Let's make Easter Candles.

With Easter just around the corner, we have been saving all of our egg shells. When we have an omelet, I crack the egg from the top by knocking on it with a spoon... then I carefully make a hole in the egg shell, a hole just big enough to allow the egg and yolk to escape for our breakfast. I rinse the egg shell thoroughly and let it dry and then store it in an old egg carton. Why? You may ask. For Easter candles, of course!


It's no secret that I adore working with beeswax... I love the golden color, the rich honey smell, the smooth, creamy texture. It's magical. For this years Easter candles, we are using beeswax.


I melted the beeswax using a baine-marie I made on the stove by boiling a pot of water and placing a recycled wide-mouthed-jar in the boiling water. The beeswax blocks went into the jar to melt. This method melts the beeswax slowly and safely.

When the wax is melted, I pour it into a warmed jug I use only for beeswax. The jug helps me pour the melted wax into the egg shells I've been collecting.


The egg carton holds the egg securely while I am filling the shells with wax.

Then, I cut a length of candlewick for each candle. I love to use the wick that has stabilizing wire in it as it's so easy to work with. When the wax in the shells has started to firm slightly (a minute or two after pouring), I insert the little wick into the hot wax. the slight firmness of the top layer of wax holds the wick in place.


I cut the wick to size and our sweet Easter candles are ready... aren't they just too delightful?


We make many Easter candles at a time and use them on our dinner table for the whole month leading up to Easter... the children get so excited to see that Easter is coming that eating their dinner is a breeze. They are such sweet Easter gifts to give too.

Beautiful organic beeswax is available in my shop, Fairyfolk.
And, I have also listed for sale some Easter candles there too.

Happy Easter crafting :-)
Blessings and magic,
Donni

Let's make an Easter Basket.

We are at the grocery store.
Kitty : Mom, we really have to get these Cadbury's Chocolate Eggs!
Me: I don't think so, Kitty, it's not Easter yet.
Kitty: But Mom! (I can see her little brain working furiously) Mom, I want make an Easter Basket and we can keep them in my basket until Easter.
Me: Oh, what kind of basket do you want to make?
Kitty: I want to, um, sew one.
Me: Great!
Kitty: I'll need your help.
Me: OK.
Kitty: So, can we get the Easter Eggs?
Me: OK... but only for your basket.

(I'm a pushover, I know, but the little girl said she wanted to SEW a BASKET!)

And, sew a basket we did!

When we got home, we collected an old felted sweater, a needle, some thread and some yarn.
Here is a tutorial on how to felt a sweater if you've never tried it before and here's a previous post with a super tip for making learning to sew VERY child friendly.


We began by cutting a circle from the felted sweater. This circle is going to be the base of the basket so it can be any size you want your basket to be.


Then, as we talked about the dimensions of a circle, we discovered that if we wanted to measure the circumference, we could use a piece of yarn! If we laid the piece of yarn all the way around the outside of the circle, the circumference, we could determine how long the material for the sides of our basket had to be.


Indeed, this was a very exciting discovery!


We cut the yarn the right length and then laid it on the felted sweater and cut a length of felted sweater exactly the same length as the piece of yarn... just long enough to fit all around the circumference of our circle.


Despite all the excitement in the working out of our formula, we were amazed that the length we had just cut did, indeed, fit all the way around our circle base! 'It worked!!' Kitty exploded.

She put the 'sides length' on a flat surface and the placed the circle on top of it...


And then she started to sew the two together.

With great concentration, she sewed the 'sides piece' all the way around the circle.


Until the two ends joined.


Then, she sewed the join together.


We turned the basket inside out (which is actually the right side up) and were again amazed at how sweet it looked, all of the stitches now hidden inside the basket... especially when we flipped over the top to make a pretty rim... Kitty is quite the designer!


We cut a length of felted sweater for the handle.

Sewed it on to our basket.



Voila!!! Kitty, can you believe it, actually DID sew an Easter basket! Of course, the chocolate Easter eggs went straight into the soft and fluffy basket.


I adore this photo as it shows just how incredulous she was at the fact that she really had sewn an Easter basket!


Of course an egg did get eaten... an then another. And then 'Little Brother' got into them and had a whole handful... which luckily entitled Kitty to have a whole handful too, and so on, until Mother tried them and then they were gone, leaving the sweet little basket empty. Not to worry, Kitty demised... we'll just get more the next time we are at the grocery store!


