Urban Organica

**tutorial galore**

 

More HUGE Thank You's to these two wonderlands of craft ideas for including Urban Organica in their tutorials last year. Everything Your Mama Made has mad lists of tutorial links, from nursing needs to boy's clothes - please do check it out!  Meet Me at a Mikes is a delicious Aussie site full of vintage & handmade deliciousness.  Oh, I just used "delicious" twice without even trying.  It must be that good...Again, I'll be sharing my favorite bits from their sites over the next couple of weeks.  

I'm floating around here in a mass of blankets, pillows & little people while D is in Buffalo, where it is blowing snow.  I have never in my life seen blowing snow, but it's now on my wishlist.  He was invited to grab his thickest sweats & spend a few evenings cuddling on the couch with his baby brother's family.  Their kids have the best names - Harrison Paul & Briar Elizabeth.  And they are even cuter than that!

Lola & Poppy come today to give a little support - I'm so very lucky to live (somewhat- 2 hours) near family.  But in the meantime we're in a bliss-full mess of oatmeal, forts, firewood, trains, bananagrams, workbooks, handmade willy wonka wrappers & reports.  Oh!! Just got handed the sweetest basket of scrabble letters.  Which means, although I am wanting to embroider a liner for a giant old picnic case found in my Auntie Mary's basement, I must go to the co-op now to get more diaper liners.  We use Gdiapers by the way.  Yes, we use cloth, but we also use G's, which act like disposables, but you flush them down the whirly-pool...Okay.  Gotta get this little basket & my three precious munchkins oompaloompas.

I have lots of things to share that have been made over the last few months, by us & others.  Soon!  

**It IS a Happy New Year, isn't it?**

Everything Your Mama Made :: 78+ Kid's Tutorials

 

Meet Me At Mike's! :: 25 Things to Sew for a Much Cuter Lunchtime

the fresh start list

i'm thinking of...

 rev. michael beckwith at agape last sunday, "it's alright to be alright." put your oxygen mask on first, you can't save anyone if you're drowning...yadayada.  i'm ready to take it seriously, to stop giving everyone else the good toast & giving myself the over-cooked slice, making everyone else's favorite dishes but never making the ones i love that no one else will eat, & other such nonsense.  it's time to admit that taking care of everyone else really is for me, so i might as well take the time to go to the beach alone, to take on things that are really just for my own delight again...it may have something to do with a certain littlest boy coming close to two years old - & ready for me to be off & about sometimes.  

i've been one of those who understands the importance of non-violent communication, but yells & threatens when i am tired & worn out.  who's isn't able to take responsibility when i'm overworked & seemingly (not really) unsupported.  i am one who's married to the dreamiest & most supportive of men, but isn't always willing to be contributed to.  i am one with tremendous friends & family but too much on her plate to look up sometimes.  so this is a year of being well enough to see my loved ones clearly.  to be grateful & delighted in the moments in-between.

 i'm thinking beeswax painting classes at castle in the air, cooking classes at the culinary institute of america, a date with d at sonoma mission inn, a trip to universal studios with my cinema-curious future auteur,  preserving classes at happygirlkitchen & the waldorf in the home conference on mothering & spirituality.  all starting with d's gift to me, the queen's course.  so i can remember (learn) how to take care of myself fully, so that i can give from the healthiest place possible.  hooray!

a year of fresh experiences, sans new information...

what are you doing for yourself this year?

** thank you, blogville **

It's such a wonderful thing when we can sit in our own living rooms with our loved ones, press a couple of buttons & come up with the perfect recipe or project for the afternoon, or instructions for doing that outrageous idea our kids just came up with.  I love my fellow craft-mama-lifelearning bloggers & I'm  so very grateful that you all choose to share some bits of what you all do.  Thank you.  And thank you to these sites I love, for showcasing Urban Organica, & sending me some of the sweetest emails with pictures of folks in places I've never been, doing what we've shared here.  It's always a surprise, & always a delight for us.  Thank you, thank you.  Over the next few weeks I'll share a few of my favorite things from each of your sites.  Happy New Year, Everybody!  xoxo Maya

The Handmade Experiment: Must Make Monday Toys!!

