A play day!

Yesterday my dear friend Lois, and her granddaughter Mia, and my daughter Julie, and Danielle came over to play!  I had the supplies all ready to go for some art projects that i found, and after lunch we got busy!  These little dolls made with pipecleaners and beads turned out so cute and were a big hit!  This darling idea came from http://www.funart4kids.blogspot.com/ .  Thank you Lori!

 Lots of giggling going on!

 And the dolls had a good time too!

 Then we went on to painting German Houses in the Winter.  Here Mia couldn't wait to add some snow to her roof!  A beautiful idea from http://www.paintedpaperintheartroom.blogspot.com/  .  Thank you Laura!  All being of German descent, this project was dear to our hearts. 

 Danielle enjoyed putting some people in her windows.  Both girls loved the snow effect!

 Here's Julie's with all her cute little shutters open.  Love that moon in the snowy sky!

And here's Lois' who loves architecture.  Drawing, painting, creating anything with buildings.  She loved this project!  Aren't they all pretty?

This is a cute little sign that I bought up in Door County this past Fall.  The artist had many different sayings and fun collage designs and I thought this one would be fun to put at my computer desk when I was away.  Kind of like "out to lunch".  It's a little block of weathered wood and it has a wire on the top with all kinds of fun "this-n-that's" on it. It's signed bjdalton 'quips'.  Now I've found her web site and blog!  Check it out and read about her.  So clever, and her artwork is wonderful!  barbara (bub) dalton.    http://www.daltonquips.com/  and http://www.daltonquips.blogspot.com/ .

A little doll's winter journal

 Here's the little book that I started making yesterday after I was telling you about the article in Somerset Studio.  I got carried away and now it's been two days working on it, and maybe still not quite done.  I found this piece of jewelry in an old box of my mother-in-law's and decided to use it on the cover.

 Knock... knock...knock...

 After beginning to collage on the pages, I decided to make a story of it and so I wrote and sewed in an insert for each spread with a part of the story that would apply to that page.

Once upon a time there was a golden castle where, under hills which rise like towers, a princess named Cinnamon and her little dog Nutmeg lived.e upon a time there was a golden castle where, under hills which rise like towers, a princessmed Cinnamon and her little dog Nutmeg lived.

 And proud of heart she was when clad in crimson stockings, tartan plaid.

 She's never seen one earthly sight and thought to have a Tea one night.

 My hour of tea is half-past five and waits for nobody, she thought.

 My holiday Tea will be dressed in winter white and I in bonnet with feather gay.

 Bereft of company or friends, the snow fell and fell that day.  But at five o'clock sharp everyone came and joyfully celebrated the lovely white Christmas Tea.  This is a story strange yet true.

 Note:  Some of these words are taken from a William Wordsworth poem.

 Ooops...one page out of order here. 

The End.

Itching for art

My new issue of Somerset Studio came on Friday and oh my, what interesting articles within!  First of all, I see "Fairy Carriage" with the artwork of Amy Sperry Faldet http://www.suchawondrousplacethisfaerytalespace.blogspot.com/ !  and "The Red Quilt" and "I Would Rather Have Snow" and...and...and...

But today Danielle is coming over and so "A Journal Fit For a Doll" looks very interesting to me!  I decided to grab a little old board book from my artroom that was just waiting for something to be done with it and I've begun to make a little book that Danielle can read to her doll.  I have some old images of vintage ladies from an old Sears catalog and some wonderful quotes about tea parties from a magazine, so I am collaging away and the story is evolving. 

I hardly ever watch television, but yesterday I got wrapped up in "FALALALA LIFETIME" !  So today, I need to do something creative.

Merry Christmas!

 So much preparation and it's over in a blink of an eye.  Christmas Eve.  Now this week, I love to just sit in the quiet hours and look at my tree.  So many ornaments to reminisce over.  But, this morning, I know of a little someone who is very excited over what Santa brought!  Merry Christmas Day!

 I have to tell you about my village.  I bought it many years ago when i was working.  There weren't many like it, in the little gift shop where I worked. 

 It's bigger than the other villages you see.  Most of the buildings are about seven or eight inches tall.

 The church is the tallest, the steeple rising about ten inches tall. 

 I think it's cozy.  Maybe it reminds me of Mitford now, although I didn't know about Mitford when I bought it so long ago.

 And then there's my ice skates.  My skates from when i was young.  They're always the first to go under the tree.

My lights are orange, but when they're lit, they look like candlelight glowing.  I saw them at someone's house, again many years ago, and loved the warmth they gave to the room.  These are just a few of my favorite things for me to sit and dream with this week.  Merry Christmas! 

henri and the snow and other fun things...

 Henri loves the snow!  He had forgotten about it since last winter, but now he remembers...

 "Wanna play?"

He loves to bury that ball...

and toss it 'round and 'round...

 and down it goes again...

 "Gotcha!"

  "I win!"  Henri was tired and ready for a nap...

 So off we went to Julie's for a cookie-baking afternoon.  We made the sugar cookies and royal icing that I learned from Julie, the chef, at The Center.  Aren't they pretty?

 Wait a minute, we see something moving out on the deck among the evergreens and lights...

 It's "Relax-a-Bun"!  He likes the pine boughs!

 Taking one down from above his head, he nibbles away.

 We're always excited for his visits.

Full tummy?