We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched.
Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives, not looking for flaws but for potential.
Ellen Goodman
Wishing you a safe and happy New Year!
My husband and I tend to lack Christmas spirit, some years are worse than others. This year, wasn't so bad, but the after Christmas blues have gotten me. So, instead of talking about being a bah humbug, I thought I'd share a few pictures of our holiday!
We started out our Christmas this year going to a concert put on at my son's school. I had a great seat, until this guy sat in front of me, my husband was having a muscle cramp in his back so he stood up, lucky him. I should have joined him. The concert was great, my little guy was great - he even had a special presentation on the bells, and we enjoyed seeing him on the stage. I do hope he continues to love music, he's really good at it.
My friends Hannah and Leslie had another felting class, this time santa's instead of snowmen. It was a lot of fun, but I still like the snowmen best.
I usually send out two types of cards, some with a photo that take and make into a card and some hand made. These are a few of the handmade cards I made this year. I forgot to take a picture of the other handmade style, they came out better!
Our cute little tree all lit up on Christmas morning. Santa sure stayed up late wrapping presents!
We had a little visitor a few days before Christmas.....we are thinking of adopting him. Hubby needs to meet him, but they boy sure liked him. He looks like a Jack to me.
My Mom's tree, hers was a bit bigger than mine. She still has hers up, I took mine down 2 days after Christmas!
The boy got what he wanted - a Nintendo DSi and a Nerf Vulcan.
Hoping the creative bug hits me soon, I've got lots of ideas, just need to make them!
Happy eve of New Years eve! Can you believe that 2010 is in JUST 2 days?? I can't!
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!
Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas time.
Laura Ingalls Wilder
I've had something on my to-do list for a couple weeks now, and that's to make a Holiday themed ATC to swap with my friend Stephanie from On the Funny Side of Life. One thing or other always took me away from even getting started on them.
Tonight, after I had finished up posting my LAST lesson for My Creative Classroom I decided to gitter done - and I did. Nothing like striking while the iron is hot - when the creativity, drive, and most of all time is there. This one literally took me about 1o minutes for each card....and I think they came out cute.
You can make one too, all you'll need is polka dot paper from Making Memories, cream and silver cardstock, vintage music sheet paper, Naughty or Nice stamp from Inkadinkado, small snowflake punch from Martha Stewart, red ribbon, red glitter and red bling.
How easy was that??
In other news, it was a snow day today so the boy was home all day. Not that much of an issue as he played out in the snow most of the morning - and in the afternoon when he was done playing and having lunch the husband was home and they hung out while I finished up work. Now that the snow is here and done falling - it's raining out. what a MESS that's going to make of our long, dirt driveway! Usually it turns into a big skating rink when we get snow, then rain then cold temps.....it'll be slippety slide down to the bus stop in the morning!!!
Here's a quick picture of the tag lesson over at MCC.
Well, gotta move on to the next thing....... thanks for stopping by. If the weather outside is frightful where you are - be safe and look out for all the crazy drivers!
I was finishing up my last lesson for My Creative Classroom today and got side tracked with this little guy. The lesson is on making holiday tags, and I was going to include him, but decided to put the tutorial here, for you all to see. He still needs a nose, couldn't find any orange so I decided to wait untl I get some to finish that part, but just love how he came out.
what you'll need: Bazzill Snowman Chipboard shape, white paper, black cardstock, glitter - a couple colors of your choice, Bazzill Chipboard snowflake, stamp tag from Stampin' Up, red ink, Happy Holidays ribbon, twigs from outside, wire, 4 large and 6 small brads, sewing machine, stuffing
Trace and cut out your snowman from the white print paper. Add to chipboard snowman with a piece of double stick tape on his head only.
Apply glitter glue to the cut out snowman and sprinkle glitter over it.
Trace and cut out hat while waiting for glitter to dry.
Wrap plain red ribbon around the hat to form a hat band, secure the ends at the back with double stick tape.
When glitter on the snowman is dry, lift paper and add a little stuffing to the buttom two circles. Add two tiny branches for arms and secure in place with double stick tape. If your glitter is dry, stitch around edges of snowman. (You can stitch first and add glitter second if you want, this was just how my project evolved as I started without a plan....the best way to work sometimes....)
When you are stitching over the twig arms, be careful with the needle. I was lucky that mine were small enough that the needle went right through them. The twigs were dry so the needle stitched through them easily.
Add the hat to his head, then apply a couple more colors of glitter, if you want. I used silver, white, and some of the new tinsel glitter I picked up from Michaels last week, it's new and from Martha Stewart.
Wrap the ribbon scarf around his neck a couple of times and tie a knot to secure it. I like to add the scarf before I put the eyes and buttons so I get the face positioned in the right spot.
Use a drill to drill holes for the brads that we're using for the eyes and buttons. Use the tiny ones for the eyes and mouth and the larger ones for the buttons on his body.
Apply silver glitter to the snowflake and when it's dry, attach the tag to it with red cotton Perle floss. Embellish with a bow.
Bend wire and curl up the ends to add whimsical curls to each end, tie the ends of the wire to twigs using black cotton Perle thread. Tie the snowflake to the black wire with the black cotton Perle when you tie the wire to the twig arms.
You can use this as a fancy door knob decoration, as a package decoration/tag, or an ornament for your tree.
THANKS for stopping by, hope you have a great day!
We had our first snow of the season Saturday night - we woke up to a lovely blanket of 4 or 5 inches of the nasty white stuff, LOL. Yes, it's pretty - and everything looks so new and fresh - and covered with it. But it's cold, and I was really hoping we would not have any snow until like March or not until next year. I guess my wish was denied this year, hoping we don't have another 100 incher this year, I just don't want it.