10marifet.org: Drum + Shakers

The Crafty Crow: Literature Projects

The Crafty Crow: Music

In the Fish Bowl: Life as an artist. Online

 

Onc Crafty Place: Music

One Crafty Place: Kid's Work

The Long Thread: 50 Summer Crafts for Kids

Marvelous Kiddo

Craft Gossip: Stretchy Spaghetti Straps

alooki love

Every Winter we curl up by the fire with one of our most beloved storybook friends - Alooki, a funny little sister that looks, quite remarkably, so very much like our boys.  They are pretty much sure she's a distant relation.  And she is, I suppose... 

(Do you know this book?  The Three Snow Bears...such a gorgeous book, with illustrations that haunt me a little.  As an illustrator, you have your own style, you know?  But the way she mimics fur, leather & knit makes me want to jump ship & start over.  Gorgeous.)

The boys are fascinated with global houses right now, & we've tried our hand lately with constructing Mongolian Yurts, Railroad Shantees, Brick & Mortar, Fairy Houses...all with a simplified, toddler-friendly style, that is.  True (8) usually takes off & makes his more detailed.  He's into the engineering of it all.  Recently I handed the boys a box of sugar cubes & laid out this image from the book...The little boys have never even seen sugarcubes, & True saw them once when he was performing with Dan Zanes.  Two of his 6 year-old female co-stars ate 12 of them & proceeded to wrestle on the floor for a half-an-hour, so he's aware of their *magic.*

After they were done sampling the goods, they got to work...This is a great science experiment, it turns out. 

  

 Liquids.  Dissolving.   Mushing.  Sharing.   Crystalization.  Drying.  Oxygenation.  "Wow! It's snow!!  It turns into snow!"  Art.  Beauty.   "Okay!!!  Bath time!  Don't touch anything!!"

 What I didn't know is that is turns rock-hard, making a lovely landscape for something new, & as the days go by it cracks into flake-like designs.  But I'd do it outside.  For sure. 

pilipino star lanterns

I so want to give you all a nice tutorial with easily-found materials, but time is quite full right now...but this is a "real-deal," as Free likes to say, "just how we do it at Lola's house" kinda tutorial.  We use bamboo kits, that I promise I'll make available, just not yet...You can make these with thin dowels from the hard ware store, or long strips of balsa if you keep the lanterns small.  Regular old branches make the sweetest ones of all.  Okee...  For each one you need 20 sticks, 5 short sticks of equal length, bitty rubberbands, a glue gun, twisty ties,white glue + something to cover it, like tissue, cellophane, plastic or fabric. 

Using the rubberbands, wrap the long sticks in pairs on one side, leaving 4 single.

 

Lay out 2 pairs like this.

Angle them to make a "v-heart," weaving the sticks like this.

 

Add a single stick across, also weaving it & secureends with rubberbands.  "See!"

Secure crossings ("railroad crossings, as Free says...notice his Raiders shirt.  I never thought I'd have a Raiders fan...but there he is, sweet as can be) with twisty ties.  We used silver, to reflect the light.

 

Put two stars together & adjust them so everything lines up.  Attach the points of both stars with rubberbands.

Use a glue gun to put in cross bars at the crossings.  Make sure to make a mess.

 

Look at that beautiful photo of my mom's hand.  Something for my wall, I think...

Now go elementary-school-style with the white glue & brushes.  We just let them do whatever they want here...

I put a little "bridge" of popsicle sticks in so I could lay an LED tea light, & left the back open. 

 

They cover long branches with wired garlands & hand them with monofilament.  In the Philippines, people use all manner of things to light these up, from string lights to projectors.  We tend to just make them really shimmery...  And finish it all up with a night parade in the city...

Here they are.  The boys love nothing more than to swing these things around to see if I can possibly - impossibly - catch a picture.  But here they are.  Love made visible.

advent making with toddlers

 

Aloha Crafty-Crows!  It's always nice to have you drop in. :)  My sweet D & our big guy took a wee business + football trip to Denver for a few days.  How nice to leave the internet off, the magazines closed & to get to know my little guys without their all-important role models around.  I realized I have no idea what they like - some of it was a huge revelation to me.  There was lots of direction-giving with ideas to fill the tree for Daddy.  Hot apple juice with cinnamon sticks.  Chocolate mate tea with candy cane stirs...      

 

Pimping out our sycamore pods & pine cones with glitter, mounting our sea-shell collection, adding a few ribbon-wreaths here & there...

Help with the fire..."sticks for the fire, sticks for the fire, we're gonna get some sticks for the fire..."

