Dirty Little Secret

There is a fine line between having really cool collections for crafting & being a hoarder.

I think I may have crossed it.

Okay, so it's a little worse with all of the Christmas stuff going on....but still.

I think my husband is planning some sort of intervention. ' A&E' showed up on the phone caller ID.

(Don't you love the hanging drawer pull?)

The first step in recovery in admitting you have a problem, so I asked Santa for some help.   He's going to assist me in a studio re-do & I can't wait! I spend so much time looking for supplies, that by the time I get ready to sit down & work it's dinner time.  It's exhausting! I looked at all of the wonderful studios so many shared during Karen's party, 'Where Bloggers Create'.  How do you do it? They were all so pretty & clean!

I found this at the bookstore yesterday, perfect timing! I am a big fan of Lynne Perrella's art. It's a really beautiful book, filled with insight into some amazing artists their studios & how they create. So maybe, if I'm lucky & stick with my program I can participate in WBC Part 2!

Christmas Crafting Part 2

A simple bouquet of felted white flowers.  

That is what I made last night while watching 'A Christmas Story' with the family. It was a great night. Fire roaring, kids all cuddled up watching their Daddy's favorite Christmas movie.

I think they make a sweet embellishment on a plain paper gift bag. I added a simple tag, a bag of my shredded sheet music & listed some in my Etsy shop.

Then I made some tags using a technique I learned from Lesley at Flatwood Folk Art Studio.  It is an awesome process of layering paper, chaulk & a photo transfer.  I made a boy tag too...

Today we hung some of the garland Lily made.

We are having so much fun this year, the kids are at such a great age. Last year they were still afraid of Santa, this year they got to have breakfast with him! It is such a magical time of year, and wonderful to see through the eyes of my children. I get so much joy from passing down traditions from my own childhood, and also creating new ones. My son asked today if we could 'put on our jam's and blankets, then go driving in the van to look at lights'.  I think that's a new tradition! 

Christmas Crafting

Michaels 50% off coupon....

$4.00 Gingerbread house.......

one hour activity....

Priceless!

There was some SERIOUS crafting going on at our house this weekend. I had some Etsy orders to finish so I kept the kids busy with some Christmas fun.  After they finished their gingerbread masterpiece, I taught them to make felt garlands.  I've seen these very cool garlands everywhere & have been dying to make some.  Lily caught on quickly  in fact, I couldn't get the circles cut fast enough.

Then I made some holiday banners & more silhouettes.

'Praise'

'Noel'

'Ho Ho Ho'

'Joy'

'Snow'

So my orders got shipped, & I even listed a few items in my etsy shop.

All in all, it was quite a productive weekend.

Holiday Silhouettes

When I signed up for Tracey's Holiday Home Tour 2009 last month, the picture I sent her was of some silhouettes I made a couple of years ago.  In my rush to get my photo's posted I completely forgot about them, which had a couple of people wondering....so here they are.

If your interested in making some, here's how I do them.

First hit your stash or garage sales for frames. I like them all to be a little different, but whatever you prefer.  I paint them all with flat black paint.

Then you'll need transparencies.....

and books with silhouette images. I bought the Dover clip art from Barnes & Noble and have used it a lot. Good investment. The other book is titled 'Songs & Silhouettes', I bought years ago at an estate sale.  Select the image you want, then copy it onto the transparency. (read directions carefully)

Now go through some song books, I chose songs that suited each image. Then I color copied the song page, so it would have that yellow look of old paper.

Measure the opening of your frame and cut the music to size. Then lay your copied transparency over the top to center it, and cut!

Ta da! That's all there is to it.

If you don't have time to do it yourself, I'm listing these on etsy today.
Thanks for all of your good wishes with the kiddo's, they are better and back in school today.

I found this on youtube while entertaining my sick kids.   It brought a smile to our faces, I hope it does yours.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmKnQjBf8wM

Holiday House Tour 2009

Better late than never right? The kids are STILL sickly, but I just shot around them.

I love to decorate for Christmas, I put them up the weekend of Thanksgiving and take them down  New Years.  I have some really wonderful old ornaments inherited from family including a 1940 Lionel train set. I am waiting another couple of years to bring them out, I believe Christmas is for my children and I want our home to be their own special wonderland.  So this is our kids decorating party.

Our entry hall, I bought the tall santa last year.

These little elf boots are one of my very favorite things.

Frosty leads the way into our living room.

I love my vintage Santa collection, I am always on the lookout for ones that I can afford. It doesn't happen very often!

Our tree, with my Wal-Mart Santa watching for good behavior.

This is such a 'kid' tree. All of the ornaments are bushy bears, birds, leaves and a growing collection of the children's own ornaments.

Favorite thing #2, my thick felted cut-out skirt from Anthro. Purchased 2 years ago for 50% off! Yeah

Little white chair holding my great holiday pillows, 2 are from one of my favorite ebayer's, Vintage Home.

Favorite thing #3, this redwork quilt that my MIL won for me at a church bazar.

My little angels.

My big brick fireplace cira 80's, do you think Santa might build me a new one?

Just some light Christmas reading.

Favorite thing #4, my old popcorn can. I found it at a garage sale for $1

I couldn't resist bringing out some of the oldies? They are in their 'safe' place on the mantel.

My kitchen has very little counter space so I find little spots to decorate where ever I can.

Even the top of the fridge is valuable real estate.

My favorite Christmas picture, they were 2 years old.

Our side patio.

In honor of this holiday house party it snowed here in Fort Worth! It might be a white Christmas after all.

Thank you Tracey for organizing this awesome tour, I have read her blog for so long. I've followed her through homes, businessess, weddings, & now the new adventure.  Good luck girl, everything you do is amazing!

Taking a sick day

This has been my house for 7 days now!!  I had every intention of joining a couple of Holiday Tours today, but you can see I'm being delayed.  I hope you'll check back tomorrow.

Oh deer!

This post is titled 'oh deer' because right now I feel like a deer caught in the headlights. No wonder people start their Christmas tasks after Halloween!  Soooo much to do in one month. First on my list is getting my booth festive for our Christmas Open House next weekend. Here is a look at my progress so far.

My darling neice CC stringing lights on my manny. She's an art student at UT in Austin, getting ready to  study next semester in Paris. Oh to be 20 again!

Across from my booth is my girlfriend Carolyn's space. Check out her amazing goodies!

The things this girl makes....OMG. The darling Santa cottages, she spends hours on each one. They are all different and in every color you can imagine. Love the wreaths, & the stockings are my new favorite. Great color & pattern combo's.

And Jana...don't get me started there. Last time I was in the store she had her sweet 'tater' in a baby sling while re-arranging an entire booth.  Talk about multi-tasking.  Jana has some amazing collections from Christmas past.

I also saw her work table loaded down with awesome tags & banners.
If your in the area Saturday, December 5 stop by Collected Treasures & have some Christmas cheer!