Just Ask

You never know what could happen if you just ask.

Shannon of The Spun Monkey is asking for help in getting her dream business off the ground. You can read all about the future Spun Monkey Dyeworks and Lounge here.

Jennifer of The Prairie Girl asked if I'd be willing to trade for a pair of my earrings. She's a crafty one, that Jennifer, so I opted for a surprise. Look what I received in return for my girls

But asking isn't always easy, I know.

I have put a few requests out there to the universe, and I'm going to patiently wait to see what comes of them. In the meantime, I have asked myself to please resume my yoga practice before I turn into the tin man. I have  a strong feeling the answer is going to be an enthusiastic "yes."

Have you asked for anything lately?

The Great Christmas Caper

How does a family lose a giant box full of Christmas decorations?
Well, I'm not really sure, but we did.

I don't imagine it's an easy thing to do. I mean, a giant blue rectangular storage bin doesn't just get swept under the rug. All I do know is that it's gone. Our little treasure trove of every Christmas tree decoration we owned, every light, garland, you get the picture...

This leaves us with a tree that looks like this:

And it means have some serious making to do (as if we are not already doing some serious making?)

So we started with some of the classics—popcorn string and paper garland—and the tree is already starting to take shape. I bought some lights, and a kind friend is dropping off some unwanted ornaments tomorrow.

Although I am disappointed by the loss of some very special ornaments—some that the kids made when they were tiny, and others that were brought back from far away places— I am really enjoying the ornament-making frenzy we have begun. Each day when the girls get home from school, we start a new project. Before long, it will look a lot like Christmas again in our home. 

And the mystery of the disappearing bin? I think I figured out. I suspect it was mistakenly carted off by the charity that picks up our donations. That's what I get for being lazy and putting the Christmas bin in the front porch instead of back in the basement where it belongs. humph. 

I'm not the only one in our household who has been busy making. The girls have spent the last week making the perfect gifts for each other, and I have just been informed that my stocking is full and ready for Christmas morning. I can't wait to see what they have made for me.

"A" has been keeping busy with his latest woodshop binge—tops. One for each of the kids on our list (and that's alot of tops).

It was quite a scene trying to get all the tops spinning for this photo but, alas, there were always a few that got away—spun right off the table, or fell over soon after launching.

A handful of those homemade beauties at rest. I love the variety of shapes and sizes.

And one atop a gift, on it's way to a special little one.

Progress report: I am happy to say that I made decent headway in my pile of gifts yet-to-be- made. I can't wait to show them all to you, but that's going to have to wait...

Not a Dull Moment

The Peruvian wool I splurged on a few weeks back is starting to take shape. As you can see, I am running out of room on the pattern to make note of my sets and rows. What am I knitting? I'll bet most anyone who is a fan of knitty.com could guess. I do believe it is, by far, their most downloaded pattern...

Our pick-your-own blueberry excursion today yielded 5 pounds (five POUNDS!) of berries, for exactly $10. I call that a bargain, if there ever was one. But wait, speaking of bargains...

I scored all this booty at a local church yard sale this evening. Fabric, ribbon, rick rack, bias tape, string, a bread pan, and a pair of knitting needles of every size from 1 to 7 (!!!), and more (read: various random animal statues the girls chose, beads, a mug, leather gloves, felt squares...) for, once again, exactly $10.

So here I am—with an interesting knitting pattern to concentrate on, more blueberries than I know what to do with, and crafting supplies to last me far into the future. I don't imagine a dull moment any time soon.

Freedom and Time

Clematis blooming in clusters on the trellis...

The girls passing time finger knitting (learn how here)...

Blankets for Craft Hope project #3 getting boxed up and ready to go...

And toy birds in a tree...

I came upon these birds in our dogwood tree yesterday quite by surprise. Funny, what the kids will come up with when given freedom and time a-plenty. They learned how to finger knit—and have made scarves for many, many stuffed friends. We have had time to craft for the sake of those who do not have. We have been living in our yard, in its summer-blooming glory.

*Sigh*, Summer!

Paints and Plates

A couple of years ago I had the ultimate score at the thrift shop—a large box of plain white plates and matching tea cups. The plates are the kind with the little circle indent where the tea cup sits, perfect for serving hot cocoa and cookies. These would be perfect to paint and give as gifts to all the little girls in our lives.

I decorated many of these sets as gifts and saved the last 2 for my girls, on which I planned to paint their favorites things. For 2 years now. And still haven't. Which brings us to yesterday, another rainy day with boredom setting in. So, I set the girls loose with paint and their very own tea sets to decorate however they pleased. The finished products were colorful, imaginative and just-how-they-like-it. Which, I know, is better than anything I could have designed and painted.

We use Pebeo Porcelaine 150 paints—water-based paint that you can cure in your own oven. Just paint and then bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes. The paint is non-toxic, permanent, and dishwasher safe. You can use it on ceramic, glass, metal, and terra-cotta, among other surfaces.

I am thinking another visit the thrift shop will yield all kinds of new pieces we can paint. Maybe we'll go today. Since it's raining. Again.

An Idea Whose Time Has Arrived

Starting with a newspaper article I was reading on slow family living, I clicked through several links until I found myself on the website of the Future Craft Collective.

This brilliant organization's focus is to provide ways to build connections through crafting. On their site and blog, they offer various projects and tutorials to help get you on your creative way.

To give you an idea of what they are all about, the Future Craft Collective answers the question "What are we doing?" with the following:

*We offer ideas for the promotion of self expression

*We want to provide a place for crafters and non-crafters alike to find inspiration

*We want kids to understand the thrill of creation over the desire of consumption

Great reasons to want to be involved, but it was Future Craft Collective's answer to "Why we do it?" that won me over:
"We truly see this as an idea whose time has arrived, and one aimed to arm families, friends and community groups from all over with the tools they need to craft positive change in the world!!"

Their tag line pretty much sums it all up. "Make Stuff Together."