Putting up a few things we're too big for...(sniff**) 

Keeping the maple syrup, cinnamon & tea out all 100 hours & eating our meals on the kid's counter & kitchen floor with fancy napkins...
 
 

And who knew that these stuffies from the neighbor that I 'd wanted to recycle were actually Rudolph & Winter Pooh? 

And that my boyish-of-boys, who promptly removed all play-silks, waldorf dolls & kitchens from their playspace in favor of football game-passes & wristbands, are really all about dressing up their animals?(Thrifted red sweater + an old sock...)  They knew exactly what they needed & they care for them with the most tender little papa gestures.

 
 And eachother...so sweet to see my littlest with eachother.  Like this...

Monday morning in their jammies, they wandered into my closet.  Real (1 1/2), with a very concerned expression, "Let's go get Daddy NOW."  Free (4) "YOu miss Daddy & Brother? Yeah?  Let's hug about it!"  Real throws himself into his brother with the giantest of hugs.  Free goes, "Ahh...hahhh."  While patting his brother on the back.  

Making tiny clothes, eating sweets, covering my home in red glitter while watching spontaneous bursts of love & affection.   Bliss.

snow-ie-ohs cookies (gluten free)

 

 D likes to remind us that he's not a "chocolate person," that I am a chocolate person, & that I am, in fact, probably made of 50% chocolate, because that's what I'm eating nearly every time he looks at me.   That's what he tells the kids, & me, but it's not exactly true.  And I have very clear memories of all the boxes of chocolate-peppermint Newman-O's he'd eat in one sitting, & more recent ones of half-eaten packs of Kinnikkinnik's version of Oreos.  So even though he doesn't crave cocoa, per say, I happen to know that this here cookie is that of his dreams.  No question.

Cinnamony-bitter cocoa spiked with peppermint.  Straight-up white chocolate in thick peaks.  A "snap" when you bite into it.  Yes.   We call them Snow-ie-ohs.

Not to mention the non-stop, three-day-long bowl-banging glee session of three boys trying to clean the rock-hard white chocolate off the mixer.  (Apparently chopsticks work good for this.  They are too soft to screech the metal.  Not too pointed, but hard enough to break through.)

On the day we made these, my super-cool physician friend came over at 8pm.  She had just gotten home, threw on her jammies & asked where her 11 year-old girl was.  "Next door making Christmas cookies."  The kids had all just made pizzas on bread slices & were dipping these cookies as she walked in to fetch her daughter.  "It's a school night, crazy girl!"  She then had a cookie & started cleaning up the play area before plopping in front of the fire for about 20 seconds.  Then they left.  

The whole scene was a bit surreal for me.  Who knows how hard she's worked to get where she's at - where she saves lives on a daily basis.  Her kids are over here all the time & she thinks I take care of them, but they help take care of me.   I think it looked a bit magical, this moment with the fire, the music, the cookies & what-not.  The fact that we homeschool made it seem all the more footloose & fancy-free.  But it was just a moment, with real-life before & after.  There's so many ways to do life, to live our dreams.  I'm grateful for the moments our worlds come together.

snow-ie-ohs notes:

*I used this Martha recipe & replaced the flour with our GF Everyday Flour.  

*We omitted the peppermint candies, & used cinnamon to dust the board.  

*This made about 2 dozen little guys, even though it says 6 dozen bitties.

*I first formed the discs on silicone-lined parchment, then simply wrapped them in the sheets they were on to chill.  I opened each disc, lay a larger parchment over the top & rolled it out.  The kids cut the shapes on the same surface, then we transfered the parchment to baking sheets, so cleanup was a cinch.  (For that part, at least)

*My double-boiler was missing, so I lay 4 chopsticks on the bottom of a large saucepan filled halfway with water.  I placed a metal mixing bowl on the chopsticks to melt the white chocolate, & it worked just great.

kid-made advent calendar

 

The kids had been asking & asking when we'd get an Advent calendar for weeks, but that little flu from Thanksgiving really knocked me out.  Even this morning they had to force me out of bed at 11.  But it's been off-and-on, & yesterday we had a nice round of Christmas crafting. I love singing carols with the kids from The Christmas Star, a Waldorf song-book & cd by Mary Thienes-Schuneman.  Especially "It's Advent TIme," to gently remind them that we have a whole month to celebrate & prepare (it doesn't all get done at once!) & "Children Go Where I Send Thee," a traditional African-American song.  It requires thinking ahead to count backwards & remember each verse, so it's a rhythmical challenge we all enjoy & look forward to each year.  For the first time I read the introduction essays at the beginning of this book & was struck by a few things - this is the first time in history that we don't sing as we work.  And this is also the first time that so much work is out of hand, literally.  In my own home I'm present to how difficult it is to get things done without music, & the difference it makes to celebrate as we go along.  Holiday or not.

