2015 Wrap Up

Hi everyone! I am checking in at the midway point of my trip to Germany. If you've been following along on instagram, you've seen a ton of posts on some of the awesome sights that we have visited. By the way, you don't need to have an instagram account to see the pictures, so do go on and check them out!

Whether you've been following along with me for the last *almost* 4 years or have jumped in just recently, fret not - in the new year I'll be sure to "re-introduce" myself as it's been a long time since I've really done it officially. A lot changes when you start a blog in the month before you expect your first child, when 4 years later you find yourself with two daughters that are pre-school and toddler age. And a blog that has grown and maintained over that whole time and all you really needed was somewhere to write out your thoughts in a somewhat coherent manner! Anyways, I digress. Back to 2015.

Here's a round up of my 9 most popular posts of 2015 from Instagram -

1. I finally made Monte Cristo waffles. So good, but fair warning - the raspberry preserves are not easy (read: impossible) to clean off your waffle iron. Lesson learned. 2. Though I've been a babywearing mama from the beginning with Penny, just a few months ago I dove into the world of woven wraps. My dear friend That Mama Gretchen and I took a mama's night out and took MommyCon Seattle by storm. I fell in love with Cassiope Wovens and was positive that one way or another, I would be leaving MommyCon with a wrap. I took a chance, entered in Cassiope Woven's giveaway and I was the extremely lucky winner of a limited edition MommyCon exclusive wrap. Woo hoo! That's what you heard if you were at the announcement of the giveaway - I wooped with careless abandon. So here you see my Ruby and I in our first wrap job. 3. Here is an old fashioned, no calories spared pound cake made from no less than 10 eggs from my own chickens. I started keeping a small flock of backyard chickens right before Ruby's birth in 2014 and have been so in love with the delicious eggs these girls provide. This photo reminds me that not only should I make this again, and that I need to share this recipe with you, but also that I should at some point make a post about how my flock of 5 increased to a flock of 9 over the summer. Ooops. 4.  2015 was a year of a ton of work travel for my husband, and one time while he was out of town I treated myself to an avocado mask after I *thought* the girls were asleep. I heard Penny call for me, so I came up to comfort her. I forgot about the mask and she FREAKED out. She had no idea who I was, and I had to convince her that I am mama and not some random person. 5. This is the view from Zugspitze, the tallest peak in Germany. More pictures are on instagram, but I do promise you that I will give you the full details once we come home.  6. I have so much love for my husband, but there is very little more that tugs on my heart strings than when I see him wear our girls. One of our family traditions (which has been a tradition from his family of origin) is visiting family bible camp in the Okanagan mountains in British Columbia. This picture is from family camp this year while agate hunting.  7. Cloth diaper reviews & giveaways are still going strong on the blog! 8. Another babywearing daddy shot! 9. Sharing recipes is another favorite on the blog, and this past summer I shared my ever favorite summer recipe - lime cilantro chicken tacos.

And finally, if you need any more reading beyond what I've shared above, here's a few of my favorite blog posts this year too.

• Love salmon? I do too. Here's two ways that I absolutely love to cook it. 
• Visiting zoos and aquariums is kind of my thing. We did quite a bit of travel in 2015 and I absolutely loved the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. 
• Babywearing takes me everywhere - even the pool!
• I got a little crafty this year and did a bit of a Pinterest copy. Do you have a child in your life that loves model cars? This model car photo frame is so easy!
• With a team of friends, I sewed over 160 cloth menstrual pads for girls in developing countries. 
• On that same thread - why are cloth menstrual pads awesome?

Thanks for sticking along with me this year!

Don't miss out on the chance to win $20 PayPal from me as a New Year gift!

Guest Post: The Rise of Handmade and Artisan Goods in Interior Design

The Rise of Handmade and Artisan Goods in Interior Design

 Interior design is fascinating. Our surroundings have a very real emotional impact on us. I continue to be inspired by how a person’s home design and decor can shape the way they feel and, therefore, how they live their life.  The ever-changing world of interior design makes room for new designs and trends every season. One trend that has been on the rise for nearly a decade, and is at an all-time high, is the desire for handmade items.  Rugs, pillows, fabrics, baskets, vases and light fixtures are just a few of the unlimited bounty of handmade products. Many artisans are returning to the handcrafted process that defined design before the industrial revolution. And many interior designers are sourcing those very same artisan goods. Why is this? 

