Showing posts with label autumn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label autumn. Show all posts

Thursday, 14 March 2013

Easter in Autumn :: Catching our breath...

Have you hopped into our Easter shop yet? Visit spiralgarden.com.au, then click on this picture and all our recommendations for gorgeous, natural, fair trade Easter are there. xx


Hello Gardener Lovers! 
It has been such a long time since we updated here. Our first busy Christmas season was just so wonderful and over in the blink of an eye and we have only just caught our breaths again. We're hoping to come and update you here, just as much as the regular emails we send out. We do hope you'll join us as we share the wonderful discoveries we make, as we pop them in our store, and our seasonal wanderings too. 
We always find the change of seasons, especially the seasons of Autumn and Spring, so inspiring. A need to renew and prepare for the seasons to come pushes us to clean and tidy up our space and our family rhythms. And observing nature's subtle changes brings beauty and inspires lots of learning and play.
It's that ever so beautifully confusing time of year again... Easter in Autumn! In our home we try and combine the two traditions, weaving harvest time and the retreat and decline towards winter with the promise and hope of new life and growth after Winter has gone. We plant winter crops and bulbs with the promise of food to sustain us and new flowers to brighten days in the Spring! So... the Easter traditions weave in beautifully, in a round-about sort of way...
This week we've set up a special part of the shop just bursting with suggestions for Easter. Watch out for lovely new bits and pieces there! Our absolute favourite is our GLOB Easter Egg Colouring Kit. You'll have loads of fun mixing colours with these beautiful natural dyes to invent a beautiful rainbow of eggs.

Wednesday, 23 February 2011

Southern Hemisphere Seasonal Exchange - Autumn

Here's something not organised by Spiral Garden, but I thought I would share it again. I joined the Summer Exchange and it was great fun!

Ready for a ‘Autumn’ crafting challenge?

Southern Hemisphere Seasonal Exchange is inspired by the small nature table Katie has tried to start for her young children to mark the changing of the seasons. She has found most material and craft project sourced for inspiration is often based on seasons in the northern hemisphere which is not always relevant to us. Seasonal changes where we live in the southern
hemisphere can be subtle and quite different from what is happening in the northern hemisphere.


Like her children, Katie is learning about the unique seasonal differences in Australia. She is new to crafting and new to keeping a nature table. She would love some inspiration and is sure other people would as well.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have Seasonal Craft exchange reflective of the seasons of the Southern Hemisphere? A crafting challenge, a chance to create your own symbolic item reflective of the current season and a chance to inspire a stranger through your chosen craft...

To participate you need to include a minimum of one handmade item that you can swap with your allocated partner.


Guidelines:
* The swap is related to the theme - Autumn.
* The swap is open to everyone. You don’t have to live in the Southern Hemisphere to participate!
* You must be willing to mail overseas and honour your swap commitment.
* Participants will be allocated one (only) swap partner. You will send directly to your partner and they will send directly to you. Swap partners will be randomly allocated.
* No prior crafting/ art skills required.
* Participation should be done in the spirit of openness, appreciation and sharing. The only requirement is the item you send should be handmade by you with love and care. Make something special that you would love to receive yourself.
* No returns!
* The exchange is open to all ages.
* All packages must be mailed by the 15th April, and should be suitable to send in the mail.



Requirements:
* At least one, no more than five items are to be sent.
* One of these items must be handmade. It can be an object, an artwork, an ornament, small handmade book, something to display. The key requirement is it is something made by you.
* If you would like to include additional items things that could be included might be items from nature (unless you are shipping internationally), a card, additional artworks, a candle, purchased items made from natural materials (no plastic/polyester/foam/etc) etc.
* All of the items must be seasonally appropriate.
* You may want to include in your package a little blurb about your items and/or yourself.
* In addition, it would be wonderful if you were able to document the process of making and the final product. These images can be posted on the Flickr group Southern Hemisphere Seasonal Exchange.



How Do I Sign Up?
Sign ups will take place until 14th of March.
The first 100 people to sign up are in!
Please email Katie with your Real Name, Mailing address (in English) and Email address to be entered into the swap.

