Mitten Swap, Etc.

This Christmas I took part in Speckled Egg's Mitten Swap. Heather asked each of us to make a large mitten to swap. The one pictured above and below is the mitten I made.
The tree is made of white felted wool and decorated with silver beads and thread. The mitten itself is made of canvas, with big polka dots painted on with creamy pearly paint and lace trim.

And I made a tag to coordinate with the mitten.

In exchange for my mitten, I received this wonderful burlap mitten from Sarah of My So Called Junky Life. Don't you love the colors she used? I hung it on the inside of my front door so I can admire it all day long.

Check out all the details in the photo above.

Along with the mitten we each sent 12 packets of vintage artsy-type goodies to exchange. The packets shown above are the ones I sent.

And this is what I received in return! Each one was more exciting than the next! I can't wait to get into the studio to start playing with it all.

I also took part in the Kitty Needs A Home Charity Auction that sweet Lorraine of Paper Bird held right before Christmas along with others in her art group to benefit the Haiti Gospel Mission. And lucky me - I won this adorable Miss Holly Kitty made by the talented Julie Collings. Don't you just love her?

And this adorable primitive angel is from my friend Cerri. She sent her to me as a complete surprise. Her timing couldn't have been better. Thank you so much my friend!

Beautiful Angels and a Giveaway!

A while ago, I participated in The Vintage Dragonfly's Angels We Have Heard on High Paper Doll Swap. You might remember this post where I shared my angel with you. Anyway, Danielle just posted a slide show of all the Angels from the swap and you can see it here.

Guess what? We've having a Giveaway on the Joli Paquet blog!!! Hurry on over to sign up! There's 5 prizes (one is pictured above) and the winners will be announced on Friday, 12/18.

Good Luck!

Weekend Wrap-Up

I made some of these over the weekend. These are the white chocolate pretzels. I made milk chocolate ones too. I like both kinds. To me, chocolate is chocolate no matter what the color is.

I packaged them in these cellophane bags from Hobby Lobby.

Now this has nothing to do with Christmas, unless you use this as an ornament and come to think of it, it would be quite nice hanging on the tree I put in my studio. I found this plain white shabby-chic birdcage also at Hobby Lobby and I thought it might look cute all "frou-frou'd" up with tulle, ribbon and satin roses. So that is exactly what I did!

The birdcage goes quite nicely with my flea-market-find pink angel. . .

I guess I really should get back to work preparing for Christmas - I get so easily side-tracked!

More Glitter & Angel Wings

Yes, my desk is still covered with glitter - isn't everyone's at this time of the year? Glitter is on the floor, my iPod, my face. . . . .basically it is everywhere!
I've been working on these angels for Danielle's Angel Paper Doll Swap which is due at the end of the month. I started with an oval base and covered it with vintage wallpaper that I have been saving for something special like this. During the process of working on this project, Ruth Rae's new book, Layered, Tattered & Stitched came out. {I adore Ruth's calm disposition and beautiful heirloom quality projects and felt so fortunate to watch her create in person at the final ArtFiberfest earlier this year.} In her book Ruth made some adorable mailing folders out of waxed paper sewn on top of vintage sheet music and I decided this technique would be perfect for making my angel wings. The filmy wax paper kind of gives the wings an ethereal feeling.
Glittery slippers, a sparkly golden tulle skirt, a single rhinestone in a silver setting at her waist, a hand-stitched paper halo, and a tiny vintage white glittered bell complete the look. This time I remembered to make one for myself to keep - something that I am always neglecting to do when I sign up for swaps. Now it's time to pack them all up for their journey to Danielle's house. I can't wait to see what she sends back from the other artists!

Remember to take some time to enjoy yourself during the next few days while preparing for the Thanksgiving celebration and feast.

How Cool Is This?

For those who are fans of Stampington Publications, the new issue of Somerset Studio (Nov/Dec) is on the news stands now. As usual it is filled with wonderful artwork and inspiration of the likes of Beth Quinn, Amy Hanna, Misty Mawn, and Tricia Scott and others. A while back I can remember reading an entry on Tricia's blog about finally getting up the nerve to send a box of her artwork into Stampington. That post really resonated with me and was the impetus which gave me the courage to answer a call-for-art and send in a few pieces of my own artwork. And lo and behold much to my delight, I opened the magazine yesterday and found two of my own ornaments featured in this highly regarded publication. (pages 105 & 108) It is truly an honor to have my art alongside the work of so many talented artists in this magazine which I have treasured for so many years.
Many thanks to Jenny Doh, Jennifer Jackson and the others at Somerset Studio magazine for taking the time to consider my humble submissions for publication.