Suede Fairy Shoes Part 2

The second step, after you cut out the pattern is to make the markings on the fabric and then remove the pattern. Sunii and I cut out the suede and then we cut out a lining in a nice 100% cotton flannel. we marked the fabric. Then we decided to use the sewing machine for this job. Sunii has already made a number of items by hand sewing and is ready to advance to the machine. He is almost 13-years-old. Additionally, since these shoes will get a lot of heavy use we want to make sure the stiches are extra strong. The machine has a number of automatic stitches that will easily help this happen. Sunii, of course loved being able to use the machine. He loves anything that involves electricity (my theory is that this must be in the DNA because he was raised a "nature/Waldorf child"). He spent two hours trying out every stitch on the machine and has begged me every day since to do more "sewing". The next step will be doing some of the initial sewing on the shoes...he should be very happy when I share that with him!

Making Suede Fairy Shoes

Sunii, Sofi and I are making shoes for Sofi's Renaissance Faire costume. It should be an adventure. We will tell you how it goes! First we chose a beatiful pattern. It is from Butterick and includes other patterns on how to make boots and other cute shoes. We chose the simple fairy shoes made of suede. We purchased some beautiful suede that was on sale and that was usually used for interior decorating. We folded it as it showed on the pattern instructions, laid out out the patterns and Sunii cut them out. Now we need to make the markings on the fabric before we take the patterns off. Once we take the patterns off we need to cut the same pattern onto some cotton fabric for the lining. We also need to purchase a leather punch and some leather cord. These are going to be such cute fairy shoes!

Tips on Printing E-books

Thank you Earthschooling member Jen for these tips and for sharing your pictures. Jen writes:

Hi Kristie - I took some photos of your ebooks I had spiral bound at Staples. I didn't cross check prices with other places (like kinkos, etc) as we only have one car currently and I can walk to the Staples from my house ;)

Anyway, I think she told me that if we bring them in printed, it is between $1 and $3 for the binding, depending on how many pages to be bound (it goes by how many pages per document you have). Seems like they can do up to around 200 pages, but don't have bigger set ups than that (Kinko's should) and the protective cover is an additional dollar for a see through front and nice thick backing. It's worth it, though...The spine is also available in blue. I thought black would be nice and basic.

If they print them out at Staples, it is about 10 cents per sheet printed in b/w and $1 per sheet in color. Not sure if this is across the board at all Staples and it was just a general quote from a young girl behind the counter. Also, I wonder if it's per page of color - meaning that if there are 5 colored pages in a 50 page document, do they just charge an additional $5 versus charging even for the b/w pages. Hmmmm...didn't think to ask that question...

I am very happy with them and guess I did several. With the spiral option, I can have the book all the way open, which is nice.

I also bought for 49 cents each, these plastic 3 punch folders and I definitely don't like them nearly as much as the spiral bound. They don't stay open easily and flop shut.

I am one of those people who has to have things printed out since I type fast and well, but I can't stand reading books on computer screen - makes my eyes go batty - LOL! SO I'm attaching some shots so you can see just how nice they turned out. You should be SO proud of yourself, especially when you see what you created :) I love that I can turn to these documents again and again through the years and they will be protected by these nice covers...

Important Note About New Earthschooling Website and Price Changes

Our new website can now be found at: www.Earthschooling.com

Earthschooling Postcard Exchange Fun

We had a lot of fun participating in the postcard exchange at:
http://earthschooling.ning.com/forum/topics/earthschooling-postcard

We wrote to five families last week. We purchased postcards while we were enjoying summer activities around town so choosing the postcards was part of the fun. When we went to the zoo we chose postcards of our favorite animals. There was even one postcard of a lion sleeping on a rock that looked exactly like a picture we took! When we went to Living History Farms, The Botanical Center and the airport we also found postcards we liked.

At the end of two weeks of postcard collecting I put addresses on all the cards and put the age of the child in the upper left hand corner. We then sat around the table together and the kids chose who they wanted to write to. Sofi wanted to write to everyone from the UK because she "likes English accents" LOL! Mosi (age 14) wanted to write to some of the little kids (2 and 3 year olds) as well as some of the kids her age. Sunii wanted to write to some of the boys.

It was a great learning experience for the kids. Writing letters is such a lost art and writing postcards is difficult because you can only say a few things. Without being prompted the kids got the globe and the US atlas out and started to find places on the map. They wanted to know where the postcards were going! Then they all started talking about places they had been together. It was a great time of sharing, learning and writing practice.

