Bullet Journal Pages 232-233

My December Health Tracker and some festive Christmas lettering.

Bullet Journal Pages 230-231

Time to dust off the red and green pens and get ready for some Christmas lettering.

A(nother) Christmas Painting - Merry & Bright

This is another painting I finished in October and had to wait to hang up until now. This will be hung in my entry way right as you enter my house. It makes me feel Christmasy every time I pass by it.

20" x 24" Acrylic on canvas

This Guy is Staying Here with Me

I finished this painting about a month ago and he's going up in my house TODAY. I kind of love him. He may stay up through December AND January just so I can enjoy him longer.

10" x 10" acrylic on canvas

Some Word Paintings

This is a fun process I am just starting to work with. It was inspired by an IG post by Stephanie Ackerman of Homegrown Hospitality. She didn't explain her process, so I just sort of winged it. But here's what I did:

1. Painted some Dollar Store signs and a wood panel with black gesso. (Remembered to take a picture after I'd already added some color)

2. Painted lots of colors and designs all over them. (I knew two of them would have Christmas words on them so I painted those backgrounds mainly red and green, but in the end it doesn't really show through as much as I thought it would. Any colors would work).

3. Painted a soft coat of thin white (craft) paint over the whole thing. Sorry no pic of this step.
4. Did the lettering with a paint pen.

5. Did another layer of white over the whole thing going around and inside the lettering and scallops. Tip: on two of the signs (You are Brave and 'tis the Season) I used the thin craft paint again and on one (Joy to the World) I used a heavy body acrylic paint (the kind in a tube). I like the look of the heavy body acrylic more. I'll do that from now on. It let a bit more of the background show through.

6. I popped the '''tis the Season" wood panel in a white frame I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby. And I drilled holes and attached a wire hanger on the other two. And of course I added ribbon and fabric. I can't not.

The hanging signs are for my sisters for Christmas and the framed sign is for me cause apparently, I'm REALLY doing a lot of holiday painting for myself this year. Stay tuned for more holiday paintings to come...

Bullet Journal Pages 132-133

Not a lot of art time over the holidays but I have been doing my lists. It's the way I stay organized and find time to squeeze in a little creativity each day.

Bullet Journal Pages 130-131

It just wouldn't be Christmas without this quote from Buddy, the Elf, right?

Santa Paintings for My Seesters

I designed this Santa years ago and have been meaning to paint him for my sisters forever. This year I finally got it done and I'm excited about how they turned out!

Both are 12" x 16" acrylic on wrapped canvas.

Art Journal Page 12/09/14 - Christmas Girls

These little gals are all dressed up in their Christmas dresses. These faces started out just as sketchbook sketches, but I liked them so much I cut them out and gave them their own Art Journal page. Aren't they festive?

Their neighboring page is a little neighborhood I did back in November. I didn't try to have the two pages work together this time. Instead I used a strip of washi tape to divide the pages and keep them very separate.

Art Journal Page 12/09/14 - 1 Bird, 2 Bird

I have been utterly inspired lately by quilts. Paper piecing is very similar to quilting, so you can see how I'd be drawn to quilts (even though I'm not a quilter myself).

(photo courtesy of Pleasant Home)

I have this lovely quilt from Jodi at Pleasant Home and I LOVE it!! As I was hanging it up this year for Christmas I decided to make a little paper bird inspired by the quilt. And then I decided that that bird needed a little friend. And that's how this page was born.

Here's the full page spread with a page I did back in November. I didn't bother trying to connect the two pages today. I'm nearing the end of this Art Journal so I'm sort of just fitting things in where I can and this page already had a bit of blue paint for the sky so I went with it.

A Christmas Neighborhood

I'm still having so much fun making these little neighborhoods. This one is currently displayed right next to my Christmas tree.

Cream Cheese Peppermints With Chocolate

This is my "Go To" recipe for cookie exchanges and Christmas parties. They are simple and delicious.

Cream Cheese Peppermints With Chocolate (adapted from shewearsmanyhats.com)

1 pound confections sugar

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

a few drops of peppermint oil (to taste)

green food coloring gel (optional)

4 ounces chocolate chips

granulated sugar

Using a mixer, gradually add the powdered sugar to the cream cheese, beat well until incorporated. Add peppermint extract and food coloring (if using) and combine well.