 First, designing with handmade pieces allows a person to express individuality. These products are unique. Who wants shelves full of manufactured knickknacks when you can have an assortment of items that possess originality and authenticity? Handmade items can add to interior design what no other items can-imperfections. I love the juxtaposition of a smooth, manufactured surface with an oddly shaped or textured handmade item gracing the top of it. These organic imperfections add a certain depth to a room’s décor.  

We can also consider that designers and consumers alike appreciate the story behind a piece. How was it made? Where was it made? And who made it? People like to know that they are supporting a particular artist or artisan and are much more dedicated to mindful spending-respecting every dollar they spend as an extension of themselves.

 

The desire for better quality products has also played a key role in this trend. It is widely believed that many mass-produced items are poorly manufactured and that handmade and artisan sourced goods are of higher quality. Consumers are thinking long-term in their purchases and are aiming for sustainability.

 

I think it is safe to call this handmade trend a long-lasting movement. With the rise in ecommerce sites like Etsy and Amazon Handmade, sourcing handmade and artisan goods, both globally and locally, is just a click away. This movement isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. And I must say, as an artisan myself, I could not be more pleased!

 

 

Rebecca resides in Washington where she is a stay at home mom to her two beautiful children. She is thrilled at the continued opportunity to carve out her own future with her handcrafted home décor shop.  

“Trust not what inspires other members of society to choose a career. Trust what inspires you.”

 Shop Rebecca's handmade décor items:

**All new** Amazon Handmade

Etsy Facebook Instagram Pinterest

 

 

GIVEAWAY:

I am excited to kick off the holiday season with a giveaway from Simply Lyon! Rebecca handcrafts her beautiful woven baskets and is offering a basket to a lucky Pierogie Mama reader. This hand-woven basket will add a cozy and delicate touch to your home. A perfect place to keep towels, blankets and other items organized. Keep in a nursery or child's room to store toys or stuffed animals. Or simply display the basket itself as part of a room's décor. The options are limitless! (Dimensions: Height-8",Width-13.5")

Entry-Form

 

Disclosure: The Pierogie Mama is not responsible for prize fulfillment.

No compensation was provided for this post.

Car Model Photo Frame Tutorial

I made this photo frame for my nephew's 4th birthday last week. It was very easy to make and ended up being a total hit! All it takes is a few items that can be easily found at home, your local thrift store or by asking friends who might be done with model toy cars (my local Buy Nothing Group is amazing for that!).

What you'll need:

Photo frame - it's best if the frame is as flat as possible to ensure easy contact points
Model cars
Hot glue gun and extra sticks.
Metallic spray paint

Directions:
1. Clean the photo frame of any dust or debris (like sticker residue). Remove the backing and glass from the picture frame. Do the same for the model cars. Make sure that everything is truly clean and dry before continuing.

2. Arrange your model cars along the picture frame so that you can get a good sense of how they are best arranged.
3. Turn on your hot glue gun and let it fully heat up.
4. Turn each car over and "lock up" the wheels with a couple dots of glue inside the wheel wells. You'll be using the tires as contact points for the frame and it'll add more stability if the wheels can't rotate. Allow them to set.
5. One car at a time, tack glue dots on each of the four wheels and gently press onto the picture frame where the car will set. Repeat for each of the cars until your frame is full!

6. Once the glue has completely set, gently test each car's connection by seeing it if will wiggle. If it does, tack on some extra glue at the contact points.
7. Clean up those hot glue strings! They will show up in the finished product!
8. In a well ventilated space, prepare your spray painting station. I went outside in our gravel driveway and used a piece of cardboard to angle the picture frame for best coverage without having to touch it.

9. Light coats work best. Give it a few minutes to dry between coats. I gave it a day to fully cure before I handled it to see which nooks and crannies I missed. Then spot spray as needed.
10. Add a fun photo and you're done!

