Curly Birds

Can you Step Through a Card?

 

Yes, these are our New Years cards. Yes, they were printed, signed, stamped, and sealed in January. Yes, I just sent them out last week. 

Happy St. George's Day

St. George is the patron saint of England and even though St. George's Day isn't celebrated so outwardly in England, I strive to impart some of my Englishness onto my girls, and decided we would celebrate in our own sweet way.

 

Traditionally, on St. George's Day, English people pin a red rose onto their lapel - I remember this custom as a kid.

I also remember my Mum cutting a picture of a rose out of a magazine and taping it to my school uniform because she said roses were too expensive!  

We decided to do things a little differently and give each kid in the girls' class a rose.

 

Yesterday, I drew St. George's flag on mailing tags. The girls coloured in the flags and wrote their names. We attached the tags to the roses with festive twine.

 

Today I took the roses to school and the girls handed them out to all the kids in their class. It was a fun day and I hope it keeps England in my girls' hearts and minds.

 

Interesting little snippet: Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616 (St. George's Day!)

We Are Going On Vacation...

Last year we took a trip to California. We spent a lovely week visiting my husband's family. For the second week, we rented a car and drove up the California coast on Highway 1. It was a great family vacation.

A few pictures from our trip, as well as my travel tips, are featured on Bloesem Kids today. 

Where is everyone going on holiday this year?

Bake Sale and The Twinery Blog Hop

Today I am participating in a blog hop to showcase vibrant twine from The Twinery and imaginisce's pretty new paper.

When The Twinery sent me some imaginisce supplies, I was still feeling inspired from the girls lemonade stand and made a little Bake Sale set.

The girls soon ate their cookies and grapes, but the little sign, banner, bowl and plate are replenished with pretend goodies and the girls love serving and selling their yummy treats.

For the blog hop...

If you are visiting my blog from Midwest Memories, then you are in the right place. If not, please start from the beginning over at the Imaginisce Blog because there are some great prizes up for grabs...

 

'I Dream in Twine'

all 18 colors in The Twinery Collection

$32 retail value

'Making Waves'

from Imaginisce

Leave a comment on each of the blogs on the hop each day to be entered to win the prizes.

Of course I would love you to follow my blog, Curly Birds, as well!

The deadline for leaving comments is 11:59 EDT, Sunday April 22. Winners will be announced by The Twinery and Imaginisce on Monday, April 23rd.

I hope you enjoy the blog hop, your next stop is Me and My Thoughts... 

The Handmade Olympics

Please visit the Handmade Olympics and vote for Curly Birds!!

Do you know the blog the rikrak studio? It is a crafty blog full of hand-made goodness. Every year Kristal hosts the Handmade Olympics where folks nominate their favorite blogs, a judge (thank you Dana) shortlists 10 blogs in each category for a final vote.

Along with some very cool blogs, Curly Birds was nominated and shortlisted in the category of Blog with a Handmaking Focus!

And thank you to Jane at Buzzmills for nominating me - you are too, too kind.

 

Country Living Magazine

Yesterday I received a very lovely e-mail from Heather of you make do telling me that she was at the dentist office reading a magazine and saw Curly Birds in the April issue of Country Living. How cool is that?

 

Thank you Heather and Country Living 

 

[Here is my original cloud candles project ]

From Her Perspective

Nola's Perspective: Wild Snail

 

Give a Kid a Camera Project - Documenting her 5th Year

Encourage your children to take photographs of their world. Collect their favourite pictures and at the end of the year, make a book to celebrate everyday life.

Won't you join us?

For the Birds... Nesting Materials

I collect all of my craft 'waste' in a pretty jar - I hate to throw it away. But the jar was very full and I have been wondering what to do with it. Last Saturday we watched a bird gather materials for its nest. And it gave us an idea...

 

I gave the girls 22 gage brass wire and they wrapped it around a juice bottle to create a wire container for the clippings. The wire did not wrap well and it was a tad bit frustrating.

 

The girls ditched the bottles and decided to make their own baskets.

 

The baskets were super twee, but super small...

 

We found these corn holders for birds at the hardware store and decided to give them a try.

 

Success! The corn holders worked perfectly. Nola and Kira commented on the color, texture and size of each little piece of felt they put in the holder. Thinking of baby birds brought out all of the girls' nurturing tendencies and they spent over an hour filling these holders up.

 

Now we are waiting on the birds...

 

Quick Update:

The birds have started gathering some of our supplies. The other day I saw a cardinal taking some brown wool, and everyday there are different little pieces of fabric on the ground.

A reader suggested not offering bright colours for nests because it could attract predators, so I have taken out the really bright pieces.

Check out Paint Cut Paste for some nest zest and other lovely Waldorf inspired projects.

Stop and Smell the Rose

Beautiful and sweet-smelling, and picked for me by the little girl next door. x

 

[vase]

The Yummiest Lemonade Recipe for Lemonade Stands

Nola and Kira feel sure I need to include their lemonade recipe for Hosting a Lemonade Stand. This is the girls' and their Daddy's thing - a summer weekend ritual in our house.

 

Lemonade

1 bag of lemons (about 10 lemons)

1 cup of sugar

6 cups of water

 

Squeeze lemons to make 1 cup of lemon juice.

Make a simple syrup by heating 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves. 

Pour lemon juice, syrup and 5 cups of water in a jug and stir.

For selling, drinking, and celebrating