Bliss Beyond Naptime

Driving Me Crazy

Parenting can take on many, glorious forms of crazed behaviours. A big part of what makes these the peak cute years is seeing the kids act out how they're going to be passing on all the sweet, some of the not so sweet, but all of it coming from a place of love, parenting styles. The cast members taking on the role of my future grandchildren include the dolls I made for the kids over the years (complete with rose quartz hearts):

 Doll play happens here in spurts and bouts. Until it's their time to shine in their starring roles they can be found kicking back in their king sized cradle for a few weeks, eating bon bons of course acting a little on the diva size (even Mickey). But then they bust out, usually close to the full moon I've been noticing, sighted once again being lovingly cargo-ed around the house in slings built out of silks and the occasional bungee cord. This time when the wool stuffed crew came out to play, Edie and Kale fashioned a car out of the ottoman and piles of pillows and safely secured their stuffy spawn into their car seats.

In Simplicity Parenting, Kim Payne writes about differnt parenting styles that one may recognize in oneself from time to time. It's a fun part of the workshops I lead bringing awareness to participants of what styles may be lurking from within. Here's my host of characters all squished in me:

The Helicopter: Wacka, wacka, wacka, wacka

The Sportscaster:  You're taking  a teeny bite of your sausage and you're chewing it so good! Chew, chew, chew. Swallowing. Careful, careful. Yay! You swallowed your sausage! (*note there is a sprinkle of The Cheerleader thrown in there for good measure)

The Clown: Who's a funny mommy? Squeeze Mama's red detachable nose. It honks! Yes! (*note the splash of The Sportscaster for dramatic effect)

The Body Guard: Coming out of the public washroom after washing our hands before we eat ~ Do not touch anything! (they look like little doctors enroute to surgery ~ adorable!)

The Buddy-buddy: Let's, like, totally wear matching outfits to the restaurant tonight. It will be, like, so cute!

The Flip-flop: Absoltely you are not having a snack right now; supper's ready in half an hour. That's why you have to eat more lunch. Nope, no way Jose. Nice try. Mama said no. (30 seconds later) Who wants cheese and craaaaackers!? (sang whilst pouring myself a glass of wine)

Lavender was fussing so Edie decided she should crawl back and be there with the kids for the rest of the trip (is it just me or do you hear a far off 'whacka whacka'?). So much fun to imagine them loving real life kids of their own one day and to guess which bits of Craig and my various styles they're going to carry on or pick up all on their own.

One of the best indicators has been happening often these days as they have been visiting more with one of their favorite real life friends. And going by that observation (The Detective), the future world of parenting is in good, loving hands. So... what's your style(s) of parenting that crop up from time to time?

Elderberry and Hair Follicles

After visiting an old dear friend of mine one spring morning we were chatting by her front door saying goodbye and I smelled the smell I detest most in the world. It smelled like cat marking going on. I asked her if she got a cat and she said it was her elderberry tree that was situated right next to her front door. I never heard of such a thing. So just in case, do not plant an elderberry tree by your front door. These trees grow in abundance in our area, all along the roadsides even, and we have about five of them growing wild on our property. But I never noticed them smelling like anything less than heavenly; especially when the pretty miniature flower blossom clusters open in the summer. Perhaps there’s an angry cat in my friend's midst she’s not aware of.

 So in the summer we carefully collect these blossoms that smell like the tops of the heads of newborns and cook up a syrup to use as a concentrate in ice filled glass of water. This is Craig's favourite. I think it talks to the Kool-Aid kid in him.  And then at this time of year we pick off whack loads of the berries to make jelly, syrup and tincture. The jelly is probably one of my favourites of the jam and jelly persuassion of treats but the bonus is it is full of antioxidants and immune enhancing properties that even my naturopath suggests the whole family taking a hit of everyday to keep illness at bay.

For the jelly I followed this basic recipe and it was made in time for when Edie caught that double whammy of nasty soul fever/stomach bug. A little bit of the jelly on fresh baked bread brought comfort to both ailments.  On that same link there are directions to make syrup you can administer to whomever in the family needs a sweet boost either administered straight up or drizzled on yogurt or pancakes.

