December 25, 2014

All the very best to those celebrating today!

photo courtesy of www.etcpb.com

More #CarveDecember

I am wide awake in the middle of the night with a head cold, thought I'd post a few photos from last week's carvings. 

Decorating Cookies

We had a gingerbread cookie decorating contest at work yesterday. I was unable to participate due to a scheduling conflict but I did get there in time to take pictures of the finished creations. I think you will agree, they look positively delicious!

Still Carving

My daily carving project for #carvedecember continues. Too busy carving to blog but here are some photos of my recent creations. 

A Snowy Day

We got a big dump of snow overnight and the accumulation continued through the day today.  The first big storm of this winter season (they had snow while I was away in Mexico but not this much, apparently).  It should melt quickly though, as temperatures are forecasted to rise over the next few days, so it's still anybody's guess as to whether we will enjoy a white Christmas.

In the meantime, it sure is pretty.  Treacherous to drive or walk in, a pain to shovel (over and over for most folk, so glad I live in an apartment and don't have to deal with that any more!) but so pretty.

Let's Make Some Tags

If you're looking for something artful to make that is quick and easy to do during this busy holiday season, I just came across two great ideas on Facebook tonight.

The first one can be found on Diana Trout's blog, where she gives a quick 5 minute video about how to make Xmas tree shapes using your washi tape collection and turn them into tags for presents (although I'm thinking they'd be nice for just about anything!).  You can find that lesson here.

The second one can be found on Rae Missigman's blog. She's sharing ideas for 12 days of tags over the next couple of weeks.  Here's a picture of the first one which I copied from her blog (hopefully Rae doesn't mind if I share it here):

Thank you to both of these artists for sharing these free tutorials, much appreciated!!  Now, which washi tape should I use...?

Holiday Traditions

Last night was the December meeting of our art journaling group, the Journal Junkies, at Bizzy B. We always celebrate the holiday season with a potluck and even though there were only 8 of us in attendance, the food selections were delicious and no one went home hungry.

The main theme for our journal pages was "holiday traditions".  The optional product was glitter (very appropriate for the season!)

Bette's page was a three dimensional delight. She collected a number of items representing different aspects of the holidays that she enjoys and combined various textures and art supplies on her finished page, included a type of Mod Podge infused with glitter for her background.

 Marissa's page featured her nine year old son's letter to Santa.  He very considerately asked if Santa would like 3 types of milk to drink and wondered if he had a pet polar bear.  Too cute!

Donna focused on one of her favourite traditions, the use of Christmas crackers on the holiday table. We were all surprised to hear about the origin of this festive table dressing.

Heather's page was based on her love for making gingerbread houses this time of year.  I love the pretzel detail across the horizon!

Alex went with the alternate theme, which was "chocolate". She referenced a story which recently appeared in the news, warning of a possible cocoa shortage in 2015.  The horror!

Marilyn advised that she wasn't in the mood for a traditional Xmas theme so she created an angel using a steampunk motif.  It's fabulous, don't you think?

Sadly, I didn't have time to make a page this time around but I do have an idea in mind that I hope to be able to bring to life on the page some time soon, so stay tuned!