Holiday Handmades :: Sewing Cards

I stumbled across stumbled across a free download of vintage sewing cards a few months ago and they went immediately into my “projects I must make” list (it’s a large and ever-evolving list that I love).  I fell in love with the images and had been looking for something perfect to make into a set of wooden cards for my daughter.  They went together quite well with only a few hitches...!  (“only a few” is pretty good in my book!!!)  I cut 5” x 7” cards out of 1/4” plywood and sanded them carefully.  I used modpodge to adhere the images to the boards and a had a bit of trouble with air bubbles which I am assuming came from slight irregularities in the wood surface.  Even carefully sanded wood has pores to hold air…I think to avoid this in the future I would give the surface one coat of modpodge…allow it to dry and then carefully adhere the image over it. 

The second hitch came when I applied modpodge over the image…it caused the printed ink to run a bit…which just makes it look vintage and aged…which is fine with me…but it was tricky to work with.  I’m really not sure how to avoid that problem again.  Despite any hitches we are thrilled with cards. She really has been enjoying working with them and making their dresses “even more beautiful”!!!  We have incorporated these right into our schooling days as they are excellent for fine motor development, the beginnings of handwork, coordination, and patience to name a few!!!  Besides…they are just darling!!

While I was making them I had two extra boards…and the idea for a project for her cousins was born.  I noticed (with pleasure) that she was so thrilled to be making something for them, and so focused on choosing just the right papers, and making something each of them would like, that she never asked for one for herself.  I really valued seeing her thinking so outside of herself.  It also saved me the trouble of deflecting the issue!    The little girl on the top card “holds” all the string in her hands! 

Days

This post was written last night...please forgive any tense confusion!

Even in the midst of the beginning of brand new year…fresh, with no mistakes in it yet…there are moments of craziness, bewilderment, and just plain hilarious messiness (well…hilarious a few hours after!) So often these moments occur during the “making dinner” part of the day…it seems this will be true in 2010 as well!!!

Today I made dinner while holding a little one (who’s not so little) on my hip. I made bread bowls with all ingredients measured by a four year old (they were fantastic). I set a kitchen towel on fire (not smoldering…on fire). I made soup with no plan or recipe…it was eaten…! Today, seconds after putting out said fire I watched my little boy pull a jar of water off the counter all over himself. I got into a bit of a slippery mess with the olive oil and the boy that we don’t need to go into! I listened to constant chatter from my daughter to me and to the nativity set that she sat and played with at the counter for almost an hour. Today, while making dinner, I discovered the reason that my pants felt so strange was that there was a can opener in my pocket. (Have you ever had a can opener in your pocket?…I don’t believe I was the one to put it there!!!…am I the only mom who finds bizarre things in her pockets?) Today I realized dinner served on the kitchen island for the fourth night in a row wasn’t going to hurt anyone. It wasn’t a disastrous mess by any means. But it wasn’t the calm, cozy, reassuring routine that I aim for.

Yes…2010 will very likely be a year full of moments just like these. The down and dirty, crazy and messy, fly-by-your pants, underbelly of parenting. Yes, I imagine I’m in for a decade of these moments…balanced and of course over ridden by the overwhelming joy, humor, fulfillment, and blessings of little ones.

This isn’t what I normally like to use this space for…but I wanted to share my moment of chaos with you so I could share a few images with you also. Because even the slightest flash of this image in my mind brings such pure silly fun, such adoration, that it pulls everything back into perspective for me. I have three images like this. One is of my daughter when she was four or five months old and has an enormous grin on her face. This image has hung in my kitchen since it was taken and has helped me through many dinners. (It was taken in the age before digital cameras…and my brand new shiny scanner is still in the box…so I can’t share it with you…you’ll have to imagine your own little ones grin!)

The second is of my son. There really is no words!! If he only knew at that moment how that face would make me smile each time I saw it. Oh, how I am grateful for that image.

And this…my newest day-saving image. Again…no words!!! So serious…so unawares…yet so unbelievably bright and alive. I think I need to hang these two images with the first in my kitchen…I do believe they might change my “making dinner” hour forever!

Do you have images like this. Images or memories that can pull you out of the most harried of moments. I truly hope you do. Oh, the blessed joy they bring!

The Village

While I was growing up I (along with  my brothers and sisters) spent quite a bit of time puttering about the workshop while my Dad was building this or that.  He made bunk beds, dining room table benches, bookshelves, tables, kitchen cabinets, toys, etc.…and we made blocks from the scraps that fell from the table saw, mini forts and tunnels in the piles of sawdust, hammered huge nails into scrap bits of wood to join them together into who-knows-what!  And just spent time with our Dad and learned to love wood in all its possibilities as he learned to love it from my Grandpa.  It really was a huge part of our childhood, a legacy in fact,  as each of us still works with wood in our own ways.  Two of my brothers built a home from scratch using a First Day Cottage kit, my other brother among many other woodworking adventures spent time restoring historic wooden carousels, and my sisters make and restore small furniture and make items to beautify their homes,…and me…well, you never quite know what I’ll be making or doing next in the shop! 

While I was in the workshop with my Dad during one of those cozy woodworking afternoons of my childhood I gathered several pieces of scrap wood from what he was cutting. To me they were not just scraps of wood, they looked just like little houses and trees…so that is what they became for me. 

When my Dad saw what I was doing he cut some pieces specifically for me.  I found my markers and decorated them and played and played.  That little village was one of my very first woodworking projects and became one of my parents most treasured Christmas decorations. 