Roll dough into teaspoon size balls and roll in granulated sugar and place on baking sheet(s) lined with parchment paper. Create a small “bowl” or indentation in each ball using a ¼ teaspoon or your finger. Refrigerate for a few hours until firm.

When peppermints have firmed, melt chocolate according to package directions. Fill a piping bag or freezer bag with the corner clipped with melted chocolate. Fill each mini peppermint with chocolate and let cool

Refrigerate until ready to serve. Makes about 4 dozen.

Christmas Tags

As a gift to my sister I made masonite tags for her to use on her neighbor gifts. I also made several for myself to use the same way. I love to tie these to gifts because once the goodies are gone, the recipient still has the little tag to hang on their tree or display on a tiny stand.

And because they are made on masonite and have a protective layer of Mod Podge on the top, they are quite durable and should last for years.

I made these exactly the same way I did my CHRISTMAS ADVENT TAGS.

First Friday Art Class for December 2013 - Christmas Angels and Doodles

Today our focus was Christmas. We began with some fun Christmas doodles. We did ornaments, strings of lights, presents, bells, bows, and letters accented with snowflakes.

Here's a Christmas Doodle worksheet of all the doodles we did. (The optical illusion bells are from texasdoxiemama).

We did all these doodles together with me working on a white board and the girls working in their sketchbooks or on a blank piece of paper.

These doodles are really fun and easy to do and they look so sweet. And if you add color to them, they really pop!!

We then moved onto some sweet Christmas angels. These took me back to my elementary school days. Do you remember making angles with doily wings? :)

Paper Doily Angels

Supplies needed:
Paper doilies (I got mine at Joann's in the baking section--they are about 3-1/2" across)
Scrap paper for the dress and face
Colored pencils
Black markers
Glue stick (for the paper)
Glue gun (for the accessories)
Gold paint (optional)
Misc. items for accessories (pearl trim, gold thread, heart punches, brads, beads, tiny buttons, ric arc, etc.)

What you do:
1. Fold a paper doily in half, unfold it and cut along the fold line. This half circle becomes your angel's wings.

2. Draw a head on white paper. Color it and outline the features in black pen. We tried to remember to make them look very serene and sweet.
3. Cut out the head.
4. Using the wings and the head as size references, cut a triangle to be the angel's dress.
5. Glue the head to the top of the triangle dress and glue the wings to the back of the dress.
6. Accessorize your angel and add any other finishing touches you'd like to add. (We dry brushed some gold paint on some of the wings to give it a little shimmer).

Here's back view to help you see the construction of the angel:

Here are the girls' darling angels:

You could make a whole choir of these angelic cuties. You could also glue a magnet or clothespin to the back of them or mount them on a Christmas card.

Okay, now get out there and do some doodles and make some angels! :)

See you next month.

Masonite Tag Christmas Advent Calendar

Using this exact same method, my daughter and I made 25 advent tags to hang up to countdown the days until Christmas.

Each one started on a 3" x 3" x 1/8" piece of masonite. Of course you could make these using just scrapbook paper, but mounting them on masonite means they are quite sturdy and will last from year to year.

We cut the base paper just under 3" x 3". We tried to make sure we didn't have two reds or two greens right next to each other. (We only used paper we already had--our goal was to not have to buy anything for this project).

Then we stamped the dates on kraft paper and cut a contrasting slip of scrapbook paper.

We went through and attached all the base layers to all 25 tags using Mod Podge. So by the time we were back to the first tag to do the 2nd and 3rd layers, the first layer was dry.

Once all 3 layers were attached, we did one more layer of Mod Podge (matte--I don't like the shiny) over the top of the entire front of the tag. This will help to protect them. Then we let them dry for several hours. Our last step was to add ric rac, tulle, and ribbon to the tops of them.

Then today we hung them up on a long piece of jute with little pieces of bakers twine. We'll cut them down as we count down the days to Christmas.

Interested in making some tags of your own? I have the blank masonite tags for sale in my ETSY shop now!

Children's Nativity Drawings

A few weeks ago as part of our lesson at church we had the little ones (ages 3-12) draw pictures from the Nativity. I took them home and made this banner to be displayed at our Christmas party and in the church until Christmas. I am so inspired and touched by these wonderful, young artists. 

Didn't they draw the sweetest things?? (We even ended up with a very Ninja-esqe, sword wielding Mary and Joseph--what Nativity would be complete without that?) :)