Valentines Day meets Candlemas

Irritatingly enough, Candlemas/Imbolc doesn't really correspond to a holiday celebrated widely in US culture. Valentines Day is about as close as it gets. But, Valentines is closer than you might think in terms of symbolism.

Like most modern witches, I don't live an agricultural life, so the gestation process of ewes celebrated by Imbolc is not so relevant to my experience of the season rooted in my locale. Early February is cold here, and grey. The promise of rebirth is still hidden. The symbolism of spare, wintry decor, plus candles and kindling fires resonates. The importance of focusing on loving relationships also resonates. Not in term of greeting card romance and shiny gift-giving, but in terms of the sort of warmth that comes of caring relationships with family and friends. The heart theme of Valentines Day makes seasonal sense to me both in terms of valuing relational warmth during a cold time and also because both the color red and the symbolic link between the heart and the element of fire point to the themes commonly celebrated by Pagans between winter solstice and the spring equinox.

In this spirit, I made this crazily simple heart ornament. The wooden ornament itself was picked up on clearance after the winter holidays. Making this ornament involved just a few steps. First, I painted the heart a dark, cool espresso brown. Once it was completely dry, I painted the heart red. Using a light touch, I let some of the brown show through. Vintage sheet music was torn into a heart shape and glued on. The whole thing was lightly sanded to add a bit more tattered wear.

Transitioning winter décor

The Christmas-Solstice tree and sundry other bits and bobs came down at the end of the 12 days of Christmas. It can be such a challenge to figure out how decorate between the end of the holiday season and Candlemas/Imbolc. This year, I am choosing simple and spare- mirroring the pared-down nature of the landscape at this time of year. The pinecone garlands from my pinecone garland tutorial are still up. My paperwhite bulbs have died out, but a new set are growing. I still have evergreen branches pruned from my yard arranged in an antique enamel pitcher. My mantel/altar is very white and spare, with the silver and mercury glass of the holiday season tucked away. For now I am filling the open spaces with creative expression, room to breathe and fresh ideas.

Rosemary Tree Fail

This year I got sucked into buying one of those rosemary bushes trimmed into a Christmas-tree sort of shape. They are such cute little topiaries. And they smell wonderful. And I had dreams of planting the rosemary in the garden come spring. But it is not even the solstice yet, and already the rosemary is pretty much dead. The poor wee tree has been replaced by paperwhite narcissus. Here is the rosemary tree in all its glory (weeks ago):

RIP
I get the feeling that the rosemary doesn't like living in a house, nor being pruned into an unnatural shape. Poor thing!

Tree ornaments from my garland leftovers

Having wooden hearts and pinecones left over from my garland making extravaganza, and always having things like hemp twine, wire and needlenose pliers in my crafty stash, I whipped up some simple ornaments for our tree this year:

More on the tree as a whole later!

Super fun nature-oriented meditation tool

This is a genius idea, and with a drill and a miter saw, totally reproducible. The nature collage art frame is sold by Magic Cabin for wee ones, but I think it is a creative meditation tool for nature lovers of all ages (cleverly disguised as a kids' toy).

Love it. So on my To Do list.

How to Make a Pinecone Garland

Being totally enchanted by the photos of pinecone garlands circulating on Pinterest it became absolutely essential that I create my own version. Apparently my fondness for pinecones knows few bounds this season as I actually made two, quite different, versions of a pinecone garland. Pinecones are a natural to go with the evergreens that most of us bring indoors at Yule. They are rich in symbolism from fertility to eternal life to the sacred geometry found in the arrangement of their petals.

Regardless of the style of garland you choose to make, the first step is the same: prepare the pinecones for indoor living. Pinecones are outdoor things, complete with the bugs and sap that are natural to their outdoorsy nature. But fond of the outdoors as one may be, bugs and sap in the house are unfun. Baking will kill any bugs and crystallize the sap. So:

1) Turn the oven to no higher than 220F.
2) Cover a baking sheet in tin foil and spread pinecones on sheet
3) Bake until the sap has melted completely—30 minutes or more (quite a lot more in my case)
4) Remove from oven and allow to cool fully before doing anything more with them.

