Meltdown Monday Giveaway

Comments on this giveaway are now closed.

Good morning and and Happy Halloween! Our giveaway this week is coming from Brandy who keeps a little Etsy shop called 'Painting Pixie'. In my house we adore Brandy's little gnomes. They are some of our very favorites. Her detailed stitch work covering these little guys is just amazing! So, lets's get to know Brandy a little better, shall we?

Tell us a little about yourself so we can know the person behind the work.

When I was twelve, my family moved to the mountains and we were fortunate to have a river in the "front yard" and a meadow surrounded by granite outcrops in the "back yard". I felt a freedom I had never experienced and I learned to listen and watch the orchastra of nature happening all round me. I was a child that could sit for long stretches of time listening to the river and watching the water lap at the shore. I would find perfect gnome homes in the twisted roots of the trees and I truly believed in fairies.

When my family moved from this enchanted place, I took with me that magical experience and it swelled in my heart. For many years my creative outlet was through illustraions. It wasn't until my first child was born that I was introduced to Waldorf-Steiner education. I taught myself how to needle felt, spin my own yarn and sew hand dolls.

Gnoming for me came about through making a doll for my son when he was a wee lad of three. I made a sweet huggable and very loved 8" gnome doll in the waldorf fashion that he called Gnomie Gnome. Gnomie Gnome went everywhere my son went and at bedtime, Gnomie Gnome "told" my son stories. I was in awe how my son's imagination was channeled into his doll. Storytime at bedtime with Gnomie Gnome lasted for months, it was part of our bedtime rhythm for a very longtime.

Through play with my son, I discovered within myself a passion to create simple, beautiful, and natural dolls that could be loved in a variety of forms. I was and am hooked on this creative form.

What inspires your creations?

Nature and the seasons are constant inspirations and I also draw on children's literature and folklore. I have found collaborating with customers through custom orders a real joy ! The idea that the dolls I make will be loved and will be a part of someone's play inspires me.

How do you balance 'making' with mothering?

Making, for me, is a partner with mothering, as is cooking and mothering, reading and mothering or say laundry and mothering. Whether it be drawing, sewing, baking, constructing, writing, etc., we, as a family are constantly making. We, as a family are also really good at making messes through our creative endeavors, not so good at cleaning them up in a timely manner, but, we are learning and we have grace for one another. For my shop, when I do have deadlines to meet, I do my very best to be focused on my work when my children are at school, so upon their return, I can be present for them.

Today Brandy is giving away the winner's choice of a Winter Berry, Solstice, Holly Berry or Mistletoe Gnome. Honestly, I don't know how you will choose!

OK, so to enter leave me a comment. You can let me know how your Monday is going or, better yet, tell me how you beat the dreadful Meltdown Monday or just say hi. Whatever.

For additional entries;
(leave a separate comment for each entry, if you don't, they count as one)
Tweet this (include @thiscosylife in your tweet)
Share on Facebook
Blog this giveaway
And for this giveaway you can visit Brandy's shop and come back here and let me know what you love in her shop.

I will randomly pick a winner on Sunday November 6th and announce here, on my blog. (Please, make sure I have a way to contact you!)

*Meltdown Monday Giveaways are open worldwide.

PS: If anyone is interested in participating in a Monday Meltdown giveaway, here on my blog, contact me here. Whether an item from your Etsy shop or just a little something you would like to give away to brighten someone's Monday, it's all good!

Sunday and a Winner

Our jack-o-lanterns were carved today and I finally got around to those costumes. So we are set for a magical Halloween! Are you?
I have a winner for you today....

Kelley, who said;

I would love a copy! My baby is only 11 weeks old but he's starting to explore his world so I'm beginning to implement Waldorf ideas into our home.

I will email you right away, Kelley, and you will have 48 hours to get back with me.

