New Year, New You...

I am excited about the prospect of new beginnings, trying new things, and freshening up my living areas.  Normally I don't make New Year's Resolutions, because they seem to peter out before the month of January ends.  This year I started some resolutions before January 1st!  Sounds weird?  Maybe, but I found that I focus on what is important to me, rather than what I think I "should" focus on.  There are two things that I began; one well before December and one in December.


I finally prioritized my artwork!  December was a great jumping off point for this, as I prefer to give handmade gifts rather than something purchased at an overcrowded store.  The time I spent creating each gift fulfilled my need to create and gave me some beautiful quiet time during the busy holiday season.  I still don't understand how I let housework, laundry, and the never-ending to do lists take precedence over my art.  Here are some of the pieces I created for Christmas gifts:

These Short story bracelets are made from recycled materials like dog food bags.

The containers to give the bracelets were made out of toilet paper holders and sprayed with Glimmer Mist and stitched closed.

Homemade tomato juice and dilly beans for my dad, complete with 50's/60's retro labels.

Potted Amaryllis and PaperWhite Narcissus for the neighbors.

Potted bulbs wrapped and ready to go.

Now I find it easy to spend five, fifteen, thirty minutes or more to work on a project or at least one step of a project in my daily life.  This has brought great peace and joy to my life.  I will not let go of it!  The laundry and housework will always be there....waiting!

The project that I started far before December was something that I struggled with for a very long time....my weight and my health.  I prayed for years, asking God to remove this burden from me.  I did not want my fat to be the cross I had to bear!  I recently realized that He answered my prayer in an unexpected way.  I got a job at Curves in Dundee this last April.  At the time, the company was promoting a new weight management program to it's employees before releasing it to it's members.  I had no choice, or time to prepare.  I was an employee and had to get on the program.

62 pounds later, I am grateful to God for answering my pleas.  I still have 38 pounds to go to reach my ultimate goal, but this program is a lifestyle.  There is nothing to count, measure, or journal.  I do not have to focus on food each day, the way I did on other programs.  I shop at my local grocery store and I don't ever have to eat processed, packaged food.  I have already been keeping off the 62 pounds now for several months.  I maintained my weight through the holidays, not even trying to lose, so that I could enjoy select treats.  I did not gain!  Here are my before and after pictures...so far!

Pysanky Season

Since Easter is late in April this year and I have only one class to teach so far, I have only just gotten out my Pysanky and supplies.  I took advantage of the fruit tree pruning I've been doing and brought in three budded branches that I secured together and placed in a vase along with water and some beach glass-looking stones for weight.  I had to learn to do this the hard way; last year I broke one of Shelby's first eggs when the top heavy "tree" fell over.  Then I covered all the branches with eggs the girls and I have made over the years and several eggs I have collected as well.  In a week or so all the buds on my branches will bloom a pretty peach-pink; since I used peach tree prunings!

 These are more of the eggs we've made over the years with the exception of the eggs in the left carton which are from Romania and made by monks.  I bought a whole dozen on my last visit to Romania.

I heard about the Relay for Life that my local Curves chapter is supporting.  They are accepting donations for a silent auction.  I decided to put together a little Pysanky kit which includes: one of the Romanian eggs, a porcelain egg holder, one medium kistka, a block of beeswax, 9 different colors of dyes, 2 egg lifters, a box of Polish matches, a sheet of instructions and design ideas, and a basket.  Here it is...

Here is a little note of interest; in all the different countries that create these beautiful Easter eggs, like Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Hungary, and the Czek Republic, each of the design elements and each color have special meanings.  So although an egg might be pretty to look at, there may be great significance attached to the egg by it's maker!

Creating Christmas

While enjoying a new experience for Christmas last year in Hunedoara, Romania, I learned a valuable lesson.  I thought I already knew this lesson, but apparently I did not.  You see, in Romania, few people decorate for Christmas or even have a tree.  Shelby and I truly experienced the celebration of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  There was no pressure to decorate, bake, purchase gifts, etc.  We spent time with new friends, people who had nothing, not even a home, and we caroled all night long (me on Christmas Eve, and Shelby for the rest of the week).

This year I wanted to not lose our new perspective.  God has blessed this wish.  In year's past there was stress about getting the house decorated quickly, to create and send out Christmas cards, to get presents purchased and under the tree, to bake and have the house clean so that I could "enjoy" the holiday.

I decided to lose the pressure.  I did decorate.  But I only worked on it when I wanted to and did not make it a family chore.  The wonderful result was that my family got involved because I was having fun with it and they wanted to join in.  I made Christmas Cards...as a fun craft.  There was no pressure or expectation.  They are finished and waiting for a trip to the post office.  I have made homemade gifts for some of my friends.  What I am trying to say is that this has been the least pressure-filled Christmas I have ever experienced.  I now know that you can relax and soak in the presence of our Lord and still have pretty lights to look at.

Creating Christmas....is all about attitude.

Creating the Christmas cards

I found these cute tags for 50% off and added a impromptu family photo to the back taken at Cracker Barrel with a holiday greeting and myself Photoshopped in.

My "Santa Fe Tree" in the kitchen

Shelby got into the fun by displaying her Breyer Holiday Horses

My favorite...the Nativity

Mike even helped to light his extensive collection of Firehouse villages

Our main tree in the art studio/sunroom.  You'll see a lot of red because over 25 years of marriage we've collected a lot of Fire department ornaments!

We've gotten the girls an ornament each year so that when they are on their own, they have a collection for their own tree.  Shelby wanted to display her own ornaments, as they tend to get lost amongst all the fire department ornaments on the main tree.

Shelby at work on her own creative endeavors

A Twist on Pysanky

Teaching Pysanky (a form of Ukrainian Easter Egg dying) has been a passion of mine for almost 20 years.  This month I was asked to come up with a Christmas form of the medium.  So...Voila!  I designed a few ornaments for the Christmas tree.  The trickiest part of this project is that the class had to be divided into two segments.

  Tomorrow we will be doing the traditional wax resist egg dying with a single color and maybe a bit of spot dying. Here's the tricky part; I have to bring all the student's eggs home to varnish and blow the yolks out!  The drying time for the varnish is just too long for the class to hang out waiting to blow the eggs, and since the second segment is the following week, the varnish can't sit that long waiting for the yolks to be removed...That is just asking for trouble!

During the second segment we will be adding the jewelry findings and a few select embellishments for glitz.  I've enjoyed the creativity of trying to rethink this class.  Sometimes you just have to sweep the cobwebs out of your brain by switching something up!

As I always include a storage box for each egg, I was tickled to find silver and gold Chinese carry out boxes for a steal at Crafts 2000.  I think the ladies will be happy.  I also think that the time being pared down by breaking up the classes can be useful in other venues.  I'm thinking this could be a great ladies project at church for our Thursday night craft group.  Let me know what you think.

All Hallow's Sweets

Today, I rushed home after church to make cupcakes for our neighborhood children.  I always end up delivering them because our church has a really cool Halloween outreach that I usually photograph.  Hint: Stay tuned!

In advance, I must apologize for the photo quality.  Shelby needed to borrow my camera to take photos of the children's activities for her Interact Group (Youth Rotary) at the same Halloween event.  Without thinking, I gave her permission which left me with my camera phone to document the cute cupcakes....yup.  Not cool.

However, the cupcakes were very cool and amazingly tasty.  Homemade chocolate buttercream frosting can not be beat!  Tuck in a few forgotten autumn chipboard pieces from my scrapbook supplies and Voila! Custom cupcake cuties for the neighborhood kiddies.