Spring Blossom Popsicles

 Nothing is better than an icy-cold, sweet popsicle on a hot day... especially when it happens to have lovely little flowers frozen in it! 

So many of the glorious spring blossoms are edible. What a treat! We thought we would put them to good use and make some spring blossom popsicles, or as we like to call them... flowersicles!

To make:
we gathered up some edible blossoms.

Sunny dandelions and wee strawberry flowers.

Fragrant and delicate apple blossoms.

Loved this part, especially the sweet scents of these beauties. 

We thought some pink lemonade might be just the right base for these flowersicles.

We placed our blossoms into the bottom of our popsicle molds and filled them halfway with lemonade. The flowers tend to float to the top, so we froze them half full and then added more blossoms and topped them off with lemonade.

Aren't the results lovely?!

Thinking these might just be a new favorite around here.

Yummy and beautiful. A winning combination.

 Looking forward to trying some new flower and flavor combinations as summer rolls in. 

In a bit of blossom heaven, 

Preserving Dandelion Clocks

Dandelion clocks (always wondered what they were called in the fluff ball stage ~ just found out it's clocks!) tend to remind me of a Dr. Seuss creation.  There is something so irresistible about gathering them up to blow their wishes free. Their ethereal seeds looking like floating fairies dancing in the sky. 

My girls love doing blowing (what they call) "sister wishes" and watching as their wishes drift together in the sky.

I was thinking how neat it would be if we could preserve the dandelion in its fleeting, fragile, fluff ball stage. I loved the idea of having them around all year, keeping the spirit of spring with us and couldn't  help but picture them as fairy trees in a fairy garden.

To preserve dandelion clocks you will need:

thin twigs or dried flower stems

glue

glitter (optional but oh so pretty!)

hairspray

scissors

To begin:

Gather up your supplies and helpers and head to your favorite dandelion filled space.

Mist your dandelion clock with hairspray.

While it is still damp, shake on some glitter.

Allow it to dry in the breeze for a few minutes.

(Wish the glitter showed up better! It really is quite magical)

Gather up the clocks you have sprayed, glittered and allowed to dry.

Cut off the fluff ball top off its stem.

Place a dollop of glue at the end of your twig and attach it to your dandelion head.

There you have it. So simple! So pretty.

Once we completed a few fluff ball trees, we decided they were perfect for the fairies.

Into the fairy garden they went.

They seemed like a perfect fit. What do you think?

I am happy to share that these dandelion trees held up for a very long time. It is wonderful that something so delicate and temporary, can be around for us to appreciate all that much longer. 

Dandelion wishes to you, 

Pressed Flower Mobile

With flowers beginning to bloom all around... here is a sweet simple craft you can do to preserve them and enjoy them for years to come!

To create 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 (we used outdoor so we could hang it outdoors)

paint brush

fishing line

embroidery hoop

To begin

Follow this tutorial to make the white clay. 

Cut out your clay with a cup or a round cookie cutter and poke a hole where your string can slip through to hang.

Bake at 100 degrees C for an hour. 

Once it is cooled you are ready for the fun part!

Gather up your pressed flowers, leaves, ferns...

Apply a layer of mod podge to the clay and then place your pressed flower on top.

Gently apply another layer of mod podge. 

They will remain a little milky looking, but leave them to dry overnight and you will be happy to see it dries beautifully.

Once they dry completely, you can flip them over and repeat the process on the other side.

 Lovely little flower gems!

To make the mobile:

Take two pieces of string (or we used raffia), fold them in half together and knot a loop.

Measure equally across the embroidery hoop and mark at the four compass points (NESW).

Tie the string on at the four points. 

Ready to add your flower gems!

Tie on your clay flowers with the fishing line at varying lengths.

Hang and enjoy!

Loved how pretty they were spinning in the sunlight. 

If you happen to have a wind chime around... tie it on!

Somehow it just seems to give the mobile that extra magic.

This can make a great gift for any flower lover in your life. I was inspired to create this for my Mum for Mother's Day. It now it twirls its flower faces for her daily and hopefully when the chime tinkles in her backyard, she is continually reminded of her how much I love her.

Have fun playing with flowers!

Butterfly Peg People

Okay…here's my confession…I enjoy my craft time as much with my kiddies as without…

today while they were gone I pulled out the peg dolls and decided to play!  

Inspired by Spring and the promise of butterflies, 

(and a prayer that there are more in our yard this year than last), 

here's a little something I whipped up…

To make your own you will need:

wooden peg blanks

paint & paintbrushes

(whatever colours you wish)

wool felt in matching colours to your paint

glue gun and glue sticks

white wire

small beads

healthy dose of imagination and wonder

Line up your pegs…talk to them…see the butterfly emerging from within!

(I buy all my pegs from STOCKADE…they're a Canadian company and have great prices)

To begin paint your peg bodies and hair…this is how I did mine…

Next paint on your eyes, (toothpicks are great for making little dots)…

then a bit of beeswax crayon for the cheeks…

you can decorate with paint however you wish here…

I strongly encourage imagination!

Cut out your wings…I recommend using wool felt…

(cheap felt is fine too, but wool felt lasts longer, is more durable and SO lovely to work with)

If you don't feel up to the task of making up your own template, google "butterfly wing templates"

there are loads already all done for you!

Using a glue gun, glue on your wings...

Then I made them some headbands and glued on some antennae…

the antennae is composed of white wire with beads glued to the end…

the headbands are skinny rectangles of wool felt…glue the antenna to the back

of your headband, then glue the headband onto the head.

The inspiration for the little headbands came from the marvellous 

Mrs Bloom at We Bloom Here.

She has a book all about making peg dolls

which can be purchased HERE

(her creations and imagination just inspire me to no end)