Kimara's blog

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.

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.
 

I love it when I get to craft for Bug. It seems like there are so many different things you can make for girls... headbands and barrettes, skirts and bracelets. Coming up with ideas for boys that actually excites them is a bit more challenging. I mentioned before I bought the awesome book Fairy Tale Knits. I made the Magic Carpet afghan for Meghan's baby shower. Beautiful. I then had Aidan go through the book and see if there was anything he'd like me to knit for him. He loved 4 of the sweaters for boys, with this Robin Hood Sweater being his favorite. He was so excited when I gave it to him on Thursday. It was 85 degrees outside. He put it on and refused to take it off! I used the the Cascade 220 yarns suggested in the book. Definitely the way to go! It's wooly wonderfulness is obvious. I've already started on the next sweater... a gray wool that resembles chain mail. He's requested I add a hood that looks like a helmet. I will have to give this some thought! And don't you think Robin Hood needs a quiver? 

 

"Nooks and Crannies" are special places in our homes and gardens that deserve mention. It is not a whole room, but rather a single element that adds to the overall charm or functionality of the space. Words may accompany photos or photos can speak for themselves.

If you would like to share one of your "Nooks and Crannies", just link to it in the comments and others will be able to stop by and take a peek!

Although we are empty nesters, we still need to share our space with visiting children and grandchildren. My craft room needs to double as a guest room when the need arises. My totally brilliant and accommodating Timothy introduced me to the wonders of a Murphy Bed, then built one in my craft room. When guests are visiting, we pull the bed down. When they leave, we fold up the bed, return my table, and wah-lah, I have my craft room back. BTW... I am aware that I have not finished painting the door panels of the Murphy Bed... I've been aware of that for 6 years :) AND, before anyone asks... No, we did not trap little George in the bed! 

For more information about Murphy Beds check out these two sites.

http://www.Wallbed.Com
http://plansnow.com/dn1117.html

I don't make everything I own. I buy stuff at stores... really I do. But you have to remember I began crafting early. I knitted my first cable knit cardigan sweater, including button holes, at the age of 8, thanks to Grandma Pearl and her faith and patience with me. Because of this background, and an overly zealous attitude of "I could do that", I have a tendency to approach all purchases by first asking... "Can I make that?" Seldom do I follow it up with the logical and possibly more appropriate question of "Should I make it?" 

But  I learned very early on, that not everyone shares my "Can do" attitude. Case in point... when I was in high school I went shopping with my mom for a formal dress she needed for a holiday party. Although my mom could sew, and did quite well making curtains, quilts and some clothing for me, I must admit she was a more gifted shopper than crafter... an equally impressive ability I might add... one that I'm lacking to this day! Anyway... on this particular outing, she found the perfect dress. It was a long sleeved, black bodice dress, embellished with wide ribbon. The attached skirt was a long, creamy satin, gathered at the waist, and cinched with a wide belt. She looked lovely in it.

However, I took a look at the price tag, and the simple lines of the dress, did a quick bit of mental math and said, "Oh, Mom. You could make that for a third of the price."

I don't know why she agreed with me that day. Perhaps she felt like I had thrown down a gauntlet, and that she had to protect her integrity by proving she was capable of replicating the gown. Or maybe she had spotted some expensive shoes that would be affordable if she saved money on the dress. Whatever the reason was, we left the clothing store and headed to the fabric shop. Sure enough, we found a pattern for a dress almost identical to one she had tried on. Within a half an hour, we had loaded our cart with fabric and ribbon that would create a knock off for the other dress, and I was right, it cost about a third of the finished gown.

When I went off to school the next day, Mom was already at the dining room table laying out the pattern. It appeared to be a straight forward pattern, and I was sure as I was walking home from the bus stop, that my Mom would be done with the dress, and she'd justly thank me for encouraging her to make her own dress. That's not exactly what I found. As I was walking up the driveway, I saw something fly out of a second story window. On closer inspection, I discovered her partially completed dress lying on a snowbank.

I won't share the ensuing "conversation"... let's just say it didn't include very many words of gratitude! After liberal usage of a seam ripper, we worked together to finish the dress. It did look every bit as lovely as the dress in the store, and it did cost substantially less, but my mother felt no joy when slipping into it for her party. Because, sewn on the dress, as surely as the ribbon, was frustration and tension. I can't say I remember my mom ever wearing that dress again. Perhaps she did. But I can tell you this, I NEVER again suggested she make something that she could buy!

But that hasn't stopped me. The other day I was at Target with Michelle and the wee ones. I was replenishing my stock of cloth covered ponytail holders. I'm convinced our whimsy of gnomes absconds with them, because they seem to disappear almost as quickly as I buy them. Anyway... while picking up several packs, I noticed these adorable headbands. Simple headbands, made with ribbon and elastic. I gathered up 3 or 4 of them, and was ready to toss them in my cart, when I looked at the price... $7.00 a piece!

"You have got to be kidding," I said. "I can make these for a fraction of the cost."

So, I put them back, made a mental note to add ribbon headbands to my "to do" list and continued on. I thought about them again today. I went upstairs and hit my ribbon stash. I then grabbed some 1/4" elastic, and in less time than it took you to read this blog, I had made 4 ribbon headbands. I jumped in the car and made it over to Michelle's (a 5 minute drive) right before the kids were going to bed. After the chaos died down, I was able to try the headbands on the girls. I realized that I needed to make them slightly larger for Fairy, but they fit Pixie perfectly. She picked out the Hello Kitty Headband to model for me. Totally adorable, right?

These truly are one of the fastest and easiest crafts you will ever make, and they literally cost pennies if you buy your ribbon in the dollar bin like I do. These would make great stocking stuffers or party favors. Put together 6 different ones for your child to give as a birthday gift. Or, if you are involved in any type of craft fair this holiday season, these will make wonderful, affordable items, that will surely be snatched up quickly!

Materials:
ribbon - (I used 3/4" ribbon)
elastic - (I used 1/4" elastic)

Note: You can use any width ribbon. If you use a wider ribbon, you will probably want to use a wider elastic.

Determining sizes for cutting:
Measure the size of the head where the headband will lie.

Cut the ribbon 4" smaller than the head measurement. 
Cut the elastic 4".

Lay one end of the elastic on the right side of the ribbon even with an end.

Fold one corner of the ribbon over the elastic on a slight angle.

Fold the other side of the ribbon over the elastic on a slight angle. Pin in place.

Sew in place 1/4" from end. Sew other side in the same manner.


Turn the seams right side out and wah-lah... 5 minutes, right?

{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.

Have a lovely weekend ~ Kimara and Michelle