Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas one and all!

Thanks to Pam Kellogg and her request to participate in her 2016 Crazy Quilt calendar, I had a Christmas Card this year.

I looked at reviews of various card companies that would print out my own design.   I narrowed my search to TinyPrints, PaperCulture and Minted.

I chose Minted even though they were a tad more expensive because their Silver-Foil Merry Christmas design worked best with my embroidery.

When they arrived, I was extremely delighted with the quality of the card, envelope and packaging. I ordered the cards made from recycled paper.

The envelopes had a substantial feel and were perfect for stamping and embellishing...

I tucked in a little card that explained the embroidery...

It may seem old-fashioned...but I enjoy the process of making, addressing and sending Christmas cards.  

 The time it takes to address each one is time I take to reflect on the person to whom I'm sending the card...remembering our time together, sending gratitude for their friendship and lots of love and well wishes for the New Year.

And so from our house to yours...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

P.S.  Pam Kellogg is having a contest for her calendar next year.  Anyone can enter and the theme is "My Secret Garden".  Entries are due by July 1, 2016 and you can read all the details on her post here.  Maybe I'll see you in next year's calendar!

P.P.S.  Take a moment to enjoy this video Christmas card I received from Hand & Lock...

P.P.P.S.  I had a three-year hiatus from sending Christmas cards 2012-2014 but here are my cards from other years past...

2011
2010
2009
2008
2007

Family Tangles

If you ask a class of second graders how many of them are artists, all of them raise their hand.

If you ask a class of thirteen year olds the same question, only a few hands go up.

That's what educator, horsewoman, artist and Zentangle teacher, Deanna Williford, shared with us this past Saturday.

Something happens as we get older.  We stop drawing.  We stop playing.  We start judging ourselves and telling ourselves all the things that we are not.

So on Saturday, I invited Deanna to come teach my nieces, Jack and my siblings the art of tangling.

I had never "tangled" myself and I knew everyone would enjoy being exposed to Deanna and to this fun and relaxed method for drawing structured patterns.

I found Deanna's name on the Zentangle website where there is a list of certified teachers throughout the world.  She lives only a few minutes from my home and she teaches at the Columbia Center for the Arts.

The fact that the nine kids are all different ages really works.  And because we've been gathering for years to play and make things, they are all pretty focused when it comes to creating art.

Deanna made a small kit for each one of us which included three zentangle tiles, a graphite pencil, a .01 micron pen, a kneaded rubber eraser and a tortillion...

We had never used tortillions (cylindrical drawing tools made from rolled paper).  And the methods of using the graphite with the toritllion to shade our drawings was new to all of us.

Zentangle was a great family activity because all ages could feel successful from oldest to youngest...

Technically, I'm a year older than my brother John but I didn't have a picture of me at work so...sorry brother.

Deanna brought lots of examples of gifts you can make with tangles...

The kids loved the shoes and got lots of ideas for presents for parents and friends.

I loved how Deanna kept referring to all the kids as artists.  

And I was really impressed with how quickly they all took to it.  

Even Jack gave it a try...

After just 2.5 hours, this is was our class result...

And we had worked up quite an appetite.  By this point, we'd adopted Deanna as a member of the family...

And even though Deanna needed to leave to tend to her horses...

Her influence was felt long after she'd gone.  This is a pic of the work table an hour or so after she had left...

Still drawing and playing and tangling...

And taking the method in their own directions...

Deanna believes we can all draw once we know the tricks.  Most adults draw like they are in second-grade because that's the age they stopped drawing.

After spending the day with her, the kids aren't the only ones who are inspired.  I've never had any formal art training so today I'm determined to self-study my way through this book that's been sitting on my shelf.

Thank you Deanna for a great day and giving us the gift of zentangle.  I can't wait to see what we can do on fabric through embroidery and painting.  In fact, I found this book which I've just put on reserve at my library...Zentangle Fabric Arts.

Happy Monday everyone and don't stop drawing!

90 Years Young

Yesterday, Jim's Aunt Ruth turned 90.

You might remember Aunt Ruth from my posts about our Annual Turkey Trot, Run, Amble, Walk or Crawl that we hold every year with Jim's family at Thanksgiving.

Ruth is always rip-roarin' and rarin' to go at the starting line, wearing the snazziest pants.

She usually walks about a block to everyone else's mile but she gives it her all. She just shows up and does what she can.

I love her jazzy spirit so when I heard it was her 90th Birthday, I wanted to celebrate her in a special way. It's not every day that someone I love turns 90!

We couldn't fly down so instead we put together a Birthday-in-a-Box...and I spent a good deal of last Saturday and Sunday making these two party hats.

I LOVE party hats and, since I never had a girl to make birthday hats for, I decided to whip one up for Ruth and her little sister.

Her little sister would be Jim's Mom. She's 12 year's younger than Ruth and they've been living together for the past 10 years or so. Jim's Mom was the youngest of 10 children and 7 of her siblings were girls...

I had SO much fun making a mess and making these two hats.

