23 Projects in 32 Days

Seems all I have completed so far is the list. The rest will happen, I suppose, by December 25th. Hmm.

I'm choosing to ignore the fact that it also happens to be the busy season, jewelry-wise. Double hmm.

(deep breaths...)


It's List-it Tuesday! 

A Memorial Weekend

This Memorial Day weekend, while troops fight in a complicated overseas conflict, we:

watched our garden grow

celebrated a special girl

and dipped our toes in the water

Thank you to all the service men and women, past and present, who sacrifice(d) moments like these with their own families. Remembering those who have fallen on this Memorial Day.

Springtime Fun

This weekend...

...somebody left a trail of tiny flowers to follow

...and a dozen wooly eggs

...and a "Mount Everest" of jellybeans and other sweets

This weekend, somebody else finished up this little piece that screams spring. A milky yellow moss opal, slightly egg-shaped, with what looks like little plants sprouting in it. (See more of it in my shop)

I'll bet a little springtime fun was happening in your home, too!

Flowering, Budding

Oh, it is truly a cause to celebrate. Spring! My mind is flowering, and ideas are budding. My thoughts are brightly colored with...

All things garden

Spring-time crafts (Just paper mache a balloon, then cut out an opening. Stuff with some grass and give a pompom chick a new home!)

Tiny baskets, filled with goodies

...and Cyclops Bixters. Apparently, they come in sets of six, packaged neatly in egg cartons. Heh.

What's sprouting in your mind?

Between (and sugar on top)

The week between Christmas and New Years is always a unique one. A week filled with a bit of reflection as we absorb the events of the past year, mixed with a sense of anticipation and renewal, as we await the new year. Kate, of Marmalade Moon recently wrote about these days, the "days in between," or “mellandagarna,” in her native Swedish. I love the idea of giving this week "in between" a name and celebrating it.

When you think about it, most of us do celebrate it, in our own ways. This year, we have been celebrating mostly with food (our very favorite way to commemorate occasion). Cooking and eating some old favorites and trying a few new recipes, too.

Banana bread has always been a favorite, but it was taken to another level after a friend told me what she recently ordered at a diner: banana bread toasted with butter and powdered sugar sprinkled on top (!). So we baked a loaf, using our preferred recipe, thickly sliced it, slathered it with butter and sifted the sugar onto it and, wow. The sugar dissolves into the melted butter, becoming something reminiscent of frosting (which is always good for breakfast. My mother would be proud—and I am being completely serious). This may be a fantastic new tradition for us—ringing in the new year with some good ol' sugar coated bread.

Wishing you a peaceful new year!

A thousand thanks for stopping by this little place and commenting. This blog has been a wonderful avenue of artistic expression and you, the readers, have motivated and inspired me to continue on a creative path. I look forward to sharing so much more in the new year. Best wishes for the new decade!

From a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Day two of homemade gifts:

Amigurumi Star Wars characters, of course. The perfect combination of the girls' latest obsession and my crafting preferences. My sister in law forwarded a link to these after she came across them and knew I would go crazy for them—she knows me well, and I did.

(From left: Luke, Leia, Han Solo, and Yoda)

These two are our favorite, by far. Leia's hair was a bit of a challenge for me and, as you can see, her buns are two very different sizes, heh. Little Yoda is just too much with that robe.

Han and Luke are ready to take on the dark side. Or snuggle up with a little girl. They're good like that, and will gladly do either.

The patterns are from Geek Central Station. If you stop by, be sure to check out the pirate captain pattern. Cracks. Me. Up.

Let the Crafting Commence!

...that's right, commence. Four days until Christmas and I am only right now beginning to make many of the gifts I have committed myself to making. I have to be honest and say that the devil on my shoulder is saying, "Forget it. Save yourself the gray hair, go buy whatever you can find, and be done." While it's tempting, I just can't bring myself to do it. After all, I purchased the materials for these projects back in early November (I had grandiose hopes last month, back when I was young. Ho hum).

The reason I have yet to find the time to make these gifts is that there has been an onslaught of last-minute jewelry orders. Mostly from men, frantically requesting expedited shipping. It's funny—that stereotype of men being eleventh-hour shoppers is certainly proving to be true. But as a last-minute crafter, I am not really in a position to judge them, am I?

...at least I got our Christmas cards done.

Merry Making!

Lots of Time = Lots of Projects

Whew. The loooong weekend left us with lots of time to occupy. We cooked and ate and created and read and now it's time to jump back into the swing of things. The jewelry biz is picking up for the holiday season and those bookmarks have proven to be quite popular (picture me crawling out of my cave-like basement workshop, protecting my eyes from the brightness of daylight, after making many, many bookmarks).

The last of the autumn-themed projects—delicious and simple sugar cookies.

..And the first of the Christmas crafts, beeswax ornaments (these smell so good!)

A couple of lanterns made from old jam jars. Just water down some glue and paint it over torn pieces of tissue paper to stick it right onto the glass. We tied string around the tops and took a few lantern walks around the neighborhood. Now that it gets dark around 4pm, we can do that before dinner. (We even played night hide-and-seek in the back yard, using the lanterns to light our way. Fun!)

Pomanders, which I forgot all about, but should have been started about a month ago. We figured we'd give it a shot and see what comes of them in a few short weeks.

I rejoice in the fact that Black Friday is done and over with, and we don't have to hear that term—or all the hype for another 11 months. Now, if we could only avoid all the other holiday advertising madness....

Happy Holiday Season!

Giving Thanks

We tried to show gratitude for the birds yesterday, by giving them a special treat to peck at. Should have known this little guy was going to sabotage the whole thing. And so, we are thankful for the squirrels, too, and for the amazing show of acrobatics this one performed to get to the pine cone.

A few highlights from the girls' "thankful" list this year:

dirt

toilets

play

seasons

San Diego

bugs

yogurt

(who isn't thankful for toilets?)

Happy Thanksgiving!

...And Even More Treasures

There's something else the girls always come back with from their basement-shopping extravaganzas I mentioned in my previous post. Tucked away in my parents' lower level are boxes of crafts and knick-knacks that my sister and I made over the years. She and I took a few years' worth of ceramics classes, which meant shelves full of statues, piggy banks, and figurines for every holiday and special occasion. My girls go crazy for them all, and one by one these items are making their way home with us—back to me, to occupy shelf space my own home now.(They're heeeeere! Say that like the little girl in Poltergeist, because I feel a little haunted by some of these figurines).
These salt and pepper shakers and pilgrim statues were among the latest treasures taken home with us— just in time to add them to our Thanksgiving table.

(Today, I'm thankful that my parents allowed us to take that ceramics class for so many years and fill their home with pilgrims, Santas, a menagerie of animal statues, and one too many ashtrays. I don't foresee any ceramics classes in the girls' near future.)

(Then again, they really seem to like those statues...)