The rest of the story...

Above: Me on "Santa's" lap in 1974!

Last Sunday, at my job, I committed a major faux-pas! I work part-time at a large church as a coordinator for pre-k and Kindergarten Sunday school classes. We have around 160 children (two hours with approximately 80 children each) in this age group on the average Sunday. During the course of Sunday school the children come to the big group room where I lead them in songs, a bible verse and introduce our lesson. Now, let me set the scene for today’s event. Our stage is outfitted with a set that resemble a backyard clubhouse complete with a picket fence, a tree where our friend Scout the squirrel lives and a galvanized pail on a pulley that brings us “pail mail.” The mail concept is not a new one in children’s programming – think of Blue’s Clues or Pee Wee’s playhouse. We have a bell that rings to alert us when we have mail. The only difference is our “pail mail” can retrieve letters from characters in the Bible. We just finished a series about Paul where we received postcards from him on his missionary journeys in the New Testament. Today I informed the children that we were not going to receive a postcard from Paul but, instead we were starting a new lesson series titled “Getting Ready for Christmas” and we would get a letter from another person in the Bible. (Bell rings!) As I go to retrieve our pail mail and return to my folding camp chair to read said letter a few little voices from the audience began to call out their guesses as to who may be the author of our letter. More then one voice yelled out “Santa Clause” and I heard another person chime in “the pilgrims” (it is Thanksgiving this week after all.) As I settle into my chair to read the letter which, in fact, is from a thankful, Samaritan afflicted with leprosy who Jesus healed, I hear yet one more unscripted audience member yell out that it is from Santa Claus. Do you see where this is going? I said the unthinkable to a large group of 4 and 5 year olds! “Santa is not real!” A few Gasps of horror and some blank stares alerted me of my mistake. “What I mean is Santa was not really in the Bible! The pilgrims lived a long time ago too but they were not in the Bible either. Our “pail mail” brings us letters from the Bible times!” I look around and access the situation. There are no tears so I move on rather quickly to the Samaritan’s compelling letter. Now for the apology. If your child was in the audience on this fateful Sunday or if you were a child in the audience that blissfully believed in the man in the red suit then I am very sorry! I am a mother of three small children ages 2, 4 and 6. My four-year-old was in the audience too! I actually responded in the casual way I would have replied to my own children. My husband and I have always told our children the Santa is mommy and daddy and the stories are fun but they are pretend. This seemed like a natural way to raise our children because it is how I was raised. My parents wanted to be completely honest with my brother and me. They were afraid of negative repercussions if we felt they had lied to us when we discovered the truth. This full disclosure carried over to the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny too! Contrary to what many may think I did not feel like I lost out by missing the whole Santa thing. At the same time, I do not want to spoil the fun for anyone else. When I tell my children about Santa I always tell them that children and their parents like to pretend that Santa is real and we do not want to spoil the surprise. I do not want them to be the know-it-all that reveals the big secret to all their classmates. Little did I know that I would be the know-it-all that crushed the Christmas Eve dreams of some 60 children. (We had low attendance this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday!) This incident reminds me of the recent political elections. Candidates on both sides were often quoted as making some shocking statement or other but when you read into it further you realized they misspoke, had a foot-in-mouth moment or were misquoted. I could just see an advertisement with my face and the announcer proclaiming, “she crushed the dreams of dozens of unsuspecting children by telling them Santa is not real!” Hopefully, In the context of the “whole story” my audience and their parents may recognize that I did have one such “foot-in-mouth” moment and I did not intentionally mean to be a grinch! Who knows, they may even find the situation funny some day. In the mean time, I am sorry and Merry Christmas!

Bean Bag Chair

I have finished a bean bag chair for Avery. He is in cub scouts, thus, the boyscout print fabric (Robert Kaufman designed these prints!) I found the pattern for the chair online. It is on www.makingitfun.blogspot. I plan on making at least one more chair for another little boy on my list. The pattern is pretty simple. The outside cover is removable for cleaning. It was hard to find the bean bag filler for a reasonable price in the stores. I ended up purchasing a cheap beanbag at Walmart and using the filler from that one. It was a lot less expensive then buying the filler at the local fabric store.

Warm Woolen Mittens!

