Day 9 Just Being Playful

Art for Day 9, just a little ACEO Art Card. I love the look of the white on white. Pulling together seemingly random papers and items in a monochromatic scheme is very soothing. Many times when I pull together a random collection in this way I get something inside, a stirring of sorts and I hear a word, a verse, a scripture, and I'll know the storyteller within has something to say.

For whatever reason, I haven't delved to deep, when I see this card all I can think of is "The Zipper Man" from a dialogue between Joe Fox and Kathleen Kelly in the movie "You've Got Mail" -

JOE: He could be the zipper Man.
KATHLEEN: Who's that?
JOE: This guy on Amsterdam who repairs zippers. You'll never have to buy new luggage.

Sometimes the storyteller just wants to be playful. And here is something else that is fun and playful.

♫ ♪ on the 9th Day of Christmas JoAnna gave to me ♫ ♪

One of my favorite things about this exchange has been the creativity put into the wrapping of each of the ornaments. Many of the artists seem to have put almost as much into the wrapping as they have into the ornament itself.

The first thing I noticed as I began to unwrap JoAnna's ornament was how she managed to engage nearly all of my senses with her wrapping. The visual appeal as you can see, with the clear cellophane as a teaser showing off the the pretty red & white ticking fabric used to hide the gift all surrounded by little shreds of old text and just the hint of the ornament peeking from the top. As I picked it up the silver bell was jingling and when I opened it I caught the slightest whiff of something fragrant. I thought at first I was mistaken, but then noticed a bit of potpourri was also inside the package.

I am absolutely delighted with JoAnnas choice for her ornament this year. She has developed a style that is all her own, a sort of grungy primitive style and often with this muslin vintagy fabric incorporated somehow. But this ornament really shows off her talent for all things distinctly feminine. It is so pretty and I know that I will not want to put this away with my regular ornaments at the end of the Christmas season! Be sure to head over to JoAnnas blog to be wowed with the talent she has for making art dolls, fairies, bottles, and so much more!

Day 8 Elementary Science

Perhaps this is just what I need today, a text-book in Elementary Science. It may help to explain why I have spent the better part of the day trying to get one simple solder to take with no success.

Granted, the materials I am trying to join are an unlikely duo. Silver and steel. They appear to go together just about as well as music and bugs, or religion and science, or salty and sweet. Really none of these things have to contradict, but can actually compliment the other, be it simply to create a curious appeal, to point to the truth the other holds, or support and enhance the flavor of the other.

I do love this contradiction created by steel and silver together. The dark matte black of the steel against the highly polished silver, but today it is just creating frustration in me so I will put it aside for another day.

Now here is something that I can say went very well for me today. I finally got to open this present!

♫♪ on the 8th day of Christmas Sally Turlington gave to me ♪♫

This beautiful ornament of the Holy family! Now talk about a contradiction. God coming to earth in the form of man. Not just as a man, but being born as an infant in the most humble of circumstances. Demonstrating his desire to serve, not just the King and Creator ruling with iron fisted will, but offering himself to each man and woman as a perfect sinless Savior. Because of Him I do not have to stride for salvation, always weighing whether my goods outnumber my bads.

I am so honored to be able to hang this ornament on my tree. It will remind me, not only of what the Christmas season is all about, but also of the wonderfully talented artist who put so much love into creating this gift for the exchange. Sally personalized each one of the 13 ornaments she created to suit the recipient, adorning with vintage jewelry and baubles. Mine has this beautiful vintage cross dangle that makes it both a reminder of Christs birth and His ultimate sacrifice.

I highly recommend you pay Sally's blog a visit. She has selflessly shared a step-by-step tutorial on creating these Christmas treasures, starting with the hand-formed paper clay arched frames and finishing with her special handmade brayed paper, which I have been dancing happy dances about since the day it arrived in the mail. I carefully removed each little gold staple used to bind it together so that I can use this special paper in my work! Two presies from the very talented Sally Turlington!

And don't forget to stop by OPF Studio where Day 6's art is now listed.

Day 7 Art & Ornament - One and the Same

Is this cheating? Day 7 of the 12 Days of Christmas swap was the day everyone opened my present so I think I can get away with saying this is both my new art and my ornament swap photo today! And speaking of cheating, I confess that I never managed to wrap one of my own ornaments for me and didn't get a picture of the wrapped packages before I mailed them, so I have stolen this picture from Sally's blog. But how could I resist? She makes it look so sparkly pretty with the lights reflecting on it like that!

When I thought of all the very talented artists in this group and how many years I have been online friends with so many of them I knew right away I wanted to send them each my whole heart. What better way to express what words just won't say?



