Bella Dia

Thoughtful Friday 10 & Brian Wildsmith

Happy hearts and happy faces,
Happy play in grassy places -
That was how, in ancient ages,
Children grew to kings and sages.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

This beautiful illustration is by the wonderful
Brian Wildsmith, one of my favorite children's book
illustrators. I am completely taken with his use of
color and composition and find his work full of
joy and magic. I just purchased this book,
A Child's Garden of Verses, and all the illustrations
are by Wildsmith.  I'll share some more
when I get a chance.

Tiny Yarn Animals

Isn't my little hippo sweet?!  I made him from a pattern in Tiny Yarn Animals by Tamie Snow.  I've never really done this kind of amigurumi before but it was very simple and easy to put together and because of its small size it travels well too.  My kids and niece and nephews were quite taken with this little fellow and now I have a whole queue of tiny animals that have to be made!  Next up is the turtle, then the penguin, the lemur, the fox...

The beginning of the book has step-by-step photos of all the basic crochet stitches so even someone new to crochet has everything they need to get started.  For more inspiration and some free patterns visit Tamie's website too!

My Contribution to The Softies Kit

I can't tell you how thrilled I am with the most
recent book by Therese Laskey (author of Softies). This
is The Softies Kit and it has 15 projects with instructions
and materials to make the cutest softies ever! The
packaging is gorgeous - colors, design, photography -
and couldn't be better.

I have two projects in the kit. The one above is
a gingerbread house featuring lots of sugar dots and
candy cane. You can make it into a house
softie or an ornament.

My other contribution is this Spring Chick in a Hat -
she even made the cover! You might remember her
from several Easters ago. This would be a great baby
gift - you could even add some lavender to
the stuffing for sweet dreams.

Please check out The Softies Kit,
you won't be disappointed!

To Draw A Tree

I've always wanted to be able to draw.  I mostly wanted to be able to put down on paper the ideas I can see in my mind but I also wanted to be able to draw a tree.  I always thought that if someone could draw a tree then they were a pretty good artist because I think trees seem hard to draw.  Inspired by Lori's drawing lessons that I have featured on The Crafty Crow, I've been practicing a lot lately.  I finished this tree drawing this evening and I have to say I am pretty darn pleased with it.  I see places for improvement but for my first real effort I'm satisfied. 

The kids and I have begun keeping nature journals so consequently we're spending more time looking at the shapes and lines of trees and rocks and water movement at the river.  I pulled out Keeping A Nature Journal that's been sitting on my shelf forever and it has been a practical help as well as an inspirational one.  Besides suggestions on observing nature and how to get started journaling, it has basic drawing lessons and exercises that I have found extremely helpful. 

Advent Day 24: The Night Before Christmas

Book: The Night Before Christmas
by Clement C. Moore and illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa

There are many beautifully illustrated versions of this poem, and we have several, but my favorite this year is the one illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa. Look at this Google image search here and I'm sure you'll recognize her work. I thought it was interesting that she designed the the little Eskimo child for the Eskimo Pie company and she also designed six U.S.P.S. stamps. Read her obituary in the New York Times if you'd like to know a little more about her.

You can read the The Night Before Christmas in full here and find your favorite parody of the poem here.

I'm sorry I don't have a craft for you today. I am running around like a crazy person trying to get everything done and the craft I had intended would take too long.

Thank you all so much for your kind comments regarding my book and activity advent! I really appreciated the encouragement and I found it so rewarding that you were using some of these projects as gifts for your special people.

Happy Happy Holidays to all!

Advent Day 23: Buying Mittens and felted wool mitten ornaments

Book: Buying Mittens
by Nankichi Niimi (scroll down) and illustrated by Ken Kuroi

Activity: Felted Wool Mitten Ornaments

Buying Mittens is such a precious story with gorgeous detailed illustrations by Ken Kuroi that you will fall in love with it as soon as you open it up. A mother fox sends her child into a town to buy mittens but warns him to be aware of the humans. The author, Nankichi Niimi, is considered the Hans Christian Andersen of Japan and has many stories to his name; it's a tragedy that he died at only 29 years old.

