House Art Journal

On the eve of a new year, I wanted to wish all blog readers a very blessed rest of the Christmas season with this lovely fleece angel from my friend Melissa Yoder Ricks of Wild Hare Fiber Studio . Melissa spins her own wool from all-natural fibers and knits and creates unique and lovely items, everything from hand-dyed yarn (I bought some for knitting friends this Christmas) to luxurious cashmere shawls . In addition, she is a Catholic mom trying to raise a large family in less than ideal circumstances. Feel free to check out her etsy shop , and if you like what you see, add her to your treasury!

We had a wonderfully relaxed Christmas this year, paradoxically, for it was full of guests, cooking, and good food, and little sleep. But God seemed to direct the schedule, and each thing came in its time. This morning I decided to leave our holiday dishes on the table so that eating could remain spontaneous and easy as the mood strikes a family member. Also because I am loving the way everything looks so nicely laid out. May God bless your family during this Christmas season!

What an atypical holiday party -- no low lights, no cool clothes, and no food! But what fun we had! Last year some other moms and I held a "silk dyeing party" to make play silks for our children for Christmas, and it was lovely! I am a big fan of play silks, large squares of silk that children can use as capes, costumes, or drapes for play houses. These silks retail for about $10 each , but a few years ago I discovered that Dharma Trading sells plain white hemmed Habatoi silk scarves for as low as $3.50 each. I made a small investment in getting Procion dyes and the necessary chemicals (Turquoise, Fuchsia Red, and Lemon Yellow will give you all the colors of the rainbow if you mix them) and started vat dyeing my own scarves years ago. Then a friend told me about microwave dyeing, and the idea of having a scarf-dyeing Christmas party was conceived. (Check my blog here for instructions on how to dye in a microwave .) So last year we held the party, and it was a fun evening th

Happy feast of the Immaculate Conception! Today at Mass I had an inspiration to pick up a few little treats to celebrate our Lady's conception. For afternoon snack I served soda clear as water in honor of Mary's purity, oranges for the flames of the Holy Spirit, and yoghurt-covered pretzels that remind us of the Virgin's arms crossed in prayer. Silver and a blue-silk scarf for our statue of our Lady completed the place setting. The medieval song delighted in the palindrome of "Eva" becoming "Ave": Mary's "yes" reversed Eve's "no," just as the Latin " Eva " (Eve) spelled in reverse is " Ave " (Hail, the first word of the Angelic Salutation). So today we sing with the medievals, "Ave has come out of Eva!" Ave Fit Ex Eva!

As we have done for the past two years , I will be collecting teddy bears to donate to charity in memory of my son Joshua Michael , whose family nickname was "Joshua Bear." Last year, the bears went to Be Not Afraid Ministries , who gave them to parents experiencing a difficult pregnancy. I have emailed them to ask if they'd like more bears: if not, I will be looking for a different charity to send them to. Please let me know if you have any suggestions! If you'd like to contribute, please mail medium or smaller-size brown or beige teddy bears (please no white or pastel or colored! These are "boy" bears :) ), either new or good-as-new (they can definitely be "played with" and "handled" but they probably shouldn't be in such bad condition that a thrift store would refuse to sell them), that we can use to decorate our tree and then pass on to a good cause after the holiday season. If you have any bears you'd like to pass on to m

How to create abundance out of simplicity? That is the magic I attempt to create each Christmas. Abundance, because Christmas is about the abundance of God's blessings: symbolized by the diversity and array of the ornaments on the Christmas tree. Simplicity, because we are an American family, and material goods of every description are constantly drawn to us as though by magnetism. On the one hand, we dread being awash in piles of useless clutter that clogs the rhythmn of our lives and gluts our senses. On the other hand, we both need and desire various material goods, goods which bring a pleasure of their own and which have either a usefulness or a beauty that delights us. Navigating the pulls of both poles is the feat we attempt each holiday season. How to celebrate poverty with abundance, simplicity with festivity -- that is the paradox of preparation for Christmas. One time-tested strategy we've adopted is the Rule of Three Gifts: our little Lord Jesus only received three g

