It's beginning To Look A Lot Like...

C h r i s t m a s !

  We got snowed in again on Saturday and I came down with a cold and sore throat. The good thing is I was able to get the trees up and the house decorated, then rested by finally beginning to watch the Downton Abbey series. Yes, I bought the DVDs and am just now watching from the first episode! 

  Here are some pics of my trees and displays which I will share at Inspiration Avenue for the theme of "Christmas" this week. My trees are also for "T Stands For Tuesday" with Elizabeth and Bleubeard:

 This is the main tree in the sitting room. I always adorn it with cardinals and my very favorite tree topper- a peacock! We used to have a 5-6 ft. tree but have downsized and simplified.

 And this is the tabletop tree in the den. It's filled with ornaments I have received throughout the years thru swaps and gifts.

 Here are a few pics of some of the displays. I tried to put it together as a collage in PicMonkey but it just wasn't working out for me this time :(

  

 I woke up this AM to, yes, another snow day! I only hope this isn't the beginning of a really snowy winter... but to keep warm I had not one but two cups of my favorite Sumatra blend Starbucks coffee:

  Here is a card I'm entering for the Simon Monday Challenge theme of  "Stamp Out 2013!" :

 This was recently made for a dear friend's special birthday. I used a sketch -Heather's Sketch which was one of the Simon challenges a few weeks ago.
 Products: 5" x 7" white card (Canvas Corp); white card stock; patterned papers (The Natural Matstack-DCWV); foam stamps (Making Memories); Grand Calibur die cut machine and Big Scalloped Squares Lg. dies (Spellbinders).

  And this is the card design I used to send to my family members in France.

  Products: white note card , card stock (Canvas Corp); patterned card stock-Figgy Pudding,Peppermint (Basic Grey); twine (Martha Stewart); glitter tree (Hobby Lobby); Grand Calibur die cut machine and Classic Ovals Large dies (Spellbinders).

  I'm also linking up with Aimee at artsyville for her final Glue It Tuesday-thanks so much for hosting!

 I hope wherever you are you are warm and cozy-whether it's by a fire indoors, or out enjoying summer in your part of the world.

 " Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are."

                                                                                                                     Marianne Williamson

Squeezing in Art Time

  Thanks to everyone for all your sweet comments last week. Sorry I wasn't able to reply to everyone individually, but the holidays are fast approaching and I need to keep moving! Today I managed to get a bit of art time in in between mailing cards and decorating the house and that break felt good -even if it was in keeping with the Christmas theme:) But first, guess who came to dinner yesterday???

  After asking (just once this year:) for hubby to bring the boxes of xmas stuff down from the attic, he chose to do it before dinner. All the while I heard "I just love Christmas" repeatedly. I quickly went thru some boxes to get out the special character our son Todd and I renamed "Bill" some years ago. And he magically appeared at the table for dinnertime :):) It actually gave both Bill and I a laugh or two and his heart grew three sizes in the moment. That's it. Happy ending. The Grinch is now in his proper place.


 This is a variation on some of the Christmas cards I'm sending and is my entry today for this week's Simon Wednesday challenge "Let It Snow":

   Products: white note card (Canvas Corp); vellum (Hero Arts); patterned paper-Winter Twig (Little Yellow Bicycle, Inc.); rubber stamp (PSX); Vivid! Olive dye ink (Clearsnap); glittery foam stickers (source unknown); sewing machine and silver thread; Grand calibur die cut machine and dies (Spellbinders).

  I managed to do a simple journal page also, which I am linking to this week's Simon Monday challenge theme of "tissue". I began by covering the watercolor page with decorative tissue paper:

  
  I penciled in a figure, painted it in with white gesso, then filled that in with acrylic paints. I outlined the figure with a Pitt Pen. The "presents" were cut out from Basic Grey Wassail patterned card stock, painted with glitter glue, then adhered to the image. I added the words digitally in Photoshop.

  Besides the Simon Blogs I am linking to Paint Party Friday, Art Journal Every Day, Creative Every Day, Mandarin Orange Monday.

