Spring

Since the days leading up to Valentines Day are some of my busiest of the year, I tend to look for very simple, easy ways to add hearts to my decor!

Two sweet and easy tutorials were safely tucked away in my bookmark files and a third happened quite by accident!

Yarn wrapped wreaths have always appealed to my eyes! Danielle shares this great tutorial for making a yarn wrapped wreath on her blog Take Heart. And since I had just found a straw wreath at the thrift for $.50 and already had lots of red yarn in my stash, I spent some TV time wrapping!

  Danielle's tutorial includes the technique for making lovely little felt roses. Her roses are simple and quick but since I needed even more "simple and quick" - I cut lengths of red and cream yarn and added an easy peasy bow.

I am loving how this balsa wood heart turned out! A very, very simple to make heart - made from balsa wood which is available in almost any craft store - already cut to size!

Kate - the clever designer of this heart - shares her technique on Design Sponge.

I did modify the heart a bit by staining the inside surfaces with red acrylic paint (slightly diluted) and attaching a little heart shaped mordiford.

(Tutorial for making a mordiford or wheat weaving).

See Diane's beautiful heart shaped mordifords here!

You might remember that my friend Gill sent me a supply of Bastelspan (also known as Spön or hobby chip) from Norway last spring. Spön is very thin shavings from what I am pretty certain is Ash - a tree found all over northern Europe.

The idea came to me that I could duplicate Kate's balsa heart using some of my Spön. But it just didn't translate well in the smaller, thinner material.

It kills me to waste even one inch of my precious supply, so I carefully cut the failed heart apart to save all the portions that were not hot glued together.

Turning to inspiration found on the Magic Onion to make a simple heart from recycled paper, I decided to experiment! Will wet Spön and hot glue form a good and lasting bond?

Happily - they do! I was actually surprised. However, the join must be firmly held in place with a paper clip until the wood completely dries out - that would be overnight.

So really no faster than good old Elmers glue.

Thanks to Danielle, and Kate, and Donni, I am ready for Valentines! How about you?

We have made it! The darkest days of winter are behind us!

The mid-way point between the winter solstice and spring equinox will be celebrated by many in the northern hemisphere tomorrow - on February 2nd.

This truly special day, known as Ground Hog Day, Candlemas, Imbolc, Brigid's Day or mid-winter has been marked with special celebrations and traditions since ancient times. At the end of the post you can find links that will enlighten you further as to the history and customs.

I am indebted to blogger Denise - "mom in madison" - for first introducing me to the celebrations and mystery of February 2nd, which up until that time I had dismissed as Ground Hog Day - ho hum.

She set me on a path of discovery resulting in lovely traditions now firmly planted in my celebration calendar! I am sharing my celebrations here with the hope that many of you will be inspired to find your own ways to mark this very significant "quarter day" of the earth's yearly journey around the sun.

By planting a pot of Paperwhite bulbs sometime near the winter solstice, I begin my celebration in anticipation of the open blossoms in the top image. This picture was taken about mid-January to mark their progress. Right on cue - tiny white flower buds began opening yesterday!

First thing in the morning, coffee in hand, I search the garden looking for signs of spring. Look what I found hidden under the ferns! Helebore buds!

Image by the Pickled Herring

Then back inside to a warm kitchen to prepare pancakes - grain foods are traditionally eaten to mark this day. Since ancient times, farmers have considered this day as the proper time to begin preparing the fields for spring sowing.

This year - Swedish Pancakes with Lingonberries - the recipe here on the Pickled Herring.

I have been making a Brigid Cross every year, but now that I have three displayed all year long on my walls, I will simply take time to thank Brigid, the goddess of creative inspiration and fertility by placing a small sprig of lavender on her crosses. (Yes, the French Lavender in my garden is still green!)

My burlap table runner interwoven with wheat shafts is laid out on the dining table and white candles are placed in a wire wreath.

Then out to the garden to clip branches from plants that remain green all winter: rosemary, ivy, holly and grape ivy. These are added to the wreath as a reminder that in a few short weeks now, the first signs of spring will begin emerging from winter beds.

(Instructions for making the large candle here.)

Since they must be started very early, Iceland Poppies are planted in peat pots. And dreaming of the summer garden begins in earnest!

Fire and water are important elemental symbols to be included in celebrating "mid-winter".

