Merry Day After Christmas!

I hope that you all had a fantastic and loved filled Christmas as I did. It was a low key event but fun all the same. Today, I am playing with new toys and getting caught up on some scanning a blogging.

I can now show you the ornaments that I made for my family and the Wichtel exchange. It took two different designs, because I could not find the Mints box I had used on the Wichtel ornament. I had to go with the Altoid Smalls container and that meant I had to redesign the front of the ornament. All in all they came out fantastic. It took a lot of work but the giving of them far out weighed the work. I also made two cute Domino Guy ornaments for my two younger sons (they are the bottom photo).

This photo (top) is of the outside of the tin, the little card I made and also the outside of the box I made, yes I made my own boxes.

The A. Smalls are a bit smaller than the Mints tin, which meant I had to make my elements smaller. I used small photos of a lady with child on the front and Santa on the inside and various other fun bits. I also used a small photo on the inside of the card with our Christmas wishes. The card and boxes were made from the same cardstock I used on the ornament.

I made patterns for the papers that I had to cut out. First, I made the angels which is a photo of the paperclip angels I found online. Not sure where the maker of these angels found those strange paper clips to make their angels. When I had gone to the store the week before I had bought some red wire not really knowing what I was going to make with it, that is until I saw the paperclip angels. All I did was make the photo the size I wanted the angels to be and then put small nails at turning points and bent the wire around them. Oh, I used the back of one of my mini cutting mats to nail onto. It turned out great, real easy to do.

After making the angels I realized that they needed a home to hang out in. Well, as a "junk" collector I searched my treasure boxes to find the right home and that is when I thought about using the Mints tin. A little black paint and then a bit of silver paint and a bunch of this and that and viola! a glorious home for an angel.

These two cute little guys are the ornaments I made for my two sons. I used small wooden Dominoes and Scrabble pieces plus some of my treasure bits. The dots on these little guys bodies are the ages of my two sons. The 'head' is their initials, L for Liam and E for Erick. I need to make a third guy for my 23 year old son, Darin, which I will do soon. Anyway, it was a blast creating these little domino guys. I was in my art studio laughing while I was making them, which I am sure my family thought that I had once again lost my mind, or maybe they just think that I am always a bit crazy;-)

Look What I Got in the Mail Today

On Milliande Art Community for Women under the sub-group The Lucky Ladies, some members joined in on a Wichtel Christmas tree ornament exchange. A Wichtel is a secret Santa type activity where names are exchange and that person is to send their person a gift, in this case a homemade ornament.  I got a beautiful lady in Henderson NV and made her a nice ornament. Though I would love to show you the ornament I made it is going to have to wait until after Christmas. This is because I made more and will be giving those to my daughters and they sometimes read my blog. I will post the photos of those ornaments after Christmas.
I got my Wichtel ornament today in the mail. It was a complete surprise because I had forgotten that I was to get one. My ornament came from Canada and I love it. It is the domino doll pictured here. I do not know how this wonderful lady who made this ornament knew that this beautiful piece of art would fit my style. It is perfectly me! I am not going to put it away after Christmas because it is way too cool for that. It will hang on the wall in my studio so that I can be reminded of how wonderful it is to have artist friends from all over the world.
If the Lucky Ladies do this again next year I am sure going to join in on the fun.
Happy Holidays to all!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

There are times of the year in which many people become over loaded with what needs to be done and this month holds the biggest event in most peoples lives, Christmas. I have tried over the years to not get bogged down in the "to dos" of the holiday season. For the most part I have succeeded. My children have learned only to ask for gifts or a gift that is around a hundred dollars, not counting stocking stuffers. I really only have two younger boys to buy for because my older children are adults and I try and make them something cool.

The other people I make things for are neighbors, only a select few, five to be exact. What is important is the act of making the gift with those whom you have in mind to give to. I enjoy the process of coming up with a nice thoughtful small gift for my neighbors who are there for me if and/or when I need them. Last year it was a cool Christmas card book made out of a paperback (you can see it on my Flickr page, the link is on the right side of blog). It took a bit of time to make and because of my Fibromyalgia I was in a lot of pain, but it was worth the effort because those special neighbors loved the card.

Today and the rest of the week I am working on this years gift for neighbors and children. I have my pain under control so there will be even more joy in the making. Once the season is over I will post photos of the gifts I made. I pray that your holiday season is full of fun, family and friends and that you can leave the stress out of it. Enjoy the season!

Now about these two photos. These are the work I did for my online Creative Lettering class. We were to pick a bit of a song to use over wavy lines that were to be left in the final piece. The top piece is part of the song Kodachrome by Simon and Garfunkel and the second piece is a couple of quotes that I like. I loved writing on black paper. Some time this year I am going to make an all black papered journal and use cool pens to draw and write in. I have a sort of black journal started now but it is a place I put my Haikus and poetry in. I want and all black journal to draw in. But that is going to have to be put on my "to do" list for next year, for now I am off to work on my Christmas gifts.

Have a great and very creative day!

Teesha Moore Style

Happy first of December!

Yesterday I finished a collage in the style of Teesha Moore and boy was it fun. This style of collage work takes a bit of time, but the results are fun. I do not think that I will attempt another full collage in this style, but I will probably end of using some of its elements.
I love looking at other artists work because it inspires me to keep creating. So many artists have found their "voice" in certain forms of art. I know what my photographer's voice is, however I am still searching my style in my other art forms. It may take me a bit of time to find it, that is okay because searching for it is half the fun.

What I am planning on doing for this month is to create some gifts for family and friends. This time of year is always tight when it comes to money so I make gifts. I believe that my neighbors love their hand created gifts as do my family members. I do not make everyone in my family something, it is usually my two adult daughters. I will not tell you what the gifts will be because they read my blog from time to time. It is hard to make gifts for my boys, but at the same time it is easy to buy them what they want if we have the money. Creating something for others is always a fun and exciting time for me and I look forward to creating this years gifts. I will post them after Christmas for y'all to see. In the mean time have fun with your creating and Happy Holidays!