my*january

i decided that i was completely serious when i said i was going to devote the entire month of january to selfish projects, just for me. i am going to knit and sew myself some lovely items and not feel one bit guilty.

i have a couple knit skirts all lined up and we are going to head out to the fabric store in a bit for thread. 

i also have that lisette pattern that i bought so many weeks ago on my mind. 

i am currently knitting a brea bag for myself in green - amazing green.

i might stitch up some pretty patchwork potholders for my kitchen and toss all of the old, charred and ugly potholders.

and i need a duvet cover for the down comforter we received as a christmas gift from my mama.

i likely will not get even half of this list completed this month, or this year. but all of these ideas started swimming around my head the second i allowed myself to think only about {me}.

so, how about it, friends... does anyone want to join me in a month of selfish crafting? be sure to let me know so i can come visit and see your wonderful projects! looking forward!

disclaimer :: i started knitting my sweet husband a pair of charcoal gray knucks early last year and still have not completed them. one is finished and the other only needs the cuff. i might take them to our mom's night out this friday and get.them.done!! just to completely clear my conscience, of course. he really does deserve those hand knit knucks!!

take care of YOU this {handmade} holiday season :: a guest post

 hello friends! i hope this monday finds you all well. we unfortunately have a mild  tummy bug going through our house - no fun! belly crummies or not i've had lots to be thankful for the past few days. here is a quick summary ::

day 11 - various meet up with fantastic friends {thank you, loves!}

day 12 - sweet sixteenth birthdays {miss niko!}

day 13 - my washer and dryer {tummy bug}

day 14 - autumn sun {glorious healing sunbeams}

 oh, and i haven't closed the comments on the alphabet glue giveaway post just yet, so get over there and enter, quick! 

 and now i am super excited for my first handmade holiday guest post! today i am featuring my sweet friend karen who i was lucky enough to meet at a local yarn shop two winters ago. we were both expecting and had our sweet baby boys just days apart :: my luca and her liam ♥

karen has put together a lovely {and so important} post about taking care of yourself while making a handcrafted holiday. thanks bunches for your contribution, karen! xoxo

We all know how much fun knitting, crocheting, sewing and general craftiness are, but too much of a good thing can lead to painful wrists, hands, forearms and shoulders.  Listed below are some simple things you can do to alleviate the stress and strain of all the holiday craftiness you are probably in the midst of.  Remember though, these self care techniques are good for anytime of the year, and taking care of yourself now will help to ensure you are crafting happily and pain free for many years to come!

***

Tips to Reduce Stress

1. Make a list of things to do, prioritizing what needs to be done first, and putting off things that can wait for a little while.

2. Try to maintain a normal sleeping pattern.  Same thing goes for your diet.  Yeah, yeah, I know it doesn't sound like fun and some days these goals may be totally impossible, but it will make it easier for you to deal with the ups and downs of the holiday craft season.  All though, the occasional cookie and cup of cocoa does make the crafting just that much merrier ;)

3. Make time to do the things that are truly important to you; its important to take time for yourself during the holiday hustle and bustle.

4. DRINK WATER!!!  It can help you feel better if you have overindulged, and also promotes general health and well being.

5. Realize it may not all get done, especially if you keep adding things to your to do list.  Try setting a date that you will "throw in the towel" and be done with crafting craziness...if it isn't done my then, it can wait. This frees you up to enjoy some time before and during the holidays without feeling guilty.  For me this year, that day is December 17th.

6. Go see your massage therapist, chiropractor or acupuncturist.  All three treatments can greatly improve your physical well being as well as your mental outlook.


Tips to Reduce Pain and Tension While Crafting

1. Take a break!  Stop every hour or so to give your hands a good stretch.  Really open up your palm, stretch your fingers as wide as they will open.  Shake your hands out and maybe rub some nice lotion on them, focusing on the middle of your palm and where your fingers join the palm.  Rub the inside of your wrist with the thumb of the opposite hand. Make small circles with your arms and then let them hang loose at your sides.

2. Close your eyes for fifteen to thirty seconds every ten minutes or so, especially if you are working with a very small gauge knitting project or a difficult to read pattern/chart.

3. If you notice the discomfort lasting longer or becoming more intense, please see your healthcare provider as soon as possible.  Believe it or not, it is possible to hurt yourself by crafting.

4. Knitting yourself a pair of wrist warmers or gauntlets to keep your wrists warm while you are working is a great way to help keep yourself from experiencing discomfort.  Just make sure when you knit them for yourself, you make them snug enough that they wont interfere with you are crafting.  Natural fibers are best for this type of project, as they will retain heat.

5. If you have over-done it, place ice on you hands, wrists or shoulder to help alleviate any pain or swelling that may occur.  A good rule to follow is ten minutes on, twenty minutes off until the pain subsides or the swelling goes down.

