Countdown to Christmas

This year's advent calendar idea came courtesy of the folks over at Tiny Peasant. I wanted to create our own advent calendar like we have in the past, and didn't want it to be stuffed full of candy. So, i bought 3 pairs of brand new socks for us all, mixed them up and hung them all up on a line. I had O. number all the clothespins from 1-24, and then whilst everyone was sleeping, mama went and filled the socks with slips of papers that name an activity. On a specific day, whose ever sock it is gets to take it down and read the activity that pertains to that day. Some activities are as simple as hanging a new ornament on the tree, to making ice ornaments outside, to having a family drawing night. I haven't actually filled them all yet as i'm still searching for a few ideas, but i'm feeling much better about doing these activities rather than having daily candies on top of all the sweets that get handed to kids this time of the year, or filling the socks with more cheaply made plastic toys. And at the end of it all, we all have three new pairs of socks. Perfect!

Fa La La 2014

This year I hosted our 4th annual Fa La La Holiday Sale at my place. It's so fun to have fellow artist/artisan friends come over and transform your own home into a wee sparkly marketplace filled with goods and goodies for friends and family to peruse.

This time 'round there were five artists showing and selling wares, all repeats from at least two years previous: Kami Goertz of Marathon 1981, Krista Hoeberg, Tesh Kowosan of Snootsie, Melanie Wesley, and myself. Such a crew of talent!

Kami had her (un)usual cast of stuffed characters including trees, furmaids, jellyfish and narwhals.

Krista's skilled beadwork was stunning as usual:

I had a few original paintings for sale this year, some new and old Christmas cards and prints, and some experimental dolls in the style of the characters i paint:

Tesh displayed an impressive variety and styles of handbags, all sewn by herself. Some in fabric, some canvas, and the softest of leather:

And last but definitely not least, Melanie Wesley all the way at the back (see above picture under the chandelier) with her collection of intricately sewn and dressed art dolls, fabric adornments, and other sewn paraphernalia. Her wares area always changing, and are always a delight to the senses. Color, texture, shape, she's got a knack for making objects that appeal to many senses. She's even got scent covered with her little lavender-filled stress bunnies. For some reason i don't have a better picture of her table and set up, except for this:

Hand-stitched madness and creativity at its finest!

And how does one host such an event with two children in tow? Thanks to having a new friend come over and play for most of the day, O. was entertained until the very end. Helpful husband was hanging around and out with little A. who was sometimes by our feet and seemed to be having a great time too. All in all, a great day, although on what seemed like a day when people had many other things on the go and weren't able to stop by. We would have loved to have seen them too, but are happy for those who did decide to come for a look. Time to evaluate and decide about how and if things need to be changed for next years sale!

This Moment

 

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 

~Amanda Soule

She turned five

Phew, it’s already December. Last month was a blur (a fun, busy blur--see above picture) and i don’t see things slowing down at all this month. My not so little anymore O. turned 5 in November, and to celebrate we had a woodland fairy tea party!

I tend to go a little bonkers on the littlest of details for these birthday parties of my kids--i want them to be a magical, fun and memorable experience for them. I'll share a few of them with you here!

In advance of the party, i wove together vines (that i snipped from the neighbours shhhh) into crowns for our fairy guests to embellish with ribbons, sparkly pipe cleaners, and flowers.

We searched and rescued woodland creatures that were hidden around the house (finger puppets that they got to take home with them) and our guests got pots of homemade fairy body glitter as rewards for their rescue efforts.

We played a fishing game that determined which vintage tea cup at the table setting was theirs (also a take home gift)

And of course we drank tea and had cupcakes! Who knew that David’s tea has a caffeine free tea called “Birthday Cake?” Perfect.

All in all the event was a success. There was birthday tea slurped from spoons in pretty floral teacups, cupcakes (made with coconut flour and black beans with a cashew based icing to please the mamas), and fairies. And just maybe a wee bit of chaos and a few tears shed by the birthday girl, but she is 5 now and all is good.

On the Table Tuesday

There's a lot of projects going on in this house of ours. There's a four year old girl about to turn five after all.  Here are some random snippets of the goings on at today's table:

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

On the Table Tuesday

So I've decided to post random pictures of my dining room table on Tuesdays. Or rather, the stuff on the table. It's a busy place you see. A lot happens here every single day. Sometimes there's so much other "stuff" on the table, there's barely room for a place setting at supper time.

Here's today's random sampling:

3 new works

I did it again. I just made the deadline for the Art From the Heart show this year. Yesterday i turned in these three works in preparation for this years show:

Unfortunately i don't have a website to direct you to for Art From the Heart because due to lack of funding, their website is no longer up and running. I talk a little more about the Art From the Heart Show and Sale over here.

It might be a little hard to tell, but this year i have added the element of stitching to my paintings. Fabric and stitching is something that is so tactile, and i wanted to start including it in some of my work. This is a small start, but it's a start nonetheless. A long while back i had some fabric i designed printed up by the people over at Spoonflower. On it was only the heads of some of my characters, with the intentions that i might eventually cut them out and use them to make dolls. That never happened, so i decided to start incorporating them in other ways into my work.

You can see clearer views of the stitching in these photographs:

In her room

My parents stopped by recently with armloads of thrift store finds for my kids, and amongst them was a bed canopy from Ikea. I decided to add a little bit of flair to it with a bit of circus inspiration and put it over O's bed. Here are the results:

I sewed a little bunting which i stitched around the canopy. Then, of course, pom poms needed to be added. With fluorescent colors no less.

All sorts of things happen under that canopy...

And sometimes little brothers sneak in for a little play too. Shhhhh, don't tell!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

Weekending

We celebrated this man's 90th birthday this weekend. He's my Grandpa. We're so lucky he's still around!

 

It was a fine day to celebrate a 90th birthday. To soak in one of the last warm fall days before the weather gets a little chillier. Happy birthday Grandpa.