We’ve had a pleasant holiday season in 2011. With friends, family, and belgian waffles, it couldn’t go wrong. We’ve vowed to not give our girls an abundance of toys and plastic, and this always results in a fun and cherishing Christmas morning! I hope your day was cheery and bright.
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my new geometric notecards! i have to say that these were a blast to make. i watercolored directly onto the cards to make a one of a kind gift.
Happy Monday!
this doily has a story. but i’m not sure if you’ll ever know it. regardless, its not important. but isnt it super cute and tiny?
{dont feel left out. no one really knows the story but me.}
the enjoyably tedious process
this is the back of the book. i pasted most of the pieces back together that i had cut from the book to recreate the church.
i recently participated in the art house coop‘s sketchbook project and this was my entry. heres how it worked, i signed up to participate, they mailed me a moleskine sketchbook with my name and a bar code printed in it, and a topic. i was then to fill up this sketchbook with anything pertaining to this said topic. after receiving everyone’s sketchbook, they will collectively be placed into a library that acts as an exhibition. this exhibition will then travel to various galleries across the nation allowing people to participate and “check” the books out for a short time so that they may be handled and viewed.
my topic was “the end of the world”. after much brain-work, i decided to not add to my sketchbook, but to instead take away from it. this to me encompasses the world’s end because things will no longer be added, but subtracted from existence. I also chose to do a church building dimensioning with each turn of a page further alluding to the world’s disintegration as well as the heavy implications of the church and people using it in a time of distress and need (like for instance….the end of the world).
unfortunately, this is a permanent collection and i will never get this book back. i hope to catch one of the exhibitions so i can see it in its intended context.
a gift for jonathan.
he recently attended a performance (if you will) by michigan-based pastor, rob bell called “drops like stars”. at the end of the night, they passed out bars of soap encouraging individuals to essentially create a work of art with the soap.
so for christmas, i carved jonathan a tiny olive branch out of the soap he received, loaded with christian symbolism. the scroll beside it explains some of the connotations often sited with the branch.
kiki, ezmah's doll, is on the left {named after the incredible artist kiki smith b/c her hair reminded me of hers}, and libby on the right, was made for raine {jonathan named her}.
front
back
these toys were not only made with tons of love, and no money whatsoever, but with 100% recycled materials as well.
all the fabric, rick-rack, and ribbons were hand-me-down scraps from a gracious soul {probably circa 1980ish}, the dowel rods were simply found, the dolls are stuffed with plastic grocery bags (they remain really soft and you can’t hear the bags), the inside of the wands are supported by 6 circle cardboard pieces cut from the bottom of my canned chicken broth package (this was really nice because the perfect cirlces were already made by the indentions that the cans left).
and to boot, the girls love them, though raine has renamed her doll “sam”….
this year i received some pretty incredible gifts for my birthday. amazing enough that i thought i should share with you and show a bit of appreciation.
included in the photo is a new {much needed and larger} french press from jonathan. he also printed photos and updated the frames around our house as an added gift {hence the framed photo of the girls}, abby made an incredible hardbound book for me {that is blank inside} which probably deserves its own photo, the book and the precious stuffed owl were from both abby and suzanne. raine made a halloween themed triptych to give me, you can only see part of it in the background {it includes a bat (shown), a witch on a broom, and two cats}, also, my incredible inlaws surprised me with a cast iron chimenea, my mother bought me a ton of new clothes, pops sent money, and on top of it all, i was fed mexican and american delicacies for lunch and dinner!!
A large tart that Raine and I made for Jonathan’s birthday. Even though the crust turned out ridculously hard, it still tasted delicious!
Hand-dipped strawberries and pretzels for Raine’s teachers at school.
Lately I have found new ways to direct my creative energies. This dress for Raine is the latest project I have undertaken. I sewed this from a pattern that I made myself by measuring her and making a custom fit. It turned out quite pleasant…I’m very pleased! Hopefully there will be more to come…
