It Snowed! It Snowed!

We didn't get wacked like the East coast (thank goodness) but it did snow Friday night.....

Snow! A great segway into the new music discovery I found the other day on iTunes. Her name is Meaghan Smith. I think I've found a new favorite Christmas song by her that's called, "It Snowed". You can click here to go to her website and then click on "It Snowed" to listen to it. Let me know what you think of her.

MY SUNDAY ADVENTURES.........

I went to my mom and dad's place this afternoon to make pizzelles and to take Buddy (their Aussie shepard) for a walk. He's insanely in love with snow! I, on the other hand....not so much! But, you might as well enjoy it because you know it's going to be here awhile! I swear he was smiling as we were walking back to the woods.

Buddy has to stick his nose into every hole in the ground he finds.....

Typical winter sky of northwestern, PA.....

Frozen pond.....

I love taking pictures of trees, especially during during the winter. Nature's art at it's best.

The sun kept breaking throught the clouds making a dazzling diamond display on the snow.

Only about 4.5 inches. Not bad to have made it to almost Christmas and this be the first snowfall.

No birdies today. Buddy and I scared them away I guess. Buddy hates birds and tries to chase them.

It's amost here............... ho,ho,ho!

Pizzelles might very well be my favorite Christmas cookie. I have this old electric iron that was my aunt's that makes the thinnest, crispiest pizzelles you've every tasted. They melt in your mouth and cause your brain to smile and say "I need another....and another....and another". Mom and I made a batch of almond and a batch of vanilla. I accidentally dropped my camera on one bag of them and now Gary and I are eating pizzelle nibblets!


Finishing up Christmas gifts.......custom dog tags for Riley and Garrett. I've still got a lot to do but I'm not worried, it will all come together.

So, what did you do today?

I love claymation and especially the Christmas specials. Who doesn't love Rudolph?!?! This is one of my favorite claymation songs from the Claymation Christmas DVD. This is one of best renditions of "We Three Kings". Those camels are too funny! Don't forget to turn off the Christmas music before you play the video.

Green Bough.....Singing Bird

Keep a green bough in your heart and the singing bird will come.

This 5 by 7 collage was created with elements from the Green Bough Collage Sheet which you can find and download for free here. Or you can purchase a 5 by 7 print over at Jingle All The Way Home! The snow was made with color core cardstock which was torn and to give it the blue edges then sanded to let some of the blue show through the white. The pine bough was hand painted as well as her legs. Snowflakes were created with a paper punch. I really enjoyed working in this pallet of red, black, white and grey. Some days it's hard to keep a green bough in your heart. I'm a big believer in Karma and I know if you put enough good out there, good will come back to you and eventually the singing bird will come.

Hope you had a good weekend! Have a great Monday!
Smiles-
M

A Study of Red and Green......

While my favorite Christmas colors are aqua and red together I can also appreciate the traditional colors of red and green. Rarely at any other time of the year will you find red and green together so let's enjoy it while we can! I started today with imbibing my chocolate craving with red and green M&Ms. Then I rearranged my antique plastic Santa collection with a collaged background of red and green.......Tonight I used some elements from the Collage Sheet from the previous post to create this red and green postcard.

She knew how to be good......but.......... there was the coffee drinking, the brawls on the playground and the cheating on her math tests.......but then again, hey nobody's perfect! Just remember Santa is aways watching!

I made these little snowpeople last year.......

Ok, that's my tribute to Red and Green! Hope you enjoyed it.

One last thing.....today I went to a new bead shop that opened in downtown Greenville, Pa It's called "Let It Bead" and has quite the array of beads. The owner, Kris is very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. If you're in the area stop by and check it out.

One more last thing.....no really just one more...... pop on over the Cathie Holman's website to win one of her terrific calendars.

Better Not Pout

Happy Friday! Only 14 more days until Christmas! I created this collage sheet entitled "Better Not Pout" as an early Christmas gift for all of my Blogland artsy friends to use in their collages. By the way, I'd love to have that bear hat in the collage but I think an almost 43 year old woman would look a little silly walking around in it. Do you find that as we get closer to Christmas, people in general "try" your patience? Whew! Some days it's harder than others to deal with the pragmatically challenged and inappropriate in our society!

So going shopping this weekend? Who's staying at home to play in their studio? Who's going to get their hair cut and colored? Who's making Christmas cookies this weekend?

Oh, I see the next person who becomes a follower of this blog will be number 100! Whoever that person is will get a set of the 4 different Christmas postcards from a few posts ago.

Hey, have a great Saturday!

Christmas Dogs!

These are custom orders I completed the other day for doggie pendants. A boxer and a chocolate lab. Aren't they cute? I love the look on this dog's face.........he's saying "She made me wear the ridiculous hat, it wasn't my idea!"