6. Last but not least, don’t forget that crafting is what you do for fun!  Sure, we all feel the pressure of the holiday giving crunch, but your family would rather have you happy, healthy and sane for the holidays, even if it means they get an IOU (or better yet, the supplies to make their own gift and a bit of your time teaching them a new craft...its like two presents in one!).


--
Karen
www.albanyofthewest.blogspot.com

a little autumn love.

acorn caps + wood beads + hot glue = the sweetest autumn acorns for our nature table

{there are a couple glass bead acorns in there too}

this one is my very favorite!

♥ autumn ♥

for love

this week ::
sugar cookies, glue sticks, paper hearts, crayons and glitter...

cards for her friends,

cards for her classmates,

cards for his friends,

and gussied up shoe boxes.

have a lovely weekend friends!
erika

happy day

today was ::

pretty dress, curled hair, fancy shoes and her first christmas program at school.

making batches of rice crispy treats for classroom parties.

visiting with not one but two good friends who stopped by to say hello.

finishing a knitting project, just in time for solstice gifting (photos soon!).

adoring these little doll templates, sweetly colored by my girls.

helping niko complete her very first sewing project.

stitching esme's artwork into a special gift for her teacher.

happy day, friends and good night!

fiber lover's ornament :: a little tutorial

i recently made a bunch of these adorable little ornaments for some of my knitting friends. they are so cute and so easy to make! i used scrap wool left over from miscellaneous knitting projects, baker's twine for the tags and plain glass balls purchased at craft warehouse- a box of 12 was $5. the tags came from target several months ago and i simply glued the little "in case of emergency" sentiment to each one.

here is what you do ::
wind your yarn into a tiny skein (here is a tutorial on how to make a yarn skein) i used the back of a kitchen chair that is approximately 18 inches wide and wrapped the yarn 10 times.

then carefully push the tiny skein into the glass ball using a chopstick or knitting needle. i strongly caution you against using your finger to push the yarn into the ornament. there is often a little sharp piece of glass inside the neck of the ball. go ahead, ask me how i know this!!

next, pop the top onto the glass ball, add a cute little homemade tag, and that's it! your yarn-y ornament is ready to gift or deck the halls! enjoy!

the day took us here, there and no where in particular

for lunch we ate spaghetti squash from our garden. vine to oven to table to tummy in an hour!

then we made play dough using this favorite recipe. i spent most of the late afternoon pretending to eat play dough cookies, play dough pasta, play dough pizza, and unrecognizable play dough creations offered to me by harper.

there was also a trip to the book store and i had intentions to buy nothing, but they had a copy and i had a coupon and i couldn't resist. the projects in this book are beautiful and i already have several of them bookmarked in my brain. hmmm, handmade home holiday this year... it could work!

with all this eating and playing and making and reading going on there wasn't much time left for housework. i did clean the bathroom sink while the kids bathed. clean sink, clean kids - good enough! as i sit here now with a cup of tea and a messy house, i don't regret any of it.

make mobiles!

here is what i created for the mobile swap hosted by meg at elsie marley. it is the first mobile i have made but certainly not the last! i used this tutorial to make the fabric covered balls.



how fabulous is this wood grain print from joel dewberry? LOVE it!!


and here is the wonderful handmade mobile we received. the littles love it and it is hanging in the front room above their play kitchen.


look at the sweet little blue bird in the yellow bird cage! swoon! all the ornaments are felted wool and there is a really cool wood propeller in the center to help it balance. our mobie was made by leslie from three birdies. thank you leslie, it makes us all very, very happy! for more mobile inspiration check out the flickr group. i am on my way to add my photos now.

and don't forget to check out the seasonal celebrations swap! you can sign up until tomorrow. a spring themed mobile would be a perfect project for this swap...

scribble cookies and valentines :: a tutorial

valentine's day is a wonderful excuse to make handmade cards and gifts for all your loved ones, right? and that is exactly what we have been doing. esme' had a little party at school today- you know the one- white paper bags decorated with doilies and glitter, little cards adorned with the coolest new disney movie/pop star/cartoon character, and gobs and gobs of sugar-y treats to fuel the excitement.



we have been collecting old and broken crayons for craft projects and decided to make scribble cookies for esme's valentines this year. here is how we did it::


we started out with this big bowl of crayons. i sorted through them and pulled out all of the crayola brand crayons. in my scribble cookie making experience crayolas are the only crayons that melt just right. *


next we peeled the crayons. to make this a little easier i carefully scored the paper from top to bottom with an exacto knife (emphasis on careful!!) then the wrapper just peels right off.