This little boy was super excited and in love with his custom picture frame, filled with a photo of him and his cousins.

Catch the moment: Week 9

Continued catch up! One picture a day for a year.

 My big girl had her first dentist visit. I waited until she was (almost) 3 years old because she's generally not comfortable in new situations and I wanted it to be a good experience for her. Here's the full story and how to prepare for your toddler's first dentist visit.

 My parents have been living in Germany 7 months and they came for a 2 1/2 week visit. Penny was simply over the moon.

 This sunny day called for celebration with cupcakes!

 I don't craft too often, but with Penny's request for a dinosaur-fairy themed birthday party, I got started on her special banner.

 A big perk about your parents staying at your place for 2 1/2 weeks.. free babysitting and extra date nights! Woo hoo!

 The next step in the dinosaur-fairy birthday banner.

And there it is hung! Just a few more days until the party...

Catch up on previous weeks: 

Catch the moment archives

Follow along on Instagram daily!

Getting toddlers involved in the holidays

Toddlers are such a handful at times, but when things are good, it's pure magic with them. This year the spirit of Christmas is making a big impact on my 2 1/2 year old, Penny, and I have been going through a list of holiday activities with her. Here's a few ideas to help you get going on how to get your toddler involved during the holidays:

1. Picking out the tree together
2. Creating ornaments (we bought a couple ceramic ones from our local craft store and I let her paint them)
4. Cookies! Check out our experience below
5. More Christmas candy, like dipping chocolate covered pretzels and decorating with sprinkles
5. Make garlands using pom poms, popcorn, cheerios, macaroni noodles, cotton balls, beads
6. Hand print crafts
7. Felt board stories
8. Read Christmas books together
9. Make scented playdoh
10. Create Christmas cards
11. More craft ideas: make candy canes with beads and pipe cleaners, Popsicle stick ornaments, salt dough hand and foot prints, pom pom wreaths

I'm a baker at heart and it's been a long time dream of mine for the day when my daughters can help create goodies for our family. So last Christmas Adam made a kitchen step stool station for the girls that will safely bring them to counter level. While Ruby rode along for the ride, Penny and I got started with decorating our first cookies together.

Because fun and being mindful of the time (for both the toddler's and infant's attention span!) was of the utmost importance, I used Toll House Rolled & Ready Cookie Dough. Toll House has 4 different flavors of pre-rolled cookie dough to choose from, and I chose sugar cookie because that's a family favorite! The dough was already rolled out the the appropriate thickness so from Penny's standpoint the fun was ready to begin!

I showed her how to gently press the cutter into the cookie dough (just like how we practice with playdoh) and I moved the cut shapes to a cookie sheet for her. Following the instructions on the package, we let them bake and fully cool before moving on to the decorating portion of our activity. Meanwhile, we played with the playdoh from item #9 above because she wasn't done using the cookie cutters!

For the decorating portion I made a simple frosting using solid coconut oil.
4 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 cup solid coconut oil
5 T milk
1 t vanilla extract
food coloring
Cream together the coconut oil and powdered sugar until smooth. Gradually mix in milk and vanilla until it is smooth and stiff. Add a couple drops of food coloring until you get the color you desire. 

And then I was reminded of the valuable lesson about toddlers. Even when your plans are laid out perfectly, things hardly ever go as planned. 

Once the cookies were done baking and had cooled, I showed Penny the frosting that I had made and laid out all the sprinkles for her to choose from. SUPER excited. I slathered on the frosting onto each cookie and laid them out onto a piece of butcher paper for her.

And then things took a 180° turn. Suddenly, according to the toddler, all sprinkles MUST be put away and the frosting MUST be removed from the cookies. NOW. Like "mama give me a wipe, no no no no frosting on these cookies pleaaaaaaaaaaaase!"

Friends, life's greatest mysteries are not about Nessie, the Bermuda Triangle or Stonehenge. It's toddlers. No one will ever understand why.

And there you have it. Mothers dream about the day when we get to bake cookies with our sweets for the first time and how magical it will be. In my case, I was spared the flour dust parties (thanks to the pre-made cookie dough!), and I even thought it was smooth sailing until the end...and then true to form, my daughter makes it interesting at the very end!

