I know it's late but I couldn't resist showing you this Mother's Day card from one of my sons. (I did ask his permission first.) front of c...

I love it when I rediscover something beautiful, something that moved me years ago… and find that it moves me still, just the same. Such is how I feel about this Discovering Waldorf Education post I stumbled upon a few days ago. In fact, it was the very first article in the Discovering Waldorf series, […]

Elsa Beskow wrote the stories that I loved to read, filled with tomtar, troll, and älvor, that is gnomes, trolls, and elves--myths that had lingered from the times of Beowulf, creatures that lived in the dark woods of the North, flickering from behind mossy stones, hovering over fields in twilight, burrowing deep and disappearing fast in mists that thickened as the night lowered its black belly over the land. Tomtebobarnen, or Children of the Forest (1910) Beskow was a Swedish author and illustrator, known for her beloved children's stories. She received her education at the Tekniska skolans högre konstindustriella avdelning (Technical School for Higher Art) and became a teacher at the Whitlockska school from 1894 to 1879. In her lifetime, she wrote and illustrated over forty books, up until Röda bussen och gröna bilen (The Red Bus and the Green Car) in 1952, which was published the year before her passing. Beskow was known for her keen attention to detail, especially in plants and animals, as her stories often involved pint-sized heroes. Tiny royalty Olles skidfärd, or Olles Ski Trip (1907) "There was great confusion among the creatures of the forest the day they found a golden sphere in their path. What could this be? It was so beautiful it had to be an egg from the sun itself!" The Sun Egg She also illustrated several of Alice Tegner’s songbooks and drew the classic pictures now associated with Jeanna Oterdahl’s texts in Blommornas bok (The Book of Flowers); Mors lilla Olle, a Swedish nursery rhyme; the school songbook Nu ska vi sjunga (Now We Will Sing); and the ultimate school reader--which I myself read from--Vill du läsa? (Do you want to read?). Cover of Vill du läsa? Stories that we read in childhood stay with us forever. Long live the nursery rhyme, the fairy tale! Long live the high imagination that flings us up and out into far greater worlds!

