holistically inspired.

…thus far, anyway…



Not sure if this is record breaking temperatures, but this is about as hot as I have ever experienced it (in this country, anyway -particularly with the humidity!). Since moving here to Québec, the summers have been relatively lack lustre. I can hear all my neighbours with pools (which is everyone except us according to Google Earth – HA!) heave a huge collective sigh of relief that it was worth their while to pay for extra water fill their pools this year. ;)

My little friends care not about the heat. Life is still carefree, esp. in a nice airy sundress! :)





The cats however – our other little friends – may think otherwise. ;)

2 Comments | In: inspired childhood - at play | tags: heat wave, high humidex for quebec, hottest day montreal. | #

I am behind on updates. Earlier I posted about making felted shaker balls. We ended up wet felting 3 more balls in plain core wool. Once they were dry I spent the next few weeks working on needle felting them when I had a spare moment. The girls loved to watch the balls come alive slowly with color, with Sophie asking several times, “Is it done? I can have now?” before one ball was even finished. :)

Before…



….and after….





The gray and blue ball on the far left, got wet felted, then needle felted – then wet felted AGAIN – on account that it got caught out in the rain. I had loosely felted this one, so I decided to throw it into the dryer with our clothes to see just how the felt would contract. And the results were quite nice – a very durable felted ball.





All 4 finished balls, they get a lot of play in our home. In fact at the moment, I am not sure where they are! :)

2 Comments | In: inspired childhood - creative projects/objects | tags: needle felted balls, shaker ball project, wet felted shaker balls for children. | #

Each morning, we partake in a nature walk…with a one year old and a two year old, walking around our quaint little property does the trick! Mostly we gather flowers for our nature table, and any other gifts that may be given to us by nature (the other day we found a bird’s feather to add to our table).

We have been slow at planting crops in our two square foot gardens this year, ironically enough – considering we have had stellar weather this past spring. One crop that is doing nicely is the small patch of strawberries. Yesterday we gathered an extra special treat on our small trip of discovery: juicy red strawberries, that taste even sweeter than the organic ones up the road!





A small garden for your little ones is highly recommended.

No Comments | In: inspired childhood - at play | tags: finding items for nature table, nature walk for toddlers and babies, small gardens for children, square foot gardening. | #

I needed a quick project to do with my 2 year old as our morning was cut short due to chore load. It’s summer so I thought it would be nice to break out the felt (Tuesday is felting day – in our weekly rhythm) and make a butterfly for the play house.

This project could easily be adapted to wet felting as young children love – however due to our shortened morning I decided to needle felt it and have my daughter participate by adding friction or simply touching the piece when she desired.

I also wanted to add that you don’t hvae to be particularly artistic or crafty to do these kinds of projects. Believe me I churned this out fast this morning and the butterfly is lopsided – the children don’t care! They simply cherish what you make with them.

All you need is dyed wool, pipe cleaners and your needle and mat for felting.



I took one pipe cleaner and folded it in half and twisted it together.



Then twisted the endos of the other two together, forming a circle



Twist your circle into a figure 8, and shape the wings as you wish.




I covered the body part with wool and had Sophie roll it back & forth in her hands. The friction starts the felting process. Then I ran my felting needle over it a few times.



Sophie is too young to use the sharp needle, but that doesn’t mean she can’t mimic the movement. I catch her “needle felting” in the play house with her bubble wand. Here she gives it a go on the body of our butterfly.



The body is now done.



Then I attached the body to the wing armature I formed, criss-crossing the wool around the center of the wings and body. I lightly felted this into place with the needle. I wanted to be able to loop string through here later.



I started to lay the wool on the wings to felt – weaving over and under the pipe cleaner armature – then felted it into place.





So as you can see, our butterfly looks more like a dragonfly than a butterfly! This is great too – but I told Sophie we were making a butterfly. :) I could have made a second set of wings, but again due to our short morning I simply snipped the body with scissors and felted over the bottom. We will keep the other half of the body to make another later.



Sophie of course requested blue for the body, and then I jazzed it up a little bit…



…adding fuschia & purple felt to the body.



Just one last apple green element added to the top – and our butterfly is ready to take flight.







Our butterfly now lives at the front door of our play house. Where he will stay all summer long. :)

No Comments | In: inspired childhood - creative projects/objects | tags: felting a butterfly for a playhouse, felting projects to do with kids, making a felted butterfly, summertime crafts. | #

Today was officially the first day of summer and although the good weather has been upon us now for several weeks, you could definitely feel the festive energy emanating from the neighborhood.

Among many things, I have been working on our rhythm. Part of that is assigning certain days for certain creative projects. I haven’t actually had an official crayoning session with Sophie – so I decided to give it a try on Mondays. Bonus is, today we got to do it outside!



We bought this bench at the end of the season last year at Canadian Tire. It was marked down to a steal of a deal – we got it for approx. $20! Here is the best part about it…



It easily converts into a picnic table!



I brought out the block crayons and paper. I chose a cover stock paper since it is thicker – really durable, and removed the corners. If you have never used or heard of block crayons – I recommend you give them a try. They are made of beeswax which gives a wonderful sensory experience for your child as they warm up in their hands. Not only do they smell good, but the shape makes it easier for young children to hold onto. Which also means they last a long time, so don’t let the price scare you.



Since children learn from mimicry, I sat down beside Sophie to do my own picture. Remember she is only two and a half, so I wanted to keep my movements simple – just back and forth – no actual shapes. The goal was for her to get a feel for the crayons as well as experience colour. Children of this age do not have the brain development to make shapes.





Sophie’s first creation.



My first “picture”. I must admit I was really looking forward to crayoning as well. There is just something so freeing to allow the colour to develop on the page with no real direction – just as the heart desires. If you were ever firmly encouraged to only colour “in the lines” as a child, this process can be very freeing/healing. Looking at it, I like how the yellow stands out more than the rest of the colours. It’s like good energy shining through.





We filled three pages each this morning, and then it was time for snack followed by flower picking/swinging at the park time.

I plan to keep these drawings in a scrapbook – and I will hold onto my own as well. You never know what emotions may unfold as time goes on. A simple act can mean so much. I know for me – I found the crayoning very relaxing.

No Comments | In: inspired childhood - creative projects/objects | tags: artistic projects for small children, block crayons, introducing block crayons to small children, summer activities, summer solstice. | #