Last year we created a Handmade Holidays Shopping Directory. It was set up to offer FREE advertising to our readers that have small online shops that feature items that are handmade or offer supplies for crafting. It was a huge success, and we are expecting more of our readers to participate this year.

Of course, we always like to challenge our readers to make as many gifts as possible. It's fun, it's economical and it's satisfying. But we also like to encourage our readers to support SAHMs that are crafting lovely gifts. So, if you'd like your shop to be included in our directory, and your site is family friendly and in keeping with the spirit of Wee Folk Art, read the instructions below. Shops will be listed in the order received. If you don't have a shop to include, please check the resource list frequently to see what new crafty goodness is being added, and consider buying from our readers. Finally, whether you are a "shoppee or a shopper", include a button on your website that shows you support Handmade Holidays! Yay!

INSTRUCTIONS:
If you would like your shop to be included in the listing please send me an email (michelle@weefolkart.com) including your Name, Shop, Website and a brief description of the products you carry (about 80 words will fit). I will choose a product image from your site to be used in your listing.

You must sell handmade items or crafting supplies (family friendly, of course, and in keeping with the spirit of Wee Folk Art) to be included. This is a FREE listing that we will maintain through the holiday season. We hope to have many shops take advantage of this opportunity to share their crafty goodness with others, thus making our holiday shopping a bit easier this season. The more the merrier!!!

PLEASE NOTE: You do NOT have to have an "ETSY" shop... just your own shop that sells handmade items or crafting supplies. No site is too big or too small to be included. And although it is not mandatory, we do encourage our participating shops to include the Handmade Holidays button with a link to this directory on their site to help spread Handmade Holiday Joy.

Jen (HereWeGoAJen) - Little Star Shop Little Star Shop provides custom designed onesies, t-shirts, babylegs, and cloth wipes. You can also find simple children's toys for open ended play. Rainbow eggs and playsilks are some of the more popular items! Most items are created just for you, so please ask for exactly what you'd like! SHOP http://www.etsy.com/shop/LittleStarShop

Nicky - MagicRainbowDreaminx Hi, I am Nicky. I am offering lovingly handmade little treasures and accessories of many kinds: from felt accessories (NEW in 2010: items made of a most lovely 100% pure wool felt) to creating gem stone earrings (with 925 Sterling silver) to paperware to fun knit and crocheted items. I do love custom orders ~ so if you don't see what you're looking for, just contact me! Happy Season to you all! SHOP http://www.MagicRainbowDreaminx.etsy.com

Sarah - Nothing But Soap Each bar of soap is made with cold process high quality vegetable based ingredients. With true premium blends of goats milk, shea butter, concentrated blends of aloe, olive oil and more. Each bar has an abundant aroma of the essential oil soaps it is made from, making it a fantastic fragrance soap. I offer soap deals (the more you buy the more your discount) and gift sets that include a handknit washcloth and a wood soap dish. Enjoy! SHOP http:www.nothingbutsoap.etsy.com

Michelle - Wee Folk Art This is an example of the directory listing. Please include your name, your web address and a brief, about 80 words, description of your site and the products you sell. I will choose an image from your site to be included in the directory. Businesses will be listed in the order in which I receive the request to participate. SHOP http://www.WeeFolkArt.com

If you would like to include the HANDMADE HOLIDAYS Button on your site (whether or not you are listed in the directory) you can save the image to your computer and upload it to your site or copy and paste the code listed below. It will link to our 2010 Handmade Holiday Shop Directory.

BUTTON:
<a href="http://weefolkart.com/content/handmade-holidays-directory-2010"><img src="http://weefolkart.com/sites/default/files/handmade-holidays-2010.jpg" border="0px" width="125px"></a>

BTW- Please note that we do reserve the right to exclude any site we feel does not meet our guidelines.

Our Week with Tops and Bottoms

Here are some highlights from our week with Tops and Bottoms. It has been hot and hardly fall-like this past week but everyone was excited to get started. Pixie was thrilled to have her own school work and the older kiddos were very enthusiastic about the books and projects they remember so fondly. I was actually surprised how into it Bug got... he was the one insistent about completing the salt dough project, we couldn’t get to it fast enough.

