More decking of halls, fa la la la la!

 

Another Christmas photo…  This one from the top of our tree.  I’m really terrible at low-light situations with the camera, so this one is blurred.  And I don’t know why the background looks mauve, but I liked the overall effect.  Kind of Old World-ish.

Our younger son had to straighten the angel tree-topper, and it made me gulp to see what an easy reach it was for Mr. All Legs.  When the boys were little Dad would hold them up to place the angel; taking turns, year to year.  I’m just happy that they still get excited about it all –-the tree, decorations, special foods and all…

Hallelujah!

I’ll have a blue, gold and white Christmas

…or Christmas tree. 

My son and his girlfriend were such angels to set it up and she single-handedly decorated it.  She thought blue, white & gold would be pretty and I completely agreed.  Even more after she worked her magic. 
More pictures to follow...

Little gingerbread houses for you and me.....

Reminiscing here again... because Fine Little Day reminded me of another Christmas tradition we kept for many years in our home.  I'm thinking this would be a good year to revive it.  But where to find the time? Our calendar is so full!  If we skip cooking & eating a meal one evening, we might be able to fit it in. ;)

Anyway, feast your eyes on this delectable creation by FLD's kids :

 In order to keep things simple, and because I'm no more a baker than I am an architect, we used graham crackers for the siding.  Or, if I could find them, the sugared chocolate grahams because they look frosty. Things don't square up exactly, but kids don't care.  And if you break a wall, well, there's a boxful of more.

Everything was held together and dripping with Royal Icing (which dries cement-hard, if you're unfamiliar with it).  I like the icing recipe hereas well as the tips & hints on construction.

It's fun to get a selection of candies from a shop that sells by weight.  This sitehas a list of edibles to use for decoration.  There's no such thing as too much, you know!  And don't miss  Sweetopia's ideas for sheer inspiration --like the fondant snowman.
(Imagine tinting the frosting with food color to have little PINK gingerbread houses for you and me!)

We'll definitely have to pick up this sweet tradition again.  I can't imagine even teenagers saying no to that, can you?

Sprechen Sie... Elfish?

I thought my kids were too grown up to require we use code words and secret language around them at Christmastime. But we were all in the car together last week, and while our teens were having a discussion in the back seat, my husband said to me: "Helfow abelfout welfe gelfo skelfiielfing felfor Chrelfistmelfas thelfis yelfear?"
First, I laughed, because we haven't spoken Elfish* for a few years. Then I told him to say it again, slower this time.

I learned this secret Christmas language from my sister who learned it from a friend when we were in school. I don't know where the friend learned it, maybe actual elves? But it sure was handy (and fun) when we became parents.

If you've already decoded the Elfish* sentence above, kudos and candy canes to you. If not, I'll explain: It's similar to Pig Latin, or Ubbi Dubbi. You just insert "elf" before the vowel (or vowel sound) in each syllable of each word.
Yeah.  Whew!
It can add several minutes to a clandestine conversation, but at least you don't have to whisper around the kids (or unsuspecting friends). And like learning any foreign language, it only needs a little practice. Just be careful with "certain" words around the little ones!

*not to be confused with Elvish. Or Elvis ;)

Speaking of actual elves, check out these North Pole cuties by Susan Mitchell of Its a Whimsical Life:

And you simply MUST see her "Little Poppets" calendar for the coming year:

Irresistible needle-felted characters that make you feel like a kid again. Just too sweet.  That is, telfoo swelfeet!  ^_^

Farewell to the Leaves

Just a bit of the quickly-disappearing leaf colors in my yard:

   

             

I'm going to miss them!

A Small Display

Thought I'd post a pic of my table from the recent art exhibit. I didn't happen to think of taking a tablecloth. Oh, well.
But I did have a really good time. The turnout was great for such a small town, so I got to chat a lot with the visitors and other artists, too.
I felt like my art style was the oddball there, not as "high brow" as most.  But I got some nice reactions, especially regarding my altered book journal (far left, blue and gold).
Hopefully this week I can add some of these to my shop.   It's my
permanent art exhibit; no tablecloth required. ;)

To paint, perchance to dream...

The Chamber of Commerce in the town closest to mine is having an art exhibit this week, open to anyone in the county. With so much already going on this week (and getting busier), I don't know why I registered to enter it, but I did.
I've been finishing a stack of paintings that were half- or near-done, and really have loved it. Committing to the exhibit has given me the motivation I needed. And I'm feeling no pressure to start something new, contribute a large quantity, or please anyone (except myself, which is a tall order, but I'm not sweating it).
Strangely, the act of painting has been immensely relaxing.  Something good to remember when I am stressing this, that, or the other..

On the other hand, when I want to rev up my "heART beat", I love to look at other artists' work.  Last week I stumbled across a fantastic blog I'd never seen before: Lines and Colors "...a blog about drawing, sketching, painting, comics, cartoons, webcomics, illustration, digital art, concept art, gallery art, artist tools and techniques, motion graphics, animation, sci-fi and fantasy illustration, paleo art, storyboards, matte painting, 3d graphics and anything else I find visually interesting. If it has lines and/or colors, it's fair game," says Charley Parker, the blogger who undoubtedly shares my passion!

Bookmark it!
And make sure you put some art in your life this week...

Hello, World...

...you great big, beautiful world!
Little time to blog lately. Now that I have a new computer I can travel around on Google Earth and it's become my favorite obsession.  I've toured about the island of Bermuda... "discovered" small, uninhabited little islands in the Pacific... explored Australia's Outback (and the Dog Proof fence, like the Rabbit Proof fence in the movie of the same name)... and today I looked around the Antarctic.  I love the awesome shades of blue!

