A Couple of My Favorite Christmas Gifts!

Christmas  is  fun,  but  it  sure  is  exhausting!  But  I  really  enjoyed  it  with  all  of  my  family  here--it's  really  hard    for  all  of  my  kids  to  get  together  at  once  anymore.   But  when  we  do,  it's  like  turning  back  time--they're  like  little  kids  again  with  all  of  the  "fringe"  benefits  included--if  you  know  what  I  mean ; )    BUT--it's  fun  and  it's  funny  too.....

And  I  really  liked  my  presents--I  like  any  kind  of  present!   But  I  wanted  to  show  you  a  couple of  my  favorite(but  not exclusive : )  ones.  

So  let  me  explain  this  one.   This  is  from  my  daughter,  son-in-law,  and  their  dog/son  Bob.   Earlier  this  year,  they  found  a  very  serious  form  of  cancer  in  Bob's  leg,  and  after  trying  different  treatments  on  him,  they  had  to  amputate  his  leg,  which  made  all  the  difference  in  the  world.   As  of  right  now,  he's  cancer-free,  and  back  to  being  crazy  Bob  again.   If   you've  never  met  him,  you  can  meet  him  HERE.

My  daughter  and  son-in-law  are  not  taking  this  for  granted  however.   They  are  spending  as  much  time  with  him  as  they  can.   So  this  summer  they've  been  taking  him  to  a  lot  of  the  beaches  that  we  have  around  here  (we  live  on  Lake  Erie).   He  LOVES  the  beach.   And  while  they  were  there,  they  started  to  collect  beach  glass,  and  by  the  end  of  the  summer,  they  had  a  LOT.   And  this  is  what  they  did  with  some  of  the  pieces  that  they  found--a  beach  glass  family  portrait  of  me,  Lenny  (our  turtle)  and  my  husband!

How  wonderful  is  this?!    I  love  the  fact  that  Lenny  is  entirely  made  of  beach  glass pieces  that  they  had  in  their  collection---like  finding  pieces  to  a  puzzle.   The  story  behind  this  gift  is  just  as  good  as  the  gift--don't  you  think?

And  then  the  same  daughter  kept  asking  me  what  I  wanted  for  Christmas,  and  I  honestly  couldn't  think  of  anything.    And  then  I  thought--I  know!   I  made  an  Etsy  Christmas  list!   I  no  doubt  love  hand-crafted  items,  and I  also  love  supporting  other  artists,  so  I  sent  her  a  ton  of  Etsy  links  so  I  wouldn't  know  what  she  picked  out.    And  this  is  what  she  chose--

This  beautiful  necklace  (I.....LOVE....IT!)  is  from  the  very  talented  Sharon--livewirejewelery Etsy shop.    The  way  she  turns  these  vintage  pieces  into  a  wearable  piece  of  art  along  with  her  skilled  jewelry-making (love  what  she  does  with  brass)  is  magic.   And  I  want  to  mention  that  this  isn't  my  first  piece  of  jewelry  from  Sharon--I'm  definitely  a  Livewire Jewelry  junkie!!!

I  haven't  been  able  to  spend  much  time  in  my  art  room,  but  I  HAVE   been  a  little  busy  in  there--next  blog,  I'll  tell  you...

Hope  everyone  has  a  very  Happy  2012!

One More Plug.....

....for my Etsy shop.  I've listed a few  more  items,  and these will  be  the  last  until  after  the  holidays....

And  if  you  live  in  the  U.S.,  I'll ship  priority for Christmas--don't  forget  about  my  15%  off  sale--code  word:  WINTERTIME.

Now,  I  really  think  it's  about  time  that  I  start  getting  ready  for   Christmas  around  here.....



My Favorite Ornaments

Yesterday  we  put  up  our  Christmas  tree!!   We  always  wait  about  a  week  before  to  do  this,  mainly  because  we  use  a  real  tree  (much  under  the  protest  of  my  husband,  but  sorry--majority  rules),  and  I  just  like  to  wait--I  love  the  feeling  a  Christmas  tree brings,  and  I  don't  want  to  lose  it  by  putting  it  up  too  soon.

And  through  the  years,   I've  accumulated  MANY  ornaments  with  sentimental  value to them,  but  there's  no  way  that  they'll  all  fit  on  one  tree,  so  I  have  to  just  pick  my  favorites,  and  what  else  would  that  be, but  the  ones  that  my  kids  made  for me  when  they were children  in  school.  And  out  of  this  group,  I  have  to  choose  which  ones  I  want  to  hang.   So  let  me  formally  introduce  you  to  my  kids  from  oldest  to  youngest.

This  is  Scott--

I'm  not  sure,   but  I  think  he  was  in  4th  grade  here.  As  you can  see,  he  made  this  very  clever  wreath  made  out  of  yarn.  : )  He's  now  34.

And  then  there's  Nick--

I'm  pretty  sure  this  is  a  reindeer  face (see  the red  nose?)  --so  he's  the  reindeer.  It's  1988  so  this  would  put  him  in  4th  grade.   I've  talked  about  Nick  before  on  my  blog--he's  now  32.