These little needelfelted gnomes are my favourite gift for the little people in my life (and some of the bigger people too!) They are quite easy to make, and have so much character. Use them in storytelling, for play, or as a little pocket friend to whisper secrets to! They make a lovely Valentine's gift, with the hearts needlefelted onto their tunics. These little gnomes are made in the same way as the ones featured in the Trille de Bois Waldorf School Tapestry. Love Gnomes: Materials: 0.2 ounces wool batting/roving in 4 colors: hat, skintone, tunic,leggings small amount of wool roving for boots ( optional) small amount of wool/mohair locks for hair and beards pipecleaner felting needle and sponge (a good kitchen sponge will work) sewing needle and thread Finished, the Love Gnomes stand about 6 inches tall. You can make them taller or smaller by adjusting the length of the pipecleaner, and the amount of wool you use for the legs. Divide the skintone wool roving, so you have small long strips, about 0.5 inch wide and 6-8 inches long. Cut the pipecleaner to measure 8 inches. Fold in the ends of the pipecleaner so they meet in the middle. Using a very small amount of roving, wrap wool around the folded end of the pipecleaner. Start wrapping about 0.5 inch from the bend, and wrap around to 0.5 inch past the bend. The more evenly and securely we wrap on the wool, the easier our finishing is, so take your time with each step! Fold the bend in the pipecleaner tightly, and wrap remaining wool around the folded end . This gives a really nicely finished hand, with no wire ends exposed. If the hand looks too heavy or lumpy, just unwrap it, and start again with a smaller amount of wool. It's always better to work with less wool, and add a few more layers if necessary, than to have too much wool, and need to needelfelt indefinitely to get the size you want! Repeat on other side for the other hand. Wrap a small amount of tunic color around arms, Start at one end of the arms, and wrap the wool around until you reach the other hand. As you wrap, pull on the wool roving a little, and as you near the end you will just be left with a few fibers. You will probably be able to wrap evenly to the other hand, then start wrapping back towards the middle to finish. Wrap these last fibers around tightly and the wool will hold itself in place. Once the arms are wrapped, roll them gently in your hands to secure the wool ends. Take a piece of your leggings color wool, about 4 inches by 6 inches, and roll it up tightly. Needlefelt over the leg, remembering to turn it over and work on all sides so it stays round. Leave about 1 inch at one end fluffy, to attach to the arms. Wrap the fluffy end of each leg around the middle of the arms, passing the extra wool around towards to middle, between the legs. This gives a little extra body shaping. Wrap some some tunic colored wool around the legs, just under the arms to start to build up the body shape. Wrap the wool over one shoulder, then under an arm, and back up and across the body, in a criss-cross pattern. Then wrap again just around the body under the arms, until it is nice and plump! The body will come down in size with needlefelting. Start to needelfelt the body. Felt all over, always turning to keep the shape rounded. Felt under the edge of the tunic to make it stand out a little from the legs. Felt under the arms to attach the body to the arms, and pull the body into a tunic shape. Using the strips of skintone wool roving, roll up a ball that is about 1.5 inches in diameter. Roll as if winding a ball of wool, keeping the surface as even as possible. If you find a little bit sticking out, roll the next wrap so that the bump is covered. Needelfelt lightly over the whole head, keeping the round shape. You can either needelfelt the whole head until it is the right size, or you can gently wet felt it. I like to do this in order to get a nice smooth surface for the face. Optional wetfelting: Apply a drop of natural dishsoap to the head. Hold it in the palm of one hand and very gently roll it with the other hand, not pressing or squeezing. After a minute or two you'll feel a felted skin on the surface, now roll more vigorously for another 2 minutes and rinse well under running water. Shape it into a nice round head and set aside to dry. Sew the head onto the body. You could needle felt, but I like to sew it to be sure it is well secured and ready for play! I sew through the body then through part of the bottom of the head, and work in this way around the whole head twice- I want to be sure it isn't going anywhere! At this moment the little doll comes to life! Select a piece of hat colored roving, that measures about 4 inches long by 2 inches wide. Wrap the roving around the head, keeping the face clear and covering the whole back of the head. Try to wrap it into a cone if possible, but this is not essential as we can needlefelt it into shape. Felt in lines from the head to the point of the hat. This will secure the wool for the hat, attach the hat to the head and begin the basic shaping. Shape the top by felting, working around the hat until you get it to nice tip. Felt the brim of the hat by needling up along the edge between the face and the hat wool. This helps define the face and tidies up any woolly fibers remaining there. Wool locks are great for hair and beards as they have all that natural crimp and curl. You can also use wool roving or yarn. To attach a beard, take a small amount of wool roving, or locks. Lay the fibers out, half over the face and half over the body. Felt along the chin line to attach. Then fold the top locks over, and felt along the chin line to hold in place. This gives the most natural beard look! To attach long hair, try the beard method but attach the wool along the hat line along the back. For short hair, just needelfelt a little wool roving, locks or yarn all along the underside of the hat. Check the face for an extra shaping required, A little extra needlefelting around the temples is usually good. For the boots wrap a small amount of wool around the bottom of the leg. Needelfelt all over. To shape the boot, needle felt only in a line about 0.5 inches up from the bottom, this will make a fold in the foot.Once the fold is in place, turn the boots and shape as you go. Do some felting on the bottoms of the boots to give a good sole (Because all the gnomes have good soles!). If you aren't using a separate boot color, use the same process as above without adding the extra wool. This will still make the foot shape at the bottom of the legs. I don't usually add faces to my gnomes, but if you'd like to- this is my method- it makes a nicely shaped eyes and mouths, without having them indented into the face. Use only a few fibers of wool, and needlefelt them in, only partially, and only in one spot. Don't pull your felting needle out all the way-just needle in the one spot. You'll see the wool fibers shortening as they get tucked into the skin. Leave a tuft sticking out. Clip off the tuft of wool fibers, as close into the skin as possible. Ta-daa! Use this method for the mouth also, but felt in a short line, maybe three needle widths across. If you want a little smile, felt the middle of the mouth downwards, toward the chin. Clip off any extra fibers. Needle felt a little heart onto the gnomes tunic, and then, if you haven't already, decide to which special person your little love gnome will be giving his heart! I'm giving away two finished Love Gnomes or 2 kits for making your own. Please leave a comment below to enter. I'll draw two names on January 25th, and the winners can each chose either the kits or the finished gnomes. Good luck! Enjoy! Fiona

This is a guest post by our sponsor, Oak Meadow

This is the perfect art for the Yankees fans out there, the perfect addition to any garage, man cave, or office. Powder coated to ensure that it can even survive outdoor conditions 24" x 24" x 1" Cut out of 10 gauge aluminum

I had a request for my gnome to be knitting. He decided to be cool and not show off his knitting skills to much so he's just holding the needles :D

cosmic-hippie: “ Seriously? Where the fuck are these places? :-) ”

I Love NY Embroidery design, 3 colors A high quality embroidery design For your pillow , t shirt , sweatshirt, etc These are digital files Avaliable in 6 sizes Digitized by hand (This design is digitized with stitch angle for better results) New design from Digital Creation Art Studio Follow my shop to get updates for new designs Hope you enjoy it!

