paint cut paste

last year when i saw this post on one of my favorite blogs – 5 orange potatoes – i was smitten. isn’t lavender just the most heavenly scent ever? and these lavender wands are so easy, earthy, and elegant.

when i first saw the idea toward the end of last summer, all i had in my yard was very dry lavender, and i tried it out with that. it wasn’t all that attractive or easy then, so i vowed to wait until it bloomed again this spring.

let’s be real – this isn’t a young kid task. toddlers can help you pick the lavender, but it takes a kid of a few more years to do the weaving. (even momma thought it was a tricky small motor skills task!) as per the instructions, i gathered an odd number of stems of fresh lavender (anywhere between 9 and 15 – i did lucky #13 for mine!) that were at least 12″ long (or as long as you can get them.)

then i plucked off all of the leaves, rubber-banded the lavender just under its blooms.

next i followed 5 orange potatoes’ well-written/illustrated instructions and held the bundle upside down (blooms at the bottom.) i then folded each stem downward, one by one, to encase the lavender flowers. after i did that, my wand looked like this.

then i chose a 1/4″-1/2″ satin ribbon, and cut it to about 2 yards in length. i tucked the end of it in at the top of the wand (where the stems start to fold down) and began to weave it around and around through the stems – over and under. it makes a checker-boarded pattern as you go around because you have an odd number of stems.

don’t forget to pull it tight as you go. once the flowering part is covered and you feel like you’ve had enough weaving, wrap the ribbon tightly around the stems, then tie a knot at the bottom. i left a long tail of pretty ribbon dangling from it, too. then i trimmed the stems to an equal length.

these are the ones i made last year with the dried lavender stems, along with the new magenta one i just made. can’t wait to keep making more!

these make for a pretty and natural wand or sword for your little one to play with (and subsequently fall asleep due to the calming properties of the lavender,) or they make nice gifts for drawer sachets or pretty additions to a seasonal altar. i sent the fresh one to a friend for her birthday.

when out for a little walk around the ‘hood yesterday, N began to collect natural treasures, as these little people often do. since she’s pretty into sticks and wands and her seasonal altar, making a medicine wand from her gatherings seemed like a fun idea.

medicine wands are traditionally used by native american cultures in spiritual ceremonies. generally, they include a feather, as well as sticks, leaves, flowers, crystals, or any other natural object that holds energy or meaning for a person. kids might enjoy making and playing with these wands, or placing them on their altars and using them to create sacred space. during our walk, we gathered red leaves, a green magnolia leaf, some twigs, a tiny pinecone, clover, and flowers.

when we got back home, we grabbed some yarn (any string works,) scissors, and a feather from my craft stash, since we didn’t find a feather outside, and honestly i’m a bit weirded out by avian flu and whatnot on feathers, regardless. (should i be?) traditionally, i think the feather should be the largest object with all other things placed on top of it, but our feathers were small, and took the front spot in the “medicine bouquet” as N called it.

it was tricky to gather them all together and hold them while tying yarn on it, and since my little shaman was galloping through the yard, embodying a horse spirit by this point (see photo above,) i was left to my own devices to tie it up, so i relyed on a clothes pin to hold things in place while winding the yarn tightly around the base.

it should cover about two inches or so at the bottom of the “bouquet.” you can tie the string in the front or the back, depending on your preference. i stuck an extra feather on top as i tied the last knot, which is why you can’t see my two inches of yarn in the picture below.

after you’ve created it, just hang your medicine wand upside down to dry for a few days.

enjoy the healing properties of the earth! happy earth-day month!

N’s third birthday party was for pixies… that is, we did a fairy theme and all of her little friends wore their wings. we had amazing vegan fairy cake and cupcakes, made by the scrumptious bliss bakery. it was quite a shin-dig!

we had a lot of fun making the gift bags for the kids to take home.

our favorite thing in the gift bag were the fairy wands that we made for each party guest…

N’s dad went for a beautiful morning hike and collected some sticks that were about the size of pencils, from the tall, magical sequoia trees that are woven under and over us here in the bay area.

then he sawed the ends of each stick so that they were flat, and we sanded each stick just enough that it was smooth to the touch.

next, N selected special gemstones for each wand, taking care to decide which one was for which friend. we chose matching ribbons, and began our work by hot gluing the ribbons to the tips of each stick.

then i hotglued each stone to the end to insure that it stayed in place. not pretty, but it won’t show in the end. i found it to be easier to do the next step if the bead was secured.

then we wire wrapped the stones and sticks together with copper beading wire.

after that, we tied a feather to the end of one of the ribbons on each wand…

and abracadabra! our little fairies each had their own special scepter for making magic!