Waldorf Inspired Home School Themes- Halloween

We are Waldorf-inspired homeschoolers, just starting out in kindergarten. Each week follows a theme, inspiring our work and play and learning. This theme is chosen based on the season and what's on our minds. Each week I will share what we've been up to and some links and resources that will hopefully inspire you. There is a link-up at the end of this post... I hope you will share what your home school has been up to. You can find previous weeks here.

Flutter, flutter little bat
How I wonder where you're at
Swooping through the darkest night
You find your way without a light
Flutter, flutter little bat
How I wonder where you're at

I would like to say this was a productive week and we made lots of wonderful things and learned to boot! But, truthfully, this sick yuck has been hanging on and we've been kinda crabby. Not to mention our first couple of projects fell through. By the way, should you get the urge to blow up a balloon and cover it in yarn drenched in glue... don't. It's icky and the yarn sank when the balloon was popped, never to revive again. I guess this does work, just not for us, not this week. And these salt dough pumpkins should've been a breeze but they fell flat, literally. I think it was because the dough had been in the fridge since last week when we made leaves with it. Nonetheless, it's also fun to squish dough.

But on to the successes! These little pumpkin candles were fun to make and we loved the finished outcome.

Everyone pitched in with scrapping them out and then Kaiya helped me pour the beeswax. It's the first time I've let her pour and she was so very proud of herself. I think I underestimate what she can do too much. I'm trying to let go and see what just what she's capable of (with supervision, of course).

We're going to use them to hang around the woods on Halloween.

Yesterday was our co-op day. They came to our house and we made fairy scopes to use on Halloween. If you're going to see a fairy I think this would be the night!
I'm woefully lacking in pictures of this project. I got very sick last night and should have seen it coming as I was very tired all day. So I didn't get pictures of everyone's, just mine and Kaiya's and Zoe's. I had wanted to do a little tutorial for you but they're super simple. I'll just give you a few little details.

First, gather up toilet paper rolls, hole punch, craft glue, yarn, wool roving and whole big mess of natural finds to decorate.

I used the wool roving (lightly wet felted, though, you could probably get by without doing that), stretched thin enough to see through, to make a veil over one opening because, as you must know, fairies do not like to be viewed directly by the human eye. We cut out a circle of it and glued it around the edges. Then the fun part, decorating! We had acorn caps, tiny spruce pine cones, leaves, pumpkin seed, shells, dried lavender and flowers. Regular white school glue WILL NOT WORK. We used my trusty toy glue.

After we had made them thoroughly fairy-fied (the girls were minimalist) we punched two holes near the top to string the yarn for wearing them around our neck. Very much a hit!
Songs
Flutter, Flutter Little Bat
Five Little Pumpkins
Three Little Witches
Jack O Lantern

Story
Child of Faerie, Child of Earth (This one is perfect for what I'm looking for in Halloween!)

Facts
Not really a lot going on here this week. I wished there had been more but, like I said, school this week was spotty at best. We did talk about the magic of Halloween and the veil between our world and the world of the spirits being thin. I think Kaiya sort of grasped the concept. But it's not terribly important. We're setting the traditions in place now and building the foundation of the holiday for them.

We'll carry this on through the weekend with pumpkin carving and perhaps a little baking, and into Monday, of course.

Homeschool pinboard can be found here and Halloween here.

Now, what have you been up to?

Halloween Plans

Well, it's almost here. Are you ready for Halloween? I enjoyed reading your very thoughtful comments on my Halloween thoughts post... I'm especially intrigued by the Day of the Dead customs and will be implementing some into a day after/ All Souls day celebration. something quiet and respectful.
So after much thought and brainstorming with that fellow Waldorf mum I think we've come up with a pretty magical Halloween evening our girls. Which, of course, I'm going to share with you. I hope you can glean at least a little inspiration for your own festivities.

