~~~Life´s journey and connections~~~

Resweater- great giveaway: win a funky sweater-hat

Kris at Resweater is having a giveaway of one free sweater from her shop or a funky hat (made from repurposed sweaters): http://resweater.blogspot.com/2010/11/resweater-giveaway-hat-or-sweater.html
Thanks for the chance to win and the fun!

Giveaway on Herbal Roots Zine

Herbal Roots Zine is having a great giveaway of a Pomegranate.com Produkt- a set of cards:

"Today, I am excited to offer up a pack of the Herbs and Medicinal Plants Knowledge Cards! These cards are a deck of 48 “beautiful nineteenth-century botanical illustrations…accompanied by text describing the appearances and uses of the plant – introduce readers to a range of natural remedies, from golden seal to St. John’s wort.”

List of cards:
basil, bay, burdock, calamus, camphor, castor bean, chamomile, clove, coltsfoot, comfrey, dandelion, echinacea, elder, elecampane, evening primrose, foxglove, golden seal, horehound, horse chestnut, juniper, lavender, lemon balm, licorice, lobelia, marshmallow, meadow saffron, motherwort, nettle, parsley, plantain, pennyroyal, poke, rhubarb, rosemary, rue, sage, sarsaparilla, scullcap, senna, shepherd’s purse, st. john’s wort, tansy, thyme, turmeric, valerian, wintergreen, witch hazel and yarrow."

http://www.herbalrootszine.com/2010/11/giveaway-monday-herbs-and-medicinal-plants-knowledge-cards/comment-page-1/#comment-4245

Resweater: Resweater giveaway!!!!

I feel bad that i've been neglecting my blog, especially with all the new readers :( I have been preparing for the Fiber In The Park show next weekend, so I haven't been posting any new tutorials. I promise i'll get something up after the show. Until then, so you don't get bored ;), i'll have a giveaway for any 1 sweater from my shop (or even in my inventory, if you have a specific color in mind that I don't have listed). Even the cashmere is included!

via resweater.blogspot.com

Kris from "Reuse, Recycle, Resweater" is giving away a sweater of your choice from her blog. I got sweaters from her shop once so far - awesome!!! Be sure to visit her shop: http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&sc_id=16586&seller_id=15159&op=new

Mama’s Herbal Soaps Giveaway – TheOrganicSister

Mama’s Herbal Soaps came into being over a decade ago inspired by my Great Grandmother ‘Mama’ and her love of soap making and nature, my childhood which was spent running wild and free in the forest, and my overwhelming desire to be at home with my children.

via theorganicsister.com

Organic Sister and Mama´s Herbal
Soaps are having a giveaway- be sure to join! If I could pick from their shop, I would get a hemp bag for hanging the soap in the shower and scrubbing your body and the Chai Tea Soap Bar or the Tea Tree Rosemary and Mint Bar!
http://theorganicsister.com/2010/09/mamas-herbal-soaps-giveaway/
The shop:
http://mamasherbalsoaps.com/oursoaps.htm

Autumn atmosphere

I´m working and reading (for my thesis) at a friend´s house south of Munich, can see the Alps from my window and "Zugspitze" from the balcony and several lakes are nearby. Lots of different birds can also be watched. Yesterday I saw a blindworm on the patio and some days ago a hedgehog was visiting me while I was reading down in the garden... We collect wild apples falling down from the tree and make aplesauce from them and put them in cereal and in salads.Great surroundings here- would love to live here for a longer time and experience the seasons changing.

And, it´s a pity I don´t have a camera here to take pics...

Enjoy autumn!

Viola

Great online magazine!

Rhythm of the Home, a great online magazine, just came out with its autumn issue. Check it out- it´s as rich in ideas and articles as autumn is abundant in fruit and colours and things to harvest! And, they are having a great giveaway!
www.rhythmofthehome.com

And another earth day giveaway: Little Acorn Learning is giving away a free May Childcare Guide:

http://eileensplace.blogspot.com/2010/04/earth-day-giveaway-free-may-childcare.html

Thanks so much!

... giveaway forum: earth day! - imaginechildhood.com | Blog

via blog.imaginechildhood.com

"Imaginechildhood" (http://blog.imaginechildhood.com) is having a giveaway for the 40th anniversary of Earth-Day! Awesome stuff for exploring nature and saving our planet as well. They also sell a variety of great thins in their shop: http://store.imaginechildhood.com

Thanks so much for that opportunity and your giving!

Wooden spring toy giveaway by a fellow German now living in the US

Garden Mama is having a another great giveaway-  Angela, who crafts these awesome toys, grew up in Germany and is now living in the US! Thanks to both of you for that awesome giveaway- my fav are the rootchildren!!!

Aren´t they just wonderful?