So it's good, I think, that they pushed this little project through.  It was time to begin counting down, to mark the moments, to call in all of our fairy-angels with the beginnings of a gratitude-festival they won't be able to resist.  

They picked the fabrics from my stash, 5 fat-quarters & a bit of green batting made from recycled soda bottles.  We pick it up in the summer from Keepsake.  I think it's very affordable for projects that don't require the pure stuff.  We laid out the background fabric & folded four lengths of the remaining fabric to see what size strips they'd like for the pockets.  Then we cut those strips + an inch all around.  My big guy then proceeded to use my favorite safety pins - masking tape - to fold down the upper edge of each strip.  Then he surprised me with running them all through the machine on his own.  I hadn't realized he was paying such attention - he even rewound the bobbin at one point!  Shame on me for assuming their interest was a boy + cause & effect love of the pedal.  The kids actually love to sew.

I just love that curved edge on the bottom.  Yes, that's floss.  Cute + fruit-flavoured, they love it.

I couldn't be more in love with this thing.

Just the kind of magic kids love - the back seams accidently matched up perfectly.

breakfast #28 - green tomatoes, anchovies + fried eggs

 

 My favorite breakfast right now- Pretty.  So very pretty.  Boy & D-picked green tomatoes browned over nutty anchovies & a bit of olive oil.  D suggests a bit of masa sprinkled over them to help crisp up a tad.  Good call on his part.  Then the heat gets turned up, just so, & fresh organic eggs sizzle over the lot of it.  I love how the heat mellows the tartness of the green & the brine of the anchovies so they season the eggs perfectly.  A bit of rice with a pat of butter & dill on the side...I'm sorry.  I just can't talk right now.

woodworking :: mt washington

A couple of weeks ago True & I were having a midnight mom-&-boy serious talk about our Christmas Village.  You know, how it was going to go, how the train was going to go around the entire yard & we'd cut holes in the walls & tracks up into the trees & all that.  How we'd have goats & chickens by then & how the railroad would go around the animals, upsetting them with all those good train noises.  And it would pass by our homeschooling & studio yurts on the way into the house, where it would eventually make it's way up onto our train table, because, that's where train tracks go.

Oh, it's sooo hard to hold back my instinct to shut down those ideas with a few "warnings" that we wouldn't be able to make it exactly like all that.  Or really, anything like that, actually.  I just don't want to disappoint him when he sees what we end up with.  But I did my best, & managed to throw in my own fantastical ideas - like the yurts, for example.  (We will have those. We will.)  I was feeling very proud of myself as his picture became clearer & clearer, & could actually feel his trust in me building, to hold his idea fully.  As a whole idea, not a chopped-up, mama-modified one.  Yes.  I was feeling quite proud of myself.

Then he sat bolt upright, looked at me & clapped his hands together.  "Okay, Mom, now we have to do it this time.  You always say we're going to do this kinda thing & we always don't get to it.  WE REALLY GOTTA GET OUR BUTTS IN GEAR!" 

Okay.  Gulp.  First he calls me on that thing.  That thing all moms hope their kids don't notice - all the things we say we're going to do, but "don't get to."  Then he cracks me up with that.  That declaration.  Inspiring.  Like a little army general or something.  Then I realize he means it. 

"Well okay-then.  Let's talk about it in the morning."  

 

The next day we drew it all out & it became clear Luckily his plan required some serious handy-business, so there was that very important cushion to help out.  We had ordered a bunch of real child-sized wood-working materials through his public homeschooling charter.  Other moms with toddlers are somehow able to do everything under the sun.  And there is just no possible way I could find time to show him how to use those things safely, let alone make the time to really build with him.  We called his GranPops, the firefighter & electrician to set up a woodworking date.  

So I sent him off to make the beginnings of his Christmas Village - maybe a little shed or something.  And what came home?  The Mount Washington.  In our family, happiness is the Mount Washington.  For the last 6 years, the island neighbors shared that top one up there.  Then 2 years ago the one above appeared two cabins down.  And now.  He has one to share, too.  

Pretty much a perfect Christmas, already.