12 Days, Day 11 and Advent calendar Day Twenty three

I have a confession to make. I'm not here. In fact, I'm not anywhere near a computer. I'm on auto pilot, or at least my blog is today. Those of you who follow my blog know I was planning an out-of-town trip on Thanksgiving, which I missed because I chose to complete the second 12 Days of Christmas swap. So for the next three days, I am spending time with my friend Scott and his family at his parents home. Yes, there will be pictures! And yes, I opened these gifts before I left, so I could post them to my blog and you wouldn't be left hanging.


I could barely wait to show this fun package I got from Jackie Smith. This is simply adorable. One of the things that was important in this swap was the packaging, and Jackie came through with the absolute cutest gift wrap. It's a fabric pouch she sewed to hold our gifts. I may not even bind mine if I can keep them all in this beauty. She made one for each person and placed her art square in the number of their day. She stamped and sewed each person's name to the top. Unfortunately, I can't show you mine, because I took one of the players whose place I took in the swap. But I'm simply delighted just to get one of these lovely beauties. Jackie said she found the fabric online and I am truly in love with it.


And her eleven pipers were piping away, too. Can you see the red thread she used as a frame to compliment the red TARTAN fabric she used as an accent? Yes, I'm deferring to my UK friends who have taught me this is NOT PLAID, but tartan. This is one stunning art square.


And today is day 23 of the little jewelry boxes Advent Calendar.


I nearly stood on head after I opened the box to get this piece. In case you can't tell, this box is purple velvet.


In bright light, the copper colored polymer clay shimmered gold.

I made these pieces from molds I made myself. I first heated my hot glue gun and added a stick of "multiple temperature" glue. When the glue gun was hot, I inked a stamp with pigment ink, then poured a puddle blob of hot glue. As quickly as possible, I stamped HARD into the blob of molten glue. I left the stamp in the hot glue until it had cooled and turned from clear to translucent. At that point, I removed the stamp and had made a mold for polymer clay. If you have used enough hot glue, you will have a substantial mold. I use one short stick (about 4" long) for each mold. As the stamp buries into the glue, the glue forms a nice wall around the stamp. I've never tried this with UNmounted stamps and never with clear, either. These are (believe it or not) from Stampin' Up. They were a hostess gift and the set was discontinued, but offered to hostesses during the month in which I had my one and only party. I think the set is called "Key to my Heart." I've never used more than three stamps in the set.

Today's blog pick is Jackie, whose art square gift I opened today. I met Jackie on the only Yahoo group at the time that featured altered books. It wasn't long until I wanted a more intimate relationship and formed ABC (Altered Book Club) , a Yahoo group. Jackie and I became fast friends and I have loved and admired her art since the first time I saw it. Just look at her blog banner and you'll be hooked! So be sure to visit Jackie Smith's blog today.

Advent Calendar Day Twenty Two and 12 Days, Day 10

This countdown is really winding down now. Just four boxes left to open, and once this one is opened, there will only be three left. This box is not velvet, but a shiny silky black jewelry box. On it, I've added some green masking tape and used my Krylon gold leafing pen to outline the edges and write the number.


Inside is a wreath, already hung and welcoming . I colored some paper using various acrylic paints, then cut hands from a tiny punch.


When I'm not trying to be artsy with my camera, you can see the wreath is quite realistic and round.


Next it was time to open Day 10's art square from the 12 Days of Christmas swap. The stark white package picked up the glow of the lights on the tree and showed off the cute gingerbread gal on the tag.


There is no doubt that this is Ten Lords a Leaping. This one is from Penny. This was Penny's first swap and I thought she did an excellent job. Look at the attention to detail with the punched corner at the top and the photo corner at the bottom.


When opened, you read the 10 commandments. What a great way to start this day! Unfortunately, Penny doesn't have a blog. But I'm going to push her to start one this year (or next).

WOYWW 81: Manic mode

If this is your first time visiting my blog, WOYWW stands for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday and it has become the popular hit started in the UK and going strong for 81 weeks in a row. Please visit Julia at Stamping Ground, take a photo of your mess desk or workspace, link up, and let people snoop at your place, too. I saved these LARGE, so click on the photos to see everything you will miss if you don't.

For all you UK visitors, I sincerely hope you are not snowed in. Send some my way. It's been 36 days since we've had any precipitation.

On my desk are a few art quilts or quiltlets in various stages of completion. These are all Christmas gifts which must be ready in two days, except the one in the back which will head for Canada in a few days or weeks or ??? That means I'm in manic mode, trying to get these gifts finished in time to pass them out on Christmas eve or day.

These are the most complete of the six I am working on. These need backs and embellishments, then will be ready to go.


But I don't delude myself. I know you really came to see a few of my over 450 rocking horses. The two on my gesso jar are brass ornaments for a tree, and the one leaning against the gesso is a stained glass tree ornament, too.


Let's zoom in a bit to see the Rocking Reindeer. Yes, Annette, this is a reindeer and from counting the "points" on the antlers, it is a six point buck!


OOPS, not that close. But while you are looking, you might as well cast your eyes on this lovely card I received from Jude of Crafts International. I won a prize from her, the UK people call "blog candy." And it was a sweet gift, along with this drop dead gorgeous card I'm keeping around for inspiration. There's so much to see and appreciate in this card, I don't know where to begin. But it was made just for ME, and I'm totally impressed. Thank you, Jude from the bottom of my heart!


One final picture today. I combined my love of trees with my love of rocking horses. When a few of the embellishments fell off this hand made tree, I added 8 rocking horses, several of which are on the back side of the tree.