Find out more about Rolled & Ready Cookie Dough Sheets 

Share your favorite toddler friendly holiday activity (or toddler friend holiday activity fail!)

Disclosure: Thank you to Nestle Toll House for sponsoring today’s post and inspiring me to create and decorate delicious cookies with Nestlé Toll House Rolled & Ready Cookie Dough Sheets!

Christmas Crafting - Felt Stockings

I'm not a crafter by any means. But sometimes I get a bee in my bonnet and I go a little craft crazy for a little while. Does that happen to you?

Ever since Penny's first Christmas (2012), I've had the idea to make our own Christmas stockings. I'm a very novice seamstress, at best, but I felt like this wasn't beyond my ability. So after a little bit of pinterest / etsy inspiration, a felt stocking tutorial, a trip to the craft store and .. ahem .. 2 years of procrastinating.. I got them done!

So here's a photographical journey of how I made my stockings (I'm going to call it that instead of a tutorial, because I am in no position to be giving anyone instructions on how to sew!).

Did you notice the polar animal theme?

Crafting these cuties definitely started my Christmas mood! Normally I had my Christmas pandora station running on my laptop while sewing away, but I learned that Idina Menzel (as in, Elsa) has a holiday album out this season so I jumped on that one!



The album list includes:

1. Do You Hear What I Hear
2. The Christmas Song
3. Baby It’s Cold Outside (Duet with Michael Buble)
4. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
5. All I Want For Christmas
6. What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?
7. December Prayer
8. When You Wish Upon A Star (my favorite)
9. Silent Night
10. River
11. Holly Jolly Christmas
12. White Christmas

1. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow (Bonus Tracks on Target Exclusive with Michael Buble!)

Buy it on itunes or Amazon

This week I will be pulling out all of our Christmas decorations, but here is our mantel in the holiday mood!

Have you handmade any decorations in your house? 

Tell me about them!

Disclosure: I participated in the Idina Menzel Holiday Wishes album review program as a member of One2One Network. I was provided an album to review but all opinions are my own.

Dreaming, Scheming, Thrifting and Pinning for a Sister Room

Welcome to the September 2014 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Home Tour

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have opened up their doors and given us a photo-rich glimpse into how they arrange their living spaces.

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Ahhh renovations. We love it, we bought our second house on the cheap and have been chipping away at our to-do list. Using our talents and staying out of debt is how we are able to do whole-home renovations, but gosh it takes a long time.

Today I'm going to share our most complete room..which is no where near complete! We bed-shared with Penny until she was 18 months old, and on the first night that we moved into this house we set her up in her big girl bed in her own room and waited with baited breath. Was she going to wake in the middle of the night and be scared? As I am reminded many times, I under estimate her too often, and she loved her new room.

When we bought the house, we gave ourselves 2 weeks to get the carpet replaced, the walls painted and start on the kitchen renovation.

This was the state of Penny's room through out my pregnancy with her little sister, and upon Ruby's birth I started dreaming, scheming, thrifting and pinning for a Sister Room.

Thrifted Bed Canopy // Stuffed friends // Train table // our fabulous Blinds

Woah, want to see how this beauty started out?

With my girls 2 years and a week apart, I hope that they'll be the best of friends and enjoy sharing a room together. With that in mind, while I still have the time of Ruby bed-sharing with us (and not having to worry about creating a "nursery" style room), I've begun collecting the pieces that will become Penny's Room Phase 4 - also known as The Sister Room.

And now for my dreams and ideas for what we can do with the space. Chime in on what you think works!

Storage, Beds or Fun?

A couple accent pieces; I love chalk designs. And a coat & hat hanger is a must.

The current window coverings in her room are standard blackout curtains and Bali 2" Fauxwood blinds, but we are looking to swap them out for a cordless option as they are more child safe. I love these floral prints from Blinds.com and am excited for my samples to come in! In October I'll be sharing about window coverings for child safety month so keep an eye out for that post.

Laura Ashley Cellular Blinds

And then I've got this interesting little alcove in the room. Can't quite decide what I want to do here (except stop storing random stuff in it).

