felted soaps!

December 8, 2013 by mama lola

most people don’t use bars of soap anymore, because of the icky mess they leave behind. why most bath sets i’ve seen like this Gruffalo gift set use liquid soap nowadays. it certainly makes bath time with the kids less messy. though if you were looking for a way to make bath time more fun and creative then a bar of soap is definitely the way to go. and if you want to avoid the mess then a felted bar of soap is a wonderful way to do so. they are so fun for kids to make and they feel great using them at bath time! please note that you can do these with most soap types, so if you have a special soap product that you only ever use, be sure to repeat the instructions using the bar of soap of your choice.

MATERIALS:

roving wool
bars of soap
cheese grater
a bowl
old pantyhose
hot water source.

INSTRUCTIONS:

cover your soap in roving wool. you will need to be quite generous with how much wool you need. make sure the entire bar of soap is covered well.
place your woolied bar of soap into a cut piece of pantyhose. you want the soap to be snug in the hose, so firmly tie knots at each eand.
place your bundle in hot water and start rubbing. the friction with the warm water is what gets the felting process going. keep wetting your felt soap bundle in warm water and rubbing. depending on the size of your soap and how much wool you used this can take as little as 10 minutes or as much as 20 minutes.
once you are satisfied with your felting, removed the pantyhose and place your soap to dry on a plate.
if you want to make felt soap stones, take a regular bar of soap and grate down the corners, collecting the soap shreds into a bowl. once you are satisfied with the general shape of your soap stone, wet your hands and gently add the soap shavings to your soap bar. use warm water and gently rub the shavings into shape.
then, go to step 1, by adding the roving wool and follow the rest of the directions as suggested.

roving wool comes in a rainbow of colours; i am working with black and white today.

when researching how to make felted soaps, i found the rhythm of the home shared a wonderful tutorial written by ginny. she shares wonderful pictures of her children making their won felted soaps! check it out HERE!

martha stewart was the one who inspired me to make the stone soaps. her tutorial is HERE.

have fun with this clean project!

this moment.

December 6, 2013 by mama lola

as inspired by souleMama; one photo from our week, no words, only an image to sum up our time as a family. one that captures a moment in time and is a visual reminder of where we were at this time in our lives.

please leave a link to your moment in the comments!

it’s beginning to look a lot like christmas!

December 5, 2013 by mama lola

counting down to christmas.. three weeks to go! woohoo!!

we’ve already crossed several items off of our x-mas bucket list. see the list HERE.

last weekend, my lion and i were still sick, coughing and basically feeling sorry for ourselves. blargh. so, to change the vibe and energy at our house we decided to get our christmas tree. we went to a local tree farm, found the most delightful tree and chopped down our own piece of christmas heaven! although the weather was freezing, drizzly and raw, the kids had fun! at home, we turned on some festive tunes and started to unpack the decorations.

now that, i think, we have taken a turn with our health, i am hoping to get back to my holiday crafts and projects!

is your tree up?

are you ready for the holidays?

make your own pom poms!

December 3, 2013 by mama lola

look at these adorable pom poms i made. i will be using them as part of my gift wrapping this year, that’s why there are strings coming out of them. i bought cheap, acrylic yarn, deciding lovely wool wasn’t worth it in the long run.

then i picked through pinterest and discovered several different ways of making pom poms. i tried out three.

FIRST METHOD: this is by far the fastest and most efficient way, in my opinion.

it’s from DIY queens

SECOND METHOD: this one is best for tiny pom poms and is not my fave. but, it’s fun nonetheless.

get yer forks out! found this tutorial from small good things.

THIRD METHOD: this is the way my mum taught years and years ago. tried, tested and true, but more time consuming than the first method.

this tutorial comes from lark & linen.

i didn’t find that one method made better pom poms over another. the key to a pretty pom pom is using lotsa yarn and making sure you trim it evenly at the end.

do you have a favourite method of making pom poms?

december, the christmas month.

December 1, 2013 by mama lola

in finnish december is joulukuu, which when translated means christmas month.

and, at our house it sure is.

TERVETULOA JOULUKUU. WELCOME DECEMBER.

the advent calender has been hung up in our living room with great anticipation to see whether or not joulutonttu, the christmas elf, will leave any little surprises for the boys. joulutonttu is very discreet and the kids have never seen him. but, joulutonttu peeks in through the windows and from around corners to see how we’re all behaving, reporting back to his boss, joulupukki. speaking of him, the kids wrote letters to joulupukki with random wishes; bear asked for a hamster (as if) and 3 surprises (that’s easy). and, lion asked for a doll (again, easy).

dear hubby loves to bake during the holidays and after scouring pinterest he has bookmarked several yummy cookie recipes. this weekend he has been busy in the kitchen making lists, checking ingredients and just being darn cute.

we have been enjoying christmas music, as well. thanks to sirius radio, with it’s variety of different channels of holiday music.

and, then today joulu radio started in finland. i have been sitting, listening, feeling incredibly nostalgic for a finnish christmas.

it’ hard to sing along with this big ol’ lump in my throat.

christmas is a very special time in finland. it is not as commercial or based in consumerism, the way it is here in north america. there are traditions that are deep rooted in many families and i will write more about those later this month.

are you excited for december?

what are some of your holiday traditions this time of year?