(via Pinterest)

When I was six years old, one of my Christmas presents was the book, Gnomes, by Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet.

Well it looks like I’m not the only one in my family who loves gnomes! The finally finished rainbow of gnomies has been a huge hit with both Master D… (sorry about the pic – he was so quick!) And Little Miss Q… They even went on an outing today, to our Maternal and Child Health Centre, because Master D thought they would help Little Miss Q with her shots. My poor bubba hasn’t been so happy this afternoon though, Master D tried to cheer her up by sharing his blocks… She is sleeping now thankfully. Somehow this past week, as well as finishing the gnomes, I also finished reading A Game of Thrones! What a book!! We went straight to the shops to buy the next one (the wait for a copy at my local library is 27 people long and I just can’t wait that long!). And I’m still reading Beyond the Rainbow Bridge… slowly digesting the wonderful ideas. Sorry no pic of the book, it is in the room that Little Miss Q is sleeping in! What are you knitting and reading this week? Joining in with Ginny’s Yarn Along. Warmly, Kelly

This week Ariel and I fawned over a little trojan horse-style B&B somewhere in Belgium. It looks like it's the mobile home of a band of mysterious, roguish, magical minstrels. I look at its starry night bedroom and twisted-wood lounges and sigh.

I Love Gnomes Large Mug - 15 oz Ceramic Large White Nolvety Mug CafePress brings your passions to life with the perfect item for every occasion. With thousands of designs to choose from, you are certain to find the unique item you've been seeking. This coffee mug is the perfect drinkware companion. The smooth white ceramic and easy-grip handle feels great in your hand as you sip your morning brew or afternoon tea. Use it at home or in the office as a pen holder, displaying the funny or cute design. The design is professionally printed, making it the perfect novelty gift for both men and women, young or old. And taking care of this coffee mug is a cinch, as it can be used in the dishwasher or microwave. And with CafePress, your satisfaction is always our promise...buy with confidence, as we offer easy returns and exchanges and a 100% money back guarantee. Size: L.

1.1M views, 78K likes, 2.5K comments, 4.3K shares, Facebook Reels from Good Boy Ollie: Don’t steal from this little gnome! 🍎. Ihor VItsinskyy · Dance Of The Gnomes

You can't "beat" this wonderful new "Metrognome" Shirt.Woot t-shirt design by Ian Leino.

Even in the midst of all this heat (phew mid 30's today) I am riding a wave instead, of joy. So many thoughts & threads crowding in shout...

As we all know, getting children to write (and write well) is a struggle. They come to us in first grade having just enough confidence to write a little "story" when really we want so much more from them! This year I made it a goal to really focus on writing in my classroom and to make what really was important to me, count the most. If you want to learn my tips for getting your first graders to also love and enjoy writing, keep reading! Rule 1. You're going to need to be an actress.Yes. I mean

Bastian is a funny and helpful elf. He loves to help others! He has a lot of energy and sometimes it goes wrong for him. Then he has to slow down a bit. Olivia loves Christmas! And she loves to decorate and enjoys every second of it. She is always happy and calm, and nothing is left to coincidences – She got everything under control.Height: 5,3"

MUM Anne Yeomans is at home with hundreds of gnomes in her front garden. She built up the colourful collection of ornaments over 30 years. The incredible display has become a local attraction — wit…

Isn't this the sweetest thing you've ever seen? I love the decorative pattern that was worked into the thatched roof. Only in England can you see these. A few people in New Jersey tried putting these on outbuildings but I don't think they ever caught on. I think it proved to bee too expensive to import craftsmen from Britain. I love the random patches of daffodils too. My first full day of Spring was excellent. Hope yours was too. Rosemary via Pixdaus Click orange square to subscribe via feed reader or email.