Mother-Daughter Retreat: Year 3

We were getting our bags out of the car, walking up the wooded path to the hermitage to the soundtrack of happy 8 year old squeals: "I can't believe we are here! I am so happy we are here! What a wonderful place! EEEH!

That was the start of our third annual Mother-Daughter Retreat at Eco-Justice Center. This has become a 24 hour get away where we pay attention to each other, rest, create art, pray, and relish in God's glorious creation. This year more than other years I was particularly in tune with observing Gracie's awe and wonder at all that was around her.

My favorite quote from the weekend was, "Mom! The woods! They are just so amazing." Honestly there was nothing particularly spectacular about the woods we were tromping through - it could have been the woods in our backyard or the local forest preserve. What was different was us. We were poised to let the love of God be revealed to us through nature. And it did.

Our first project was making felt beads. 

Gracie works at completing her first scarf.

We spent much of our time with some of the happiest goats I have ever met. In every picture I have of them they are wearing big grins. They loved it when we picked grass and fed it to them.

One of the silliest chickens ever!

Back inside we went for more felting.

And the scarf is finished!

Zentangle art has become a tradition.

The template for our nature art project. Let the collecting begin!

Reunited! The tree house swing is pretty much the coolest thing EVER!

Dream: Some day Nativity House will have one of these!

More collecting and very calculated placement of highly sought after nature artifacts.

It is complete.

It was only 24 hours. It was full of giggles, silence, joy, creating, awe and wonder. 

Looking back

Retreat Year 1

Retreat Year 2

Homemade Valentines

When the 1st of February rolled around, I started perusing Pinterest for fun crafting ideas for Gracie's Valentines. I showed her all kinds of tidbits of inspiration. She would have none of it. Very decisively she stated, "I want to give out marbleized hearts for Valentines this year."

Ok!

This year she is much more independent than the last time we did marbleized paper. So I just set her up and she went to town. For the "how to" on marbleizes paper see this blog entry Advent Craft: Marbleized Paper.

Cabin Fever: Crocheted Rug

I don't know about any other Montessori families, but we have loads of finger-weaving ropes on hand. I have been trying to figure out something useful for them for a few years now. I recently discovered this on Pinterest.  I have always wanted to crochet a rug. Today being stuck in the house seemed like a great opportunity.

Gracie sat down with her yarn and got her fingers working. I took all of her old finger weavings and went to work. We were hard at work for a good 3-4 hours. When I put it down for a break, Gracie was begging me to keep it up.

Some of Gracie's treasured finger-weaving.

We are well on our way. Will post when it is completed!

Advent Craft: Marbleized Paper

One of the refrigerator magnets we made

I realize that this post is a bit late. But, one thing that I learned this week made me realize how much longer these seasons really are.

Did you know that a long long time ago the Christmas Season lasted allllllll the way to February 2? What is the significance of that date? Groundhog day? Nope!! The Presentation of our Lord. That day when Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple as an infant - Where Simeon and Anna were waiting for the Messiah - that's where we get the Canticle of Simeon.

And for that reason, I feel like the season that precludes Christmas can still be considered. It was the start of Advent, I went to talk to one of my good friends, who happens to be an art teacher. I asked her if she had ever made marbleized paper. The discussion turned and what came out of it was that we both have an affinity for crafting, creating art for our loved ones during Advent as a way of centering ourselves and praying for the ones that we love and care for most.

So Gracie and I set out this year to make marbleized paper magnets and other marbleized wonders...

We have everything we need - Shaving cream, swirling sticks (from Starbucks,) a scraper, paper, inks, a cookie sheet, and lots of newspaper to cover the surfaces

*Note: I used calligraphy inks because that was what I had around. All of the sites I read said that you could use acrylics or liquid water colors as well.

Gracie puts the shaving cream down

She adds inks - all of her favorite colors

Then Swirl

When you get the swirl effect you desire you lay your cardstock down on the shaving cream and press gently so that all of the paper is touching shaving cream. Then you pull it up and scrape off the shaving cream. What is left behind is the beautiful image of the swirls...

I made this for Gracie for Christmas. This was her favorite paper that we made. Her name in Latin.