Life-or-death note: Do not leave the oven unattended. The baking pinecones will fill your kitchen with a lovely pine scent, but lest they decide to fill your kitchen with smoke and flames, keep an eye on them. If they start smoking, take them out of the oven!

My Garland #1: I collected the long, skinny pinecones that are on my mantle with my sisters and niece over Thanksgiving. These pinecones have little stems on their butts, so making the garland was as simple as tying them to hemp twine at regular intervals. That’s it. Garland made.

My Garland #2: I had the elongated hardwood hearts in my craft stash, and I wanted short, fat pinecones as a contrasting shape—which I found at the dollar store. So un-green of me, I know. Sometimes one just has to put aesthetics first.

Materials: Pine cones, solid wooden heart cutouts (not plywood), hemp twine, small eye screws (in the fastener isle at Home Depot), electric drill, pliers

1) Drill holes through the tops of the hearts and the butts of the pinecones using a drill bit that is just slightly smaller than the eyescrews.

2) Screw in eyescrews, using pliers if needed

3) Paint wooden hearts with a watered down wash of white acrylic craft paint and allow to dry. Water the paint down enough that you can still see the natural grain of the wood.

4) Optional: Seal hearts with beeswax & olive oil wood polish

5) Tie eyescrews to hemp twine at regular intervals, alternating hearts with ‘cones.

I didn’t use either of these garlands on my Yuletide tree, but you certainly could. I bet it would be very cute.

Pinecones for natural holiday decor

Pinecones are easily found outdoors in a lot of areas. And if not where you live, they are usually cheap to buy this time of year at a craft store, the dollar store, etc. While wintry, they are natural and simple and don't scream any certain holiday, so they are the sort of thing that might work out in a household with multiple religious traditions or to keep up for a longer stretch of winter. I love the pattern and depth of the (what are the individual leaf thingys called?) and I have been feverishly collecting photos of seasonal decor since being introduced to My New Best Friend, Pinterest, so here are some pinecone favorites:

Source: hegegreenall-scholtz.blogspot.com via Christy on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via pam on Pinterest

Source: johner.com via Cici on Pinterest

Source: twigandthistle.com via Mary on Pinterest

Super simple fall decoration

I am a believer in decorating my home to mark and honor the seasons of nature and I love to bring in simple, natural things to do that whenever possible. I also keep my autumn decorations up until Thanksgiving has passed. Now that we are into November, and the Halloween gear has been packed away, I want to share a couple of the simplest (laziest?) bits of fall décor that have been hanging out in the Little Victorian.

The white ceramic leaf bowl was made by my great grandmother and passed down. The acorns are solid wood from http://www.craftparts.com/ and are buffed with my own homemade beeswax based polish.

When using real acorns instead for indoor purposes, I generally crack a few open to check for grubs. The real thing can get dry and dull looking, so they can also benefit from a natural polish.

The simplest of fall décor! I lovelovelove the colors of dried Indian corn from the farmers’ market. Simple, inexpensive and pretty, dried Indian corn is popular for a reason.

Here I’ve tied a little bundle of three ears up with silk habotai ribbon that I hand dyed a pale golden color. Neko, the tiny grey cat, is helping.

Fall vignettes

With grad school starting I've failed to post in months, but I have still been devouring all my favorite blogs. And of course I decorated for the season. Here are a couple of the decorated nooks in the little Victorian:

The dining room/library mantel with the recycled felt leaf garland that I made one crafternoon in October to keep company with other seasonal elements-- a little harvest figure and a bundle of red leaves tucked into a vintage mason jar.

The peninsula between the kitchen and (what we use as) the living room: The wooden box, now piled high with farmers' market goodies, and the cast iron hand were $1 finds from two different yard sales! In the background is a vintage postcard garland collected over the years and a little fall garland made of fabric scraps and hemp twine.