a Christmas tradition

I've been working on the final touches of our Christmas card for this year (I know...it's totally getting late!!) and before sharing the design with you, I thought you might like to see some of the old ones we've come up with. I was going to share just the cards, but then I thought, "what the heck, just share the entire scrapbook!" We've kept a copy of each card, and on the page for that year I write the quote we used and put the city, state in which we were living at the time. I'm really glad we started keeping this scrapbook, it's a tiny snapshot into our lives at that moment.

With the early cards, I hand colored each one. Yes, each one...I still can't believe it. I had to start REALLY early to get them done on time. I think there have been two years where we didn't complete cards. One year I can claim good justification - Warren was born right before Thanksgiving that year, and I was a little busy! ;-)

It's also fun to see how my artwork has/hasn't changed. Some are old favorites, and some I'm not a huge fan of anymore. But, they all make for a beautiful story of Christmases past.

And here was our first card, all the way back in 1998. 

and finally last years....

little goals lead to big goals

Ever feel like you've been working on a project forever and the end just never feels in sight? Well, I have.... I got this idea for an alphabet collage book a little while after Warren was born  and just look at where the time has gone- two years have flown by!

I put a lot of thought into how I wanted the overall book to flow and I decided on a rainbow background. So each page, and each letter has a slightly different colored background as it slowly progresses through the rainbow. I've always loved collages and wanted to incorporate basic images with my illustrations and of course various letter fonts from magazines. Not only did I want to include your typical animals and foods, but action words and character traits as well (like patience and persistence- both on my P page). Books are an important tool  in exposing our kids to rich language, and I think it's never to early to begin using quality vocabulary in our conversations with them. 

So, I'm finally in my final creative stages and ready to send it off to prospective publishers/agents. It feels good to have reached a goal before the year has ended. (I've been working like crazy on this the last few months!) Ultimately, this project has just entered a new stage, and isn't really done, but it feels really good to have made it to this next step. And especially before the year ended, I really needed this. 

I feel like I'll be open to new inspiration now that this project is "off" my plate. Ready for a new year, new projects, new ???

Warning: fun holiday treat inside!

Looking for a fun holiday project for all ages?

I did this project years and years ago with the kids I used to babysit when I was in high school....I know, I know, like a millenia ago.... Anyway, it was a huge holiday hit and we ALL loved making them, and best of all decorating them. It can be fun for all ages, although not as young as two I've discovered. Warren didn't get the concept of putting the candy on the house and not directly into his mouth. :-) 

The decorating is the super fun part, but the house preparation is easy, and best done by the adults ahead of time.

For the house you'll need:

Graham Crackers (1 box= about 4 houses)

Cardboard

Foil

Tape

Glue Gun

Stick Pretzels

First cut out a square base for your house out of cardboard and then cover it with foil. Wrap it like a present and tape the edges down on the bottom. 

With your glue gun, glue down your base. (I've found that having a base helps keep the sides in a nice neat square shape)

Start adding your sides, using glue to seal all edges that touch either another cracker or the base.

Continue adding your sides:  if you add to the outside of the base, like I did you'll find that you end up with a little opening on one, perhaps two edges. An easy fix is to take one of your stick pretzels, break it to the desired height and then use this as a filler to close that opening. This will help create strength to your house, which is a good thing when you have little fingers pushing candies onto it later.

Lay another square across the top. This is optional, but I think it helps create more stability and keeps the house from getting loose candy stuck in it later. :-)

The roof is really the only slightly tricky part. Use your glue gun and put a long row of glue on the outside edge of where your two eaves will touch the house base. (I usually hold the squares up to the house first to get an idea of where I need the glue to be) What makes it tricky is getting those two rows of glue on and then getting your squares into place before your glue dries. Hold it in place for a few seconds, then let the edges (at the peak) rest together and lay another row of glue here to connect it securely. I added another stick pretzel to most of mine this time, at the peak as well to give the corner more stability.

And voila... a beautiful graham cracker 'gingerbread' house!!

You can create a whole little village if you want....

And like I said, the REAL fun comes with the decorating. And with all the fun candy out there, you can get REALLY creative. Stick pretzels work great for outlining doors or windows. Sticks of gum, especially the wider flat kind, make great shingles, or window shutters, or doors. And of course, gum drops, skittles, red hots etc. work great as Christmas lights. They also have awesome shaped sprinkles out there too. I found white and blue snowflake ones, how cute is that?! I also happened to find green Christmas tree shaped Peeps. (A fun addition to the landscaping of your house) Like I said, you can go CRAZY with the details....so have FUN.

