Giveaway: A Needle-Felted Playscape!

The votes are in! The playscapes win :)

I love playscapes and they have helped me immensely with my Waldorf inspired homeschool. I can't tell you how many times we have used one of the playscapes in the context of a story for teaching or how many times I have heard little voices playing and peek in to find great adventures happening on the playscape with their little wooden toys.

This playscape features a meadow with a raised mound (where a simple little turtle sits), a stream that deposits into a lake, a cave lined with gold and diamonds where a simple red gnome fulfills his life's work, and a magic tale-telling tree that will come with both deep green 'leaves', and 'autumn foilage so that the playscape can be changed for the seasons, as well (simply remove the 'leaves' for a winter scape). Additional treasures abound in the details (like the purple heather and some little 'apples' that can be placed on the tree during the harvest)!

To be entered to win this beautiful playscape, please leave me a comment with the ages of your child(ren) and their favorite book (or books) and I will post those in a subsequent post.

For an additional entry into the contest, become a follower of my blog (if you are already, LMK that and I'll add your name a second time).

For a third entry, please list your favorite blog (and the category it falls under - general, homeschooling, waldorf, crafting, etc) and I'll post those as a group in a subsequent post!

Good luck to everyone!

The winner will be announced next week on Monday, April 2nd!

2nd Week of Advent

This 2nd week of Advent, we add from the plant kingdom. I wanted to share a picture of one of our Advent spirals that we are doing this year. I removed Mary so it could be seen fully. We have our creche (eco twig house) which was hand made by the artists of Syrendell. They also hand dyed the beautiful blue silk.

Week 1 is the minerals so we placed special gems in our special seasonal table spots. Now we added moss, pine cones, and sprigs from one of our trees. I had cut out 24 small stars to light Mary's way along the path and the eve of the 24th, she will be placed on the large star in the creche to await the birth of the Christ child.

Tucked in another nook of our house, we are doing the angel from last year that descends the heavenly stars each day and on the final day, the star candle will be lit in honor of the birth. That post (with much better pictures as my nice camera went missing on me) can be found here, along with a brief tutorial of how we constructed our star ladder and the tissue paper angel.

The girls and I also have our traditional Advent wreath that we made and we light the candles each night. I will post a quick tutorial on that Mon or Tues.

Again, I apologize that I am so late in sharing things. We have had so much going on this year that it is difficult to keep up with the blogging.

Happy 2nd week of Advent to all!

Mama West Wind Wooden Peg Gnomes

Meet Nicolae, Adela, and Vlad - the Waldorf Forrest Gnomes!

I was lucky enough to win one to celebrate the opening of Mama West Wind's etsy shop in May, which can be found here. We were so excited that we ran online to purchase two more. My girls and I think they are just darling. They are made with upcycled felted wool and wood pegs. You can see some of the other darling ones that Becca sold here. They are very child friendly, adorable, and I love that Mama West Wind is reusing wool :)

I wanted to wait to blog about them until the weather turned slightly cooler and now the gnomes have come out from underground to gather the seeds that they will nurture during winter!

Becca has a lovely blog that can be seen here. She is a very creative momma of two of the cutest little guys around and has been featured on The Crafty Crow here!

All Hallow's Eve Draws Near!

I just shipped this order out to a customer and had to share this picture! I love to add little gifts to my orders and added Gus the Ghost! He was so easy to make that I'm hoping to whip out a quick tutorial so many little Gus the Ghosts can be made in many houses this Halloween! How fun it would be to make several, thread with string and hang from a Halloween tree inside or outside your house!

Staying Organized As A Homeschooler

ACK! Another year is upon us and am really excited! I love homeschooling. I love the books, the plans, the supplies, the eager little morning faces still in their pj's with uncombed hair ready to start each day, and I love the soul expansion that we all experience on this journey with our little ones, who are ever growing.

What I don't love is the clutter that will always be my house while I have these little homeschoolers. Most of the people who read this blog are homeschoolers, whether waldorf, montessori, eclectic, unschoolers, or one of the many other *types*. And we all realize that our children are with us 24/7 so we don't get those windows of time to declutter or clean up as we would if we were SAHM's with kiddos in school or even a working mom who could afford a housecleaner! (OK I admit I fantasize about how immaculate my house would be if my girls were in school sometimes - but I wouldn't have it any other way!). Anyway, add to that all the supplies that would normally fit in a large organized classroom - and, well...welcome to my home - and many other homeschooler's homes!

