“The Night Before Christmas…”

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; the children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar plums danc’d in their heads…
-Clement Moore
Published on Dec. 23, 1823 in the Troy Sentinel newspaper in upstate New York.
A Happy Christmas Eve to All! xoxo Karen

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A Wedding Gift for a Special Teacher

Will’s teacher is getting married in a few days. In fact, she is getting married to one of their substitute teachers (although we didn’t know he was her fiance until a few weeks ago!). The class and the parents are all very excited for this special occasion so to celebrate, my friend Kerstin had the great idea to create a piece of artwork using smaller works created by the kids. They each received “Top Secret” envelopes with a square of watercolor paper and colorful die cut hearts then were asked to create a collage using these items plus add poems, words and drawings of what love and marriage meant to them. The artwork the kids created was so fun, colorful and heartfelt. I took the art, sewed a little zig-zag stitch around each one using coordinating colors and inked the edges with sepia colored ink. Kerstin gave me a big canvas and I gathered some of my Benjamin Moore paint samples and painted a wash of color on the canvas. Last night (in my last minute fashion) I glued the collages to foam core and then glued them on the canvas. It was finished off with a few coats of matte sealer. I am off to school in a few minutes to help the children present their gift to their teacher!

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A few more totes…

After the Poppy Farm Fair I had the opportunity to sell my totes at another Christmas boutique. I was in such a hurry to get some more made that I forgot to take pictures of several of them but I did manage to get a shot of these two. The first one I was having doubts about. Avery thought it was hideous. It is made out of an old velour sofa cushion cover. It was so funky so I just went with it anyway. I wanted to give my friend who was having the boutique first pick and this is the one she chose! So my instincts were right. I guess one has to be a child of the 70’s to appreciate the allure of orange and avacado velour. The next one I named “The Deirdre” after my dear friend of the same name. The colors and print totally reminded me of her. This one was bought as a Christmas gift.

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