Crafting

I could barely believe the beauty of Manhattan Beach. Lemon trees and succulents in nearly every front yard, warm and fragrant breezes, my feet in soft sand after a painfully long winter. I’d never before attended a wedding held outside in the rain, but now I can heartily recommend it: huge smiles peeking out from under dripping raincoat hoods and umbrellas, steam rising from the pavement, the sound of water...

I work with my hands to heal: A pencil roll for my sweet artist. New cotton coasters to protect wood. A Minecraft t-shirt repurposed into a journal for a birthday gift to a friend. Pages of pen and ink mandalas, to quiet my mind.

She has been folding her thoughts and the meditations of her heart into paper shapes, and I find them all over the house. A menagerie from her imagination. I didn’t know the hole was there before she came into my life to fill it.

A coffeecake for new homeowners. I’ll never be able to wrap presents in plastic bows and bright paper again.

Not a fancy hack at all, just functional and needed. I love the look of IKEA’s faux sheepskin rug TEJN draped over my FRANKLIN stool, but it never wanted to stay in place. I had to reposition the thing fifteen zillion times a day. The fifteen zillion and oneth time I pulled the fake fur up and over the seat back, I noticed that the edges matched up pretty well...

My gift wrapping this year started with a walk in the woods to gather bits and ended with brown paper packages tied up with string. All of our gifts were handmade, out of necessity and also just because. I’m feeling super-inspired by Mary Jo Hoffman’s STILL project lately, so much so that I just ordered a plate for my tripod, and have plans to finally learn how to use my...

We spent about two weeks preparing for a Market Day at our homeschool co-op. During those two weeks our home buzzed with quiet industry and focus. The experience yielded valuable lessons in ordering, inventory, budgeting, pricing and perseverance. The actual event was a success: her hand-painted wooden families and gnomes were a hit, and his sweets sold quickly as soon as lunch was over. Now she is exploring the possibilities...

We took the train into the city on a cold Friday morning. Union Station was gothic, beautiful and quiet in the early hours of the day. I sipped hot coffee and the children shared a cinnamon sugar pretzel in the white tiled food court. We walked across the street and into the National Postal Museum inside the Old City Post Office. We spent the next two hours moving back and...

I finished crocheting my little blue bowl, then wet-felted it and blocked it to dry. Once it was dry I held it in my hands and considered it for a while. The curve inward at the top seemed very protective to me, like a nest. I picked up one of the many bird’s nests we keep around the house and slipped it inside the bowl. The two objects came together...