We love having parties. Typically, we try to give an open house around All Saint's Day. This past month, we combined it with hosting the first official Fairy Tale Novel Fan Forum Gathering. All our parties have the same format: we ask everyone to bring a dish, drink, snack, or dessert to share, we clean the house, and we start around noon and go on till whenever. This year we were delighted to have The Miller Sisters come and play a set in our living room (which converted to a "stage" so easily that I had hope we can do it again). It was wonderful to have our house filled with friends old and new enjoying themselves. But I have to say one of my favorite parts of hosting a party is the morning after, when we group the remnants of the food into breakfast and snacks for the lazy-day-afterwards. I stumbled upon a new way to create a buffet display during this party: I stacked our two benches atop one another and covered them with a fall-colored tablecloth. Leftover wine

Lately I've been finding evidence that our home is inhabited by fairies, as this photo proves. If you're looking for a Christmas gift for a crafting girl, don't neglect Fairies: Petal People You Can Make Yourself , a delightful Klutz book that includes a kit of fairy-making material. It was a Three King's Day present last year for one of our girls, and, as floral wire, embroidery floss and wooden beads are inexpensive, and artificial flowers are free for the picking in the ditch bordering a nearby cemetery (where windblown memorial displays routinely come to a dismal end), fairies continue to populate the recesses of our home: sometimes I discover them tattered and adventure-stained in the toybox; sometimes perched on a window, resplendent in newly-created beauty. Witness these four "fairies of the seasons": Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, who currently have taken up residence near the candleholders and flower vases on the buffet near our dining table. And

When it came time to organize that catchall-of-catchalls, the top bureau drawer of my dresser, I longed to have money to buy sleek wire organizers. But being short of cash as usual, I started using old trays and candy boxes, and lo and behold, I liked the result so much better. I just started with a stack of shallow wooden and cardboard boxes and trays. I divided the things that "live" in my top drawer into different piles, then put each pile into a box or box lid corresponding to the proper size. Then I just arranged the boxes and lids in the drawer, adding smaller boxes and trays and favorite things to fill out the space and keep things from sliding around. So the contents are (from left to right) my fall scarves, my spare eyeglass case, a hand mirror, and a wood cigar box with snack baggies of jewelry (divided up according to style and color: I am becoming my mother!). Polly's baby socks and shoes dwell in a basket and box in the middle of the drawer: below them are s

I was fascinated by this little project Clare did with her daughter: she took a bunch of broken crayons and mixed them in an old baking pan with ordinary pebbles, and put them in the oven. The crayons melted all over the rocks and made these "magic rocks" that Anastasia enjoys playing with in her sandbox. What a fun idea!

I had to interrupt this visit to Sylvan Hollow to tell you about some beautiful homemade costumes now available for sale from Our Coat of Many Colors . If you are looking for a saint's costume for All Saints Day, a Halloween costume, a Tolkien reenactment costume, or just a general dress-up outfit for your child, I encourage you to investigate the lovely garb available from this cottage industry company. Our Coat of Many Colors is run by Debbie and Maria, two friends who love costumes. As Debbie has a family member with a serious illness (please pray for him), Maria's been helping out with orders. She invited me to review their costumes, and my daughters had a hard time choosing, but finally settled on the pretty Saint Rose costume . For those of you who know Saint Rose, she ended her years living in a little hovel outside her family home, so our Saint Rose stands at the door of our playhouse. The costume includes a beautifully-trimmed blue dress (with room for a turtleneck or

Since I started this post, I've learned that Clare and Nick were blessed with the birth of little Isabel . ( Click here for the post!) So it seems fitting to post about the sweet bedroom Clare created for their daughters. I forget where Clare said she had acquired this cheerful Japanese-inspired picture of white rabbits, but she admits she created the entire bedroom color scheme around this picture: pale robin's egg blue, red, spring green, and white. IKEA provided the foundation, as Clare purchased her curtains, bedroom drapes, rug, and accessories from their children's collection, but added her own homemade touches of pillows and quilt. The changing table provides print-covered storage, and the window features a quintet of paper stained-glass cutouts made by Mommy. The salvaged bookshelf features different colored shelves and a wallpaper background to provide a happy home for fairytale-themed books and toys, and someday it might grow into a dollhouse apartment building?