                                   "A little of what you fancy does you good."

Keeping Warm On A Snow Day!

  Snow was expected for today but what I did not expect was for it to arrive so early this AM, stranding my hubby, forcing him to park his car (a Mustang -which is NOT good in the snow) and walk home (at least 2 miles) wait-GET THIS-wearing shorts, work shoes -and no hat even!! Of course he's been told before to take pants and some warm things in an event like this-but noooo. Hopefully after today, lesson learned! I wasn't able to fetch him in my DEPENDABLE Focus because some roads were blocked and pretty bad because the salt wasn't laid down overnight-DUH! All of the local schools and some of the colleges even closed. The city should have known better since we had a small amount of freezing rain and snow yesterday and temps were in the twenties overnight. I'll have to keep my eye out on the local news-in case someone snapped a photo of Bill with a caption like "in denial" or something even worse :)

  So here's what I woke up to:

                      This is from my back yard looking toward the front. I suppose it IS pretty :)

  In order to stay warm inside I chose to wear a very warm pair of slipper socks which I photographed for the theme of "looking down at your feet" at Inspiration Avenue.

  I was in the sitting room enjoying this:

 The glass plate is part of a set that belonged to my great grandmother as did the little table.  I'm having a piece of my scrumptious double chocolate zucchini cake  which has a hint of nutmeg and cinnamon in it, along with a cup of Buddha's Herbs Green Tea With Herbs which has a bit of chamomile , thyme and peppermint in it. It can snow all it wants outside-I'm in heaven-and warm with this combination of flavors!

  I'll be joining Tea Cup Tuesday at Artful Affirmations and T Stands for Tuesday with  Bleubeard and Elizabeth at Altered Book Lover today.

  Wherever you are I hope you are warm and cozy!

     " Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things."     Chaim Potok
 

Christmas Art Continues!

  How's everyone this week? Personally , I'm feeling that the days to Christmas are approaching very quickly so I have gone into the "ready,set,GO!" mode to get as many cards and things done as I can. Are you like me? Do you feel like you're not going to be ready on time only to find in the end that you had plenty of time all along? I really try to stay focused on the important things at hand and then whatever else gets done, either gets done-or not :).

 I have been so inspired by Nancy Maxwell James' "Very Vintage Christmas" daily tutorials on her blog which began Dec.1 and ends Dec. 7th. It's not too late to check out her blog posts-and she also offers her tutorials in PDF format if you'd like to give some a try for next year :) Thanks Nancy for so generously sharing your talent and ideas with us!

  These are two of ? many ornaments I'll be sending out this year:

  I created a stocking template then traced and cut them out from 90lb. watercolor paper after gluing patterned papers to one side. Other supplies are: Paper Whimsy images and words collage sheets; gold, silver card stock (Canson); Stickles glitter glue in gold and silver (Ranger); oval punch; scallop punch; gold and silver German dresden borders (Artchix Studio); mini tinsel in gold and silver.

  The next two projects are for the Simon Monday challenge which this week is "With a Flourish".

  Supplies: white note card and cardstock (Canvas Corp); felt scroll tree (Hobby Lobby); silk poinsettia; rhinestone; Diamond Stickles glitter glue (Ranger); Grand Calibur die cut machine and Fleur De Lys die (Spellbinders).

  My second entry for the challenge:

 This tag was inspired by one of Nancy's Vintage Christmas tutorials. Want a free downloadable collage sheet of Christmas tickets? Please visit Nancy's blog posts where she shares the link :)

  Products: tag (Hero Arts); image (Paper Whimsy); silver card stock (Canson); Silver Stickles glue (Ranger); felt glitter tree (Hobby Lobby); ribbon (Paper Whimsy but sadly no longer available); glittery paper scroll sticker (Michaels), music rubber stamp ( All Night Media); Stone Gray Staz-On ink (Tsukineko).

 It's not just about Christmas though. I managed to complete a journal page inspired by a quote Christi Wich ( our online instructor for the 52 Weeks of Creative Abundance course). She encouraged us to create a piece of art around it and I so loved the quote I knew I had to create something.