And the tincture is a cinch; pick enough of the well washed berries off of their stemmy  clusters and fill a quart sized mason jar to the brim with them.  Fill up the jar with enough vodka to cover and then seal tight. Keep the jar on a sunny window sill while remembering to give them a gentle shake every day. In about three weeks, strain out the berries, place the purple vodka into a sleek flask you can tuck into your coat pocket rockstar style (wipe that Smirnoff your face – I was just joking. Any kind of glass bottle will suffice) and give yourself and your adult partner a teaspoon a day and your kids half that dose.  Other health care providers suggested I dilute the kids’ dosage into a glass of boiling water first to evaporate the alcohol content but nothing gets the kids aligned with early bedtimes then mommy’s special ‘movie time with daddy’ medicine. (Again, kidding.)

And totally not related to elderberry fixings but just about the cutest thing I’ve seen all weekend (other than Daisy and Meatballs joyfully jumping through a massive pile of leaves Craig built for them in the middle of their pasture yesterday. Over and over again. I  almost died from the cuteness of it all)! Miss Fab from Fig and Me  shared with me yet another creation of hers that she utilized one of my art yarns, Moe,  in one of the most delightful ways; as hair for her amazing Waldorf-style dolls.

That Fabs is one talented lady. See the before? I never in my wildest dreams thought that this would end up as hair. But it works! Just like the elderberry tincture. See how I smoothly linked these two topics together?

Doll House

Way back, like, six months ago, I made Kale a doll for Christmas. Whenever we asked him what his new doll's name was all he can say was "Baby". Now baby has a new name ~ thanks to a vastly extended vocabulary and a tiny wee bit of a man-crush. A couple of weeks ago our neighbour was over doing some work on our property with his bobcat. Our neighbour's name is Mickey and, well, a little man/boy crush later, Baby changed his name just like everyone else seems to do when they've been living in this little valley after a while.

Mickey likes to be carried around in the backpack just like Kale did not so long ago when he was a little man of little vocabulary. Luckily, we have the world's foremost leading expert on baby wearing living in the house. Edie's been studying the thirty paged Didymos sling instruction booklet and has been challenging herself to carry her baby, Clara, in every conceivable way possible as demonstrated by the step by step coloured photos. It's been her favourite pastimes for months now.

So cute, she stands there with the booklet on the ground following the photo steps until Clara's safe and sound in the carrier. Kale just throws Mickey in the backback. Then they take their babies for a walk, or just clean up around the house while I lounge on the couch eating my backwoods bonbons.

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On the subject of bonbons and favourite pastimes; I came across and spent hours drooling on this last night: Grosgrain just wrapped up a month of free patterns. Not only are the projects super inspiring like the a-frame tent up there but the incredible sewing blogs these projects led me to were time suckers! Must find some time to get to the sewing machines and read more frome these wonderful ladies I found. It's too sketchy to garden at peak sun hours, right?

Baby New Year

Happiest of New Year's everyone! My holidays were full and joyous but I'm glad to get hunkered down with our regular programming again. I'm not one for making resolutions but I do have a whole whack of plans I'm excited to share with you. But first of all, let me introduce you to "Baby".

We asked Kale what his new baby's name is and he told us, as clear as he possibly could "Baby". Kale's pretty real baby crazy so it was easy to predict that he would love his own special one as a special Christmas gift from Mama. I used the pattern from this book, Making Waldorf Dolls,  and decided to go with the medium-sized jointed baby. The arms and legs are movable making the doll easier to get dressed. I find it too a quicker style to whip up.

And this style feels so much like a real baby when hugging it. Kale's pretty blissed out too with all the other Christmas scores he received from the 'Babas' (his word for grandma and grandpa alike). So cute this age that they're more aware of what's going on. I've never seen him so excited before than this Christmas morning and to see him and Edie get in on it together -  ugh, my ovaries.

So, like I was saying, I'm pretty stoked about the new direction my blog is taking this year. I want While Tangerine Dreams to be a refuge where I share the essence of the comfort and security that handmade can sustainably deliver simple beauty to the world. Does that sound a little too much like a mission statement? Oh, good. It's suppose to because that's what it is.

And I'm currently on the final draft of my first ebook! It will be made available some time next week. So if you don't want to miss out (it's free by the way) be sure to sign up for my newsletter - subscription button is just over yonder to the right and then you'll get heads up when it's ready. It's called, drumrollings:

"How to Squeeze in a little Craftiness Everyday"

 A question I get asked alot over the years, both in real life and through the blog, is how I manage to be so prolific with all on my plate. After some meditating on this during nursing sessions I noted some observations and wanted to share these reflections with you. It was a fun awareness building excersice not to mention I loved watching Craig's eyes roll when I told him I was going to go work on my book.

