Christmas Advent Craft

Last year I heard about a Jesse Tree and decided to start that tradition with our kids this year. The idea comes from the prophesy of Christ in Isaiah 11:1 "A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse." I crafted a 'tree' out of some evergreen branches placed in a large vase. Each day through the month of December a new passage of scripture is read, beginning with creation and ending with Christ's birth. I crafted simple, small salt dough ornaments, one ornament corresponding to each scripture, so every day a new ornament is placed on the tree.

To hold (and hide) the ornaments, I found this advent idea that I thought was just adorable. It was very simple to make, but quite tedious. Cutting and stitching 48 triangles takes more time than you think! But I am glad I stuck with it and finished it. I love it, and so do the kids!

(And included in certain pockets are extra little surprise treats for the kids!)

toss me a rose

I wanted to add something fun to my husband's and my bed. I perused the internet for some inspiration, and here is my pillow!
I sewed the beginning of a removable pillow cover for an old toss pillow out of natural unbleached linen, stopping before I stitched it together. I hemmed long strips of thin red cotton fabric with white thread (emphasizes the edges). Starting on the outer edge of the pillowcase front, I stitched the red strips down in a circular pattern, ruffling the material along the way. Last of all I stitched the pillow cover together, flipped it right side out and stuffed the pillow inside. How's that for one big old romantic red rose on your bed!

my fall pinecone wreath

A few weeks ago I spotted a wreath made out of nuts in Martha Stewart's magazine and decided I was going to make it for my front door. But before I could buy some unshelled nuts, I was at my mom's house in her garage where I spotted a whole bunch of pinecones. Like the shells, they were from my grandmother. These pinecones (again, like the shells) were gathered on family vacations when my mom was a girl, so they are quite old. But you would never guess it. They're beautiful! My mom let me take a few bags of them home with me so I could make a pinecone wreath. I even used an antique wreath form that was my grandmother's. Since the pinecones were all small, my mom ran out into her yard and gathered some large white pine cones for me to use as a base. A little lumpy-bumpy and more than a few drippy glue spots, but what a special wreath it is to me! I'm spraying it with a preservative spray so I can keep it to hang every fall. I enjoyed making the wreath, but I don't think I'm going to go in to pinecone wreath making. It's tricky trying to maneuvre those prickly things!

my daughter at ballet

seashells

When my grandmother died last year, one of the things my mother received was seashells. I didn't realize how many seashells until recently. Bags and boxes of seashells. All shells that my grandmother had collected 45+ years ago along the Georgia and Florida beaches.

I've been wanting to create a beach wall in our upstairs landing. A wall centered around this seascape, which my grandmother crafted with my sisters and me when we were young girls. At the beach this summer, I collected some shells specifically for gluing on to 2 frames, that would be a part of the wall collage. These shells were collected from Matanzas Bay and Anastasia Island in FL. About the time I started these frames, I saw a small portion of the shells my mother now has. And I wanted to create hundreds of seashell frames. Literally. I have loved going through just one bag of some of the more simple shells. They are old, they are straight from the beach, full of tiny individual imperfections that add to their beauty.

drawing inspiration

I've taken to drawing from our family photos for sketching practice, and it's really been a lot of fun. There's nothing like my own kids for inspiration!

Virtual Sketch Date for March

I decided to join a virtual sketch date online, where once a month a photo is posted. Anyone who wants to can sketch the picture and post the link to their art on the website and in flickr. It's only once a month, so it doesn't become overwhelming, but it's often enough to ensure I keep painting. I am hoping it will stretch me a bit too, forcing me to paint scenes I might not ordinarily paint.

child's table and chairs

I recently painted this child's table and chairs for a client.

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them and see better detail.

I didn't design it myself. My client did. She laid out all the colors and basic design. It reminds me very much of something from MacKenzie-Childs.

She even gave me her china pattern from which to copy the butterflies and bugs.The fun part for me was scattering the little butterflies, bugs and bees around the table and chairs--one here, one there. Finding a good place to put one, hiding another around the leg of a chair.

I love this bee on the back of one of the chairs.A few of the butterflies.
My favorite.

After this project, I am feeling inspired to tackle my own kids' table & chairs, which are currently just plain old white. Actually the table top is a bit dirty and could use a fresh coat of paint anyway!

decorating for valentine's day

This week we decorated our doorways with hearts. I've seen many variations of this same idea on other blogs.

We used only the Valentine's colored crayons...

...to color all over our papers.

We also did the same with watercolors.

I cut hearts out of my kids' colored and painted papers while they were making more.

Then we taped them to a long ribbon the length of the doorway...

...and hung them up.

simple skirt for spring

I might just have to make my little girlie one of these skirts each season!