walnut boats sailing away

We have winners! I used a random number generator this time, which meant no cutting up of little paper slips for a drawing. So, winners, email me your address and we'll sail these ships to you.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Have a wonderful holiday.

#32 Rachel@oneprettything.com said...
I like floatilla. Armada sounds like they might take me hostage, lol. Although, if they take me hostage to your house, it doesn't sound so bad! =) I love these so much! I'll be linking.

#12 Chelsea said...
I love these! When I was little we made little walnut mangers in Primary with those tiny plastic babies (we swaddled them in paper towels then - we were probably 6!) around Christmas time as we were told the story of the Nativity. While I still love those, I think the boats are really cute and I might just have to make some!

But wait! If you send me one, I'll save SO much time!

#66 Sandra said...
Totally sweet ornament.

#51 Carol Rose Parker said...
Oh, you've made my day! I used to be a ballet-enchanted little girl, but because I was chubby (as were the 2 other little girls who rode with me to ballet class), we didn't get any encouragement from the teacher. I love the little boats -- we used to make such things when I was little (in the 1950s), though we filled the shells with melted candle wax instead of hot glue, and we didn't bother to paint them. Yours are so much sweeter. Here's an idea -- what if you wrote little special messages on the sails and banners (made out of plain paper?) It's not as "re-cycle" as using book pages, but a neat idea for personalizing them.

Thanks for your inspiration!

tiny ships carrying loads of thanks

Do you remember that book, A Very Young Dancer, by Kill Krementz? Apparently it was quite an influential book for all my sisters and me. I was looking at a copy while we were visiting my sister last weekend, and it's especially interesting to read again as an adult; the little girl in the book danced the part of Marie for George Balanchine in his version of The Nutcracker, for Pete's sake! What a dream come true! This book inspired me to take ballet lessons, which I pursued well into high school. But dancing en pointe is an insanely painful experience, and while I still love to dance (I love barre work especially and wish I still had time to take classes), I don't miss the pain aspect at all.


Anyway, I noticed in the book's photographs that, in Balanchine's version of The Nutcracker, Marie (who was always known as Clara in our version of The Nutcracker, growing up) and the prince leave The Land of the Sweets in a little walnut-shell boat. Why don't they have that little boat in the current production? Much better than a sleigh, in my opinon.

Well, I've got walnut shells. We pick them up in our neighborhood where the squirrels drop the shells, already halved, so we don't need to struggle with a nutcracker (New Yorkers feed walnuts to squirrels. And our dogs wear coats and Halloween costumes. Yes, it's a different world out here.) and lightly spray them with gold spray paint to make little walnut ornaments like the ones my Grandma used to make. Out came the hot glue gun, some toothpicks, and glitter. Now we've got a little flotilla of walnut boat ornaments. Or is it an armada? I have no idea.


So Merry Christmas! I'd like to give away a handful of walnut boats to celebrate the holidays, and if you leave a comment I'll do a quick drawing sometime in the next couple of days and hopefully sail a boat in your direction to arrive right around Christmas.

Thanks for coming along with me on this little 2008 journey. You float my boat!

(Sorry. That was a terrible ending.)

wrapped

I like the simplicity of brown paper with red ribbon or baker's twine for Christmas gifts. We've been wrapping in this style for a few years now. The other day I gave Tsia some white colored pencils and she's been going to town, drawing her own Lee Bontecou's on the paper before we wrap. (Her inspiration, not mine. I just thought the white pencil would look nice on the brown paper.)


So the post on Design Sponge about Trader Joe's bags as gift tags caught my attention, and we had to try that ourselves. I thought it tied back to Tsia's drawings and enhances our new wrapping media: recycled brown tissue sewing patterns (no, they're not Oliver + S patterns. We use a different paper for ours).


Now to get these packages into the mail!

weekend fun

Last year my sister and I experimented with joint cookie-making, to great success. It's so much easier to do the whole rolling-baking-decorating-cleaning thing when two adults are involved, let me tell you. So this year we made it a whole-family event and waited until a Saturday when everyone could chip in.




sugar + kids + holiday = superfund cookies. That frosting below is actually a neon green, just to give you a little perspective on the situation.