As well as the ebook I'm in the midst of setting up an ecourse that will be debuting in the spring. I would like to keep a little more suspense around this one but rest assured it will be crafting related. So what do you think? Are in on joining me on this mission statement ride? What kind of craftiness would you like to squeeze in everyday? I'm so stoked; blogging's fun. Here's to a crafty, handmade New Year!

Play Gestation

I'm making Kale his first Waldorf doll for his Christmas present this year. This little guy loves babies so I know he's ready for his own special little dolly. I'm using the instructions in this book for the medium-sized 'jointed baby' just because he's still pretty little himself and he is especially drawn to real life babies. He gets that from his dad who's especially goes gaga for goo goo.

And the technology behind making the limbs movable I find especially cool. You sew an embroidery thread through the body of the doll and attach the arms and legs to each other with the string. It's really sweet and wonderfully life like how they kind of reach out to you like they need their nappies changed. I'm especially looking forward to spinning up some hair from my friend's herd of alpacas and llamas fleece I scored way back . I can't wait to see his face when he opens this up on Christmas morning. It's sure to be a hit. Edie was about this age when I made her her first one and she was pretty smitten;

If the look on her face here is any indication! Clara is still throughly loved around here. Though she's cool with whatever pops out on Christmas day , little Clara's secretly hoping for a baby brother!

Gnomey, Gnomey, Don't You Know Me?

Check it out, it's the gnome stretch around here! I'm making a friend this melton wool hoodie type pullover jacket thingy but the hood bit came out too small. So I turned the whoopsie daisy to a watchy wha wha. Hmmm. What's the opposite of 'whoopsie daisy'? And just as quick as picking up a baking pan with no oven mitts on (remember that Brenda?) I released it back to the universe; aka posted it up on my esty shop. Have to say  it passed the test. I wore it to the mailbox trek and back and it kept my noggin nicely insulated from the face-freezing Arctic front that is keeping me and kids huddled up together inside, crafting up some winter storms.

This morning Edie finished up her very first sewing project ever! I don't know if you remember way back in January I got her her very first sewing basket? Well, back then we started immediatly on a flannel doll that turned out to be just about the cutest thing to grace our house. She is so very proud of herself. Now she can totally thread and knot a needle herself, braid yarn hair, sew a hem and securely sew a hat onto a head. Ouch! Let's hope she doesn't have to use that life skill too often!She lovingly drew eyes and a sweet mouth onto the babe and is now dreaming up a name for her.

And little Miss Yet-to-be-named gives the best hugs. She just kind of lies there limp on your shoulder. It's real cute how she does that. Kind of like a newborn. Edie has that twinkle in her eye I recognize and know oh so well. She wants to start a new project. Like, now. I promised her after the doll we'll start some finger knitting. I got her a magic ball of yarn with some felted farm animals lurking inside that will jump out at her while she knits a rainbow garland for the Chirstmas tree. Yippeeee! Her and I hunkered down, knitting by the fire, arguing over who loves each other more... all the pieces are falling into place.

A Quick Boo

Hope everyone had the Happiest of Halloween. We took Edie and Kale trick or treating for the first time ever. Our usual plan to take them to the Waldorf walk of enchantment fell through because Mama dropped the pumpkin on that one and they were all booked up on the early bookings (we are the house of early bedtimes) so I proposed to Edie we go trick or treating. What's that, she wondered. I told her the gist of it and she said, "you're kidding". And I said nope. She then proceeded to laugh her head off. "Why would they give you candy?" she asked when she came up for breath. And I told her that's just what they do.

So we went but the monkey didn't really care for it much though. She's too shy to hold out a bag to complete strangers and she's not a candy kid. That's cool. Saves us the dentist bills I suppose. Though I did tell her that if we leave the bag of candy in the fairy house they'll replace it with a special treat.

Caribou faerie
Originally uploaded by Fig & Me.

And speaking of special treats check out this little beauty that is sporting some Tangerine Dream Dreads! Fabulous Fabs emailed me a link to her flickr account that just got uploaded with a bunch of shots of dolls sporting my yarn as hair. How incredibly cute is this? Fab has the sweetest little shop that is so tempting for adoption in a serious Angelina way. Especially this time of year when birthdays and Christmas are just around the corner!

Funny enough, the day before Trish sent me a photo of what she did with the garlic yarn she scored from the Garlic Festival.Here's the ravelry page incase you want to see how she kept her neck area protected this Halloween from those glamorous, toothy pale folk.

 

Maplerose Bud

Welcome to my happy place. We live about forty minutes from town and, though it is a nice town and all, luckily I only have to make the trek about once every three weeks. And when there's snow on the ground hardly ever. But rest assured if I go to Nelson I go to Maplerose.

