Christmas Time Again

Another year has gone by and here we are again, getting ready for the holidays. Next weekend I will make my annual pilgrimage to the Christmas warehouse and photograph the designer trees they have on display...I can't wait!!

Wouldn't it be nice to have the space to store your ornaments like this? Decorating the tree would be a cinch!

I love the wrapping paper on these boxes. I think the green one is my favorite.

Twelve Days of Christmas Trees: Day 7

Yummy holiday goodness! The seventh day of Christmas is a delicious day!

Such a fun theme with the peppermints, gingerbread, ice cream cones, cakes and candies. *smacking lips*

I'm doing a little series featuring a different Christmas tree for a period of 12 days. There's a little holiday shop nearby which is a favorite haunt of mine during this time of year. They have multitudes of fabulous decorator trees, done up in different themes. This year I brought my camera along to show you all the great ideas. Stay tuned for the next installment, day 8!

Twelve Days of Christmas Trees: Day 6

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

A black and silver themed Christmas tree.

Sorry about the pole. I just couldn't seem to get a good shot of this tree without that durn pole. Cropped it out in the next picture.

I'm doing a little series featuring a different Christmas tree for a period of 12 days. There's a little holiday shop nearby which is a favorite haunt of mine during this time of year. They have multitudes of fabulous decorator trees, done up in different themes. This year I brought my camera along to show you all the great ideas. Stay tuned for the next installment, day 7!

Now that we're halfway through this series, do you have a favorite tree so far? 

Twelve Days of Christmas Trees: Day 3

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

A red, purple, and gold Christmas tree!

Look at this brass box they used as a tree topper! I wonder how they got it to stay up there?

I'm doing a little series featuring a different Christmas tree for a period of 12 days. There's a little holiday shop nearby which is a favorite haunt of mine during this time of year. They have multitudes of fabulous decorator trees, done up in different themes. This year I brought my camera along to show you all the great ideas. Stay tuned for the next installment, day 4!

Twelve Days of Christmas Trees: Day 1

There's a little holiday shop nearby which is a favorite haunt of mine during this time of year. They have multitudes of fabulous decorator trees, done up in different themes. This year I brought my camera along to show you all the great ideas.

This tree features a more traditional harvest type theme with berries, fruits, cinnamon sticks, and pine cones.

They had a little faux room set up complete with an old leather couch with the brass upholstery tacks and fake fireplace. It looked like a cozy library in a hunting lodge!

Housework vs Sofa Forts

I have been consciously doing a little less in my studio over the last couple of weeks and devoting more time to catching up with the house. Fun stuff like cleaning, laundry, and sorting though cabinets. But it's a good feeling to believe I'm on top of things!

That is, until my son and hubby decide to build a fort in the living room with the sofa cushions!

You're looking at the dog's back end as he invades the fort. He likes to be in the middle of things, literally.

Here's one more thing I've been working on...the framed butterfly picture. I got this lovely print from a little framing shop for $7, and the frame from Hobby Lobby on clearance for $6. It was a custom frame that must have been cut to the wrong size. Anyhow, I cut a mat for the print and it fits perfectly in the frame!

Getting the glass cut was another story. I went to AC Moore and they wanted $32--ridiculous! I don't need conservation glass for a $7 print. I ended up going to a local glass shop and got exactly what I wanted for $8. So the whole thing cost me $21. Am I frugal or what? :)

More Sparkles

A continuation of my previous post...here is my favorite light fixture, no. 2 of 3.
This chandelier was in my Grandmother's living room and I always admired it. When she died and we sold her house I knew I had to have this chandelier!
I have no idea how old it really is...maybe 1960's(??), but it reminds me of the layered fringe designs of the flapper dresses from the 1920's.

Now it hangs in my studio, which is quite appropriate since my Grandmother was one of my biggest fans and very supportive of my art. She would be proud of me that I'm selling my work all over the world!

Will I ever...

...have a clean studio?? Martha Stewart needs to come to my house. She can tackle my closets while she's at it. But that's another blog posting. A very lllllooonnnnggg posting. Here is Martha's studio. Do you think she uses it?! photos from MarthaStewart.comIt seems I do nothing but clean my studio. It never lasts for more than a day before I've messed it all up again with my projects. Papers everywhere, missing my bonefolder, glue stuck to the table, containers meant to keep things together open with their contents strewn across the table...