Happy sewing with your child,
Blessing and magic,
Donni

Handmade Christmas Gifts - Paper Mache Nest.

Our granny loves birds nests. She has a collection of discarded nests that she has picked up on her walks. They are so pretty to look at and a wonder to see how intricately the husband birds have woven them together.

Her love of nests in mind, the kids and I have made her this nest for Christmas.

We made the shell of the nest from paper mache. Teddy enjoyed ripping an old newspaper into long strips.

We use an all natural flour and water recipe to make our paper mache.

* 1 part flour to 5 parts water.
* Mix the flour with about 1 TBS of hot water until if forms a smooth paste. Add boiling water.
* Boil for a few minutes
* Allow to cool

We used balloons as our molds. We blew up the balloons (had a little play with them) and then covered them in strips of the newspaper dipped in the flour paste.

Add layer after layer until the newspaper is thickly packed.

I love this flour paste as I can let my kids get wonderfully messy without fearing that they are also getting covered in nasty chemicals.

Set paper mache balloons in the sun to dry. When dry, use a box cutter to cut an oval opening into them... and, yay, pop the balloons.

We decided to cover our nest in a fragrant mixture of dried chamomile and lavender.

Cover the 'nests' in glue and roll them in the dried herbs.

Leave in the sun to dry.

Line the inside with dried moss... we use two different kinds.

Add a few wooden speckled eggs.

We think Granny will LOVE her Christmas gift! (but I must admit that it's sooooo sweet we can hardly give it away)

Merry Blessings and magic,
Donni

Beeswax Easter Egg Candles.

Today we made another version of our Easter candles... sweet-smelling beeswax eggs!

We needed:

* playdough

* a boiled egg

* about an egg sized amount of beeswax (see melting tutorial here)

* candle wick (from a craft store)

* a toothpick

* a tiny drop of olive oil

* a recycled eggcup

* a stick
Roll the playdough into a ball.

Put a tiny drop of olive oil into the palm of your hand and smooth it over the egg. This will keep the egg from sticking to the playdough. You want the egg to have the smallest coating.
Push the egg into the playdough until it is about two thirds covered.
Gently wiggle the egg out, keeping intact the egg hollow in the playdough... this is your candle mould.
Use the tooth pick to make a hole in the base of the playdough mould.
Thread the candle wick through this hole and pinch the playdough around the wick so that the hole is sealed.Stand your playdough mould back on it's base, wind the top end of the wick around the stick to keep the wick in the centre of the mould. Pour the melted beeswax into the mould and allow to cool.
Once the wax is cool and solid, peel away the playdough and a lovely egg candle emerges.

It smells so deliciously of honey!!

Another lovely Easter candle to add to our collection for our Easter table.

Blessings and magic for a happy Easter!

Make Fun Easter Candles

Making sweet Easter candles has become an Easter tradition in our family. We make a few variations and save them all to put on our Easter table. It is a treat for the kids when they are, at last, allowed to light them... each child taking turns with the taper. The anticipation of having saved them through the Easter season shines from their excited eyes... it's too delightful.

Today, we made colorful Easter Egg candles.

We needed:

* empty egg shells (here is a tutorial on how to clean out eggs)

* beeswax

* colored crayons

* candle wick (found at craft stores)

* sticky tape

* an recycled egg cup

* scissors

Prepare the eggshells for the melted wax by sticking a little sticky tape over the small hole on the egg shell. Make sure the tape is stuck fast to seal the shell well.Turn the eggshell upside down and place it in the egg cup so that it is secured.
Cut a length of wick. Tie it around a stick and balance it in the middle of the egg shell. Your shell is now ready for the melted wax.
I use a recycled jar to make a bain-marie to melt the beeswax (here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to safely melt wax).

We adore the wonderful golden color of melted beeswax and breath deeply of the honey aroma. My house always smells so sweet on beeswax craft days.

When I am doing a craft using melted beeswax with the children, we are very careful. Melted wax is extremely hot and would cause a horrid burn. As a precaution, I always work with a bowl of iced water nearby and my children know to put their hand into the cold water if they do get burned.

To color the beeswax, add a little colored crayon to the melted wax and stir until the color blends evenly into the beeswax.

Then carefully pour the melted wax into the eggshell and allow it to cool.

Cut the wick to the desired length and... Voila! Beautifully colored Easter candles.
Blessings and magic for your Easter preparations!