january sneak peek

been a busy week around here.
the after christmas-ness that is is still a busy one.
part of that busyness for me has been completing projects for wip kits.
wip kits gallery goes up this sunday, january1.2012.
yes friends.2012 is here upon us.
so what are you doing new years?

here are a few sneaks to the january kit projects i put together.

i hope you will join me this sunday for the the OLW blog hop of 2011.
we will be saying goodbye to our word of 2011.
for me that was pray.
and we will be saying hello to our word for 2012.
for me it will be gifts.

 

my word from 2011 will continue to be with me throughout the new year.

it was a perfect word.

i will share more on sunday's hop.

and i have found a new energy with having found gifts as my new one little word.

it is very needful in my life.

 

and will you, my dear reader, be choosing a word for 2012?

i would love to know what that word is.

i would love to have you join us in ali edwards OLW class this year.

her prompts went a long way in helping me stay connected, on many levels, to my word.

please join us.

merry christmas to all.

merry christmas, my dear friends.

It has been a very busy week, as I am sure it has been for you.
With the school semester over, it has been a catch up week for me.
As well as a week of last minute shopping, (still missing a gift for my nephew), gift making, a busy kitchen, and holiday jaunts with the family.

The week brought with it two snow storms to which my girls could not be any more delighted. The neighborhood has been a buzz with activity as group driveway and side walk shoveling crews have gone from house to house sharing a very beautiful Christmas spirit. The nearby golf course has found it’s share of kiddos sledding and making merry on the deeply covered greens. This winter wonderland has only added to the festive spirit that already pervades our Mayberry street.

As there is with anything that involves people there have been moments of stress creep up and ruin the yuletide. Strained family relationships. Cold weather attitudes. Plans gone awry. But what is true joy and delight if life is always easily handled, and the character is not challenged to be all that it could be?
o.k...who am I kidding...I hate the stress...but seriously, I don't let anything go to waste, so I make that work for me in the end too.

 isn’t there always joy found...somewhere?
The joy found in children rushing in from intense play among the snow moguls. Breathless and ruddy.
Joy found in babies delighted by the lights and sounds of the most wonderful time of the year. Delightful.
Joy found in safely returning home after a somewhat treacherous commute from the big city event. Thankful.
Joy found in outside trees laden with snow and lit with lights. Beautiful.
Joy found in a gorgeous rendition of Carole of the Bells by the city’s chorale. Moving.
Joy found in children falling heavy into bed after a full day of being merry and bright. Contentment.
Joy found in bright sunshine reflecting off glittery snow against a drape of blue sky. Aw-inspiring.
Joy found at the heart of it all, a small babe, a frightened mother, and wondering father, a majestic event.

Joy very often finds its way with me and the work of my hands. Indebted.
(inspired so much this year by Spark Your Christmas.)...

thank you for visiting this Christmas eve Eve day...

the spark continues

as inspired by margie's spark your christmas...which is still available...

this little tree scape is sitting on my dining room table.
literally...it is this and that found around my house/studio/christmas boxes.
for me, that has been the most fun of all.
and seriously inspired by margie. oh how she rocks the beauty and spark of christmas!!!

the trees are sitting on a cardboard circle that i cut from a cereal box.
seriously...i never throw cereal or graham cracker boxes away (think costco size, folks...we got 5 kids here afterall.)
the styrofoam christmas cones are upcycled...will tell that little story in a second.
i took a scrap of a strip of burlap and a strip of silver tissue paper and then sewed them together. that was then hot glued to the circle base in a ruffle. love how that turned out.
then the christmas trees found a home inside:
these trees are covered with rhonna's christmas junque background paper, and the other with more scrap burlap.
the burlap tree has a bit of a junque bow, felt snowflake, a little bling, and then a banner from rhonna's christmas junque tags n flags .
the papered tree has a doily, scrap of a die cut label, paper shreds, dyed seam binding, and a die cut glitter star.
the rest of the table scape includes spray painted pine cones, small silver and glittered ornaments, and a bit of floral beads. i love when the simple things found here and there come together and make something beautiful.
well...i think it's beautiful anyway.

so here is my funny little story.
do you see those two trees in this magazine?
the mag is Holiday Cards from 2008.
yep. 2008.
4 years ago.
well...as i was debating whether i should upcycle the styrofoam christmas trees for the above table scape, it was those two trees i was holding in my hand.
then it dawned on me...the green patterned paper (tree on the left) was from autumn leaves...and it was a Rhonna Farrer design!
have i not been stalking, worshipping, inspired by that woman for but a very long time?
it made me smile.
and i am thrilled to be a part of her creative team, and continue to paper my styro trees with her designs.

spark your christmas

I have so much I wish to share with you.
But today it will be some simple inspiration.
by way of Spark Your Christmas.