If you'd like your dog turned into a 2 inch long by 1.2 inches wide pendant, give me an email. I can even use your dog if you have a digital picture that you can send to me in an attachment. They're $7 each. Merry Woof Christmas!

Winter Solstice Snowflake Fairy Collage Sheet

I dug through my vintage images and catalogue images and came up with this collage sheet to celebrate the Winter Solstice. This year the Winter Solstice will occur at 6:47 AM (that's eastern standard time in the US). Please feel free to use this collage sheet in your art!

In pre-historic times, winter was a very difficult time for Aboriginal people in the northern latitudes. AS the days grew shorter they feared that the sun would eventually disappear and leave them in permanent darkness and extreme cold. After the winter solstice, they would have reason to celebrate as they saw the sun rising and the days growing longer. The concept of birth and or death/rebirth became associated with the winter solstice. The Aboriginal people had no elaborate instruments to detect the solstice. But they were able to notice a slight elevation of the sun's path within a few days after the solstice -- perhaps by DEC-25. Celebrations were often timed for about the 25th.

Give Away Winner!

Ok, I've got good news and bad news..............
Let's start with the good news picked with a random generator..........the winner of the Christmas postcard giveaway is (insert drum roll).......... Tracy from Cotton Pickin Cute. Congrats!

Now for the bad news...... I logged into Blogger and then into my blog and all of my comments from the past 3 years have vanished! I'm so disappointed. I logged into the help desk at Blogger and this has happened to many, many people over the past few days. I hope Blogger can restore it.

Ok I have to go get my jammies on.....Rudolph is on and I want to be ready! I love stop motion animation (I know, it sounds like I'm 10 years old! Ha!)

Ok, I had to add this...........I just logged back in and boom! All my comments are back! Strange!

Cool Things to Make For Christmas....

It's that time of the year to break out the glue and glitter and have fun! Here are a few projects to make "on the cheap".......

Ok, let's start with the easiest things to make.......Tags! I love making tags. They're easy and all you need is decorative scrapbook paper and glue. Here are a few using vintage photos and snowmen a drew and cut out. This little advent calendar turned out so cute! I used a piece of chipboard, cardstock and my Zutter Bind It All Machine to connect everything with the wire O-rings.

The world's smallest canvas..........well, probably not the world's smallest but close at 2 inches by 2 inches.

I was inspired by Cathie Holman's larger canvases of cupcakes to create this little guy.
Have you seen my clip! Well, you surely couldn't miss it with this giant baby. Have you noticed that I have no moderation in my crafts? I either like teenie-tiny things or giant oversized things? What's up with that? This giant wooden clip was purchased at the craft store, painted, collaged with scrapbook papers and then magnets were glued on the back. Stick it on your fridge of that festive list holder or perhaps to hold Christmas cards or maybe even as a chip clip in a pinch!

Back to the Zutter! You take a pack of heavy cardboard coasters, you know the cheap kind that you get in packs of 6 or 8 at the Dollar Store or the craft store, cover them with card stock (both front and back), embellish with rubber stamps and sticky rhinestones.
Next add some double sided sticky tape on the inside of it and stick a pack of sticky notes on it. Ta-da! It's a nifty little note holder. If you don't have a Zutter Bind It All, you could just punch holes with a hole punch across the top and tie with ribbon.

How groovy is this tree? I bet you don't know what it's made out of! Tootpicks! I didn't make it but stumbled upon it and thought it was kind of kitchie-cool. You can find directions on how to make it at E-how.

One more day until the drawing for the Christmas cards. If you haven't left a comment to be in the drawing please go to the previous post and do so to be entered!

Black Friday Giveaway

LEFT OVERS!!!!!

Well I survived Thanksgiving! All of that food! Now I want you to be very impressed so I'm going to tell you this........I went to the gym last night and I rode the bike....on the hill program.....for 30 minutes.....at a very brisk pace........and only burned 220 calories! What! What's that?!?!?! Only about 2 bites of stuffing! Oh well, at least I tried.

I don't shop on Black Friday so I stayed at home and worked in the studio on my Christmas cards. I'm doing a series of 4 and finished the last 2 today.

.If you'd like to be entered into a drawing to win a set of them just leave a comment about what you did today on Black Friday or what you're doing with all of those turkey leftovers! (I might just give out 2 sets if someone comes up with some really original way of using the leftover turkey!) I'f you'd like to purchase a set go to Jingle All The Way Home.

The Winners & I'm Full!!!!

They say (whoever "they" are) that you are suppose to eat until you feel 80% full, well right about now I'm feeling 128% full! The turkey turned out great, the gravy was the best I ever made, the stuffing was delish and the coconut cream pie was delightful! Oh my, did I mention that I'm full??!?!?!?!?........now let me see, where did I put those elastic waist pants.......
I hope all my friends in blogland had a great Thanksgiving Day too!

