My Leaf Bowls

I made these leaf bowls in a two part pottery class not to far from my home that is taught by a wonderfully quirky and earthy artist by the name of Suzanna Van Schoonhoven Hunter .

For the first class you had to gather leaves that you liked and bring them to class. Then you roll out clay on canvas with a rolling pin to about a quarter inch thick and press the leaf backside down into the clay. Next you cut away the excess clay around your leaf and smooth out the edges. Pulling the leaf away gently you lay each clay leaf pressed side down over a bowl until you have the shape or form that you desire. Now you make feet and it is later fired in a kiln.
The second class was my favorite part as you got to glaze the bowls. The glazes come in all sorts of colors and that you can mix and match just to see what will appear. When you apply it, it does not look anything like the final color so once it has been fired a second time the finished product is a complete surprise (It felt like Christmas when I went to pick them up).

I loved this class and as it turned out the date just happened to be on the eve of this years autumn equinox and I thought this was the perfect way to celebrate the season...

"A Real Leafman"

During our walk the other day we came across this pool that held a small grouping of leaves. Raine was looking at it when all of sudden her eyes lit and she said, "Look mom, A real leafman"! "You're right sweetpea, great eye"...

An Autumn Walk

It's Snowing 2!!!!!

It's Snowing!!!

It's 3:28 on October 28, 2008 and we are getting our first snow...The people you hear in the backround are people at my work that have never seen snow before. It is always so neat to watch how excited they get...

Thrifting, Traveling & Turnips

This weekend Laura and I took a day trip to Vermont to explore the countryside and see what we could run into. Here are a few of the things that we came across...This is an awesome thrift store right outside Wilmington Vermont that is owned by the community and run by volunteers so that all profits may go back in to the community to support the working poor...

We also came across the 6th annual Gilfeather Turnip Festival in a town called Wardsboro. It holds a contest for the biggest locally grown turnip of the season, a craft fair with lots of local wares, turnip tastings (cool and inventive recipes made by the town folk all using the star ingredient), turnip souvenirs (tee-shirts, cookbooks, DVD, and even a children's book) and lots of activities for the kids. All in all it was just the sort of small town charm that Laura and I had been in search of and by far the highlight of our day...

Below is the prize winner at a whopping 24 pounds and the runners up which were no small potatoes or in this case turnips themselves, I can't wait to try growing a turnip this big in my own garden next year...

Leafman

A few weeks ago I volunteered in Raine's classroom and offered to read a book and do an art project with the kids while I was there. I choose Leafman by Lois Ehlert and gathered up a huge basketful of different kinds of leaves for the kids to create their own rendition of a leafman. The project turned out great and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. It was so cute how very serious they took it and how completely different they all came out. I loved bringing a pieces of nature inti the classroom and teaching them to look at things in a slightly different way.

Go(urd)geous!!!!

Raine's teacher sent home a gourd with all the kids last week and told them to use their imaginations, really look at it and turn it into something creative. Raine cut off the goose neck part (I don't know why, she told me that she just didn't like it) looked through her children's dictionary and decided it looked like a turkey. The craft cabinet was opened and with a little help from mom this beautiful bird was born....

Autumn Apples

This Weekend was spent lost in the countryside on a mission to find Apples. We zig zagged back and forth in the hills between altamont and schoharie because I was sure that Indian Ladder Farms was in there somewhere...

Alas after a couple hours of singing silly songs, beautiful fall foliage, and several surprise garage sales (man I love it when I run into those) we finally pulled over to the side of the rode and asked a man working in his yard were we could find our destination. He told us that it was just on the other side of altamont (you should have heard the scoff that came out of the back seat). We thanked him and were on our merry way (we ran into two more garage sales before getting there, and she was about done with me at this point :). Indian Ladder Farms has been around since 1915 and is a family run business. It consists of various pick you own apples (many varieties), berries, and pumpkins and offers vegetables and other treats in their country store. They have an apple cider press on site and make there own cider donuts (mmm) as well as many animals and fun activities for the family (hay rides, horse-drawn carriage, pony rides).

One with the Tree

I told her to be one with the tree and this is what I got...The kid rocks!!!

Creative Gifting

Yesterday Raine found out that it was Nicole's (her babysitters) birthday and felt bad about not having made her a card. I suggested that after her homework maybe it would be a good idea to make her on e and something extra special to go with it. We decided together to make her a treasure box. Something that was hers and hers alone for keeping all the little meaningful things safe and at hand. We started with a simple heavy duty cardboard box with a scalloped lid that I usually pick up at the craft store for a little over a dollar and this is were the fun began. We broke out mommy's scrap booking supplies and the GLITTER. That's right she got to use my super fine Martha Stewart (faerie dust) glitter and was over the moon. Ten minutes later we had a personalized box and birthday card from the heart. She thought that a gift this grand surely deserved to be wrapped so a white paper lunch bag was lovingly colored and tied up with a bow. It doesn't get any better than that....

Well Wishes

A space in time to light the way,
Simple thoughts to guide your day,
After these moments may your soul receive,
The energy of well wishes that you did leave,
Shadow of doubts be cast aside,
And your very being be filled with pride,
Know your self and trust your sight,
As your inner most dreams be brought to light,
Choose thy path and walk it’s way,
Each step to strengthen thee and bring what may,
Accept each journey and hold nothing inside,
And as this is done the earth will provide,
For you are Air and it is He,
As you will it…so shall it be~

Blessed Be,
Melanie