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 end of the week~

Random thoughts of the moment

I have been wanting to come here and do a post, yet have really not had much to share, at least in terms of craftiness. All of our things are, even more so than when at my sisters,  in storage, 

that includes all of my craft supplies, so most of what we have been doing is enjoying the beauty of the ocean. Last night the full moon was absolutely stunning, and perhaps because of our beautiful moon the ocean tide has been very low. That has meant shallow clear water, and a wide piece of beach with very wet sand. The children just loved this wet strip, the moment they dug a hole it filled with water, and they have spent hours over the last couple of days digging, damning, tunneling and building in this wet sand.

I have put our formal school lessons on hold for now, yet there is still plenty of learning going on as is the natural state of these precious children. Plenty of learning for me to, each day learning to be more patient, to let go more and be less controlling, as I observe myself I am amazed at how controlling I have been, putting my will on the children. The relaxed feel of beach life has given me a needed rest from my mind and each day I feel more peaceful.

I have even made time to paint again, the other evening, the children in bed I created a beautiful space to let the creativity flow, it was blissful and I am looking forward to make more such times for myself as I realize the importance of these meditations. Just before leaving Asheville I sold my first painting, it has long been a dream of mine to create an income from my passion, I am making a space for this dream to unfold and become a reality.

And all this while we are waiting to rejoin Miguel, he is awaiting his deportation, and as with anything legal it is much of a waiting game, we are hopeful that we will all be together again in Venezuela by the end of February although it could be longer, until then we are here, living, learning and loving....

I leave you with a few pictures of the beautiful ocean from these past few days;

 ~with gratitude~

Hello from Miami

A quick hello here from Miami Beach where the children and I are passing through once again.

We will soon be meeting up with Miguel in Venezuela and from there we will see where life brings us, still many uncertainties, however very soon we will all be together as a family again and that is exciting beyond words.

Miami Beach was my home for many years before I had children, and before we moved to the mountains near Asheville. 

The children love coming here, we have wonderful friends and the ocean nurtures their souls and brings out their biggest smiles. It is a city and the energy is intense at times for this reason I clearly remember why we chose to move, yet how grateful I am to spend a few weeks here reconnecting with friends and the vast ocean.

~Sweet blessings~

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~