A note on the frosting as glue. There are lots of pre-made frosting in tubes but it's super easy to just buy a small tub (like for cupcakes/cakes) and put it into a sandwich bag (I prefer freezer grade for this) and just snip one bottom corner (just a bit...not too much) and squeeze it out this way. And another note, this might be obvious, but it's MUCH easier if you put an adult in charge of placing the frosting. I like to have the kids pick one square at a time to work on. It helps keep the mess to a minimum. :-)

Happy Holiday Projecting!!!

Lots to be thankful for

Guess who just turned two? Our little wild man is 2! We can hardly believe how fast the time has flown. Grandma made Warren a cute little pillow where the fingers fold down with velcro to make the "2" shape. And how much does a kid like to play with velcro.....A LOT! 

I attempted my first "fun" cake and all I can say is that it was a LOT of work. It was fun, but good luck trying to find a Twinkie the day after they announce on the news that Hostess is going into bankrupcy. And those cute little chocolate covered donuts for the wheels- it was a miracle that I found a package of those. (And yes, there was only one, and who knows how old they were). My sister is the cake master in our family and I did my best to make her proud. I've got a long way to go, but this was a great first experiment in cake design.

Warren managed to get a good 'blow' attempt, but Daddy helped him succeed!

Warren dove right in and made all the gumdrops quickly disappear. I think he got a bit of a surprise when one of the red ones turned out to be cinnamon flavored and not cherry like the others!

And we had a beautiful Thanksgiving as well. We had good friends join us and food and festivities were bountiful. We had a grand time playing games, watching football and sharing special Thanksgiving memories. It's amazing how connected a special dish can make you feel to those cherished childhood thoughts, or recent holidays with loved ones. Now that we're parents we think a lot about creating that environment that will hopefully spark a warm spot in the hearts of our kid(s). What amazing things we have to be grateful for, the memories we have and the ones we are creating. May all of you be blessed with a happy, healthy, and HEARTy holiday season!

hmmmmmmm

A couple of posts ago I wrote a little something that went like this...

"I've had this really strong positive gut feeling lately....this hopeful energy that has just overcome me. I'm feeling it in my art and my life at it's wonderful."

Okay, so it turns out this "positive gut feeling" might be something else.....

Yep....Warren is going to be a big brother this summer. And I just love that this pregnancy began with such strong positive feelings, a good omen for this baby's energy, right?! We'll be expecting our new little one around June 18th, which is Brandon's dad's birthday. What a wonderful coincidence! We have lots to be thankful for this holiday..... 

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of family, friends and fun!

Post Sandy

Here I am, finally back on-line and getting back to normal after all of the craziness surrounding Hurricane Sandy. Fortunately we didn't have any building/car damage, we just went without power for 5 days. It was an interesting 5 days though. Warren was an absolute trooper and had fun playing in the candlelight in the evenings. It was a challenge being home-bound however, we attempted to get out at least once a day for a walk and some fresh air. Traveling by car was extremely difficult because lights were out and it wasn't always clear who had power at what point. We also had to be careful with how much gas we used, as we weren't sure how long it might take to get back to normal (turns out the odd/even rationing ended yesterday). The amount of huge downed trees everywhere we looked indicated this was bound to be an enormous clean-up effort.

Warren still loved story time, even by flashlight!

We had stocked up with huge bags of ice in the freezer and so we were able to keep food cold for the majority of the time. We warmed and cooked food on our camp stove until we ran out of propane. We then realized that we had a gas stove, which we felt really silly about. But to be honest the 'camping taste' that comes from cooking on that stove made the adventure a little bit more fun. We tossed all of our remaining food on Friday right before heading up to New York for the Marathon. It felt funny that we had to head up there to get power. We had to drive through Hoboken which had huge flooding problems from the storm. Every street we drove down was obviously dirty from the water that had previously washed through. The curbs were just littered with matresses, furniture and all the ruined items from the basement apartments and businesses. It was very sad, and they clearly still had no power at that time either.

I must say that our hotel, The Conrad, down in Battery Park was a welcomed reprieve from our week without power. We all enjoyed a hot shower and a little luxury after feeling like we'd been tucked in a hole for so long. 

We were at the Expo getting Brandon checked in for the Marathon when we saw the breaking news over on the screens that the race had been canceled. To be honest, we were in shock, and I think the thousands of other people there were too. The excitement and smiles on everyone's faces quickly turned to disbelief. The amount of runners who had traveled LONG distances (I'm talking South Africa and Germany distances) was amazing and those are just the few people we ran into. We just knew that they had to be crushed after working so hard to make it into New York in the first place.

Our hotel was down near the new One World Trade Center going up

We decided to head back home the next day, but we got out, explored and walked a bit that next morning. We had a beautiful view of the Statue of Liberty and Hoboken across the water. Warren managed to find a great park to play in before it got too cold for us to be out much longer.

