Heart Felt

Candle making

If you're ever visiting Greytown you must drop into the Village Art Shop.  It's run by the lovely and inspiring Janie ~ the shop window is always enticing with beautiful art supplies, books and bits of gorgeousness.   Even if you don't need art supplies I guarantee you will find something of interest and inspiring.

Every holiday period Janie runs art and craft workshops for children.  Yesterday Charlie and Sadie attended a candle making workshop.

Charlie was a little apprehensive at first, but when I picked him and Sadie up afterwards he told me that 'he loved it'.  

They made candles in moulds and then hand dipped candles in beautiful rainbow colours.  Each time they dipped their wick into the hot wax it was followed by a dip in cold water.  Gradually with each dip the candle built up.

Beautiful ~ we are going to light them on Christmas Eve.

The Village Art Shop

98 Main Street
Greytown,

Phone: 06 304 8255

Become a fan on Facebook here 

 

Nurturing an artist

We are counting down the days for when Sadie starts school......40 days!  She's very excited and is getting very anxious to start, especially when most of her friends have already started.  

One of my concerns is that she won't have access and opportunities to do her art as much as she does at Kindergarten and at creche.   Even though she has most of the things she needs at home ~ I need to make sure I make more time to nurture her artistic side, have paint, paper and pencils at hand for when she has that desire to create.

Over the weekend I relaxed a little when I suddenly realized that Sadie is an artist and you can't stop an artist from creating.  Without my suggestion or help she glued pieces of paper together to make a large piece to work on.  Already she had an image in her head of what she wanted to draw and she sketched it onto her paper.

The paint isn't accessible 24/7 and she had to ask me to get it out.....but maybe that is something that can change once Oscar is a little older......maybe her own little studio corner in the sun porch.

I love the way she works ~ and I can't wait to see this piece once completed.

The eels of Anzac Bridge ~ book giveaway

One of our favourite times of the day is snuggling up in front of the fire with a couple of picture books before bed time.  

After Anzac Day Charlie has shown a lot of interest in soldiers, the world wars and especially his great grandfathers who fought in World War II.  

His choice of book this particular evening was "The eels of Anzac Bridge".

Eels of Anzac Bridge

Written by Ali Foster

Illustrated by Viv Walker

Published by Wairarapa Archive and Fraser Books.

 

It's a thoughtful but beautiful tale of a young man who leaves his home and family and travels far across the seas as a soldier in the Great War.  His journey entwines with another great journey of a local eel as it too travels far to it's breeding grounds in the Pacific Ocean ~ both eel and soldier never to return.

While the baby eels made their way back to the river of it's parents a memorial bridge was erected in memory of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the war ~ and was named 'Anzac Memorial Bridge'.

The story stirred thoughtful contemplation within both Sadie and Charlie with them both agreeing that (in Charlie's words) "everything has a life cycle".

What made this story even more interesting is that Anzac Bridge is a real bridge located north of Masterton in the small community of Kaiparoro.  So we decided to make a family pilgrimage to visit the place where the story was inspired.

The bridge was opened in 1922 and has a lovely Art Deco style to it.  Names of those honoured are listed and it was exciting for the children to compare the illustrations to the real bridge itself.

Under the bridge is a perfect home for eels.  We didn't think to bring some meat with us, it would of been fun to lure any eels out of their hiding places.

Daddy played a trick on the children by finding a piece of driftwood that looked just like an eel!

GIVEAWAY...

Wairarapa Archive has kindly offered my Heart Felt readers the chance to win their own copy of 'The eels of Anzac Bridge".  

All you need to do is leave a comment and you are in the draw.

Giveaway is open to anyone around the world.

I will randomly select a winner this time next week.

Or you can purchase your own copy at the Wairarapa Archive or online here. 

Good luck! Jx

'I'm an artist'

that's what Sadie says when she introduces herself to people. ' I'm Sadie and I'm an artist'.

She's been drawing long before she could even talk, I bought her first art pad and crayons way back here. 

Drawing is part of her daily routine. 

She is spending more time on small details rather than colour at the moment.  

 

 : Dancer, fairy, deer and fawn :

 

: Princess picking flowers :

Dancing girls, princesses, fairies, flowers and insects feature often.

 : Three dancing girls :

 

: Mother deer with her fawn :

 

: Fairy :

This week her ladies have developed necks!

 

Easter egg preparation

Blowing the yolk out of the eggs,

Dying,

and painting.

Gifts for family on Sunday.

Happy Easter. xx

Handmade

Sadie went to a friends birthday day party in the weekend.  A party always causes excitement in the house.

Sadie loves making her own cards...

and also her own wrapping paper.  

I think I would be pretty 'wrapped' to receive a gift in this gorgeous paper.

 

Needle felting

One of the great things about participating in a regular craft market is getting to know the other crafty stall holders.  One of my favourite stall holders is Hella.  She makes stunning felted birds, nests, rabbits, lambs and babies from wool.    

Normally at the market I take some hand sewing with me to keep me occupied during the quiet periods of the day.  Last Saturday I had forgotten to take it with me and hated sitting there with idle hands, so Hela offered to give a quick needle felting lesson.   I'm officially 'Hooked'.

I purchased one of her needle felting kits.  The kits contain a lovely bag of wool in various colours, an instruction booklet, piece of foam and a felting needle.   

This is what I made with my first attempt with help from Hela.

 It really is that simple.

With my second atempt I felted straight onto one of my wool pixie hats.

 I'm really happy with the result.

If anyone is interested in purchasing a needle felting kit from Hella for $10, email me and I can't get one sorted out for you or visit her stall at the next New Rags Market.  

 

Salt dough

I remember Mum making salt dough when we were children.  This dough you bake your figures in the oven until hard.  When cooled you can paint and varnish them.   This project takes a couple of days to complete.  It also satisfies many craft forms ~ cooking, model making and painting.

For the dough:

300g plain flour

300g salt

200ml lukewarm water

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Put the salt and water into a mixing bowl and stir until the salt has dissolved.  Add the flour and vegetable oil.  Stir until the mixture is smooth.  Knead with your hands for a good 10 minutes to make a firm smooth dough. 

Then just use your imagination.  Charlie made dinosaurs using some moulds, a great looking snake and a butterfly.  Sadie also made a butterfly, a ladybird, Father Christmas and a family.

You could make bugs, animals, letters, shapes, beads for jewellery, food, the possibilities are unless.

Once done cook the figures in a low temperature oven at 100 .C for about an hour.  It can depend on the thickness of the figures.  Some of the children's figures were hard within an hour but some others took a couple of hours.  Turn the oven off and leave in the oven to cool down.   I normally tell the kids that they won't be ready to paint until the next day.

To paint we used acrylic paint in a variety of colours.  When dry you can varnish them if you desire.  The varnish will make them last longer.  Over time they do soften.

Steiner 12 Days of Christmas Children's Festival

It was nice to continue with Christmas celebrations with our Steiner playgroup.

All the children gathered to listen to the Nativity story

They painted stars shining in the night sky

Each child made small floating candles from shells

and celebrated with songs and dance.

Our Steiner playgroup meets every Monday afternoon at the Greytown Library.  

1.00-2.45pm

Everyone is welcome

Bring a piece of fruit to share and a coin donation.

Merry Christmas!