Day 2 ~ One a day ~ Art Cards

If you saw this blog a couple of days ago youu'd have seen the sheets of mini artworks I created using acrylic paints.

These cards are made using the cut out and mounted art works.

By changing the mounts, I am able to highlight different aspects of each piece.

Suitable for all occasions as they are left blank for your own greetings.

So that's day 2's creation!

Day 1 ~ One a day challenge ~ flower girl band

I have had these stunning acrylic flower petals and heads for nearly a year! This has been a great excuse to get them out to start working with. They are accented with Swarovski crystal beads in amethyst colour and some filigree bead caps. The flowers are available in many many different colours and can be combined to match perfectly with any colour.

That's day one over and done with!

My Challenge ~ one a day!

Having been inspired by another blog trawl yesterday I have spent the night thinking and am going to go for it.

Go for what?

The challenge to create something everyday for the next year!

So have to get on my thinking cap and go for it.

Paint Playtime!

I haven't had time to make any cards for a very long time and most markets someone comes and asks me if I have any cards yet.

On the spur of the moment this morning I grabbed my paints (acrylics) and some acrylic paint board and started to play.

The top three images are the individual painted panels that will be glued onto the front of cards.

They start life as a series of developing colour blocks each a little different from the one before, but all worked in sequence. (above: top row : left to right. Middle row: right to left. bottom row: left to right.

Once the paintings are dry, they'll be cut out with a small white border area.

The next time someone asks me f I have any cards, I'll be able to reply "yes".

South Cave Farmers Market ~ January

South Cave Farmers market for Saturday 9th January 2010 has been cancelled due to concerns about the weather.

Cocoa and blankets

One of my joys is going onto the dashboard setting of blogger and reading through the offerings on every ones blog. Today a post caught my eye and I went for a read and as usual got lost in the blog. That blog was Cocoa and blankets. written by a Drama teacher from West Yorkshire.

After meandering through her beautiful photos of recent excursions I stumbled upon this post, the story of the other wise man. The story is beautiful and is accompanied with amazing artwork.

Thank you for sharing!!

New year ~ New beads!

Happy New Year to all my Blog readers. May 2010 be all you hope for!

For the past few days in the lull between the christmas festivities and the new year, I have been rearranging my Pandora style beads and bracelets. I have received two huge consignments of beads and have had endless fun sorting out and partnering up the beads. There are still lots more to add so keep checking them out.

Pandora style beads

Pandora style clips and metal beads



Pandora style crystal beads and bracelet bases

all available through www.crystalvelvet.co.uk

Happy Christmas to you all

Thank you for popping by my blog. The picture above eally represents to me the true meaning of Christmas. Gods gift of a baby, sent to earth for me as my saviour.

May God fill you all with his love this Christmas time.

Putting the Christ into Christmas

I am a huge fan of "google art" (th illustrations that accomany the google search bar) Over the year we have seen some wonderful examples including celebrations of Confcious (if that's how it's spelt), Sesame street, popeye and many other great and not so great celebrations.
If you hover your mouse over the picture it will tell you what it is there to represent. Over the past week, google have introduced a series of card illustrations and I am disgusted to find that when I hover over the image the greeting simply reads "Happy holiday".
Why can christmas not even merrit a mention. Whilst I accept that not everyone chooses to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, surely the basis of the holiday period and celebration is the christian recognition of the birth of Jesus Christ.
I have no problem with the celebration of Diali, Hanuka, Ede or any other religious festival, indeed I am certain that a few weeks ago I saw a hannuka candelarbra on the google art. Why not wish me and any other Christian a happy Christmas.

Salt dough fun

Simply by taking household ingredients, you can have an awful lot of fun. Plain Flour, salt , wall paper paste and water mixed in the following ratio: 1 cup flour, half a cup of salt, half a cup of water, 2 tblsp wallpaper paste. Mix together and then knead for 10 minutes.
Leave to stand for 20 minutes and then mold, roll and shape the dough. "Glue" any bits together with water.


I've created a whole nativity set. You then bake in a low heat oven for as long as it takes for the items to become dry and hollow sounding.

The figures or shapes can then be left in natural state or painted with poster or acrylic paints. You can then apply a varnish and the items will last forever.

The sheep were created by grating the dough and then "glueing" the gratings on to the solid shape.

Three kings all decorated

Two shepherds with their flocks!

a motley looking pair of angels!

Mary and Joseph with an empty manger

(the reason the manger is empty is that the baby I made was simply too big!)

new baby currently cooking!

And here they all are waiting for the baby!

Each of the figures is approx 4" tall.

left overs became this Christmas table topper.

This really is a cheep method of creating some amazing decorations. The whole lot cost well under £1.00.

Nat King Cole - O Holy Night

Music

Anyone who knows me will tell you that music makes my world go around. I have a very eclectic taste in music and will happily listen to most things.

