Custodians of Beauty

Added to my felt food collection are: snow peas and oranges! I wasn't able to get any in-progress photos of my felt foods, but here they are in finished form.  The orange slices took some thought. I had to figure out how to make them look realistic/recognizable yet keep the design simple. I traced a pattern on paper first to get the right proportions (that's the trick) then cut out the felt pieces.   Snow peas turned out so cute! I sewed dried kidney beans into the fabric to make a few bumps. I think next time I'll sew in pony beads for a more bumpy look/feel. It would be fun to sew more felt veggies and fruits so that my girls could play "farmers market". I could collect small woven baskets for them to "shop" with. They could use play money (from old monopoly game from Vinney's perhaps?) and dress ups. Gotta do that! They would have such fun!  Next up:  potatoes, french baguette, apples, carrots, apple pie...any oth...

Our Lady of Fatima by  Charles Bosseron Chambers On the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, October 7th, the girls and I spent the afternoon coloring pictures of our Blessed Mother and  reading " A Children's Rosary ".  The pages are illustrated with the mysteries of the rosary. After reading the title of the mystery, I asked my 3-year old to explain what was happening in each picture. She says, "baby in belly" for the second Joyful Mystery and "baby Jesus born" for the third Joyful Mystery. She has been learning the mysteries of the rosary with the help of the ever-joyful Brother Francis . We have two episodes of the series and they are played over and over again. The girls favorite song is "Let's pray, Let's pray!" Kisses for Jesus "Sacramentals are sacred signs instituted by the Church. They prepare men to receive the fruits of the sacraments and sanctify different circumstances of life." CCC 1677 ...

When you are stuck inside with little ones, sometimes all the toys and books in the house won't satisfy them. They demand "new" stuff. Well, that's when you pull open your odds and ends craft bins or junk drawer and let them explore! Pom poms, corks, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks etc. Kids LOVE collecting stuff. Give them an empty egg carton or tupperware and let them fill it with their treasures. Watch them count, organize, and sort in their own little way.     Pom poms are great for the littles. They're soft, noise-free and aren't a stepping hazard. But be warned, if you let your toddler play with these, you will never be rid of them. You will find them in the oddest places. They're like tribbles . Cute and cuddly, but they multiply to no end. Corks are another soft and mess-free source of entertainment. I've been saving corks for a project, but haven't had the time to start it. Soon though, very so...

Spotted the first leaf to turn on our maple tree. I was in a baking mood last week and decided to make cut-outs using my new leaf cookie cutter (10 ¢  garage sale find, score!) I wanted to try using several different colored doughs, roll them together to end up with a multicolored cookie. I didn't have time to make an entire batch, so I made half and chilled the rest of the dough for later. Using my aunt's "Peanuts Cookie Cut-outs" recipe, I divided the dough into 4 parts and dyed them red, orange, green and yellow. Then made smaller dough balls of all the colors and started rolling. As I rolled out the dough, the colors started to merge. My leaf designs were changing from bright and bold, to swirly marble-like patterns. So cool. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for more leaf cookie cutters--different shapes and sizes. Let's make some cookies! See how the colors are looking more marbly? Neato. Ready for the oven. ...

Quick update. This will be short and sweet. I've been absent from blogging these past couple months and wanted to share a few photos of my latest creation.... 40 weeks and 1 day in the making...I introduce you to.... our son!  Isn't he a cutie? Baby "LeFou" has arrived! T he girls are abundantly fond of their brother. He is showered daily with soft kisses and many love pats on his sweet carrot-top head. 

Time for another patch for the birthday crown ! My daughter will be turning three in a couple months, so I thought I'd sew this patch lickety-split so I don't forget. Since I didn't document the first time I made one, I thought I'd share the step by step process of sewing felt patches in this post. I used dark and light blue felt with matching light blue floss for the edging. Using the font Typewriter, size 175, I printed a "3" and used it as my template. Below you can see how I pinned the felt and paper template on top of one another. Sewing on the paper, I followed the outline of the "3".  Pinned in place and ready to sew Removing the template  After sewing all the way, around I removed the paper from the felt to reveal the stitched number. Then I used a seam ripper/scissors to cut through just the first layer of dark blue felt. I chalked in a circle around my number and trimmed it to size. Starting at t...