GardenMama

.: Valentine Gnome & Felt Heart Pin ~ Two Part Tutorial :.

This tutorial will share with you a two-part Valentine's Day gift! 

These Valentine gnomes present your loved one with a hand-made heart pin! 

Here is the two-part tutorial for you to follow to make some for your family and friends!

.: Part one ~ Creating felt heart pins :.

With a small piece of cardboard folded in half, trace half of a heart along the folded side.  Next you will cut this folded half-heart shape out completely.  Open to reveal a complete and symmetrical cardboard heart template that will help us in the steps to follow!

Begin by tracing the cardboard heart template twice on each sheet of felt. 
 

Cut out two hearts in each color.

Next take out several complementary colors of embroidery thread.

You can embroider your hearts or leave them plain.  Now begin stitching up your heart and leave a small opening to stuff them with wool.

Fill your felt heart with wool until it is quite full.  We used a knitting needle to ensure the hearts were very evenly stuffed.

Finish stitching up your hearts. Make sure to hide the last stitch by sewing through just one of the felt sheets and tying off your thread inside the heart.

 

Next stitch a pin back onto the (upper) back of the heart. 

.:Set aside your heart pins and prepare for Part II of this tutorial:.

.: Part Two  ~ Creating Valentine Gnomes :.

Set out a pinecone with a thin point to the top of it.  Place a medium-sized wooden bead over the point of the pinecone, securing it with glue.  This will form the head of the Valentine Gnome.

 

Begin by cutting a triangle shape from felt.  This will create your Valentine Gnome's hat.

Wrap the triangle shape around the wooden bead. You can make alterations accordingly until your gnome hat fits.

Now begin stitching up your hat by folding the triangle in half and stitching up the back.

Your gnome hat is now complete.  Secure it to the wooden bead with a bit of glue.

 

.: Securing the heart pin to the Valentine gnome .:

Now take a length of embroidery floss and loop it through your (closed) felt heart pin back.  The long lengths of thread can then be wrapped around the pinecone and tied in the back.  (Leave loose enough so that the heart pin can be taken off to be worn.)

This little gnome is now ready to gift your Valentine with a sweet heart pin that can be taken off and worn while the Valentine gnome visits your nature table!

.:Cultivating Rhythm During Meal Times / Napkin Ring Tutorial:.

.:Plates, cutlery, cloth napkins, and rings all set on a low shelf for the children to make their own place-setting:.

There is great meaning in the simple daily ritual of eating together as a family.  We are very enriched by sharing time together during each meal.   We have come to know a rhythm of cooking together, each taking a special role in the preparation of the nourishment we collaborate with love to create and share.  

During the summer months we gather ingredients from the gardens, and year round we chop, slice and prepare beautiful medleys of flavor and color. The food we eat from the garden keeps us rooted in the earth. We harvest it's gifts and nourish our bodies and minds with its abundant rewards. 

.: The table is set with natural beauty :.

Wooden plates, bowls, cutlery, and cloth napkins are set for each meal. They are stored on a low shelf in a glass cabinet. The children enjoy placing their own setting. When a meal is complete they excitedly bring food scraps for the Vermiculture bin. after the plates are rinsed, we take a moment to apply Beeswax to seal each wooden piece.

.: Each meal begins with a table blessing read from a handmade Waldorf book of blessings :.

We enjoy the tradition of having our oldest child read a table blessing over the meal from a handmade Waldorf book of blessings before beginning the meal. I have preserved a lifelong tradition from my own childhood in asking each family member: "What was your favorite part of the day?" or "What are you thankful for today?" to bring us closer as a family.

Another personally cherished part of our mealtime traditions is to set the table at each meal in a beautiful way.  Flowers from the garden in the warmer months, berries and greens in the colder months, a beautiful tablecloth, table settings, and napkins.  Candles are lit with each meal to bring reverence to a special time as we all sit in one space together as a family.

.: I have been thinking for some time about creating napkin rings to hold each cloth napkin. Today my imaginings came to life as I created these twig rings to bring nature indoors.  I am happy to share it here with all of you! :.

.: Our cats always enjoy when I set out crafting supplies! Recycled paper tubes are set out for creating! :.

