Nate's Nativity

I have always loved this little Nativity that my son Nate drew when he was 5 years old. It was done in pencil...so it's a little hard to see.  It's a treasure!

It's Time...

...for a new planner. 

Every six months I make a new planner for Connie...and this is the newest. The red fabric is from her old curtains...from the apartment...and at least one or more houses before that.  I added the band of batik fabric...just for interest.

I posted about the process of making a book here.  I'm still learning.

I tweaked the inside format...and still included a little of Connie's art on almost every spread. Maybe in a few more years I will master the art book binding....I won't point out the flaws...because believe me...there are flaws. 

The Peanuts Gang

I said the Grinch and the Christmas Elf were my favorites....but the Peanuts gang is right up there.  I got this little set of figures years ago at the Hallmark store. Every Christmas they sit under the blue lamp in the corner of the kitchen.

I have a variety of little trees that I have collected over the years and this is the newest addition.  I got it at a "Fair Trade" store while on a delightful outing with Linda and Joan.  It's made of  book pages and I think it's quite sweet. Linda teased me that I would be blogging about trying to make one. Well...clearly I'm blogging about it...but trying to make it will have to wait.  But rest assured, I will try.

Choose Joy!

Today is the 3rd Sunday of Advent....
and the word of the day is Joy.

This quote image done
by Stephanie Ackerman.

A Splash of Color

All are welcome!

Speaking of Pine...

I got a few pine branches from the woods on a morning walk with Janet. I put them in bottles of water all around my house... they'll last all winter and are nice touch for the season.

Did you notice the little collage of beach treasures in the picture above? The tiny sand dollars are from Popham Beach and the starfish are from Ocean Park...both in Maine. Notice the teeny tiny sand dollar in the middle....about the size of a head of a pin. I found it by sifting through the gritty sand. They just pop out because they are perfectly round.

I enjoy changing up my kitchen window sill for the seasons. The Grinch and the little Christmas elf are my favorites. The little blue vase is an altered old blue bottle. A glass blower molded it into a little vase.

I have had this basket of plants on my table all summer and fall...I just tucked in three little pine branches in bottles of water.  And of course a few berries.  

Christmas Doodle

Another digital doodle in the blue bottles. 

I created this pine branch and winter berry branch using the drawing tool in Pages. I use the tools quite a bit...but not to actually draw something. It was kind of fun!  

I copied and pasted a winter berry leaf for the green accent.

To make the pine branches and the stem of the berries I used the curved drawing tool in the upper right. To make the berries I used two sizes of circles...one for the berry and one for the little white highlight. You only need to make one...then you just copy past and resize.                                                     

close up of the little berries

Nature Art

Last weekend Anne and I went to a wonderful craft show in Portland at the East End Community School. Lining the halls were photos of nature art done by the students. What a treat! Here is just a sample. Notice the "Love" in the top right corner in sticks...and the "o" is a leaf.

The school sits high on the Eastern Promenade overlooking the city of Portland and Back Bay.  As we were leaving the building just after sunset...this was our view of the city...and of Back Bay...more nature art!  The Bay sits just to the right of the city...you can see a bit of it in the first photo.  I took a panoramic....but having it all on one picture on this blog made it too small to see anything. It was just gorgeous.

It's Beginning....

...to look a lot like Christmas...or at least a little.  Here's another view of the progress in Connie's new space.  We had a shelf installed over the window so she could enjoy some of her Blue Willow dishes. It also gave us a nice spot for some Christmas garland.  Her little tree is up and there are a few other Christmas moments around the room.  We're getting there!

The Other Side

Here is the other side of Anne's motto book.  Did you notice?  I couldn't crop out my succulent bloom in the background....and I promised no more photos.

I made this collage taking images from Anne and Dana's California bike trip blog. It seemed to fit the quote so well.  It was a major part of that year...so it's probably fitting that there are two pages honoring it.

"Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed."  Corita Kent

Check out their "Back in the Saddle" blog from their trip.  This is a link to the first set of posts...keep hitting newer posts at the bottom to see all the unbelievable photos along the way.