Yes, the girls do have chores, but I want them to experience their childhood to the fullest, so many days our house is full of everything imaginable, being used in their play. Some nights, I'm too tired to insist we all clean up. For our family, that's OK. I'm just not going to have that *perfect*, *not lived-in* house. I have a home.

At the same time, I realize that it can't be completely trashed or we can't function in it, so I do my best to keep us on schedule with our regular chore chart and a meal chart, which I don't always stick to, but I try to. I have found that just having one really helps. I can see what we did this week and what we forgot to do and I'm happy to see that I didn't set my standards too high and we can keep up with it, even if we skip a day here or there.

Daddy works a ton of hours, so he is exempt. But the girls and I each have one cleaning assignment per day. Mine are bigger than the girls, but that's how it should be. We work together to do what we need to.

So once that flows smoothly, it's much easier to add the additional duties of teaching (or learning together, as I prefer).

I am a bit OCD when it comes to organizing. It is my drug of choice - I just love schedules and calendars and plans - though I don't always stick to them. I tend to over communicate - can you tell? LOL!


For me, I need space to write out my thoughts. I create a 12 month calendar and start filling out important dates and things and I keep it handy. The way I broke down our Grade 2 year this summer with this chart was to:

1. Write at the top which block we were doing and which general theme (ie: for Sept, we're doing a 2 week form drawing review and a 2 week math review which will be tied into our studies of the Chumash people that inhabited our area)...That way, I can easily flip to a month and see which block we will be doing that month.

2. Immersing ourselves in classical books is one of the most important things to me so each month, I have chosen one or two books/novels that I will read to the girls that is somehow tied into our studies, the season, or their development. And the books are listed in the upper left corners before the dates begin for each month.

3. I filled in the festivals, birthdays, visitors, and important activities for each month, knowing more will be filled in with field trips and play dates throughout the year.

4. I also decided that this year, I would cover a story listed in the "Five in a Row" curriculum every two weeks for fun. I had purchased a bunch of the books when we first started homeschooling years ago, but found it was way too heady for 4 or 5 year olds (geography and the like), but I do think it can be a wonderful supplement for elementary aged children. I'm not knocking it, by any means, but for the delayed academics we honor in waldorf schooling, I found it conflicting if started at too young of an age. So I picked books and fit them in seasonally. We'll read them for fun and maybe pick some of the activities to do together.

We will add some more activities along the way - I'd like to do a daily meditation (or just quiet time) with the girls, some stretching, a daily evening walk with the dogs and my girls, pick up ice skating again, and things like that. Also, I need to plan out our foreign language and music program (still working on it) as we didn't jump into enough of a routine with it last year. We'll continue with the AMHC music program and I'm excited to start Jodie's Mesler's program, as well. The problem with foreign language for me has been deciding which one! Seriously - Spanish is so prevalent in So Cal that it would be practical, I want to move to Italy some day and my husband is 1/2 Italian, so we have that heritage, and then there's French (sigh) - the language I took in high school which I feel most comfortable with. Charley wants to learn French, so I need to find a way to weave them in without confusing the girls. We had done all three languages on and off together, but Spanish and Italian are so similar, that the girls would confuse them...so if anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears!

Back to the plan...


Enough of the skeleton of Grade 2 is in place for us to begin! I know for some people, they need daily lesson plans and scripted curriculum to be comfortable, but for me, I get stifled if I have too much in place. Just having my skeleton is enough for me to focus on one month at a time, one month in advance to present my materials. So I am ready for Sept and once Sept starts, I will start planning what we will do in Oct. That way, I can change things up if someone gets a long illness or we don't get to everything we wanted to, or if something doesn't work, or we breeze through it, I can punt a bit, etc - and not feel frantic that I'm not "on schedule"...

So, for staying organized, I love my bookshelves...and baskets...easily accessible and not cluttered so that things are easy to put away after school or play...

Since we are starting with the Chumash people, I raided the library this summer to find books and to learn as much about them as I could in advance.

I made a pile of the ones I am going to use and returned the rest.

Realizing that someone else might be in line to check them out after us, I wanted to keep track of what we used and what we liked. This will also help us when we really delve into our Native American studies in a few years. For now, it's a basic understanding and introduction through stories and culture tied into our form drawing and maths review.

So I am a list person and I LOVE lists. There's a wonderful FREE site that has a ton of different styles and things that you can print out and use on your own. They are by Donna Young and can be found here.

This lady has lists to end all lists! There are so many great ones that you are sure to find one that fits with your temperament and organization style - and they are very well organized, I might add! I use many of them - the calendars, attendance records (as we need that in CA when we file independently as a private school), field trip lists, library book lists, reading lists, weekly planning pages, etc, etc, etc...

