The Toy Society

We did our first Toy Society drop this morning. The Toy Society spreads joy and kindness one homemade toy at a time. You can check out the Toy Society and it's mission here. It was very exciting to take part! Nature Girl picked our drop location and the spot to leave the toys. We left the house early and went to the park before anyone else would be there. She asked me to tie the bag to a play structure. Then we played on the slides, swings and merry go round for a bit before heading home. It was a great outing!
We hope that whoever finds and rescues the turtle and his fishy friend will enjoy them. Nature Girl enjoyed this project. Now she wants me to make and hide toys in our backyard and in our neighbor's yard for their kids too.

Artful

From time to time I've posted Nature Girl's artwork. I LOVE her pictures! This time I wanted to share two pictures that she has recently drawn. Nature Girl really enjoys drawing and has gotten very good at drawing people. The first one is a picture of her friend Abby. The second one is a drawing of her Mimi. The photo isn't the greatest. That's my fault not hers. I like to scan in her artwork but the original of this one is on Mimi's refrigerator in VT. I think it's still somewhat visible though. I think her drawings turned out great!

Summer Safari Fun

We've been having fun so far this summer. We took a trip to see my mom and Gram in VT. My mom is home recovering from a double knee replacement so we went to visit and help out for a few days. After that we took a trip to the wilds of NY, as seen in the picture above.

Nature Girl went on an impromptu summer safari in the wild fern fields. The safari hat was the perfect touch. She found it in the garage at a relative's house and decided to lead me on a safari. We captured the pictures on my Droid. It's great being able to pull it out and capture great moments like these. She was too cute!

She gave me on a guided tour through the ferns down to a brook, where she climbed on the rocks, found a salamander and collected river stones for her rock collection. We had a great time!

Spring Fun 2010

Nature Girl was having some leafy fun in the yard this week. She's gotten really tall this winter but she still had to pull the branch down to cover her head with the leaves.
She picked some daisies while she was at daycare this week. She put them in this jar and set them on the table so we could enjoy them during dinner. Those of you who know Nature Girl know that she is a rock collector extraordinaire. She LOVES rocks and picks them up everywhere we go. Tonight she added some of the rocks that she has collected to her flowers. She told me that it would make the flowers look prettier. I think she's right.
These little matryoshkas headed out to the backyard for some spring fun and a photo opp too. Nature Girl has a few sets of wooden matryoshkas on her shelf. I've always liked matryoshkas but have never owned a set until now. My mother knew that I liked them so look what she bought for me. They're matryoshka measuring cups. They measure 1 , 3/4, 2/3, 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4 cup. Aren't they cute! You can find them on Perpetual Kid.com. Thanks Mom!

Swap Happy

I joined the Great Apron Swap 2010 and was partnered with the lovely Joanna in New Zealand. Joanna sent this sweet bunny for Nature Girl. Look at that swap happy little face!
Nature Girl named this sweetie, Lovey Dovey. Lovey Dovey now has a prominent place in Nature Girl's bed and even got to play in the back yard tonight. She's made with wool, corduroy, cotton and duck cloth. She's a one of a kind treasure. Thank you Joanna!
This is the beautiful apron and pencil case Joanna made for me. It's fresh out of the package after the long trip from New Zealand. Don't you love it?! It's beautiful but even more, I love that Joanna based it on an apron her daughter's kindy teacher wears. I'm a teacher so I just love that it's modeled after another teacher's apron. She also included a lovely matching pencil case for me because I'm a teacher and have tons of pencils. By the way, Joanna makes beautiful pencil cases, wallets and bags to sell. You can see them here and here. You can also check out her lovely blog here.
I tried to get Nature Girl to take my picture but I kept closing my eyes and laughing so this is one the pictures I took of me wearing my new apron. Thank you Joanna for such a lovely swap package. I have greatly enjoyed swapping with you!

The Fun of Swaps

I've been slightly obsessed with aprons lately so I joined the Great Apron Swap 2010. My partner lives in New Zealand. Joanna has a wonderful blog called Little Minx. It's been fun reading Joanna's blog and e-mailing back and forth. If you stop by her blog check out her shops, she makes beautiful bags and wallets.
This was Joanna's first swap so I wanted it to be a good one. We weren't supposed to send extras, just an apron. I couldn't help myself. It was her first swap, and she has two little ones who needed some goodies too. So we packed up a few extra goodies along with this apron I made after her after reading her posts on yellows and vintage fabrics. I took a picture but Joanna takes the loveliest pictures so you can see a much nicer picture here. Besides my picture doesn't really show the apron as it's not being worn but I can't model the aprons as I keep gaining and losing the same ten pounds this year - STRESS eating! Joanna and her daughter are pictured wearing them and look much nicer wearing them than I would.
Sorry I got on a tangent there, back to the main topic at hand, the fun of swaps. I participate in swaps for several reasons but one of the things I like best about swapping is the people you meet. I've met some amazing, kind and generous people through swaps and blogging. It's a great way to restore your faith in the goodness of humankind and you get a lovely package filled with goodies! We've also learned about different places across our country and around the world. Needless to say there are many benefits to participating in swaps. And high on the list is that swaps are just plain fun!

We're also working on items for the Fairytale Swap. Our partner Victoria has a lovely blog here. The theme for this swap is Snow White. We hit the Disney store but surprisingly there wasn't any Snow White merchandise so we came up with a different plan. I can't show our goodies yet but hopefully they'll be finished and mailed off by the end of the week.

Gift For Friend

I made this bag for a friend at school. She is always helping me out and she takes good care of the kids I work with(that's right Robyn I'm talking about you.) It's her birthday and I wanted to make something special that she could use. A bag that could be used for summer beach trips or carrying books for summer reading seemed like a good idea. Besides I've made too many aprons lately and had to change it up.

In the spirit of changing it up so as not to become too obsessive I made two pin cushions. I made the square pincushion first to give as a gift but didn't like it. So I made the round one instead. I was amazed at how easy and quick it was to make. Plus it looks so much better than a plain old square one.

Aprons have become an obsession for me lately but zentangling is an even bigger obsession! This is a wood clipboard that I painted white, then drew on.

Of course the front will be covered with paper as that is the major purpose of a clipboard. So I had to decorate the back too. I like the back better! I tried it on a transparent yellow clipboard and it looks pretty cool, though I think it will look even better on a clear clipboard. I wanted to make one for Nature Girl's teacher as an end of the year gift, so I think I'll try a clear one for that.
I have the kids at school doing it and Nature Girl has even joined into the fun. This is Nature Girl's first zentangle. It's the poison apple from Snow White. Her partner for the Fairytale swap likes Snow White. She worked hard and had a great time making it. See zentangles are fun for all ages and very addicting! So try one today.