Christmas Presence

I completed a collage artwork today that is a gift for my Mom for Christmas. She arrived today from California after 22 hours of traveling. It is good to have her here. When you live in another country, there is nothing quite like having your Mom visit your home for the first time. There is a sense of complete-ness about it.

Anyway, I have been thinking about trying collage for some time now. I am particularly inspired by the woman who created Art Chix Studio, an online store for collage art. The images are so rich, compelling and creative. With her blog, My Artistic Life, she encourages others to create by giving instruction and art challenges. People send her photos of their creations and her cats pick the winners.

So, I must admit I was a little intimidated by the process. My art is usually based on precision, so to just let loose and slap some stuff down on the paper is a bit scary to be honest. I decided to mimic one of her projects that she did recently, just as a place to start...the circle background. But the rest is all ME. I used a photo of my mother as a wee baby, all dressed up to go out in the snow (she was born in Maine). I started my project at 1030 at night...not the best time to start, but when the creative urge strikes, it's best not to get in the way.

In a word, I had FUN. I tried not to let my brain get in the way, but just let it flow and played with the colors and the paper and the paint. I am really happy with the result and I'm sure my Mom will love it too. It's framed, wrapped and under the tree.

I also finished knitting a pair of socks, also for my Mom. They are made from Noro Silk Garden Chunky and I had to look hard to find a pattern that works for chunky yarn, but I found one and adapted it slightly. I'm not wild about this colorway, but they do contain a lot of colors. And they are BIG socks (affectionately knicknamed "Godzilla Socks"). Big and cozy. She could even wear them over another pair of socks. But since her feet get cold easily, I figure she will find good use for them.

Here they are blocking in the sun...
Now my Christmas preparations are all DONE. I can just sit back and enjoy the season.

Sea Tree

The Sea Tree looks magical. I feel a little sad that the tree has to die though. Thank you Tree.

Sparkly Sea Shells

After gathering some shells off the beach near our house, I painted them with white acrylic paint, then dusted them with silver holographic glitter and let them dry. Then I cut some small lengths of silver tiger tail (but anything like ribbon would work) and glued a loop to the back with a hot glue gun. I made about 18 of them for the tree.


This is the best photo I took, but is only about 30% of how the sparkly-ness appears to my eye. It's hard to capture just how sparkly these shells are. The holographic glitter has all the colors of the rainbow in it and the sparkle seems to be more intense at night, with just ambient lighting in the house. So I'm just imagining these babies on the tree with the tinsel and fairy lights. Oh!


We are going to get our tree today...so excited! I can't wait to see the sea fantasy tree come to life.