Our family was recently gladdened by the return of an old friend to our area. Nick has been a favorite family friend for years, a juggler-aikido master-tea-loving Catholic with a deeply serious faith (some readers will note his resemblance to my character Paul Fester from The Midnight Dancers : it would be more proper to say that Paul Fester resembles him). Several years ago, Nick moved away, but he recently returned to our area with his bride, Clare, and little girl Anastasia. They have acquired a charming little property near our area, which Nick has appropriately dubbed Sylvan Hollow. We were delighted by a recent visit, and I wanted to share some photographs of their little cottage home, which (like ours) is a work-in-progress. Clare and Nick were enchanted by the cottage's numerous homey details, such as the shelves over each kitchen window for storing baking good and Nick's teapot collection, which sweetened the realization of how much extensive work the cottage required.

Every fall we look forward to the apple harvest: going up to Hartland Orchards and coming home with several bushels of apples. After we went this past Sunday, my husband and daughter couldn't resist plunging right into cooking and baking, even though it was a day of rest. Having said no to buying caramel apples at the orchard, my husband proceeded to create them from scratch when we got home, using sugar cooked slowly on the stove. And I decided to try my hand at apple strudel. Though I cannot make my pastry so thin that newprint can be read through it, as my Czech forebears could, my efforts were crowned with success. So were my husband's. But then again, it's difficult to ruin anything that contains lots of brown sugar, cinnamon, and fresh, tart apples.

For a long time, I've wanted to post about this secret distracting toy I use to keep my toddlers occupied, especially during conferences or retreats. When I sat in on a few classes of the truly excellent Act One writing program, I had my baby Thomas in tow. I packed toys to distract him during the five-hour classes, and this is one I always brought along. It's deceptively simple: eight satin-brocade covered rectangular and square cardboard boxes backed into a square tin: small, light, noiseless, and unbreakable, if not indestructible. (The boxes were sold as a set on Montessori Services . I found the tin on my own.) But for whatever reason, toddlers find them fascinating. The Montessori exercise, which my two-year-old is performing here, is to take the lids off the boxes, and then try to put the correct lids on each box, matching both the shape and the color of the box. She then puts them back in the box, which is a little tricky as you have to line up the squares and rectangl

I finally happened upon an issue of the revived Victoria magazine, and was delighted. After perusing a copy, I realized that here at last was a woman's magazine I could share with my growing girls. Not only because it was "safe" but because Victoria , as the magazine was originally conceived, gives girls a vision of womanhood worth aspiring to, in an age when so much that is truly feminine is denigrated and mocked. I remember sadly cancelling my subscription some years ago as the models in its pages began showing clothes that were more exploitational than gracious, and the articles seemed to be chasing after the emptiness of radical feminism and sexual liberation. It is with joy that I have rediscovered the magazine that delighted me as a teenager. I wrote immediately for a subscription, together with a letter expressing my sincere hope that the new staff of Victoria will continue to dedicate themselves to the original vision of beauty and womanhood that enliven

In the past month I've made a new friend and become acquainted with a wonderful apostolate: Abby Sasscer and Home as Haven . Abby's mission is to help Catholic homeschooling moms (or any Catholic moms) simplify and organize their lives. Since she lives in my area, I was able to take advantage of her free home assessment (she accepts a donation to cover her costs). Two weeks ago, she came to my house, went over our entire home, and made recommendations tailored to my needs. Armed with her pep talk about detachment, simplicity, and generousity, I went through all my storage (some of which hadn't been touched since we moved here three years ago) and gave away nearly two dozen garbage bags of clothes, household goods, books, and toys. What a tremendous difference it has made in our home! My husband is more content, even though most of the clutter was out of sight most of the time. I reorganized my laundry room and have even more plans to optimize it. Although Abby note

This fall we have gotten our homeschool/meeting room to a nearly-finished stage (almost all the drywall is up!) so our homeschool cabinet traveled upstairs at last. And I moved my cedar chest (which I have been refinishing for years) next to our dining room table. Coincidentally, I won an Antibes Shelf from Ballard Designs on Ebay, and it turned out to be the perfect focal point for this little spot. I moved a few favorite pieces to the area: my husband's wrought-iron lantern I bought him as a gift, a set of nesting flower bowls, an original scratchboard illuminated poem by Canadian artist Sarah Hockin, pottery glasses from our wedding, a silver tray, and my prize " real china teaset with pictures all in blue " that my children and I bought at Christmastime years ago. I spray-painted black the picture frame of an illuminated George Herbert poem by Canadian artist Sarah Hockin, and it fit perfectly. My husband was so charmed by the arrangement he made a special request