I honestly thought Halloween was going to be an easy holiday to revamp and make our own because there is so much to draw on. WRONG! There is so much history and it draws on so many cultures and customs that, really, it's confusing and difficult, for me, to find something truly relatable in it.
I'm going to refer you to this article again because, truly, it was very helpful for me.
What really stuck out to me was the very magical aspect of this time. Children are very drawn to magic and fairies and I wanted to play that up. So here it is;

The other mother lives in a wooded area so we're having it at her home. We will hang the pumpkin candles I made with my girls yesterday all about (turned out really great, by the way) to bring a magical atmosphere. We're going to begin by collecting kindling bundles for the bonfire later in the evening then we will carve fairy homes from our pumpkins. The girls will be carving their regular jack-o-lanterns this weekend with their daddy and the other family will carve theirs, as well. We're going to take these and place them about where many natural treasures can be found... acorns, pine cones, brightly colored leaves... and let the girls go about with their lanterns and find treasures for our magical friends. By then the bonfire will be built and the girls will bring their fairy offerings to the fire where they will exchange them for just a couple of small treasures each. I am giving each girl a gemstone that I may or may not crochet a little pouch necklace around. Then we will eat, drink and be merry by the fire for a bit longer.

No trick-or-treating this year, no candy. There will be simple mama made costumes, just for fun. But this year we're focusing on the magic and the wonder.

P.S. Just one more day to enter to win 'Seven Times the Sun'.

...

I am stepping in briefly with a 'Hello' between a long knitting session and bed. The following photos have nothing to do with anything. We made salt dough pumpkins today and they fell kinda flat, not to mention the salt was pretty hellish on my rough, broken, eczema riddled hands. It's not been a productive homeschooling week. That was actually our second project failure (leaving the success count at 0) and the girls are recovering from being sick (better, just rough voices that I'd rather not expose to the cool air) so we've been skipping our walks. I am going to go through my crafting cupboard again tomorrow and try to find our candle wicks. I got ready to make these with the girls for Halloween night but the wick is MIA. We will have a successful craft this week!


I hope your week is going well, so far. BTW, if you've not yet entered, I'm giving away a copy of 'Seven Times the Sun' here.

Not Quite Monday Giveaway

Comments on this post are now closed.

I told you I had something for you. I happen to have an extra copy of this wonderful book and want to pass it along. So of you don't yet have a copy leave me a comment here and I'll draw a winner on Sunday (10/30).

I met my fellow Waldorf inspired mama friend and her sweet daughter this evening while Kaiya was in her ballet class. We were making plans for Halloween, as we plan to celebrate this day together. We made many wonderful plans that I am so excited about and will be sure to share them all with you. I'm so happy to be coming at this day from a different perspective and I think my girls and hers are going to really love what we have in store.

But, more on that later. I am going to get a bit of knitting in before bed.

Thinking Thoughts of Halloween

I guess you may have noticed there is no giveaway this Monday. Sorry about that. I didn't have anything lined up and have had such a busy, chaotic day. I do have something here I wanted to give away... just a little something I wound up with two of. Check back with me tomorrow on that.

As it is only a week away, my thoughts are on Halloween right now. Do you celebrate it? For the past four years we've taken the girls trick-or-treating and even had a few parties. And I'm really, really sick of doing it that way. I'm sick of the sugar and the late nights out. And I'm really sick of my children being frightened by scary costumes (parents being just as bad, if not worse than teens) and over the top lawn decorations. Even going into stores with a Halloween aisle is enough to frighten Zoe. She's very timid and there really seems to be no place on Halloween for children that aren't already exposed to scary things (ie television, movies and other media).

Death is a part of life and something children should be taught not to fear. But Halloween in our culture is not about remembering the departed or death as a natural step in life. The life process in nature has been coming up, mainly with Kaiya, as we're exploring autumnal changes. I think it was particularly this story from the Tiptoes Lightly books that put things into focus for her, without my realizing it. It wasn't until we passed a cemetery while we were on a hayride that I saw how much she was taking in. I very absentmindedly pointed out, 'Look, a cemetery' and the girls asked me what that was. I replied 'That's where people are buried after they die' and they wanted to know why. 'Because what else are you going to. do. with. the. bodies?' Not really my shining moment as a parent. I could imagine visions of lifeless people heaped in graves dancing through their heads. But, no. Kaiya, without missing a beat, said 'Oh, and their bodies go into the ground and help things grow?'

