Waiting for Ruby

Be my Valentine... for just a little while

Dear Ruby,

Dad and I make dinner together and have strawberry cupcakes with strawberry frosting for Valentine's Day but we don't exchange gifts. It may sound corny,but the memories of doing things together is so much better than a tangible item. When you are finally with us,and you are old enough to stand,you will make this tradition a little messier,but a whole lot more fun!

My favorite part of Valentine's day is putting up cutesy decorations that you wouldn't want to look at for more than a few days! I can't live with clutter and little things all over the place, it drives me crazy. When you are old enough to read this,you will know that already! But maybe,when you are old enough to read this,I will have changed because I learned to deal with that better by having a child around,I hope this is the case.

I made this heart garland with a vintage pillowcase,two liberty prints,and felt. I also used an embroidered rose that was cut from a damaged needlepoint purse. I long for the day that you tug at my sleeve and ask me if you can help me decorate. My little love, I am thinking of you always.

Love,

Mom

Happy Chinese New Year!

 

2008 is the year of the Rat in the Chinese zodiac. I think it is really really important to teach children about all the holidays the world celebrates. Though our daughter will be of Chinese descent,we will not only focus on American and Chinese holidays,but also the holidays celebrated by other cultures as well. We will try our best of course, because things do get lost in translation.If you are interested in teaching your child about other cultures as we are, Creative Diversity is a catalog that carries many books and toys that can help. One of my favorite things from their catalog is a poster that shows pictures of people's homes around the world, it always hung in my pre-school classrooms. I also had the wonderful opportunity to work at a Jewish pre-school for a couple of years and I learned so many things to share with Ruby.

This weekend we will celebrate Chinese New Year in Boston, my cousin is throwing a party in honor of the occasion.

I wanted to make some things to bring with us.I crafted felt fortune cookies that I spotted over at Shim + Sons blog, she was inspired by Martha.

I searched the internet for Buddhist proverbs, and I did use many, but I also used Irish,Native American, and American Folk proverbs as well for the fortune sayings. I have red mints and sesame-honey candy to put inside along with the fortunes.

One of the big things for Chinese New Year is to give friends and family money in red envelopes. My cousin is having a lottery for her party. Everyone will bring a small amount of money that we will pool and the winner will take all. I made two envelopes with red and gold embossed paper lined in gold,to hold all of the money. I took an envelope apart to use as a template,my paper was just a little short,so I decided to punch holes and thread ribbon through to tie it together. I think it looks nicer that way-a happy "accident" !

Inspiration Galore!

I always have enough of my own ideas,but reading all of my favorite weblogs certainly gives me even more! This Christmas,our celebration was inspired by many!

Isn't Hillary Lang a lot more than a wee bit wonderful? Thanks to her adorable patterns, I created these wonderful gifts while listening to the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Sufjan(recommended by Soulemama-it is lovely)Christmas CDS. Using organic pillowcases purchased from Target, I embroidered all of the cute little guys from her Peppermint Fairy series on each band,three on each. The Target organic sheets collection is wonderful and inexpensive,and the cases come in a little drawstring bag-perfect for gift-giving.

I sewed Hillary's snail for someone who feels a little down,and included a little poem with it:

When you're feeling slow and sluggish,

Maybe a little bit blue.

Take a look at this cute lil' guy,

He may bring some cheer to you.

Our Christmas was quite lovely. We made our very favorite breakfast-English muffin egg apple-bakes, and baked red velvet cupcakes(after Soulemama mentioned these in one of her blogs I had to make them!)but we made them the old-fashioned way using two cups of beets rather than evil red food dye.

Out of all the inspirational ideas out there on weblogs for Christmas,my favorite idea by far was from Bella Dia. It is such a simple idea,but oh so wonderful. To make a garland of treats to hang outside for wild-life as a Christmas gift. We made ours with popcorn,cranberries and dried figs,and hung them on our trees, and at my mother's house. We were lucky enough to spot a squirrel enjoying the "fruits" of our labor on my mother's deck.