Thought I would share some pictures I took Sunday morning. This hanging bell sun face was so pretty hanging outside my front door, I just love the way the purple door of my garden shed shows in his face right underneath his golden eyes.
David sits in my garden. I forgot to bring him in before the snow, but I need to remember to do that so he doesn't freeze and crack. I just love the way this looks, but wish the American flag wasn't protruding from the top of his head.
And, here's my little doggie wearing the Santa outfit I picked up her her at Target, it was only 3.99!! She wasn't very happy about wearing this, but did like the treat she got when we were done.
I've got some artsy things to finish up to share with you tomorrow, so stay tuned! Thanks for stopping by, oh - and if you're local - don't forget that the Holiday Artisan Fair at Artascope in So. Portland opens on the 10th. I brought my things down there today and the studio is really shaping up nicely! Looking forward to the open house on Sunday, maybe I'll see you there!
I've been working on another batch of snowmen, I did the arms a little different than the first batch, and I think I like the way they look much better, no glueing this time! They need to have some hats put on and noses too and then they'll be done.
They're a fun little project to work on while sitting in front of the TV in the evening.
It's been a busy week, so I think I'll say good night for now! Thanks for stopping by!
One of the assignments I worked on recently for EK Success Brands was a heritage album showcasing a 12 x 12 Album made by K & Company. I completed 6 pages on the inside and did the cover as well. You can see the video that will be on TV at TerriO's website. Terri Ouellette is a spokesperson for the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA), she's also won two Emmy awards.
Philippon Family Album for K & Company and Ancestry.com
I'm so glad that the Thanksgiving Eating Fest is over with. I think I gained 10 pounds, just kidding. We went to spend a couple of days with my Mother's family and we like to cook. And eat what we cook. It was a nice visit, but I need to get back on track.
Since I've been away and when not away my head has been down focused on working on projects for My Creative Classroom, I thought I'd share this clock I made some time ago. It was published in my second book, Art from the Heart. Some of you haven't seen it, so I thought as Christmas is approaching quickly it would b e a fun thing to share.
This is just a regular wind up clock that I took the guts out of and made a collage on the face and closed it back up. It's one of my favorite projects from the book.
The inspiration for this came from another one I made several years before. I had an old trophy pin that my Grandmother had given me that I wanted to have out on display, but didn't want to loose it. So I made a little clock collage shadowbox to hold it. I've spent the last 10 minutes trying to find a picture of it on my computer and it's not there. I'll try to remember to take a picture and show you later.
Get your Advent calendars ready, tomorrow is December 1st. Can you believe it - only 1 month until the end of the year. Aaaargh.
Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!
I have a lot to be thankful for this year, my health, my wonderful husband and son and a great supportive family. What are you thankful for this year?
I'm wishing you a relaxing day full of friends, family - and lots of dessert!
I'm working on finishing up the last lesson for my sewing class over at My Creative Classroom and starting to think about what I'll be offering next semester. I've really enjoyed the learning process for on-line learning and am starting to looking forward to what I'll be teaching next semester. I've got one more lesson to finish up for this year and I'll be thinking about next...making a list....checking it twice - and adding a sketch or two to help decide.
To hold you over though, here's a little peak of the second Lesson from the Stitch up a Happy Holiday class ....
Right now, before I start thinking to much about next year - I'm addicted to making felted snowmen :-) Anyway, it's late and I need to get up early - thanks for stopping by, looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with family! though, we'll be missing my husband on this day of thankfulness.
I try to volunteer in my son's classroom as much as I can, this year it's been a little slow getting going, but I think we're getting in the swing of things. I think that children that can craft - more than just color and cut up paper - are better apt to find something to do at home when they are bored - so I like to share my crafting abilities with the kids in the classroom.
This is my first "crafting" expedition this year, but I don't think the project I've chosen is going to be too difficult. Cutting and glueing to make a fun vase or other Thanksgiving decoration.
I first started with a 15 oz can that I pulled out of the recycle bin. (I washed it before I used it in my craft.) Covered it with brown felt, cut some "feathers" from construction paper and glued them on the back of the can. Then cut a head, added some googly eyes, a beak and beard. Tied a piece of twine around the can with a tag that says "Happy Thanksgiving" and glued on the head. CUTE. Hopefully we can get it done in an hour! Wish me luck :-)
I've been looking at the snowman kit I bought from my friend Monday night - and decided that I just couldn't look at it any longer, I had to do something with it. So, I made another snowman last night. It was the perfect project to work on as we watched a weird movie (Adam Resurrected). I made the scarf this time instead of using an old wool sweater, I'm thinking I like the sweater better.
I'm also thinking I like the yarn for hair as well.
But the pompom, that really is the icing on the cake. The gilding on the lilly. The piece de resistance, said with my best french accent. The orange polka dots make me happy. It's the little things in life, right? I'm not happy with my handwriting on the banner, will most likely redo that on the computer - wishing I had an old typewriter.
Now my first snowman has a friend. He just needs a wooden base to sit on!
If you are local, The Beattie Chicks are having another felted class on December 16th. This time they'll be teaching Christmasy things....I'm already signed up - can't wait.
Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your Friday and your weekend too! I'm teaching up to Scrap n' Stamp (Phone: 207-582-4544) in Gardiner on Saturday from 1 to 4. We're making pretty pins - and there's room for another student or two - so hope to see you!