In fact, after trying out many through the years and even making my own, I have settled upon this one as the one that works for my weekly planning. I print out one per block and on the right hand side, list my resources under the "List" section, and a general plan throughout the month under the "Plans" section. Then, I write Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc down the five small blocks and then I copy it three more times (if we're doing a four week block) and that way, I don't have to rewrite everything each week.


Then I can fill out what we actually did each day under each section and they store easily as a record for our year. I have binders with those page protectors and everything is filed away neatly!

I've got all of our homeschooling things in bins, baskets and cabinets within easy reach. Math baskets, as suggested by Our Little Nature Nest, was a fabulous idea which we've carried over into other subjects, which can be switched out each month, if needed (though we'll be doing math daily now that the girls are in Grade 2).

Our supplies were ordered over the spring and summer in batches to cut down on costs and so that we could try to snag the best prices possible. I have several suggestions which I'll list below which have been helpful and cost effective for us, but I'm always looking for competitors, so if anyone has any places they like to shop, please post it in my comments section - I would appreciate it!

Vendors we've used:

Paper, Scissors, Stone - chalk, boards, pencils, crayons, misc supplies.

Bob & Nancy's - waldorf books (cross check prices with Amazon and other Steiner bookstores first, but usually B & N's has a nice selection and good prices and shipping is set, no matter how many you order, so I usually try to do one big order a year).

Amazon - always check here first as they give free shipping for $25 qualifying orders and have a nice used selection (save trees and money)!

Green Tara Yahoo Group - Michelle runs sales on Mercurius/Art Makes Sense items, so we were able to purchase beeswax, modeling beeswax, and Stockmar watercolor paints very cheaply this year. She also runs sales on Kinderkram, Evi Dolls, Ostheimers, and more which fit into our children's play, along with various natural living clothing and lifestyle products, fair trade/organics, you name it! She is the owner of Green Mountain Organics.

Waldorf Curriculum Supplies Yahoo Group - this is a fantastic, large group of homeschoolers selling their used waldorf curriculum, toys, readers, and sometimes, other homeschooling books from other methods. We have been lucky enough to purchase much of our curriculum for Grade 2 through this group - again saves trees and money.

DickBlick Art Supplies - this is a great place to get things like watercolor paper, pads for your MLB, chalk, etc. You can make your own MLB's using high quality paper at a discount from Dick Blick.

Syrendell - play silks, wool, and fun ebooks.

Note: I was not happy with the quality of silks I ordered through Paper, Scissors, Stone as it was not nearly as silky/soft or as beautiful as the ones I've ordered from Syrendell. I have the rainbow from Sarah's Silks, but even that pales in quality compared to the beautiful, hand dyed ones that Syrendell makes. I highly recommend convo'ing Jennifer if you need her to make up some for you! Her prices are wonderful, too, for the high quality you receive.

I'd also love to give a shout out to my friend, Lynn, who used to blog about her lovely circle time and waldorf lifestyle and has now branched off and has an amazing etsy shop where she and her oldest daughter make the most gorgeous wool and yarns. Her shop is called The Princess Rooms.

So that's a wrap for now! I'll share a secret - I'm in the process of making a one-of-a-kind surprise to give away in celebration of this next school year! Stay tuned!

July Seasonal Table

Ocean breeze blowing,

Feet kick and splash,

Ocean waves breaking

On rocks with a crash.

~ Wynstone's "Summer"

Something Beautiful to Share

I am so excited, I wanted to post about this gorgeous wool picture lovingly made by a very talented artist in New Zealand. This is her needle felted picture of the wise magician Merlin carrying away the legendary babe, King Arthur, the future king of chivalry and goodness, to safety.

My husband majored in history and is an amazing storyteller. The stories he has shared of the many adventures of King Arthur and Sir Kay, Sir Lancelot, Sir Percival, Sir Galahad, and others have captured the hearts of my two fair maidens. I am so excited that Marie has so beautifully captured the beginning of this amazing story. I presented it to my husband and the girls last night and we are planning on hanging it in their room. They were so excited!

Marie has a wonderful blog where she features many of her beautiful creations and writes lovely poetry and verses to accompany them. She also is having a giveaway, so be sure to enter soon!

She has a lovely etsy shop which can be found here. I have been so enchanted by her beautiful pictures that I had to share it on my blog.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful gifts with us, Marie!

My First Giveaway!

Well I've finally had some time to get things in order and wanted to celebrate the opening of my etsy shop by having my first giveaway!

