Spring is here!

It is such a delight to have the milder days and see the beautiful spring flowers emerging. Vivienne knitted a hat yesterday with her beautiful birthday yarn. Mia has been working on her Kumihimo Japanese braiding technique that she learned at Super Saturday class. I have been needle felting, one of which is the little green frog in my title photo. It will debut in the a puppet play of The Frog King with the Azalea Mountain Puppets this spring! Jasper and Mia also painted their gourd birdhouses that we grew, then hollowed and dried out last autumn. Our nature table got refreshed, with special thanks to all the lovely people who had the crafty swap with me! And the last photo is a cute little gnome boot-clip from Jasper's pen pal  in New Zealand.

Felted Matryoshkas

Oh, what fun! I participated in my first natural material craft swap. I made 15 sweet little matryoshkas, inspired by Vivi's 8th birthday theme. I think that I made about a dozen for party favors, and it was such fun that I kept on making them! First, I needle-felted the features, then I wet-felted so that they would be very sturdy for child's play.

Eleven Candles...

 And she wanted a Parisian theme for her party - what fun!

Fun chocolate molds from Bake it Pretty. I love that shop!

Mia's poster is on the right, inspired by her French class at Super Saturday. And Vivi's poster is on the left.

 The girls decided to make eiffel tower with string, like cat's cradle, you know?

Happy 11th Birthday, my Mia Bella! Someday, we shall see Paris together! Je t'aime ma fille!

More Love

The kids really get into celebrating at our house. They work so hard on making gifts for the whole family, it really astounds me! Mia set the table for a special Valentines lunch and made it so darling. I found the prettiest little silk dress at the thrift store for Vivienne, so she had to get dressed up.

 

I had to share Jasper's dog bone stamp thank you notes, to follow his puppy birthday party! We had fun printing them with a potato . And the last photo, a glorious mango lassi. Could anything be more amazing than cardamom and mango together? Seriously.

Which bring me to a favorite Rumi quote... "Let the Beauty We Love be What We Do" - Katie Daisy's printed version is so pretty.

Happy Valentines Day!

This is Mia's own Valentines Day photo which I helped with on Photoshop. I hope you are enjoying the  sweet lovies in your life as much as I am! XOXO

Photographer in the Making

I loved watching Jasper as he set up my tripod and look for the image that he wanted. He made a little curtain for his secret studio. It was very sweet! I only took a quick photo because I didn't want to interfere with his work. The girls are also very interested in photography now. I remember when I began to love photography around 9 years old. I entered my photos in the 4-H county fair! I can't wait to share Mia's valentine photo creation this year. (to come...)

Puppy Party

New friends... Gnomie made by Ines, felted sock monkey made by Mia

  

 The chocolate cupcakes were delicious. I used Martha Stewart's one bowl chocolate cupcake recipe, and her chocolate-sour cream frosting. Jasper told me that he wanted "grown-up" chocolate for his birthday cake!