Autumn Nature Table

I love fall. I love just about everything about it. I think I'm just so grateful for a break from the summer heat, but I also love all the other things that mean fall - the smells of cider, pumpkin, apples. The crisp air and the crinkly leaves under my feet are other favorites of course :)

We are in the process of welcoming fall into our house, bringing out the nutmeg smelling candles and the wool slippers that were in the back of the closet, layering up in fleece and wool and making soup and fresh bread for dinner. As a representation of the changing seasons we revamped our small nature table to reflect Autumn. Let me show you.

and here are a few of my favorite things on the table right now

A little picture to remind us of our apple picking. Card by Ruth Elsaesser.

I love having a few of our seasonal books up on the table too. Plus our fall tree that I watercolored.

and a nest to remind us of home and warmth. It also smells like sweet beeswax (the polish) and I just can't get enough of it.

How are you welcoming Autumn?

Butterflies

For Mother's Day I bought myself a subscription to Living Crafts magazine, if you don't know the magazine - it's awesome. Full of great patterns, tutorials, inspiring photos and great articles. I have been ear marking patterns I want to do for a while and this week I was thumbing through the summer issue and came across this quick easy butterfly decoration. I decided to make it one afternoon while Q was sleeping and hang it from a branch above our nature table.

I just took some random bits of colorful wool roving, in sections about 6 inches long and an inch or two wide


then I folded them end over end and with a 6 inch long piece of pipe cleaner I made the little rectangles into butterflies, twisting the pipe cleaners to close them up.


then I turned down the ends of the butterfly antenna by rolling them over a pen, then I put embroidery floss around the middle and hung them up on a branch.

I really like how they turned out, they really brighten up our house

Welcome Spring!

I cannot describe just how grateful I am to see the beginning of Spring. It has been a tumultuous winter - losing my Grandpa, moving, and lots of illness and travel in our family as well. Just typing that I want to take a sigh of relief.

There is just something about warm days, budding leaves and sweet daffodils poking through the ground that makes my heart so so happy. I don't remember much of this time last year. Well I do but my world was very very small and sacred and I don't remember doing anything besides looking into my newborns eyes and nursing and changing endless diapers. This year though, I am ready to celebrate spring!

I love all of the symbolism that spring has, new growth/fertility (inshallah!), rebirth and optimism. I'm trying to bring some of those symbols into my house along with the fresh air and sunshine so here's a peak at a few things around our house right now.

Flowers on the kitchen table

wet felted easter eggs (I'll show more of these later)

garden planning (more on this later as well)

and I gave our nature table a springtime makeover

Playsilks made by momma

sweet little bunnies by mamaroots

art by Ruth Elsasser

chick by zooloonaturals

momma and baby fairy by Rjabinnik

Another Rainbow

I'm falling in love with the Waldorf Pedagogy. Our upcoming new year changes will include a nature table in our home. In my daydreaming about our nature table I imagine all sorts of beautiful wooden creatures interspersed with candles and twigs and leaves from our garden. I have long admired Grimm's Spiel Und Holz products, so simple and beautiful. My nephew has their set of nesting elements and I love their ability to be a decoration and an open-ended toy, a fun toy at that! They are made of wood and have non-toxic coloring on them that is beautiful and bright. I want the whole set on my coffee table. I bought the rainbow set above as a Christmas present for Q, all the milestone books tell me my child should be nesting and stacking things, and really they were just so pretty I wanted them myself.

Inspired by Grimm's Spiel Und Holz stuff I set out to find some nesting toys for our house. Looking at gorgeous handmade sets in a number of shops on etsy I stumbled across the shop Clickity Clack. They have a variety of nesting toys that are unfinished and are at a really great price.

I got a few sets of the nesting items for our family and I also got some of their other beautiful unfinished wood items.


How cool is that castle? It could be painted in so many different ways. And it would be especially fun with some dragons


I love this stuff because it's a perfect combination of making your own toys and buying them. I plan on painting ours with some watercolors which are great for painting wood safely and beautifully.

I promise I'll come back and update with pictures once we sand and paint ours but I just had to share now because I just got them in the mail. I'm thinking warm weather would be a nice time to sit outside and sand these down to be nice and soft for a toddler.