A Creative Post

All the girls love to find "treasures" in my button box. It is amazing what silence will befall a house due to a simple reel a cotton thread and a basketful of buttons :)



I told Boo that I would try to get hold of some clasps and leather twine so she could make a real button necklace sometime.



 Matilda loves to sew.
Even sewing right through her finger at three hasn't put her off at all.
She found herself a little piece of stockinette, some roving and a scrap of fabric and set to work making a dolly this past weekend.
I try not to become too involved even when my fingers are itching to put something "right" etc... It is actually very liberating to just "let go" though and only be of "help" when asked to be :)



The girls seem to learn from simply watching and absorbing how Emmy and I work and then, often through trial, error and the occasional tear making their own way.



But there is balance and sometimes creativity involves following step by step instructions, sticking to a plan and that little more involvement from an adult.
I've found that both ways are necessary to each other. The free flowing making, creating, building, forming, re-forming, is a wonderful way for a child to practise independently, what they have been absorbing from, more structured, activities.

 

This paper mobile is something we have been working on over the past couple of weeks.
The younger girls helped to cut out some of the simpler patterns and the older two worked on the more complicated ones.
Every so often the basket of paper and scissors would come out during a quiet spell and bit by bit we made three mobiles. They are so pretty in the sunlight!



The girls have been really enjoying their needle felting over the last couple month or so too.
I keep a basket of roving and felt squares on the table and it's very "colourful", soft and tactile presence has  drawn little fingers to work fibres into art.



If you have never tried needle felting before it is the most wonderfully soothing thing to do.
 I do keep my eye on my under eights though because the needles are sharp and barbed.  I've found that working with real working tools, nurtures a child's respect for such things and will make them more cautious and dexterous in their handling of them.



Here is my own small effort...
I admit I haven't needle felted before and this piece is a long way from completion but there is no rush and I am enjoying the process of working with fibre and learning so much from it's natural, organic, feel and flow.



I love discovering the possibilities and limitation of the materials I work with by handling them and working with them freely at first before being bound to a pattern.
When learning a new craft I have always made my own patterns first before resigning myself to following the "real" rules :)
 I have made lots of mistakes along the way, through this trial and error approach, but the initial learning of a new skill for me is always ultimately about process not product. I just have to "get stuck in" and work on through till I can get to a point where I can learn a little more structurally, by rote :)
For good or ill, I think my girls have followed in my footsteps.



As a side note to this post... Boo wants to have a cafe when she is grown up. Her cafe will be called the "Cherry Cafe" where she will serve smoothies, juices and other marvellous own recipe beverages
Her most recent concoction, I mean creation :) is "a comforting, comfy, lovely, warm - on -cold - days, hot milk"...
Boo made it up in our big stainless steel saucepan and you know it really was so nice.
She has even given me permission to post the recipe :) Feel privileged, she will usually never divulge her most secret of recipes :)



Pour 5 good sized cups of milk into the saucepan heat it to simmering point, then add 2 teaspoons of manuka honey, the seeds of one vanilla pod and some grated nutmeg to serve.

It is our new favourite tea break beverage :)