Fall Foliage Frames!

Today was one of those days I decided to ignore the continual mess and sneak out for some good ol' sister time! 

Nothing like a cuppa coffee, a sister to sister chat and some crafting to feed the soul!

My sister Becky with her youngest Nadia asleep on her lap while she knits.

During my crafty escape I decided to create these frames to hold our annual fall family photo.

So simple!

To make these you will need 

a frame

mod podge

paint brush

pressed leaves

To begin 

Design the lay out for your leaves on the frame.

Slather the mod podge on each leaf ~ front and back ~ starting with the bottom leaves and working your way up until all leaves are on.

It is going to look awfully messy.... patience is key...

After it fully dries you get lovely leaves with shine and durability.

I was amazed how the mod podge brought the leaves to life ~ such an easy way to preserve the fabulous fall foliage!

Add in you fall photo...

Our clan five years ago

and display!

Hope you enjoy!

Much love

~ Shanti ~

Yarn Along!

I'm SO happy that Ginny of Small Things decided to start this Yarn Along!  I mean, combining our current reads with our current knitting projects, (two of my favourite passions)!  Brilliant!

So, here's what I'm reading these days...for me "The Happiness Project"...you know how sometimes a book comes your way at just the right time?  Well...this is the book for me.  I've been feeling totally out of sorts lately and feeling like a good change is needed in my life.  I'm only on Chapter 3, but I'm really enjoying this book and felt inspired enough already to clean out 4 garbage bags full of clutter from my house!

For Miss Ruby, "The Family Under the Bridge", we've only done one chapter, but so far it's a great read.

And on the needles...a hat for Matilda.  I'm new to knitting so everyone is getting a hat this year, (because it's still very much a novelty at my house)!  I have 4 other knitting projects on the go, but I'm making the Christmas projects my priority.  I try to knit a bit every day, usually I knit while watching a movie in the evening, (currently making my way through an Alfred Hitchcock movie collection)!

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 

Halloween!!!!!

The whole fang damily enjoying the afternoon!

Keith and Matilda were Gnomes and Ruby was our distant cousin the Russian Gypsy!

(and yes, I'm the giant, somewhat perplexed looking Toadstool)!

Matilda..the little gnome.

Mama Toadstool and little gnome!

A handful of the kids at the afternoons Family dance!

Some more of the kids!

One of our friends generously rented the local Lions Hall so that we could have a Family Dance this afternoon!  Another friend offered to be the DJ, and the afternoon was spent dancing away to "Thriller", "The Time Warp" and "YMCA".

Now, all my Trick or Treaters are safe and sound at home...Papa Gnome and I are going to enjoy a quiet night eating the kids candy, (come on...you do it too), and watching Nightmare on Elm Street!

Hope you had a wonderful Halloween night!

xo maureen

In the spirit of play...

 My costume inspired by the majestic birch tree  ~ made from birch bark, moss, twigs and leaves.

 Wishing you all a wickedly wonderful Halloween ~ Samhain ~ all souls ~ all saints weekend! 

~ Shanti ~

Twiggy Tealight Holder

With a chill settling in the air and our wood stove roaring once again, I was inspired to create some indoor woodland warmth.

To create these twiggy candle holders you will need

sticks ~ cut even lengths

moss ~ dried

glue gun

a glass tealight holder or an old glass

First take one of your cut sticks and glue it onto to your glass... continue to glue your sticks side by side until your glass is surrounded.  

Next cut your moss into a strip (as thin or wide as you desire) and glue on.

One more way to bring natures beauty into the home before a blanket of snow covers the ground (thinking of all you down under folks and wishing I could transport myself into your warmth during this coming winter ;)!

Light it up and let it glow!

Oh, the magic of candle light...

"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person.
Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us".

 Albert Schweitzer 

In
Love and Light

~ Shanti ~

The end of the season...

Matilda is enjoying some time with "Blackie" one of our 2 lambs...

The farming year is coming to an end here at the Toadstool.  This past week I've been reflecting on my experience as a small scale farmer.  We live on 1/2 an acre out here...it's really not alot by country standards, but I'm proud of what we get out of it year after year.  We have 15 laying hens year round, who live in an old shed on our property, (they keep us in eggs year round...and also a few of our friends and neighbours).  We also have meat birds in the summer, lambs, 2 large vegetable gardens, a raspberry patch, and an aspiring apple orchard, (which we just planted last year). 