I was gifted this fabulous class by a friend who could tell I needed...well...a little spark.
And she was so right.
The week really caught up with me in a bad way.
Spark Your Christmas re-directed some creative passion...and here is a small result::

As inspired by Margie's chipboard letters...

these letters 'were' covered in green and red patterned paper.
not workin' for me and my decor this year.
Margie covered hers in fabric and yarn...beautiful.
and i covered mine in simply what I could find around here.
patterned tissue paper.
burlap scraps.
book paper.

and then junqued them up just a bit...

scraps of silver netting from a previous gift received.
tulle. i just always have tulle.
coffee died seam binding.
chipboard stars: the stars were die cut from scrap chipboard (read salvaged cereal box).
                          then they were covered in silver wrapping paper.
                          and then they were hot glued to the junque bow.
                          i have pearls and assorted beads from here and there...more hot glue (i see now why margie uses low temp glue...note to self!) and they added to the glam of the project.

so use what you have.
re-junque it up.
have fun...

off to upcycle some styrofoam christmas trees.

catching up...december daily

hello friends...someone recently commented they had not seen me around much...
i am simply behind in my life.
that's all.
but here is a little peek into what is going on with the december daily.
the tradition for Day1 is to have a family photo.
love this idea.
this is what our's will look like this year::

still need to play with the formatting a little as we look a bit too small.

to answer a few question about my book that i introduced here::
the cover is 6 1/2 x 9.
it is covered in canvas.
the inside pages will vary from anywhere between 6x8 1/4 to 5 1/2 x 8.
i like the variation of different sizes going on inside.
and there is nothing original here, like...at all! so please take from this book any inspiration that will let your book be the book it should be.

yesterday RhonnaDESIGNS had some fabulous creative team tuesday inspo. go check it out.

hoping your Christmas celebration is less hectic than mine.

and more tags...

guest blogging today at work in progress.

here is that post.

Tags are in my heart right now.
I have always loved tags.
If you have ever received a gift from me, there is probably some type of tag attached to it.
They are simple canvases awaiting the pleasure of paper, trim and embellishment to make them into works of art.

So I blame Trish, that's right, Trish for this most recent obsession I find myself entangled with.
For she was the one who revealed the beauty of Two Gypsy Girls and their Advent Tag calendar of a few years back. They actually call theirs a Junk Drawer Advent Calendar. And that is just fine by me. For what I have to show you sort of came about from junk. My junk.

For you see I became so obsessed with making these tags, that I ended up buying the Gypsy Girls digital download of instructions.  Then the fun really began. But not because of what you think. Not because I had gorgeous detail photos of all 24 days of tags. Not because I had step by step instructions on how to replicate each tag. Not because I now had new techniques to explore and create with. Nope. It was because I practically had NONE of the supplies they used. Well...I had tags! but the fun for me really became reality when I used what I had. I did not go out to buy a single thing for the tags that I made. The challenge to my creative resources was peeked and I went after the task with great love and joy for this creative process.

Let me share a little here::

They all start with a few basics. (I am not going to reveal what the 2Gypsies shared with me, but I can share a few little things). They all start with a tag. Save for the bingo card (do you recognize the bingo card from the WIP December kit?) Also basic to each tag is inking of the edges. After that they are all their own unique pieces of sweetness.

I forgot one other common theme:: glitter. My Christmas colors this year are silver, burlap, and champagne. The glitter just fits perfectly with that scheme. As do all these tags.

Let me share a few of my favorite...oh...so hard to choose...but I will try.

Remember, I did not have hardly any of the suggested supplies that the 2Gypsies wished I had. So based on the photo and instruction, I went my own way. My version of this tag was to make a frame from wood grain pattern paper, and die cut with a label shape. The 'bling' piece is actually a button from...are you ready for this? Walmart! yep folks, there are treasures to be had at Walmart. I actually picked up the bejeweled piece to make a ring. That did not work. But it sure did work to run some hand dyed seam binding through to top the frame. This is one of the more simple tags, but it is one of my favorites.

The center tag, the one with the flocked brocade, is my all time favorite. I really wish you all could see it in real life...it is actually stunning if I do say so myself. The pattern piece started off with a white background. Too stark for the look I was going for. So, I misted the brocade with a bit of water. Then I used a bit of color mist, pooled a little on my work surface, and 'painted' it onto the white portions of the brocade piece. It worked perfect. The heart chipboard piece I made by die cutting a piece of chipboard to a heart shape. Then I covered the heart with a bit of cheese cloth...yes...lots of cheese cloth on these here tags, who knew? I trimmed along the edges leaving some frayed pieces loose. Another piece of dyed seam binding was tied in a bow and attached, with pearls hot glued onto the seam binding. I randomly picked up those pearls in Ohio last month! I now believe one needs always have pearls of various sizes in one's stash.

The last tag I shall share with you is this one. So much I had to make work on this one. First, the vintage alphabet piece...I found it on GraphicsFairy. And I was so excited to have made it's acquaintance. Then, the glittered fleur de lis...I did not have any of those on hand. But I did have a stamp. So I stamped a piece of thin chipboard. Then trimmed around the stamp impression. Next, Modge Podge was used to cover the piece, and then it was glittered...again another item I purchased in Ohio! (I love that place!). The next thing I did not have were pearl dangles. So I looked up how to make those on YouTube, and actually got pretty good at it by the end of these tag creations.

The need to be resourceful in my creativity really added to the value of this Advent Calendar. It deepened my ability to make something out of, well, practically nothing. Our creative studios are beautiful places to hoard stuff, or make stuff. Pull out those precious hoarded items and make something beautiful today.