Winter nature table/scene 2011

We used a lot of the same elements from last years Winter scene this year with the addition of a little skating rink and this adorable little skater.  We also added the wooden penguins that I received in my stocking.  I love this scene so much that I think we will make it a Christmas tradition that we bring out every year and just change it up a little like we did this year.

I love now that L is getting older she can really help out and give her input into what we should do with our nature table.

Autumn Nature Table

Although we had a summer nature table we were pretty lax on it and I forgot to take a picture.  We recently went to a local Waldorf school open house to see what is was all about and seeing their Autumn nature table really inspired L and I to make a special effort on ours.

Here is what we came up with together.

 Most of the things are treasures L has found on her nature walks with the addition of our ghosts and fairies from last year.  I love the little owl I received in the summer Waldorf swap I did!

I'm glad we're back on track with our nature table.  It just adds so much to our home and every time I look at it L has rearranged things or added something else!



Gnome Village and Giveaway

L and I were walking in the Fairy Woods the other day when we came upon this tiny gnome village!

These little gnome homes were actually what I made for the recent Waldorf Nature Table swap organised by One Hook Wonder.  I was inspired after seeing these guys at the Felted Fern

I love seeing them all together and imagining all of the little creatures who live in them.  They've now been sent off and will be soon arriving at their new homes.

Giveaway now closed.

I enjoyed making them so much that I decided to make a larger one for a giveaway! If you find these little gnome homes enchanting and would like to enter to win this larger one just leave a comment below.

You will get extra entries if you let me know you follow my blog or if you blog about this giveaway!

I will randomly pick the winner on Monday May 30th and will send the little home anywhere around the world.

Good Luck!

Early Spring Nature table with swap peg dolls

 Finally I have to time to spend writing the backlog of posts I've been wanting to do! I've been in Vancouver at a training course this past week.  Hopefully now things will settle down and I will get my work/life balance back!

So here is our early spring nature table.  We've had it for just over a month now and I've put all of the gorgeous little peg people I received from We Bloom Here's peg doll swap.

Many thanks to the ladies from Time to Craft, Ozarkmountain mama, Wonderfully Crazy Home, StichyCraftyMama and Kriebevel L and I love all of your wonderful creations.

My vision for this table was for all of the forest folk to gather round the little pot to witness the first signs of spring.  We planted some chia seeds in the blue pot in hopes they would grow quickly.  Well they are totally not cooperating.  So we have our poor wee folk still looking at a few little green things and mostly mud!

I'm still holding out hope!

 We've also added things that we've found on our outings and in our backyard.

We had to cut down a beautiful tree a few weeks ago because it was too close to the house so we saved a few pieces of it to put on our nature table.

Winter scene and Christmas Needle Felting

Unfortunately we had to do away with our nature table while our house is on the market : (

I did manage to make this magical little winter scene though.  I hoped to make so many more things for it but just haven't had the time yet.

I saw these awesome paper trees on a blog somewhere and can't for the life of me remember where.  The idea came from Martha Stewart though.  Here is the tutorial.  I used the skewer for the one in the middle and the rest I just glued the pieces together.

The snow is made from quilt batting.

A lot of my needle felting this Christmas has been inspired and some downright copied from the amazing fibre artist Daria Ivovsky.  She is truly amazing!
I originally made this mother and daughter as gifts but when I finished I just couldn't part with them.

This cute little bendy Christmas elf was made for my sister.  She's currently hanging on L's advent calendar.

When I saw the gorgeous ballerina on Daria's Flicker page I knew I wanted to attempt one for a little friend of ours who loves dancing!

You can bend her in all sorts of positions.

I've also been doing some teeny tiny needle felting which I will post about tomorrow : )

October Nature Table

Here is our October/Autumn nature table.

I used my mom's sparkly black and gold stole over top of some orange silk placemats.  I love the effect and it seems so Halloweeny.

I've also used lots of leaves preserved in beeswax and some tiny gourds.

 Here it is again without the flash.  (Dear Santa, I've been a really good girl this year could you please bring me a better camera : )

 We made the cute little ghosts by dipping some white felt in a glue and water mixture and molding them over some peg people.  I found the idea and tutorial over at WeeFolkArt.

This is one of my favorite nature tables so far.  Every time I look over at it I get excited for Halloween!

September nature table/playscape

It's almost October and I realised I haven't posted our September nature table.  For this month I decided to do something different and make a needle felted playscape for the nature table.

So here it is. 

 All of the woodland creatures who live in the tree stump can move in and out of holes and up the little staircase.

 When I finally finished it and put it on the table L looked at it in awe and asked "can I play with it?"

It was a nice feeling to be able to say yes!

