Ready For Christmas

Oh, the joy of Christmas.  Truly!  The house is decorated, candles are glowing, and holiday music playing. Bill and I pause from our day and talk about our past Christmas' with our family and friends.  We know we are blessed and want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

My house cats love Christmas too.  Getting into the tree and knocking down the decorations, rummaging through the baskets and pulling out pieces to play with.  One is naughty and one is nice.

Naughty Isabelle

Nice Katie

"Letting Go"

When I say "Letting Go", I mean allowing myself to put all of my passion, love, and creativity into each craft project and then pass it on to another person that would care enough to receive the gift.  Each gift is personal.

Through my journal, photography and video recordings, I can visually "keep" a little bit of each project, mostly to reminisce about the person and what I did to create that piece.  This has also been helpful in watching how my techniques and skills have evolved. 

I've taken up making how-to videos and tutorials on some of my projects at the requests of a few friends.  This provides a deeper look into the products I've selected, the creative process I go through, and demonstrates the techniques I use.  So far, good reviews by those that have watched them. 

Photo credit Dultmeier Photography

If you want to see what I'm talking about check out my latest how-to video about this "Paris Themed" Collage created for my niece Michelle.  http://www.youtube.com/user/faithfulcrafter1?feature=mhsn

Have a blessed day...and for most everyone out there...stay warm!

Valerie

Pageants and Buttons

Just got back from visiting my sister in South Florida.  We went to see my niece and her family in a play titled "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever".  A lighthearted comedy that helps everyone understand the real meaning of Christmas...it is the time we take to recognize the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. 

The beautiful angel below is my niece's daughter Aubrey.  She played Gladys Herdman, a mean girl in a family of mean kids, that has the opportunity in a Christmas Pageant to play the Angel that delivers the message to the shepards about the birth of Christ.

My niece Michelle is the one in the middle with the handbag and orange coat on and plays Mrs. McCarthy, a well-meaning church mom that gossips too much.  This photo is at the end of the play when the cast gives all the praise to the Lord. 

Now that I am back home, I'm sitting down to enjoy a nice cup of hot tea and finish reading this edition of Artful Blogging.  Not that I could pick out the best article this edition, but I really enjoyed reading about A Friend To Knit With and took time to visit her blog.  http://a-friend-to-knit-with.blogspot.com/
How wonderful.

Each artist has their own take on why they started blogging and what their path has been on their journey.  All the stories are an insightful read. 

The other task at hand, is sorting my button box.  Recently, I picked up a few more vintage buttons at the local flea market and added them to my yummy collection. 

Stay warm and best regards,

Valerie

Colors of my life: Orange.

We had a hard freeze last night as it got down into the 20's and for North Florida that is serious cold.

Had to wrap the citrus orchard and hopefully, the oranges, lemons, and tangerines were protected.

Colors of the Seasons

Hey everyone,

Getting ready to pack up these little cuties and ship them off for a swap I participated in recently.  Hosted by Jules at TheJuleBox.com we had to create a two-sided panel for a wall hanging.  Couldn't be smaller than 4" x 4" and no larger than 6" x 6".  One side needed a Thanksgiving theme and the other Christmas.  The title of the swap was Blessings of Family and Friends.

In preparation for this project, I started with my paper choice.  Paper for me is the base, the anchor of most of my projects.  It is usually the starting point of building up a design.  It sets the tone and mood of the piece.  Can you tell...I love paper!

Color is the next creative expression I take into consideration.  Fall and Thanksgiving themes can have many different hues and tones associated with the time of year.  I am partial to rust, brown, and golds.   For Christmas, I like traditional colors; evergreens, reds, and golds, but wanted some blue added in there somewhere. 

Next, we were asked to incorporate a space for photos and journal tags.  Working on such a small space required me to consider the size of embellishments I wanted to include, as well.  I created a pocket behind the photo mat piece on both sides to save space.  Using dimensional helps add depth to the surface and keep the artwork from being too flat in it appears.  As a wall hanging though, I had to keep the piece simple so it wouldn't bump too far out from a wall surface.



On the Christmas side of the wall hanging, I used a feather to soften the hard surfaces and link to the bird on the paper.  Also, added one of my home-made stick pins as a gift.

I try to keep my design style on the classic side: soft, elegant, clean, and somewhat vintage.

Overall, these came out very pretty and am looking forward to seeing what everyone else in the swap made for their wall hanging piece.  This was my first swap and am looking forward to participating in many more.

You can view all the details of materials used and techniques on my video at http://www.youtube.com/user/faithfulcrafter1?feature=mhum

Have a blessed day,

Valerie

Change of Scenery

The view outside my window has a definite change of seasons going on here at my farm.  I ventured outside early to take a picture of the last of the Fall leaves before the landscape turns grey. 

Support Your Local Scrapbook Store

Hey everyone,

I'm the kind of person that has to touch and handle many of my crafting supplies before I buy them.  Yes, I can order items on line, once I've seen them and better understand what I am buying and the costs associated with them.  But, there is not a better hands on experience for me, than to go and shop at my local scrapbook store.

I recently had a "girls day out" craft shopping with some friends and we headed off to our favorite scrapbooking shop Pictures In Time (PIT) located in Orange Park, Florida near Jacksonville.  I am participating in a wall hanging swap and really wanted to pick up some Christmas Webster's Pages. 
I found a treasure-trove of goodies: Webster's Pages Papers, Notecards, and Petite Paper Packs, Prima Papers, Laces, Pearl embellishments, and Rubber Stamps. All making the trip worthwhile!

After that, we headed over to Michael's, coupons in hand, and found a few more items for our shopping bags.

Overall, it was a good crafting day out with the girls.

Hope you enjoyed the video, and please leave me a comment.

Have a blessed day,

Valerie