My friend Melissa Yoder Ricks has her own fibercraft business, Wildhare Fiber Studio . A Catholic convert and expert knitter and spinner, Melissa creates unique yarns and knittings while raising her large family. I was captivated by these potholders she designed in honor of Mother Teresa and our Lady. On her Etsy store, she writes: For her habit, Mother Teresa adopted a simple and inexpensive sari like those worn by the low caste Indians that she ministered to. This sari - white, with a vivid blue border - became known throughout the world, and is the inspiration for the first of the two dishclothes in this listing. The second dishcloth is knit in Trinity Stitch in varigated blue cotton yarn. Blue has traditionally stood for fidelity and purity, and is the color traditionally associated with the Virgin Mary. The nobby texture of the Trinity Stitch makes a good cloth for scrubbing. Mother Teresa believed that we are all called to service, whatever our station in life, and she embraced

Well, as is my wont, I'm already planning for Christmas (I hate shopping for gifts in December!). And right now I'm talking with my brother-in-law about the very neat playstands he made for his daughters a few Christmases ago. If you're not familiar with a Waldorf playstand , a playstand is a simple movable wooden shelf that children can use to create houses, have a little store, do a puppet show, or any other kind of imaginative play. Because most children use them to make houses or shelters of some kind, it's become popular to make simple canopy frame that fit over the tops so that older children can play in them as well. Two playstands plus a sheet makes a playhouse: and unlike the traditional playhouse, this one can morph easily into a castle, store, or cave with the addition of a little child imagination! Now that we have a playroom, I'm hoping to have a set of playstands made for our family for Christmas. My brother-in-law Mike Schmiedicke (his little on-the

Funds being what they are after fourteen years of marriage and seven energetic children, we decided to celebrate our anniversary with a grownup picnic rather than a night on the town. But thanks to Trader Joe's, (my new favorite store) we managed a rather elegant one! Brie cheese, crackers, grapes and French bread were paired with cold pre-cooked london broil (for him) and sushi wraps (for me). And you can't go wrong with TJ's famous two-buck chuck: I picked Honey Moon (appropriate title!) for sipping out of our silver wedding champagne glasses. Silver platters and linen napkins for the food packed just as nicely as paper plates and plastic. And romance was found in a half-dozen red roses and a selection of Trader Joe's gourmet chocolates. We picnicked at a local winery after hours, toasted one another under the shadow of a mountain peak and a rising moon, and brought home these leftovers and sweet memories.

My daughter on her adult-sized trike bringing the berries home. As another languid summer comes to an end, I am grateful for yet another year with my family. It is all gift. We are owed nothing.

Queen Anne, Queen Anne has washed her lace (She chose a summer's day) And hung it in a grassy place To whiten, if it may. Queen Anne, Queen Anne has left it there, And slept the dewy night; Then waked, to find the sunshine fair, And all the meadows white. Queen Anne, Queen Anne is dead and gone (She died a summer's day) But left her lace to whiten in Each weed-entangled way! by Mary Leslie Newton For more interesting facts about this lovely flower, click here.

Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots. Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills We trekked and picked until the cans were full Until the tinkling bottom had been covered With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's. We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre. But when the bath was filled we found a fur, A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache. The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour. I always felt like cr

Fruit and flowers, free gifts of the summer days... alas, coming to an end too, too soon.... This August we kept a battered basket in our entryway and made nightly strolls to collect new home decorations and fresh desserts. Even now, my children are still finding the last of the black-hued berries, and the flowers continue their riotous color in the fields.

Forgive my lapse in posting... we have been picking blackberries. The season has now almost ended, but it was our pasttime for the past weeks of languid summer evenings....

As blog readers know, I delight in colored glass containers. This is one case in which my photography skills limp pitifully behind the image I wanted to share with you. Next to my desk is an old gun case we converted to a china cabinet/bookshelf. I normally use it for displaying my silver. This summer I thought I would mix in my collection of blue glass mason jars, pink depression glass, a set of green-glass goblets my mother bought me, and my assortment of glass jars and flower vases. I really wish I had glass shelves to set off the colored glass to full advantage, or at least a better flash on my camera. :( However, it looks wonderful in real life, particularly as a mental subsitute for the sumptuous Ventetian glass chandelier I will never own.