And then while picking raspberries we had one of those precious moments that reaffirms that this is right where my family belongs right now. At our favorite U-Pick farm we had the raspberry fields to ourselves. The weather must have scared off most and the few other brave souls there were picking the early apples. In the berry patch, the children had spread out and where happily filling their buckets, Pixie in manner that couldn’t help but bring to mind Blueberries for Sal, Kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk! Although it was hot a lovely breeze was keeping us comfortable and Bug looks up at me from a few yards down the row, with his container half full, and says, "It is so peaceful out here. This is the best day." Yes it is sweetie.

If you have been working on Tops and Bottoms and would like to share your adventures with us, remember to add you blog links in the comments below (if you have blogged about this week more than once you are welcome to add multiple links).

This week we are starting our Harvest Time unit. I will be posting a weekly introduction every Monday to give everyone a space to chat about the program. If you would like more information about the program you can learn more and download the free homeschooling curriculum on our Harvest Time page. All of the directions for the art projects, recipes and activities are included in the curriculum guide. If your family is participating in the Harvest Time curriculum either for homeschooling or after school enrichment we would love to hear about it! Please leave a comment in this post in regards to your experiences with Harvest Time’s Week One activities. You are welcome, and highly encouraged to leave links to your Harvest Time’s Week One blog posts or pictures in the comment section of this post.

Harvest Time Week One
Primary Book: Tops & Bottoms,
Enrichment Book: The Vegetables We Eat,
Activities: Salt Dough Veggies,
Field Trip Idea: Grocery Store Produce,
Art: Bull Vaulting,
Poem: Little Boy Blue,
Flower Fairies: Bugle Fairy & Coloring Page

Links from Our first time completing the Unit...
Salt Dough Veggies
Farmer's Market Field Trip

Basic Salt Dough Recipe
1 Cup Salt
2 Cups Flour
3/4 Cup Room Temp Water
1 TBSP Vegtable Oil.
Bake at 200 F for several hours until dried through. Paint when dry. .

For a realistic touch, we used small twigs for stems. We also used toothpicks for adding details. I was surprised how well the Salt Dough retained its modeled shape. .

Note: Both puppies and almost 2 year olds like to eat the finished veggies! Keep a close eye on the little ones if you have 'em.

If your family is working on the Harvest Time curriculum either full time or just for some family fun enrichment, you are welcome to add the Harvest Time button on your website. You can save the button to you computer and upload as a photo to your site (you may want to link it back to the Main Harvest Time Page http://weefolkart.com/content/harvest-time-preschoolkindergarten-curriculum) or just copy the green text below and add it to you site.

There was such a wonderful response to this give-away, we decided, what the heck, we'll give away 2 sets of Lavender Scented Rainbow Bean Bags. The winners were drawn at random and they are:

Chiska on Mon, 08/30/2010 - 16:02.
I love the new look too! Thanks for always having such great information available to us. We spend a glorious couple of hours at the library the other day with your recommendations. Thank you!

Simple Dreams on Sun, 08/29/2010 - 15:14.
I love your new design! I think it's great that you and Michelle are so close to be able to share this wonderful website and all the projects together :o)
I'd be happy to have one of your little crafts in my home!
warmly,
Angela

Congratulations!  

The beanbags are all made, and I'm just awaiting the lavender which has shipped and will delivered on Friday. The beanbags will be mailed on Tuesday.

For those of you that didn't win, thank you for entering. We will have the tutorial for making your own set of Lavender Scented Rainbow Beanbags next week.

Please note: Winners must contact us within a week of the drawing with a mailing address or a new winner will be selected. weefolkart@yahoo.com

A couple of months ago we were contacted by Rhythm of the Home and asked to submit a project for their Autumn Edition. We were very excited to participate since we so enjoy the publication. If you are not familiar with Rhythm of the Home, here is a description from their website:

"Rhythm of the Home is a quarterly online magazine. Our focus is to unite a readership which is interested in Waldorf or Montessori education, or simply living intentionally and hoping to incorporate a rhythm and reverence for the natural world in the lives of their children. Each edition will publish seasonally, with articles and projects dedicated to incorporating the upcoming season into the family’s rhythm."