That´s the three part giveaway- bird, tree and sheep- just gorgous!

Colours Of Enfys: Nearly Easter

"Enfys" is Welsh for "Rainbow". It is pronounced "Enn-viss.I love Rainbows and lots of colour. You can see this in my work which is designing and writing crochet patterns which I sell on my site "Rainbow Valley ".I also do a whole load of other crafts and decided a blog was the right place to bring them all together, especially as they constantly overlap in real life.

via cwmenfys.blogspot.com

Colours of Enfys is having a Nearly Easter Giveaway: you can win three handmade egg warmers in the shape of cute animals...Thanks!!!

GardenMama- another great "Welcome spring"-giveaway

Spring is threatening to leave here in Stuttgart again- well, not really, but we had a drop in temperature from 8-15 Celsius back to 0. Flowers are out already (snowdrops, wolfsbane and crocuses) and we are supposed to have snow again tomorrow...-we will see! Maybe more spring anticipation activity will help....-

There it is:
Thanks to GardenMama  and Stephanie from Stitching in Striped Socks  there is another "Welcome Spring"-Giveaway at GardenMama´s blog: a crayon apron for kids...-sweat, beautiful- and soo functional and clever! Thanks so much!

Update on "One small change", looking back on January (family cloth), and combined two projects for February/March (natural self-made cleaning and washing/hygiene supplies and reusing furniture)

Just to update you on my "small changes". Sorry I´m so way back with telling you about it- the last months were very turbulent and with lots of movement- I moved from Berlin to Stuttgart in Germany and started Waldorf teacher training.

How worked my family cloth project? Well, pretty much the way I wanted it to work from the start in January.

Only problem was to have enough cloth available, and I ran out at the beginning and ordered more from a WHAM at Etsy. The cloth I got are great, but I still run out and have to install a washing routine...But, I could keep it up at my new appartment with a new flatmate!

For February and March I did not divide it up into two months, because I had to start from the beginning at the new place and decided to leave my cleaning stuff behind in Berlin and do natural selfmade cleaning in Stuttgart. Thus, I ordered Borax, Olive natural soap, baking soda and washing soda via Internet and gathered recipes for self-made deodorant, washing detergent, cleaning,....

I got my ingredients all together and have to start mixing and using them pretty soon.

The other project for February/March (I moved February 14th) was not buying new furniture, but using/recycling what was already in the posession of my brother/parents or get stuff from freecycle.

This was pretty successfull, I got a writing desk (sturdy wood) from my parents, which used to be my brother´s when he was in school and a sturdy wooden bed for free from freecycle. I got a little foldable cupboard and lots of kitchen supplies as well. I just did not have the money to buy new stuff, wanted to use what was already there and not needed by the people storing it, plus- I will have to move at the end of June again and don´t know what will be there in the new appartment. Thus, buying new stuff did not make sense as well.

I´m pretty happy with the outcome of this reusing project!

I will update you at the end of March about my progress with natural self-made cleaning supplies and post some recipes...

Till then,

all the Best from Stuttgart, Germany,

Viola.

Welcome Spring!

I moved to Stuttgart two weeks ago from Berlin. When I got here, we had heavy snowfalls. Now the snow is gone and the first flowers started blooming: First snowdrops, then winter aconite/ wolfsbane and then the first crocuses....Today we have sun and a spring-storm! My heart gets so light with spring arriving (in Berlin they are about four weeks "behind", still ice and sludge...)-new beginning.

Garden Mama is also welcoming spring at her blog with a five part giveaway by her sponsor Linda from "Mamma4Earth-Waldorf inspired farm animals", who says about herself:

"I love creating Waldorf inspired toys from natural wool, yarn, fiber and wood.  My children have been my inspiration and I think that homeschooling them with a Waldorf philosophy has also brought about a tremendous shift towards all that is natural and sustainable within our home.  I really enjoy the creative process of designing and making a treasured toy that will be sent out into the world across the ocean from South Africa for someone to hold and love."

The spring giveaway consists of:

  

handmade wooden spring-themed figures (easter eggs, chicken, rabbit, squirrel)

 

AND   

a wonderful handknitted Easter Rabbit made from handspun angora yarn! 

Thanks so much for this wonderful spring-celebrating giveaway!!!

Two awesome giveaways

Today I want to share two giveaways with you:

One is done by GardenMama

She hosts a giveaway from the crafter Samantha and introduces her like that:

"Please give a warm welcome to Samantha! The artist behind the online shop Pipodoll! Samantha is a snow-loving Canadian girl living in California. An artist,wife and mother who loves all things creative and especially handmade. Samantha sells her work through Etsy. and will share with us today a bit more about herself and her artwork. Samantha will also be giving away a handmade gnome as well as one of her very sweet art prints!" 