Fire represents the sun already making it's way northward on it's return to the northern hemisphere, and water represents purification and renewal which originated with ancient holy wells named for Brigid.

My little garden pond is dedicated to Brigid and at dusk, candles are floated on the surface and lit in her honor.

And then at dark, all candles in the house are lit. This is the only day of the year I light the candle sconce I made from tin cans (and dedicated to Brigid).

Although for some this day traditionally marks the beginning of "spring house cleaning", at my house that "tradition" is delayed until early March.

February is my month to focus on thankfulness - baking over 100 dozen cookies to give to the amazing people and wedding sites who refer to us most of our wedding business - and - devoting the blog to thanking and featuring the many bloggers and online friends who have given me the gift of friendship and inspiration through the past year.

A couple short Valentine posts, and then beginning February 7th and through the rest of the month I hope you will join me to celebrate these very special people.

In the meantime here are some great links to how to find your own celebration!

My most favorite presentation of all traditions associated with Feb. 2nd.

Additional links can be found attached to these  previous posts:  Imbolc, Brigid's Day and Candlemas  and Candle Wreath for Imbolc

Cyn shares very detailed information on her post The Feast of St. Brigid on her blog My View of Reality.

And this lovely post by Georgene Lockwood - sharing how she celebrates and what she has learned about February 2nd on her blog Romancing the Everyday.

Georgene inspired me to add the Paperwhites to my celebration in this post last February!

Happy February 2nd, Imbolc, Candlemas, St. Brigid's Day, mid-winter - oh - and Ground Hog Day!

Gorgeous hand spun yarn rescued at a thrift.

Treasures left to be discovered on my path by crows, jays, sea gulls, robins and chickadees.

Inspiration from Susan, a reader who shared a picture of a gift she made a good friend.

The seeds of a new God's Eye (Ojos de Dios) to add to my collection.

I have never outgrown my absolute enjoyment of weaving a God's Eye. Perhaps it has to do with something Susan said about "the symmetry and intent of protection of the God's Eye".

I still remember learning to weave my first - at Girl Scout camp - sitting at a long table placed near a smoldering fire in the huge, old stone fireplace which also served in winter to keep skiers warm and toasty after a day on the slopes. (My summertime Girl Scout camp was a ski "resort" in winter!)

We were each given two pine twigs and allowed to select our favorite yarn from the supply at hand.

Sitting down at a spot bathed in New Mexico sunshine, I struggled to follow the instructors words - "bind the two twigs together with a half hitch" (or was it a clove hitch). They wobbled and twisted out of place at first, seeming quite unruly and impossible. But slowly, as winding began and continued, the twigs settled down into their proper place and the pattern emerged. And a young girl found herself completely enchanted.

Some of you who are new to Gingerbread Snowflakes may not know that I have made three tutorials to share the enchantment. Links are included at the end of the post!

Susan Burnett, a reader who lives in Houston, Texas (and fellow ex-pait of New Mexico - yay!), left me a comment last summer telling me she had just made her first four God's Eyes. She gave them as gifts and the happy result - one of the recipients immediately took her to a craft shop to get her more dowels and yarn!

A month or so later she sent this picture of a God's Eye made for a very dear friend. I responded first to the yarn - muted, natural colors with interesting texture - and then to the little gather of feathers.

Something deep within began stirring. Not to make a God's Eye exactly - I have tons of colorful yarns for that! But something was stirring.

What I did know for certain was that my treasured feather gifts, picked from many paths and gently carried home, would definitely be a part of it. A beautiful way to honor the gift givers.

During a quick trip to a thrift last month,  I happened upon this gorgeous stash of hand spun wool yarn - the natural, slightly silky/sticky feel of lanolin still clinging to the fibers.

$1.00 - including the plastic bin! How could this be? No way would I leave it there buried in piles of unwanted cast-offs. I brought it home where it would be appreciated! I know many of you reading understand.

And now that stirring again. And I knew!

I needed to create a God's Eye using this beautiful hand made yarn and my feather gifts.

Had it not been for Susan, I might have never have noticed.

Thank you Susan. Enchantment is back.

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For those of you wanting to seek your own enchantment making God's Eyes:

*Basic instructions for making a simple God's Eye

*Adding Beads to a God's Eye

*God's Eyes as a display frame for found treasures (perfect for children who find treasure while at the beach or in the forest)

You can find links to Susan Burnett here

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Added January 21, 2012:  I received a comment today (thank you Annette) linking me to Jay Mohler.  I do not publish link posts from people I do not know and usually not even when I do know them.

