Just because it's cooking in a pot on the stove doesn't mean it's edible

Does making medicine count as crafting?

I'm supposed to be on a self imposed hiatus from crafting till after the new year. (I received a couple of really good books for Christmas and am enjoying reading a little fantasy in the time I would normally spend crafting.)
But... I was running low on my oak tea and since the Live Oak hanging over the fence in the back yard needed some trimming, I figured it was time.
My oak tea is created by boiling small oak branches and leaves till the tea is nice and dark. This time I used 2.5 acidic water from my Kangen water machine http://checkoutkangen.com/index.html that has antibacterial properties. I strained the tea with one of my coffee filters then added witch hazel for added astringency as well help it have a longer shelf life.

What's it for, you ask? I've mostly used it on poison oak (Oak as the cure for poison oak... kind of poetic don't cha think?) but it will work on topical conditions that are blistery and need to be dried up, like severe eczema. This treatment needs to be followed by a salve of some kind after the weepyness is gone. I've used pure lavender, or a blend of willow, mullein, oak, mules ears and st. johns wort with good results.

The Last Few Gifts

I finally finished up the last few gifts! Here is Phelan's gnome doll. He is made mostly from recycled wool sweaters. I plan on making him a vest later, but for now, he is done. This is my first Waldorf styled doll and he was a bit of a challenge, but I am mostly happy with how he turned out. I picked pink for Phelan as he doesn't have much pink stuff of his own. If it is pink, it is usually Cleo's. I hope this doesn't become confusing for them.

So... one day when I was working on Flower with Phelan on the couch next to me, he asked for some wool, then some yarn, then asked me to 'sew' it together for him. He ended up with a little felted ball on a string and that little bit of nothing entertained him then Cleo for the rest of the day. It literally fell apart by the end of the day.
And that was the inspiration for these little do-dads. A felted ball at the end of a string. These are made much more sturdy than the original so hopefully they will last a little longer. It amazes me when the simplest of things can create such happy busy-ness.
And then there was the gift exchange I forgot about till that morning!! A felted star ornament went over splendidly. I want to start making more of these for our own tree next year as well as hoping to make some to sell. (Let me know if you are interested and we can work out a deal! ;)

Whew!! That is it!! All the gifts are completed and wrapped, the house has been returned to it's normal somewhat-tidy shape, food is in the fridge waiting to be cooked, and we are all set for a bountiful Christmas in the morning!

Here is hoping your Holiday is filled with Warmth and Love!

Two Stockings, a Dragon named Tree and a tree

I finally got the kids stockings done (for now). These are made of recycled wool sweaters picked up at local thrift stores. They are a little more 'rustic' than I anticipated.... (my embroidery skills are a wee bit rusty) but I am liking the childlike charm of them. I have visions of adding to them over the coming years.... a few crystal beads on Cleo's.... walnut shells or acorn caps to Phelan's.... Till they become truly unique and very much represent who my children are. (Am I making too much of Christmas stockings?? Or have they become art in progress?)

The dragon known as 'Tree'.
He started out a very handsome and respectable green and yellow, but when he started showing a little too much 'love' and was starting to loose pieces... off to the buy some wool to fix him up! Now, I immediately spotted a lovely green pretty close to Tree's original color and thought it would do the trick nicely. My son, however, had other plans.
He grabbed a bright purple in one hand a dark brick red in the other and proclaimed these two colors were the ones for Tree and no other will will do.

Who am I to argue?


So here is technicolor Tree in all his glory. A much loved little dragon.








We also got our tree this last week and I decided to go the kid friendly route.
Nothing breakable on the tree. And after I put the lights up, I let Phelan do all the rest! He had such a great time decorating it, he continued to redecorate it for several days afterwards.

Two Squirrels and a Dragon

Two more of the kid gifts are done! :)

They each get a squirrel.... pink for Cleo green for Phelan. These are quite small and both fit nicely in the palm of my hand together.