I just rolled cardstock into a cone...trimmed around the bottom and cut off the point to make the size I wanted...and then embellished 'til my embellisher was sore.

I couldn't figure out how to do the hat topper...I wanted the fringe to kind of explode out of the top of the hat...So I sandwiched some tissue paper together, included some old mylar balloons that I cut up to add the shimmer...

I have trouble throwing away those mylar balloons (ok, I have trouble throwing most things away) so I was thrilled when I finally had a use for them.

I cut the strips and rolled and stapled...

Et Voila! The hat topper was born.

Thank goodness it worked because I didn't have a plan B.

The rest was just plain fun.

Jim's brother picked up a cake from a local bakery and we sent along all the party horns, extra hats, signs, flower leis, party sunglasses...you get the idea...so that when she opened the box, it was instant party.

They called last night and said the box was a big hit!

I can't wait to see a picture or two of Ruth in that hat...and the two of them together too. I promise to share them when I get them.

There's just something about people in party hats that makes me smile...or maybe it's the smiles of the people wearing the party hats that's infectious.

Well, whatever it is...I just hope to make more of them.

Happy Happy 90th Birthday Aunt Ruth!

I hope when I'm 90, I'm still doing the Annual Turkey Trot, Amble, Walk or Crawl.

And I'll try to do it in snazzy pants.

Making Candy

Hi everyone!

Those post-project blues seem light years away at this point...though they did last for about two days. Boy, do I wish I had those two days back now.

I loved loved loved all the tips for curing them...and I think I discovered another one...

Making candy. Not the edible kind.

This year, I was making sugarplums, peppermint twists, gumdrops and gingerbread for the annual Jack Christmas card...

I had to make 200 peppermint twists! I used a circle punch and found that super-nifty peppermint paper...that part was easy.

It was the wrapping of each peppermint in cellophane that truly proves I need to be committed to a mental health institution.

I can't help myself.

So after one week of 4 hours of sleep per night and 48 cards handmade cards later, I have survived another year.

THE FRONT:

THE INSIDE:

And the sense of accomplishment is great when I see them all standing up like soldiers charged with their very important duty...

Of spreading good cheer and a smile to those who receive them.

I love the whole tradition of making the annual Christmas card and I keep all the past years cards locked up in a fire-proof box. In the event of a fire, they are right up there with the family photo memory sticks!

I'll be taking a blogging break for the next week or so to enjoy time with friends and family.

I wish you all the most beautiful and blessed of holidays...filled with peace in your heart, joy of spirit and enthusiasm for 2012!

See you in January...

Post-Project Blues

Last night we held the Christmas dinner for all the Mom volunteers at Jack's school.

It's always a beautiful evening...it's potluck, candlelight, tablecloths, and an open bar. The boys choir performs and there's magic in the air as those healthy, handsome young boys sing the worlds' Christmas carols. It's a really lovely affair and a nice respite for all the moms in the midst of the holiday rush.

In years' past, we have had a few door prizes that the attendees had a chance to win. This year, my committee thought...wouldn't it be nice if we put the money that went into door prizes into a gift for everyone...so that each attendee went home with something?

That's where the note cards come in that I mentioned last week. We decided on five final designs and each note card set would have one of each.


The printing estimates to have them printed professionally came back at $450...way too much money. So, they asked, could I print it on my little $99 Epson? Sure, but it would take a ton of ink...and in order to get good print quality, I'd have to use Epson paper. I even worried that my little all-on-one five year old printer might decide to give out under the workload...

We decided to go for it. So for the past three or four days, I printed...and we cut, collated, and stuffed 1,125 cards into crystal clear envelopes. And the total price including all my paper, ink and labels was about $225...or approximately $1 per five note cards. My friend found a great deal on envelopes online...I think she paid $20 for 1,000 envelopes. We were on a roll...


Even the elf sticker on the back of the package was fun to make, coloring the elf's jacket in the school blue and putting the logo on her shirt...

Walking into the event last night and seeing all 225 sets of cards laid out on each table...and hearing the delight of the receivers...well, that made it all worthwhile. The cards were a hit and our team felt a huge sense of accomplishment. A deep exhale, a sigh of relief, a job well done.

So, why is it, that I wake up this morning in the complete doldrums? Why, do I feel inexplicably sad? Shouldn't I have a skip in my step and be delighted from our accomplishment?

But I don't. I definitely have a big case of the post-project blues. And what the heck am I going to do about it? I can't afford to have the blues...I have too much to do! Yet I feel like crawling back into bed and going to sleep.

It has to be a physiological or chemical response, right? It has to be the body's natural "crash" after all the adrenalin and excitement and happy juice that comes from the process of creating?

I found lots of references to the problem when I googled "post-project depression"...but hardly any solutions.

What to do about it? Maybe a long walk?

Do you all have advice for the post-project blues? How do you segue from one large task to the next and mitigate this intermediate step?

Is it even possible...? Or should I embrace it for what it is and wait it out...

Looking forward to a happier (and more productive *please*) tomorrow.

[Actually...I think writing this post is helping...]