handmade goodness & no, not all of the knit variety...;)

as i mentioned in my last post, we are currently knee deep in homeschooling & lovin' it!
for one thing, it gives me an outlet to do all the projects & try all the cool recipes that i clip out of magazines... ;)

last week, for baking day we wanted to make come candied lemon & orange peels.  well, you eat the oranges of course, but then how to get to the lemon peels w/out wasting the 'meat'.  orin's bright idea was to make lemonade!

so, homemade lemonade it was...

while the boys were mixing up the lemonade, i started on the candied orange & lemon peels...

first you boil them for a good 20 min or so...

we didn't really go for the lemon peels, but the orange peels were delish! ;)

*side note: i rolled them in sugar, as directed, but then brushed them off a bit.  perfect!*

for our handwork project, we made a super cool bug house/critter cage.

i had a few pages from magazines & books, but none seemed right for us.  we wanted one that we could keep out caterpillars & crickets in, but that would also house the toads & other smallish critters that frequent our yard.

so, we winged it...

using some scrap wood, a bit of metal screening that we had leftover from another project & a few hooks...  the boys LOVE it, but now they each want their own! 

our first 'resident' the eastern tent caterpillar...

looks like we'll be making 3 more this week, along with a couple extras for a few friends whose birthdays are coming up. ;)

now for the craftiness...

this lot i call 'a taste of honey', as that is what this colorway reminds me of... 

also working on a 'pebble' in this colorway...

here are the 'everyday gray' mini mitts i mentioned in my last post...

all of those are for the 'heritage festival' coming up october 1st.

next i had a custom order from *my mom*! ;) she requested another waldorf ball & doll gift set for a friend's baby shower...

and lastly, i had another custom order this week from a local mama.  she requested a custom set of eco-friendly, kid sized napkins for each of her daughters. 

they attend public school & bring *waste free* lunches each day.  she thought that a set of reusable cloth napkins would be the cherry on top!

each napkin is made from upcycled fabrics which makes for a ooak (on of a kind) set, as well as an even greater "ode to mother earth"...

each napkin measures ~7sq" & is made from either 100% cotton (or) a cotton/linen blend.

and what lovelies have you been working on this week??

xo