Then Cleo's dragon, known as 'Flower' is finally done! I've been working on her quite a while. Taking the things I learned from making Phelan's dragon and making this one better.
Phelan's dragon (who he named, 'Tree') looked lovely once it was done, but after a week of loving and sleeping with, he was starting to fall apart.
Lesson learned.
Flower is made much more sturdy. I did not use any pipe cleaner in her as Tree's are starting to poke out in places. She is much denser and her parts are all attached much firmer. I'm sure she will still get loved to death, but hopefully I can prolong the process.

I gave her wings bones that actually ghost through on the back side, purple spirals appeal to me and give her an almost tribal look. Hot pink nails... ahem... I mean claws, a flower on her foot and pink ruff ending in a ball give her some seriously girly attitude.

Oh, and don't forget the purple eyelashes and pink beauty mark to finish off her look!

One of the most wonderful things about making Flower has been sharing the proccess with Phelan. He got to see her change everytime I worked on her and he is so very excited about giving her to Cleo for Christmas. I hope I can instill in my children a love of things handmade, and I think watching a creature such as this come to life is a start in the right direction.

A Gift

How blessed are we to recieve such a gift as this right out our front window. The kids got to see thier first rainbow, and what a rainbow! It's even a double and lasted for quiet a while. After a dark and rainy day this was a wonerful sunset treat.

The Goddess is Alive

Magick is afoot!

Holiday Gifts

One of my great joys is creating yummy bath treats!

So... this year a friend and I got together and created a few special treats for our sweet friends. I have a large supplies of all things bathy-crafty so this was another low-cost gift solution. Dawn picked up some salt and jars, the rest I already had on hand.

What we made:

Bath salts. I have dubbed them 'Salty Seaweed Solstice Soak'. A little frankinscence and myhrr, birch, cypress and orange gave this scent a very holliday feel. We added dolce seaweed for added minerals in the bath.

As I was low on jars, I used mini zip locks then wrapped them in parchment paper and use a fancy golden sun seal to make them seem all the more decadent.
Next was a salt scrub... great for winter dry skin!

Salt, almond oil, olive oil then a refreshing blend of rosemary, lavender, pepermint and grapefruit essential oils. I call this one 'Morning Dawn Salt Scrub'.

Next I plan on making some lavender salve and maybe someother salves as well. These are a little time-intensive, but are some of my favorite things to make.

But first I have to finish the kids Christmas gifts!! Don't worry I will post those as well. ;)

Gratuitous pics of Cute Kids

We had some family portraits done in July for Cleo's first birthday, so here is the birthday girl and her big brother, Phelan who is three.

Apron

I often wear clothes that dont' have any pockets
and after years of frustration I finally came up with a solution. An apron! So here it is made from scrap fabric from my long skirts. (Hm... maybe I should put a pic of one of those on here...) I decided to make it reversable as I wanted to line it for sturdiness and this way it was like two aprons in one. Simple pockets, including one for a pen, to keep my cell phone, paper, boogy towels, and whatever else I need, organized. I did a decorative stitch of swans or tulips on the pockets just for kicks. My son loved that part and now every time I sew something he wants to use the swans.

This is a cute apron great for around the house and shopping, but I'm thinking it would have been nicer had I made it to cover my chest as well, so when cooking or wahsing dishes my
clothes get less splatters on them.

On a nother note, Cleo was facinated with the apron and so I tried it on her and it was so adorable! Came all the way to her feet! So, I'm thinking matchign aprons for the three of us might be in order some day and this pattern might make cute skirt for her as well.

Dolly Diapers

Yesterday Phelan and I finished making diapers for Cleo's "baby's".

I used some old quilted flannel that someone had given me for a changing pad and added a bit of velcro. For a pattern I sort of traced a premie sized disposable diaper that the kids have been using for the dolls and then altered it so it would fit the smaller dolls as well.

Cleo is a very good Mama. Every day she wants to get her babys 'ni-ni' (naked) and then asked to get them dressed again. She usually does this by bring the doll and clothes to a grown-up and grunting while placing the clothing on the dolly's head. She also loves to carry them around, often one in each arm (then if she spots another, you can see her trying to figure out how she is going to carry that one too).