This week I signed up to take a felting class with everyone's favourite piñata making buddy -  TT! It was a very fun girly trip complete with a naughty afternoon latte from my favourite coffee shop in the world, a pipe purchasing mission at the Farmer Supply store because we are technically farmers now you know, and me telling TT my whole entire life story on the way home because she asked me how Craig and I met and, well, I just finished consuming five shots of espresso that day and that always loosens the lips. Poor TT.

OOoo... that one up there is what I wanted to get working on.  A mama pumpkin fairy playing ring around the rose with her little squash kids. Plus, Edie requested another fairy for the nature table. What Edie wants, Edie gets so a fairy I made. I seriously could just sit in this store and bliss out all day long. Everywhere the eye lands there is something beautiful staring back at you or some crafting supply beckoning for you to run with the inspiration.

And I love the workshops. They are offered about once a week and are usually felting based but I did one waaaay back on making a Waldorf doll. That one was a three week class meeting once a week and it was just the most amazing experience. It almost felt like a prenatal class with all four of us coming out of it with our own babes that kind of look like us that we created while getting to know each other with all that stitch and chit chat.

And it's nice too to craft without the babes around. Much more efficient that way. The going to town latte buzz makes the needlefelting action just that much faster as well. What a time saver!

And here's the little pumpkin. MIss Edie is pleased. Mission accomplished. Well, almost. I still want to make the little squash kids. Now if there was only a way to bring Maplerose to the mountain... hmmm...

Mid-Summer Dream Stuff

It was Mid-Summer's Eve and I told Edie if we make the fairies a present they might leave her one in exchange. She thought that sounded like a pretty cool transaction so when I asked her what she thinks a fairy might like she said a dress (of course, because she's part fairy and I know she would love get a dress as a present any day). I told her to make a sketch of a dress a fairy might like and we'll try to make one just like it. So she got to work on a card with a picture of a fairy (who looks like a lot like Mama if I do say so myself!) wearing a purple dress. Together we whipped up a pint sized dress/finger puppet from felt and sewed it together. Edie's getting really good at threading needles these days.

 

And the best place to leave prezzies for fairies? In the fairy house of course! Just pass the chicken coop, around the corner is the front door to Edie and Kale's special secret hangout spot (well, I guess not so secret anymore).

Oooo... it's kind of psychedelic and techno-coloured in here like the Land of Oz! A lot of time is spent in here hugging trees, sitting on stumps giving each other google-y eyes and finding surprise gifts from fairies and brownies alike.

 

Edie dictated to me the message to write and she drew the heart on all by herself. Check out the mutton chops on that fairy!  She keeps insisting it's not me though. The next morning Edie was super excited to discover the fairies left her a set of face painting crayons. She can't stop talking about how funny it is they're called face paints because you are not limited to painting on just the face. You can paint on your arm, your leg, your hand, your foot, your neck, your tummy, your back, the back of your arm, back of your leg... Thanks fairies and happy summer to you!

Gnome Buddy Loves Me

Kale's teething. And a side effect includes being velcro-ed to mama, but dada, with lots of tickles and tossings into the air,  will do in a pinch. Bummer I can't hire Craig on to be my full-time manny. Could you imagine how many gnomes I can crank out every day? This was a good day though. One of the kids' babysitters just got back from being stuck in Europe due to strong chance of volcano and, I don't know if it's chemistry or what but, she was able to keep the little tooth grower off my hands (and boobs) for three glorious hours. I got tonnes done!

 

Super priority was my end of a swap with a lovely, lovely lady who heard I was in search of a kinderharp. She has a little boy close to the same age as Kale who loves reds and yellows, animals and gnomes. Sounds like quite the cutie. I'm partial to sweet little boys these days.

Okay, sweet little girls are awfully darn cute in their own special girly way of course especially when they're dolled up in sweet spring frocks! Therefore, I decided to participate in a week long challenge put on by Elsie Marie. I've been promising Edie a spring dress since winter so when I read the premise of devoting only one hour a day to sew your your spawn an outfit I thought that sounds reasonable and realistic (I'm sure Craig will beg to differ). Maybe Kale's teeth spurt will magically be put on pause for the next ten days. Must get the courage to acclimatize him to the lulling whir of the sewing machine while he's sleeping. Damn open floor plan! Seriously, there are only two doors in here. Oh well, keeps us creative. Want to play along with the kid sewing thing?