Almost a New Year!

The year is almost over and I haven’t posted as often as I would have liked.  One of my resolutions that I hope to stick to is to post more often.  I certainly make enough stuff to be able to do that!

I know Christmas is over but I didn’t show off a couple things I made because I didn’t want my sisters peeking before they received their gifts!  Every year we choose a name and we have to make that person something hand-made and special.  For the other two sisters we can make something small if we want to.  This year I made an ornament for all three of my sisters:

 

I saw this in the Somerset Holidays & Celebrations and thought it was so cute!  Mine is a little different, but essentially the same.  The little bottlebrush tree is mounted on a small tart tin that has music score in the center and silver tinsel around the inside.  I decorated the tree with little glass beads, then brushed on some glue and sprinkled the tree with coarse glass glitter and mica.  The tree stand is a small wooden knob from Home Depot that I painted and distressed, then put a little bit of lace around it, tied a little red bow (mica on it also) and put it all together with hot glue.  The star is punched cardstock and glittered.  Lots of glitter – which I think makes everything look special!

I made this ornament for Matt and Jen:

 

 

 

 

 

I would like to make them an ornament every year.  I started out thinking that I would use the traditional anniversary gifts as a guideline so last year, their first married Christmas together, I made an ornament out of paper (you can see this in my post from last Christmas.)  This year the traditional gift is cotton.  I had fully intended to, and I did try to, transfer the photograph to a piece of muslin.  However, it was not looking like I had hoped so I gave up and just used the laser photo on the silver coaster.  I punched a hole in the top and the bottom of the coaster with the crop-a-dile, put a ribbon for hanging in the top and hung a Tim Holtz facet from the bottom.  Glitter, of course, was added around the photograph.  This photograph is of Matt and Jen on their first anniversary with a little cake Matt made for Jen.  They are so cute together!

Last project to show today.  The sister whose name I drew for this Christmas was Lesley.  This past summer she and Ernie got two Sheltie puppies, Mischief and Sassy.  Of course, their lives are now all about the dogs!  So I thought I would make her something with some photos she has taken of them:

 

I purchased the shadowbox frame this fall when we went to Archiver’s in Buford, GA on the way up to North Carolina.  (Don’t I wish we had one of those here!!)  I’ve had tons of dog stuff for years, fully intending to do some scrapbooking about my dogs, but haven’t quite gotten around to it yet!  Anyway, I thought it came out quite cute and Lesley really did like it.

Now – on to a new year, lots of projects, some home organization and a few more resolutions!

Happy New Year!

St. Lucia

One of my best friends, Katherine, is Norwegian and I remember learning a little about St. Lucia’s day from her.  Here is a very compact version of “St. Lucy’s Day:”

Around Christmas time in Scandanavia, one of the biggest celebrations is St. Lucia’s Day (or St. Lucy’s Day) on December 13th. The celebration comes from stories that were told by Monks who first brought Christianity to that area.

St Lucia was a young Christian girl who was martyred, killed for her faith, in 304AD. The most common story told about St Lucia is that she would secretly bring food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who lived in hiding in the catacombs under the city. She would wear candles on her head so she had both her hands free to carry things. Lucy means ‘light’ so this is a very appropriate name.

December 13th was also the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, in the old ‘Julian’ Calendar and a pagan festival of lights in Scandanavia was turned into St. Lucia’s Day.

St. Lucia’s Day is now celebrated by a girl dressing in a white dress with a red sash round her waist and a crown of candles on her head. (Normally electric candles are used for safety!) The crown is made of Lingonberry branches which are evergreen and symbolise new life in winter. Schools normally have their own St. Lucias and some town and villages also choose a girl to play St. Lucia in a procession where carols are sung.

In the latest edition of Somerset Holidays & Celebrations a very talented artist made some wonderful boxes topped with little vignettes depicting St. Lucia’s Day.  I thought that one of these adorable boxes would be a nice handmade present for my Norwegian friend. ( Actually, I think St. Lucia’s Day is more of a Swedish tradition but I think she’ll appreciate it just the same!)  This project was so much fun to do and I love the way it turned out!  I hope Katherine likes it!

The box is covered with old sheet music and the top is layered with cotton batting that is sprinkled with lots of glittery crystal snow.The little trees are tiny fringed strips of book pages rubbed with a green ink pad, then flipped up to form little branches. They are also covered in glittery crystal snow, then tiny red beads are glued on to look like berries.

 

The trees are little pieces of fringed book pages rubbed with a green ink pad. The ends are turned up to look like branches, then they are all lightly covered with glue and sprinkled with the glittery crystal snow. Red beads are then added to look like red berries. The trees are mounted on disks under the cotton batting.

The lilttle bird is ceramic and she is also covered with glitter. She carries a star banner made with butcher’s twine. The crown on her head is made of tiny leaves cut out of larger artificial leaves from a bunch of flowers I had laying around and the tiny candles are painted toothpicks!

Now I may have to make one for myself. . .