St Patrick Peg Person!

Here's another easy little peg doll craft just in time for St Patricks day...a wee peg

St Patrick!

You will need:

wool felt, (white, green & brown)

wee bit o roving

embroidery floss & needle

glue

wooden peg dolls

One day I'll learn how to make a printable PDF file, in the meantime though, here is a sample of his outfit.

Try making your pieces on paper, and play with the sizing, then transfer to the felt.

(cut out 2 pieces for the hat and staff)

First I sewed on his "tube" with snake on the bottom...I know on many of the religious statues I see of St Patrick, (I have one in my porch), there is a snake as his feet...you don't have to add the snake...leave it blank, or add a clover or two. 

Next I sewed up his robe and attached it to his body..

Add a roving beard, (glue it on), and then his "hat"...I decided that he needed a little shamrock on his hat...now he really looks like St Patrick!

I sewed up his "staff" too, but didn't attach it to his body...I just lean it up against him on the nature table where St Patrick currently resides, (whien he's not being played with of course).

And of course, there is nothing that says St Paddys day more than Irish music...time to dust off the ol accordion...

"I've been a wild rover for many a year...

and I spend all me money on whiskey and beer..."

I want you to check out Little Acorn Learning...they have a free e-book called "Rainbows, Creating colors"

Go and download it for free...it's full of great ideas that you can bring to your St Patricks celebration next week...of course Little Acorn also has other learning guides you can purchase...I've gotten a few and I can honestly say they're a wonderful addition to our homeschool week!

May the Irish hills caress you.

May her lakes and rivers bless you.

May the luck of the Irish enfold you.

May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

~Irish Blessing

xo maureen

Day of The Dead/All Souls Day Celebrations!

Today Maureen and I united our clans to celebrate the day of the dead/all souls day.

This is not something I have celebrated before but in learning about it I loved the idea of taking a day out of the year to honor and remember our loved ones that have passed. This morning we began our days festivities by creating an altar. The girls loved scurrying around collecting the photos of our loved ones. We talked about what the deceased had enjoyed in their life and then we added some of those items our table. 

Together we lit a candle and spent some time remembering, sharing and soaking in their beautiful, dearly missed faces. This was the first time I have had all them all looking at me at one time... it left me a little emotional and grateful for the gifts they had each offered to my life. 

We made the dough for Pan de Muertos (Day of the Dead Bread)

Kneading the dough was fun... but playing with it was even more fun! 

Then we then headed over to the toadstool homestead....

 Where the girls each shaped their dough into a skull...

we baked it and I must say they came out looking much happier than when they went in!

We also made sweet little skeletons found over at Sewing Stars.

And inspired by one of our favourite blogs Moment to Moment, a place where we often find inspiration, we saw sweet skull necklaces.  We just painted ours, and will hang them from a string for over the nature table.

I think it would be nice to spend this week celebrating our loved ones.

After an afternoon of crafting, we ended with a slice of pan de muertos skull bread and Mexican hot chocolate, (we just added a pinch of cinnamon to the hot chocolate).  A lovely full day with the Twig and Toadstool clan!

In honor of all  loved ones who are no longer with us 

Shanti and Maureen xo 

Rainbow Skull Garland

I've been trying to think of some awesome Halloween decorations for the inside of the house that go beyond the traditional orange and black.  I went into the Halloween file hoping for some inspiration.  Well...thankfully I found a print out of a skull flag...it's from the Toymaker.  There are loads of free, fun printable Halloween items on this page, so definately go check it out.  In addition to the skull flags, there are also owls, pumpkins and cats.  I thought doing these flags on some rainbow coloured paper would be fun and colourful!  Here's what to do! First go over to the Toymaker and print out the template of your choice.  Cut it out and let the kids have some fun while you round up the rest of your supplies!

So...I got out some rainbow coloured cardstock and tissue paper.  I did modify the bottom slightly, only because the cardstock I was using was a bit short, so I just did a jaggety bottom.

Again...who can resist the allure of these skulls?

On the back of each flag I taped some tissue paper, and then punched two holes at the top of each flag, for the yarn to go through.  We hung it from our curtain rod, and holy smokes...it looks awesome!  Honestly...I love it so much I think it will stay up for all of November as well.  I'm thinking it may also inspire a Day of the Dead celebration at my house this year.

Who knew skulls could look so darn sweet?!

