Kleas

fa la la la la...

Wishing you all a festive, merry and warm holiday!!!

Love this photo my sister posted to facebook.  I'm the one with the big mouth! with my mom, sister, brother and foster brother...I often wonder about those foster brothers who lived with us a year, and then... where did they go?  Where did they end up?  

Another blast from the past...found this in some papers from high school!

There is some damage...it survived time and a flooded basement, but it's still a wonderful piece.  This artwork by the very talented Marcellus Hall, circa 1982.

Merry Christmas and Joyous Holiday wishes friends!!  xxx

cinnamon stick tree ornaments

This is what we made at the preschool this week.  The children traditionally make a water color painting card for their families along with an ornament or treat of some kind.  This year they made these adorable cinnamon stick ornaments.  The kids had so much fun picking out buttons and gluing the piece together (although some hot glue teacher supervision was needed as well).  

A tutorial can be found here or here.

I've been getting emails and comments about why there have been less of my Friday preschool craft posts here and the answer is quite simple.  My teaching partner wanted to try handwork this year.  So we switched roles and I'm now in charge of snack.  It's a nice break for both of us.

Happy Friday friends!  xx

exchange

I did a little ornament swap with Aunt Peaches.  If you don't know Peaches, she is one glitzy gal...and she is crazy about flamingos.  The top flamingo is the one I made for her.  Nothing too sparkly about needle felted wool so I added as much angelina fiber to it as I could to give it a little shine.  Not too visible in this photograph.  The one I got from her is the bottom photograph.  I love her brass legs, long and skinny, sticking out amid the fluff.  I also loved that we both used feathers. 

It never quite feels like Christmas until I make a few ornaments.

mosaic monday-it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

1. one h ᵉ α r t... one w ᴼ r ℓ ∂, 2. Christmas Dots, 3. ice wreath, 4. Untitled, 5. December Postcard, 6. The baking is all done..., 7. snowman, 8. Our single Christmas decoration, behind the kitchen blind. I grew up with an orange paper Swedish star just like this one, and am so happy to have my own this year., 9. I love snow!, 10. 1/365, 11. little trees, 12. |*|

Some flickr favorites, some old some new, that all speak of Christmas for me.  Follow the above links to see more.

Such busy times.  It's hard not to get caught up in all the craziness of the season, but I prefer to try and slow things down, enjoy sweet moments with my boys, take the time for hot chocolate and family games-UNO has been big on our list these days.  The beauty of the season comes in these shared times.

Wishing you all a beautiful start to your week.

oh lucky day!...or......Merry Christmas to me!!

I couldn't believe my good fortune last Thursday when I went to visit the Textile Center of Minnesota only to discover the Weaver's Guild was having a huge garage sale (of sorts).  

With only an hour before I had to pick the boys up from school, I knew I would never make it.  The checkout line was eighty people deep!!  Then someone announced wool and yarn and cash only and she would come to you and add up your things and you could pay and be on your way.  I didn't waste a second and easily filled the above plastic bins.  The smaller bin had shetland wool and 262 yards of beautiful chocolate hand spun inside...$4!

So, I went a little crazy, but any of you knitters out there understand...all the above, lovely cones, hand dyed and hand spun, assortments of wool yarn and oh so much more...this plus a bin of beautifully dyed roving all for fifty-seven dollars.  Yes.  Most definitely...Merry Christmas to me.

December birthdays at the preschool

a duck for Eloise and a lion for Henry

holiday fair and spiral

Luckily the deep freeze we fell into last week did not keep anyone away this past weekend for our two big events at the preschool.  (All my windows look this icy...Jack Frost has been one busy fellow!)

Friday-Holiday Fair I did not get a nice photo of all the vendors at the Holiday Fair, but here is a sampling...

Julen scored a new hat...

I just love that one of our little girls from Willow House wanted to do something to help her preschool. With the help of her mom, she made and donated rice krispie bars.  Brings tears to my eyes every time I think of her sweet kindness.  Now, I just just need to think of a very good way to use the money she raised to honor her...maybe new play silks are in order...ours are looking quite tattered. 

I started the Holiday Fair four years ago when I realized that since we have to clear out the entire play area to make room for our winter spiral garden festival anyway, that it would be so nice to host a party for our families.  I have to admit, every year I wonder if it is all worth it...it truly is so.much.work to organize and set up, but the thanks I hear from the parents make it all worth my efforts.

Saturday-Advent Spiral  My very favorite of all our festivals.  

I love starting off the winter season watching as the children bravely move their way around the spiral. And how sweet is our angel?  My teaching partners son did beautifully as he lit each child's candle.

This lovely image came from one of our parents.

Blessings on your season.

paper

more here

maybe make your own?

mosaic monday-all that sparkles

1. Crystals, 2. Icicles!, 3. Icy Crepe Myrtle, 4. Tinsel Town, 5. Snowflakes, 6. Sparkly Monday Blues-keh, 7. Crystals, 8. Sequins, 9. Sparkling, 10. Christmas ornament crochet snowflake silver metallic grey applique, rustic holiday decoration winter snow motif, 11. winter - decoration, 12. glass bead icicles

Happy Monday!!  

It was a busy weekend...always my busiest of this month.  First the Holiday Fair at the preschool on Friday, then our advent spiral on Saturday.  So much work...the set up, the take down all the preparations...it all leaves me so exhausted.  But all was lovely and all went very well.  And despite the super freeze in our temps, there was good turnout at both events.

Frosty and cool is my mosaic today.  Reflective of the mood outside these days.  Follow links below the mosaic if you like to see more about the photos.

Have a sparkly start to your week!

vintage christmas finds at the thrift store

What is not to love about this trio?  All those beads and sequins.  And so hard to see in this photo, but they are stitched on velvet!  

I was so lucky to score this huge stack of vintage gift tags.  My favorite is the candle...and apparently the previous owners too as there are only three of them.

And how adorable is this angel made out of pasta?

 

Can you see that the candle is made from a thumbtack?  I just love that.  I peeked around the Internet a bit to see if there were other pasta angels around...apparently so.  In fact, click here for instructions on how to make your own.  While not such a vintage find, it's still a good thrift score.  

Stay warm friends!!  xx