I've long since admired those crafty and creative moms who seem to be able to do it all so flawlessly. While in reality, we all struggle in different areas, these mommas have been so inspirational. The girls and I decided to open an etsy shop to share some of the fun creations we have made with others who might not have the time, especially with little ones underfoot, to keep up with crafting as well as those who are gifted in other ways or who just want to bring in some handmade treasures from other homes. One of the things I so love about buying handmade is that each creation will be slightly different - the other thing I love is that a piece of that creator and home goes with the treasure. It is literally infused with energy and spirit!

The girls will eventually be adding a few little things they have made and those will be so labeled!

Anyway, my blog is going to remain primarily a homeschooling blog, but I really treasure all of you who visit here and love the comments that people take the time to leave, so throughout the year, I'm going to be hosting giveaways :D

The first one will have two lucky winners! And here are the prizes :D

The wild Mother Nature and the sweet Mother Earth dolls.

One doll per winner - One winner will receive the Mother Nature doll and the other winner will receive the Mother Earth doll.

Mother Earth.

Mother Earth stands approximately 6" tall and holds a delicate bird's nest in one hand, and a broom in the other. She is busy cleaning up after winter and her spring cleaning knows no bounds! On her shoulder sits a beautiful blue bird who keeps watch over its nest. In her hair rests a lovely pink butterfly. On Mother Earth's dress is a tree and she keeps her shawl on to protect her from the winds of spring. She has been made from a variety of wools (corriedale, romanian and american merino wool with a mohair blend, wool batting, a pipe cleaner so her arms will pose, a twig, moss and some straw - no glue has been made in her construction). There's also lots of love and care that went into her xoxo

Mother Nature.

Mother Nature stands close to 6.25" tall with her wild hair reaching even taller! She is much more temperamental than her sister is as she showers the earth with her gifts. Mother Nature represents many elements - rain drops and fire on her green earthly dress, a thunderbolt in her hand, a bird (to represent the air element) in the other. Her hair is windblown and atop her head is a nest. She also wears a shawl to keep her warm during winter storms. Mother Nature has been made using the same materials as Mother Earth, with no glue in her construction.

I'd also like to note that this Mother Nature doll wears a green dress, versus the one in my shop which is a blend of earth tones. She is literally one of a kind!

Here is a shot of the two lovely Mothers together...



And outside...in their element...


They would make a wonderful addition to a seasonal table!


If you would like to be entered in the giveaway, please leave a comment below indicating which doll you would prefer. A winner from each category will be randomly chosen from a little hand reaching into a hat :D - so Charley will pick a winner and Elena will pick a winner. If you can't decide, feel free to enter both categories! Any additional comments will be appreciated. I'm always open to suggestions or ideas on improvement!


Feel free to share this giveaway with others, though there is no pressure to do so. For this giveaway, I would like to keep it one entry (single or double if you would like to be entered for both dolls) per person.



Happy Spring and Happy early Earth Day! Thank you for entering and good luck! This is really fun!


The winners will be announced NEXT FRIDAY on April 16, 2010!

7th Year Birthday Memories

My babies have turned 7! These are some highlights of their birthday weekend...the night before their birthday, I read to them the lovely story called, "Little Angel's Journey" by Dzvinka Hayda (book review coming Friday)! Then it was sweet dreams...until tomorrow...


On the morning of the 15th, they placed the pink baby girls, holding the Valentine's Day hearts coming down the Rainbow Bridge!


On Valentine's Day, we took them to one of their favorite places - The Gentle Barn. It is a beautiful facility that rescues abused farm animals and gives them sanctuary for the rest of their days. It is run entirely by volunteers and on donations from the public. The animals are so loving and sweet. You can brush them, feed them, hug them and it feels oh-so-good to know that these gorgeous animals are so loved (finally)...some are blind and many bear scars of their abuse, but they are gentle and have learned to trust again...There are over 100 animals here and these are but a few pictures of our day...

The next morning, the girls started opening some presents...

Here are some highlights...the sewing baskets were inspired by the tutorial link I saw on Our Little Nature Nest. Grandma brought her sewing machine down and we were hard at work making them. It was fun to fill them with crafting supplies and the girls loved them!

Hand-dipped birthday candles we made in December for their cake...

Corgi dogs made by Zooloonaturals' etsy shop...

Tiny gnomes made by Zooloonaturals. Gnome homes purchased through Nova Natural which are handmade by artist Bill Bluhm.

Dog house hand made by Holzkram and Ostheimer dogs purchased through The Wooden Wagon.

Some lovely books!

And two happy sisters!