I love the way that every genre of music has made Christmas a celebration. Classical composers have written celebratory pieces, clasical music has been taken by lyracists to write words to giving us some of our most well known carols. Modern pop groups have jazzed up traditional peices and everyone seems to have put their tilt into Christmas. I have adopted my sons spotify account (when he's out of the house) and I have really enjoyed myself simply by putting Christmas followed by Jazz, traditioanl, classical, comtemporary, worship etc into the search box.

For me though, the all time greats of the Christmas genre are: Nat King Cole (he sang to me while I laboured with my daughter, and kept me very calm! and the Celtic women singers.

If I had to choose a favourite piece of Christmas music It would have to be Hark the Herald Angels. The depth of the undertones are delightful. The reason it's not yet appeared on my blog is that I am saving it!!

Another piece I really love is O holy night, which I believe was written for the Morman Tabernackle Choir. It's an amazing song and yes, it'll have to ne good Old Nat who wins the singing contest! Enjoy!

Do share with me your favourite carols ......

In The Bleak Midwinter

One of my favourite carols set to a beautiful celtic arrangement.

What can I give him
poor as I am
If I were a shepherd
i would bring a lamb
If I were a wise man I woud do my part
Yet what I can I give him
give him my heart..

The Nativity Play ~ Joyce Grenfell

Hello, Mrs Binton. I'm so glad you could get along to see a rehearsal of our Nativity Play! Can you squeeze in there? I'm afraid our chairs are a wee bitty wee, as they say north of the border!Now then, children. We are going to start our rehearsal.
Where are my Mary and Joseph?
That's right, Shirleen, take Denis by the hand and come and sit nice and quietly on this bench in the middle.Don't drag him. He'll come if you leave him alone!Don't hit each other, Mary and Joseph were friends
Now, who are my Wise Men?
You're a Wise Man, aren't you, Geoffrey?
Oh, aren't you? What are you then?
Oh, you're a cattle, are you? And you are going to low. Splendid!
Go over to Miss Boulting, will you, please?
Miss Boulting... You are organising the animals and the angels?
He is one of yours.
Now, my Wise Men here, please!
Billy, Peter and George.
And George, Wise Men never do that...
Now my Kings, please.
Of course, Mrs Binton, we know that by tradition the Wise Men and the Kings are one and the same, but we did want everyone in our Nursery School Nativity Play to have a chance, so we have taken a few liberties, and I don't think any one will mind,
Now Kings: Sidney, Neville, Cliff and Nikolas Anoniodes.Four Kings, I'm afraid. We happen to have four lovely crowns, so it seemed a pity not to use them.
Sidney, put your crown on straight please, not over one eye. What have you got under your jersey?
That's not the place for a hamster, is it. Put him straight back in his little pen, please.Sidney, which one have you got, Paddington or Harold Wilson?
Well, who's got Paddington?Neville, put him back at once.Poor Paddington and Harold Wilson, it isn't very Christmassy for them under your jersey.
Sidney, I think it serves you right if Harold Wilson bit you, and don't bite him back.Because he's smaller than you are. Are you bleeding?
Then don't make such a fuss.Cliff, put your crown on, please.
It's too big? Let's see.
Ah, yes it is.
Where are you! Oh, there you are! Nice to see you again! Change with Nikolas.Nikolas, you can manage a big crown, can't you? You've got just the ears for it. I think if you pull your ears down a bit that will hold it up. And lean back a bit. That's it.Stay like that, dear. Don't move.
Wise Men and Kings, don't muddle yourselves with each other.
Now then, Shepherds.Jimmy, you are my First Shepherd and not a racing car. Yes, Caroline, you're a shepherd.No, dear you can't wear your Little Bo-Peep costume because there aren't any little girl shepherdesses in our play. They're all boy shepherds, and you are a girl being a boy shepherd. Yes, it is rotten. But we just have to settle for it. I think if you are very good perhaps you can wear a lovely grey beard; wouldn't that be fun?
George, what do Wise Men never do?
Yes...Jimmy, do you remember what you see up in the sky? Something lovely, isn't it?No, not a baby. Try again. It's a lovely silver star, and you are going to put your hand up and point to it. And what are you going to say when you do that? No, Sidney, he isn't going to say, 'Please may I go to the bathroom?' Children, that isn't funny; it's a perfectly natural function, and we might as well get used to it.
Come on, Jimmy. You are going to say, 'Behold!' aren't you?
Yes, you are, dear. You said it yesterday.You'd rather say it tomorrow?
Perhaps you are right.
We have broken the back of the play, so you may as well get ready to go home. Hand in your crowns gently, please. No Sidney, you can't wear your crown home on the bus.
I think - I HOPE it will be all right on the night.
But you know, Mrs Binton, I think perhaps next year we might make do with a Christmas carol.

. - Mary´s Boy Child - Boney M

Growing up in the 70 and 80's I remeber so well this rendition of the classic song Mary's boy child.
Bet you can't help singing along!