The hard part was trying to decide what to make. We decided to share something that anyone could use to celebrate the season. Michelle and I love to use wreathes in our decorating. The wreath, a symbol of eternity, reminds us of the circle of life; of how one season flows into another, only to return again and again. So, we designed the Autumn Oak Leaf Wreath, combining sewing and stenciling. To get directions for this wreath visit Rhythm of the Home.

And while you are there, pay a visit to their blog. As an extra bonus, they are hosting a giveaway featuring handmade goodies from some of this edition's contributors. They asked for a giveaway that directly related to the submitted project, so we created two over-sized Maple Leaf Potholders, using the same fabrics and stenciling techniques as our wreath. You can sign up to win our potholders or any of the other giveaway items being offered from Rhythm of the Home blog.

It has been a lot of fun crafting and contributing to another publication. You can now visit Rhythm of the Home to find our tutorial for the Autumn Oak Leaf Wreath and check out all the other wonderful crafts being shared to help us celebrate this beautiful season!

I've already mentioned that Pixie has a birthday coming up and all the gifts I'm making for her have a rainbow theme. When thinking about all the little things I'll be crafting, I thought (dangerous past time, I know :) that I needed something to put them in. Back in the 80s I was really into using the upholstery cording to make all sorts of things. I haven't used it in years, so I decided, what fun! So, here are the directions for Pixie's Rainbow Coiled Rag Bowl. I'll be sharing my "stuffings" as I get them done!

Materials:
new or used light to medium weight cotton
(I bought 1 yard each of 6 rainbow colors and have tons left for other projects)
1/2" upholstery cording
(I bought 10 yards and used 9. Yardage depends on the size of the bowl you cover)
embroidery floss (2 strands) or quilting thread (needs to be heavy duty)
sturdy needle

BEFORE YOU BEGIN… IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT TACKING: As you start assembling your bowl, you will be asked to tack the cording together to form the bowl. When tacking, you must go through 2 pieces of cording; the piece already part of the bowl, and the new piece you are adding. The method I used was to go through the center of a new piece, and bring the needle out halfway through the cord below.

I would then push the needle back into the cord, close to where the thread came out, and angle my needle so it comes up through the center of the strip of the new cord that has not been tacked down yet. (Sounds much more complicated than it is. Check out the photo!)
Pull the thread tight enough so it holds the coils together but not so tight that it begins to dimple the cord. I then put a very small tack stitch where the thread came out to stop the threads from loosening up.
When tacking your bowl together, you want to keep the outside of the bowl stitch free. So as you form your bowl, think about how the next piece of coiling will be added to the bowl, and make your tack stitches so they will be hidden by the next row of cording. On my final row you will be able to see your tacks, but if you use matching thread, and evenly space your tacks, it will not detract from the finished bowl.

Directions:
Pick a bowl you want to use as a form. My bowl was 4" at the base, 8" across the top, and 5" high. Turn the bowl over so the bottom is up.

Rip your fabric in 1" strips. Again, how many strips you need depends on the size of your bowl. I needed 4 strips, 1 yard long of my purple, blue, green and 3 strips of yellow, orange and red. I suggest you rip as you go, so you only rip as many strips as you will actually use. You will also need a 2" square of the first color you use.

Begin by wrapping the end of the cording with the 2" square of fabric. I wrapped my matching embroidery floss around the outside of the fabric to hold in place before I tacked it to the cording.


Take your first color and place the end of the strip near the tip of the covered end of the cording. Pin in place. Begin wrapping the cording with a strip by wrapping on an angle, always overlapping the previous piece by 1/2". Continue wrapping the cord firmly, slightly condensing the cording as you go. Stop when you are about 3" from the end. Pin the strip to the cording so it does not untwist.

To start forming the bowl, begin coiling the covered cording, tacking as you go. (See note above about tacking.)

