This Moment

A friday ritual inspired by Soulmama

A single photo, no words

A moment I want to pause, treasure and remember

~here's to happy times with friends and to a new year filled with wonderful surprises~

I will once again take a break from this space as we are going to be on the move once more.

~Blessings to us all~

Christmas days

We have spent some lovely days with family celebrating a traditional Danish Christmas.

On the morning of Christmas day the snow starting falling in thick blankets, and we spent the day playing in the snow. (In Danish tradition the main celebration is on Christmas eve)

We made these sweet frosted candle holders for our Christmas table, we used Mod Podge, white tissue paper, Bows, Raffia and greenery. Check Gardenmama for a full tutorial.

It snowed and it snowed, our first real snow this year and it came exactly on Christmas day...

It was and still is extremely beautiful, and provided many hours of fun...

~wishing you sweet family fun~

A last Handmade Holiday

I thought I would share one last handmade gift before signing off for another few days. We have family visiting from Denmark, and are all truly enjoying being together for the holidays. 

I made this simple necklace for Kaleena, inspired by her love of blown glass. The pendant I got from one of the mama's in our homeschooling group, a talented glass blower, here is her Etsy shop

So for now I will retreat into the comfort of family Christmas, and give the computer a long needed rest.

 I would also like to wish everyone out there a blessed, peace filled, magical and wonderful holiday season, and look forward to reconnect after Christmas.

~sweet holiday greetings~

This Moment

A friday ritual inspired by Soulmama

A single photo, no words

A moment I want to pause, treasure and remember

~wishing you a wonderful weekend~

Handmade Holiday, A glowing wax lantern

Today I finally got around to making this glowing lantern for my Mom for Christmas.

I followed this wonderful tutorial from Rae @ Morningsunrae. I have been wanting  to do this for some time now, I got myself a brand new crock pot from a fellow Freecycler, (love love that that group, 

all giving and receiving) and I received the beeswax that a bunch of us mamas ordered from a local farm at a good price. I was a bit concerned about dipping the ballon, but followed Rae's direction and dipped a leaf first to check the temperature, and after the first couple of dips, Kaleena took over. The children were fascinated with the warm softness of the hardened wax, 

and the smell in the whole kitchen was just delicious.

Kaleena also wanted to prick the hole in the balloon which sent a fountain of water over the sink.

I used the technic mentioned at the bottom of the tutorial, standing the lantern on a hot pan for a second to shape the bottom, and later to smooth the top edges. I dipped the pressed flowers into the wax and then added them to the side of the lantern before dipping the whole thing again. I think I dipped too many times as the flowers almost disappeared, yet once a candle is lit inside they show up nicely.

For the first try I think it came out very nice, 

and it will look pretty on my Moms breakfast table back home.

Besides a few little remaining projects that pretty much wraps up my 

Christmas gifts for this year, pretty much....

~with love and gratitude~

Yarn along

Joining Ginny at Small Things for another round of Yarn along.

I just finished knitting this little gnome, inspired by lasts weeks yarn along in fact. I found the simple pattern on Plain and joyful living, it took about an hour to complete, and is so sweet.
Still haven't gotten into a book just for me, but thought I would share my love of these simple little animal stories by Thornton W Burgees, that we are reading every night. The children absolutely adore these sweet little animal stories, with their gentle lessons about nature, life lessons and the personality of each animal. The only thing that bothers me a bit about these, is the pictures which has the animals dressed and on two legs, however the pictures are few and I still highly recommend them...

~wishing you a lovely day~

Cookies, Christmas and gnomes

Cookies and Christmas, it just goes together so well, doesn't it?

Each year I make at least too types of cookies, and these are the same cookies that my mom used to make each Christmas. Christmas was the one time a year that we would bake cookies growing up, so these certainly bring back Christmas past for me..

For these I used;

2 1/4 sticks of soft butter 

10Ts of sugar

12ts brown sugar

2 eggs

300 grams of flour

1ts baking soda

1ts salt

1 1/2 cups of nuts (I used walnuts)

200 grams of chocolate pieces

they are placed on wax paper by the teaspoon full, with a top or they will get very flat when baked.

Baked on low, 250 or so for 8-10 min.

 My favorite part of these chocolate chip cookies is getting a big chunk of semi sweet chocolate and chopping it up myself..

 And yet another favorite part is dressing up the cookie jar and making it  part of the Christmas decorations, as well as wrapping little individual boxes for neighbors and friends.

 The other night I felted a gnome for Keenan to go with the book Pico the gnome, and well these little guys are addictive, tonight I want to attempt a female. Aren't they sweet?

I though I might make some more and add to my Etsy shop, which I have left positively abandoned.

I used this tutorial and adjusted it to fit my need as I was not making ornament.

~with so much love~

Handmade Holiday, Keenan's doll, his clothes and carrier

I have been wanting to make Keenan a doll for a while now, but have simply not found the time, especially due to the fact that I have never yet completed a doll, something I plan to rectify in the future.  So instead of making one myself I ordered from a sweet mama up in Canada who makes lovely dolls. Do check her dolls here, although I know she is taking a break until after Christmas. 

Isn't he precious,  I just love him, and really hope that Keenan will feel the same.

 I wanted to make a bed/carrier for him, as we will be moving around in the near future, and I know Keenan will like to have a place where he belongs. I used, of course:), a felted sweater, cut three pieces and sewed the sides onto the the bottom piece. 

The sides are a bit wobbly but hold up nicely when he is inside.

 With a leftover piece of the felt which I used for Kaleena's crayon holder, I sewed up a little mattress to go inside, and stuffed it with lama wool. I used a piece of another sweater to make a little pillow, also stuffed with lovely lama wool gifted by the sweet Jenny.. Thanks Jenny!

 Then made a matching blanket to which I added a little heart to tie in with the mattress. 

All in all the effect is lovely, and I am really happy with how it turned out

 I used an old onesie, and turned it into this jumpsuit for the doll as well. It fits him really well.

 Finally I finished knitting this sweater and scarf for him as well,  must make sure he will stay warm during the cold winter, wool baby, just like Keenan used to be...

 Nice and cozy...

~with so much love~

Christmas projects

We have not been doing nearly as many christmas project as I usually would. Living at my sisters house I am limited to none messy projects, at the same time there are so many other joys of sharing this special time together, lots of cozy chats by the fire, and a bonding time we have not had in many years. 

Soon our lives will once again bring us far apart (geographically), and it is so nice to have shared this past year.

So instead of the crafting I would usually do with the children all this month I have come up with a few simple  projects, that they can do without too much mess.

Next week we will mess up the kitchen in a big way though and bake cookies:)

 We have been making presents for grandparents, my parents are coming to spend Christmas, so the children have been very busy making cards and gifts for them. They each painted a cup for them and then made a special gift bag to set them in ( I got the idea for the bag here ), cutting felt pieces and gluing them to a plain bag.

 One for Mormor and one for Morfar.

 Kaleena made this for Mormor

 and Keenan made this for Morfar

I saw these on The Crafty Crow, a simple tree ornament, made with cardboard and string. Both children adored making these. They are so simple and very pretty on the tree.

 We also made woolen hearts. Keenan loves sewing, he is always asking if he can please sew, and he is getting very confident with the needle.

We cut the wool from felted sweaters sewed it up and stuffed it with wool batting. Lovely for the tree and also for a vase with pine branches on the table ( how I would usually have them)

~sweet blessing~