Tree Hugging

There is a serious love of trees around here. It is mostly my desire to do things handmade (find it first, if not, then thrift, if not, then buy handmade, or if necessary, buy new...). So I ended up making a lot of the wall art around the house and the driftwood and beautiful branches in the landscape around us started to be pulled into the house. I recently was made aware that each room in our house has a branch of sorts. Hm...

And that is just what I found in my archives! Well, recently Soren helped AnaSofia hang up her artwork above her bed. This project involved uneven taping of art all over her wall. It looked special for about a week and then I couldn't look at it anymore, so I decided to help her make it a more inspiring spot. We found a long driftwood branch that I hung on the wall with hook and eye screws. We picked up hemp string and mini clothespins at our local craft store and made her art wall.

I added a few prints from two of my favorite etsy artists to inspire her. Super simple and sweet.

Life Cycles

Each year we buy caterpillars and hatch them out. I wanted to do monarchs again this year but could not find any milkweed on the property, so we settled for painted ladies. I buy the refill kit and then hatch them in glass salsa or jam jars (I tape the paper with the formed chrysalises to the jar lid). There is so much science to include in these two weeks, but in these young years I keep it basic and just let them enjoy the wonder of nature - it is pretty amazing! We also have some butterfly nets to catch swallowtails, monarchs and all other unlucky creatures that come into the fields around the house. I just keep a jar and the nets on our front steps for the kids to do long term observations.

FIVE

Such a fun, fabulous girl. I am always in awe of graceful little you...
It makes my heart sing to see you strong and beautiful inside and out at five and it also tugs at my heart strings knowing you are growing up so fast right before my eyes and I can hardly keep up with it all...

Silly
Shy
Sweet
and so responsible...

So thankful to have family to celebrate you today...

and friends to celebrate with you in the park this week...

I hope you know I celebrate you every single day. I really am so thankful... Happy birthday sweet one.

Summer Stitches

Last Fall I rescued a box of vintage patterns at the recycle center and scored some pretty great patterns. One was a 1950s pinafore pattern (Simplicity 2056) that I was hoping would be sweet by itself as a summer dress for AnaSofia. I hesitantly wanted to use the African fabric given to us by friends who spent time in Mali (remember when I made her a coat with it for her a few years back? Yes, it takes me awhile to decide how to use this special fabric!) and decided to use a cheaper fabric first to try out the pattern and then follow up with the lightweight, wonderful African fabric. The pattern was all ruffles and full skirts, which AnaSofia loved.

I thought it would be much too hot for summer so when I remade it with the proper fabric, I eliminated the skirt part of the pattern and instead cut the fabric selvage to selvage and used that piece as the bottom. Much more modern, lightweight and fun. I also nixed the belted middle to save time and fabric.

I love the dress on her (well, I think she looks gorgeous in anything!), but I do wish I had hundreds more yards of African fabric to continue working with!
Of course, little Kasper was not left out, he got a little pair of summer reversible pants like the many others he wears from this book with the African fabric on one side and vehicles on the other (his pick - of course!)

And some fishy ones of mama's design for more outdoor adventures...

Lots of summer sewing! I am trying to keep up with sending random handmade love gifts of capes, skirts, tea party quilts and felt flower hairbands to friends each week as a little surprise to those we love.

Summer School

No not really, but we are busy doing lots of creating, reading and outdoor learning these days... I am really fixated on A learning to bike and swim this summer, which probably means it won't happen (because I want it to you know!), but I need a few goals to keep me fired up! At the library we check out 4 to 8 books a week (I aim for four, A slips in four more) and it always ends up being the ones she picks (picked by random chance due to being at the end of a shelf at the library or having a pretty cover - isn't that really how we all pick books?!) that we really dig. Last week she picked out this book...

Which started us all off on a fun oragami frenzy. It is what we have been doing these past weeks in the quiet moments and it is oh so much fun...

Love those sweet, simple books that help us think about life in a different way and bring joy to our quiet moments.