To add a new color, you can either sew the pieces together by simply overlapping and stitching, or you can tuck the new color under the old color by 2” – 3” and continue wrapping as if they were 1 continuous piece. The tacking and wrapping you do will hold them together, and since this is a rag bowl, some unfinished ends showing are acceptable HOWEVER, make sure any of the unfinished ends are in the inside of the bowl, not the outside, and you can trim back some of unfinished ends on the inside to “neaten up” the bowl when you are done.

To begin with, you can work on a flat surface. Periodically place your piece on the bowl bottom. When your coil is as big as the base of the bowl, continue wrapping the cord with the strips as you have been, but now, as you coil the wrapped cording, use the bowl as a form. Wrap the cord around the bowl, pinning the cording to the previous coils, on the angles the bowl is creating. Continue tacking in place as you build up your bowl.


When your bowl is as tall as you want, cut the cording. Then, taper the last 4” of the cording before wrapping it. Wrap in the same manner. The cording will diminish in height, but you should keep the width the same. Pin in place, and tack as before. You may want to put a couple of extra tacks in at the very end.

NOTE: This give-away is now closed. Congrats to the 2 winners!

I can remember the excitement of back-to-school shopping. Even as a child, fall was my favorite season... the sites, the smells, and yes, even the start up of another school year. Fall clothes were my favorite. I loved corduroy and tights, sweaters and autumn prints. The world was experiencing an explosion of earthy colors, and I loved my clothes to reflect the change.

Today, I still love preparing for fall. And it always means changing COLORS. Recently, Michelle and I have been talking about giving Wee Folk Art a bit of a face lift. We wanted to maintain the "feel" of WFA, but wanted to bring in a little more color. Michelle got right on it. I love our phone calls when she's designing... "Hey, Mom, check this out". I'm always so impressed with her work and her attention to detail.

So, after a couple of weeks of planning and designing, here's Wee Folk Art's new "rainbow" look. Hope you like it... I LOVE it! And it couldn't come at a better time... the start of Fall and the changing of colors. Over the next couple of weeks we will be doing some reorganization, and we will keep you updated on our changes and offer some highlights. In the meantime, we wanted to celebrate our new look, with a little giveaway.

Pixie's birthday is September 17, and this year, I'm making her gifts with the same "rainbow" theme as Wee Folk Art. (More about THAT later.) Anyway... one of the things I'm making her is a set of 6 lavender scented, rainbow beanbags. (Yet to be made... waiting on the lavender.) We decided to make an extra set to giveaway. So, if you'd like a chance to win a set, simply leave a comment below. Share the giveaway with your friends through tweets, Facebook, or your blog, and get another chance to win for each posting. (Make a separate comment for each and leave a link.) The contest will run until Wednesday, September 1, at 9:00 pm, when a winner will be drawn at random. Good luck to all... and THANK YOU MICHELLE! I love the new look!

{this moment} - A Friday ritual began by Amanda at Soule Mama. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment you want to pause, savor and remember.

Fall is just starting to creep in around here. In the past week we've noticed a few trees in our yard that have leaves that are tipped with gold. Chilly mornings have led to the kids digging deeper into their drawers pulling out long sleeved shirts (although by mid-afternoon these are really too warm to wear) and maybe most noticeably the food requests have started changing. Chili with cornbread and Vegetable Beef Soup with dumplings have made it to the table in the last week. Today after school we plan to switch out our seasonal decor and prepare our nature table for the fall.

This has reminded me of a fun project the kids and I did last year around this time. We made this Felt Fall Leaves Garland together. This was originally posted on Wee Folk Activities in September 2009.

It has been cold and rainy all day. So after we finished up our school activities we raided the craft cabinet for a project. This is what we came up with... a Felt Leaves Fall Garland.

What you need...
Various pieces of fall colored felt (craft felt is perfectly fine here - no need for wool)
Yarn
Yarn needle
Lots of beads with large holes
Leaf Pattern (get one from Wee Folk Art or collect leaves from your yard and trace)
(Embroidery floss or fabric paint if you would like to add the leaf vein details - after trying one, we decided to leave ours plain).

Cut out a bunch of felt leaves (we used 13).

Cut a long piece of yarn (3 to 4 yards) or for multiple family members cut out a yard of yarn each.

