Tie-Dyeing

Tie-dyeing is one of our favorite crafts to do while at the Griffin Dyeworks Dye & Fiber Retreat each year.  This year, we dyed a shirt for each of us, socks for Joey and a silk scarf.

Ercil is the best teacher!  She taught us how to prepare and fold the fabric.  We soaked the shirts in water and soda ash. 

Then, we squirted dye colors on, bagged them up, and let them sit overnight.  We also dyed shirts for children who were flood victims.

The next day, we rinsed them, and then washed them when we got home.

Lunchability!

Our brilliant sister-in-law, Tiffany, has created a blog showcasing the lunches that she makes for her children each day.  Stop by her blog www.lunchability.blogspot.com to get some lunch ideas for your family!  Lunchability also has a page on Facebook.

An excerpt from the blog:

Confession #1: I love food. Food that is tasty and fresh, diverse and creative. Don't even ask me to pick my favorite foods. I simply can't decide.



After many years of homeschooling, my two daughters began attending a brick-and-mortar school this year. To my dismay, I was suddenly faced with the agony of PACKING LUNCHES on a daily basis. I had visions of soggy sandwiches and bruised banana halves -- eeeeew!


Confession #2: Boredom and I don't get along very well.


Oh, sure. I asked veteran school-mom friends for advice. I researched recipes on the internet. I just didn't find many ideas that were particularly inspiring. I like a classic PB&J or veggies with ranch dip as much as the next guy ... once in a while. NOT every week.


Confession #3: I can't resist a good challenge.


Now what? Succumb to bland brown-bagging, or reinvent the notion of the packable lunch? I think you can guess the answer. I found myself on a mission to banish lunchbox boredom!

Dye & Fiber Retreat

Our family attended the annual Griffin Dyeworks Dye & Fiber Retreat this year in the beautiful mountains above Castaic, California.  This was the 4th year for the whole family, and Mommy and Joey's 5th year attending.  Definitely one of the highlights of our year!

Camping on the Hillside

Punch Needle Rug Hooking

Spinning

Naalbinding

Natural Dyeing

Splash Dyeing

Whittling

Soldering a Pebble Dish

Making a Spindle

Embroidery

Tie-Dyeing

Card Weaving

Cross Stitch

Graduated Dyeing

Teaching Tunisian Crochet

Selling our Fiber Arts Tools, Books and Totes

Time out for fun -- basketball, star-gazing and musical improvisation

It was a jammed-pack weekend filled with sweet, wonderful, talented people -- and teaching, learning, sharing and creating.  Thank you to the amazing staff and supporters of Griffin Dyeworks for hosting this event!

Math Dice

We love our math dice!  Thank you very much to Jen DiMonte of the Ancient Hearth blog and Etsy shop.  She makes beautiful wood math dice, perfect for games, computations and more.

The kids enjoy using the all the dice together, including the one with Roman numerals!

One of their favorite things to do is to test Mommy or older brother and sister.

We keep our math dice in one of our naturally dyed silk velvet pouches so that they stay protected when we put them away or take them with us on trips.

Aromatherapy Tele-seminar

Jennifer will be presenting a tele-seminar on Aromatherapy Thursday night at 5pm PST/8pm EST!  It's free to listen. Sign up at http://themindfulconnection.com/dap/a/?a=17

Lots of wonderful tele-seminars coming up at The Mindful Connection:



*Life Organizing- How not to get lost in the cracks!


*Aromatherapy for Parent, Child, & Home


*Raising Eco-Friendly Children


*Children as Healers


*Finding Sacred Moments in your Everyday Life


*Beyond Natural Cures


*Nurturing Ourselves as Women & Mothers

May Crowns

1.  Twist strands of wild vetch.

2.  Coil floral wire around the vetch.

3.  Measure the child's head and twist the wire together where the ends meet.

4.  Trim off dry pieces or roots hanging down the back.

5.  Add sprigs of rosemary, lavender, oak leaves, dandelion flowers, roses and more by gently pushing the stems under bits of wire or twisted vetch.

6.  Mist with water and keep in a cool place to enjoy for days!  Take off wilting flowers and add new ones to refresh the crowns.

Voici le Mois de Mai

This is the Month of May (French Folk Song -- thank you to Kristie Burns from Earthschooling for this one!)

Voici le mois de Mai
Ou les fleurs volent au vent.

Voici le mois de Mai

Ou les fleurs volent au vent.

Ou les fleurs volent au vent

Si jolie mignonne.

Ou les fleurs volent au vent

Si mignonnement!

Here is the month of May

When the flowers sway in the breeze.

Here is the month of May

When the flowers sway in the breeze.

When the flowers sway in the breeze.

They are so pretty and cute.

When the flowers sway in the breeze. 

They are very precious.