Oh and there's one last thing I need to be sure to add... Cheer and love! All this work wouldn't amount to much of anything if we missed out on that! As I continue to embark on this journey of being a mother of two daughters, I continually reassess what values and morals I want to instill in these two hearts that have been entrusted to me. I don't have a sister to call my own (instead a gaggle of wonderful sister in laws!), and I want to be intentional in the relationship that I help cultivate between them. As the days pass I see so many precious and tender moments between them; I can only hope that my girls will remain close for their entire lives.

Don't want to miss out on any of our renovation shenanagins? 

Click here for a full list of my posts on it!

Find my sources of pinsperation and watch me add more to my Pinterest Board for The Sister Room

***
Visit Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:
(This list will be updated by afternoon September 9 with all the carnival links.)

• Being Barlow Home Tour — Follow along as Jessica at Being Barlow gives you the tour of her family's home.
• A Tour Of My Hybrid Rasta Kitchen — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama takes you on a tour of her kitchen complete with a Kombucha Corner, a large turtle, her tea stash, and of course, all her must-have kitchen gadgets. Check out Hybrid Rasta Mama's most favorite space!
• Dreaming of a Sisters Room — Bianca, The Pierogie Mama, dreams, schemes and pins ideas for when her younger daughter is ready to move out of the family bed and share a room with her older sister.
• Building a life — Constructing a dream — Survivor at Surviving Mexico-Adventures and Disasters shows you a glimpse inside the home her family built and talks about adaptions they made in constructing their lives in Mexico.
• Why I'm Sleeping in the Dining Room — Becca at The Earthling's Handbook welcomed a new baby but didn't have a spare bedroom. She explains how her family rearranged the house to create Lydia's nursing nest and changing room in spaces they already had.
• The Gratitude Tour — Inspired by Momastry's recent "home tour," That Mama Gretchen is highlighting imperfect snapshots of things she's thankful for around her home. Don't plan to pin anything!
• Our Home in the Forest — Tara from Up the Dempster gives you a peek into life lived off-grid in Canada's Yukon Territory.
• natural bedding for kids — Emma at Your Fonder Heart shows you how her family of 3 (soon to be 4) manages to keep their two cotton & wool beds clean and dry (plus a little on the end of cosleeping — for now).
• I love our home — ANonyMous at Radical Ramblings explains how lucky she feels to have the home she does, and why she strives so hard to keep it tidy.
• Not-So-Extreme Makeover: Sunshine and Rainbows Edition — Dionna at Code Name: Mama was tired of her dark, outdated house, so she brightened it up and added some color.
• Our little outdoor space — Tat at Mum in search invites you to visit her balcony, where her children make friends with wildlife.
• Our Funky, Bright, Eclectic, Montessori Home — Rachel at Bread and Roses shows you her family's newly renovated home and how it's set up with Montessori principles in mind for her 15-month-old to have independence.
• Beach cottage in progress — Ever tried to turn a 1980s condo into a 1920s beach bungalow? Lauren at Hobo Mama is giving it a try!
• Conjuring home: intention in renovation — Jessica at Crunchy-Chewy Mama explains why she and her husband took on a huge renovation with two little kids and shares the downsides and the ups, too.
• Learning At Home — Kerry at City Kids Homeschooling helps us to re-imagine the ordinary spaces of our homes to ignite natural learning.
• My Dining Room Table — Kellie at Our Mindful Life loves her dining room table — and everything surrounding it!
• Sight words and life lessons — The room that seemed to fit the least in Laura from Pug in the Kitchen's life is now host to her family's homeschool adventures and a room they couldn't imagine life without!
• A Tour of Our Church — Garry at Postilius invites you virtually visit him in the 19th-century, one-room church where he lives with his spouse and two kids.
• Preparing a Montessori Baby-Toddler Space at Home — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares the Montessori baby-toddler space she's created in the main living area of her home along with a variety of resources for creating a Montessori-friendly home.
• The Old Bailey House — Come peek through the window of The Old Bailey House where Erica at ChildOrganics resides with her little ones.
• My New House Not-Monday: The Stairs — Claire at The Adventures of Lactating Girl shows you her new laminate stairs in her not-so-new-anymore house.
• To Minimalist and Back Again — Jorje of Momma Jorje shares how she went to the extreme as a minimalist and bounced right back. Read how she finds it difficult to maintain the minimalist lifestyle when upsizing living space.
• Our Life As Modern-Day Nomads — This family of five lives in 194 square feet of space — with the whole of North America as a back yard. Paige of Our Road Less Traveled guest posts at Natural Parents Network.