  I began with a page in my large (9" x 11") journal. The background had been done months ago so I figured it was time to use it. It began with a pencil drawing of a leaf stem:

                                                     (the pod-like stamp is hand carved)

  A variety of green and  yellow acrylic paints were used to fill it in. I then added a bit of blue Caran D'Ache water soluble crayon (LOVE those!) to create more depth. The leaf stem and words were outlined with a charcoal pencil and smudged to complete it. Isn't that such a lovely quote?

 Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll try and get around to see what you all have created for these challenges.

  Linking to Paint Party Friday, Art Journal Every Day, Creative Every Day, Mandarin Orange Monday,  the Simon Monday Challenge, and Glue It Tuesday.

   There is no such thing as creative and non-creative people, only people who use their creativity and people who don't."   Brené Brown

Black Friday Shopping??

  For those of us who celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday, the day after, known as  Black Friday, has become a tradition that is sadly now beginning to creep into Thanksgiving Day. It's a day when people become literally crazed trying to find the best parking spots and bargains for the gift giving Christmas holiday. I've only done it I think twice some years ago and decided it was in no way worth it! There's always online shopping. I plan on spending a relaxing day home after a wonderful but tiring Thanksgiving Day which I hosted for our son, my Mom and Bill's great Aunt Betty. Big thanks to Todd and Bill for taking care of all the dishes and clean up :)

  So on to art! First I will share the journal page I finished which I shared as a WIP last week. Thank you for your suggestions on finishing it!

 I chose a glitter rub-on butterfly which was in my stash and the perfect size, coloring and shape! I wrote in the words with a Micron pen and glued on some punched  black hearts. "Grace" is also the theme/word for the month in the 52 Weeks of Creative Abundance class and so I created my page and tag using the above inspiration.

  The page was painted with a light blue and lilac acrylic paint. The leaf border (Magenta) was stamped with Cactus Green Staz-On ink. For the tag I sprayed it with Dylusions ink sprays in Bubblegum Pink and Pure Sunshine. The image was resized and printed from my original journal page. I added some black splatters (which I think mucked it up and should not have done), and a bit of glitter glue to the butterfly wings.

  It is almost December and so I have finished my calendar spread for Kate Crane's 2013 calendar challenge. This is the second year I have participated and completed every month! I love looking back on my spreads but may do something a bit different next year.

  The background was done simply by placing a 12" x 12" snowflake lace cardstock on the pages and spraying with Dylusions Bubblegum Pink ink spray. December was stamped using a Making Memories foam stamp set and Folk Art acrylic paint in Fresh Foliage. It was outlined with a green Sharpie pen. The weekdays were stamped with  studio g alphabet set and Forest Green Staz-On ink. The numbers are from a Hero Arts set. A variety of glitter rub-ons and stickers were used and the squares were outlined with a green crayon. Here are two more views:

 

  I do wish you could see how sparkly it is!! I do NOT like the winter one bit so I needed to do something bright and cheerful (not that I don't usually do that anyway :)

  I received my first Christmas card and along with it-this gorgeous ornament!!

 

  What a lovely surprise-thank you so much Nancy!! And if you like Nancy's art and her gorgeous vintage style you are in luck! I mentioned it before but it's definitely worth mentioning again-

 " Speaking of Christmas if you love vintage style, if you'd love some beautiful projects to create as gifts for your friends and family, then please join me in the festive fun at Sugar Lump Studios where my friend Nancy Maxwell James is hosting  "A Very Vintage Christmas" Dec. 1 - 7 !  Nancy's gorgeously detailed projects are guaranteed to delight and inspire you to make your own! You can click the above link or that sweet  badge ( the" vintage" jar) on the sidebar. Hope to see you there!"

  Linking this week to Paint Party Friday, Art Journal Every Day, the 2013 Calendar Project, Glue It Tuesday. Please do visit these inspiring places, and even share your own art!

    "No-one is useless in the world who lightens the burden of anyone else."   Charles Dickens