And  now,  here's  Lisa  (the  sassy  one  of  the family)--

This  cute  little  heart  is  from  1987-- would  put her  in  first  grade.   And  she's  now  29.

And  next  is  Jen--

On  this  Christmas  tree!!  And  she  is  in  Kindergarten  here.  She's  now  27.

And  finally,  my  favorite  ornament  on  the  whole  tree--John's

So  let  me  explain  a  little  bit  about this  one.  As  you  can  see,  this  Kindergarten  photo  session  was  not  a  pleasant  experience  for  him.  (in the  actual photo, his nose is  red  from the tears).  But  I  didn't  have  the  heart  to  make  him  go for  a  retake,  because  the  first  time  was  so  traumatic  for  him.  And  to  this  day,  we  have  no  idea  why,  including  John.   So  when  Christmas  time  came  around,  the  teacher  got  out  all  of  the  students'  class photos  so  they  could  make  their  ornaments  for  their  parents.   And  when  he  gave  this  to  me  on  Christmas  morning,  he  was  so  proud  and  happy  of  his  present--his first  one   that  he  made  all by  himself  and  wrapped  it  too.  And  I  was  very  proud  and  happy  to hang  it  on  the  tree (and  still am)!  And  this  baby  of  the  family  is  now  23!

So  here  they  all  are  last  year  on  Christmas  Eve  in  front  of  their  red  felt  stockings  with  their  names  in  glitter  that  they  each  received  the  year  they  were  born--

They  would  be  so  mad  if  I  didn't  hang  these  stockings  every  year.  It's  their  favorite  part  of  Christmas--yes  Santa  still  fills  them  every  Christmas.

I  still  can't  believe  that  they  let  me  take  this  Brady  Bunch  pic!!

So  from  my  family  to  yours--Merry  Christmas!!

Three Muses Challenge

I didn't think I could do anything artsy this week, but when I saw The Three Muses  Home Sweet Home challenge, I had to submit a piece.  But I have to confess, I still didn't do anything artsy this week.  I had made this piece a couple  of weeks ago.  I like to incorporate alot of houses in my artwork, so for this reason, this  challenge appealed to me.  Here's my entry--

This is on a 5x5 wrapped canvas, and the house on it is from a Scrabble gameboard along with  the roof of the canvas.  Gameboards are great to work on--so if you don't use them anymore, DON'T get rid of them.  Put them with your art supplies, because they come in very handy, along with the game pieces. 

Wow, only 2 days left till Christmas--I better get a move on it.  It just kind of snuck up on me this year--I've  been having such a good time here in Blogland!   I  hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!

                                                

A Christmas Collection And a Family Tradition

First of all, I'll tell you about my collection-- SLOWLY but surely I'm getting my house ready for Christmas.  And I was thinking of what I wanted to share with everyone on my blog.  So I thought of my collection. I like to collect things, so of course I would also have a Christmas collection, and no it's not snowmen...it's Santas.

I've been collecting them maybe for about 20 years--I'm not really sure. I just started getting them, until they turned into a collection, and now every year, I will get a new one.  Come to think of it, I didn't get one for this year, but I will.  These Santas are just part of what I have. (HEY, what's that snowman doing in there?!)   They're all over the house.  I don't look for anything in particular--just whatever strikes my fancy at the time.  I do have my favorites ,though.

Like Mr. and Mrs. Claus

I got these two from a local very talented paper mache artist.

And which one is my favorite?  Well last year, it would have been him--

I still like him, you know the country primitive Santa, but he's been dethroned.  My style and taste has changed alot this past year. so this year, it's most definitely this fun Santa--

And now I'll tell you about our family tradition.  It's actually a bit of a running joke every year.  Each year I ask my kids--who are in their 20's and 30's if they want me to hang their stockings.  And they look at me in disbelief and say "You BETTER hang them!"  Let me describe these stockings. They are the red felt ones that you find at the dollar store with the white trim, and each one has their name written on them (in glitter of course).  And I can't hang them on the mantel, because I don't have a fireplace, so they end up on the stair bannister. 

Each one of them have told me that the stockings are their favorite part of Christmas. Well, one reason is because Santa (and yes, we all still do believe in Santa) fills these babies to the brim plus.  They're always overflowing.  The contents of these stockings are probably worth more than what's under the Christmas tree.

But I know the other reason is that these stockings  represent  all of their Christmases from childhood till now.  Believe me, we're not the picture-perfect family--we have our disfunctional times like any other family, but every year at Christmas we all get together and have the best time and laugh  about our "episodes" we've had during the year--good or bad.  And look forward to the next year for more "episodes" that we can laugh about next year at Christmas. And if we're stil here in 30 years, God willing, when they're in their 50's and 60's, those stockings will still be hung and still be brimming on Christmas morning.

So Scott, Nick, Lisa, Jennifer, and John, if you're wondering--yes I hung them up : )