Crafting On

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two, post it on your blog, on Instagram #craftingon and/or Flickr and then share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.

Starting a little Advent crafting by making a few new ornaments from scraps of wool I have on hand.
What are you working on? Happy creating!

An InLinkz Link-up

Crafting On

Real life Pevensie children (Aslan, too!)

“To the glistening eastern sea, I give you Queen Lucy the Valiant. To the great western woods, King Edmund the Just. To the radiant southern sun, Queen Susan the Gentle. And to the clear northern skies, I give you King Peter the Magnificent. Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia. May your wisdom grace us until the stars rain down from the heavens.”
Sneaky Edmund running off. Not wanting to get pelted by candy Our pan de muertos rising for All Souls Day

By now I think you know my feelings about Halloween. This year was different, though. My children requested to be the Pevensie children from the Chronicles of Narnia (our favorite books). It worked out perfectly since I have exactly 2 girls and 2 boys, just like the Pevensies. There was a lot of sewing involved but it was worth it. They requested outfits from the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe movie instead of the books so that more people might recognize who they were. To our surprise most did! I think Beowulf stepping in as Aslan really helped. Some people thought they were a medieval court but then understood once we mentioned Narnia. I think it is safe to say this was their best Halloween yet. Even better still that they now have Narnia costumes to wear on their adventures out in our woods every day. Long live Narnia!!

Real life Pevensie children (Aslan, too!)

Once a King or Queen of Narnia (13!)

...Always a King or Queen of Narnia.

My 2nd and final attempt at Turkish Delight. It was a total failure but they ate it anyway. Tea with Mr. Tumnus. Mrs. Beaver's marmalade roll. Susan Pevensie dress

My baby girl is 13. How can that be? My first born - the one who made me a mama. It is all so bittersweet. I wrote a little about the complexity of being the first born on my IG account last week. Her kindergarten teacher always told me that  K chose to come first and knew what she was getting herself into. I always find comfort in that, knowing how hard it can be to be the oldest - the one that your parents learn to parent from. I am so grateful for her and really don't know how I deserve her or any of my children.

I have never seen K smile as much as she did on her 13th birthday. I think I hit the nail on the head with all of the Narnia decorations, food and whatnots. She wore her Susan Pevensie dress all day long and enjoyed her time with family. I think the icing on the cake was daddy spending the entire day with her - something she has been needing for a long time.

We enjoyed our usual birthday treats: apple doughnuts with apple cider, pumpkin hand pies and pumpkin soup but this year we added in Narnia treats from the Narnia cookbook: Lucy's roasted apples, Mrs. Beavers marmalade roll, turkish delight, along with other yummies that I can't remember at the moment (I spent the whole day before her birthday cooking and baking so it is all a blur now).

K's gifts were all things she needed/wanted. Her choices are so much more grown up and practical now - rainboots, a bigger water bottle, clothes... Such a change from all the whimsical things I used to give/make her in the past. I was secretly very happy that she asked me to sew her that Susan Pevensie dress - their is still some magic of childhood in her and this mams needed to see that!

Once a King or Queen of Narnia (13!)

Crafting On - Narnia Style

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two, post it on your blog, on Instagram #craftingon and/or Flickr and then share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.



Last minute birthday prep happening over here, per usual.  I need to finish up her Susan Pevensie dress, make a banner and then bake/cook all day tomorrow as she requested most of the recipes in the Narnia Cookbook. Wish me luck!

What are you working on? Happy creating!

An InLinkz Link-up

Crafting On - Narnia Style

Our First Week of Homeschool 2018

Dye baths Left to Right: goldenrod, pokeberry, grass, carrot and beets carrot dye bath beet dye bath C'sfingerless gloves before pokeberry dye bath I feel rather silly posting this now as we are about to start our third week of school tomorrow morning but things are going so well (so far) that I just had to share. My children have all been very diligent and perseverant for the most part with everything we have done. Somehow I have been on the ball and waking up in the wee hours of the mornings to make sure we are all on schedule. I pray the year continues in this manner.

Our first week included nature walks to our creek, (including one day that was so hot we decided to take a swim) dyeing silks with natural dyes (some worked but most of them didn't, however I attribute that to not properly mordanting them. Honestly, I never had any hope for the carrot or grass dyes, though), memorized a verse and made use of our leftover corners from making the chalkboard by turning them into mountains (to cement the verse in our brains), oh and we had special guests in the schoolroom - two of our chickens. This. This is how I envisioned homeschooling. Not the way I had been doing it in the past - stressed out and done in. This is the way it was meant to be.

Our First Week of Homeschool 2018