Kleas

found while running

A friend recently turned me on to a new-to-me blog called Found While Walking.  Jaime's photographs alone provide a world of inspiration for me...she also has lots of wonderful artwork that she shares...go check out her blog.  Since I've picked up running again this summer, I've noticed that I often arrive home with some sort of found treasure in hand (as a preschool teacher I find that I am always collecting from nature, gifts for the children to use in their crafts).  The above are a few of those treasures found while running.  xx

mosaic monday-stuff i love that caught my eye

1. 9Patch Quilt in Red and White, 2. sometimes we are all knotted up, 3. Tessere con i propri aculei, 4. Untitled, 5. Whirl of oyster stitches, 6. Moths made from a vintage oil painting., 7. fungi bounty, 8. mmm..., 9. couleurs locales, 10. 1detail of collage, 11. lin, 12. semp flowers

Some of my flickr favorites this week.

There has been alot of Olympic watching going on in my house.  We are all big fans of gymnastics and I haven't wanted to miss one bit of it.  I picked up an old knitting project that I hope to finish during the commercials...but, who knows as my own little gymnasts keep me pretty busy showing me their stunts during the breaks.

doll making camp

Earlier this month I held a doll making camp at my preschool.  I was so excited and had an ambitious list of twenty-two possible dolls to create.  I had a great bunch of creative and fun kids and we just played all week.  Here are the projects we made.

Flower dolls

dolls made out of paper shapes

simple knot dolls

bead dolls

the kids wound yarn around a book

to make these sweet yarn dolls

and we ended the week making these adorable clothespin dolls.

heart in hand

This is the start of a little stitching project I made for a friend who has suffered much loss in her life.  Her gratitude for my small gift over-flowed.  It served as a reminder at how wonderful it feels to give.  Doing something for someone else really can do a lot for you too.  

Last summer I participated in Regina's Art of Giving e-course and she's offering it again next month.  Her class was like a little retreat for me.  After getting the boys to bed, it was my special place to go and learn and be inspired.  Through videos, Regina teaches so many wonderful techinques in painting and collage and beading and each day we were taught new forms of expression through artwork.  It was a wonderful experience and I recommend her course to everyone.  

And right now, Regina is giving a spot in her class away.  Go quickly to her blog and leave a comment here- give-away ends today.

mosaic monday-all sorts of pretty

1. woad seed print (3), 2. so slight a thing, 3. Pupation, 4. Contents, 5. handspun, 6. forever immortelle, 7. striped moss brush, 8. Tundra palette embroidery thread, 9. red onion skins, 10. paper yarn, 11. sunday sewing (2), 12. June rosé

So much beauty in this world...

Happy Monday friends.  x

fairy house building camp

This summer I stepped away from offering my traditional fairy garden camp at the preschool to try something new.  Inspired by Imagine Childhood's mud brick house, I knew I wanted to introduce this method to my class.  I'll admit I was a little nervous about it all coming together as I had hoped, but it did...beautifully!  And the kids were so excited and so proud of their creations that my heart just swelled.

Last week, I mentioned that I had been working on my mud brick recipe.  I tried making them in ice cube trays as was suggested, but found that forming them by hand worked much better for me and I knew would make much more sense for the kids.  I was a little concerned that mine took two to three days to dry...for a camp that lasted four days, this would not work.  To be safe, I made of pile of extras "just in case".

Day one:  Making bricks.  We gathered grass to use as a binder, dug dirt out of the garden and added water to make a nice thick mud.

Next we began the brick making process.  Each child had a piece of cardboard to lay their formed bricks on to dry in the sun.

While the bricks dried outside we went inside to practice building houses using our crayons.

Day two:  To my great surprise, the 98 degree and very sunny day we had the first day was enough to completely bake our bricks.  We were ready to start building!  (I was a little worried that I might have to dry them out in the oven).  We made more mud to use as mortar and using pie tins I bought at the dollar store we began making our houses.  First we put a layer of dirt in the pans, then started by laying our bricks.

Day three: We added the roof using sticks, popsicle sticks, grasses and even a leaf.

Day four: Adding details.  Upon request, some of the kids brought in their own special treasures to add to their fairy houses.  Some of the items were: pinecones, shells, small stones, a feather and even a small ear of corn!  What I had for them to use were some dried flowers, moss, corks and anything in the garden that appealed to them.  How sweet are these!

(for better views, you can see them on flickr starting here).

Waiting in the cubbies to go home.

One last detail.  All week during camp I wore my fairy necklace that has a tiny door that opens.

Children are naturally drawn to these little details and it's pretty much a sure thing that they will want to open the little door.  Which each child did.  Every single day.  On the last day of camp I put a bit of fairy dust in the door of my necklace so when they opened it, they knew right away a fairy had been there.  I love that I don't have to say a word.  It just takes one child to come to this conclusion and then they all know it as truth.  While the children were playing, I sprinkled a little of the fairy dust into the doorway of each house so when they came back to them, they all shouted with glee that a fairy had already moved in.  I love that.  The beauty of childhood and their spectacular imaginations.

Wishing you all a magical and beautiful weekend.

mosaic monday-dolls

With all kinds of doll making going on at the preschool last week, I couldn't help but have dolls on my mind...here are some new and old favorites.

1. patriotic toile, 2. Summer little Queen, 3. Ruby, 4. IMG_2022, 5. Peg Doll - Beamish Museum Collections, 6. paper dolls, 7. Emma sitting, 8. Marlene, 9. Katia, 10. Untitled, 11. linen doll for my friend, 12. Untitled

Click on the above links to see the creators original photo on Flickr...some of the heads were cut off in the mosaic.

Happy Monday!

weekending

Beach Friday::

Saturday at the Farmer's Market::

statice - to dry and use in projects at the preschool

free art class for kids at the farmer's market

garage sale drive-by...I spotted this treasure from the car

Brickmania

Sunday-Race Day::

Ran with friends Jenn and Jen and Jill in The Color Run.  Doesn't this just inspire you to get out there? It felt so great to race again-after all, I used to run marathons.  It had been about nine years since my one.

I spent the rest of my day trying to perfect my mud recipe for making mud bricks.

This week at the preschool I'll be teaching the children how to make fairy/gnome houses out of mud using these bricks we will make tomorrow.  It's a little step away from my traditional build a fairy garden camp and what could be more fun for preschoolers than to play with mud!   I still have our doll making camp to post about, sometime this week.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Kikapoo Trading Post and Viroqua Flea Market

I took two outings without the boys while we were on vacation last week...I just had to explore some vintage treasures.  I didn't bring my camera to the flea market, but had fun snapping shots at the Kikapoo Trading Post while my girlfriend was trying on vintage dresses.

Definately a little something for everyone.  If you're ever in Readstown, I recommend setting aside an hour or two to explore.

Of course I didn't leave empty handed.

• two letterpress drawers to mount in the boys' bedroom to hold their treasures
• a stack of vintage children's workbooks-such lovely graphics
• wood (anything) handmade knitting needles and vintage bobbins (some with thread-sigh)
• beautiful tapestry (to add to my collection)
• and a crazy number of unopened needlework kits-mostly from Norway.  These kits are so wonderful!  Even if the pattern is out of date or I'm not interested in it, the linen and beautiful threads can still be used, and I plan to take these to the preschool to work on a stitching project with the kids.  At $2 a kit, it's a bargain just for the supplies.

I also just uploaded a huge amount of photos on Flickr from our little journey.  These are for you Mimi.

spotted...

...this on our walk by the river yesterday.