Ah, yes! The cycle of life goes on and on. Why couldn't it be that simple for all of us? One living thing dies, breaks down and makes way for new life. Death really is a part of life but our culture has morphed it into this grotesque thing to be feared. And never more than at Halloween when we dress up in some truly disturbing costumes (that's if we're not letting it all hang out) and fill our minds full of scary movies and haunted houses... the gorier the better! My mother always told me that when we watch horror movies they rob us of our peace, and I have to agree. I watched many, pre- children, pre- marriage and some of those images are still with me. Isn't there enough ugliness in the world without chasing it down and inviting it in, especially into our children's minds?

But, I think the thing that is bothering me the most is, what's it all about? I mean really? I'm on a mission right now, have been for the past year, and that's to bring meaning and spirit into our celebrations and if they lack that then do them over completely or drop them like a hot potato. I've always said that I just love the fun of it, the dressing up and going out. And that's true, it is fun. But, is that it? Really? Are you OK with that? I'm really curious, is that just me? I've been digging and... Halloween is really complicated and has so much history! I've been struggling to find what is meaningful for us in this holiday. But then I found this article and it's really helping me to bring Halloween into focus. I think it's particularly this part that is bringing it together for me.
"To the ancient Celts, the year had two "hinges". These were Beltaine (the first of May) and Samhain, (the first of November), which is also the traditional Celtic New Year. And these two days were the most magical, and often frightening times of the whole year.
The Celtic people were in superstitious awe of times and places "in between". Holy sites were any border places - the shore between land and water (seas, lakes, and rivers), bridges, boundaries between territories (especially when marked by bodies of water), crossroads, thresholds, etc. Holy times were also border times - twilight and dawn marking the transitions of night and day; Beltaine and Samhain marking the transitions of summer and winter. Read your myths and fairytales - many of the stories occur in such places, and at such times. "

On this night it is believed that the veil between this world and the unseen is the thinnest and spirits of all kinds are able to pass between worlds. It is a time when the spirits of loved ones passed are thought to be able to communicate with the living, also a time when fairies and other nature spirits are loosed among us. So, this is my foundation. Halloween, a time of magic and bringing an awareness to the world of spirit and magic. And a time to look back on and revere our ancestors. Phew! That's a tall order for three small children. But I have learned better than to underestimate them.

Please share with me how you're celebrating Halloween, what kinds of traditions have you adopted to make this celebration meaningful for your family?

We Went to the Pumpkin Patch...

but the best (or even good) picture didn't occur til the next day. I believe she was "going to the grocery store".

And I have a winner for you.

Andrea

Congratulations! I will contact you in just a few minutes and you have 48 hours to get back with me.

Waldorf Inspired Home School Themes- Leaves

We are Waldorf-inspired homeschoolers, just starting out in kindergarten. Each week follows a theme, inspiring our work and play and learning. This theme is chosen based on the season and what's on our minds. Each week I will share what we've been up to and some links and resources that will hopefully inspire you. There is a link-up at the end of this post... I hope you will share what your home school has been up to. You can find previous weeks here.

It's a wonderful time for exploring leaves! We've been taking gathering walks and enjoying and crafting with leaves all week.
Our first project was inspired by Joy's watercolor leaves. We used many autumn inspired colors to cover the sheet of paper, painting both sides.



After letting it dry we used cookie cutters to trace out our leaves then punched a hole in the ends and replaced our apples with our beautiful leaves. Perhaps we'll keep our branch around to decorate for each season.

Next we worked on a little something for Halloween. We made lanterns following this tutorial. We will be going to a friend's house on Halloween and doing a lighted walk through the woods.



