Autumn Fairy Crown

We have had some really beautiful weather here these past few weeks. Warm days and cool nights. Leaves so colorful and skies so blue. Lee has still been home as he's waiting for some jobs to line up so in the meantime, life goes on as it has for the past month or so. Schooling has been spent outside much of the time, little book work has been accomplished, the sheep have been visited and many walks have been had. I've been able to, for the first time ever (quite possibly) to keep up on the massive loads of laundry (we are a family of 7 after all), keeping the dust bunnies at bay, napping, and quietly contemplating life's ever changing ebbs and flows as we get ready to expand a bit (more on that another time). I've been really keeping track of my thoughts, purging the ones that are not useful and filling that space with prayer as I work. I've been keeping my eyes peeled for those irreplaceable moments, like the one above, that inspire me to take a step back from "keeping up" and letting go a little bit, too. I am a Libra, after all, so balance is a big thing for me. One of my greatest escapes is being able to create with my children. As I've got many projects going, in my head and in my hands, the littles and I were able to steal away a cool, wet afternoon and make an Autumn Fairy Crown.

For the foundation, I simply cut a piece of felt and needled a piece of yarn about an inch from the ends of the felt, both sides. This was my easy attempt to have a crown that could fit many heads.

On their morning walk with Dad, the girls gathers some colorful leaves for our crown. We dipped them in beeswax and let them dry. After they had cooled enough to touch, we hot glued them to the face of our crown. I wasn't able to capture many photos of the process as I was much to concerned for all the hotness.

I love this picture. Charlotte is such a beauty and she adored wearing this crown and boy, did it smell good, too!! We ended up giving this crown to our neighbor. He is our resident Garden Gnome. If he isn't spending the day toiling and digging and planting and harvesting, well then, I have not a clue what he does. Maybe sleeps, possibly in his garden. Anyway, it was he's 78th birthday and we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the beautiful soul that he is. 

*We've heard through the grapevine that our Garden Gnome friend has been spotted wearing his crown throughout town these past few days! Maybe, just maybe, if you live near us, you might spot him. He'd be kinda hard to miss with such a lovely headdress :)