Luckily we came home and had power, a massive sigh of relief was cast by all when we realized we could start getting back to normal. Our hearts go out to all of those who still have no power or have a big clean-up ahead of them. It's going to be a long road, but we are encouraged by communities and how they are coming together for each other. 

Meanwhile.....back in the studio, I've been working on a lot of miscellaneous projects lately. I've been a bit scattered (as evidenced by my workspace pic below) and have taken a break from painting to continue making progress on an ABC book idea that has been taking shape over this past year. I think it is at a good point so I'm looking into possible agents and publishers. Cross your fingers for me! :-)

I'm feeling the painting itch though....I've gotta get some things off my plate so I can get back to my brushes!

Broken and Beautiful

I started a painting before we left for the Outer Banks that revolved around shells. I've had a bowl of shells we've collected sitting on my desk, and Warren has loved dumping it out for the past couple of weeks. We go through them as we pick them up, and it got me thinking. I remember back when I was little I thought that only perfect shells were worth keeping. On vacation I even bought a few 'perfect shells' from the gift shop (probably Made in China).  Well those shells are long gone now, and all I have is this collection of mostly broken ones, but I love them. Their imperfections are their charm, especially the ones that reveal more of  the areas inside. Their edges have been worn smooth by the battering surf. And what may have been brilliant colors have been faded by the sun. It's funny how your perceptions change over time. This cracked old conch shell is more beautiful to me than a perfect one could be.

Broken and Beautiful 

24" x 24" acrylic and oil pastel on wood

Available here

I took some great photographs of pelicans this trip which I enjoyed referencing as I put my final touches on them. I'd never seen so many pelicans together, we saw groups of up to forty birds at a time. I wonder if it's the time of year....we'd always see countless seagulls and the occasional pelican. But this trip it was quite the opposite. 

This was actually quite special because we always think of my Paw-Paw as a lone pelican flying above watching over all of us. And on this trip my dad, along with his siblings were planning on spreading some of Paw-Paw's ashes. The tradition of spending time in the Outer Banks started with my grandfather and his young family, camping out in Ocracoke. 

I wasn't planning on being a part of their moment, but I changed my mind at the last minute. And I'm glad that I did. It was special, and wonderful to have honored his life in one of his favorite places on earth. 

So, as you can imagine, I was quite inspired to come home and finish the painting I'd started. This painting has actually gone through countless layers as I've changed directions with it many, many, MANY times. I started it back in my workshop with Jesse Reno in the beginning of June and now it finally feels right. It feels settled, it feels balanced, it feels like me. Yay.

Here are a couple close-ups....

one thing leads to the next

I've had this really strong positive gut feeling lately....this hopeful energy that has just overcome me. I'm feeling it in my art and my life at it's wonderful. And even though I've had no huge breakthroughs lately or hit it big in the art world yet, it's as though I can feel something building in the horizon. I just have to keep moving, one step after the other....

The more I take small leaps, small steps in any direction, I can feel my art becoming freer and my hesitation in "making a mistake" less and less. (I am a perfectionist after all, and this is a personal battle I'll always fight)

So, I found this ornament the other day when I had pulled out the caribou as my inspiration for some holiday cards (see earlier post). Well, I thought it was so cute and didn't want it hiding away in the box until Christmas. So, I hung it on an upper cabinet knob in the kitchen for awhile and was just loving how I got to enjoy it when I was cooking. Yesterday I pulled out a small board that I'd been prepping for a painting and I was looking at it trying to decide what comes next when the ornament became my inspiration.

 

I feel like I'm starting to see my world around me better, acknowledging the things that inspire me and allowing it to push my art. 

I'm still putting a few final touches on this one... but I'm lovin' these guys

Maybe I need to go back to my ornament box and dig around for some more fun items! Who knows what they'll inspire!?

gratitude

We were fortunate enough this last week to get to spend some time with my parents out in the Outer Banks. What a treat, to have visited twice this year feels like a blessing! Life runs at a different pace down there, and you can feel it right down to your bones as soon as you smell that salty sea air. We needed the break too, more than I think we realized and so I have a lot to be grateful for....

Most of all I'm grateful for:

my little explorer- who loves running up the beach and trekking in the dunes

an abundance of pelican sightings - I've never seen as many as on this trip (once saw a group of about 40)

walks on the beach- in the morning, during the day and at night

a boy who is so sweet...

and oh so silly

some daddy and Warren time

some much needed time with my mom

crabs!!! we ate them boiled, soft-shelled and even in crab cakes

the sun!! It was October and 80 degrees- need I say more?

birthdays - we had a special celebration for my dad's 60th

family time.....

I'm grateful for the time spent with those we love in a place we'll always cherish. I don't always take the time to be thankful the joys in my life. This week was a good reminder to carry that feeling over and let it spill over into every week. Every day.