Happy Summer Solstice...bring on summertime!!!

This is Shanti's magical nature table...

Today is Summer Solstice...the longest day and shortest night of the year!  The Solstice is a festival of fire...many people in the past, and today celebrate Solstice by lighting a bonfire.  The bonfire is reminiscent of the heat of the summer sun.  Our ancestors for thousands of years, understood the importance of the sun...the sun played an essential role in helping their crops to grow, and we all know, a bad crop meant certain starvation for some.  Today as we prepare to celebrate the Solstice, I wanted to share some images of our nature tables, and the last very simple craft we did to prepare for this day. 

We painted suns together...to hang over our nature tables...such an easy and sweet craft, (you don't even have to use watercolours...just paint a sun in honor of Solstice day!).  Today, thank the sun in all her radiant glory!

Luna and Solana painting...

Matilda LOVES "helping" Ruby...

Below is a picture of our nature table...with some of the crafts from our "sun" inspired craft week!

And with permission, the wonderful mamma from twolittleseeds, gave us permission to put up a picture of her fabulous Sun King...isn't he absolutely splendid??!!  I think I may just have to make one, as a lovely addition to our Nature Table!   Please go and have a gander at her lovely blog and prepare to get inspired!!

Now we have some serious celebrating to do!

Have a lovely Solstice Day!!!

xo maureen

Here Comes the Sun Week!!! Let's Make A Sun Mobile...

This is our final sunny craft to round out the week!  A beautiful mobile to celebrate the sun in all her radiant glory! 

You will need:

watercolour paper

watercolour paints

scissors

thread

needle

Start by painting both sides of your paper...you don't have to use watercolour paint and paper...use markers and crayons...really this is up to you.  The main thing is, make sure both sides of your paper are coloured with something!!  Also, if you aren't using watercolour paper, use cardstock or something heavier.   If you are painting, I would suggest using red and yellow for a "sunny" feel!

Hang to dry!

Now trace a big circle onto your page, and in the centre of that circle trace a smaller circle with a ring around it. 

Draw the rays of your sun...you can make it look however you want...pointy rays, swirly rays...it's up to you!!

Now cut out your sun and the middle section, like so...

Take your needle and thread and attach it all together.  Attach the middle bit first, and then attach a longer thread to the top, (of course this all depends on where you want it to hang, how long you want it to be, etc...)!

And here you go!!  You can write a word, or words on the middle part...we did "shine" and "bright light" on ours...but this is optional!  Now hang them up and enjoy!!

We wish you a sunny weekend!

Be blissful and bright!

xox

Maureen

Here Comes the Sun Week!!! Let's Bake Some Clay Suns...

Inspired by a post my co-blogger Shanti saw over on Our Little Nature Nest  we decided that we just "had" to make some suns of our own.  We got together last week with the kids and whipped up a batch of clay and started making some suns to hang on our wall...

We used the dough recipe from Our Little Nature Nest and it had disasterous results...it was really nice to work with as a dough...it didn't feel salty at all, and was so smooth, but after our suns were done it took hours to bake it, and then our suns developed cracks as a result, (and Shanti's sun, with the beautiful spiral in it, cracked into pieces).  SO...instead I'm going to post my fool proof oven bake dough recipe...

Salt Dough Recipe

4 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 1/2 cups warm water

-Mix flour and salt in a large bowl...Add warm water slowly, using your hands to mix it all together.  Knead on a flour covered surface for about 10 min, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Take out only what you will be using, (and leave the rest wrapped up in plastic wrap, or in a tightly lidded container).  Avoid making objects several inches thick, as they will not bake easily, or cook evenly.  Bake thin objects for 30 min, at 350 degrees.  Larger objects may require a longer cooking time, (60 min or more).  Set the oven to 300-325 degrees for larger objects. 

I put the dough onto sheets of wax paper, this gave everyone their own surface to work on... 

Here is Sweet Solana, starting to work on her sun!

Even Matilda enjoyed rolling the dough in her wee hands...feeling like she was a part of the FUN!!

Make the sun to your liking...there are no rules here, just be creative, (moms and dads...join in on the fun).  After they are made, insert a paperclip into the dough near where you want it hung...so insert it halfway INTO the dough, leaving a bit sticking out as a hanger.  Now get it into the oven to bake, (following the above instructions). 

