Christmas is Starting

Christmas tree pins, made with this tutorial at the Purl Bee.

Tiny garlands, for tiny corners that need decorating.

And the beeswax candles, completed.

Throw in the mini-books from a previous post, and my advent swap goodies for Bits of Goodness are in the mail.  And I managed to order Christmas cards today, too.  So it's official, the Christmasing has begun!

Spray Painting

Two hours at the park today.  Wow, is fall amazing here in DC.  It's November, and we're shedding layers as we run around outside.  And the colors are just hitting their peak as well, so I'm all about finding as many reasons to get outside as possible.  Even better, inspired by the Artful Parent, we've hooked up with some other mamas and young preschoolers for a little art time at the park each week.  At different times we've had playdough and pipecleaners and contact paper--and this week I got a bit brave about the mess and brought out spray bottles full of paint.

My son isn't all that interested in making marks yet.  I'm trying not to take that personally.  But he sure liked having a squirt bottle.  We used these liquid watercolors mixed with equal parts water.  We sprayed onto some basic card stock.  The boys weren't all that interested in the finished product, but it held up to the wet better than plain drawing or copy paper would have.

While I liked the spray pattern that comes from squirting from far away, Toby preferred to get in close and spray and spray and spray until the paper was covered in a big puddle.  Sometimes both boys (there were just two this day) would spray different colors on the same paper, watching the streams of paint clash and mix.  Next time one of the moms suggested that we bring some clothespins and pin the papers to the chain fence so the kids can have a vertical target.

Mini Books

Tonight's been spent trying to keep the kid up late to reset his clock a bit and squeezing in crafting time so I can get a swap off in the mail by tomorrow morning

I've been making up some tiny blank books.  For scale, that's a one-inch grid on the cutting mat.  There's no need for a tutorial for these.  I used small Origami paper for the cover and six sheets of copy paper for the interior.  They're just about 1 1/2 inch squares--but because the Origami paper is measured with the metric system they're just a bit smaller.

This probably would have gone a bit quicker with a paper cutter, but I've got the quilting rotary cutter on hand, so that's what I used.  I did learn that making the inner papers just a nudge narrower than the covers on the top & bottom helps them fit nicely inside.  And on the unfolded side (does that make sense?) I cut the papers nearly an 8th of an inch small so that they fit inside when folded.  The cutting isn't perfect (to get that I'd probably have to cut after binding them), but it looks nice enough.

Then I stitch along the middles with black thread.  Sewing down the inside of the fold was easier, but sewing with the covers on the top looked best.  If I was a good sewer I would have replaced the needle in my sewing machine after that--but if I was a good sewer I probably would have replaced my needle a few years ago.

These came together quickly enough that I decided to group them in little packs of 3.  I kept thinking of ways to embellish the covers, but anything I thought of seemed to limit what you could put inside.  So I kept them blank, better for filling during or after the holidays.  I could see them being used as little notepads for keeping in a pocket or a purse, or for drawing little pictures in, or for giving to the kids to make tiny story books.  I'll keep you posted if I get around to filling any of the handful I kept for myself.

Halloween Roundup

Before we get too far from the holiday, I want to post a few Halloween pictures.  Because Toby makes a cute robot, and I'm pretty proud of the costume:

The hat came from this online tutorial, plus some antennae.  The front and back were stuffed with upholstery foam from the craft store, and fit over the shoulders like a sandwich-board.  He wanted to be a robot, but I was pretty sure he wouldn't wear a box around for more than 3 minutes, so we went with a cute & cuddly robot instead.

And we were Sneetches, because that's Toby's favorite story right now.  And because I like the holiday, but I'm not really all that keen on dressing up.  Toby has worn the star-bellied shirt around a few times since, and I'm going to keep it in the costume box for him.  The plain-bellied has already made it's way to the back of a drawer.  Despite the message of the story, nobody much wants to be a plain-bellied Sneetch.

{this moment}

Playing along with SouleMama.

One Pound of Beeswax: Dipped Candles

I'm always seeing beeswax crafts online, and a few weeks back I picked up a one pound block of local beeswax at (what else) a honey harvesting festival.

Back in my camp counselor days I made, or supervised the making of, hundreds of candles.  But it's been a while, and this is my first time using beeswax, so I took it slow and took on this project while the little guy was napping.  This can be a fun project for kids--if there was another adult in the room I'd do it with groups as young as 6 or 7, and one-on-one I think even my 2 year old would have enjoyed watching and helping with parts of the process.  He wouldn't have had the patience for an hour of dipping, though.

