my fellow art therapist friends and i love to create unique rituals for participants at blessing ceremonies we have thrown for one another and for other family members and friends. many of these art rituals have been featured on my blog already, such as the  woven watercolor blessing, the blessing nest, the blessing sunburst, and momma birthing necklaces or sibling blessing necklaces. this blessing garland fits right in, as it is a simple, collaborative project that can be easily done at a gathering (of any sort!) and it is not an intimidating art project in the slightest.

first, i combed fabric stores to find five colors (in this case, along the nursery color scheme) of lovely fabric. i scored with this silk and a pretty golden cord to tie them to.

once i got the supplies home, i began to tear the fabric into strips that were about a half inch wide.

i love the look of the torn edges

then i cut each one to about 8.5 inches long to make several strips of fabric in each of the colors.

i performed some experiments with markers and pens to discover which worked best on the silk. this is the way party-goers would be able to write their blessings onto the fabric. in the silk’s case, gelly roll pens worked best, as the sharpies and even the fabric markers ran and bleed on the fabric.

i tied blank silk tabs onto the golden cord in a random color order. this way the garland could serve as party decor before guests were able to add to it.

at the blessing, i placed many silk strips and glitter pens into a bowl near the garland with a note, asking guests to write blessings for the baby on the way on the silk, and tie it onto the cord wherever they would like.

after each guest added a blessing or two to the cord, the couple put the garland around a doorway in the baby’s room. they plan to hang it in the birthing center when they are ready to meet their daughter.

i love how such a simple, little touch added another artful element of love and support to this blessing ceremony and to this growing family!

first we gathered supplies: egg-shaped smooth stones (we have collected tons of beach rocks perfect for this,) colorful wool roving, a bowl of warm, soapy water, and a towel.

each of us selected a stone with which to work, and we each chose a first color of wool. i wasn’t able to take step-by-step photos of this because my hands were soon wet and soapy, but it’s pretty easily explained and if you want a photo tutorial, there’s a good one here on lil fish studios blog.

we spread out the wool and wrapped the first layer around the rock until it covers the stone entirely. you can use a felting needle to close the seam here, if you’d like, but it’s unnecessary. then we dipped the stone into the bowl of warm soapy water. once it was wet, we tossed the wet stone back and forth between our hands. it’s a gentle, repetetive motion of back and forth, which can be very soothing.

kid hands, husband hands

you can even squirt some liquid soap into your palms for this part, if you’d like. after the wool seems to adhere together a bit, wrap your second color around the stone in the same way and repeat. you might not want to cover the first color entirely – it’s fun to see it show through.

back and forth

we chose to wrap our rocks with three colors each. after they were wrapped, we put them on a plate to dry. N informed us it would take “a whole day plus a night” to dry.

she was right – in about 24 hours our egg/rocks were dry… and oh so cute!

since we made ours as egg shapes and in spring colors, they are so wonderful with our spring/easter decorations! i’d love to make some solid color ones (like she did on lil fish studios) as pretty stone gifts, too.

large one on left is N's egg, small ones in nest are my husband's and mine

the part that isn’t shown in the video is that you begin by tying a little loop at the end of your yarn, which becomes the first “pond.” N will soon learn more involved finger knitting at waldorf school, and i cannot wait to learn it from her when she does!

as you might imagine, we have a lot of homemade jump ropes circulating around the house right now.

i pinned this about 6 months ago, originally from ohcrafts.net. so i’ve been psyched to do it for a while, and tiz the season now. i grabbed my trusty heart hole punch and some paint chips from my stash (yes, all of us crafty mom bloggers have paint chip stashes. we’re a weird breed.)

i punched away until there were hearts of many rainbowy colors.

even just this heart confetti is splendid to look at and to play with!

the little one had fun using the punched out paint chips as stencils.

cute as they were on their own, i still took it to the sewing machine and fed each one through while keeping a fairly steady, slow pace with the needle. it was easier than i thought, and the machine was forgiving if i had a few stitches in between each heart. for me, that was an experiment, as i am still learning how to sew.

stitched together

i heart this!

then i got heart-happy and stitched a few more hearts to some colorful paper. i think i’ll add these to some valentine’s day cards soon!

this garland looks festive in our kitchen right now, but notice that hearts are top heavy… expect some twists and turns, or maybe opt for sewing them up double-sided.

this also might make a cute addition to our february mantel, which i’ll share when the time comes (after birthday season!)

strung along

this time last year, i wrote a post about how the face and pace of this blog would be changing shape in 2011 and majorly s-l-o-w-i-n-g down. in january, it really looked like it would. then february hit, and it. did. not. happen. i continued to blog my fingers off all year long. and here i am, january 2012, with a similar resolution as last january.

my intentions this year involve devoting much more psychic energy and mind space to building my art therapy practice (and chasing the ever-elusive california LPCC by jumping through multiple hoops called three insane standardized tests. shudder.) that means that i reeally reeeally do need to treat this blogging addiction hobby of mine like what it has always been — a fun outlet. not a career, not a source of income, nor a book i plan to write someday. no stress. no pressure. no deadline. just the rainbowy icing on top – it’s a super delicious treat! so i’m needing to breathe space into the new year, and just let this blog evolve and grow naturally into what my life is becoming.

new years day

don’t get me wrong. i will be CREATING, ALWAYS. i will be MAKING ART WITH MY DAUGHTER, CONSTANTLY. these are also priorities in 2012. i will also be blogging about these on occasion. though, in all honestly, more of my own creations will likely show up on this blog than hers. with the onset of 5 mornings per week of kindergarten this past fall, N’s artistic time at home has been more focused on her true love: drawing drawing drawing for a couple hours each afternoon. and while “look at what my kid drew today! and today! and today!” makes for a nice blog for the grandparents (which is how this whole blog thing started way back in tha day) but, admit it – it’d be sorta boring for all of you wonderfully creative readers. seeing as i’m way too pinspired not to make homemaking creative and meaningful, i’ll share an early january creation with you all…

i wrapped a straw wreath from michael’s (super cheap and on sale) with yarn i already had at home (on new years eve. yep, i’m wild and crazy! but in my defense, my house was plagued by a stomach bug over new years so i didn’t have much choice.) N even helped to spiral up these lovely felt flowers (much like the ones we made for our autumn wreath.)

my poor baby has some dry winter hands right now

we hung it on the window pane we scored at that salvage yard last fall.

yay for yarn-bombing! doesn’t that wreath look cozy and warm? (it should – it’s about 70 degrees *outside* over here!) we dolled up the mantel with a few other warmy wintery friends.

and miscellaneous sidewalk finds and random objects from the back corners of cabinets.

N calls it “the winter circus” and says it’s her favorite mantel yet… AND she wants to be “totally in charge of” our spring mantel… so stay tuned for that! in the meantime, i will see you back here every so often. let’s just see if i can hold to my resolution to reprioritize where and how i express myself and allocate my energy… and maybe there will be a new year’s miracle that gives me the strength to step away from this pretty, colorful, friendly, flickering, alluring screen on some evenings… just maybe.

happy winter! happy 2012!