I'm contemplating selling some of my needle felting but I'm not sure if there would be a market for it?

Oh also if you like this sort of thing then check out this link to see some amazing nature tables and playscapes!

Story stones and August nature table

After reading about these story stones on Counting Coconuts I thought it would be something both L and I would really enjoy.  L still brings out her Peter and the Wolf puppets and wants to put on the puppet show all  the time.

One of our favorite stories that I tell L when she's warming up from swimming in the ocean is The Enormous Turnip.  This was the first story I decided to do with our stones we collected from the beach.  I just used acrylic paint and then covered the stones with a layer of Modge Podge.

While I was painting those L was painting stones to represent the animals from Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  Once they were finished she matched them up to her book.

We then put them in order all around our nature table.  The little girl represents the children : )

We also made some colored sand the same way we made colored rice and added some glitter.  It looks much more spectacular in real life!

We Modge Podged some sea glass to make it sparkle!

Hope you are all enjoying summer's radiant, heart warming sunshine!  Happy story telling.

July Nature Table/Childhood Magic Inspiration

For those of you who haven't yet checked out Childhood Magic you are truly missing out on something magical. For those of you who are avid followers like me I'm sure you can relate to wanting to try out everything Ariella does with her children.
Our nature table this month is based on white things from the beach. Every time we go down we look for a new white shell, stone, beach glass or sand dollar.

This little clay sandcastle was the perfect addition. So easy and so much fun to do. L made little people with blankets and pillows which unfortunately were too fragile to keep but she had a great time making them.

When I saw Ariella's dodecahedron lantern I knew I wanted to try it out right away. After a bit of help from my husband this is our first attempt.

I'm going to make the next one smaller and use white watercolor paper which I may paint on at the end.   Find a wonderful tutorial for these lanterns here.

Nature Bugs on the Nature Table

We had a great time making nature bugs last year(check them out here) and have been waiting for it to get dry enough to try them out this year.

Finally we had a dry day and went out to collect our materials in the woods, watching out for bears the whole time.(we did see some bear poo!)

Once we got home we got out the glue and began sticking.  Here L is making a dragonfly.  She mostly enjoyed covering everything with glue but nothing much stuck.  You need to be really patient with these guys.

Once they were dry they all flew over to our nature table and made themselves at home along with the wonderful bear puzzle and little glass snail.

This is also great practice for L to look and not touch as they are very "delicate" aka they will totally disintegrate if she does!

Spring Nature Table

This months nature table has been a lot more of an organic process than some of our other ones. It kind of keeps evolving as we discover different treasures and new things start growing.

By far my favorite thing on it though are the beautiful star lanterns. I first saw these over at my favorite blog and she was kind enough to do her own tutorial on how to make them. I'm now addicted and can't stop making them : ) I'm looking forward to the summer when I can put them all around the garden and light them up at night.

These ones remind me of waterlilies in this photo. We put electric candles in them for safety sake and L is fascinated. What a wondrous glow they produce when we turn them on every night.

March nature table (kind of...)

This month our nature table is more of an indulgence for me than a specific nature table :p After seeing several needle felted toadstool houses on the Internet I was desperate to make one. I finally got the wool and did some research on Google Images using my favorite bits from a number of other people's creations. Some of my favorites were from Fairy Folk and there is a tutorial on how to make one here.

L and I collected all of the other bits for the toadstool family's home during our daily excursions.

February nature table

Our February nature table. My mom was desperate for us to do a spring one but it is only February so we compromised on this beach scene. I needle felted the seagulls and star fish and the other things were collected from our local beach.

L is obsessed with collecting rocks every time we leave the house so I'm sure it will be full by the end of the month!

Nature table and my new love(obsession!)

One of the things I was looking forward to when we moved to Canada was starting a nature table. I've seen so many beautiful ones on people's blogs and I was excited to make one of our own. This is the perfect place because we are surrounded by nature here.
These are all things we've collected on our walks in the woods and along the beach.

You may have noticed the little figures hanging out there as well. Thanks to Mari-Ann I have a new love, OK obsession! That's right it's needle felting. I'm in love!(swoon)
I took my inspiration for the mother from here and the little girl and baby in the cot from The Magic Onions Etsy shop.
I used pipe cleaners for their arms so they can hold the baby.

I made these ones for L and she loves them, although I have to admit that after I made them I didn't really want to give them to her! They've held up quite well though and it teaches her to be gentle.

I also couldn't resist making this little monkey who can now be found climbing all over the house!

Since I've fallen in love with everything I've made so far I'm afraid that my future creations will probably be showing up here on my blog from time to time. If you don't have any interest in needle felting please bear with me as I'm sure the obsession will subside eventually!