It looks like some new people signed up since we sent out our postcards so we are going to do this again in another week or two. It would be fun to make this a bi-weekly event. We used to sit down once or twice a month and write letters to friends and relatives - this might just be what we needed to get us inspired to start doing that again! I love that this is an ongoing postcard exchange! You never know when someone will send you something or when someone new will sign up :)

The Benefits of Herbal Wildcrafting for Kids

We made the most delicious garlic bread from garlic that we wild-crafted last week! Yum! I always look forward to summer and early autumn when we do hour herbal identification walks (instructions at: http://waldorftv.weebly.com/e-books.html)

We learn so much, but my children also eat healthier food than they eat all year! It is amazing what children will eat when they get to pick it off the ground in the "wild woods"! Both my children balk when I put salad on the table (although Sofi likes tomatoes, carrots and fruits and berries and Sunii likes other veggies and orange juice) - they complain that salad is GREEN and leafy and yuck!

However, they have no problem foraging clover, mint, chives, dandelion leaves, and sorrel and eating them by the handfuls! As an added bonus we also have raspberries and mulberries on our nature trail.

Other things we learn from our herbal identification walks:

1. Botany: The basic cornerstone of every botany lesson is the shapes and kinds of leaves you find in nature, how to identify plants and how to classify them. This is also the basic cornerstone of herbal identification. However, it is a lot more fun to identify things you can eat and use, rather than drawing shapes and memorizing names on paper.

2. Observation skills: We learn how to look at nature around us in a deeper way. We often see plants and animals we would not have seen otherwise.

3. Healing skills: We have learned how to heal poison ivy with a few common herbs, what to put on a cut when you are hiking in the wild and what you can eat for a stomach ache, spider bite or bee sting.

4. Respect for Nature: We learn how useful nature really is. All that "green" around us is not just "greem stuff" anymore. It is valuable for its healing properties, taste and beauty. We learn how to wildcraft with respect.

5. Nutrition: We learn and experience the nutritional value of herbs and plants.

6. Economy: We calculate and understand how many things are "free" in life, and how we don't have to buy expensive herbal mixtures to heal or eat. They are usually in our back yard!

7. Biographies and History: We learn about some of the historical figures who wrote journals and poems about nature.

8. Storytelling: We learn stories that teach us about the herbs.

9. Verses: We learn verses that teach us about the herbs.

10. We create books with drawings that help us learn more careful drawing techniques.

This is certainly one of my favorite lessons of the year!

Join us in our adventures with our new E-book "Herbal Identification with Kids" at:
http://waldorftv.weebly.com/e-books.html)

Blessings & Health,
Kristie
www.Earthschooling.com

Storage Magic & Organization

Sigh...as much as I love my wooden toys and natural fibers I also love my plastic bins for organization. They are not natural at all and a bit unsightly, but they have saved me so much money and time!

About 12 years ago a friend of mine had her basement flooded and lost most of her possessions and treasures that were stored in boxes. She told me to always store things in plastic bins. I cannot tell you how thankful I am to her. Our basement flooded twice and our storeroom leaks and has terrible humidity problems. Without those plastic bins I would have lost many treasures of my own.

The second benefit of these bins is how easy it makes it to organize things. The bins were an investment each time I purchased one for about $6 - $8.00 but they have paid for themselves over and over. I purchase clear bins so I can see through them and I organize everything I store in these bins. I also label each bin. This makes it very easy to find things I usually would have lost, forgotten about or left buried at the bottom of a pile of storage boxes.

Today was a good example. I actually have a bin for "random pet items". This bin is filled with items we have used for pets over the past 5 years. Tonight I needed some "land" for our tadpoles so I got out the bin, found some "water structures" we had used for a gecko a year ago, washed them and put them to use again. These structures had also been used for our hermit crabs a few years before that. One time we found a stray dog and I found a collar and food bowl for him in there. Without having these items organized I know I would have just lost them somewhere in a pile of things. Like I used to do - LOL!

I have bins for each season/month of the year and each time we want to set up a new nature table we get out the appropriate bin. I also have bins for seasonal clothing, memory boxes for each child (many for each), one for negatives, random cords and cables from around the house, lights and other items.

Last week I had to attach a VCR to the computer to convert some old tapes to DVD. The instructions said, "You need two cords (illustration). These are not included". I was not worried. I went straight to my "random cords" box, searched through it and found the two cords I needed. I remember paying more than $30.00 for these cords so I am glad I knew where they were! I remember when I used to just toss cords in random boxes and drawers and ended up buying the same ones twice all the time.

I am so thankful that I took the time to set up this system. I initially balked at the cost of the plastic bins and it took me a few days to label and organize them but it has been such a time and money-saver ever since.

And you don't need a lot of space to store them. I keep them in a large closet stacked on top of each other. I use them about 4-6 times a week.