This year…my own little girl worked with her own amazing Dad and gathered, cut, sanded (this is where the belt sander came in!!), designed, and decorated a village for me.  Along with houses and trees she made a church and a temple, and a few bridges.  It immediately became one of my most treasured possessions. It’s pieces stand on the window frame over two of the windows in my bedroom and bring me such joy each time I see them.       

Yes Dad, it was a legacy indeed.  Thank you.

Another Beginning

Have I mentioned that I just love fresh starts.  A whole new beginning to something.  An opportunity to try a new approach to an old routine.  A chance to set goals and expectations…and this time meet them!  I really truly love the new year…or any chance to try something new.  (Which works out since our little family has had many fresh starts in new places over the years!)

We had such a fun silly time remembering all the joys that 2009 has brought to our little family.  It truly has been a remarkable year despite any (and all) challenges and setbacks.  We find ourselves settled nicely into a way of thinking and way of living that suits us perfectly right now.  Meaning we are so at peace with the way we nourish, teach, worship, love, and laugh together as a family.  And those things can be perfect no matter where you happen to live at the moment. 

We spent quite a few days away from home after Christmas visiting oh-so-many dear family members.  Boy-oh-boy do our children have a lot of uncles!!!  (And subsequently quite a few simply wonderful aunts!) The rhythm of a house still quite full with teenage boys and brimming with visiting family is adventuresome and so-much-fun.  Still, it was quite remarkable how quickly and peacefully our little ones settled back into their own daily rhythm of our own home.  Contented.  Peaceful.   And completely enthralled with all the handmade goodness received at Christmas.  What pure simple joy!

Welcome new year!  I cannot wait to see what you bring…and to share what we will bring you!!! 

Handmade by Little Hands

Little hands, little hearts, and little minds were alight with holiday excitement, anticipation, and generosity this year.  Very clear ideas were expressed in regards to the perfect gifts for those she loves.  Her scope was quite broad and she was busy creating in the workshop (with power tools…yikes!!!), in the sewing room, and in the kitchen,…with quite a few hours being clocked with a creative mess all over the dining room table.  She did a wonderful job keeping her surprises (mostly) secret!! 

For her dear cousins she made sewing cards.  She carefully chose the perfect paper for each of them, cut, glued, and mod podged, and then…after careful instruction went down into the workshop! 

She is not a stranger to the safety rules of the shop, or the tools there.  She has after all asked endless questions about each of them.  But I have never used them with her…so after extensive instruction (partly for her and partly for my own reassurance) she approached the drill press….only to remark “oh…I used that with Daddy…ooops that’s a secret!!!” pointing to the stationary belt sander.  It was not to be her first power tool use after all….what was she doing with a belt sander?…I’ll show you soon! 

A drill press is a very safe first power tool as there is no blade and when working with an adult the child’s hand can stay on the handle and never come within dangerous proximity to the drill bit.  When instructed she carefully, slowly, and smoothly lowered the bit into the wood and then raised it again.  Very repetitive, very simple, very safe. 

She is no stranger to wood.  She lives with and uses wooden toys, utensils, furniture, and products each day.  However the doors of woodworking have been opened to her and she is fascinated.  Hands…big and small must touch and feel and do in order to truly live and experience and learn.  Feeling wood, working with wood, creating something from wood has lit in her a curiosity regarding the wooden pieces that surround her, and has opened a new world to her.  It’s beautiful!

The Castle

Several months ago while immersing myself in all things Waldorf and Montessori in the blogosphere I discovered this.  I fell instantly (and deeply) in love.  I knew deep down that my children needed a toy like this…and that I needed them to have it…and that (somehow) we would need to make it. I realized that it was no ordinary toy to undertake making.  But…in true Hannah style I never stopped to think about whether or not I was capable of making it.  I never stopped to consider if I even knew how to make it…the first step?…the second?…?!!  I brainstormed my vision with my father (he’s my woodworking mentor!!…and tool source!), “created” for days all within my mind…dug through some wood…figured out the first step, and went from there.  I won’t say that there weren’t any moments of total bewilderment of how to proceed, but the process, though long, skill-stretching, and very sawdusty was a joy!  

And so…over the period of several months a pile of wood salvaged from an orchard took shape and became a childhood treasure…an open-ended toy ready for hours of adventure…a toy to be passed down from momma to son…from son to babe…again and again. 

As I worked on this project evening after evening discovering Hannah-the-woodworker, I learned something about myself.  Indeed it was something I should have already known…but perhaps I know it a bit better now.  Underneath the many roles that I play each day…I am an artist. It is who I am.  Just as much as I am a mother…a wife…a daughter…!  I am an artist.  It’s about time I started acting like one!!             For those of you who would like details (my brothers…!) this first set of the castle includes one front gate (approximately 12” tall and 18” wide), 9 wall pieces (each approximately 6 1/2” tall and 8” wide) two of which have gates…ten soldiers and four horses.  A center tower is in construction, but I’ll admit that it has me beaten at the moment! 

Peace. Joy. Noel.

May your holidays be filled with true and lasting joy as you celebrate with loved ones, continue time-honored traditions, start new ones, and create beauty in your surroundings. 

Happy Holidays friends.

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*I’ll be back soon…but this little space of mine will be quiet for a bit as we finish last minute projects, wrap (and wrap and wrap), bake (and eat) all sorts of yummies, and enjoy every last drop of the Holidays…as I am sure you are doing as well.  And oh do I have a treasure trove of projects to share with you when I return!!!