For some time I have been saving cardboard paper tubes. (I appreciate that they are recycled) They make a perfect form for this craft.

.: Paper tubes are cut in half to begin our time of creating napkin rings :.

Cut cardboard paper tubes in half.

.: Approximatly twenty three twigs cut to length :.

Measure the tube and cut a branch to length. Then use this branch as the template for each additional branch, cut to the equivalent length.  In total I used approximatly twenty-three twigs to cover one tube.

.: Secure each twig onto the paper tube with hot glue :.

With hot glue begin to glue each twig to the paper tube.  This method may also be used to create a twig vase like the one I created here.
 

.: The finished napkin rings bring natural beauty to the table :.

Now your napkin ring is complete! I enjoyed the process of conceiving and creating these nature-inspired napkin rings and also enjoy the beauty they bring to our table!
 

May your meal time with your family be met with love and togetherness and your table set with beauty.  I look forward to sharing this table blessing with you so that it may also grace your family meal time...

For sun and rain

For grass and grain

For all who toil

On sea and soil

That we may

Eat this daily food

We give our loving thanks

To thee.

.: May meal times with your family be a time of beauty, rhythm, and love! :.

.:Watercolor Star Mobile ~ Tutorial:.

.: Twirling, swirling, magical watercolor star mobile! :.

We enjoyed a great snowstorm over the past few days! As the snow blew in, my family was enjoying the coziness of home while crafting! This watercolor star mobile took us a few days from start to finish, which was just perfect to occupy our time together during the snowstorm!

I am very excited to share with your our process of creating this beautiful mobile!

.: Gorgeous watercolor paintings created by my three little ones for the star mobile! :.

We chose specific color combinations to work with while creating our watercolor paintings.  On the first day we enjoyed painting with orange and yellow and on the next few days we paired blue with green and green with purple.

I find it important to choose good quality watercolor paper. We also enjoy working with tubes of watercolor paint that we add to glass jars with a bit of water.  artist-quality paintbrushes are also important for creating your paintings.  I have found this is an important element to painting, as it signals to the children that this is important work that is respected.

.: Two vintage star cookie-cutters were used as our stencils for this project :.

We selected colored pencils to match the same hues in the painting, so that when we traced the stars there would not be any obvious lines that stood out.

We chose to trace a shape onto the painting so that each star would be uniform for the final part of the project which joins the stars together with glue.

.: Tracing the stars onto the watercolor paper--one part of the process of creating the mobile! :.

.: Beautiful stars dance on the swirling painted papers, soon to become a dreamy mobile! :.

With our painting now full with stars, we began to cut each one out. I truly appreciate projects like these as the process unfolds, we look forward to re-visiting it again each day.

.: Stacks of colorful stars--just waiting for us to create with them! :.

Our stars are now cut and stacked according to our preference!

.: Choosing the first star to begin the garland that will create the mobile! :.

Carefully selecting the perfect star to begin, we sandwiched pairs of stars together with thread in the middle to create the garlands for the mobile!

.: Taking out our supplies - paper stars, gluestick, and thread! :.

.: Covering each star with glue while placing the thread in the middle :.

A gluestick worked very well. We covered two watercolor stars with glue, leaving the thread in the middle.

.: Creating a 'star sandwich' by placing a cover star on top of the bottom star and thread :.

We then placed the two stars together.  Seven stars were threaded on each piece of thread before moving on to the next garland.  Each garland was then tied securely to the underside of a medium-sized Grapevine wreath.  (You could also use an embroidery hoop but I enjoyed the natural addition of the Grapevines!)

.: Dancing, dreamy, floating stars! :.

.: We are so happy with this finished piece! It evokes such peace! :.

This mobile will be placed over my daughter's bed so that she may wish upon a star as she slumbers! I look forward to creating many more watercolor paintings with my children so that we can create a sun-mobile for my youngest son and a moon-mobile for my eldest son with the phases of the moon creating the sequence of the garland!

[Please use caution when placing your mobile near children - never place this mobile over a newborn's bed!]

.: Wishing you a time of creating sacred memories and sacred spaces within your home! :.