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!

My First Knitting Project - Woohoo!

I finally finished this huge scarf for my petite momma for her birthday a few days ago :D I'm afraid she will swim in it, but she lives in Chicago, known for its awful weather (and great restaurants) so I hope it keeps her cosy! She can drape it over her head and still have plenty to wrap around her neck ;P

She's also receiving a pair of handmade earrings from a lovely artist that I'm excited to blog about in the next week or two...

My apologies that my posting will be limited this week. My poor Charley is still sick and fighting yet another virus - I believe she has had 4 over the past 8 days - fever is still going and throat is still sore so school is on hold until she recovers...send healing vibes for her, mamas! We're awaiting a final strep test tomorrow morning, but are expecting it to be negative...

Happy Easter!

Easter Day

Christ the Lord is risen today!
Angels rolled the stone away
From the tomb wherein He lay!

Little children, come and sing,
"Glory, glory to the King,
Christ the Lord of everything!"

~by Evaleen Stein

This past week (since Tuesday), my poor Charley has been quite ill - sore throat, fever, vomiting, exhaustion, tears over not feeling well...to conjunctivitis...


We've been treating her homeopathically and her eyes look so much better this morning. This picture was of her last night...she had so much yellowish/greenish goop in her eyes and they both got really red by the end of the night...


The illness threw a bit of a wrench in my Easter plans, but we still managed to participate in our main traditions...


We boiled lots of eggs to dye...


We made our Easter Egg Ring Bread - I love the endless circle of this bread for Easter as it represents the eternity of life. I found it in All Year Round, but you can basically take any basic dough recipe and then braid it and bake it with stones wrapped in foil which will make holes in the dough.


And then you can place your dyed eggs in the holes...


We made some hot crossed buns to have for breakfast Easter morning.


And we dyed eggs. We used this tutorial and they came out beautifully!


I made my annual Pascal Lamb Cake, a Polish tradition handed down through the generations on my mother's side. Here is a picture of last year's cake - this year's cake didn't hold together well and the head fell off to the point where I couldn't secure it back on (drat!), but we ate it anyway :D


And here is what the Easter Bunny left for the girls...(bunnies, chickens, chicks in eggs...)


The tomb was open and our angel hovered above (one of the first things I needle felted - very primitive, but I love it because of that!)


Two baby lambs tucked inside a wet felted egg...(don't Charley's eyes look so much better now...)


Discovering the goodies...


Our Syrendell Sprites were holding painted eggs!


Our Lenten Garden was overflowing with life! Needle-felted eggs hanging from the branches, butterflies, bunnies...


Needle felted twin chickies in a single basket (one of my favorite representations as a momma of twins) :D


Another view of the dish garden...


And what has now become my most treasured Easter possession...a vintage bunny that my mom sent to me last year from my dear Granny's home. My Gran passed just before Thanksgiving and it's amazing how the things that were hers have taken on an unexplainable priceless value to me. I am going to have a post on some of her vintage treasures that I have down the line...


And an egg tree that I made for my shop...(shop announcement and a fun giveaway will be happening this week to celebrate)!


Well, I hope you all had a marvelous holiday weekend and are ready to hit Spring head on now! Happy, Happy Easter!

Good Friday

Maundy Thursday

Holy Thursday

~by William Blake

'Twas on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,
Came children walking two and two, in read, and blue, and green:
Grey-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow,
Till into the high dome of Paul's they like Thames waters flow.

Oh what a multitude they seemed, these flowers of London town!
Seated in companies they sit, with radiance all their own.
The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,
Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands.

Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song,
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among:
Beneath them sit the aged man, wise guardians of the poor.
Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.

"The Last Supper"

by David Newbatt


Our Lenten Table has really taken off. I've been adding to it daily during Holy Week...


Moss, Snooks our Syrendell snail, and a Lepidolite from San Diego.


A needle felted nest with 3 blue eggs...


A beautiful amethyst crystal, along with some flower fairies I made last year and a lovely Lenten candle...


And our grotto/cave stands empty...


Tonight, I will read to them from "The Easter Story Book" by Ineke Verschuren the story from the Gospel of John called "Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet".

We will be having a very simple meal tonight, centered around homemade Lenten bread, some homemade Lentil Soup, a basket of grapes and some water placed in a jug.

Here's the Lentil Soup recipe my mother in law gave me. We used water instead of beef broth, but mmmmmmmm....is it good!

Enjoy and celebrate loving each other today!