However, I was thrilled to have his name and so now I am adding the following links to Jay's site Ojo de Dios by Jay Mohler because I had intended to leave you with a link to his incredible Ojos yesterday but neither an internet search or my brain would give up the information!

Go visit Jay's site.  He is has devoted a good deal of his adult life to making Ojo de Dios and has become a master.

Ojos de Dios by Jay Mohler

Jay's Story

Free instructional PDF

Jay's Etsy shop

Image taken at the Museum of Contempory Craft  - a community weaving on a cardboard loom. The weaving shown - created by 7 different hands and minds.

Added after post date:  This subject is so close to my heart that I believe I might not have been as clear as I wished.  So I am adding a note!

The blogiscape has changed so much in the past few years and the result is that there seems to be little left to share that hasn't already been done and done to death in some cases.  This state of affairs has been discouraging to many and this post is my little attempt to address that issue and hopefully encourage bloggers that each of us has a unique voice and something to offer.

I am trying to make the point that original content does not have to be something that never before has been written about. Meeting that criteria is nearly impossible anymore. 

I don't want to see the same old thing over and over again any more than you do, BUT everyone of us has a unique perspective, unique talents, unique hands and hearts, unique muses and it is what we bring to something old that makes it new and interesting. I spent hours and hours building a new Pinterest board just specifically to illustrate this point!  

This is not a post about copyright and I am not using the term "original content" in that context.

So, now- on with the original post and I hope this little addendum clarifies things.

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A couple of my posts this spring motivated several readers to either leave a comment or write me a personal e-mail about "original content" and how difficult it is to find subjects that haven't already been written about - often.

To paraphrase their words: "When I think of an idea for a blog post or tutorial, I search the internet to see if anyone else has done it. If it has been done, I forget about it. It is so hard to think of something to share that is completely original. I am feeling so discouraged."

These words hurt my heart and I have been trying for some time to find a way to offer some encouragement.

For the purpose of this post, the term "original content" does not mean something that is completely new and original - never before done! It simply means content that is created by you using your own ideas, instructions and images for showing how something is made.

(Out right copying another post and presenting as your own, or recreating the very same steps that someone else has posted - these definitely are not examples of "original content" but that has been covered in a previous  post.)

Consider this: There are dozens of tutorials and videos out there teaching basic knitting stitches. Knitting stitches are not unique, original or new. But how they are presented can be.

Thank goodness there are so many versions available because I can tell you from experience, some bloggers are much better at sharing how to do something than others. I found greatly helpful, well done tutorial/videos and very poor, confusing ones.

Knit stitch, purle stitch, and casting on are sufficiently covered I believe.  But just try and find a good, clear, understandable tutorial for the grain stitch!

Consider this: Danish woven paper hearts have been around for centuries. Nothing new about them!

At the beginning of my adventure in blogging, I decided to finally indulge my long standing desire to learn to make them. This was nearly three years ago. And let me tell you, there were already "tutorials" on the internet but only a few and those that existed were, at least for me, very difficult to figure out beyond how to make the pattern.

So, once I finally figured out (with the help of Diane's analytical mind) how to do it, I decided to make a very thorough, complete easily understood tutorial documenting every single step from beginning to end.

Woven hearts - not original. But my tutorial is all my own work made with the intention to provide readers with the best possible tutorial for making them.

Now of course, three years later, there are tutorials for making paper woven hearts all over the place! I don't really think we need more but what we DO need are some new ideas for playing with this age old craft.

God's eyes aren't new either! But beading them is not so common. Using them as frames for children's summer collections - original idea.

My point is, with millions, and millions of bloggers in the crafty blogisphere alone, the chance that something you are considering for a post has not been done is pretty slim. BUT, you are unique! So, let us see how your own uniqueness shines through and makes your version special and beautiful.

You have seen this image a million times, haven't you - in one version or another - my mod podge and food coloring making music together! As Amy over at Mod Podge Rocks put it last June (2010), a couple months after my tutorial went live,  "coloring glass jars with mod podge tinted with food coloring suddenly developed a life of it's own"! Even more amazing - it is still living! And there has been another spate of posts again this year!

A year ago, it was a new idea! Now it has been recreated over and over. But that is not bad!