then we broke the peeled crayons into tiny pieces and put them into our mold. i had a cool little heart shaped silicone mold that i picked up in the dollar section at target a couple years ago. muffin tins or soap molds work great. or little paper cupcake liners.



here they are, ready to go into the oven. you want them to all melt at the same rate so put the same amount of crayon pieces in each mold. place your molds on a baking sheet and pop them into a 275 degree oven.
this is what they look like right out of the oven. keep a close eye on them and take them out just as soon as they are all soft and there are no more chunks of crayon left. ours took about 12-15 minutes.

leave them alone until they cool and become solid again. you can see one little piece of blue crayon in one of them- on the right in the bottom row. it probably should have stayed in the oven for a minute or two longer.

and here are all of our recycled crayon scribble cookies! we had one metallic gold crayon and it gave some of them a gold leaf look. they were our favorite!

we paired the scribble cookies with some little printable color cards from little brown pen.

they turned out very cute although i think esme' was thinking about that name stamp once again when it was time to address all of the cards.

esme' came home after school with her white bag full of tiny cards, suckers and chocolates. she told me that she reminded all the kids not to eat their crayons. i am sure they all appreciated that!

so there- now go make your own batch of scribble cookies!

happy creating,

erika

* i think beeswax crayons would work well too, but we did not have any to use this time. if you try these with beeswax crayons please let me know how they turn out!

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i heart books!

harper and i went to the bookstore today after dropping esme' off at school. we browsed for at least an hour and i bought a book that has been on my wish list for awhile, then we sat in the cafe while i sipped my chai tea latte and shared an oatmeal raisin cookie with my handsome and well behaved little guy. it was a lovely afternoon!

and then, when we arrived home this was waiting on my doorstep::


i immediately dug into the bag and found these... crafting magazines and books... sewing, quilting, knitting, scrap booking (which i don't do but the pictures and projects are very inspiring anyway!) and some kids crafts too. they are all missing the covers as they were discarded by the fabric store that my mom works next to.


and look at the sweet birdie crafts i have already discovered! squeee!!

my plan is to get my crowd fed, groomed, filled with bed time tales and all tucked in so i can curl up on the couch with my huge stack of new books and a cup of tea. it is killing me to see them neatly stacked on the table, pages just waiting to be dog eared and projects eager to be added to my ever growing creative list. but i know if i dive in now there will be no turning back. ahhh, bedtime can't come soon enough on this day...

i do, i heart books... and my mama too!

merry and magical

deep breath... the list is gone, the hustle and bustle has come to an end. nothing left to do but play! and that is exactly what we have been doing!

esme' loves lucy (she even kept her name... awww!) she opened her first and then sat and played with her while everybody else opened gifts. finally one of the big kids reminded her that she had more presents to open.
daddy made the kids a play kitchen this year! yay daddy!! it is not completely finished yet. it still needs little burners and he plans to add a shelf up above.

the kids love it and it has been played with non stop! and i have had plenty of wood and wool felt meals these past couple days. esme' and i have been busy planning more and more play food... knit food, wood food, hand sewn wool felt food... it all sounds delicious!


and now i am off to enjoy more of the after party!

playfully yours,

erika

whimsical waldorf

here is the sweet little waldorf doll i made for esme'. i worked on her while esme' was at school and after she went to bed each night. it truly was a labor of love, right down to the last stitch. i have been calling her lucy. we'll see if it sticks. i knit her a little sweater::


and sewed her little wool felt wings that slip on and off.


i am hoping she will be well loved for a very long time!


here is harper's little doll. it looks just like him! i did not make him, one doll per season is about all i can take on. i have named him sunny.


and, lastly a breastfeeding mama doll with a tiny baby. i won this doll in a raffle at an event during world breastfeeding week.



the whole bunch, ready to go under the tree! they can't wait to PLAY!

warmly yours on this beautiful day,

erika

for her teacher

i picked up a pack of fabric crayons right after thanksgiving and hid them away where they were forgotten, until yesterday. we were trying to decide on a gift to make for esme's kindergarten teacher when we stumbled upon them and decided to give it a try. esme' drew a picture on a white piece of paper...


then mama ironed it onto a piece of fabric and...


it became a pocket on a very special bag!


a couple things:: it seems to work better if you color nice and dark. try explaining this to a 5 year old! and i think a white piece of fabric would let the picture show a little brighter, but we were using natural colored muslin from my fabric stash. and most importantly, if you have a small child just learning to read and write, like i do, they might be tempted to write words on their picture. i had to demonstrate the concept of reversed images to esme' by having her write her name on a small piece of paper and ironing it onto a scrap of fabric. she wrote words on her picture anyway and we had to cut them off. *sigh*




we have many more fabric crayon projects planned:: pillow cases, tee shirts, book bags, journal covers, bedtime bags... oh the things we can color! WHEE!