Skunk

A while back my mom had bought a whole bunch of wooden cut outs of animals from a garage sale.  Casey and I have finally gotten around to turning one of them into an animal.  I should have taken a before picture. Oh well.  First we used the dremel to give the skunk shape.  Then I sanded him down, used a wood burner to draw his features, painted him with water colors, and used beeswax to seal him.  I plan to give him to K for Christmas.

Garden Loom

The first step (after collecting sticks from the woods that is) in making a garden loom is to use twine to tie the sticks together into a frame. Casey used knots he learned from being a boy scout.
Here he is tying the last one together.
After the loom was together we dug two holes in the ground and put the loom in. I then wrapped brown yarn around the sticks.
I used blue yarn to weave in the sky while K searched for leaves and grass to weave in the bottom.
For a finishing touch we wove in flowers from the garden.

I've been wanting to make a garden loom for a long time. I keep seeing them on other people's pages and have been thinking how beautiful they are. I love the idea of keeping it out all year and adding/ changing it through the seasons. We collected our sticks on a walk through the woods a week ago and spent Saturday morning putting it all together.

Rainbow Swap items

We received a boat, snack bag (which K has been carrying around the house), a bookmark, a crown (modeled above), and a window star.
While we were away we received our rainbow swap items. They are wonderful! K's favorite by far is the crown. I'm really surprized by this as he usually won't put anything on his head, but he keeps bringing it to me to put on him.

Spring Table Swap

Here are my latest spring table swap items. For this swap I sent the root children. I received this beautiful yellow play silk. I'm excited because its a different size then the ones we have at home. We also received this crocheted basket, a little wooden mushroom, a wool fairy, and two little felt ducks. K seems most excited about the basket and the ducks. I think I'm going to have to say that the ducks are my favorite too.

I keep trying to find patters to make more felt animals, but am having little luck. Does anyone have and great resources?

Wooden Buttons

I keep seeing these wooden buttons on people's blogs and really wanted to try and make some. I have no idea what I'm going to sew them on. They were pretty easy. First I sawed the pieces off of a branch. Then I drilled holes in them, sanded them, and used beeswax to polish them. I'll have to come back when I've actually used them on a project. I was thinking they would have been really cute on my root children. Perhaps next time.

Robin Hood Gnome

The other night I was inspired to make a fantasy gnome. He was really fun to make. I really want to make him a little companion gnome that has long hair. Its been a long time since I made a fantasy gnome for my etsy shop and now I keep thinking of all the possibilities. :)

A gift for little friends

Two of K's little friends are having birthday's next week. They are sisters (although not twins) so I made them matching gnomes with matching bags to put them in. I have no idea how I ended up making them Christmas colors. Hopefully they won't notice. :)

Leprechaun Gnome

We had a leprechaun move into our nature table. He arrived last night. He is a little annoyed that there is nothing else green on the table so I guess I'm going to have to work on that so he doesn't move out.

Valentines day table and gnomes

I made K and I a mother/child valentine gnome pair. They have hearts on their chests that you can pull off and trade. I also made a valentine mushroom. I've been wanting to try and make a mushroom for quite awhile and am excited I finally had the time. I'd like to make some more in other colors too. I've also included our nature table decorated for Valentines day. :) I might end up making a couple more things but this is how it looks for now.

Spider Gnome

I'm adding the spider gnome to by bug collection. Someone she ended up a black widow. I didn't set out to make a black widow but am happy with the results. I had hoped to get started on the bee gnome today but someone... I"m not naming names... decided not to nap today.
On another note. K and I had a ton of fun today at our local nature table. The staff was super nice and let us touch two snakes, a turtle, and a frog. K did not care for the frog as it was too hoppy. We also took a nice hike through the woods with some friends. I really love being outside even in the winter.

butterfly gnome

I am really excited about my next three gnomes. I had this idea to do three different bugs. The butterfly/caterpillar was the first, next is a spider, and then a bee w/ hive. Anyway this one was really fun to design and make.
On another note I'm looking into getting a learning tower off of craigslist. I'm really hoping they haven't sold it yet. The learning tower is an adjustable safe stool for toddlers and young children. I've been trying to bake more with K and this will be perfect for him to be able to reach the counter and actually help. It can also be used as a fort and a puppet theater.
On the baking front K and I baked a loaf of bread in the bread maker this past monday. I want to try and bake with K once a week or so. K loved it! In fact that might be partly why it didn't turn out too great. He was happily dumping in ingredients and taking them back out so I'm sure the recipe was a little off. The other problem was that I hadn't baked bread in so long it turns out my yeast was dead. I'd post a picture of the loaf, but it really was a sorry sight. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to stop somewhere to get us some fresh yeast.

Summer gnome and seasons

I started my summer gnome at my aunts house and have finally completed it. I took some pictures with all the season gnomes together also. I think they look pretty neat all in a row. I'm going to have to say that the fall gnome is still my favorite.
Today I started working on a window star. I only half completed it and am hoping that it will be done by tomorrow.

Fall Gnome

I'm back! I ran off for a few days to help my aunt unpack her new house. I'm afraid I wasn't too help as K probably made as much trouble as we helped. Anyway before I left I finished my fall gnome. I think he may be my new favorite. I worked on my summer gnome while I was gone, but he/she isn't quite finished yet. I'm excited to get a group photo of them all.
This little guy is listed on my etsy if you're interested. Although you might have to fight me for him. :)

My etsy shop

Here is a link to my new shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/seasonalgnome

Soon here I will make a button to put on my blog and perhaps you nice folks out there can put one on your blog too. :) I'll post it when its ready. For now I'm off to make more gnomes.

Oh on a side note I received a saw and carving tools for Christmas so I can attempt to woodwork. We also have a little wood burner already and yesterday we finally bought a clamp. So pretty soon here I'm going to attempt to make some little animals.

Seasonal Gnomes

Along with my knights and royalty gnomes I'm also going to be listing seasonal gnomes. Right now I only have spring and winter done. You've seen the winter gnomes but here are some much better pictures of them.

Kings, Queens, and Knights

So I've gone and done it. I've opened my Etsy shop. I'm very excited. For now I just have a few things on there. I'm most excited about my whole knights and castle theme. Here are some pictures of my king, queen, and knight

Knight 2.0

Ok here is attempt two. I think he is pretty near ready for mass production. I just need to lower his eyes a little. Next up on my etsy list (after I make a few knights that is) are a king and queen. Lets not get ahead of ourselves though, an army of knights is first.

A Knight

I'm starting to seriously think about selling my "gnomes" on etsy. I'd really like to make some knights, kings, and queens, along with my nature type gnomes. So right now I'm trying to perfect a knight gnome. This is my first attempt. I think it needs a few adjustments. Perhaps I'll finish knight 2.0 and have it posted by tomorrow.

Nature Gnomes

I made these gnomes for a couple of friends of mine. One has already recieved hers, and although the other hasn't, I'm just going to post anyway and hope she doesn't read this. I had originally planned to embroider a tree on their backs, but lost my drawings and totally forgot until they were done and C reminded me. Oh well. Perhaps the next round of Nature gnomes will have trees.

Magical Wand

I have finally gotten all the parts together for K's wand. The wood was all purchased online. Then everything was painted with watercolors and glued together. The ribbons were purchased from JoeAnne's. I haven't found a cheap place to purchase ribbon from. Let me know if you know where I can find it. I'm excited for K to receive this gift as he kept running off with the stick part of the wand while I was making it. Perhaps I"ll get a picture of K playing with it after Christmas.