I'm thinking tie dyed ghosts next?  Whaddya reckon?

xo maureen

A Very Scary Window Treatment

 Halloween is quickly approaching, and my daughter keeps reminding me that we simply MUST decorate.  Let me tell you though, in our 6 years in this house we have yet to get ONE trick or treater.  In desperation to hand out "something" to "someone", I make up treat bags and get Ruby to walk them over to our neighbours!  We do have a couple of kids in our immediate neighbourhood, (like 3), but they tend to go to bigger and better places, (ie, the next town over) to get their trick or treat on! 

Trick or treaters or not though, the Toadstill WILL be decorated for Halloween!  Here is my favourite Halloween decorating trick...the Jack O Lantern window!

I came across this fabulous idea last Halloween, and of course, in the vast expanse of the internet I don't know where...please let me know if I stole it from you!

To make a spooky window of your own you will need

Black bristol board...large sheets...you tell me how many you need...I don't know how big your windows are!

Tissue paper...think Halloween colours...red, orange

copious amounts of tape

scissors

one spooky imagination!

So...measure your window...in my case we use a picture window facing the street...then tape your bristol board together as need be, (or cut down).  I need four sheets to do my big window. 

Then draw on a scary face...use a white crayon to do this

cut it all out

hang it up, (this is where the copious amounts of tape come into play)! 

enjoy the spooky shadows cast on the walls of your house!

and line the empty space with tissue paper, using tape to tape it on the back of your bristol board.

*please excuse this blurry picture...it was pouring rain outside when I took it!

Now, when it gets dark, get a light to shine behind it and go outside and admire your handiwork, (oh...take the kids out with you)!    I had to laugh when I saw how horrendously evil our window looks...positively spooky!  You don't have to make yours quite so evil looking...a happy pumpkin face would be nice too!

Isn't it marvelous???!!!!

So there you go!  One decoration down...many more to go!

xo maureen

Preparing for Michaelmas!

We're in full swing here, getting ready for Michaelmas. 

I'll be honest here, this is the first year we're celebrating.  It seems like a good time, as we're currently doing a unit study about Saints, so I want to incorporate as many of these Saintly celebrations as possible in the months ahead! 

We've read several versions of the St Michael story...in some of our library books, and online.  After reading our story, I'll often get Ruby to draw or paint a picture based on the story she just heard.  Here's one of her dragons...I put it over our nature table where it will stay until after Michaelmas. 

I also made a little felt dragon based on this pattern at Rhythm of the Home it's just SO sweet, (if you're going to make one start now...it's a beautiful craft, but it did take several hours to put it together).

sanding the sword!

Then Ruby and her dad built a sword together.  Cut out from an old piece of wood we had out in the yard.  Tonight we sanded it...tomorrow we'll paint it!   Ruby insisted that Matilda needed to wear safety goggles while they sanded...however, we could only find an extra pair of sunglasses...this is the funniest picture of the day.

I found some fantastic Michaelmas inspiration at Rockin' Granola...I think this is the BEST post on Michaelmas that I've seen.  Check out the story links that she's provided...there are some great stories to check out.

Go to Our Little Nature Nest for some fabulous Michaelmas celebration ideas and inspiration...found HERE!!!

St George and the dragon by Edward Burne-Jones

And if you want to check out some of the festivals going on in Waldorf communities, (and be green with envy like me), check out these folks

Golden Sun Family

Morning Sun Rae and

Moment to Moment

What I love most is that all of these ladies and their families attended the same festival, and I love the different takes on their respective days.  I just have one question for you?  Which one of you ladies is going to take in my family next year so we can come too!!!???

There is also this lovely celebration documented at You Know How We're an Art Family...
I'm so inspired!

Oh, there are just so many possibilities for celebrating this festival!   You can get as "into" it as you please, or you can just read a story about St Michael or St George to honour the day.

Ruby is busy working on some "puppets" at the moment!

Enjoy!

xo maureen

Here Comes the Sun Week!!! Let's Weave a Giant Sun!!!

I've been wanting to do a weaving project with Ruby for awhile now...weaving a giant sun seemed like something that would totally appeal to her seven yr old sensibilities, and would appeal to this sun lovin' mamma as well!

We started by collecting some sticks...4 of them cut into 4 foot lengths, laid into a star shape and then bound by twine, (actually, when I say "we" I mean, papa Toadstool did the work and I played my role as director and professional baby wrangler). 

