Silver Star Sparkle Headband

Head on over to CBC kids parents website to see how to make a Silver Star Sparkle headband for your  New Years festivities tomorrow!

Super easy to make and a fun way to add some shimmer to the magic of the night. 

Excitement is in the air!

Happy New Year to all. May your new year overflow with laughter and love.

Reach for the STARS!!!!

Every year after the Christmas excitement slows down my girls and I take a few hours to 

pause and reflect on the year to come.

I call it the "reach for the STARS" tradition…

As a family we all have unique goals and dreams, and our goal throughout the year is to 

help each other attain the things most important to our hearts!

To start cut out some stars using white card stock…

Then using a black thin sharpie write down some "goals" for the year ahead.

When you are done writing your goals, paint them with glue on the back, and on the star points…

(the BEST part), pour glitter all over!!!!!!

String them up using a large needle and embroidery floss…

(and pause to admire the sparkly-ness)!!

 I think I like the "HELP MOM" one the best!!!  

And add to the Christmas tree…this tradition gives our tree a "fresh" new outlook

 for the New Years celebration to come.  

(If you take down your tree right after Christmas, you can hang these off a branch, put up a small clothesline, whatever you fancy!) 

After our tree comes down I usually hang these up somewhere in our house for a few months

 to keep us all on track.

For me the New Year is a chance for "newness"…it's just a good marker for change in our lives and serves as a good time to goal set as a family and individually.

Wishing you all abundant creativity, beauty, love, laughter and light in the year to come!!!

Happy New Year!!!!

Celebrating WINTER!!!!

Here in Eastern Ontario we are fortunate enough to get to experience 4 distinct seasons… on December 21st we pause and reflect in the wonder that is WINTER!

The season begins with Winter Solstice celebrations…where we reflect on the changing of the season,  the darkness that surrounds us and the promise of more light to come. (really…a beautiful reason to celebrate, don't you think?) Light some candles, wear yellow, bake a sun cake, the light is coming soon! As a parent this is a great season to reflect and focus on bringing  some "light" heartedness into your parenting.
Some other dates to mark on your calendars: Winter Solstice December 21 Christmas Eve December 24 Christmas Day December 25 Boxing Day (also St Stephens Day) December 26 New Years Eve December 31 New Years Day (also St Basil's Day) January 1 Epiphany January 6 Imbolc/Brigit February 2 Valentines Day February 14 St Patricks Day March 17

To honour the changing of the seasons, Matilda and I decided to make a Winter Solstice Queen. As you can see she wears the cool colours of winter, but on her head she is crowned with the light of the sun!!!
To make your own you will need: "angel" shaped peg doll blue, brown, black and red paint blue glitter snowflake punch tissue paper yellow felt glue Below is a step by step on how to make her…it's fairly self explanatory with the pictures.

Let's pause for a little winter verse:

Snowflakes falling soft and light,  Snowflakes falling in the night, Soft and Light, pure and white. When the sun shines out so bright, All the earth is dressed in white.

We also made some white "stars/snowflakes" out of kite paper. To make your own you follow the instructions below! You will need 16 4x3 inch rectangles…we used 8 white, 4 light blue, 4 dark blue. I use a glue stick to put it all together and also to hang it up.

OUR WINTER READING!!

Here are some of our favourite Winter themed books: The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren The Snow Child by Freya Littledale Grandmother Winter by Phyllis Root The Story of the Snow Children by Sibylle von Olfers Around the Year by Elsa Beskow
Winter is such a magical time of year…we try to get outside for about a 1/2 hr to an hour a day… (unless it's dangerously cold, which does happen sometimes). Tobogganing, snow angels, hot chocolate, fires in the wood stove, baking, skiing, skating, winter picnics, building snowmen, igloos, snow forts, snowball fights, winter walks,  (and you can collect pinecones for crafting along the way) And don't forget about feeding the birds, squirrels and other struggling creatures!

just get on out there and enjoy this magnificent season… oh…and check out our WINTER craft section on Twig and Toadstool for more inspiration! In wintery wonder…

Pressed Flower Ornaments

Pressed Flower Ornaments

This past summer I began a love affair with pressing flowers. I wasn't sure what I would do with them all, I just knew that come winter they would bring me joy to craft with. Now that we are in the midst of a real deep freeze, it was such a treat to peek into the books where they lay waiting and gently reveal the delicate little flowers I had collected. Perfect for creating these pressed flower ornaments! If you have some kicking around and want to create some too, here's how it goes...

