second ostheimer giveaway...

i wanted to start this week's ostheimer giveaway opportunity on friday (rather than saturday) to give everyone a chance to join in. i will still be closing the comments on monday evening at 9:00pm CST to announce the winner, i just wanted to give everyone an additional day...especially because of the holiday festivities today. so again, all you need to do to enter is leave a comment in this post sometime before monday evening at 9:00pm CST for a chance to win this week's vintage ostheimer giveaway!

and this week's ostheimer giveaway is the standing purple knight!

good luck everyone!

yours in sharing some more ostheimer love,

shelley

peace on earth...

deepak chopra and david simon led their second 'global peace meditation' yesterday. a one-hour worldwide mediation for peace, harmony and love on the planet. hundreds of participants with deepak and david in california...were joined by thousands more meditators around the globe. with the collective intention of creating peace in the world. and peace within.

in this time of choice for our country, i hope we all look within. and unite together, as one, with the vision and intention of peace for our country and our world...

felted dove of peace and olive branch made by my dear friend, becky, over at the singing bird

yours in visualizing world peace,

shelley

more pumpkins...

pumpkin patch...

on a recent visit to the pumpkin patch, maya found this very interesting gourd. my my, nature is truly amazing...is she not? what a joyous autumn season we are enjoying. we hope you are, too!

yours in wonder of nature,

shelley

and the winner is...

commenter #7, stephanie!  

congratulations on winning this first week's giveaway, stephanie! please email me with your mailing address and i'll send this ostheimer purple riding knight and gold horse off to you.  enjoy!  

i want to thank everyone for participating in this week's giveaway and leaving such wonderful and thoughtful comments! what a pleasure it was to see some old friends here and to also 'meet' some new friends. please come back again and join me for this week's giveaway (week #2), beginning on saturday and ending on monday!

yours in the joy of giving,

shelley

ostheimer knights and a giveaway...

when i began my ostheimer collecting years ago, some of the first pieces i bought were the knights and the knight's horses. my older girls were particularly fond of castles and kings and queens and knights and princesses and all the things that go along with that world. and many a day was spent building kingdoms and villages and towns in which numerous elaborate scenes were taking place. a few years pass, my son is born and in the following years...a resurgence of kingdoms and castles begins in earnest. so naturally, a couple of more knights and horses joined our collection.

old-style ostheimer knights and horses

(with kinderkram castle pieces)

fast forward 14 years. maya is born and after a few years of having only teenagers in the house...i begin to bring out, clean and polish our beloved ostheimer toys in preparation for maya to enjoy. as well as dream of the new ones we will add throughout her childhood years on special days of celebration. this is when i learn that the style of these ostheimer knights and horses has changed and the older ones (which i love) are no longer in production. they are only making the new style now (which i'm not as crazy about).

purple riding knight and gold horse, purple standing knight

my mission begins. the search is on. i put the word out there in various and sundry places and believe it or not, i eventually locate and purchase all of the older style knights and horses known to man. now, this became somewhat of a laughing matter around our house as more and more knights and horses continued to arrive. but you see - at that point, i was committed. what else could i do? but now, i know. the reason is clear. very clear. because now i can share some of these vintage ostheimer knights and horses with you, my dear friends. spreading the ostheimer love!

blue standing knight, blue riding knight and red horse

so, for the next 4 weeks...i will be giving away the old style knights and horses you see in the pictures above. either one riding knight and horse. or one standing knight. this first week's giveaway will be the purple riding knight and gold horse. (now, mind you, these are not new ostheimer figures. they have been gently enjoyed by my children and lovingly cared for over the years.) each giveaway will begin on saturday morning. to enter, all you need to do is make a comment in the post. then i'll close the comments on monday evening at approximately 9:00pm CST and shortly after that...announce the winner. so here's to all you ostheimer lovers out there. enjoy!

 

yours in sharing some ostheimer love,

shelley

maya's room...

here are some framed prints that hang in maya's room. they are by ruth elsasser, my favorite waldorf-inspired german artist...

yours in appreciating beautiful art,

shelley

maya...

my sweet maya meadow, what a joy it is to be your mama. you are a bright light, a boundless spirit of pure love and abundance. i love spending every single day with you...

yours in everlasting gratitude,

mama

elves and gnomes...

elf and rooster

gnome, mouse and felted mushrooms

(mushrooms made by haddy2dogs)

bedroom wall...

here are a couple of favorites that hang on our bedroom wall...

sun musicbox

woodland princess print in wooden frame

yours in seeing the beauty around me,

shelley

pentatonic music...

pentatonic music and songs (based on the pentatonic scale which has five notes, instead of the usual seven) are used in waldorf schools up until 3rd grade - when, according to waldorf pedagogy, children have developed an inner emotional life that makes the major and minor scales more appropriate for them. one beautiful and important aspect of the pentatonic scale is that all notes harmonize with one another. and therefore only harmonic sounds are made when children are playing instruments and improvising together or alone. additionally, pentatonic music has the characteristic of going on and on without having an ending note, which encourages the young child to stay in that dreamy, wondrous, imaginative state. here are a few of our well loved pentatonic instruments that we so enjoy...

little lyre

kinderlyre (that i've had for 20 years)

lyre tuning tool

xylophone from germany

yours in beautiful pentatonic harmony,

shelley

take a seat...

there is a maple theme around my house (as if you couldn't tell that already). i adore maple. as i'm sure i've said before, it's my favorite wood. and we have a lot of things in our house made from maple. here are three of my favorite chairs in our home - all maple. so take a seat with me and sit a spell...