Blogger Spotlight: Cherry Valley Macaroni Kid

As I've mentioned before, getting in touch with my local mamas has been a huge drive for me in 2014 and Erin from Cherry Valley Macaroni Kid has been a huge help in that area! I'll let her give you the details, but she is an awesome resource for my little part of the world in finding family friendly activities and sharing fun articles weekly. You can also find me sharing our local experiences in her newsletter now and again too! If you are a Seattle based parent and haven't signed up for a Macaroni Kid Newsletter yet, read on and see what the hype is about!

~Bianca

Hello, everyone! I am excited to be invited by Bianca to guest post on The Pierogie Mama. My name is Erin Chamberlain, and I am a 35 year old mama of a soon-to-be 2 year old daughter, Ada. I am also a City Council member in the small town of Carnation, Washington, a SAHM, self-proclaimed Radical Homemaker and the Publisher of Cherry Valley Macaroni Kid! And way busier than I ever was pre-kids, but loving it.

My husband, Brian and I have lived in the Snoqualmie Valley for nearly 12 years and landed here by way of Missouri, where we both grew up. We met in college and both attended The Missouri University of Science & Technology, a small engineering school. Brian and I enjoy hiking and camping, visiting local breweries and brewing a bit ourselves when we can find the time. We’ve been enjoying introducing Ada to the Northwest outdoors – everything from our backyard vegetable garden to camping in eastern Washington. One day there will be a road trip to Alaska…

Cherry Valley Macaroni Kid has become my “wobby” since starting the site last June – a mix of work and hobby, and has been a great outlet for me after becoming a mom. Cherry Valley Macaroni Kid is your best source for the scoop on all kid activities and family fun in northeast King County and south Snohomish County. I am here for Carnation, Duvall, Redmond Ridge, Cottage Lake, Monroe and Sultan area moms and dads, grandparents and caretakers too, who love finding fun, local things to do with their kids!

Every Thursday morning, I send my 500+ email subscribers a FREE newsletter jam-packed with activities, local information, articles, recipes, crafts, and great giveaways. Make sure you subscribe to get your fresh copy delivered right to your inbox each week! As a local mom who lives in this community, it is important to me to connect with other local parents and bring you the best resources our area has to offer. Each month I feature other local parent experts offering amazing organization tips, parenting advice, movie reviews and more!

Cherry Valley Macaroni Kid also features a Business Directory, which is a wonderful resource for finding great local businesses to meet the needs of your family. From Preschools, Summer Camps, Enrichment Activities & Classes, Family Services, or Birthday Party Ideas - it's got that and much more!

Be sure to follow Macaroni Kid Cherry Valley on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest for all the in-between newsletter news. Macaroni Kid also has 15 sister sites throughout Washington more than 600 all across the world! Check out nearby sites for Snoqualmie Valley - Issaquah, The Eastside, Marysville-Lake Stevens-Everett-Snohomish, South Puget Sound, NW Seattle, North Sound, and find others by using the drop down box on the left side of our National Macaroni Kid page. It’s great for exploring nearby towns, or if you’re headed on vacation to a new spot – check to see if there is a Macaroni Kid for your destination!

I really hope you enjoy Macaroni Kid and that it becomes your go-to resource for family fun in our http://cherryvalley.macaronikid.com/ and get the scoop on upcoming events right to your inbox. Think you might know someone who could use some Macaroni in their life? Be sure to tell them about us too! Questions, comments, just want to say hello or have a fun idea you would like to share? Contact me via email at erinch@macaronikid.com.
community. As a mom, I know how hard and time-consuming it can be to find things to do as a family. So let me do the work for you! Sign up for the weekly e-newsletter at Cherry Valley Macaroni Kid.