Yesterday truly marked the end of the season for us...it was the day that we killed our lambs.
We only have 2 lambs at a time, as the pasture we have is about 1/4 acre, and it's shared with the laying hens.  It's quite a spectacle to see the hens and lambs together.  This year we shared one of the lambs with some friends who live up the road...and we decided to slaughter them together.    With the help of a kind neighbour who has done this before, both our lambs were killed humanely in the field where they lived.  While there is always a sort of sadness when it comes to killing animals for meat, it was wonderful to look up the hill and see the men at work doing this job, this is a task that has been done for thousands of years.  My heart felt full by the sense of community...here we were, helping each other with our most basic need...the need for nourishment.  It was wonderful at the end of the day to have our own homegrown lamb that will feed us through the winter.  Our neighbour who came to help took away all the lamb blood to make blood sausage...the other parts that we won't eat will go to feed our friends dogs, (she has a team of sled dogs).  The skins will be made into rugs for the dog sled in the winter...nothing went to waste.

Another neighbour, (country neighbour 10 min away), gave us apples.  In exchange for these I made his family an assortment of the preserves that I made with the apples.  Some applesauce, apple butter, chutney and fruit ketchup. 

Enjoying a meal together post lamb killing.

There is real kinship when we help each other produce food.   I think as gardeners, and "farmers" we can get so caught up in our own little bubbles, but truly when we reach out and help our neighbours and friends be a part of the process...well that's real community.   I'm hopeful that next year will bring about a bee exchange of sorts with some other friends, (we have to work out the details), and I'd love to find someone to share the garden with...I'm certainly no where near maximum garden potential!  I need look no further than my pantry and freezer to see the success of this past year.   Food is something I feel passionate about...I love being a part of the process of growing food, and love it even more when the greater community is involved in some way.  I know not everyone is able to do this...but, it's like the books say...I think even growing something simple...herbs or tomatoes.  There is something about growing food that just makes your heart swell with pride.  I wondered about posting my farm experience on this, (our sort of craft blog), but then I think, farming really is the ultimate creative project. 

So...here's to the end of a great season!

xo maureen

Acorn Birch Bark Napkin Rings

Meal time as a family is one of my favorite times of day. Growing up I loved when our big clan (10 of us) would gather for nourishment, laughter, banter and connecting after our busy days. Now with my own kids, I value the importance of making meal time together a priority. Luna loves the ritual of setting a beautiful table and on special occasions getting out the placemats and napkin rings to adorn the table. 

Here are some nature inspired napkin rings you can create for your autumn table.

To make these you will need

acorns 

birch bark

napkin rings 

glue gun

Cut your birch in strips (measured carefully)  to cover each napkin ring. Glue on. Add you acorn embellishment.

Delightfully simple! 

Thinking these these would be great on a thanksgiving table...

or as a gift!

A easy addition to these napkin rings is to embroider a napkins to go with  them.  Embroidered napkins are a fun way for kids to personalize their own mealtime napkin or to give as a gift.

Solana did this one for her Grandpa David

Luna did this one for her Grandma Posie. 

They were so proud to give them to them.

These acorn napkin rings were part of a wedding gift for some dear friends. Here is a photo I wanted to share of this beautiful bride on her wedding day. Look at that fabulous rock and roll wedding dress!!  Love it!

Happy Autumn days to you all

~ Shanti ~ 

"Through A Child's Eyes"... A Woodland Fairy House

 When my co-blogger Maureen approached me to begin a blog with her, I hesitantly agreed...which later lead  to a regretful panic...thinking I not sure I am up for this...

Unsure of my ability to offer"craftiness"and feeling quite private about my life, the whole blog thing had me a bit freaked out. Maureen coaxed me to just share small, simple snippets from my life and to let it evolve as we went. So  I joined on and allowed the fear of putting myself out there slowly subside.  One of  the gifts of agreeing to do this blog has been discovering my love of crafting with nature... feeding my joy and bringing me back myself.

So, this year when our local art gallery hosted its annual found art competition, I decided to challenge myself...throw off that fear of can I really do this and create a piece to offer. 

Here is my  piece "Through a child's eyes". A tribute to finding and feeding our creative spirits and recognizing that when we allow ourselves to play in creating, a whole new world opens up...

The fairy house ~ made from an ant eaten piece of a dead tree, rocks, moss, birch bark and other woodland treasures.

 meal time spot at the top..

v

A space to chill.

Cozy mossy beds and a flower pressed carpet.

 The babes cradle.

Fires burning...

 a cup of tea and a birch bark book awaiting in the reading nook...

A bath to soak in.

Happy these woodland fairies now have a home.

 Heres to igniting that spark of creative play and allowing it to feed our joy!

~ Shanti ~