Your privacy will be respected and your details will not be passed on unless you give permission.
Partners will be allocated after sign-ups have closed. Katie will confirm when you have been added to the list. Please be patient, this may take a couple of days.

As mentioned previously, Katie is a mother of two very young children, new to crafting and has only co-coordinated something like this once before, so your patience and understanding is really appreciated.

Inspiration
Thanks to Seasons Round Exchange and New Zealand Handmade Christmas Ornament Swap.
for inspiring the idea of the craft swap.

Seasons Round Exchange
The SavVy { Seasons } - a modern Swap
Soft trees Swap
Rhythm of the Home
Seasons South and North

Autumn Craft Pack
White Craft Pack
Create @ Spiral Garden

Tuesday, 30 March 2010

Autumn Days

I found this and thought I'd share... Enjoy!

Tuesday, 2 March 2010

Autumn Craft

There has been great interest in our Autumn Products and a customer wrote today to ask about ideas for crafts to use the Autumn Craft Pack. We're working on some fact sheets to go with the craft packs for those customers who need some help choosing what to make. I do really like the idea of keeping it open-ended and more organic though, and the results customers have shared amaze me!


We stock some books with craft ideas, as well as the wonderful Living Crafts magazine subscriptions (back issues coming in 2010).

There are also endless ideas shared by generous like-minded folk online. Here are a few (try searching for waldorf, steiner, craft, autumn, fall and see what you can discover too!)

Mama Roots' Tomten Pattern (in preparation for the coming winter)

Walnut Cradle at Make-Stuff
(another one for the nature table)

Craft Ideas' Autumn Leaves
(for the window, a mobile, a wreath, or...?)

Gnome Tutorial at Wee Folk Art (there's also a cute sleeping bag pattern here - adapt to any season)


Items you can make from our craft pack include, but are not limited to -
* cards, wall hangings, mobiles or single decorations (a leaf on a piece of yarn, for example)
* bags, purses, bracelets, necklaces, anklets, crowns
* fairies, gnomes, dolls, animals and other little figures for play or the nature table
* beds, pillows, blankets, rugs, clothes - capes and hats, flowers, leaves, tress and other accessories for above characters
* finger puppets and dolly peg puppets
* photo frames, pin cushions, pouches, garlands, yarn dolls, felt food...

Monday, 1 March 2010

Autumn Time


Autumn leaves crunch underfoot
Taking nature walks in the afternoon
It is time to gather the harvest
For Winter is coming soon...

I can't believe how fast Summer has flown by. I hope it was a beautiful season for you too. It is time to collect a basket of nuts, seeds and twigs to create mobiles, critters, puppets, collages on boxes and other items. Playing with nature's gifts will inspire you to their varied uses. For ideas on crafts and other activities to celebrate the season, check out our range of books. More stock coming soon - please email us with your requests.


Autumn Products

Autumn Cards - for the Equinox, a Birthday or any reason at all. Also a beautiful addition to your Season Table.

Autumn Craft Packs - great value and great fun! From Rainbow Made.

Autumn Dolls - a collectible toy and best-seller, also from Rainbow Made.

Lono & Coco Boato - the Autumn book by Susan Whitehead.

Wood & Felt Gnomes - available in orange for Autumn.

Playcloths in muslin, silk or cotton - perfect for play or display for all ages.

Barefoot magazine - Autumn 2010 and Autumn 2009 both available now.

And our pick of the gifts for Autumn include:
Natural Wood Blocks $33.00
Glass Bead Spiral Bracelets $7.50
New Lyra Osiris Pencils $12.00
Felt Horse $16.00

For those subscribers in the Northern Hemisphere - all of our Spring books, dolls, playcloths, cards and craft packs are in stock. Our pick of the gifts for you are of course the most popular Flower Press, or the lovely Flower Fairies Kit.

This is just a small sample of our range of hundreds of hand-selected items. The New Products page will keep you up to date with brand new lines, and our regular products are re-stocked frequently. Happy Browsing!



Gathering together is the theme of Autumn. Traditionally, it is the time when we store food for winter, close up our homes and spend more time indoors. The Autumn Equinox on 21 March 2010 is a wonderful time to unite with friends for a harvest feast. It is a time of balance - equal sunlight and darkness. Harmony...