Summer Nature Table

I'm a bit behind on posting our summer nature table, but I suppose it's a good thing because you get to see all the goodies we've collected over the past couple of months...LOTS of shells (a mainstay on our table), some of my knitted and needlefelted creations, and a couple of cute wooden figures.

And here are some close-ups:

~shells, seaglass, and coral all cupped in one large shell~

~rocks from our recent trip to the Rocky Mountains~

~My needlefelted flower and dragonfly and a sweet little picture~

The little wooden frog reminds me of the tiny Bermuda tree frogs that whistle in the evenings during the summer. I just love that big chunk of quartz - I've always been a sucker for stones, gems and minerals. The sun mat is needlefelted.

I'm linking this up to Creative Friday and The Nature Table. Click on the links for more creative ideas!

~Thank you for your comments!~

Our Nature Shelf

Since January we've dedicated a little area in our home where we keep the lovely treasures we find outside and where we celebrate the changing seasons. We call it out nature shelf. Nature spaces like these are commonly found in Montessori and Waldorf classrooms and homes.

Generally, I only allow things found in nature or things handmade with natural materials to be put onto the shelf. Here are some close-ups of the goodies on our shelf.

The wooden mushroom, the frame and card, the silks, and the wooden duck all come from here. I needle felted the "pond" and the flower. That sweet little summer time peg person was handpainted by Beneath the Rowan Tree and purchased through her Etsy store.

We recently participated in an international postcard swap and received this beautiful bit of artwork from a child in Singapore. There's a piece of driftwood James found at the beach and inside the bowl are shells we've found locally, some quartz and amethysts (found at a local shop) and a walnut filled with beeswax, which we made earlier this year. The bowl itself is handmade with recycled paper - I found it at a craft market. That sweet little rainbow kitten was made by Ann of Simply Playing. You can buy one here.

James really enjoys our nature space and I often find him touching the items and rearranging the set up. :) I just love having this area available to him - it's such a rich sensory experience and it opens the door to many happy, curious questions such as, "Why is this rock purple?".

I hope you enjoyed my little tour and I'll do my best to post about our ever-changing nature shelf more often.


The Magic Onions and Natural Suburbia each host a weekly blog party where people can link up to share ideas. Click the buttons to check them out!

Welcome, Spring!

Spring has definitely sprung here in Bermuda. All day long I hear the birds chirping happily as they gather goodies for their nests. For some reason, birds really like our house. There are no less than 13 nests around the perimeter of our roof! I figured since we see these nests every day, we may as well do what we can to make them look pretty and help out the birds, too. So, James and I made a wool tree using some bits from my wool stash.

{This lovely idea came from my favorite blog, The Magic Onions}

James and I had such a good time hunting around the yard for sticks and talking about what we were doing and why. He kept saying, "Come on yittle babies, get warm!" He also did a great job arranging the sticks in the glass pitcher (filled with river stones for stability).

He (and Grover) worked carefully to put wool roving on the tips.

After we made the tree, we went inside and cuddled together on the recliner watching our tree to see if anybirdie was interested. We had no takers at first, but after dinner I noticed an empty branch. ;)

Oh and a lovely flower maiden is visiting our nature display. I needle-felted her the other day along with the little eggs you see in the nest.

{A beautiful hibiscus fresh with raindrops, sitting just outside our door}

Happy Spring, everyone!

Our Nature Display

As I mentioned in this post, we've added a nature display to our new classroom. I love the idea of bringing a bit of the outdoors inside and since we often go on nature walks and collect things, I thought it was high time we create a place for all our treasures!

Everything in the display is all natural and/or handmade, from the clay vase to the hand carved animals. I needle felted the owl (which is sitting on some local Spanish Moss), the patch of "grass" the deer is standing on and the lovely Mother Earth. The dried oranges are from a project James and I did last week, the pinecones were collected by me ages ago when we lived in Minnesota, and the little rug under the vase is hand woven (purchased on our trip to Honduras several years ago).

This is my favorite - I was fortunate enough to find this gray woven basket at a local artist's fair. I made one of these in junior high and I think I still have it! :)

The thing I love most about this display is that it's ever changing. I'll change the "theme" at the beginning of every month, but even throughout the month it's always being reinvented. I find we are continually adding to it and rearranging it. It's such a treat to touch and explore these items. James loves it and likes to add his own special touches...