Thinking about Advent and Christmas

Advent and Christmas!

My favorite time of the year!

This year i have created this beautiful Nativity set. 

I wanted it to be a treasure for parents, grandparents, teachers or anyone who wants to give children a rich and nurturing experience of what  Advent and Christmas is.

I have spent many joyful hours making it, inspired by my children and my love for this season.

I wanted to make it quite simple for the children to be able to use their imagination but for example with Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar, the Three Kings, i went a bit overbore while embroidering their tunics.  I wanted the children to feel their royalty, wisdom and the magic that they bring. 

The animals are very simple, dream like animals.

The figures are about 3.5 inches tall (9 cm). Perfect size for little hands to hold them and though the set is not for playing, of course gentle handling under the supervision of an adult is wonderful for the children.

The body is made from a card cone and then covered with felt which  made them stand up securely. 

The 15 pieces nativity set includes: 

1 x Mary

1 x Joseph 

1 x Baby Jesus

1 x Angel

3 x Shepherds

3 x Kings

1 x Donkey 

1 x Ox 

3 x Sheep and a shepherds’ cauldron.

The materials are: Fleece wool, 100% wool felt, pipe cleaners, card, sticks, leather, pine cone, bell, silver card, cotton tricot, embroidery thread, sequences and beads. I always try to use natural local materials.

Shepherds cooking by the fire

 

The set makes a thoughtful gift for someone special, a special family, or a classroom for this wonderful time of the year.

Please have a look at my Etsy shop: appleblossomdolls.etsy.com if you would like more information.

Tips:

The set can be placed beneath the Christmas tree or you can create the heart of Christmas by building up a scene during advent, making a mood of expectation for Christmas.

Start with a nature table only covered with a blue cloth and add some beautiful stones on the first week of Advent, make a path with tiny white pebbles towards where the stable is going to be.

In the second week add a little blossoming plant and maybe using some tree bark build the stable. On the third week the animals arrive, sheep, an ox and a donkey.

Then for the fourth week the shepherds appear on the fields while Mary and Joseph make their way to the stable.  The children’s excitement each morning to see what has happened is a treasure!

There are some fantastic story books for you to get inspired to create this magical time for children. Mary's little donkey by Gunhild Sehlin or The Light in the Lantern have been our favorites for years!

I know it's early for Advent and even more for Christmas but sometimes you have to start early if you want to get there...

love and good wishes,

Yolanda

Silk Knot dolls. Knotted Dolls. Waldorf first doll.

I love going back to basics; sometimes it gives me peace and lets me embrace what is happening, enriching even further what I'm living at that moment.

In a couple of weeks my oldest daughter will be 20 years old!  It’s incredible how time past... thinking about her and the years I've had around this time considering about  birthday presents  I remembered one of the first ones I made for her, a knot doll!

This has been the inspiration for my next project.

Knot dolls

 They are the simplest and most wonderful dolls!  

They are one of the first toys to place in your baby’s cot when they are around 3 months. They are soft and squashy.

Sometimes adults feel that the doll is not finished because there is only a well formed round and hard head but no eyes or mouth and only a suggestion for limbs. This is precisely why they are so perfect for babies in their developmental stage.

"Because the young child is not fully conscious of its own body, 

what it is most aware of in itself and others is the head. 

Thus a knot doll with a large head is quite recognizable and satisfactory for the young child" 

You are your child's first teacher by Rahima Baldwin Dancy

“The doll emerging from soft bundles of fabric is a mirror of the child’s own movement from babyhood to becoming a child “

 Kinder dolls by Maricirstin Sealey.

Young children of 2 or 3 years old are also sometimes attracted to this kind of dolls. They are wonderful to hold and cuddle.

Because the doll is so simple I would encourage every parent to make one for their child (there are a few tutorial on the web that you can try).

When making this doll, you'll establish a relationship with the doll, I am sure you will put much care and love, this you should keep for the child then will be able to imitate and learn about these qualities.

Please, use natural materials; silk is best for babies if possible.

 

If for any reason you can’t make it, these ones on the photos have been made by me with lots of love and joy. 

You can buy them on my Etsy shop:

appleblossomdoll.etsy.com

 Warm wishes,

Yolanda

Whitsun festival

“‘To become free’ presupposes the discovery of oneself as a spirit within oneself. 

The true spirit in which we can make this discovery is the universal human spirit, which we recognize as the Pentecostal power of the Holy Spirit entering into us, and which we must bring to birth in ourselves and allow to come to manifestation.”

 Rudolf Steiner, The Festivals and their Meanings, 1910.

This year Whitsun will be celebrated on 4 June.

