With the snow falling outside, I felt the need to surround myself with cheerful colours and busy hands.  Sunshine is my sidekick and has the same desire to create…I am a lucky mama to have a kindred spirit in my very own daughter!  She dug up the little loom and within an hour had finished her first ever weaving, on the right in the above photo.  She finished most of a second weaving in the car on the way to the pool yesterday…she is hooked!  Her plan is to make a patchwork dolly blanket and her newfound passion is rubbing off on me…I just may have to pick up my own loom and give it a go!

Together, Sunshine and I made moisturizing cream using some of the calendula oil we made last summer.  It was a small batch as we only had a scant amount of beeswax and cocoa butter on hand, but this will save our chapped hands for now.  After considerable debate, Sunshine added Ylang Ylang essential oil and it smells heavenly.  (This is a modified recipe I found on the internet and I apologize for not remembering where I got it…though I have altered it a bit to accommodate our own homemade oils).

*3/4 oz beeswax, 1 T cocoa butter, 1 cup aloe vera gel, 1 teaspoon vitamin E oil, 1/4 cup calendula oil, 1/4 cup almond oil, 12 drops essential oil

Melt the beeswax and cocoa butter.  Mix together everything else.  In a blender, pour slightly cooled, melted beeswax and oils and move quickly now by steadily pouring in the aloe vera mixture.  The cream ought to quickly transform into a lotion once you blend it together.

We also stirred together some flower petals with clay and a few other things to make some washing grains.  I have been using this recipe for at least fifteen years, although I entirely forget where I found it.  (ETA : I do believe it is  a modified recipe of Rosemary Gladstar’s Miracle Grains).

     *2 cups clay, 1/4 cup poppy seeds, 1/3 cup ground almonds, 1 cup ground oats, 1/4 cup ground lavender flowers, 1/8 cup ground rose petals

The last thing I made was this quilted pillow…I have been wanting to make these seasonal pillows for years and this past weekend was the perfect opportunity for an instant gratification kind of project.  When I brought it downstairs, the boys were all a little surprised at how girlish it turned out…I do believe Sunshine fell instantly in love.  However, it is spring-ish and pretty and has the promise that soon there will be crocuses and snowdrops.  I had really wanted to figure out zippers and this proved to be the right occasion…and it turns out that zippers aren’t at all difficult!  Phewf!

Our busy hands are creating as much as we can right now for the seasons will indeed turn and we will be drawn outdoors for most of our days, digging in the garden and holding baby lambs.  Spring surely will arrive…we are just helping it out a bit indoors!