So onto the winners...........
The winner of the collage sheet is Marlene from "Q Bee C".
The winner of the Candy Cane Excursion CD is Terri from "Pringle Hill Studio".
Thanks to everyone who entered and I'll be posting another giveaway on Saturday so come back soon!

Thankful

It's that time of the year to reflect upon what we're thankful for.
Here are the top 6 things I'm thankful for:
1. My wonderful husband. He's a great guy and my best friend. We laugh a lot together.
2. My parents. The best that any gal could ask for.
3. My friends (both in person and in blogland).
4. My college degree. Without it I wouldn't have a job that I enjoy.
5. My gift of creativity. It's brought great joy to my life.

Now onward to some silly things that I'm thankful for in no particular order:
Elves..........
Flowers............. Coffee...........

Olive oil...................garlic...................Italy..................freedom................dental floss..........

pomegranates................cinnamon...................gelato....................Christmas decorations...........

chocolate.....................crushed ice....................conservationists..............rain.............polar fleece.....

lemon cookies.............lightening..........bugs..........bicycles..........funny people...................wool socks...................olives.......

gypsy jazz............traditional jazz................chiropracters...............good books..............magazines......

Adirondack chairs....................brownies...............gel medium....................sunshine.........................

the color green.............museums............artists....................fresh air........................dogs............

What are you thankful for? I hope all of my friends in blogland have a very Happy Thanksgiving and that you eat way too much pie and turkey!

Christmas Cards......

I've been working on my Christmas cards to send out this year. I want to make a series of 4, so far I have 3 done and here you see two of them. They're going to the printer tomorrow. I love the colors of aqua, light blue, cream, red and white together. Those colors remind me of the 1950s and 60s Christmas color combos. I love the image of this little girl. It's from the 1950s and I've named her MaryBelle. I bought a CD with vintage images on it many years ago and she's my favorite as I've used her a lot in my art. I added the red rubber boots. Just look at her sweet little face.....it shouts "JOY"! I bet she grew up to be a very happy adult!

The little gal on this image reminds me of a friend of mine in Clarion. It's it funny how some vintage photos of children from the past remind you of adults you presently know?

I added the boots, tie and hat.
There's fine glitter throughout this card. I'm not sure how that will translate in the printing process.

Is anybody out there in blogland making Christmas cards this year?

The Candy Cane Excursion 2009 Tour & Give Away

Read all the way to the bottom for the giveaway!

Today my friends Donna, Rita (from left to right) and I went on our Candy Cane Excursion. We started out with breakfast at a little diner. Then on to the Hummel Shop in New Springfield, Ohio. It's more like a Christmas Shop with Hummel figurines in one room of it. Aren't these trees beautiful!?!?!?!

No Rita! NO! You can't buy the $1495 Hummel figurine on the top shelf! That's really how much the ones on the top shelf are! I'm thinking Rita's just happy she doesn't have to dust all these babies!
How about this cute display! It's the Department 56 North Pole Elf Land Series. I collect these house but only the ones that have to do with food, like the Donut Shop, the Hard Rock Candy Shop, etc...

I love the way they have these houses displayed on the glass blocks. It gives me a great idea about how to do my display. I see a trip to Lowe's in my very near future for glass blocks. This is the Candy Cane Factory.....too cute!
Let's talk ornaments. A whole wall of ornament after ornament after ornament.....and some very odd ones too. Rita and Donna and I amused ourselves for a good 15 minutes putting the words "Christmas" in front of each ornament. For example "oh, look at the Christmas Asparagus" or "the Christmas Dragon" or "the Christmas Weinie Dog"....you get the picture. We chucked like idiots after we said each one. I think the lady next to use was getting annoyed, but it WAS funny. How would the Christmas Asparagus look adorning your tree? LOL
We all agreed that this one was the winner for the most bizarre ornament......"The Christmas Banana Santa". Really what the heck is up with that and it was $33!

Woodland Santa tree......very decorated...........

I'm not sure how this tree is going to translate in a picture but in real life it was simply gorgeous. It's almost a neon green color and with the sparkly red ornaments and glittery green holly it really popped.From the Hummel Shop we went to the little village of Columbiana, Ohio as the town was having their open house. I bought this cabinet card in a little antique shop there. Please feel free to use him in your art. After we left there we went to an art show then to a junk shop then to lunch! Whew, I'm tired!

While in the candy cane mode I created this collage sheet. Leave a comment and you'll be in a drawing for one printed on cardstock or you can copy it and use it in your art.

And if you leave a comment you will also be in the drawing for the Candy Cane Excursion 2009 Christmas CD. Artists on it are Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Horn, Diana Krall, Lou Rauls, John Coletrane, The Clarks, Kay Star, Straight No Chaser, Vincent Guiraldi and a few others. I'll draw on Tuesday!