A Lovely Oak Tree For Our Autumn Nature Table

I've been trying to involve W and A in decorating the tree on our nature table this autumn.  We have been going on daily nature walks and mostly have been bringing in  lots and lots of acorns.  I'm honestly wondering if the neighborhood squirrels will go hungry this year because these two little ones have brought so many acorns into our house.  We have also collected lots of leaves and sticks and gum balls and rocks, but acorns are definitely their favorite think to collect on our walks!  Luckily, our outdoor play area is a little oak grove with several lovely big oak trees.  Unfortunately, part of the area used to be the neighborhood basketball court and is paved.  Still, there's lots of nature there for our enjoyment and we spend lots of time there!

To reflect this we decided that our nature table tree for fall should be decorated as an oak tree.  We started out by hanging some extra leaves from  our autumnal wreath on the bare tree.  We then added some lovely acorns.

I then had the kids paint with red and orange water colors on both sides of some card stock. Once the paintings dried, I traced my oak leaf cookie cutters and cut out lots of paper leaves in different sizes.  W and I rubbed the leaves with some cooking oil which really made the colors pop and we hung them on the tree.

We also added my sample of the wood pumpkins I'm going to have them paint next week.

Now I just have to figure out where I "put away" the other nature table items from last fall so that we can finish decorating our nature table.

Adult sweater to toddler jacket...

This jacket may be one of my favorite projects that I've worked on in a while.  It started while doing some thrift store shopping with W a couple weeks ago.  I found this beautiful red wool sweater in a ladies size small.

I loved it and saw lots of potential to felt it down and make something new out of it.  Then it occurred to me that it would probably felt down to about the size of a toddler's jacket.

So home it came, and into a hot wash it went....three times.  It shrank and felted down to this...

I then cut a slit up the center, blanket stitched around all of the edges with yellow wool yarn and added some button embellishments.  I decided against using the buttons as a closure, because I felted the sweater down a little too much and it's not roomy enough at this point to button up.  I may add some hook and eye closures though.  (Note to self...next time...use a ladies medium sweater to felt down for a 2T jacket!)

I think this will be a perfect little jacket for W to wear for his birthday this autumn!

Christmas preparations continue...

I have been working steadily on Christmas gifts this week, though, I have not competed nearly as much as I had hoped over the course of the week.  I am starting to feel the crunch and worry about competing all of the gifts for our Handmade Holiday at this point.  My husband is teasing me about this, but since all of his gift buying will happen in November (hopefully from either local crafts people or etsy) he is much less stressed out about this than I am.  Of course, he's also trying to figure out everything that I'm making for him and driving me a little batty!  Since he is an occasional reader of my blog I may have to post about the things I am making for him sometime after Christmas.

I will admit, that towards the weekend I did get distracted with making an autumnal wreath for our front door.  I'm going to show you all a picture of it before I move on Christmas gifts, because I love it!

Okay, on to Christmas,  Last week I  mentioned knitting a hat for W. I had hoped to finish it this week, but did not quite finish it.  I'm still really excited it about it though and it has been a really fun project.  Here it is as a WIP.

The one Christmas gift project that I finished this week is a little stocking stuffer for W.  In this month's puzzles out of popsicle sticks.  It's such a cute idea, but I also know that it's beyond W's capabilities for this year so I decided to make a couple for his stocking myself and put my own twist on them.

First I laid out my popsicle sticks and taped them together.  

Then I painted them with watercolors, which made them expand and warp.

So, I flattened them under a large scrapbook while they dried.

I then penciled in a drawing on each one.  I traced a wood cut out of a snail (I frequently trace wood cut outs when I don't feel like I can draw something freehand) and drew in the details myself.  I did draw the bee freehand.

I then traced and filled the pictures in with a black marker.

I removed the tape and polished the pieces with my beeswax polish.

And tied them into little bundles.  I'm thinking I should make some little fabric pouches for these though.

I think these would be a great little toy to take with us to a restaurant for W to entertain himself while he waits.

In other holiday related news, I completed exactly none of the Holiday Grand Plan's week 1.  That means this week I need to complete Week 1 and Week 2.

How are your holiday preparations coming along?

Notes on my wonderful boy at 18 months

This should have been published back in June, but somehow I never hit the publish button on it.  Fun for me to re-read it now a few months later!

My wonderful boy, W is 18 months old and truly remarkable!  For the past year and a half he has enriched the lives of all who love him, family and friends alike.  

These days W is filled with love and likes to show his affection for those around with him with a zeal, his mother and cat can only describe as painful.  He constantly tried to hug and kiss the cat and gets on top of him in an attempt to keep him still long enough for said hugs and kisses.  The cat runs away for a moment, but always comes back for more.    At the moment, I personally have a nose injury resulting from W's head when he tried to very forcefully hug and kiss me yesterday.  We are working hard to tone down the intensity of his gestures and show him how to be "gentle and loving".  I have to admit though, his hugs and kisses are amazing and I love receiving all of the ones that do not result in a cracked nose.

Also, W would rather be outside than inside most of the time.  He loves to go for walks, play in the park, play in the sandbox, play in his kiddie pool, go to the botanical garden, help me in our little garden and go to the farmers' markets in town.  He thinks that creeks are truly joyful places for splashing and exploring.  When we say the word "out" we have to be ready as two seconds later, he is at the door grabbing for the door knob...no shoes necessary...just like his mama.  He loves trees and is particularly fond of the crape myrtles in our apartment complex. He finds lots of fun playing in between their branches.

 He also, like his mama, and his grammy loves magnolias, both the leaves and the lovely lemony scent of their flowers.  This past week at the farmers' market a plant vendor told W he looked like a "plant guy".  W vigorously shook his head yes and I agreed as well. This is a very accurate description of   W. After examining all of the plants for sale, W and I chose a lovely coleus from which we are rooting additional cuttings and a dill plant.  W loves to touch, smell and taste different herbs and I think dill might be one of his favorites.  At the botanical garden I have to drag him away from the dill so he does not pick and eat it all by the handful.