                                   The magical gnomes are wonderful - as is her painting ....

                            Thanks so much!

The second giveaway is hosted by Suzanne of Blueberry Cottage.

She celebrates her 300+ blog post and wants to thank her readers in a special way: She is giving a way two books: "Steady days" and "The kitchen linen´s book". Each book comes with a vintage apron from her collection- what a great bundle!

Thanks a lot, Suzanne and Happy Anniversary!

Life More Simply

The owner of this blog is mother of her daughter LoveBug born in October 2008 and is expecting another one in July 2010 (keeping fingers crossed). She works as a Coordinator of Program Activities for a day habilitation program for adults with developmental disabilities, as well as part time as a paramedic and also teaches private music lessons. Wow- lots of work apart from caring for a toddler and keeping a household and marriage. They breastfeed, co-sleep, cloth diaper, and "love every moment of it". I like to follow her blog, because I think she has a lot of humour as well (in the part of "about me"):

"When I grow up, I now want to have my own business and stay at home with my family while home schooling my amazing offspring. I hope to grow up any day now, because I really want to be home with my daughter."

I also want to grow up fast (I´m 32 now, so I had to smile at that part...)!

"I have a bachelor of science degree in psychology and therapeutic recreation. I'm also skilled in a variety of other areas including music, drama, art, medicine/health, communication, design, and sleeping. My husband and I often wonder if college was worth the loans. The debate is still out."

Also something I can connect to- about to finish my Master´s degree and not knowing if it was worth all the effort with the lousy job possibilities around right now...

I also can recommend the blog because they are featured products and giveaways from time to time, like a special contest right know for Valentine´s day including a number of artists and products to win... Thank you!

Bin gerade auf dieses Gedicht von Friedrich Hölderin (1770-1843) gestossen (zum wiederholten Mal) und will es einfach mal teilen:

Die Linien des Lebens

Die Linien des Lebens sind verschieden,

Wie Wege sind, und wie der Berge Grenzen.

Was hier wir sind, kann dort ein Gott ergänzen,

mit Harmonien und ewigen Lohn und Frieden.

Moon

CURRENT MOON moon phase

I could not resist....

It was impossible...

When I had seen it on Life More Simply´s Blog  I just had to share it...

What I´m talking about? -The trailer of the movie "Babies" (starting in the US in April 2010)- I don´t know if it will come to Europe at all- but I HOPE so much it will.

I really like it´s "world-wide approach".

Here it is:

Now- what do YOU think?

Craft Hope for Haiti

Lots of blog posts about Haiti in the last days...

Thinking of all these people there, especially the ones having lost loved ones, makes me feel sad and helpless. It needed a catastrophe  like that for us to remember them and there´s lots of other tragedies going on in other countries we normally don´t hear about in the News. And, because of the situation in Haiti being very bad already for the last years, the earthquake hit them like such a desaster now.

I read several posts on Haiti in the last days, comparing ways to help and gather information. I found out about Troy and Tara Livesay, missionaries serving in Haiti, having a big family and keeping a journal on their blog. They list the two ministries they serve- one of them has a paypal option for donations and asks every person to give 5$. Then, the Livesays recommend Doctors Without Borders, because the medical situation is so bad.

Linda from Prairie Flower Farm also blogged about the Livesays.

And I really liked Molly´s approach of A Foothill Home Companion - she started crocheting little hearts to donate to the Craft Hope Etsy Store.

Jade Sims founded Craft Hope.  She says its a "faith-based, love inspired project designed to share handmade crafts with those less fortunate".

Craft Hope recently opened an Etsy shop for helping Haiti! They sell wonderful handmade items  donated by crafters! The whole proceedings go to Doctors without Borders. So far they have 19 items listed. Some of them you can see here:

Etsy Buy Handmade violaho

On the Craft Hope site they ask you:

"Please support Doctors Without Borders by either donating a handmade item or shopping in our Etsy store.Our Etsy shop will benefit Doctors Without Borders, with 100% of the proceeds going to them. The medical need in Haiti right now is acute. The Doctors Without Borders existing facilities are so badly damaged, they are no longer functional. Post-earthquake medical care will be from tents. So far they have treated 1,500 people – 500 of them need immediate major surgery. There are no facilities to do this in Haiti currently. An inflatable hospital should be arriving in Haiti today. The shop will remain open as long as we have donations to fill it up! Thanks to everyone for spreading a little hope to those in Haiti."

So, I think there is something to do for helping for everybody- be it praying, knitting, chrocheting, crafting, donating money or being in the position to help in Haiti in person!!!

You are Ron Weasley!

Which HP Kid Are You?

via pages.prodigy.net

Just found this test somewhere on the net. As I read all the Harry Potter books (in English, of course...), I decided to go forward and try it and it was fun!