You will need:

1 cup baking soda

1/2 cup corn starch

3/4 cup of warm water

rolling pin

round cookie cutter or cup for cutting your clay circles

pressed flowers

mod podge

paint brush

string

To begin:

Follow this tutorial to make the white clay. 

Cut out your clay with a cup or a round cookie cutter.

Poke a hole where your string can go through. 

 Bake at 100 degrees C for an hour. 

Choose your flower layouts.

Add a layer of mod podge to the front of your ornament and place your flower(s) on top.

Gently paint a layer of mod podge over top of the flower and ornament. 

Be sure to make sure your holes don't get clogged with mod podge and if they do poke it out with a needle.

String your ornament...

hang on your tree...

and sit back with something to sip, while you admire the little faces of summer looking back at you!

 Wishing all a peace & joy filled time of preparation for Christmas.

With love

Roving Angel

Each Christmas we have a family tradition of placing an angel on our tree, to represent each of our loved ones that have passed away. There has become a real reverence for this tradition with my daughters and they never seem to forget year to year, which angel represents which one of our loved ones. I enjoy having these little angels on the tree, reminding me of the connection with those we love who are no longer with us. 

This past year my dear friend lost her mother. I decided to create an angel for her tree, in honor of her loss and as a reminder of the love that lives on.

Here is how this little roving angel is made

To create you will need:

A wooden bead

Pipe cleaner

White or flesh colored roving

Colored roving

Sparkly string

Needle felting needle (not necessary but it helps)

To Begin:

For the head and arms: fold a pipe cleaner in half.  Attach wooden bead to the kink and bend each arm in the opposite direction. 

For the arms and hands: starting at about 1/2 inch from the end of one arm, wind a thin layer of roving onto the pipe cleaner, working towards the direction away from the head.

Once your roving holds on to the pipe cleaner, fold about 3/4 inch  of pipe cleaner back towards the direction of the head. Continue winding over this fold and towards the direction of the head.  Be sure to use flat layer of roving, so your hand looks nice and even. 

For the face and body base:  Make a hole in the middle of a  flat layer  of roving and pass the angel’s head through the hole.

If you want a smooth and nice “face” be careful with arranging your roving flatly and tightly on the wooden bead  Take two small strips of roving, tightly tie at the neck and the waist.

For the sleeves: wind a flat, thin layer  of roving starting at the cuffs and work in the direction towards the head on both sides.

To dress your angel: take new piece of roving about 7″ long. Make a hole in the middle and pass the angel’s head through the hole.  Fold the roving tightly over the shoulders and down around the body.

Use a small thin piece of roving to wrap around the angel’s waist. Spread the roving evenly around the white skirt.

For the hair: fold a piece of roving in half that is twice as long as you wish the angel’s hair to be and place on the angel’s head and needle felt it a bit to hold in place.

You may also want to braid three pieces of thin roving to create a braid and then needle felt that onto the hair. 

For the halo: twist a piece of pipe cleaner into a halo shape and wrap with a thin layer of roving.

Tuck it into the back of the hair and needle felt the hair around it to hold in place.

For the wings: take a 5 inch piece of white roving and lay flat. Tie a thin piece of white roving in the middle and then "fluff" out your wings to the shape you want. 

To tie on your wings: wrap the string around the waist, cross over in the back, come over the shoulders and cross in front. Then tie at the waist. Take the ends of your string and go behind the waist once again. Tie a knot and then use the remaining ends to create a loop to hang it with.

That's it! You now have an angel.

I found creating this with my dear friend and her loss in mind the whole time, felt like a special way to connect with her grief and to offer my love. 

May you have many angels around you in this season and always! 

With love