Warning: this post is longer than usual, and sort of chatty. If you want, just scroll down to the pic of the red plate and go from there, as it's the only part that is "crafty" - everything else is just random, "my life" stuff...
I'm sure that by now you're all (whoever's still left out there in blogland) somewhat disappointed in the so-called "blitz" - I know I am! Just so you don't think I'm a slacker, though - here's some photographic evidence of life as I know it this weekend:
This is a view of all five trees as seen from the hallway through the entry into a corner of the living room and past it to the dining area (yes, my apartment is small...) That mess o' stuff in front of the dining room tree is a stack of boxes and bins (some empty, some not) that I have to dispense of tomorrow... I still need to put a skirt around the tree in the living room, too.
These three little trees don't have any decorations besides some flocking and lights - it's supposed to sort of be a forest, and all of the snowmen, moose, and penguins I own are grouped under them, and on the Oriental trunk that is always in my entry, which got shifted to the far right against the wall for the season. There are also commemorative tins and Winnie-the- Pooh stacking boxes and such on the trunk...
This is a small tree in an urn in the corner of my dining area (not really a room - just a leg of the L-shaped living/dining combo that is the usual setup for apartment dwellers.) The shelf above it to the left has a wreath above it , and stockings and all - maybe I'll take a pic of it another day... Above my kitchen sink usually looks like this:
but for now it looks like this:
I know it's a little cheesy, but this is my sentimental spot, along with the rest of the kitchen. Starting at the top left: A mug decorated by my oldest daughter when she was in kindergarten, a clay tree made by her sister (two siblings down the line) and a pinecone painted gold to make a tree (no clue now which of the six brought home this treasure, but treasure it is), and a Santa on a wire from the 1950's that was in my mom's stuff. Below them is a collection of tins from Hallmark that I used to put tiny gifts in for my kids when they were very young, and an angel votive holder that I've had since junior high school. I used to burn bayberry candles and look out my window at the Christmas lights on our street, which was usually wet, as rain is typical Christmas weather in that part of southern California. The box on the right is topped with a rose topiary in a Christmas teacup that I put together for Greg's Aunt Laura when she was still alive, and two little ceramic elves that my mom used to put out every year as far back as I can remember. They (Aunt Laura and my mom) are both gone now, but still represented here... Below them are still more of the little tins. The wall to the left of the sink has those little handprint-pressed-into-clay-to-make-a-plate things from my kids hung in a row. There are more treasures on the back of the stove, but I just want to share this one:
We put this out every Christmas Eve, and it is SUPER easy to make! It's just a red Melamine plate decorated with paint pens. The little trees are just little green triangles with a little "stem" and a yellow star (all freehand - no artistic ability necessary - anyone can make a triangle and star...) The snow is just white dots, and the writing is basic kindergarten print with some dots added. The only tricky part is getting the spacing for the words! I suggest tracing the plate onto scratch paper and practicing there until you get it how you want it. Oh - and do the words first, then fill in the "pretties" around them...
Here's what my work area looks like right now:
I'm obviously in the middle of several projects, right? I received my Close To My Heart order today (a small one - two stamp sets, some finishing files and some hardware), and started playing with them, and the mess next to the sewing machine is the project I walked away from to take four days off ( I have to deliver it Monday...) And yes, those glasses sitting on top of everything else are reading glasses and necessary for close work like cutting out stamped images and coloring in stamped images and hand sewing and threading needles and all the rest of it - I'm freakin' 52 years old, and can need glasses now, I guess! (No, I don't lie about my age - what would the point of that be, I ask you? I earned every year, and I'm keeping them all, thank you very much!) Anyway...
I had to go out today, as the cupboards were bare (again - how does that happen?), and I had a couple of 50% off coupons for Michael's and AC Moore I felt it necessary to use. PLUS, some of the projects in my brain require embossing powder in gold, and I saw some new ones I wanted to test. I purchased five jars of powder - three gold, one holographic, and one "Frosted Crystal", and will share my test results with you:
All of these are from Ranger, and I stamped with Versamark on white and black cardstock to emboss, so I could see what they looked like both ways. "Enchanted Gold" was first up, and it is kind of a pale gold, but shimmers coppery and green when you move it around in the light. "Goddess Gold" was a waste of time and money - it's mostly clear with hit-and-miss gold glitter. "Roman Gold" is very gold, and has chunky glitter. "Gold Tinsel" (not Ranger - Stampendous) is a very nice shiny gold with just a hint of glitter. "Holographic" is pretty much like a Prisma-glittered watermark. It would be very pretty as a background stamp tone-on-tone dealie-o, or used with colored inks to make them glittery. "Frosted Crystal" all but disappeared when heated - no shine, even - but sort of looked velvety when I used it with colored ink. Not worth the money, but I may hang onto it. So, that's my review of these fine (or not so, in the case of the "goddess"...) products - hope that steers you in the right direction, should you be in the market for embossing powder!
I shall continue on with whatever I can actually get around to and share, share, share! I have a couple of things that I HAVE to get out of my head, so I HAVE to do some of this stuff, ya know?! Hang in there with me, more's comin', fo' sho'! Sweet dreams and all of that, and thanks for stopping by!