maya's highchair (made by papi)

my favorite rolling desk chair

our kitchen counter stools

yours in taking a seat,

shelley

felted boxes...

a few people asked so i wanted to show you what we use the felted boxes for - our block beeswax crayons. these beautiful felted boxes were custom made for me by my friend, leah (kneek), over at spider felt. i specifically asked for these color combinations so we could separate our stockmar block crayons into these four color groupings - reds/oranges, yellows, greens/blues, purples/violets. they are quite a handy way to store the crayons and make clean up a breeze. and didn't leah do a wonderful job?  thanks, leah!

yours in felted goodness,

shelley

sit a spell...

i'm joining my creative blogging friends, amanda and stefani, and taking a few photos for their new 'sit a spell' group. come on over and join us! do you have a favorite sitting spot? here are a few of mine...

a cup of tea at the kitchen table

our daily creative time

a cozy knitting spot

yours in sitting a spell with my friends,

shelley

golden october...

it's golden in the tree tops,

it's golden in the sky

it's golden, golden, golden

october passing by.

i shake the trees

and blow my tune

ho, ho...the leaves

will be dancing soon!

yours in golden october,

shelley

beanbags...

we've been enjoying some play and exercises with beanbags lately. singing or saying verses as we toss the bags back and forth. they are perfect for encouraging rhythm, hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness. our movements being a mixture of purposeful large and small gestures to develop fine and gross motor skills. which, in the waldorf pedagogy, are considered the foundation for writing and reading. balance is also an important pre-literary skill, and maya is especially loving the challenge of balancing a beanbag on her head while walking.

i made these little bean bags years ago using some cloth we had dyed in the kindergarten. i used dried navy beans to fill them.  and then colorful embroidery thread, using the blanket stitch, to sew the seams. i loved the way they turned out and they are still holding up just fine after years of play.

yours in beanbag fun,

shelley

my first ostheimer...

i was inspired by maike's question in the comments from my last post...to take a picture of the very first ostheimer figures i ever purchased, and here they are:

rider, horse for rider and farmer's wife

i bought these 3 figures more than 20 years ago, in the little waldorf school store...the very first time i went to our one and only waldorf school here in texas (austin). it was in the kindergarten there that i was overcome by a deep connection and feeling of reverence that i had never felt before. i knew right then and there that waldorf was my path. that i was to be a waldorf mama. and i have been connected to this waldorf way ever since that day. these 3 little figures represent that moment of discovery, that moment of 'rebirth' for me. and they will always be cherished. as are all of the ostheimer figures and treasures we have collected and loved since then.

yours in ostheimer memories,

shelley

ostheimer love...

well, i'm not sure how it happened...but somehow i just now, as of yesterday, discovered soulemama's ostheimer flickr group. i have no idea how i've missed this up until now? but i guess it doesn't really matter. at least, i've found it. and let me just say...i plan on being a top contributor. if you didn't know this about me already, i am a huge ostheimer fan. and have been collecting these beautiful german-made wooden toys for over 20 years now. that's right. 20 years. and i'm still adding new treasures every christmas, every birthday, and many other special occasions. these ostheimer toys are, by and large, the most quintessential waldorf toys made. and i'll venture to say they can be found in every single waldorf school across the globe. each figure is carefully and lovingly crafted and painted by hand. each an individual work of art. and the lovely ostheimer family have owned and operated their family business in germany for more than 50 years now. speaking to just how great their commitment is, here is a wonderful quote from their catalog: 'our hand-crafted wooden toys are invented and created out of love for the children, because we realize that children have individual needs to develop themselves and that they need beauty and purity. our materials, colour, design and the manufacturing by hand take into account these realizations.' no doubt i'm a devoted supporter of their efforts, their cause and their beautiful toys. so you've been warned. many, many more ostheimer pictures to come!

red riding hood, the hunter and the wolf

handheld musicbox ~ 'weisst du wieviel sternlein'

elves and foxes

yours in devoted ostheimer love,

shelley

silk...

new silk yarn in a specific colorway that a customer requested. wow, do i love knitting my hats in this beautiful silk. each and every one is a joy to make. and i always dream of how the baby will feel with this luxuriously soft yarn next to his or her skin!

yours in silk love,

shelley

fall treasures...

here are a few little fall treasures we're enjoying inside to help us celebrate the coming of the change of seasons outside...

three little autumn dwarves

a wooden mushroom

a willow catkin baby, made by ruprecht

yours in welcoming the coming autumn,

shelley

more color...

from around our home...

dress up corner

goethe's color wheel

a very carefully prepared lunch for mama

basket of silks

yours in more beautiful color,

shelley

lighting a candle...

~ for lizz and her family ~

this is a verse we use as a parting verse, but i find it

especially appropriate today for a dear friend

going through a difficult transition...

around the kitchen...

a few friends have made some nice comments about some of the wooden things in my kitchen (from my breakfast photos below) so i thought i'd post a couple of more of my favorites - our sugar box and salt cellar. most of the things we have are made of maple (my favorite wood), including our floors, cabinets, beds and nightstands. maya's playstands and cupboard, as well as our shelving and dressers, are made of pine. i prefer the lighter-colored, naturally modern, scandinavian type wood as i feel most connected to it. there is really something so special and comforting about wood. as it holds that organic spirit that all things that have lived hold... 

yours in wooden goodness,

shelley