Merry Christmas!

 

 

My December calendar page - white wash of acrylic paint over dictionary page, circles stamped with a bottle cap, bird from  Cavallini wrapping paper. I "painted" the bird with some clear Stickles to give dress him up for the holidays.

 

Wishing peace, joy. and love for you and your loved ones.



Easy-Peasy DIY Trader Joe's Tags



I really didn't need to start another project today, but I came home with a few , OK, lots of these great wine bags from TJ's.  The festive red and white graphics are perfect for Christmas.  My stash of tags was running low, so I made these quick tags.

 

I just rough-cut out the images and glued them onto tags - no measuring/templates required.  You're probably smart enough to figure out that you need to remove the string first - I wasn't.  Then just cut around the tag, repunch the hole, and viola, instant tags!

 

 

 

Of course you could  use these as a background and embellish, stamp and otherwise gussy them up, but I'm not going to go a bridge too far with these today.  They are pretty sweet just like this.

Remember These Names

Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me

 

-Jackson/Miller

All of the things I've been focused on this holiday season seem so trivial.  It seems inappropriate to post pictures of decorations and festivities when there are so many families suffering , so many little children who will never have another Christmas with their family, and so many other children whose lives are forever changed.

Let us focus on remembering each of these individuals and not memorialize the troubled person who took their lives.  Let us work so that we no longer live in a society that makes these tragedies part of our history.  One of the saddest things I read was a commentary about the recent mass shootings and the person attempting to clarify asked, "Now, which one that?"  How awful - so many incidences that we can't even keep track. 

Like so many, my heart is broken as I think of these sweet little children and the brave men and women who tried to save them.  I hope we are moved to action as well as grief.
  

DIY Calendars Done!

 

 

My 2013 calendars are done - whoo-eee!  Coming up with twelve ideas is challenging; executing them even more so.   The calendars have evolved with my interests; I started out with some fairly simple stamped images on small calendars.  This year I've done more playing with backgrounds and images, trying to use some of the lessons (and art work) done for my online class with Claudine Helmuth.

 

I did lots of background work on the page above. I bought a pack of scrapbook paper ages ago that just doesn't do it for me anymore, so I've been using the papers as canvases for more interesting backgrounds.    Here is peek at some of the steps - sorry for the bad yellow tones: it really is the same background, minus a shot of the turquoise paint put on before the final coat of gesso. 

 

Started with a layer of gesso , then attached random bits of paper and covered with some acrylic paint that I wiped off in some spots.  Add texture with some stencils and grout, more gesso, a wipe of turquoise acrylic paint and a final layer of gesso.  I'm obsessed with circles, so some circles stamped with paint caps are mandatory!

 

The beautiful image of the woman came in a gift of vintage ephemera from my SIL.  The woman looks like she story potential, so I added hints about what she might be hiding -  a padlock, a number and postcard- and those men outside the grand building...

 

 

Here's another page using a collage done for class.  I added some script paper and a piece of vintage linen tape. 

 

I've always copied all the art work, then glued the copied art work onto blank calendars.  This year I made the calendars online at Staples. Uploaded all the images and the gremlins in The Internet will print them onto calendars.    Not sure why I didn't think of this sooner!  No more gluing, no more big, fat calendars, plus it means the calendars are done lots earlier than usual.  Priceless! 

 

(More pages to share once the calendars are gifted!)

Christmas Decorating in Progress

 

(Fabric wreath with a fringe of faux berries)

Taking out the boxes of Christmas decorations is such a treat.  Since I  buy decorations at after Christmas sales, I forget what I have and enjoy the surprise discovery.  But something weird is happening this year; I've been sending more more and more of my treasures junk to Goodwill and adopting a less-is-more approach. 

 I like little unexpected touches, like the accessories on my birds and some greenery in my shoe last:

 

 

 

I'd like my white Christmas confined to inside the house.  I spray-painted some candle holders and pillar candles and gave the candles a sprinkle of coarse clear glitter.  Add a few sprigs of holly from The Dollar Store for some color , add some white lights and my white tablescape works for me.

Same treatment for craft paper trees - white paint, a wash of diluted glue and some more of the clear glitter and a bit of gold.  I found the candle bottom thingies at the thrift store and gave them a shot of gold glitter paint.

My favorite decorations are lights - I love the glow of those little white lights, especially since it gets dark at 4 in the afternoon!  Perfect view for enjoying with my first cup of coffee!

Getting our tree this weekend - our goal once again is a smaller tree that doesn't require us to move out half the living room furniture!