I realize that attribution has sometimes been sketchy or lost altogether along the way as it traveled from blog to blog, and that several people have chosen to recreate the steps rather than simply link back; but proper blog etiquette is not the point of this post.

The point of this post is that there are as many ways to make this simple idea new and interesting as there are creative people willing to try. I love all the imaginative and creative versions I have found using this simple technique.

Some bloggers have tried painting the inside of the jar. Some have tried marbling. Some have tried baking the jars. Some have colored a whole spice rack. Others, created jack-o-lantern lights. The wedding industry got wind of it and several sites featured the idea as a great way to provide soft, inexpensive evening lighting at outdoor weddings.

One of the most important reasons I invest the time and effort I do in writing Gingerbread Snowflakes is to inspire and get people to create. To make!

Rather than show off 20 different ways I can think of to make a project, I usually like to set up the idea and show how it is done and hopefully inspire others to make it to reflect their own creativity.

And that is exactly what happened with Mod Podge and food coloring! Let me tell you there are some really, really cool ideas people have come up with for this easy process! And I would consider most of them original.

Pop over to my Pinterest for the rest of the story about Mod Podge and food coloring and where it has been and how it has been re-created! I made a special board at Pinterest called - "Mod Podge and food coloring - a life of it's own" so I could give you a fabulous visual of just what I am trying to say here about "original content".

I would really, really, really like to hear from you. What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Original content or not original content. Most especially, please tell me how you would respond to someone who chose not to blog about a subject because there are already tutorials out there?

My first ever bit of spinning!

You might remember I purchased the spindle and yarn as part of a "Learn to Spin Kit" from The Bellwether in May. But even careful study of Amelia's well written book that came in the kit, and this excellent video by Megan LaCore that I found in an internet search still left me with more questions than answers - and more thumbs than I had before I began!

I made a couple attempts on my own and then sought out the help of a lovely woman I had briefly met a few weeks ago.

Meet Melissa. She owns a lovely little yarn and fiber shop in the Portland, Oregon area - downtown Milwaukie to be exact.

I love the shop's name - "Make One"! (Knitters will know that "make one" is the name given to a technique for adding a new stitch to a row of knitting.)

And I love the shop! I popped in to pick up a skein of yarn I needed to complete a knitting project a few weeks ago and made up my mind to return soon. Melissa has created a warm, welcoming, inviting space for fiber enthusiasts and fiber addicts.

Melissa is an accommodating and knowledgeable hostess and a willing and gifted teacher.

She had me confidently spinning in less than 10 minutes! And once she was satisfied that I was spinning solo, she brought out her own spinning wheel and joined me in spinning while answering my many questions about top and roving and how much do I need to make a skein, do I really need to spin clockwise or counter clockwise.....

I left with a copy of the brand new issue of Knit and Spin (which is full of answers to my questions and has at least three projects I am absolutely going to knit), and this delicious ounce of turquoise roving to be spun into yarn.

Locals! If you haven't discovered Make One - don't delay! Go visit. You are going to love the shop. Melissa always has coffee and tea waiting and provides brightly lit areas to sit and knit or crochet or spin! She even has a little cozy nook where visitors can curl up in a cozy, comfy chair with their current project and spend the afternoon!

Tuesday afternoons are "open Spinning" and anyone is welcome to come and spin. There is no fee, but there is Melissa's great company!

Wednesday nights are knit nights and Thursday evenings Melissa offers a "come get help with whatever you are working on - knit or crochet" class. Keep up with the new classes as they are offered right here.

Now just a little tour of the shop. I was really impressed with how beautifully it is laid out - in fact even my sweetie, who isn't much into yarn shops as a rule, commented on how great a space he thinks it is!

It was so hard not to give in to my desire to bring home even more knitting projects!

We have another trip planned in about a month. In fact, we have agreed to make a trip to Milwaukie once a month because in addition to "Make One", we have found a real honest to goodness 50"s style old fashioned soda fountain serving all our childhood favorites - and delicious soup and sandwiches! And my sweetie has found a collectables shop nearby to hang out in while I am doing my thing at "Make One"!

And look at what my sweetie bought for me in that collectable shop while I was learning to spin with Melissa! Do you believe it! Is he the best guy on the planet or what?

They have been around awhile and seen better days, but they are going to be well loved at my house and given center stage on St. Nicholas Eve!