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Happy New Year

Promise fulfilled   


Remember that little twig with the tight red buds a few days ago? Well, those buds have blossomed in our front window into a fragrant little bouquet of pink viburnum . Hope this is symbolic of the promises we all make to ourselves at the New Year. May those promises all flourish and grow into something beautiful to enlighten and beautify all of our lives. I wish you all a very Happy, Beautiful, Creative New Year. Do your best to bring beauty and kindness and love into all of the lives you touch.

Trip to Tennessee

Hello. I am Angus and YOU are NOT !

Skulls on the porch
 
Anyone able to ID these blue berries?

More evidence of Crazy Archaeologists

Curly grasses

Fluffy seedheads
 
Remains of Ironweed - several feet tall !

Lovely red leaves

Skeletal remains

Southern Gentleman, Fred( Astair, if you please!) at his leisure on the front porch


Still life with pumpkins

Texture and barn wall
Berberis at Jellico TN

Icy Berberis at Jellico rest stop

Frozen roses
Frosted evergreen


Winter Euphorbia in Katherine's garden














Merru Christmas 2011 from Tennessee

Home again

Photos to follow once I have edited them but we are home again after a whirlwind trip to Tennessee to visit our daughter. The visit was brief but wonderful . The driving ??? Well, going south, it was horrendous- rain and slush and snow ALL THE WAY! The traffic was fast and heavy. Our return trip was generally much better although once we reached Erie PA, the weather changed from lovely to ugly again and I cannot describe the traffic ! I have never seen so much speeding and terrible driving - ever! The NY Thruway was disastrous . We were surrounded by huge eighteen wheelers and pickup trucks , all slopping horrid slush all over us . Wipers in use constantly. My poor husband deserves a medal . In the end, apart from a couple of brushes with near disaster, we are home safely and thankful to be. I suspect that there were a number of drivers operating " under the influence" . I am afraid I have NO patience for that. Anyway, here we are and happy to be so. Our return journey will be in a couple of weeks once the car has been e-tested. Guess I neglected to mention that. We exchanged cars temporarily so we could have our daughter's car tested for her as she is unable to do it herself.

Post dated post






A very kind EIM friend taught me how to post date a post so this is an experimental kick at that can. These are my yellow inchies. Christmas promises to be very busy as does the week following and I wanted to have these done . Hope you like them!

Merry Christmas to all

We wish you all a lovely, happy, family filled day. Very best wishes to everyone for an excellent New Year. Be creative!

Christmas cards for everyone


thw wrinkles are Tyvek

love the Fashion statement - just an accident!

metallic yarn

more Tyvek and metallic yarn

looks like a little moon! there was a half moon shaped cutout under it !

veggie bag for texture here!

felt bits with hot foil

These  are for my family tomorrow but I wanted to share them with you before that as a little extra wish for a lovely Christmas or Hannukah or whatever you choose to celebrate . Love and Joy and Peace come to you and yours.













I hope you have a lovely family day together with those you care about. We have no snow but that does not matter. We are all together and that is what counts. We will miss our Daughter and her family but will be together with her right after Christmas. I cannot WAIT to see them ! Happy Christmas all!

Promises

On my walk this morning ( 22 Dec 2011) I found a bush ready to pop into bloom!I THINK it is either a daphne or a viburnam - hard to tell in this state, but what a lovely promise on the first day of winter!!




How very beautiful! I do not generally hold with despoiling my neighbours' shrubbery, but really wanted to share this . I have two little twigs in a jug of water and we shall see what happens in a few days. Pretty, eh?

Solstice

Winter us here officially though you would never guess to look out the window. As I type, I am looking at the little watercolour painting my daughter did of the inside of Maes Howe In Orkney. We visited there together a few years ago now and LOVED it ! It was SUCH a spiritual place. Maes Howe is a huge tomb there where the midwinter sun shines along a long tunnel and onto the opposite wall. Standing inside that eerie tomb made so long ago from huge flat slabs of Limestone, our minds were boggled thinking of the engineering required to move those mammoth pieces of stone to construct this fabulous monument. When the guide turned the lights off inside the tomb, we easily imagined ritual ceremonies thaking place marking this longest night,the darkest part of the year where, because it is so far north, the winter days are short already. It must have been a terrifying place in those days. We are so lucky to be able to switch on lights and to bring cheer into our homes and lives. Hope the light shines in your homes and lives. Happy Christmas! If I can find a picture, I will add it but I did not have a camera of my own in those days , so.....

Should be Monday!


This is a perfect example of why it is some unwise to try drawing on a slippery surface. He was great until I realised that he needed outlining and then ..... So , here is one very green, but very messy little froggy with gold spots and a sloppy little gold crown. My bet is that he is a Prindsome Hance in disguise! 


 These ones were just a batch effort.This is jolly good fun but now I need the challenge of having to actually SAY something- and just in time for the end of EIM :-(

Maybe what I will do is copy the list from this year and just start through it . I only started with the Amusement one a few weeks ago so it would be good practice for me. 







I have all sorts of these little buttons. I dyed these ones green-er, but I would have liked them even more distinctly green. Maybe a touch of paint? We
shall see.











Can you tell that I like sparkles? I am part Magpie, I think- always have been ! I have a prodigious collection of beads and sequins and neat crazy little buttons.










 Not sure what is happening here tonight. I am not getting these pictures moved when and where I want them. I did not want the last one way down there. Maybe I can move it. This is what comes of doing Monday things on Sunday!



 Hah Hah! I DID it ! Now, that's better. I have a couple of yellow ones done too but want to try some different ones . Enjoy EIM - on Sunday PM or Monday AM!












Christmas larder and Kris Henderson

We have been shopping for non perishables for Christmas dinner. It is a madhouse out there but we did it. I now have everything except for the fresh stuff and the turkey so I begin to feel relaxed. I still have almost 50 little twisty tin icicles to put onto the wee tree, They are so fiddly- and SO pretty. I shall persevere.

I finished my Green Inchies for next Monday and have made a start on my Yellow ones. I wish I had the time and the knowhow to take over from Kris Henderson on Every Inchie Monday. Fortunately for Kris, she is leaving to care for a new baby granddaughter! Congratulations, Kris! However, that leaves the rest of us with nowhere to play :-( If anyone out there could run the website, DO step up to the plate! We would all be grateful. Here is a little preview.

Fishy!

 Here he is ...
...in all his fishy, Steampunk glory. Still not great pictures but he just will NOT hang nice and still for me ! Gormless, eh? :-)

...following pictures


2011 Christmas tree. I love the Christmas tree. We have zillions of tiny little decorations which we have collected from all over the place. This is not a very good photo and it is so hard to get a good shot. I  think you get the idea anyway . It takes me two full days to decorate it but I love doing it.













And here is the mantle in the diningroom . These guys
are from everywhere too.Some I have made, some I have painted but most, I have found in various places from Scotland to Germany. Mum's old Santa and Mrs Santa salt and pepper shakers are up there too.




Then , there are the zany dolls I have made. I WISH I could say they were my own designs, but they are patterns- Frowning Francis and Arley Berryhill.


 The colour on this bird is not right . She is quite blue and I am calling her the Bluebird of Silliness. She is a Steampunk beauty :-) She has a fishy friend but I did not get a good photo of it tonight so he will have to wait till later to be immortalized.
This one, an Arley Berryhill pattern , is called Harold, the Angel- as in Hark, the HerAld angels sing! Not sure why Arley spelled it with an 'O' . I guess he is just a bit perverse. Anyway, she is very sweet and serene and elegant , all dressed in gold beads and Dupioni silk!

                                                                            Enjoy!