Today, I would be remiss if I didn't honor Jude for the lovely card she made, as well as all the gifts she sent me. She really hit this one out of the ballpark, because this card is my style. It pays to visit her because she often has blog candy during a WOYWW visit. See, the first person who visited didn't return to claim her/his prize, and she redrew my name. If you like the looks of this card, you will love her style. So be sure to check out Crafts International and say hi to Jude today.

And because this is the last WOYWW before Christmas, I want to wish each and every one of you, my dear WOYWW friends, a very Merry Christmas. I hope it is safe, joyous, stress free, family oriented, and filled with all things that warm your heart. I'll be around sometime today or after Friday to visit you.

Advent Calendar Day Twenty one and welcome Winter

Here we are to Day 21, which also marks the Winter Solstice. It doesn't seem possible there are so few days left till Christmas and it certainly doesn't feel like Christmas, since yesterday it was in the mid 60s F ((~18 C) here. I've already had my tea, so if you're looking to see my Tea Tuesday post, please see the previous entry.


I thought if I waited for sunlight, I might get some better photos of the contents of this box.


But the sunlight never came, and no matter how much light I put on the piece, I couldn't capture these fibers, ribbons, and tags as they unfurled from the box they hide in the rest of the year.


Perhaps this is a better photo of the contents and some of the open boxes. As may be evident from this photo, this is the last box of the tree. Tomorrow I begin opening boxes that make up the trunk.

I hope you are ready for Christmas. I know I'm sure not, which means after I get my out and about shopping finished, I'll be in the studio most of the evening making a couple of quiltlets. I've already made three and not a single one, NOPE, not one has turned out right. See, they require some type of measuring, something I'm simply not good at. And since they need to hang, they are all too wonky to hang straight. What handmade goodies have you made this Christmas? I hope your Christmas shopping is complete and you are ready for the big day.

Christmas Countdown Tea

Today I'm sharing my 9th Day of Christmas in the 12 Days of Christmas Swap with Kimmie and all my Tea Tuesday friends whose blogs are found on Kimmie's sidebar.


Today I'm drinking a black tea from The Spice Merchant called Gold Kuan Yin. From the notes I took, this is a premium quality tea from China. It is very strong, and of course, I had to make it even stronger by allowing it to steep while I got everything ready for Santa's visit on Saturday. I'm sure Santa will want to ride away on the rocking horse after the really hard sandwich I prepared for him. Of course, I'm not sure why I let the infusing ball land where it did! I only noticed after I started clearing the tea paraphernalia away.


I moved my tea and today's package to the tree area, where I noted the wrapping included a tag that was held together with a ribbon and button.


Now I've vowed not to show the backs of these art squares, but I honestly thought this was the front when I photographed it. A handmade crocheted doily was held on with another button, all over a background of fabric and paper. I was wondering why Halle, another Tea Tuesday participant, had put her information on the front of her square.


Imagine my surprise when I turned the piece over and found I had been looking at the back! More fabric, paper, and nine lovely ladies dancing across the page, were accompanied by stamping and a daisy. What a fun square. I hope you'll hop over to Halle's Hobbies because I'm sure her photos will be far better than mine. And you'll probably want to stay for tea with her, too.

Today I'm featuring the Japanese artist, Kaoru Mansour. Born in Japan, Kaoru now lives in California in the US. I chose her because Halle's crocheted circle reminds me of some of Kaoru's pieces, especially those on gourds. This eclectic artist works in both two and three dimensional art. Her drawings on wood panels are superb, her collages are mesmerizing, and her gourd art is like nothing I've ever seen before. I hope you check out Kaoru Mansour's site today. And I'll be back later to unveil the next box in my advent calendar.

I'll be out most of the day, so come on in. The front door isn't locked, the infuser is filled, and the kettle is ready for the fire. Make yourself at home and have a freshly brewed cup of tea. I'm off to do some last minute Christmas shopping, because I kept putting it off. Now it's the proverbial "11th hour" for me. I may or may not have time to take pictures, but I'll take my camera, just in case.

12 Days of Christmas, Day 8 and Advent Calendar Day Twenty

I have lots to open today. On the left you see a hostess gift all wrapped with my name on it, along with the art square made by Patt. This was the most unusual ribbon I have ever seen. In fact, I'm not sure it really is ribbon. But whatever it is, it is the coolest I've seen in a long time.

My hands were freezing as I opened these packages. And look at the lovely surprises inside. The 8 maids were definitely milking and the cows were well represented by their spots. In the smaller package, I found some pre-cut ATCs. All I have to do is decorate them. Now how cool is that? Thanks, Patt! Patt doesn't have a blog, which is a shame because I enjoyed the humor in this piece, which was decorated on both the front and back. EDIT: Patt's blog is Patt's Ponderings. I hope you will check out her blog.


Next it was time to open Day 20's advent calendar box.


Inside is a small compass surrounded by curled wire and laying on top of a map.


Here is a picture of the open box showing the entire scene.

Before I announce the artist of the day, I want to let you know that Terri Kahr at Pringle Hill Studio is having a giveaway of an adorable ATC. Like with any giveaway I announce, this one comes with no commitments or hoops. But you must enter today because she announces her winner tomorrow.

As we wind down this year, I'm trying to show a few more men who make art, and today's artist, Henrik Simonsen, makes simply stunning art. His paintings have a haunting magical quality to them, and he proves acrylic and oil mix well together. Henrik was born in Denmark, but now lives in the UK. His art is both colorful and beautiful. Even his black and white art has a glow that can't be described. I hope you enjoy today's pick, Henrik Simonsen.

Silent Sunday: Cowtown Museum