Saturday and no baking

Needle felted acorn necklace

So yesterday we discovered the reason behind Hazel chewing on her hands like she was teething again. She has a sinus infection. With that in mind, but having promised her we would go to the Open House today at school--well actually at the entire Morraine Farm where the school is located, we went, but only went to the school.

We spent most of our time in our classroom. Hazel is most comfortable there, and she loves to play with the toys especially when there are not as many kids around to share. Plus I promised her we would go visit Mrs. Hill (our teacher). Steve went and bought us two bowls of vegetable soup from one of the classes earning money for their class trip and we ate it near our classroom. From there we went to the Nursery classroom and met the new Nursery teacher. This is who Hazel will have next year. Then we went to the Kindergarten classroom where they were making Huckabuck bread. Hazel got the last piece to knead. Then Steve took her outside to play on the playground and I went back inside to do the handiwork project which was a needle felted acorn necklace. Hazel had been asked if she wanted to do one, but she said no. Since I had seen some on Magic Onions and saw her kits, I have been wanting to try them. She sells them at her Esty Shop, Fairyfolk as well as kits to learn how to needle felt. So today I was able to make one as a necklace and learned the proper technique. Now I can get busy making more for decorations with all the acorn caps I have been collecting.

To make them, you need some wool roving, needle felting needle and foam, acorn cap (and if you want to make it a necklace the cap needs to be drilled with a hole and you will need ribbon and a needle for the ribbon that will fit in the hole) and glue.

Take your roving and fold it up to form a squarish ball. Then start needling it especially on the ends to get it to the shape you want it to be. Make sure one end is small enough to fit in the cap. You glue it into the cap. If you want a necklace you first have to pull the ribbon through the hole and tie it and hide the knot in the cap. Then glue it.

Happy Autumn!

Acorns, Pinecones and Autumn Fairies

 

Today we worked on several crafts before heading out on our errands. We started by making two more wool roving fairies with an autumn theme this time. I'm going to put them on Hazel's nature table for now, but I know they will end up in her fairy garden once we decorate it for autumn.

Our Autumn Wool Roving Fairies

Flower Acorn Pine cone Fairies

Next we gathered our acorns and pine cones from our nature walks and back yard. Having seen this Blissfully Domestic blog when I was searching for acorn crafts. We created similar acorn fairies using an acorn and a pine cone for the body. The second acorn may have been a better option, but all of our acorns were small so we went this method.

Our Acorn Pine Cone Family

Then we ran out of silk flowers so we made pine cone acorn people. We will probably add more details to them, but we stopped to let the glue dry. Again I see these going on Hazel's nature table for the fall.

I hope all of you have a wonderful long weekend! I keep praying my dear husband will not have to work nights after tonight, but he doesn't know. He is guessing he will have to go in tomorrow night. This week of the graveyard shift has really done a number on all of us. Even the cats are missing him. Hopefully he (and all of us) will get back to our regular schedules and rest this weekend. Take care and be safe!

Fun filled crazy day...

My job this week is to try to keep Hazel entertained and quiet during the mornings and early afternoon so Steve can sleep since he is working the overnight shift to help restore power to the people of Massachusetts (and Rhode Island and maybe New York). Last night or this morning I should say Hazel woke me up at 1 a.m. wanting to sleep in my bed and have some milk. Steve woke us up at 2 a.m. coming in. He somehow finished all his work for the night early and was allowed to come home. So this morning after breakfast and play time, Hazel and I took a walk and then ran errands though Steve was up after our walk. Oh, and we went to our local library for story time. After story time we went to the very small weekly Farmer's Market. This summer Hazel discovered corn-on-the-cob and loves it, so we bought some. We also got some peaches (I hope they are better than the ones I have been getting at the grocery stores because I have not been impressed this year with them), apples, cucumbers, kale, honey, and an apple pie for Steve and apple cider donuts. For the most part donuts do not excite me anymore. I think they are ok, but not worth the calories, however I love apple cider donuts. I think this fall I may look into making some. I just googled some recipes to try. I remember making homemade donuts when I was a child as a fun activity, so hopefully we can start a fall tradition.

On our walk this morning Hazel and I collected acorns. Hurricane Irene seems to have forced many down a bit early. Some are on her nature table along with some leaves we collected yesterday on our short walk (and pinecones, shells, rocks, etc.) The rest I'm hoping to use in some fun crafts. So far I have come up with acorn fairies, acorn people, acorn pumpkins, acorn wreath (though this looks like it would be for older kids), and of course just gluing along with fall leaves and pine cones to make a wreath or napkin rings. Do you have any good ideas for acorn crafts?

One of the errands today was a trip to Michaels. I bought some wooden frames and Mod Podge. I bought some small squares of tissue paper awhile ago. I'm going to have Hazel Mod Podge the tissue paper onto the frames and then seal it with another coat. I'm thinking this may be some Christmas presents. We'll see how they turn out.

I'm also looking for some good ways to make clothespin dolls. I found in my supplies a package of different race colored clothespins. Hazel is wanting to use them for fairies or something, so I think I may be doing some of that soon as well. I think the next fairy I want to try though is with wool roving. I bought some more wood beads for the heads.

Well that is where my mind is. Have a great night!