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

Handemade Christmas recap

Some of the things I made for my children:

Sunday sweater and Jane hat for C. The Sunday sweater has beautiful buttons made by our friends at Wooly Moss Roots. The Jane hat was knit with yarn I dyed with elderberries. C requested it specifically. The color is much more purple in person.

Flannel pj bottoms for my boys. Baby F's are pictured here but L got a matching set.

K's treasured horse I knit her for her 9th birthday is in storage and she misses him terribly so I decided to knit her another one for Christmas. This one is made to look like her dream horse though and is named Rueben.

Little L received a dolphin just like the one I knit for his friend in the autumn.

L found this little wooden bulldozer/tractor (I have no clue) at the thrift store for only a couple of dollars. Total score. We cleaned it up and it looked like new. I felt it needed someone to drive it so I decided to try my hand at painting a peg person. I made it to look like Baby F - in my favorite outfit of his, no less:
Some of the things my children made:

K knit this Aslan lion for L. I love his mane.

C also knit a lion with our handwork curriculum. Hers is a gift for someone else. I cannot say until she has actually sent it out.

There are a few other gifts made by myself and the children that I have not yet photographed. I will try to do so as soon as the sun decides to shine again, but before I end this post I had to share Baby F's absolute favorite gift:

This little hot cocoa set (made by Magnolia -  Hearth and Hand) that my Mom gave him. He still plays with it every single day. It is the first thing he goes to when he wakes up in the morning. I am so very grateful for my family and their generosity, unconditional love and thoughtfulness, especially when it comes to my children. Christmas would not have been the same if it wasn't for them.

Oh, I also wanted to share this new to us book with all of you! It is called the Night Tree. It reminds my family and I a lot of how we celebrate Christmas for the animals. You have to check it out for next year!

Handemade Christmas recap

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.
Right now I am finishing up sewing some reusable wrapping "paper" inspired by my friend Tricia from many years ago. I have been meaning to do this for a long time and this year I finally had a real excuse to get started. Since all of our Christmas items are in storage (sigh), we have no stockings to hang. I thought instead of making stockings for just one Christmas I would instead make four reusable wrapping paper bags. We'll use them as the children's stockings for this year and then for presents each Christmas thereafter. Simpkin, on the other hand, is trying to claim them year round as a comfortable bed.

What are you working on? Happy creating!

An InLinkz Link-up

Crafting On

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.



This post is more of what I recently finished instead of what I am working on. I couldn't get it together enough to snap a photo of my current WIP - my day has been spent cooking and baking for K's upcoming birthday. I love all the prep that goes on around here the day before birthdays.

Anyway, back to the photos. Baby F needed a bag to corral his toys that stay in the van. Side note - He is my first baby that has needed special car toys to keep him happy for car rides. We even *gulp* had to pick up some plastic, flashy, noisy toys from our local Goodwill. I sewed him a simple drawstring bag with his leftover birthday fabric. C added the fun pompoms to the strings. I love her little touch to this bag. I actually tasked her to make me some more pom poms for a pair of Baby F's longies. Pompom all the things!! We recently bought a pompom maker and C has gone crazy with it (maybe I have, too). I think our little house will soon be filled with pompoms (envision the Trouble with Tribbles).

What are you working on? Happy creating!

An InLinkz Link-up

Crafting On

Mellow

I managed to complete a few projects over the past couple of weeks but forgot to share them here.

Little campfire set. This campfire set, which consists of a fire, wood, marshmallows on sticks to roast, graham crackers, chocolate and smooshed roasted marshmallows, was actually meant to be a surprise for the boys room once we got to our new home. Since it will be quite awhile until that happens now (don't remind me!) I decided to gift it to them early.
Mellowshorts Oh my word this pattern is adorable!I modified the straps a bit to have one button instead of two in the back. Detailed notes are on my rav page.
Spring into Summer romper (Sorry for the IG photo. I must have deleted the original.)These had been finished for awhile but were just waiting on a blocking. My size mods seemed to have worked.

And just because he is the sweetest thing... Showing me his bellybutton Climbing up the hill in our backyard at dusk

Mellow