I've been working with encaustics for the better part of the year now and have had a love for jewelry making and metalsmithing for quite sometime. Somewhere along the way I managed to bring these two passions together in what I have branded my "Wax & Wire Wearable Art" line and I knew when I was given the opportunity to participate in the exchange again this year that I would creat my ornaments from wax & wire too.

So I designed and then redesigned and tweeked and thought it out and finally settled on a design that I was excited about. But once I started working I realized I might have been a little too ambitious and had to take it to the drawing board once again. The ornament that I wanted to make had a total of 24 soldering points, the one that I wound up making has 4!

If you are intrigued by the process check out the latest addtion of Belle Armoire Jewelry, page 92, for my Wax & Wire tutorial or come and see me in person at Art & Soul in February in Vegas where I will be vending my art & objects.

Day 6 - Dream in Color

Day 6 and Dreaming of many things. Big dreams. Dreams beyond what I feel capable of at the moment.

An endless hope filled magical colorful dream. One that begins with a step and ends with a life well lived.

And speaking of colorful ~

♫♪ on the 6th day of Christmas Maija gave to me ♪ ♫

This adorable doll ornament just spilling over with her colorful ribbon tassel skirt! This is another one of those pictures that I feel just does not do this piece justice. It is so much prettier then I can get through on camera. The ribbon tassel at the bottom is full and soft and the colors remind me of a gypsies skirt. Her paper hat is adorned with a silvery trim, she is wearing a ruffle around her neck of soft maroon velour and she sports a red flower in the center of her body. Detail after detail of these jewel toned colors and sweet touches make this another favorite this year! I think I may be hanging her in the studio after Christmas too. As a matter of fact, I'm starting to think of ways to display all my ornaments from this swap and the previous ones. They are just too precious to be hiding away most of the year!
Be sure to head over to Maija's blog to spend some time reading. She is one lucky girl when it comes to art adventuring and she is generous in her sharing with photos and stories to wet your appetite!

Day 5 - Body In Motion

When I decided to write a blog post each day this month to show you 31 new pieces of art and the 12 Days of Christmas exchange that I'm participating in, I didn't take into consideration that there would be days when I literally just wasn't home long enough to post. Yesterday was one of those days.

I was a body in motion. Work was sandwiched between activities and blogging was not impossible, but doing it early in the am on either end of the day wasn't that appealing. We all have days like that. Not a lot of thinking involved, just taking care of a very full plate.

So here I am on the 6th posting about the 5th and tonight I'll try to catch up with my 6th day post. The ACEO card for Day 5, Body In Motion, has been listed at OPF Studio on Etsy.

♫♪ on the 5th Day of Christmas Ruth Rae gave to me ♫ ♪

Oh lucky me that Ruth still had time to spend on this swap with us! She has been one busy gal this year with traveling to promote A Charming Exchange and putting the finishing touches on, and now promoting her new book, Layered Tattered & Stitched.

And layered, tattered, and stitched is the perfect way to describe this beautiful ornament that Ruth created for the exchange. The layers and layers of warm and cozy fabric with tattered and frayed edges all stitched up to create the little house just invite the feeling of home and family and calm appreciation for the treasure we carry in our hearts through Christ. Just what the season is all about.

Ruth pays such attention to every detail from the way the package is lovingly wrapped in layer after layer down to the way she signs the piece on the back. She is an inspiration! I highly recommend spending some time on her blog and putting both her books on your Christmas wish list!

Day 4 - Tenacity

Day 4 is about Tenacity - and will have to write about it later.


But here's what is really important ~ ♪ ♫ on the 4th day of Christmas Melissa gave to me ♪ ♫

The most beautifully wrapped gift I've ever seen under the tree! This treasure of a bag has had me intrigued since it arrived in my mailbox with such a beautiful package I knew there would be something really special inside.

I was not disappointed when I opened it this morning to find this beautiful plaster heart handcrafted by Melissa David to resemble a Sacred Heart shrine to hang from the tree. With the dangle of objects it makes me think of a window into my soul. A sacred place where love takes root and gets its wings. What a beautiful gift and treasure to hang from my tree!
Melissa doesn't have a blog to direct you to so I will send you back to Deryn's blog for the best photography and to continue to read her study of the 12 apostles of Jesus.

Day 3's art has now been listed in my Etsy shop ~

Day 3 - Never Give Up Hope

On Day 3 of my 12 Days of Christmas and 31 Days of Art series I find myself feeling a little down. Okay, more then a little down, one of those days that you wake up and everything seems to go wrong before you even step foot out of bed.
Ever have one of those days? The kind that you say things like "must have got up on the wrong side of bed" and "I knew this was going to be a bad day before it even started"? I recognize the negative mindset that goes along with this kind of thinking and try to correct it when I catch myself. It isn't a bad day just because I have to deal with something challenging as soon as I get up. There is no wrong side of the bed (unless you have a lumpy mattress) its just about ordinary life. Good, bad, and everything in between. Life.

