Mushroom Fairy & Mushrooms

After having quite a bit of rain lately, we have been noticing lots of mushrooms popping up all over the place. And we have been noticing the different sizes, colors, shapes of them all.

We look at every mushroom and think about what fairy will live there. So when we saw bunches of them we called them villages. We had quite a bit of fun finding them.

The past couple of days we have had gorgeous afternoons, so Hazel and I went on a nature walk and/or a nature bike ride. Today she rode her bike around the short loop, but of course there were several times where Mommy was walking the bike. She also had to get down and count the yellow mushrooms to see how many fairies could live there.

Our mushroom fairy story is simple. When it rains the mushroom fairies get to work growing their mushrooms so all the fairies have places to live and animals have things to eat. After several days of rain then a day of sun and then more rain, our neighborhood is loaded with mushrooms so we have been having fun looking at them and thinking about the fairies that might live there.

I made the little mushroom fairy peg doll the other day for Hazel. I used a paint marker for the face and hair and felt for the clothes and hat. I did my best at French knots for the dots on the mushroom, but I still have not completely mastered them. Then I took a piece of tulle for the wings and tied it in the center and sewed it on to the felt. 

Have the mushroom fairies been to your neighborhood lately?

Goodbye, Thanksgiving, Hello Christmas Season

We had a nice relaxed Thanksgiving here. I have decided I would like every year to be as relaxed and low key. No one ate too much and we didn't have too many choices since I still am not 100% and didn't want to cook too much. Really it was a perfect day except for the two-year-old whining we dealt with and the fact that I needed a nap half way through the day.

We started working on more Christmas ornaments. Usually we put our trees up this weekend and decorate. I pulled out our new smaller Christmas trees for the front window. Last year our small one got to the point of being unusable, so at the post Christmas sales I bought two small prelight trees that are meant to go on a front porch. After pulling them out, we decided to put both in the window with some Santa decorations inbetween them. I'm not allowed to put lights outside so the windows are all I get. My dear husband (who is an electrical engineer) is a bit paranoid about fire.

Hazel wanted to make a mushroom ornament. We found the pattern over at Echinops and Aster. She picked out the colors and I cut and sewed. Then while checking out the mushroom pattern we followed the link to the owl at Juicy Bits. I did the owl while Hazel was sleeping, but will let her choose colors for one as well.

Then for our child made ornaments, we did some gluing. I bought some star buttons in Christmas colors at one of the craft stores and Hazel wanted to color and glue, so she made a picture. I think it might make a nice card for one of her grandmothers.

We also made the popsicle stick Christmas trees. I cut the sticks and we glued them together and then we decorated them with the buttons. I finished them up since she got bored with it yesterday.

This morning Hazel wanted to make a scarecrow.  For our last fall activity we made one. I'm thinking I might put a ribbon on it and hang it on the tree as well. I got the idea and pattern for the clothes from Thanksgiving Day Crafts by Arlene and Herbert Erlbach. It is the craft book I took out of the library that I really liked.

Now I need to go add ribbons to all the ornaments we have been making and finish cleaning up the clutter of the fall decorations so we can decorate for Christmas.

Hope you are having a lovely day!!