On the 7th Day of the Adorn Ornament Swap

Wow, Wow, Wow.... I'm going to have to buy a bigger tree next year!! Sweet Lou McCollough made a fun and jolly Santa-boy ornament. It's just amazing. She found a really cool paper mache cone, collaged vintage music on it for his hat. Santa's head is made from a Christmas pear! how fun!!! Lou painted the pear with gesso, and then painted Santa's features along with adding dimensional facial features using a type of clay, and cottony fiber for his big ol' beard. Mind you, my mind is in a fog recently and I may have missed a step or 3, but the Santa-boy, as she called it, is just amazing!!! He's standing guard beneath my tree smiling and shouting "HO HO HO" for all to hear!!

Thanks Lou for Santa-boy.... He's a jolly old boy!!!

On the 6th Day of the Ornament Swap

On day 6 of our ornament swap, Kelly Snelling made an amazing hand painted bird ornament. For a while I had to laugh as I thought maybe I'd missed out on the "bird" theme that seem to be prevelant in our little swap, but as it turned out....it was just a lucky coincidence. Kelly described the process that she went through to make her ornament on her blog and I was just blown away by all of the creative steps that she took to create this little masterpiece. There are several layers of love all wrapped up in this beautiful keepsake from Kelly. Isn't it just LOVELY???

Thanks Kelly!

My Friends.....Thanks for your thoughts and prayers

Thanks to all of my fabulous friends who have sent their good thoughts and prayers my way. My Dad went into the Heart Hospital last Wednesday and had Open Heart Surgery. So many of you sent your good wishes and they were all heard, loud and clear!! Dad did great through the surgery and doesn't remember much of it, but was well enough to go home today! Wow!! What a miracle that he has recovered and is healing so quickly! Thanks for thinking of us...Your prayers are much appreciated!!


Anyway, I've neglected to keep up with the 12 days of Christmas Ornament swap. But first, check out the super cool ornaments that two of my artsy friends send to me during this swap. The first is from my friend Cece Grimes. This ornament was a replica of the one that Cece submitted to Somerset Studios along for the 12 days ornament swap that was published in the recent issue. It's been cut from a holiday tin and embellished with lots of cool beads and chains and really cool embellishments. Cece is the Queen of Art!!! I just love her ornament!


The second picture is of an ornament from another artsy friend, Lorraine George. Lorraine's 'word' to live by this year is "HOPE" and she incorporated the word along with one of her fabulous collage paintings and sewed in a vinyl star pocket. Embellished with little fibers and a mini light bulb, it's the perfect addition to my little tree, not to mention the timing of me receiving the ornament. It arrived the day of my Dad's surgery....Hope...what a wonderful word of encouragement.

Thank you Cece and Lorraine for the fabulous ornaments!

On the 5th Day of Christmas

Today is my day to share the ornament that I've created for my online Adorn Ornament friends. They each received one of the styles of resin filled cookie cutters in the above picture. The miniature cookie cutters were purchased at a quilt show that I attended with some of my "artsy fartsy' friends... That's what my mother-in-law calls the girls...ha ha ha... Anyway, my friend Melissa noticed these little ornaments on a tree and suggested that they might work using resin. I'd been struggling with my original ornament idea and I had recently learned how to use Resin at Art & Soul in Hampton, Virginia this past May from Nina Bagley... hmmm... what a perfect opportunity to try my hand with this medium. While it was a challenge as several of the 'molds' had gaps and my resin leaked everywhere, I was successful with several of my attempts. Each ornament/cookie cutter was collaged with vintage text and ephemera, bits and pieces of this and that. The hangers are new Ornament hooks that I aged in a Liver of Sulfur solution.
I hope my new online friends enjoy this little ornament as much as I am enjoying the ones that I have received in exchange.

Happy Holidays Ya'll!!!

On the 4th Day of Christmas

Lookie, lookie here.... On the 4th Day of the Adorn Ornament Swap my online art friend Maija Lepore sent me a charming Vintage style Santa ornament. She used a flattened tart tin for the base of the ornament, along with a crepe paper fan flower edged in silver glitter. A Vintage Santa and piece of sheet music adorn the center of the ornament. On the bottom of the ornament, Maija embellished Santa with two tiny jingle bells. It's a beautiful little vintage piece of Art and is fabulous hanging with other ornaments on my ART tree... tee heee!! Thanks Maija.

On the 3rd Day of Christmas

On the 3rd Day of Christmas Deryn Mentock shared with me a lovely little nested glass copper bird ornament. It's so very nostalgic and looks great on my little art tree. Deryn made the bird a nest from fine gauge steel colored metal wire. She spun the nest and wove supports to cradle two tiny little eggs which each had a scripture from the bible adhered to them. The beautiful brown and cream feathers add whimsy to the piece. It's just a classic beauty!! Thank you Deryn!!

On the 2nd Day of Christmas

On the 2nd Day of Christmas, Crystal Neubauer sent to each of us a delightful little Faux Copper Soldered Ornament along with 4 Vintage buttons. The back of the piece and the findings have been beautifully antiqued with a verdigris patina. The swan image and vintage dictionary page add to it's nostalgic feel. Crystal also included a little pearl hanging on the bottom of the charm giving it a very vintage touch.

3 TIMES the 12 Days of Christmas!

WHHOOOO HOOOO!!! My way of hooting and hollering with joy as today is December 1st. I'm currently involved in three "12 days of Christmas Swaps" The first one was hosted by a friend, Shirley Zirkle. We each chose one of the days from the song "12 Days of Christmas". I chose '2 turtle doves'. We each made 12 identical tags, swapped them out and below is what I received back. What fun! Thanks to the following ladies for sharing your creative work with me! I just received these tags today.

1st - A partridge in a Pear Tree - Penny Dove
2nd - Two turtle Doves - Jennifer Rowland
3rd - Three French Hens - Linda Williams
4th - Four Calling Birds - Nancy Barnes
5th - Five Golden Rings - EJ Brown
6th - Six geese-a-laying - Shirley Zirkle
7th - Seven Swans a-swimming - Joey Manning
8th - Eight Maids a Milking - Shirley Zirkle
9th - Nine Ladies Dancing - Judy Dominguez
10th- Ten lords a-leaping - Cheryl Stachura
11th- Eleven pipers piping - Taryne Lewey
12th- Twelve drummers drumming - Julie Reese









In the next 12 Days Ornament Swap, hosted by Deryn Mentock, we each made 12 holiday ornaments. Each ornament was wrapped and labeled with a number (1-12). Beginning today and continuing through the 12th of December we will open one ornament. Day 1 was a beautiful dove/partridge made by Ruth Rae. Pictures just don't do this little gem justice. It's beautiful!!!




The third "12 Days of Christmas" Swap that I'm participating in is similar to the Ornament swap, but we don't start opening gifts until December 13th.... Wow.... do you realize this means I open gifts from my artsy friends for 24 days straight?? WOW!! How COOL is that?? I'm excited. This swap is hosted by Lelainia Lloyd. This swap includes artists from all over the world and involves the swapping of little gifts. I'll be posting pictures of those gifts when I begin opening them.

In the meantime, enjoy every day this holiday season!!