These turned out so beautifully. The tutorial was for a candle holder but Kaiya and I finger knitted handles for them, hot glued them to the rim and then fit the ring over top.

These lavender pillows I already shared with you here.

And we are actually still in the process of making these leaf prints. Going by this tutorial we have, so far, made the dough, pressed the leaves and used our leaf cookie cutters again to cut some out, baked them and now they are waiting for us to paint them, which we will do tomorrow.




Preparing for this week I realized that, unlike squirrels, there are tons of leaf projects and we just didn't have time to do them all. You can see all of the above and more leaf inspired crafts on my homeschool board.

Songs
Come, little leaves...
The Leaves on the Trees
Little leaves fall gently down...

Story
The Life of a Leaf ( a free pdf)

Facts
Why do Fall leaves change color?

You can share what your Waldorf inspired home school has been up to, too!

This Moment

Inspired by SouleMama
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

P.S. Don't forget to enter to win a wool pumpkin!

Leafy Lavender Pillows- A Tutorial

It's leaf week here in this cosy house and I wanted to share project the girls and I worked on today. This project covers sewing skills and makes a dent in Solstice gifts. I enjoyed making this with them. I don't do very much simple hand sewing but it's so rhythmic and relaxing. Zoe (4.5) is just not ready for hand sewing yet. I think in another six months or so she'll be able to tackle it. But that didn't leave her out... we simply used glue to close up the sides of hers.

I cut out rectangles of wool felt, about 7x5".
I used small cookie cutters (1.5-2") to trace leaves onto scrap felt and drew some even smaller ones by hand. Cut these out.
To fill the pillow I mixed 2 parts dried lavender to one part rice (I ended up with 3 cups because I got a little carried away but I'll find a use for the rest). I added a dozen or so drops of lavender essential oil just because my lavender has been hanging around the crafting cupboard for some time and needed a little lift.
And we used embroidery floss to sew up the sides
and glue for the leaves (and to put Zoe's together). I use this glue. I use it for all my toys... love it.



Fold your felt in half length-wise and sew it up around one short end and the long end. You can use a whip stitch, blanket stitch, running stitch... doesn't matter too much as long as you keep your stitches very close together and whatever is up to your child's skill level. Not really the project to teach a new stitch, I think, just because you want to make sure all those little buds and the rice don't escape.

When you get to the short opening fill the pillow one half-two thirds full of the lavender mixture. We used a funnel or you could just use a small cup. Then finish sewing it up.

Apply a little glob of glue to the middle of your leaves and press them onto the front of the pillow. Let dry.



The girls have put theirs away for Solstice gifts but I think I'm going to put together a 'Calm Down' basket for them and add mine to it. I'll share more of leaf week on Saturday.

Gathering We Will Go

Here we are again, out gathering and exploring. More and more we are noticing that wonderful crunch as we walk along. The leaves whirling and whirling when the wind blows.

I know, I know.. I was just blogging yesterday about gallivanting about. It's where we are. Autumn calls and we are heeding that call.

It's leaf week. We have been in search of as many colors as we can find. Traipsing around the neighborhood. Our own yard is full of Bradford pear trees so we have to search for leaf diversity.









A reader just commented the other day that one little one was missing from the photos. On my back, perhaps? Yes, we walk and she rides. River is more than a little bit of a wild child so I am very cautious about letting her walk alongside us by the road. Just know, we live in a very rural are and we meet very few cars (if any) while we walk... but still. She loves to run away and just laugh and laugh. But I really wanted her to be able to scoop up the leaves with us and roll around in them. So, here she is off the back and wearing a soft monkey leash. She is safe and mama doesn't have to fear seeing her littlest smooshed like a hoppy toad.

Lioness Zoe, fiercely defending her leaf pile from a jump happy little sister.





Leaf piles made and jumped in, acorns and pine cones collected... another profitable gathering excursion.