Books for Earth Day

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.

Saturday is Earth Day and to get ready for it, we have been having fun with many different books that go along with the Earth Day theme. I started sharing some on butterflies with you last night. Today we have many more on different themes. We will start with 23 Ways to be an Eco Hero by Isabel Thomas. 

Leaves--Crafts & a Story

Today we worked on changing Hazel's seasonal tree to be autumn. We started to hang our salt dough ornaments and I made her a leaf garland. All I did was use thread and a needle to sew some fabric leaves that I bought at the dollar store. Very easy to do and it added much to her tree. It could also be used to decorate a mailbox, mantle, or staircase.

I used those same leaves on a candle I bought at Rite Aid. I took the sticker off and used Mod Podge to stick them on and seal them on. I actually tried with some pressed leaves that I had, but I think they had gotten too dry and pressed because they would not stick well. I love what the leaves add to the candle. Did I mention the fall candles are 50% off this week?

Finally here is another story about Sister Autumn and her leaf fairies. Click on the picture to get the pdf of it.

Happy Autumn!! Enjoy!!

A lovely visit

Yesterday Hazel and I went to visit a good friend who I don't see or speak to enough any more. I use to live in her in-law apartment when I was single. I have to say I miss the country and living on a lake. Plus a few of the great discount stores that are there.

From: Something lubely everyday

Before we left, I had shown Hazel the pictures from Sharing Saturday from Something lubely everyday: Stick Reindeer. I asked her if she would like to look for sticks to make one while we were in the woods by the lake. And of course, she answered positively. She told me to pack her buckets so we could collect our treasures, which of course I forgot.

Luckily after Hazel met Diane and Jack, the dog, we went to my absolute favorite discount store, 135 Discount, and they had metal buckets to collect treasures for a couple of dollars. (Plus all their jewelry is $4.99 or $1 for pins and earrings and we are talking costume jewelry that you could get at Macy's.) They have a mixture of everything from party supplies, clothes, Tiffany style lamps, toys, house goods, etc. and it is always cheap. We checked out another store which is new and temporary and then went to my favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch. After lunch we went home to go walk by the lake. We put on plenty of layers since it is always colder by the water and took Jack out for the walk. We walked quite a bit collecting sticks, pine cones, a feather, birch bark, etc. Some ended up on Hazel's nature table.

Hazel's Nature Table

Another shot of the other side

We walked to where a neighbor had made a small beach. The lake and land around it is part of a closed state park, so it is a small beach, but he added some rock seats. Hazel had a blast throwing rocks into the water. Then we headed back and Diane offered to cut some greens for me so I could get the smell of Christmas in my house since we have an artificial tree--I really miss my real tree of my childhood, but Steve doesn't like them.

While we clipped various greens, Hazel chased Jack. She had such a great time running around and being free. Plus Jack is the most friendly dog and it was instant love for them.

Then it was time for us to head home. When we got home, we looked at our treasures and picked the sticks to make into reindeer. And with the glue gun we made them.

Finally something I made for Hazel's stocking. I saw this idea at Helping Little Hands. I wanted to get her a Curious George ornament but all of the stores that carry Hallmark ornaments are sold out around here, so I made her a book ornament. And while I was at it, I made an Elmo and Caillou ones too. Since they are her favorites I figured it would be a nice way to remember what she was into this year. On the first page of each one I wrote her name and the year. In the Curious George book, I also found some pictures from the story and included a couple pages.

Shared on:

Acorns, Pinecones and Autumn Fairies

 

Today we worked on several crafts before heading out on our errands. We started by making two more wool roving fairies with an autumn theme this time. I'm going to put them on Hazel's nature table for now, but I know they will end up in her fairy garden once we decorate it for autumn.

Our Autumn Wool Roving Fairies

Flower Acorn Pine cone Fairies

Next we gathered our acorns and pine cones from our nature walks and back yard. Having seen this Blissfully Domestic blog when I was searching for acorn crafts. We created similar acorn fairies using an acorn and a pine cone for the body. The second acorn may have been a better option, but all of our acorns were small so we went this method.

Our Acorn Pine Cone Family

Then we ran out of silk flowers so we made pine cone acorn people. We will probably add more details to them, but we stopped to let the glue dry. Again I see these going on Hazel's nature table for the fall.

I hope all of you have a wonderful long weekend! I keep praying my dear husband will not have to work nights after tonight, but he doesn't know. He is guessing he will have to go in tomorrow night. This week of the graveyard shift has really done a number on all of us. Even the cats are missing him. Hopefully he (and all of us) will get back to our regular schedules and rest this weekend. Take care and be safe!

Nature Walk

After the rain stopped today, Hazel and I went outside. Our mission was to find some sticks for her stick pig house and to jump in the puddles. After a bit of jumping and finding many wet sticks, we changed shoes and went for a walk. Hazel pushing her toy lawn mower around the small loop of our neighborhood. As we walked, Hazel found things to be amazed by, starting with leaves. I explained to her she could bring them back home and put them on her nature table. I started a nature table for her a few months ago (as suggested by many Waldorf readings I have done), but she has shown no interest in it except to take everything off so she can play with the silk scarf on it. As I explained to her again about her nature table, she finally took interest in it. To her collection she added three different types of leaves, a bird feather and a rock and a very wet pinecone which we left in the garage to dry, plus I found a few more sticks which were drier. Of course since she was pushing her lawn mower, I got to carry all of it, but over all it was a great short slow walk (.4 mile) with Hazel finally taken interest in nature again. Of course the wind blew once and she immediately thought we should be home, but besides that one time, she wanted to be out looking, and exploring. I'm hoping tomorrow or Thursday to take her someplace with more trees/woodlike for more exploring and of course to the beach this weekend.

We also added legs, ears and tails to her pigs. I'll post pictures soon.

Have a great day!