Monday, November 29, 2010

Deck The Halls . . .

Detail of handmade Christmas wreath 

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas . . . (sing with me) Everywhere you go . . ." 

And this year, I thought I'd share our holiday home with you. . . so hold on as we Deck the Halls together, one Christmas moment at a time. Stay tuned . . .

Kristin xo
(Lyrics by Johnny Mathis)

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Fa-La La La La. . .


"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful"
- Norman Vincent Peale

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!


"You can tell you ate too much for Thanksgiving when you have to let your bathrobe out"
- Jay Leno

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Willowing & Friends!

"Invitation Angel"
12 x 18 cold press watercolor paper
Full page
Detail of "Trust"

The final assignment for Willowing's Art, Heart & Healing is to create an "Invitation Angel" or figure  intended to represent that which we may be lacking in our daily lives . . .

And this was very interesting for me. I started out week 4's lesson intending to soak up as much knowledge as I could while creating a pretty picture. What I didn't expect was how much the piece would really "speak" to me . . . . Let me explain: as many of you know, we are eager to adopt again and have been trying for years now to find another adoptive situation. To be honest, it has been a long, painful wait. We were connected with Kendra's Birth Mother (her "Tummy Mummy") relatively quickly just over 5 years ago and I guess we expected or hoped that it would come as easily the second time around. But that has not been the case. We waited a couple years after K was born because she was in and out of the hospital and needed our full attention. Then came the recession and an expensive adoption was not possible for us. So, I started finding other avenues to spread the word in hopes to find a Birth Mother on our own. . . Now we are ready financially and otherwise and, well . . . are still waiting. We just this month went through our county to adopt in that way (usually faster than a traditional adoption agency) and were devastated to learn that we would not even be able to begin that process until the middle of next year. So here we sit, ready and waiting . . . 

Which brings me to the piece above. What I am in need of (and a word that I have clung to in the last year) is Trust. I know that this is all happening for a reason and I know that we will adopt again. But I have to Trust that it will happen in the right time, and not just the time that I think is right. . . 

And as I worked on this little one in the last two days, I found myself really connected to her. She was given eyes the color of my husband's and tiny freckles which to me indicates youth. I choose to color her hair both blue and pink and give her the suggestion of a belly . . . and all of this was done with my knowledge but without really thinking about it. . . and when I looked at her this morning with fresh eyes, I noticed that the stripy hair on the left represented Kendra, my beautiful little tomboy. It will be really interesting to look back at this piece later in life and see if there are more hidden clues that will only become evident when our next baby is home. . . 

I also want to take this opportunity to thank Willowing for all of her efforts in bringing this beautiful community together. It has been an amazing experience, one which I hope you will consider doing yourself, if you have not joined already. She will be leaving the course up indefinitely so that everyone can benefit from the healing exercises she has so generously offered. 

Kristin xo


Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Moleskine: Eyes II

"She had stars in her eyes"
5 x 8 Moleskine Journal

Finished! Close inspection reveals dictionary pages with the words, "Eye" and "Star" as the base, upon which several layers of painted and brayered (if this is not a word, it should be ;) on acrylic, water-soluble crayons and gel pens are added. The cut out image of the chair on the right is from The Graphics Fairy. Other details include an eyebrow formed with the words, "A small piece of combustible composition - resembles a star" in addition to various swirl and star stamps, metallic gold and white gel pen, Stickles glitter and (surprise, surprise) Swarovski crystals . . . xo

Monday, November 15, 2010

Moleskine: Eyes

 WIP: 5 x 8 Moleskine Journal 
"She had stars in her eyes"

Another page in my little journal (see, I told you I'd share!)  . . . I have some ideas floating around in my head, but as you know, that can always change . . . What would you do? 

I'll post the results soon. . . xo

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Willowing & Friends!

"Empathy Monster"

Funky little one! One of the projects for week 3 on Willowing's course was to create an Empathy Monster using materials of our choice and a provided pattern. To be clear, I do not sew, so everything here has been done by hand (& with a little help from my friend, Fabri-tac) . . . Each of the stitches were made with various colors of thread and styles (not that I could name them), in addition to a strong belief that wonky would work well here . . .

Other variations on the doll include a stitched nose, a Swarovski crystal button for the eye on the left and a decorative button on the right. The fuzzy hair was made using a hair clip (I later removed the actual clip once the rest was sewn in place) from the feather boa section of my local craft store. It may also be interesting to note that the zipper was 4 inches long (something I learned yesterday) and that it was stuffed with two (1.5) bags of left over spider "webbing" from Halloween. . . 

Thanks for looking! If you are interested in getting the pattern for yourself, check it out Here. . . xoxo

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

"Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be a fish."
- Ovid

Monday, November 8, 2010

Willowing & Friends!

Altered Board Book
"Mommy's Waiting for You"
Detail of Whimsy
Detail of "Home"

The second objective for our Altered Book in Willowing's class (week 2, project 2) was to create a scene - using whimsical characters to represent ourselves - that we would have liked to experience in childhood. . . 

I decided to create one character to represent myself and one whimsical birdhouse to represent my home. I was lucky in that although my parents divorced when I was a baby, they both loved and cared for me, and I lived with each of them throughout my childhood. Having said that, they worked hard as single parents and I was often alone. This piece is meant to represent my childhood wish to have (what I perceived to be) a "normal" family where my parents (or Mama Bird in this case) were waiting for me when I returned home from school . . .

Thank you for looking! I look forward to the next project in Willowing's amazing course. xo

Friday, November 5, 2010

Alice is Bejeweled. . .

Altered Necklace: Alice

Just a little something. . . It's been a crazy-busy week, but I managed (by staying up until Midnight - funny how you get things done that way!) to finish a few necklaces for a charity event tonight . . . So in the spirit of the Kindergarten auction this was designed for, here is my show-and-tell . . . xo