I have discovered the process of felting old wool sweaters. It is so simple! The above hats, mittens and stuffed bunny all began their life as a men's sweater and a shawl. The instructions for felting the wool sweaters is at www.sewnews.com/resources/library/hol06/ All you need is a washing machine and a few old sweaters. I used 100% wool items - they are the easiest to felt! I laid the sweaters flat to dry so there were no creases in them and I waited until they were completely dry to begin sewing. I then placed the finished hats on a metal bowl and used an iron to
steam and shape them after I sewed them. I modified the pattern for the mitten and hats from the one in the Sew News article. I made a fingerless mitten for Clara and then purchased inexpensive knitted gloves to fit inside of them for a layered effect.

I made the pattern for the large and small stuffed bunnies myself. I used brown grocery bags on which to draw the pattern. The "baby" bunny fits inside a pocket on the front of the "mommy" bunny. I had such a great time with this project I will certainly felt old sweaters again!

The Oliver Doll & Grandma Hazel's Tree

The Oliver doll is done! I used the Weewonderfuls pattern again. You can find this pattern at http://www.weewonderfuls.com/! I think he bears a striking resemblance to his name sake! What do you think? I have very few completed projects to show this week but I continue to craft away preparing Christmas gifts. I also decorated my home for Christmas this past weekend. Yes, I know we have not even had Thanksgiving but it is my favorite season and I could not wait to deck the halls!

My grandmother Hazel's tree holds a place of importance in our home. It is a vintage, silver tree that I love! It makes me smile and reminds me of grandma. On the tree are some of my favorite ornaments that make an appearance every year. I have also hung the silhouette ornaments of the children that I featured in an earlier post. I just need to make my first batch of gingerbread cookies and it will really feel like Christmas around here!

Wee Wonderfuls Dolls

I have completed baby dolls to give as gifts to some of the younger girls on my list. I got the pattern from the wee wonderfuls blog (one of my favorites). The pattern called for felt hair but I chose to do yarn hair instead. I had left over fabric and decided to make aprons for the girls as well because every good dolly mommy should have a coordinating apron! Oliver wants to play with all the baby dolls and insisted on being part of the photo shoot so I think I will make him a boy doll for Christmas too!

Silhouettes for Christmas

I have begun to do silhouettes of the children for various Christmas projects. The image above will be on our Christmas cards this year. The silhouettes, though time consuming, are pretty easy to create. I took photos of the children's profiles. I used the photo as a template and cut out the image on black scrapbook paper using an exacto knife. I scanned the resulting silhouettes into the computer in order to do some of the projects (card, ornament....) Instead of mounting the black cutout onto white paper and framing it I decided to make decorative plates. I went to the flea market and found old plates that I thought would work. I used modge podge to adhere the cutout to the center of the plate and I coated the plate. When it was dry I added a coat of non-yellowing, glass-like epoxy. If you would rather mount the cutout onto paper you do not have to use plain paper. It would be a nice effect to mount the cutout in the center of sheet music or a page of type from an old book. The ornaments are made with a plain, cardboard ornament from the craft store. I made a copy of the silhouette on my computer. I adhered it to one side of the ornament and some scrapbook paper to the other side using modge podge. I also used epoxy to coat the ornament and create a glass like appearance. the silhouettes are a lot of fun to create and the possibilities they present are numerous. I plan on doing more with silhouettes this season!

My Second Oil Painting

My Oil painting class continues. this is my second landscape. The instructor gave us a photo from which to paint. We only have one class left following this one, however, I plan on signing up for the next one after the holidays!

Clara's dollhouse is ready for its' Christmas reveal!

The dollhouse is finally complete! I was able to find vintage dollhouse furniture from the 1950's on ebay! It is furnished and ready for its' new family. I created the dollhouse from a kit. It was supposed to be a "Victorian cottage" but I eliminated the gingerbread and made it more of a Georgian style. I also upgraded the windows and added some molding. Aside from that all the supplies and hardware were purchased with the kit. I used scrapbook paper as wallpaper and drew pictures and plates on the wall. The paint colors consist of leftover paint from my own house. I created the window treatments out of a vintage handkerchief that I already owned. The overall project (furniture excluded) cost under $80.00! Very economical for a custom wood dollhouse! I think Clara will love it. I know I am ready to move in myself!

