Twas The Night Before Christmas

Greetings Artsy friends. I'm so happy you've come. I hope you can stay a while, join me for a cup of tea/coffee and maybe an artsy chat. Lets get to know each other this year.
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December is upon us and there is still so much to do. I don't know about you, but personally I love December. Even though I need a nap come January, I adore the hustle and bustle. It really is a special time! From the baking to making the house as festive as can be... I love it all.

So where to begin? Grab a cup of Coco and I'll tell you my December tale thus far.

"Santa Clause Is Coming to Town" 

It started, not with my tree as one might imaging, but with my chalkboard and decorating the front entrance with a gaggle of Santa's. To create my chalkboard art I always begin with a web search of the most interesting and\or appropriate quote, which is usually via Pinterest. I adapted this fun quote to suite the occasion quite nicely. I have to say, adding a chalkboard to our home has been a fun and easy way to change up the seasonal décor, keep track of appointments, or make announcements. For those of you thinking of adding a chalkboard to your home there are wonderful tutorials on line to get you started. And if you don't think you're crafty or artsy enough you can always order printables for a very low price off the net. It really is a fun way to add a splash of personality to your home. I simply LOVE my chalkboard!

My next project was my massive fire place mantel... it's wide and deep. 

As this is our first Christmas in our new home, 

I wasn't quite sure what to do with all that space. 

So, once again I took a gander at some very talented peeps posts 

on Pinterest and dove into my stash of 

Christmas goodies to see what I already had. 

"When, what should my Wandering Eyes Should appear? 

But,,," Tiny Trees, some reindeer, and oodles of candles... 

and my "Reindeer Forest" was born. 

I of course added a few new things to my already fun 

and quirky collection of critters,,, 

as I do every year, and Voilà!

What do you collect? Do you have a certain style? Colour theme? Do you have traditions? Do you bake? Travel? Volunteer? Tell me about your December... Or share your blog.
I'd love to hear all about it.

Here we go, "Walking in A Winter Wonderland"

Outdoor décor and crafting came next of course. Being the new kid on the block I didn't want to offend any of our new neighbours by copying their porch décor. So, what to do? I hatched a plan...  Thus, I began by collecting a large container, some florists blocks, wire, pruning sheers and then started gathering branches and greenery from my own back yard. I stuffed and fluffed some spruce, then wiggled and jiggled the branches, finally tied a big bow and plunked down some rather large Christmas decorations to complete my porchy décor. I'm quite proud of how it turned out, though I'm no Cynthia from next door (she's an Interior Decorator :D ).

 "Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree"
My second home made project was inspired by my daughter, who thought she didn't have enough room in her wee bedroom to have a small tree this year.

  As she has always had the largest bedroom in the house with
ample room for a full size tree. I felt rather badly that there was
something was missing from her room this year. It dawned on me that she DID have room,,, on her walls. I remembered something
that I had seen, on Pinterest of course, and I got busy.
I found some old necklaces, lace, ribbon, ornaments, scissors
and a large pin cushion frame. Working together with
my daughter we created a lovely tree to hang on the wall...
She loves it!

"It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas"!!

        Carols play and continue playing throughout the house throughout the month which continues to inspire me onward. I move onto decorating the 

tree and then help the kiddies (18 and 15) decorate their bedrooms. On top of that we make a 

batch of cookies and some fudge. YUM! 

"Rocking Around the Christmas Tree"

And here we are, there's not much left to do. Perhaps drink a little eggnog and attend a few parties, sign some cards and mail them away. I may even have time to do a bit of art,,, though I usually take a break from it to make time for the extra crafting and other seasonal activities. (Hopefully you'll come back in January when I get back to my canvas and art journals.)  Of course I'll finish up my Christmas shopping and finally wrap all those goodies for under the tree.

And that's a WRAP. hehe

"We Wish You a Merry Christmas,
We Wish You a Merry Christmas,
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
 and a Happy New Year"

See you in 2016

Part 1 Travel Jounal

I began last week by rearranging my office space. I then removed the old make-shift art desk, and began building my nice new desk. I was quite excited to be creating my art on an adjustable desk, reducing the neck and arm strain and general body fatigue that I have when I sit for 5-8 hours a day creating my art.

But as it turns out it wasn't long before I was cursing my new table instead of sitting at it doing art. Because it's tilting mechanism broke off in my hands while I was trying to assemble it... So much for working at my fancy new art table this wk... I will now have to wait a week or so to get the parts so that I can finish putting it together. (And when I say that I'm putting it together , I really mean my wonderful, talented and crafty husband Mike.)

So, I toiled, crafted, and painted away all week at the dining room table, and there I'll stay until my part comes in the mail this week. SIGH  But, onward to our "Travel Journal Challenge". These little set backs can't and shouldn't slow us down.

The inspiration for my Travel Journal came from a youtube video I saw a while back by "mycreativebliss". These are the steps I will be taking to create my Travel Art Journal, I hope you will join me
.
Part 1
A) Cut out 12 - 4x4 squares of water color paper (you could also use mixed media paper) for creating your mini works of art on.

B) Next collect some coordinating scrap-booking papers for the journaling part which will be on the reverse side. If you want to have extra journaling pages for pictures and writing you can also use two sided paper.

To make the pages more sturdy gather heavier stock paper from old cookie packages, cereal boxes, and shoe boxes, which would normally just go into the recycling box, that we will use in between the two pieces.

Stay tuned for Part 2
To make our books a little more interesting we will be embellishing it with ribbon, decorative pulls, chains and other such do-dadds.  We will add some pockets, fabrics and envelopes so that you can have space for ticket keepsakes etc. This process is done before assembling the pages so make sure you don't go and glue your fronts and back together until each process is complete.

Have a fabulous ART filled week.
Cheers,
Danine

Things to come!

The Stockings and tree are all put neatly back into their boxes for another year. The holiday feast and it's leftovers have been demolished. The kids are busy playing with new video's, reading new books (yes, my teenagers read), and chilln' with friends. Now it's nearly time for this Mama to buckle down and get back into the swing of her art work... But, not quite yet.
In the next few weeks I will be busy prepping, planning, and preparing for some pretty cool things for 2012.

I have decided to create theme days for my blog, please tell me what you think of these ideas:
Mixed Media Mondays- topics may include, art journaling, painting, or crafting.
Thrifty Thursdays- a journey for great art supply finds,  sale, places to find great deals, etc.
           OR
Free-Cycle Fridays- creating art from junk, recycled papers, things that would other wise be discarded and thrown away.

So those are the main ideas I have so far. Let me know what you think.
Have a Happy and Healthy 2012
See you in the New Year.

Peace and Love,

Danine