{this moment}

A quiet moment drawing fairies

{this moment} - (inspired by Soule Mama) A Friday ritual. A single photo - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Learning a new skill

Recently, a good friend of mine got a big shipping of natural wool roving, and she was kind enough to let me buy some from her. I bought it with wet felting in mind, but didn't get around to trying it until this weekend. It turned out kind of disastrous to tell you the truth. Mostly, it was because I didn't have the right "technique".

On Monday, her and I got together to dye some of the wool, and while I was there, she showed me how to wet felt some eggs. I came home addicted!

Here's a sneak peak at what I started. Some white ones that are not finished, as they will be very different when I add the details to them, and this marbled blue one, that I am very proud of. It actually did what I had envisioned, lol. You gotta love those projects that turn out just right!

This is how big the egg was before I started felting!

And here is the after. Big difference, right? And that natural coloured felted ball in the background? It's destined to be a hedgie when I'm done with it.

And here is a tiny sneak peak of my nature table. I always have a salt lamp on it, a plant and some various crystals, but since I removed all the Valentines decoration, it seemed bare. I decided to dig out my seasonal box and found this nest a friend gave me last year that I had completely forgot about. I added these little robins eggs, a few crystals and a bird from a pattern I just tried. It's not much, but it's adding just a little pop of colour I needed. I just didn't want to go full blown spring table, as it is still February. It's nice to decorate with the seasons, but creating for the shop means I am a few months ahead of what is actually happening now. Oh well. The kids were excited to see these on the table ;)

P.S. If your wondering why I've never showed my nature table on here, it's because I didn't have one until I bought a new storage shelving from Ikea (for all my craft stuff) during the Christmas holidays. And I am just now starting to use it as a nature/seasonal table. I will show it (all of it) in the near future, promise ;)

Well, that's all for now. I'm going to get some work done, I can hear the felt calling me!

Have a great day!

Spring is in the air

It's been an unusually mild winter so far this season. The ground is covered primarily in ice, instead of beautiful white snow. Almost everyday, except for the odd day or week, ice has been melting slowly during the mild tempered days, only to refreeze at night. I don't know if spring truly will be coming sooner this year, or if we'll be hit by a snow storm before hand. But with all this melting ice and sunshine, I can't help but feel like it's almost spring.

With spring on the brain, it has me crafting some fun colourful things, reminiscent of that season.

Or maybe I'm just longing for when the grass turns to a beautiful shade of green, and bugs are about their journey.

With the feeling of spring, I also find myself craving some healthier foods. It had been a long time since I made a raw dessert. So I decided to try my hand at this banana "cream" pie. I didn't grind my nuts enough for my crust, but the filling turned out to be quite delicious.

With this feeling of spring, I find myself de cluttering my home, cleaning up my eating habits (and slowly I am feeling better as I bring my iron levels back up) and focusing more on the things and people in my life that matter.

It may be a bit early in the year to say that spring is upon us, but it certainly feel like spring is in the air!

Getting the energy to craft

Not that crafting requires a great deal of energy, and certainly no one ever needs to twist my arm for me to want to do it, but since my last post, there had been no crafting at all. Not one peg, sheet of felt, or paintbrush was taken out. I had been so exhausted, I couldn't even find the energy to craft. Because the little bit of energy I had, I had to use to care for my children and work. Turns out I was low on iron, (obviously I hadn't been a good girl and didn't stick with my green smoothies), but thanks to a diet wake up call and adjustment (aka actually drinking and eating my greens) and a few supplements later, I am feeling better and am getting back on track.

So yesterday, when my friend's daughter came over for a play date and sleepover, I knew I'd have the chance to get some things done. Nothing like adding an extra kid to the mix to keep your busy and content for hours!

So I got started on painting this pirate ship for a pirate play set I am making for the shop. I can't wait until it's done, I think it will be adorable, don't you think?

I also had time to take out my wood burner and watercolours and finished this memory match game.

All that's left to do is to polish it and sew a draw string bag for it before I list it. And for that bag, I am going to use this awesome rainbow fabric I scored at the thrift store. I was lucky enough to find 3 yards of it! Oh how I love thrifting!

So here you have it. The reason why I hadn't posted in a couple of weeks, and now you are all caught up on my on going projects. I better go do some polishing why my kids friend is still here, because once she leaves, who knows if the kids will allow me to work on anything, lol.

Do your kid do that too? Hover over you to see what your doing, or keep asking if they can paint your stuff for you, etc? I am betting it's natural!

Crafting ADD and some wood burning

Lately, I've been suffering from crafting ADD it seems. Actually, I think I've always suffered from it to a certain degree, but it seems to be getting worse. Over the Christmas holidays I bought myself a good quality wood burner and after a bit of practice, decided to give it a try.

So I made a couple of peg people (I especially love the knight!) and also made a story egg. (At least I got as far as painting them and giving them a coat of beeswax polish, so they are almost done.

I also used my wood burner on my son's barn to make some window and door trims like he wanted to... except I didn't get to paint and finish his barn like he wanted.

I also found an old hidden stash of half started project, like this cut up and yet to be assembled dragon, some finished "egg slices" for a felt chef salad, (except the lettuce hasn't even been started yet) and a head band with the felt pieces patiently waiting to be stitched.

My son also asked me, about a month ago, if I could make him a Totoro stuffie, and so here it it. All, um, cut and still not sewed, on my coffee table beside the couch.

That's not to mention the needle felted nest I started to go with some wooden robins eggs I did weeks ago, and a small pile of cut up felt hearts waiting to be turned into a Valentine's day garland. Oy oy oy!

Yes, it seems I suffer from a severe case from crafting ADD. The only good thing about it, is that I have started the first step towards healing: admitting I have an issue ;) And I am decided to finish these projects before starting more.

What about you? Do you suffer from crafting ADD??

Linking this post to:

Frontier Dreams

{this moment}

Sibling Giggles

{this moment} - (inspired by Soule Mama) A Friday ritual. A single photo - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

"Love yourself" green smoothies

The very first time I made a green smoothie, I was really worried about "all that salad in there". I mean, with a cup of spinach in my drink, I could surely taste the greens, right? Well, I leaned that it depends. It mostly depends on the kind of greens you use to begin with. I think the more you get used to drinking your green smoothies, the more greens you want to put in it, and eventually you might venture onto stronger tasting greens to vary your nutrients or where your nutrients come from.

I have found that spinach is the most neutral tasting green, when it comes to using it in green smoothies. Seriously. So spinach is what I usually use for the first few months, until I'm ready to venture onto some new green horizons.

I have a few different green smoothie recipes that I make and love, but today, I'll share with you my raspberry green smoothie. It's delicious and packed with iron, vitamin C, fibre, protein and omega's 3 and 6.

Raspberry Green Smoothie

• 2 ripe bananas (make sure they are ripe, or your smoothie will be tart because of all those raspberries)
• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 1 cup filtered water
• 2-3 Tbsp hemp seeds
• spinach (I do about 2 cups)

Place all your ingredients in blender, leaving the spinach at the top and blend until smooth. If you've never had a green smoothie before, start with a small handful of spinach. Blend and taste. If you can't notice the spinach, maybe you can add a little more even. The point is not to taste the spinach, but just to get as much of it as you can, it'll do your body good. That's it, enjoy!

When I started with the green smoothies, I used to just put in a small handful of spinach. I was so scared to taste the greens. Just go at your own pace, but keep going. Before you know it, you will start seeing some changes that you will be very excited about. I get much more energy (no more mid-afternoon crash!), my skin clears up and it also changes my taste buds and I start craving more fruits, veggies and even water!

So love yourself, and go make a green smoothie today!