Once your suns cool down, I would suggest putting on a coat of Gesso...this gives you a good bottom coat to paint upon.  When that is dry, start painting your suns.  We got some great glitter paint to use...and don't feel limited by traditional sun colours...get out the blues, pinks, greens...be creative!!!

When they are done being painted, put on a coat of varnish, (I use brush on, craft grade varnish), and then hang it up for all to enjoy!  We have our suns on the wall above our nature table...getting it ready for the Summer Solstice!

And here is my finished sun!!! 

(like I said...parents, get your craft on!!)

Happy Crafting!

Sunshine and Smiles

Maureen xo

Here Come the Sun Week! Let's Bake a Sun Cake!!!!

In celebration of of our up coming summer solstice, the girls and I decided to create a sun inspired cake! It was wonderful to bring this sunshine to life ( especially since today was a quite the grey rainy day). I wanted to come up with a cake that was simple and delicious ~ This cake seemed to fit that desire and it is my joy to share...

For this sweet sunshine treat you will need

vanilla organic cake mix (or any cake that you choose to use) ~ I needed quick and easy : )

eggs

safflower oil

milk (we used rice)

lemons to squeeze ~ we made our icing lemon infused to add a little zing!

icing sugar 

butter

edible flowers ~ if you have them around

and I shall share the secret of yellow icing without chemicals...turmeric! It works wonderful and the taste is hidden beneath the lemon and the sweetness. 

we baked our two round cakes ~ can't you just see the excitement brewing...

we then froze them overnight to make the icing easier and the cutting cleaner (avoiding the crumbling)

and then cut one of our circle cakes like this... 

then assembled our pieces as such...

 we picked some ~ oh so juicy ~ wild strawberries to adorn our cake...

 and I think perhaps ate more than we put into the bucket (isn't that half the fun!!!)

We gathered daisies asking them to shine on our cake, sampled daisy petals and picked wild flower bouquets...

 

and then proceeded with much joy in creating...

Our Sunshine Cake 

topped with the pretty faces of Ms. Marigold, Ms.Pansy, Ms.Violet and 

Ms. Wild Stawberry...

sending out a warm, radiant, glow of sunshine to you...

~ Shanti ~

Here Comes the Sun Week!! Let's Make a Sunny Window Star!!

I thought these lovely window stars would be a great addition to our Solstice celebration...a great way to "bring the sun in"!

I see these stars all over people's blogs, but often they don't include tutorials, so I wanted to put together a tutorial so you don't just have to drool over my window star/sun...you can make one of your very own!   If you don't understand the written instructions, just look at the photos...I tried to photograph every step for you.

Start by gathering together some sunny coloured kite/tissue paper...I used bright yellow, light orange and dark orange. Cut into 4x3 inch rectangles. You will need 8 yellow and 4 in light orange, 4 in dark orange.  Make sure you make your rectangles super straight!

 

First take one of the rectangles and fold it in half...

Now unfold it...

Now take the corners and fold them until they meet the line from the previous fold...do this with all four corners.

Take one end and fold them again, until they meet the centre line of that initial fold...like so.  Repeat this with all 16 of your little rectangles, (I call this mamma meditation time...ohmmmmmmmmmmmm)

Start by assembling your yellow pieces...I use a clear glue stick for this part...just use a little bit of glue on the piece you are sticking the other piece to...press them down as you go...

Your piece should look like this...

Now...take your orange pieces and fit them in on the diagonal, in between the yellow rays...

remember, if you are using 2 shades of orange, put in one ray and then leave a space for the other colour...do this colour in between every other ray, (does that make sense?), if it doesn't make sense, refer to the picture below this one...

After you do that with all four, fit in the other orange pieces in between...

It will look like this when you're finished...

To hang them, I put some small dabs of glue on the back, (using the glue stick), and "stick" it to the window...I was wondering if they could be laminated, as a way of preserving them...they are just SO beautiful!!!  Here is the finished sun/star!!!!

I LOVE these stars...I've been sitting here admiring them all the day long, and because they are a bit time consuming, I just feel the love that I put into them, and I can't help but smile!!  You could also make these with other colours...don't limit yourself...heck make these for every occasion!!  I wanted to do these for Solstice, hence the sunny colours!! 

Stay sunny and bright!

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!!!