Yes, one in the mouth and one in the hand. Do you feel my pain?


After all that excitement, we needed a little walk. A quick trip to the new Gehry-designed science library on the Princeton campus was in order. You really can't see it behind the Serra sculpture, there. This is a peaceful-looking photo, but that's because you can't hear the three kids hollering inside the walls of the sculpture to make echos.


I think everyone had fun. And everyone had sugar. Don't forget the sugar.

Brooke wrote about photo booths the other day, particularly the one at Bubby's in Brooklyn. How coincidental; we had plans to meet friends there this afternoon!

DUMBO, where Bubby's is located, stands for District Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass. To get to the restaurant, we walked walk under the bridge. Nice view of the Brooklyn Bridge, as well.





Before we could go to brunch, Tsia needed to throw some rocks into the water. New York kids don't get to do that very often.


A good time was had by all. Lots of food, too.


Then Tsia took charge of the camera. Those condiments are almost a cityscape when seen from her perspective.


And of course we had to try out the photo booth. So this is for Brooke:


Lesson learned: I should learn to be vain enough to check my hair before doing things like this. What is that strange curl in the middle of my forehead?

indulge me, will you?

This is purely a nostalgia post, I think. Well, maybe a little more than that. But still...


We've been reading this book almost every night before bed. I love it, and so does Tsia. I think the story itself is elegantly told, with just enough detail for a preschooler without overwhelming her. And is it just me or are the illustrations really beautiful? Do I just think that because I grew up with this book, or are they honestly great?

I don't know, but I can tell you that I found a reprint of the book on ebay, and when it arrived I discovered that the illustrations had been replaced with someone else's poor imitation, with some unfortunate results. We're sticking with this version. (Why do great books like these go out of print, anyway? Hello, Brambly Hedge?)


Our copy is well-loved, and the binding has broken so the pages are falling out. Does anyone know how to go about having it repaired? This isn't one of those projects I'm willing to experiment with by myself.


And this is what makes the book special, to me at least: my Dad must have purchased it for me on one of his early (and annual) trips to Antarctica via New Zealand, and he gave it to me when I was about Tsia's current age (yeah, yeah; don't do the math, ok?). So 35 years later I re-inscribed it to her.



I guess that's how traditions develop, right?

P.S. Dad is on his way back to Antarctica right now, and every time I read the story I think of him.

Christmas care packages

Speaking theoretically, of course.

Nothing freaks me out more than knowing that my own family and friends read my blog. It's one thing to know that thousands of total strangers are reading what I say; somehow it's completely different when your own sister mentions, while you're talking with her on the telephone, something you wrote on your blog the other day.

So of course I can't tell you what's in this years' holiday care package. Because my family reads my blog! The packages have't been received yet (or sent, for that matter). But I can tell you what I wish was in them.

First of all, there is no way I could do all handmade gifts this year. I would have loved to, but I'll save that for another year when life is less hectic. Instead, I did the next best thing: Etsy!

So here is what isn't in the packages going to my family members (for a variety of reasons):


These completely adorable miniature worlds. I can't believe I missed these. Amazing, amazing. Total Genius.


I would love to look up from my computer each day to see one of these gorgeous calendars. I think my Mom and sisters would love them, too.


A sweet letterpress holiday telegram postcard. Cute, yes? Really, I love just about anything letterpress. But this is such a great idea for a holiday card.

Wouldn't that be a wonderful package? That and a little drinking chocolate and I'd be happy.

Too bad they're not getting that.

girls' best book

A friend gave me this book the other day. I love it. If it weren't for the fact that I've already purchased something for my 10-year-old niece (here's a hint), she'd certainly be getting a copy of it for Christmas. (Never fear; her birthday is quickly approaching.)


The cover is printed on a very thick cardboard with a diecut doll that pops out. At first I wasn't sure what to make of this, since it seemed like removing the doll would destroy the cover. But as it turns out, the doll snugly returns to her little home for safekeeping. So it's a perfect solution for a book cover/toy.


