Merry Christmas from Our Home to Yours!

The Christmas tree is really a history of our life together. Some of the ornaments were given to me by my husband as a gift for our first Christmas together. Other ornaments were gifts, and I made the beaded icicles, about six dozen or so, with the help of my mother-in-law.

Here is a view of our fireplace. I made both the sampler and the Christmas stockings. The Santa on the right is our newest addition.

Here's a view of the Christmas sampler I made almost 20 years ago. During the "off season," it hangs upstairs in our loft, reminding us of our favorite season!

And what would Christmas in Wisconsin be without snow! Last year the ground was bare, but we have had almost 30 inches this December.

12 Days of Christmas Gifts

My friend Kathy of CCSwaps organized the "12 Days of
Christmas" swap this year. We were divided into groups and made something for each of the other 12 in the group. I ended up being in three groups, and these are the gifts I made.
I used stampboard for these pin/pendants - no two are alike.

The little post-it note book is made with decorative paper, slide mount, and bound with my new favorite "toy" - Bind-It-All!

The Winter Birds hanging is made from a beer mat and decorated with images from a napkin. I love using the beaded embellishments to add a final touch.

Make Art Every Day

Make Art Every Day is the mantra for a group of fellow mixed media artists. I used some copyright free images to create these calendars. Some of you who are reading this blog might just very well be receiving one of them. I made a dozen, no two alike!

Oriental Calendars

This year I made a number of calendars for friends. These were made for the gals in my Initial Round Robin group, a small group of friends who all belong to Oriental Stamp Art.

Album for my brother's family

This is an accordian album I made for my youngest brother and his family for Christmas this year. I made the structure in a class, then added photos. You can see their three sons and daughter Lydia who was adopted just a year ago from Ethiopia. She experienced her first Christmas and first snow!

Make Merry!

It's been a long time since I posted projects to my blog. I've been working on many things, getting ready for the holidays. Above is the Christmas card (one version) that I made for this year. I used double sided printed paper and coordinated the solid color CS and ink. I love the antique Santa!

Holiday Charm Swap

Yes, it has been a long time since I posted to my blog - what a busy time of the year. The most exciting thing was a two week visit from our friend Adrienne Goodenough from Wales. She flew to Portland for Art and Soul, then to Wisconsin for two weeks. We had a great time with Chrissy Bornfleth, Deborah Cochran, and Kathy Berringer. Although I did lots of "art," I am just now finally getting back to my blog.

HOLIDAY CHARMS:
Below are five one-inch charms I made for five friends in a small round robin group that I belong to. We know each other from Oriental Stamp Art and decided a few years ago to do round robins. Each RR has been very special, and we have gotten to know each other. I certainly hope that I can meet the other four (Sonia Evans lives here in Waukesha and we do "damage" together!) Two of the gals live in Hawaii - what fun it would be to meet them some January while everyone in Wisconsin is up to their necks in snow! Enough chatter.
The challenge was to select a holiday and make two charms for each of the other members in our little group. I selected Valentine's day and finally got them made! Below are the five individual charms, each made from a 1" square of stampboard. I punched some Art Chix faux postage for the image and added a heart charm and a lobster claw clasp. I do not do well with "jewelry making," so adding the charms, etc., was really challenging! Thank goodness for the Cropadile for punching holes.



Below is what the back of the charms look like. I used alcohol ink for the color, stamped with India Ink, and colored the image with Twinkling H2O's. I also made a bead charm with Oriental beads, coins, and a heart charm. These need to be sent out before Thanksgiving - I am almost two weeks ahead of schedule - gotta be a record!


I'll be working on other posts during the weekend. Watch for the collaborative tag calendar I made with four other gals and used my new favorite toy, Bind-It-All!