Poke the yarn needle through the top of a leaf about 1/2" from the edge and tie a large knot on one end.

String about 12" of beads and then add another felt leaf. Continue until you have strung all of your garland.

We each beaded a one yard section starting with a leaf and ending with a section of beads.

I took all the completed sections, tied them together, added the last leaf so both ends ended with a leaf, then trimmed the yarn to make our one long garland piece.

I think it adds a fun festive touch to our mantle.

Have you ever had a summer that you felt like you lost? Here we are, with Fall around the corner, and I realized that I did precious few of my summer activities. It was an extraordinary summer. Memorial Day weekend my mother decided it was time to move into a condo... something I've been suggesting for 5 years. Before she had a change of heart, I jumped right in. The summer was grueling with buying, selling and moving BUT last weekend we were all done. The last of the boxes unpacked and on Friday we closed on their old home. They are now just 4 miles from me... 2 from Michelle... so spending time with them will be so much easier... definitely making up for the lost summer.

You may be wondering where I'm going with this since this is a tutorial. Well... one of the last things we put on my parent's wall was a eucalyptus wreath I made for them over 20 years ago. It was the year I made everyone I knew a eucalyptus wreath for Christmas. I'm sure most people have gotten rid of theirs many years ago, but Mom still has hers. And I was shocked that it still smelled like eucalyptus. Sure, the smell wasn't as strong as it use to be, but if I gave it a very hot shower, I'm sure it would stimulate the oils and much of it's old smell would return. You gotta love eucalyptus!

Anyway... I realized that I missed my old wreath. Somewhere over the years, in one of our many moves, I probably decided it was time to get rid of it. But looking at my mom's the other day, I realized that I needed to find time in my "catch up" existence, to make a new one. And I'm so glad I did! The house smells wonderful, and it takes me back years and years ago, when I made them as gifts. They are very easy to make, although I remember now that it was hard on my hands. If you have very good, thin leather gardening gloves, you could probably use them. It is a little pricey, too. It took 3 bunches of eucalyptus that I bought from Joann's, each costing $9.00 a piece. But I suppose when you consider my mom has had hers for 20 years, it's a pretty good investment!

Materials:
3 bunches eucalyptus (I bought one red, one brown and one green)
3 packages (300) 3" floral picks
14" straw wreath
optional: I like to add bows and dried flowers seasonally
Pruning shears or kitchen shears
 

1] Begin by cutting the eucalyptus into 5" - 6" pieces.

2] When cutting the pieces, cut one piece off just above a set of leaves. This will make the next piece look more like the tip of a eucalyptus stem.

3] If necessary, pull off a couple of leaves at the bottom of a piece so approximately 1" of the stem is leafless.

4] Place a floral pick against a piece so they overlap about an inch and attach the stem and floral pick together.

5] Beginning on the front of the wreath, add pieces of the stem to the wreath on an angle, pushing the floral pick into the wreath about every 1 1/2". Make a complete circle.

6] Stagger your next row so the stems are between the stems in the previous row. Continue adding pieces until the front and sides of the wreath are covered. Do not cover the back.

7] When you are done, check for "bald spots" and fill in with additional pieces. Also, look for wild and crazy pieces and give them a little snip. If you would like, you can tuck dried flowers directly between the eucalyptus stems without using florist picks. You can also add a bow or tuck ribbon in the wreath.

8] To hang it on the wall, use a wire from one of the floral picks and make a loop around one of the strings, on the back, holding the straw wreath together. Hang the wreath on a nail.

9] Now sit back and enjoy the beauty and aroma of your new wreath. Over time you can give your wreath a very hot shower to remove dust and to rejuvenate the scent. 

10] BTW... don't throw away the eucalyptus scraps. Break them up and use them as potpourri.
 

Winter Wonderland 12 Week Curriculum
(Preschool-Kindergarten / Ages 4-6)

Here is the second preschool/Kindergarten term that I know many of you have been anxiously waiting to see. It has a very similar rhythm to the Harvest Time unit with a focus on animals in winter and simple nature studies. Enjoy!