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!