The supplies are simple:  wax, wick (I got mine here, but you can find it at most craft stores), a pot for boiling water and a container for melting the wax.  I did something very silly and used one of my favorite mixing bowls for the wax.  I have no idea how I'm going to clean the wax out of it.  Thrift a cheap container for melting, or use an empty tin can that can be recycled when you're done.

First, melt the wax.  Always melt wax in a double boiler--if wax gets too hot it can catch fire.  I don't have a double boiler so I set the bowl of wax into a pot with some water.  I needed to keep the water boiling to keep the wax melting, and it took about half an hour to melt down the block.  Wow does this stuff smell good as it's warming.

Next, cut your wicks.  Mine were each about 7 inches long, and folded in half to make two candles.  I was going for small, but you could make these any size.  Remember, though, that if they're longer, your container of wax will need to be deeper to dip them.

One at a time, give those wicks a first dip.  I like to let them sit in the wax for a little while to let it soak in.  When they come out, they'll look something like this.  While they're still warm, straighten out the wick.

Now, just keep dipping.  Give your candle some time to cool between dips--wax will stick to cool wax, but it will melt back into the pot if it gets too warm.  If you're doing this with kids keep a bowl of cold water nearby.  My fingers touched the pot of wax a few times, and it wasn't hot enough to burn.  But it was uncomfortable, and the cool water gives kids them a place to stick their waxed fingers.  The presence of safety measures also seems to help kids take the project more seriously.

Back at summer camp we'd have a line of campers dipping their candles, and then returning to the back of the line for their next turn.  This is a fun way to make candles--it's very simple and social, and in the breaks the kids often find creative ways to spice up their candles.  Instead of straight candles, bend the wax into squiggles, or twist the two wicks into one entwined candle.  Use your fingers to pinch and mold the warm wax into shapes.  Press bits of flowers or leaves into the wax as decorations.  Working alone, I set up a little cooling rack with a chopstick and some drinking glasses.  I worked my way down the line, giving each candle a dip and then a chance to cool.

See the little drips forming at the bottom?  I didn't want a lot of drip, so I cut them off about three dips before the end.  I like a little, though--gives them character.  And by this method you're going to get character, not the straight and symmetrical dipped tapers you've seen in stores.

A bit less than an hour's worth of dipping, and I had candles.  I've still got a bit of decoration and some packaging to add to these, I'll share that when I get to it this weekend.

In Place

 

Today I ended up at the National Museum of the American Indian.  It is an amazing space, full of history and beauty and thought.  The Museum stretches the limits of what it means to be a museum—you are as likely to learn something from the layout or the landscaping or the cafeteria as you are from the artifacts or descriptions.

At the risk of generalizing, (which is a shame, because the museum does a good job of identifying the diversity among the continents’ peoples) today’s takeaway was all about connection to place.  While chasing around a toddler the themes of knowing the land, remembering the ancestors, listening to the Earth and protecting the natural world repeated around us.  Listening to the stories of the American Indian peoples triggered a hope of sharing similar stories with my son.  Not stealing the Indian stories, but finding our family’s stories.  The stories of who he is, who came before him, and how he is connected to the places we live.

This year my family—my husband, my son and myself—are on sabbatical.  My husband is taking his allotted year away from his teaching job in Indiana, and working in Washington, DC.  It’s an incredible chance to step away from one place and into another.  We’re taking full advantage of it by taking in all of the touristy sights and just soaking in the energy of a busy city.  I kind of love watching this new city with an outsider’s eyes—seeing how the density affects all our everyday activities—and then looking back at the wide spaces of the Midwest with more appreciation.

The US Capitol as seen from inside the Museum of the American Indian.  The garden in front, just outside the Museum contains plants from across the Americas.

But I wonder, too, what it means to have so little connection to a place.  Indiana had only been home for half a dozen years; both my husband’s family and my own have done a good deal of moving around over time.  I’m not going to romanticize having deep roots.  I tried living in a small town with long memories once, and I quickly learned how tradition can be confused with exclusiveness.  Still, I want for my son to have a connection to the community and the earth around him.  Heck, I want to encourage some of that in myself, too.  I’m hoping this blog will be a space for me to explore those connections, share what I find, and hopefully learn a bit about how some of the rest of you are making these connections, too.