More Christmas ReHash

I did a little crafting/painting  for my own BestLovedKids.  Now that gifting is over I can show you two of my favorites.

Each little boy in the family got a velcro on tie made from Sarah Jane Studio's rocket fabric.  I was visiting a Primary in the south of Arkansas when I picked up a  discarded tie from some little boy.  I was amazed to
 see a velcro fastened neck gear that was washable and looked like it was soft and comfortable.  Yes, the tot got his tie back and I searched the web for directions.  I used THIS tutorial from Very Homemade.  Her directions are wonderful but I changed it a little.  Instead of leaving the sides open and seaming the seam that forms the join on the back side of the tie.  I seamed the rocket fabric and the lining faces together all around with an opening to turn it right side out.  I then folded each side to the back and hand stitched it together down the back.  I fell in love with this rocket fabric.  When Sarah Jane introduced her fabric line it was shown with little boys in similar ties and I was hooked.

This set went to a kiddlet in Arizona.  I've had this idea for a long time, and I had the teapot, tray and cups for 2 years.  Finally got an idea of how to paint it.  The tray is from Wal-Mart (they have them all the time for just a couple of bucks).  The teapot came from Pier 1.  They always have plain white dishware.  Lots of other sources carry white dishware by the piece.  The cups and saucers were from Savers.  That's why there are three of each.  They are espresso cups.  You could get similar cups  at Pier 1, also.   I painted the white ware with Pebo Vitrea paint I got from Michaels.  The paint is heat set after drying 24 hrs. and is supposed to be extremely durable.  Tutorial to follow.  Just saying, this paint is sticky.  It behaves different than my usual acrylics and I found designs based on dots or lines worked best. 

Christmas Reveal

We had the happiest of holidays at the Best Loved House.  The sweetest three year old was very enthused.  We put out reindeer food (rolled oats and a little glitter) and cookies and milk for Santa.  Hung the stocking his daddy had hung as a kid.  His daddy read the Christmas story to him (and to us) using "This Is The Season Beloved of The Year".  This was a great book to use with little ones.  It tells the story with simple words from a Primary song under beautiful pictures by Simon Dewey.  The text from Luke is on the opposite page as well as a brief commentary designed more for adults. You can use what is most appropriate for your family. 

On Christmas morning he was so pleased with his gifts.  I think we could have wrapped up socks and he would have played happily with them.  Santa's gift was this amazing bit of goodness.  Behold, a Jedi in training.

Technology is finally catching up with the movies.  I remember light sabers as flashlights with a translucent, collapsing sleeve that would extend if you "flicked" you light saber.  This one hums, lights up from the handle out like the one in the movies did, and the sound changes if it's touched.

 Much more merriment.  BL BIL arrived with Grandma and niece and nephew.  Big nephew brought his girlfirend and her nephew for dinner so we had 3 little boys 3 - 7, oh, there was a puppy. (Can't leave it home alone on Christmas).  The BIG littles arrived late in the afternoon so we had more presents and visits. 

We loved it all.

Christmas Cards

The last two years I've designed and painted our family Christmas card.  Be careful what you do for Christmas traditions, your family comes to expect it every year.  A little late, but I got something painted for our card, the cards printed, folded and then addressed.

I always think of something complicated for our card design.  I then rack my brain on how I should do it.  I then give up and do something quick that I end up loving a lot more.  My Christmas mantra should always be "SIMPLE".    Cards mailed - done!  Christmas is coming.

At Last - Chrismas

One of the very few down sides of being an artist crafts-person is that things get pretty busy before Christmas.  Thus, my lack of blogging.  It's now too late to ship so I've closed the shop for a week and I've been able to work on non shop related Christmas for family.  Since some of the recipients read this blog I'll have to wait to post pictures of some cute items but I can show you some Christmas preparations.

 
 What do you do when when your beautiful 9 year old pre-lit Christmas tree quits lighting?  Last year there was one little string that wouldn't light but this year there were only a few bits that did light.  I love this tree.  It's fat and fluffy, new ones are tall and slim, and it's still in good shape - except for the lights, so. . . I decided to take the non working lights off and just string new lights on like we did in the good old days before pre-lit trees.  I ended up with piles and piles of stripped off lights.  It took me a couple of evenings watching TV and clipping the lights off the branches to get it finished.

Then on to putting the lights up.  I think there can't be too many lights on a tree but don't know how to figure out how many I need.  After shopping 3 stores I found all the white lights sold out.  Plan B, I got 10 strings of 100 lights, plus I knew I had some colored strings in the Christmas boxes.  Not nearly enough.  I bought 10 more boxes, then had to go back and get 3 more.  I've got 2300 mini lights on the tree.  BLHubby thinks it's too much but I feel I was a bit restrained. 

Now to put the ornaments on.