The Princess, The Knight and The Dragon

This is the third year that we have done a Halloween photo shoot with the children in their costumes at a local park. This year our story is about Princess Clara, Sir Avery the Brave and Oliver the Ferocious Dragon!

Hand Appliqued Custom Stockings

I have now completed two of the children's stockings! I am just beginning to create one for my youngest, Oliver. He is only two and I am having a harder time determining which of his interests should be immortalized in his stocking. I think he would not be thrilled to have Elmo on his stocking when he is ten. He does like us to read to him so I might make that the theme and utilize classic story book characters. The stockings are made of felt and hand appliqued. I used beads and ribbon as an additional accent. I began with Clara's stocking. She is holding her special stuffed pig, Lumpy and I included Huggy the bear and the dollhouse she will be receiving this Christmas. Avery's stocking was more challenging. He is into science and math, thus the abacus and planets. He received the globe for Christmas last year. I included a special stuffed animal of his choosing which was his stuffed dinosaur. In my opinion a Stegosaurus is very difficult create in felt! The over all project was time consuming but not too difficult. I appliqued the items and children onto the felt before I sewed it together. If you want to try a similar project but do not want to freehand the items then you could use cookie cutters as templates. You could also print off the images on the computer in the appropriate size and use that as a template. The stitching or embroidery does not have to be perfect. I think the more primitive in appearance the better. I will post Oliver's stocking too when it is completed!

A Handcrafted Christmas

My children, whom I am sure to speak of frequently, posed for pictures in their Christmas outfits this past weekend. Seeing how this post pertains to the upcoming Holidays and how you the reader have very likely never met my children I thought this would be a good time to make some introductions. As previously mentioned, I have three wonderful children. Avery is six and in first grade, Clara is four and Oliver is two! My children have played a large part in my decision to have a handcrafted Christmas this year. That is not to say the current state of the economy had no bearing on this decision. It did! But more importantly I want to show the children that Christmas is not about consumption or Santa Clause but about the gift of love manifest in a tiny infant boy. Spending money with reckless abandon does not seam to be in the spirit of the season! Giving, however, is in the spirit and I want to do so creatively and thoughtfully. So, you may ask, what is a handcrafted Christmas? Well, I think the definition will evolve throughout this process as I have never done this before. I am setting up some rules at the beginning to follow. I will craft gifts myself, thus the handcrafting distinction. I may purchase supplies with which to create the gifts. I anticipate shopping at both the craft store and fabric store. I will attempt to craft most of the gifts myself. Those gifts that I do not craft and I must purchase will be second hand from ebay, consignment stores, garage sales or flea markets. I find this exception is necessary because all though I am capable of crafting a dollhouse for my daughter I can not create the furniture to outfit said dollhouse. That is far beyond my expertise! needless to say, this approach to Christmas giving takes considerable planning and time. I started creating gifts in early October and I am thinking now that I should have begun even earlier. I am nearly done with the aforementioned doll house and I will post photos and a narrative of the process when it is finished. I am curious to know if anyone else is crafting any or all of their presents this Holiday season and what those handcrafted presents may be. I hope to encourage a dialog on the subject sharing ideas, tips and expertise!

The oil painting that began this blog

I had not considered starting my own blog until I painted this painting! What does a painting have to do with blogging? It began when I decided to take an oil painting class through the local parks department this fall with Jill, a childhood friend of mine. All though I graduated with a BFA from the University of Oklahoma over a decade ago I had never painted in oils. My degree was in studio arts with an emphasis on printmaking and a minor in art history. The once a week class was a perfect excuse to study fine arts once again and it also afforded me the opportunity to get out of the house and do something just for me. I am a mother of three children ages six and under - need I say more! After a few weeks of classes the instructor, local artist Gill Adams http://www.giladamspaintings.blogsot.com, began instructing us in landscape painting. This is my resulting painting! He then proceeded to ask me if I had a blog where I could post my paintings. I did not! After a week of consideration I have decided to start such a blog. For posterity's sake I wish to record not only paintings but my other creative pursuits. Perhaps this new venture will create a dialogue about all things creative and all things mom!