 It falls on a different date each year as it is celebrated on the 7th Sunday after Easter, marking 50 days since the final Sabbath of Passover. 

The festival is called Whitsun or Pentecost.

Pentecost comes from the Greek word 'Pentekostos', meaning '50'. (50 days after Easter Sunday).

In Britain and Ireland Whitsun or Whit Sunday is the name used, as it is believed it was a day for baptisms when participants would dress in white.

The festival commemorates the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples following the death of Jesus Christ.

 The 12 apostles were gathered celebrating the festival of Shavout ( a Jewish festival) when 'suddenly there came form heaven a sound as of a violent wind which filled the entire house in which they were sitting;

 and there appeared to them tongues as of fire; 

these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. 

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak different languages as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves"
 (Acts 2:  2-4)

I grew up as a catholic but i don't remember how (if) we celebrated this festival. However the first time i am conscious of it, is when my daughters started KG. 

The festival is rich and meaningful. 

The simplicity, the purity, the diversity, the individuality, the community, the different languages, the numbers, the elements of air and fire,  the 'singleness of heart' and the communion with another individual are some characteristics of this festival.

The dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit and the symbol of peace. The descending dove image becomes a reality when we celebrate the sacredness of the singularity of the individual, when  a spark of divine fire shines from each one of us, when the agreement between individuals rests on the ability truly to understand one another. 

This year I'm thinking of 2 ways to decorate our table.

 One is inspired by the book 'All year round' by Ann Druitt, C. Fynes-Clinton and M. Rowling, and the many years  i have decorated our home in this way.  There'll be a few white cloths on the table, creating different highs, 12  small candles (tealights are good) standing in a circle and a bigger and taller one in the middle.  A bunch of white flowers on a vase and as i won't be able to hang our mobile there i have designed this beautiful felt dove to  flutter when the candles underneath are lighted.

The mobile this year is going to be on top of our dinning table.It is a new one, the paper doves have become felt doves spiraling down to earth, dancing with the lightest breeze.
  It really looks amazing already. 
My family is going to love it on the day.

The candle holders are made out of  needle felted wool, shearing is happening at the moment around here and i wanted to use some of our new washed fleece.

The second way is very different. I am always looking for ways to celebrate these festivals that are right for my daughter's ages and while reading about Pentecost and how people celebrates it, i found a very interesting page that speaks about how red is the color of Pentecost and how is the time to look for the 9 fruits of the  Holy Spirit, suggesting that 9 red candles on the table could  represent them.

 These 9 fruits are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. 

 I thought this to be a wonderful  image for teenagers or young adults to celebrate Pentecost with a new image of the same thing.

 I still have a few more days to decide how i'll do it... new ideas keep arriving...

Well,  I wish you a great celebration where we are united in our common humanity, where we celebrate and respect our differences in our culture, language, community... 

 May you have a rich an fulfilling Whitsun Day

 Warm wishes, Yolanda

Maypole dancing for May Day Celebrations in the Nature table. Dancing around the Maypole.

Celebrating the arrival of Spring,
 these beautiful merry making dancers hold a ribbon each to danced around the Maypole
 while Mother Earth is watching them.

They love to dance and sing.

It's a day for feasting, singing, music making and dancing!

In Maypole dancing
 the dancers weave the ribbons on to the pole in different directions 
creating complex pattern with all the colors.
When all the ribbons have been woven
 they reverse the path of the dance to unwind the ribbons.

It is such a great fun!

'We're dancing, we're dancing

Around the Maypole high.

In colors of the rainbow

Our ribbons do fly.

Dear children, take a ribbon please. 

Today May flowers all are we. 

Around, around, around, 

A garland we do weave'.

Mother Earth and all her girls after their dancing!

After all the merry dancing around the Maypole,
Mother Earth finds a quiet moment to do some spinning with her drop spindle
while her black kitten plays with a ball of wool.

Note: all the dancers and Mother Earth are for selling at my Etsy shop. Please, have a look at them if you are interested.
appleblossomdolls.etsy.com

Hope you had a wonderful celebration too!

Mayday blessings, 

Yolanda

May Celebrations. Dancing around the maypole

Dear friends, 

May is coming and i have been so lucky to be making these beautiful Maypoles.

I hope we all get to dance around on May 1st.

Beautiful Maypole in greens and blues

Pinks, oranges, yellows and greens. Bright for Mayday

 "Dance round the maypole, dance round the maypole

Over the green field and down to the hay

Lift up your hearts and dance round the maypole

Run to your true love and dance all the day"

A wish you a very happy celebration.

 Warm wishes, 

            Yolanda

PS. Please check on my Etsy shop if you are interested on a Maypole for your nature table.