Nature’s flowers (Friday’s Flowers, an evening early)-

Paper flowers-

Embroidered flowers-

“That’s all.”

The Challenge

I couldn’t resist the challenge of making some flower cocoons myself and got the little ladies involved. There was one rule to follow for this challenge- all items to make the cocoons must come from nature, no man-made glue or tape was allowed. So the little ladies picked flower petals and agreed on honey as the glue to stick the petals together, knowing that the bees use nectar, they thought honey was the next best thing! Then we got started making the cocoons.

 Fauna found this challenge very easy; I’m guessing  it’s because she used a lot of honey and doesn’t mind sticky fingers!

 Araina had a little trouble with this challenge; so she designed a new iris species instead.

 Denali helped with clean up. We didn’t know that huskies liked honey! 

*Now to go and wash the honey out of my hair. Thanks Fauna!

Outdoor pic for today- the little ladies have been great at tending to the garden daily.

  If you are participating in Outdoor Challenge Mondays, be sure your blog link is below; if you still want to participate let me know and I’ll add you to the list.

5 orange potatoes, the five of us, little eco footprints, potje thee, silverpebble, the work of childhood, searching simplicity, love living simply, strasilo, semi-handmade, this little kitchen, school time adventures, heirloom seasons, the loving path, a place like this, the magnifying glass, pebbles in the water, chocolate eyes, we are here, rosy-posy, oakbee farm, my year in haiku, time to craft, child in harmony, serendipity, secret water, free flowing ways, se7en, a smile a day, where ada likes to wander, wide open campus, what are we doing today mom?, chasing domestic bliss, dim sum, bagels and crawfish, adventures of a flake, frontier dreams, the snail’s trail, goose and binky, over the crescent moon, it’s a wild life, my world edenwild, the binker files, lil muse lily, foursquare schoolhouse, obaitori, boys in the woods, bumbles and light , wonder in the woods, terrallectualism, semi-crunchy mama

I’ve been making a lot of violet jelly this Spring but I also have been making violet syrup. YUM! I think the most fun about recipes using violets is the color change you experience when lemon is added to the violet water. It turns such a pretty pinky-purple color.

  Violet Syrup

2 cups fresh violet blossoms
3 cups boiling water
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 lemon, squeezed and strained

-Boil the water, remove from heat and pour over violets, cover and let steep for 2 hours.
-Strain the violets *you will have a vibrant green color,  it will turn purple when the lemon is added
-Put violet water back into pan, add sugar and bring to a boil
-Add lemon juice, watch color change to purple
-Reduce heat, simmer for about 10-20 minutes until the solution thickens

The violet syrup will keep  for a month if kept tightly covered in the refrigerator.

Use for pancakes, angel food cake, between layers of vanilla cake, as the simple sugar for lemonade, and/or violet coolers for a refreshing drink.

Violet Cooler

Violet syrup
seltzer water or carbonated mineral water
ice
violets, mint leaves, or berries for garnish

In a large drinking glass, add the ice, spoon in 5 T syrup, add water and garnish. Use a spoon to stir and disperse the violet syrup throughout the water.

Violet Lemonade

2 cups violet syrup
2 1/2 c cold water
2 1/4 cups lemon juice or 10-14 freshly squeezed lemons
1 lime- juiced

Try my lavender lemonade recipe here or the dandelion syrup recipe here.

*If you want to continue the Outdoor Challenge by participating on Mondays, details are in the works. Thanks for the well wishes for Araina, she is feeling MUCH better! Have a great weekend.

“That’s all.”

We did some paper dyeing on Friday using coffee and tea. I love to dye paper. I’m planning to try with many different plants this Spring to acheive many different colors of paper- berries, dandelions, and cabbage are next on the list to try.

Araina brought me the first bouquet of the year.

Outdoor tea parties were a big thing over the weekend!

We’ve been trying to ID this black chrysalis Fauna found while climbing our Scarlet Maple. We think it’s some sort of moth pupa.

I finally got a little creative on Sunday after a week of not sewing.  See the little tree house in the pic below? I’m going to make bigger ones using sweaters and felt for the Hootenannies to live in.

Here’s a winky-eyed bunny I’ve been working on for the past couple of days, she must have a little something in her eye! I still need to add her arms and a tail.

On a side note, with all the bickering and politics going on right now I have to leave with this message from Araina-

If only it were that simple!

“That’s all.”

She loves geraniums, she still plants them every spring. I thought a geranium brooch would be a good gift for her.

 The little ladies and I spent a big part of the afternoon today making 100 paper birds to hang for the party.

Valentines were also made for the family we will be seeing.

I just love the simplicity of this one-

As a celebration, in honor of Curt, I’m doing an owl softie giveaway. Oh, how I would love to give away 100 owls, but can’t quite do that!  

Brown-eyed Girl and Gold Finger are already taken BUT……..

I have sewn up a flock to finish (by hand) in Virginia. If you want one, not knowing which one you will be receiving mind you, leave a comment here, no matter where in the world you live. We return from Va.  late Tuesday so I will announce the winner sometime on Wednesday.

Be back Wednesday. Have a great weekend, happy Valentine’s Day, stay warm, and enjoy the snow, especially those of you who aren’t quite used to snow! Oh, and by the way to those of you who asked in my previous post, I get all my sweater scraps from my mom who makes bags and purses from thrifted sweaters. Lucky me!