Today, though it seemed to set off a pattern of self-doubt about the course I am on. One where I spiraled, try as I might, into self-defeating patterns and crazy hopeless thoughts like "I'm all the way back to square one." "all my hard work has been for nothing."

Thankfully I had an appointment with a very dear and wise counselor who helped me to get some much needed perspective. All my hard work over this past year or so has not been "for nothing". I've seen many positive changes in myself and my life. Some visible to others, some known only to a few close friends, and some are just between me and God. I've changed the way I react to difficult situations and people. Not perfect, but very good progress. I've set goals and achieved them. I've taken risks and addressed my fears head on. Well sometimes I've addressed my fears while cowering in a corner, but believe me, I've addressed them!

But now, it is time to start peeling away the next layer. I can hang onto the good of what I have learned already and begin to work on another area. It will be a challenge and many of the feelings will be similar to where I was when I first started this journey. But now I can hang onto the progress I've made and find hope in it.

Kind of like my faith walk with God.

At 33 I had more doubts then faith, but in the midst of it I came to Him. Took a leap of faith in spite of my doubts, fears, anger, and tendency toward self reliance. From that day 11 years ago until now God has been faithfully answering my questions and bringing me into a deeper relationship with him. One step. One day. One question at a time. I can look back to where I was with Him then and in spite of still having bad days my faith is night and day different. When I struggle with my faith I can look back at those questions, those answers he brought and see and know and trust even more deeply and continue to walk.

As I sat down today to write about my Art for Day 3 I could hear a song by a band called The Sidewalk Prophets playing in my head. Something I felt God was wanting me to listen to. It is something for you too:

If we were face to face,
I'd tell you just what you mean to me,
I'd tell you these simple truths,

Be strong in the Lord and,
Never give up hope,
You're going to do great things,
I already know,
God's got His hand on you so,
Don't live life in fear,
Forgive and forget,
But don't forget why you're here,
Take your time and pray,
These are the words I would say,

And of course there is another song that continues to play:

♪ ♫ on the 3rd day of Christmas Jackie gave to me ♫ ♪

A beautiful doll ornament to hang from my tree! It is a dreary day outside today and my lighting was not good. I was hoping to get a good shot of this ornament while it was dangling because it is so pretty. It has a glass crystal dangle on an antique chain with tiny little stars hanging from the bottom and right away I knew she was not going to be just another tree ornament. I've been needing to find a pull for the light above my work table in my studio and she is just perfect for that purpose! But the silly girl would just not hold still and let me get a good picture. I don't think Jackie has a blog to send you too (Jackie let me know if I'm wrong), but you can head over to Deryn's blog for better pictures and read each day her story of the 12 Disciples of Jesus.

My Day Two art has now been posted at OPF Studio on Etsy where everything is still 50% off through tomorrow!

Day 2 of 12 Days of Christmas - 31 Days of Art!

Day 2 of my 12 (er now 13) Days of Christmas Swap and 31 Days of Art brings another untitled piece of art that I have decided for now is simply "Day Two". Yesterday's "Day One" has now been listed at OPF Studio on Etsy at 50% off normal pricing for my "Black Friday/Cyber Monday" Christmas Sale. All art in the studio and most of the objects in the store are listed at 50% off through December 5th.

"Day Two" is an encaustic wax collage created from canvas & paper salvaged from antique books, sheet music covers and wood veneers on gesso board. It is mounted on a standard 11" x 14" mat and is ready to frame.

Each of these works were an exploration of my desiring to make changes in my daily routine as I begin to think about my goals for 2010.

The life of a work-at-home artist can be driven by moods, interuptions, other "important" obligations, and just plain disorganization (yes I made that confession yesterday). If, as they say, "It takes 21 days to form a habit" then after creating, posting, and listing regularly for 31 days I should have accomplished some of the changes that I am needing to make in order to prepare for the goals I've set for 2010.

♫ ♪ and on the 2nd Day of Christmas Pilar gave to me...♫ ♪

A beautifully wrapped present to put under my tree. And today was the day I got to open the gift that Pilar so lovingly handcrafted for me to hang on my tree!

I wish I could show you each tiny detail of this simply beautiful ornament Pilar created. But even more beautiful to me is the meaning that Pilar put into her work. To have such significance portrayed in a work of art moves me, but to have the meaning be about a prayer moves me so deeply that I feel myself brimming with tears when I look at it. I will cherish this "Cloot" or Scottish Prayer Cloth always. Be sure to stop by Pilars blog to read more about it and the prayer that she has posted for all.

Until tomorrow . . .