Kleas

spring festival

Our preschool May Day festival was a success!  

25 burlap wrapped petunias as centerpieces for our lunch table.  One four-pack for each child to take home to plant in their garden.

"Branches of Snowy May" to use during our traditional circle song (found here).

It was not as warm as predicted but there were no thunderstorms or even rain and there was plently of wind which was perfect for our craft...making paper kites.

I followed instructions found here and prepped them steps 1-3 plus steps 6 + 7.

The children chose the color kite they wanted and with the help of their parents taped down the bamboo stick (I used a 3/16" dowel cut to size), chose the color of streamer (I use crepe paper - not surveyors tape) and tied on the string.  A few simple steps and they were ready!  (This craft is great for all ages and I highly recommend it!  This kite is so easy to get up in the air)

They were so easy to fly!  And the kids ran....and ran....and ran....

the wee morning hours

I stayed up way too late last night preparing for my preschool spring festival that we are having today. Getting the handwork ready is always my biggest hurdle.  The project needs to be prepped almost to the point of completion so my preschoolers can do a few simple steps with the help of their parents to do the activity.  A few pieces of tape, tie a string and that should be it...couldn't be simpler, right? We'll see.

It's supposed to be a beautiful 80 degrees...I just hope the thunderstorms hold off until well after lunch. Wish me luck.

Happy May.  xx

mosaic monday-calm

1. Untitled, 2. i'll live by my pen., 3. Bägarlav / Lichen, 4. backlight, 5. lavadela, 6. Weaving - detail, 7. 'Innocence', 8. Sania Pell, 9. Glass Balls

Enjoy this last day of April. xxx

what we made at the preschool-dandelion prints

I've been carrying the theme of the dandelion through circle and story at the preschool this month and wanted to incorporate a project to go with it.  Thinking back to an earlier experiment, I thought it would be fun to try pounding dandelions.  It's a good flower to work with as we have an abundance of them in our yard and there would be plenty for all 21 children to work with.

After pounding the dandelions flat, it's important to be gentle when brushing the crushed pieces off as the paper could be pretty wet. 

I love the different perspectives of these two prints after the children added green crayon.

From circle...

O Dandelion, yellow as gold, what do you do all day?  “I just wait here in the tall, green grass, ’till the children come to play.”   O Dandelion, yellow as gold, what do you do all night?“   I wait and wait, while the cool dew falls, and my hair grows long and white.”And what do you do when your hair grows white, and the children come to play?  “They take me in their dimpled hands, and blow my hair away!”

 

What I made for the nature table...

Story...

Star Children

Also, I think I'll have to try making Lisa's dandelion bread and jelly for snack one day.

birthday season

There are less than six weeks of preschool left before we begin our summer break and my project list just went through the roof.  Mother's Day gifts and Spring Festival preparing should be enough to keep me busy but we also have fourteen (yes! 14!!) birthdays yet to celebrate.  I need to get busy making.  The most difficult part for me is creating something that is meaningful.  I did get great ideas from some of you here (in the comments) which were helpful, but I get stumped sometimes.  

Yesterday we celebrated little Miss F turning five.  I have a strong connection to this quiet little girl.  Such a sweet, gentle soul, a lover of nature and all things small and precious.  I knew exactly what I wanted to give her so made her this Salley Mavor inspired doll.  She comes with her own nature bag to keep her treasures in.  I included a mini poppy pod that we pulled while playing in the garden last month.  She helped to scatter the seeds from the pods and little seedlings are already appearing.

With much needed luck I hope to be back sooner rather than later with more birthday posts.

mosaic monday-Happy St. Jordi's Day

1. Dia de St.Jordi, 2. William Shakespeare, 3. rose # 2, 4. vintage book covers, 5. Vintage Books Still Life, 6. Un libro y una rosa. / A book and a rose., 7. vintage books, 8. Vintage Books, 9. White Rose, 10. Vintage Books, 11. Books by the window, 12. ' une fleur d'amour', 13. Cervantes2.1, 14. Rose Macro / close up - IMG_6996, 15. Vintage Books, 16. Vintage Book {explored}

Today's Mosaic Monday is in celebration of St. Jordi's Day...one of my favorite holidays.  If you're wondering why I chose the above photographs you can read more about it here.  I used to send out about a dozen books on this day, but just don't read as much as I used to.  I'll have to get back into it because really, what is better than a day that celebrates reading?  I still give the boys a book and they have actually been counting the days until today-they are so excited.

Happy Monday + Feliz Dia de San Jordi

two knit bunnies

These are the two bunnies (now finished) I posted about earlier.  I gave them to my boys on easter morning.

As you can see I felted one much better than the other...I think it's all in the type of soap I used.  Using a soap with more detergent in it always seems to felt up better than my all natural dish soap.

I love their lanky limbs.

As the pattern is not really very specific on number of stitches, each bunny will be different (unless I choose to actually count and document how many I am knitting).  

I crocheted a little scarf for each bunny making it in the favorite color of each boy.  Julen loves red, red, red while his older brother loves lemongrass.  

They are such sweet little bunnies.

(Thank you Louise and Natasha for reminding me to show them finished!)

found

While digging in the garden over the weekend...I was trying to rid a new bed of an invasive woody bush and I came across a few findings.  Mostly metals that are heavily corroded plus one broken clothespin. The thing that intrigued me the most was this tiny bell.  It has a little glass bead for the clapper.

I probably ruined it while trying to clean it up...

...but I just felt compelled to see what was written on the back.

mosaic monday-a walk around the lake

I let my seven-year-old have a turn with the camera.  

Our after dinner walk last night suddenly turned stormy.  It was quite a sight.

Happy Monday!

vintage cigarette machines

During my recent trip to Las Vegas, I developed a bit of an addiction to some of the machines I came across there.  While I find dropping coins into slot machines a boring waste of time, I was quite fascinated with Artomat-converted cigarette vending machines that are now used as original artwork dispensers.  For a five dollar bill (the price of a greeting card) you are guaranteed a hand created piece of art.  And while you get a sense of the artists work by the description on the column, it is always a surprise to see what you get.  I was hooked.

When I first saw these, I had a vague recollection of having read about them somewhere and then it hit me...it was from Jen.  I had to do some hunting through past posts but I found her entry about artomat here.  I laughed at my comment on her post... "what fun. and what will power you have…i’m sure i would have dropped at least $20"  Well, I'm embarrassed to say I did at least that!  Here is most of what I got.

The artwork as it came out of the machine...

...and below, without the wrap or box it came in.

If you know me, you also know I could have emptied the machine of those adorable pincushions (but I didn't).  But I did get most of my friends I was working with interested and we cleared out all of the "moon goddess" necklaces so we could each wear one home.

Look for one in your neighborhood.