed
~Shanti~
The tees are beautiful Maureen!! I love the apple story, it was one of the first stories we read when we came to Waldorf, it brought tears to my eyes...
ReplyDeletexo
Linda
I love printing with fruit. They look specially good on your t-shirts. I've not heard this story before. I'll print it out and share it with my children. Such a sweet story.
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely!
ReplyDeletethey turned out great!! the secret must be to apply the paint to the apple with a paintbrush. ours always come out so gloppy when we do it the other way! :)
ReplyDeleteWe are in sync! I have just put an apple tree T-shirt up on my blog too! Love this idea... I think we will give this a go! x
ReplyDeleteLOVE these! Great colours! Did you use fabric paint? I'd love to do these with my class!
ReplyDeleteThe bright bright apples on white are so so adorable!
ReplyDeleteAaaaawwww so cute! Gotta try this! Perhaps with maple leaves too??!!
ReplyDelete~Samantha
These are so wonderful, and I so appreciate you including the story. That will be part of our apple picking time next week. THANK YOU!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a beautiful story and the apple prints a marvellous idea,, I love the colours so lovely.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful day. xx
Perfect! I'm making apple butter and apple sauce this weekend. This will be the perfect keep the kids busy kind of thing whilst I do that! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteStephanie :)
www.simplicitymom.blogspot.com
LOVE the shirts!
ReplyDeleteMaking apple prints is something you think of each fall - but these came out fantastic - I just love it.
ReplyDeleteWarm wishes, Tonya
Shanti,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great photo of you and the girls! So cute that Solana lost her front tooth!
Those shirts are so sweet. Thanks for sharing the story too. My daughters are going to LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteThe t-shirts are beautiful, and the story just lovely. We are heading out apple picking in a couple of weeks and have tucked the story away to tell my girls. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteBlessing, Elizabeth
Lovely craft and story! Perfect for this time of year :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is so wonderful! I'm sharing the story with my preschool class this afternoon! Thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea. I used to print with potatoes- had a whole alphabet carved out and a text on my T when I was a teenager...But apples- they look so nice! And thanks for the story- I´m collecting and collecting good stories and ideas as I´m attending Waldorf teacher training now and next year I will start with my first firstgraders hopefully!
ReplyDeleteClassic story...i told that to my students before. They love it! The prints on e tees turns out really well!!
ReplyDeleteI love this - we're doing it! We have a trip planned to the local orchard coming right up. . . now I wonder if I should do this before or after??! The story is perfect, too :) Thanks for sharing this one!
ReplyDeleteWhat wonderful blog you have!! I am so happy finding it, I will be back for more! :)
ReplyDeletegrtz Marlies
Love the shirts. So creative and colourful. Thank you again for your wonderful ideas !
ReplyDeletecheers
I love these, they are so cute!
ReplyDeleteI’d love it if you shared this with the Fun Family Crafts audience. FFC is similar to Craftgawker but it only features kid friendly tutorials. Looking forward to seeing what fun crafts you submit!
http://funfamilycrafts.com
how awesome are these tees!!!!
ReplyDeleteDoes the ink stay on the shirts or is it just a fun for a day type thing?
ReplyDeleteSeems like you are now ready. I wish you luck on your new venture.
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