Peace. Love. Macaroni!

Family Cloth... Really?? (Guest post from Momma Jorje)

Momma Jorje is one of my go-to natural parenting and green living blogs. She has so much to share and has opened my eyes about a ton of new ideas! While we haven't dove into the family cloth idea, we definitely use cloth wipes with our cloth diapers and I much prefer them to disposables. I love to learn about new ideas and keep an open mind about things, so if you ever had any questions about the 'family cloth' thing - here you go. 

~Bianca

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The first time I really read about "Family Cloth" was on OrganicSister.com. I thought it was a nice, green idea... but a little too far out there for this self-proclaimed "slightly crunchy momma." Still... I read the entire thing with some fascination.

Over time, I got involved in some crunchy circles and heard mention of others that practice the use of family cloth. In the Fall of 2011, we traveled to a gathering of just such a crunchy circle (the Natural Parents Network Volunteers).

This was to be my very first in-person experience with family cloth. Our host (Code Name: Mama) offered regular toilet paper, but I immediately recognized a stack of family cloth in a basket on the back of the toilet. After looking around a bit, I realized that the bag on the doorknob was a "wet bag." I could hardly believe I was in the situation. So... I tried it! What did I have to lose?

Handmade for the Heart - Ada Rosman

This post was originally part of the Handmade from the Heart Giveaway Hop.

_______________________________

Anything handmade speaks a certain voice to me. In a world where everything is automated and scientifically processed, we've lost the connection of why we're all here. To get to know one another, right? Handmade gifts are always held so close to my heart, they remind me of the love a person put into their work and how they may have thought of me (or the idea of me) as they were crafting their passion.

Ada Rosman is one of those people - she has a serious love for her craft.

Growing up in a Polish household in Washington State wasn't always easy; my parents tried to make connections with local Polish families to help keep our traditions and language alive but we didn't live close to a cultural hub (like Vancouver BC or Chicago). Nonetheless, this is how Ada and I met - her family and mine were quite connected back in the day. Her father is my brother's godfather and we used to play all the time as little kids. Over time things grew apart and in the last few years the families have reconnected and it's been fun getting to know Ada as adults and see each other now and again when "The Polish Mafia" gets together - as some people call it. We've got a lot in common when we can jokingly laugh at some of the very typical Polish things our mothers do when they are around each other.

Today I want to share with you Ada's handmade jewelry and a few questions about her shoppe and inspiration.

What made you want to study metals when you decided to go to college?
I found my own creative space in the arts right as I was getting ready to graduate from the University of Washington. It wasn't until what was "supposed" to be my last year at the University that I first started to work with metal. When by what seems to have been chance, I had decided to take a metals class that literally changed everything. I was truly drawn to the medium and actually changed both of my majors so I could get a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Metals. I am truly inspired by the medium and the ability that it has to not only be a piece of jewelry, but a wearable piece of artwork that is able to tell a story as well as remember the past.

What inspires you the most - nature, architecture, food, people, culture? Tell me about how your travels inspire your jewelry.
My work continues to be influenced by my culture and historical moments in the past, but also by my travels. Thanks to travel I have become to realize that each place, every new person, and diverse culture continually influences and inspires my work. I absorb everything around me and reshape it into wearable artworks. This spring I’ll be introducing new jewelry designs inspired by my recent travels this past year to Poland and Mexico.

Tell me the story behind a really special piece that you've created recently.
I really enjoy making custom pieces since I get to learn more about the person that will be wearing it as as well as giving it - it gives me the chance to create a special piece of wearable art that carries the wearers’ own personal story. My thesis show for graduation was definitely a series of work that challenged me and influenced my current work. The BFA thesis work was about my families journey from Poland. We escaped from what was then Communist Poland by driving our Volkswagen Beetle to a refugee camp in Rome, Italy before we were able to come to America.

If you could travel anywhere and live there for 3 months - where would you go? What draws you there?
I would definitely love to travel throughout Argentina. A country that fuses Latin American culture with European influences. I am drawn to the diverse landscape and stunning scenery as well as the astounding art scene.

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