Queen Anne's lace makes a wonderful embellishment to a girl's hair. Even a weed has a moment of grace.

My daughter, the gourmet cook, continues to come up with creative ways to decorate cakes, and I had to show off this picture of her July creation for my son's birthday: using the new Skittles Chocolate Mix , she decorated this chocolate cake. I believe her method was this: she first did a row around the edge of the cake of Skittles ranging them from dark to light over and over again. Then she began a new row inside but shifted every color over one step. "It makes it look like a snail shell," she said. Allow me to gush: isn't she creative?

Not being a gourmet cook like my eleven-year-old, I tend to buy basic spices that come in large 99-cent jars from the dollar store. But of course I can't stand having the jars on my counter. So some time ago I started collecting empty Trader Joe's balsalmic vinegar jars. I love the shape and the cork stoppers. I find they're wonderful for spices: the narrow neck takes the place of a shaker top. I do have a set of shakers for smaller spices I picked up at a flea market. I have them arranged on an IKEA shelf that has been with us since the early days of our marriage. Someday, I will get custom made labels for my spices from one of those custom-made label places, but for now I'm happy with a permanent marker, even though it does wipe off.

I admit, I love silver and I love dishes on pedestals. I was first introduced to the beauty of pedestals at a homey hole-in-the-wall pizzeria, where the pizza was served on pedestals so that even six diners could gather around the restarant's diminuitive tables to eat. I actually own one restaurant pedestal, bought from a diner going-out-of business. I happened upon the other two in separate thrift stores: they cost about $8.00 each. Right now I don't use them very often, but they always stay on my counter. Alas, the glass cake stand I blogged about has met its demise, but its top remains with us, at least as of this blogging, as you can see from the photo above.

I'm glad I managed to finish the purse before the end of the summer! I have to say, I think it turned out pretty well. The bright colors are uplifting to me now, and I have hopes of carrying this purse into the fall. And because to the button-on cover, I can change it again for another look later on. :) Thanks for those of you who were following my little project: it's wonderful to be able to chalk it up as: done!

I have to say I'm becoming very fond of the book series that my friend Ben Hatke is doing with my other friend Neal Lozano . I just received their third book in the mail, and it's gorgeous, with a cover that reminds me of summertime. If you're not familiar with the books, visit the site to see their trilogy of books, Will You Bless Me? and Can God See Me in the Dark? Gently ecumenical in text but thoroughly Catholic in sensibility, these hardcover books with their handsome typesetting would be wonderful gifts for the children in your life. Enjoy!

I had the honor of attending the funeral of Thom and Marc Girard on July 5th, and when I went up, I presented the family with a spiritual bouquet of prayers from the teens on the Fairy Tale Novel Forum (Marc was a member). The night before, I was inspired to create a bouquet card out of paper to present the bouquet. It was fairly simple: I printed out the prayer promises from each of the members (for example, five rosaries and two Masses) in a decorative font in blocks of four to a 8.5x11" sheet of paper. On the reverse side, I printed out images from the comprehensive J.W. Waterhouse site of ladies and girls gathering flowers. I rolled each piece of paper into a cone, and put them into a larger cone I made out of card stock. It took a little bit of fixing to get them to all stay inside nicely (I recommend pushing them down as far as possible) but with some care they made a nice-looking, if fragile, bouquet. I attached a ribbon to the cone with floral wire to finish. Thanks to

I loved that boy so much.

Marc Girard, 18, looked like your ordinary Catholic teenager. But he was not. He had a Facebook page. He was a part of the Fairy Tale Novel Forum (even though, like most guys, he hadn't read the books :) ). He was careless about spelling. He hated having his picture taken. His avatar was a man making funny faces. To his four younger siblings and to most of his friends, I am sure he sometimes seemed very ordinary. Even though he took his Catholic faith seriously, and sometimes challenged his high school friends on different issues. His friend Paul Ethier was surprised when Marc told him that he was planning to join the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate , who had a friary near the Girard home in Griswold, CT. Marc was accepted as a postulant, and was going to join the Maine, NY friary in August. The Girard family had been through a lot. Last year they suffered two hardships in a row: first, their home burned down. The only thing in Marc's room that survived the fire was his pi