I love sunflowers!   "...blissful is their end."                                                                 

This was one of my favorites pages that I created. "When love and skill work together...expect a masterpiece."  John Ruskin

I love this quote. "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."  Melody Beattie

This collage actually has a copy of one of Connie's watercolors in the background. The tree is a paper cut from a notecard. "God wishes to see people happy amidst the simple beauty of nature."  Anne Frank  

Anne used her own hand made paper for her cover. I used torn pieces from the calendar and tissue paper. This was a fun project Anne!  We will have to try something else sometime!                                                                           

Anne's Motto Book

Side One

It was fun to see Anne's motto book during our visit last night.  Just to refresh...we did a year long exchange where we created a page each month inspired by a quote from the Quaker Motto Calendar. We kept the first one...sent the second one...kept the third....and so on. So each of our books contains 6 of our own pages and 6 of the other's.  For more information use the link above...and here for side two of my book.

Here is side one of Anne's book.  (I shared a few of the ones I did in the older post....but I didn't have photos of all the pages I sent her.)

"The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness." John Muir

"Let your light shine before others so they may see your good works." Mathew 5:13-16

Here Anne shared pictures and the route she and her husband Dana took on their bike trip along the California coast.  "For each new morning with its light, for rest and shelter of the night, for health and food, for love and friends, for everything thy goodness sends."  Ralph Emerson

I did two pages using this fabric design...one for her book and one for mine.  "May we believe that glory may dwell in the commonest task of every day."  St. Augustine

I liked what Anne did here....she took two images...sliced them up and alternated them. "Let us continue to plant, and our children shall reap the harvest."  Robert F. Kennedy

"Feeling strong and strongly feeling. Being glad and glad of being. Sharing self and selfless sharing. Full of spirit, spirit filling. Will is warm and warmly willing. Giving joy, enjoy the giving.  Life is love and love is living."

Joseph Byron

Can you find the error in my page?

"I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples." Mother Teresa



I'll share side two tomorrow.

It's Coming Along!

My friend Anne is here for a visit and she will be the first to sleep in the new bed in the guest room in Maine. I am getting close with the furniture....so pretty soon I will start hanging pictures. It's been a long process getting this room put together.

And....I can't wait to see Anne's motto book all put together.  We did the shared project several years ago...but I never saw her final book.

This bed came from Connie and this was the quilt that she used.  I may use it in the summer as it's more lightweight than the striped one. THANKS CONNIE! My guests will appreciate a bigger bed!

Blast From The Past

As I mentioned before, I am in the middle of reorganizing my craft spaces and I am uncovering lots of fun stuff I'm anxious to play with. It's kind of like an archeological dig. One of the things I came across was a box of artwork from a long time ago....kind of funny....but also kind of fun.

I did this little watercolor painting thinking of my two boys, Nate and Sam (they are 26 and almost 30 now)...based on this Norman Rockwell cutout from a magazine....yes I kept the cutout.




And this Holly Hobby painting that I took straight from this little ABC book.  I actually have a modest collection of ABC books...so I will add this one to the bunch.

 

Last Picture....

....I promise.

But again...how could I resist? The succulent bloom was in its full glory when I got to Maine today. I'm so impressed with all that's going on in a very small space.  And the fun part is there's several more to come...but since it will be just more of the same I will celebrate quietly.

The Balcony Urn

One of the things I came home with from Connie's old apartment was one of her balcony garden urns.  It now has a new home on my front steps all spruced up for Christmas. Most of the greens are from my yard.

Thanks Connie!

We are about done in Connie's old place...now I can focus on finishing setting up the new.

A Joyful Puttering Day

Today was a day to "putter" around the house...one of my favorite things to do. 

And it's December 2nd....traditionally the Shupe tree day. But I will confess that my niece Clarke helped me get the tree up this last weekend. I'm getting wiser in my old age...but no less sentimental. Clarke did some of the decorating...but I added to it today....during my day of puttering.

I also had a delightful conversation with Margie, my mother-in-law today. She told me that Dave (my father-in-law) used to like to "putter"...that's even what he called it. He loved to putter in the garage tidying up his workshop...or putter in the basement fiddling with one of his craft projects. She said that he didn't always get too much done...he just liked to "putter." What a great connection!

And, now that I think of it...my dad used to go to the barn or the shed after supper every night for a little while....I bet he was just puttering.

Digital Doodling