And I love getting this bird's-eye-view of places I'll never get to visit in person.  Without having to pack, without having to fly, without having to freeze my buns off!

Going to bed one night this week, the full moon lit up the rooms of our darkened house, and I had the sensation of the Earth stretching out around me. Me, such a small --very small-- part of it all.  But SO glad to be a part of it!

That's using your head(board)! And other handmade bikes

A few more of my photos taken at the state fair...
These are from the antique bicycle exhibit:

We were awe-struck by this one. A fine example of using whatever you have on hand (or find in a junkyard)! Can you imagine how unwieldy this would be? According to the information on it, the owner/builder rode it to work for, I think, 3 years!! Notice it's built for two.




Here's a "Bonecrusher" (1870) variation.

Even with the more sensibly-sized wheels, I couldn't balance that if my life depended on it! "Reported to be the very first bicycle in Iowa. Built by a blacksmith. Very heavy." (This shot was a bit blurred, so I altered it to look even more yesteryear.)

Now this one's more my speed! A lady's tri-cycle. Not sure I could maneuver it, but imagine how rockin' it would be to cruise around in this modern, 1885 "Velocipede"!


I love that these are still around today. They must've been well-built. The riders, I mean, as well as the bikes!

Oh, yeah...

I told you I wanted to share some of my photos from the State Fair.  Some of my favorites are from the art exhibits.  (Can you believe even my kids stopped in to look at the art???)
I snapped a few shots of the works that jumped out at me.  Like this one, called Worn Steps by Steve Busch.  It's a pencil drawing, labeled "amateur".  I'm wowed by the detail!  
And you know I love all that curvy ironwork.  It gives me such a New Orleans or Charleston feeling....
It also reminds me of this art I started way back at the beginning of the year.  And still haven't finished.  But I'm going to get back to that right away.  I am.
Okay, not tonight, but tomorrow for sure. ^_^

Stay tuned for more of my "finds" from the fair... 

My "Etsy-versary" SALEabration!

Yeesh!
I've been so busy I forgot to post a little notice about the sale going on in my shop for the next month.

I'm celebrating 4 years selling on Etsy.com!  I found this venue just a few months after it was started. So I'm  considered "old school". LOL!
I've seen Etsy evolve and grow and become (practically) a household word.

I've been reflecting a bit about my own changes in this little time frame. It's fun to look back.  And ahead!

Now I have special prices throughout my shop, through November 24.  Something every day, something on every page...

So I hope you'll come in and see what's happening.  And be sure to read the shop announcement for additional savings for returning customers.

Get started on holiday shopping or treat yourself, and let me help sweeten the deal!

Wheeee....!

Today was a bright one ,despite the rain, gloom and dreariness, because our new laptop arrived. Yipeee...!  It's been a long time since we had a new "toy" of this kind in the house, and we enjoyed taking Windows 7 out for a spin.  Even though the kids are all about Macs.  But getting it through our telephone company with zero interest payments made this one worthwhile.

And now typing is not such a pain in the patootie, although it's going to take some getting used to...

So here's one of my photos from the fair.  (What a breeze, uploading them directly to the computer instead of the printer!)

My youngster is "shadowing" someone for his career interest tomorrow and I have to get up early(er) to drop him off.  Guess I should put my toy away and call it a day.....

Waiting...

So...............
My computer is dead.  Not all the way dead.  Just mostly dead. 
Ugh.
Considering its age, I shouldn't feel so bad about getting a new one, but with the economy effecting us as it has, I feel guilty. 
While I wait for the replacement, I get to punish myself by using the kids' old laptop (which has no battery, just a cord that can't be wiggled, so it's tied to a table with very uncomfortable seating). And the keyboard is in terrible shape!
...Also, I have none of my photos on it.  My son gave me permission to upload my pix from the state fair, but I haven't yet.  Maybe I can wait till my new machine gets here.

I poked around in his photo folder and found this shot of my two guys, their friend (who belongs to my friend) and my older son's girlfriend.  I love it!  And had to sneak around to find it.  Sheesh!  (I hope they don't find out!)

Anyway... just wanted to say hello to the blog world.  And so long for now....

The Key to Good Dreams

 

Finding no large blocks of time for being creative this week, I finally decided to do a little something with a few, limited supplies in a few short minutes before bedtime.  I grabbed a pack of  tan colored clay and just two tools.  After conditioning the clay, I made a somewhat lumpy rectangle and used the dental tool to make a design I think of as pine branches. When I cut the hole with a scalpel blade, it occurred to me to turn it into a keyhole.  I also followed a design in my sketch book to make a flower.  Next morning, I added salt to the keyhole pendant (for the pitted look), baked, painted, and glazed.  I was happy with both pieces and happy to finally make something new.  (I slept like a baby, too!)  ^_^

I hope to catch up on some blog-reading this weekend to see what the rest of you are creating lately.  See ya!

A Changing Sky

"Red sky at night - sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning."  
Or so the saying goes.  I've seen it come true many times.

This morning the sky was reddish and the wind was blowing.  It was a little eerie.  I checked the weather forecast so my son wouldn't over- or under-dress.  High of 84° and isolated thunderstorms expected.  Then came a short shower.

A few minutes later I glanced out at the rain-spattered window to see a blue sky and the sun sparkling on the trees.  Amazing change from a small wind!

I've been trying to bring some change to my life --or way of living.  I'm taking a closer look at my habits, stress-factors, what brings me joy, and where my priorities lie.  A little self-examination from the inside.  And trying to make adjustments where I can.
I made a pendant last week with sky blue shades for my shop.
Maybe I should make one for myself to remind me to keep my eye on the new horizons I seek.....