It’s been a month of crazy making stuff…getting ready for Christmas & going down the rabbit-hole of crafting armed with a glue gun, needle, thread, & a boat load of glittery sparkly stuff! And, I’ve really liked the end results. I know when I’m not reading much, I must be into creating stuff.
It’s hard to know what to buy Claire…she has a ton of toys, books & clothes…a wonderful life! I bought her a cute little Christmas outfit & sent it down early so she could start wearing it. Knowing she was coming to visit the weekend before Christmas, was the best kind of anticipation. I put the up the ‘wood tree’ (this is one I made a couple of years ago from sticks found in our pasture. I made it to have in the years none of the kids come home for Christmas & it stays up all winter—you just plug it in--…love the twinkling lights. It’s kind of whacky & only has lights, a dozen or so felt redbirds I made, pine cones & a few other natural things to decorate it. I can’t seem to put up a real tree when the kids aren’t going to be here…just touching all their little ornaments brings back good memories but is a definite ‘trigger’ for my ‘eye leakage’ disorder). But this year, we put up a real tree & added all the lights & decorations!
So, besides a book, a photo memory game & a backpack with tons of colorful buckles (she’s really into buckles) I made her a rag quilt (with no batting…she does live in Florida after all) & a little red cape with a fabric basket (they did have to put everything into a suitcase to fly home). I also bought three small stuffed animals for her…a gray cat, a black one, & a german shepherd dog (she always wants to see Sammy, Bob & Six when she Face times with us.) I made them little collars with name tags…her own little version of pets…she loved it all!
My family is also used to having to figure out a puzzle, or play a game or go on a treasure hunt before opening each gift. I think they all think it’s kind of annoying, but I love making these things up. Claire got the treasure hunt this year!
In between getting Claire’s gifts ready, I did a few of my own projects. I’d seen a flannel shirt that had the lower part dipped in bleach for a funky look. I bought a flannel shirt (I didn’t own one) at Goodwill & tried it…three times! It eventually worked, but not fantastically. I’ll definitely wear the shirt though…who can’t use ‘warm’ in this freezing cold weather? I also made a snowman costume (had a pub crawl to go to) & an ugly Christmas sweater (a Bike & Beer Wednesday party), a snowman scarf & some ‘dancing ribbons’ for Claire’s upcoming birthday in January.
If I could get my Harry Potter magic wand to work, I’d have my studio back & spend my time at home making my quirky funky artsy stuff….the the other 70% time be traveling our lovely, magnificent, wonderful & colorful wOrLD!
I still have a few things left on my list I want to make out of things I already have (some sea glass & rocks for jewelry)…but since essentially, Danny & my Christmas is over for this year, I’m planning on doing these things over the real holiday & in-between finishing the project on the house while he’s home until after New Years.
The BeSt thing I’ll be doing over the Christmas? Planning my next trip…which starts January 7th! Yippee Yay!!!!