And I love that the doll has a back side, too. Cute, yes?



The book gives great instructions, projects, and patterns for all manner of crafting, from embroidery to knitting to sewing. It's brilliant. It even has cardboard templates for making pompoms, which is something I did a lot of when I was ten.


Tsia is a little young for it, but that hasn't stopped us from enjoying it. She's been doing her own creative interpretation on the embroidery cards.

I suspect we'll be using this book for a long time. Tsia spent Sunday afternoon selecting fabric scraps from the bin at the studio so we can make clothing for the doll following the patterns in the back of the book. Tsia will be stitching these herself on the sewing machine, with a little assistance from me.

Advent calendar (free mitten pattern anew!)

I’ve been wanting to make this advent calendar since Hector was a pup Tsia was a babe and I first designed this little mitten ornament pattern. Somehow there just hasn't been time, but this year I was determined. She's at the age where she gets really excited about Christmas and the countdown.


However, all 25 mittens were not going to be finished by December 1. So I've been making one mitten a day and trying to work ahead by a day or two, just in case.

Tsia loves them. In fact, I think she's more excited about the mittens themselves than the contents therein. (I've been trying to vary the contents; sometimes it's a small candy treat and other days she gets a little note, a drawing, or a toy.) So in the end I guess it's fine that they weren't all ready beforehand; plenty of years to enjoy them once they're finished. She's enjoying the addition of each mitten to the strand, and she's also been helping to select the fabric, button, and embroidery floss colors for each mitten as we progress.


I was never entirely happy with the low-tech manner in which I first made the mitten pattern available, so now it's been re-worked and is available as a free pattern on the Oliver + S website. Enjoy!


By the way, Todd and I are having a disagreement with which I need your help: does an advent calendar have 24 or 25 days? Todd says 25. I say 24, because the 25th day is Christmas and no one is interested in an advent calendar once Christmas day arrives. So help us out with your opinion, ok? Should there be a mitten #25?



I think I may still re-do the mittens that have yellow embroidery floss; the color doesn't show up well against the ivory wool felt background. But I like the other colors, and I'm especially liking the addition of chocolate brown to the mix. As an advent calendar, the mittens would also be really pretty done in just shades of white. Or in red and white. Actually, I could think of a million ways to do these. Like I mentioned on the Oliver + S blog, they would be fantastic if the mitten part was done in reverse applique like Alabama Chanin. I may have to do one, just because I think it would be so pretty.

I'm making a few additional mitten ornaments as gift toppers and special little treats for friends, more in the style of the original mitten ornaments. But 25 of the advent calendar babies may just do me in, especially with all the other deadlines happening over here right now.

By the way, thank you so much for the book ideas; I will eagerly investigate, and Tsia and I will enjoy reading all of them. I have lots of other books and thoughts about books I want to talk about, so I think I'll declare this week Book Week again. Stay tuned!

Brambly what?

How did I not know about Brambly Hedge?

I love our co-op preschool. It's great how, after a year of working together, we parents know each other really well.



When one of the parents asked me, a month or two ago, whether I was familiar with the Brambly Hedge books I had no idea what she was talking about. But I knew that I'd better find out. She knows me well enough that I trust her opinions entirely, and she thought I would enjoy the author's attention to detail. (Oh, she knows me too well with my little obsessions...)

Our library doesn't have the books, which surprised me. Are they out of print? I had difficulty tracking them down and finally purchased two copies on Amazon (love the used book option--it makes purchasing out-of-print books so much easier than ebay).



The first book just arrived. It's amazing. The story is simultaneously sweet and exciting, and it will thoroughly capture Tsia's attention when we give it to her for Christmas.

But the illustrations! Very Beatrix Potter in feeling and presentation, and completely fantastic. Here are two of them, in case you aren't familiar with the books either. Beautiful, yes?

You can see more illustrations on the Brambly Hedge website as well. And look at this sewing pattern for the little mice! Very sweet.

So I guess I need to come out from under my rock here. I thought I knew children's books pretty well. What other books am I missing?