Activity: Felted Wool Mitten Ornaments

Supplies:
•felted wool sweaters: 3 coordinating prints
•cardstock if you want to print a pattern to trace, otherwise print on regular copy paper
•pattern
•embroidery floss to accent the felt
•embroidery needle
•scissors
•air soluble marker if you want to trace the cardstock pattern
•button that coordinates with felted wools

Step 1: print pattern; print on cardstock if you want to trace the pattern onto the felted wool or print on copy paper if you want to pin the pattern onto the wool

Step 2: using your pattern, cut out 2 mitten pieces from your main felt and 2 circle pieces - one from each coordinating wool

Step 3: stack circle pieces on top of each other and put the button in the center; stitch to the wrist area of one of the mitten pieces

Step 4: using a running, whip, or blanket stitch, stitch the pair of mittens together

Step 5: make a loop with your embroidery floss in one of the upper corners of the mitten to use as a hanging loop

Step 6: simple, cute, and fun! these make great package decorations too!

Advent Day 22: The Shortest Day and miniature felted wool wreaths

Book: The Shortest Day
by Wendy Pfeffer
Activity: Miniature Felted Wool Wreaths

Happy Solstice everyone! It's so nice to think that this is the shortest day and from here on into summer our daylight hours will get longer. Yea for the sun! Yea for light conquering darkness! Go here for some ideas on how to celebrate the Solstice. The Shortest Day explains all about the winter solstice, its history and astronomical information, in a pleasing kid friendly tone. It also has some solstice activities that kids can do in the last few pages.

Today's activity is a miniature wool wreath using felted wool sweaters. If you don't have any felted wool sweaters on hand then try regular felt but you will need more squares to fill the wreath up. I used 53 squares but how many you use will depend heavily on the thickness of the sweaters and how tightly you pack them onto the wreath. I made a little flower for mine using three circles of felt in different sizes and finished with a button in the center. I think they look great with or without a flower but I'll leave that up to you. The finished wreath is about 4 1/2" in diameter.

Activity: Miniature Felted Wool Wreaths

Supplies:
•felted wool sweaters cut into 1" squares
•sharp scissors
•floral wire size 18, plain or cloth-covered
•wire snips
•needle nose pliers
•ruler to cut 1" squares
•optional rotary cutter makes cutting the wool easier
•a round object about 2 1/2" in diameter to form the wire around

Step 1: take your wire and starting in the center, wrap it around your round object; create a hook like the one pictured above

Step 2: snip off the long ends of the wire

Step 3: make a hook with the other end of the wire; first hook should be vertical to be used for hanging later, the second hook should be perpendicular to the first one

Step 4: open up the hook you just made and begin stringing on wool squares; pierce the center of the square with sharp scissors to make a hole for the wire to go through

Step 5: string wool squares onto the wire until it is full then hook closed

Optional Step 6: get creative and make a decoration for your wreath if you would like

Woohoo, look what you did!

Advent Day 21: Ollie's Ski Trip and glittery foil icicles

Book: Ollie's Ski Trip
by Elsa Beskow

Activity: Glittery Foil Icicles

I know many of you are fans of Elsa Beskow's so I am sure you will enjoy this story and her charming illustrations. Ollie gets skis for his birthday and has adventures with Jack Frost and other winter-time characters.

To get an idea of Elsa Beskow's talent do an image search for her on google (or click here) with your feet up and a cup of tea; you won't regret it :)

Activity: Glittery Foil Icicles

Supplies:
•clear glue preferred or white glue
•aluminum foil
•fine glitter preferred or regular glitter in silvers, golds, and pale blues
•ornament hook
•scissors for cutting foil

Step 1: cut a piece of foil that is about 6" long and 4 1/2" wide at the top narrowing to 3" wide at the bottom (don't worry too much about measurements, this can be eyeballed)

Step 2: squish the foil lengthwise, then roll between your palms (like making a snake with play-doh); one end should be sharpish and the other end flatten between your fingers

Step 3: apply glue all over the icicle

Step 4: cover icicle with fine glitter and tap off

Step 5: pierce flattened end of icicle with sharp scissors and attach the ornament hook; fold over the foil and squish foil and hook end together

Step 6: these look so beautiful in clusters so make a lot!