Then we gathered up all the yellow material, roving, and yarn in the house.  We cut our material into 2-3 inch strips, (then we attached the strips to make huge pieces by tying them together...you could also sew them together, but we like things easy here at the Toadstool)!

We began ours by weaving in the roving first...I tied it to the first branch and then just went over and under the branches...pulling it tight as you go through each one.  After the roving we started on the material.  Doing it like a God'e Eye, (which is essentially what this is)...going under and over the first branch and then over and under on the next branch.  Again...pull your material tight when you weave through each branch!

We weaved until Ruby got sick of it, at which point we declared it was DONE!!  Then this massive art piece went outside and into a tree...our own giant sun/art piece we can enjoy every day!  I like that it will get weathered over the season and change...maybe birds will get bits of the yellow roving to use for their nests!

This was a super fun project that we all enjoyed doing together...and a great BIG way to welcome the sun to your own backyard!!

Here's Ruby with the finished "sun"...you can get an idea of how big it is!!

Hope your day is sunny and bright!

Maureen xo

Here Comes the Sun Week!!! Let's Make a Sun Wreath!!

Summer Solstice is quickly approaching...it's exactly one week away from today in our part of the world. 

We love to celebrate the changing of the seasons here at the Toadstool, and since sun is so vital to our lives, we wanted to do a week of sun crafts, to inspire you to get prepared to welcome the longest, and hopefully brightest day of the year!!

Yesterday we made a sun wreath to adorn our entrance!  If you want to make one of your very own, you will need:

a grapevine wreath...any size will do

twigs, (whatever length you fancy)

ripped pieces of material (in yellows, oranges, reds)

ribbon, (again, think sun colours)

a glue gun and glue sticks!

Start by weaving your twigs into the wreath to create "rays"...every few inches should do.  You may just want to leave it au natural (I think it looks quite pretty just like this)...if you do, just hang it onto a nail, and there you go.  However, if you want to keep embellishing, then get out your strips of yellow material, (or whatever you have on hand).

Start wrapping it around and around, going around each side of the "rays" you have created.  You can use a glue gun if you wish to secure the end, (once you have wrapped the wreath completely)!

Then, using the same material, (or different if you'd rather), wrap every other ray...I used the glue gun to secure the beginning and ending bits of material.  Then, I used some ribbon to wrap around every other ray...again using the glue gun to secure the beginning and ending bits.   Really though, there are no hard rules with this project...just have fun and use what you have on hand!!!

Here is the finished wreath!!!!

In the picture at the top of the post, there sits the little sun elf that I whipped up this weekend...I used the grass elf pattern from "the Gnome Book", and modified it using sunny colours!!  The girls love him!!

Happy Crafting!  Stay Sunny and Bright!!

maureen xo

P.S.   (Insert drumroll here)...the WINNER of our Rainbow Gnome Giveaway is...

"nocton4"

We will be getting in touch with you shortly for your address!!!  Thank you to all the concerned people who wanted to give our gnomes a good home!  We look forward to bringing you some great giveaways in the near future, so stay tuned!!!

Here's what we did for May Day...

I wanted to share some of our May Day preparations...this was what our weekend looked like:

We tried our hand at making a Goddess inspired loaf of bread. The idea came from a fabulous book called "Circle Round" by Starhawk, Diane Baker and Anne Hill.  It's a pagan friendly book, and although we are not practicing pagans, I find that it has lots of great craft and baking ideas that translate to the Waldorf year.   It was so much fun to learn about Goddess traditions of old,  and talk about the importance of celebrating May Day, (which was a time to honour the Earths fertility and hope that the upcoming season would be fruitful).  You could use just about any bread recipe to make this loaf...the fun part is shaping it into the Goddess, (and I'm thinking this would be a great thing to do with the kids when learning about history and traditions of yesteryear). Ours ended up looking very much like the Venus of Willendorf.

This was our loaf before the rising and baking...very Goddess(y)...but, look at how fertile and yummy she looks after...

Then we painted a picture of a Goddess...this is Ruby's version

 

This picture now graces our Nature Table...where we also have fresh flowers and lots of flower fairies!

I just love the rainbow colours on the Goddess...I like to think that this lovely lady is blessing our garden with the gift of fertility for the season ahead.  

Hope your May Day was marvelous!!

-Maureen-