My studio is long and narrow with short walls like Martha's in the first picture, but not as wide. I have a table I used as an island in my former house, but when I tried it in my new house I kept falling over it. I get injured enough as it is without setting up obstacles for myself.

I've blogged about my studio before and posted photos. Some of you said my studio looked neat and organized but that was just for the photos! Ha ha ha! It never stays that way. If I were to photograph it right now you'd see!
I love all the drawers. They're shallow, just the size for small art supplies. The paper organizers are nice also, but I would need about 35 of them for all my paper!
Just look at all her little glitter jars all lined up so you can see what color they are. I have my glitter and embossing powders in a small stationary organizer with drawers. I am forever opening the wrong drawer and picking up every jar in it to find what I'm looking for. And the sad thing is I even have the names of the colors written on the caps. Obviously that doesn't help me much.

But seriously, look at all that wasted space in the sharps drawer! All those scissors could fit in one compartment and the others could be filled with something else. It is exactly that kind of thinking that has gotten me disorganized. I can't find anything for all the *things* in the drawer.
I've always wanted to keep my ribbon in a little box for easy dispensing, but the trouble is I have too many spools, they're all different sizes and wouldn't fit neatly into the same box. I do have cute little jars like these pictured but I have nowhere to display them because every flat surface is cluttered with something already.

It is beginning to sound like I need to downsize and reduce. I have accomplished that in much of the rest of my house. However, I refuse to budge when it comes to art supplies. I am a packrat and a hoarder, I admit it. You never know when a project might call for an old candy wrapper, a shamrock green bamboo twig, or a torn page out of an Agatha Christie mystery. These are just a few of my treasures stashed away. If I could just remember where I put them...

In the time I have spent drooling over Martha's organized space I could have cleaned out my art cabinet. Sigh. I just need some inspiration. Maybe these photos will help me aspire to be more organized. Or more likely, I'll continue to drool over them until I get cross eyed and sleepy. Then I'll just go to bed, dream about having Martha over and my studio will still be a mess in the morning.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

As promised, here is a photo of my Christmas tree. C'est fini! (I think I remembered my French correctly). I finally stopped decorating it! The story behind that statement as follows:
Our first house was tiny, so our tree was always tiny. Our next house was larger, but we didn't plan to stay there so we kept using the tiny tree. Now we're settled in another house and I took the plunge and bought a 7.5 foot tree after Christmas last year on clearance. It's amazing how many ornaments fit on this tree and how much ribbon I used going round and round the tree!

I realize I'm not going to like this larger tree when it's time to take the tree down! Just when you think you've got them all, another ornament shows up stuck somewhere between the branches. I think they hide, dodging you as you walk around hunting high and low for them. The ornaments wait until you pack the last box away and then, VOILA! they pop out, snickering at you!

Here is one of my homemade ornaments, a drum circa 1974. I made these with my Nana when I was a wee tot. Nana is currently in her 90's and sadly, not quite all there anymore. It's made from a toilet paper tube, covered with felt and trimmed with sequins, beads, and trim. The drumsticks are made from toothpicks and beads, painted gold. It was a fun project and a memory I'll cherish for years to come (until I get squirrely and can't remember things anymore either--not looking forward to that part of aging!).

Getting into the holiday spirit

Now that the Thanksgiving festivities are over and my family has gone home, I'm anxious to get back into my routine. I've missed blogging and tweeting and obsessing over my Etsy shop! :)
I think these little pine cones are the cutest things, I wish I had a tree that produced such dainty pine cones! (Photos courtesy of MarthaStewart.com)

My family stayed five days, so we decorated the house for Christmas to keep them busy! We put the tree up, complete with a little train tooting around and around for the toddler's enjoyment. He likes putting the folks from the nativity set on the train to go for a ride. He's doing well with not messing up the train. The dog has been worse than the toddler; he keeps stepping on the track to sniff at the ornaments, causing the train to derail!

I'm still in the process of perfecting my tree. Once I get it how I like, I'll post a picture of it. I've been busy making bows--I've probably made 40 bows over the last few days! My Christmas wreath was in dire need of refurbishing. It got a little squashed packed up in a box and the bow was pretty pathetic!

Some more holiday decorating ideas. I like the wreath on the mirror. What a great way to add a holiday touch! The little door hanger is made of bells. You'll never miss a visitor with that hanging on your door!