DIY rubber stamps!

November 28, 2013 by mama lola

i purchased some erasers on sale and decided to make some simple, festive stamps out of them. i’m hoping to make gift tags with them eventually.

aren’t they cute?

this is what i did…

with a pen i drew my design on the eraser. once i was satisfied, i used a small knife to cut out the design. *remember that whatever you cut away is permanently removed, and whatever is raised will show up in the print. in step 4 i kept testing the stamp to make sure i had cut away everything i wanted.

for the red prints in the above pics, is just used paint that i lightly brushed on. i didn’t want to buy a stamp pad! haha!

my kids want to try and make their own stamps as well, so i told them we’d make potato stamps!

did you see my inspirational post about making your own stamps… check it out HERE.

sickness.

November 25, 2013 by mama lola

sickness has entered our home. it is stubborn, unrelenting and refusing to leave.

last monday night bear developed a fever. it kept creeping upwards, it hit +39.4c and plateaued. my 5yo was lethargic and listless, without any other typical sick symptoms’ no runny nose, no belly ache, no cough, no nothing. just a fever. then finally the fever started to creep back down, and bear began eating more and playing again. he missed so much school last week. luckily he is only in SK so it’s not as though he will fall behind.

today to my dismay, a cough and drippy nose has bravely presented itself in bear’s head. he is coughing chronically, consistently and it is driving us all bit mad. his eyes look red from the tired that sickness brings. his behaviour is just plain obnoxious, as he is trying to keep up with the day playing and interacting with his family. all his body wants to do is rest.

a morning bath, while his little brother was at preschool.

as his mama, it’s hard to find that balance with rest and play, especially because so much of last week was spent vegging, watching tv and sleeping. we had a busy weekend planned, but had to pull back and stay closer to home. i wanted bear as recharged for school, as possible. i did send him to school today, because he and i need space. plus, i think he was healthy enough.

(knock on wood!)

my lion has been stuck at home, by default. luckily, he has been happy to play and lounge in his pj’s!

the rest of us see fine and not showing any signs of illness, but i’m not holding my breath. i am sure with time, we too will get knocked down. sickness will kick our butts sooner rather than later.

such is life.

this moment.

November 22, 2013 by mama lola

(i’m cheating a little and adding two pictures!)

please leave link to your this moment from this week.

paper bag puppets!

November 21, 2013 by mama lola

this was a HIT as an after-school craft last week. i was watching a friends lovely ladies, so i had to come up with a craft that would interest kids from 3yrs to 7yrs. this was it!

before i picked up the big kids from school, lion and i got all the supplies ready.

* brown paper bags

* glue

* feathers

* markers, pens, pencils

* pipe cleaners

* pom-poms

* googly eyes

* construction paper

* cotton balls

each kid chose something different to make; we had an alien, a kitty, a frog, a bird. it was so much fun. the older kids made more detailed puppets, and my three year old made a pretty simple frog, but it was still fun!

look at these wonderful paper bag puppets! we used cotton balls and small pom poms for eye balls, which i think were quit effective! pipe cleaners make wonderful antennas, or whatever!

lion gifted his frog to his mummo for her birthday, so i didn’t get a picture of it.

below is a silly, green alien!

this is bear’s cat. it has a red collar and a curly tail! fancy!

what kind of puppet will you make?

this is my bird. it’s eating a fish!

fancy festive bow ties!

November 19, 2013 by mama lola

my boys have their own sense of style and love to look fancy.

they love to look handsome for birthday parties, weddings and christmas festivities are no different. so, this season i am again sewing new bow ties for my wee trend setters, which they will discover one december morning in their advent calender! see previous tutorial HERE.

this is such a quick n’ easy sewing project.

SUPPLIES:

* festive fabric of your choice

* scissors

* thread, needle

* iron

* elastic

INSTRUCTIONS:

* cut two rectangles, one bigger than the other.

* fold fabric in half with the patterns sides facing each other, sew around the edges, leaving an unstiched opening at the end.

* sew all the way around your rectangle, except for a small opening at the end. you need this opening to get your fabric right side out.

* cut the corners and then turn the rectangles right side out. mine look wrinkly, because it’s a tight squeeze through the small opening! a quick iron will that!

* sew up the openings by hand.

* this time i used a small scrap piece to cinch up the two rectangles to create the bow tie shape. before, i’ve sewn specific pieces for the centre for cinching. you can find those instructions HERE.

* cut and measure elastic band. loop through the back of the bow tie and then sew the wends together.

here are some examples of other bow ties i have sewn for the boys. the top one is from bear’s 4th birthday. instead of making loot bags all the guests received a bow tie! the one on the middles is another x-mas bow tie and the purple one at the bottom is from a wedding the kids were in. now, my kids wear bow ties all the time; school pictures, just because or for looking fancy!