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I heard a reporter on the news yesterday say she was "Snow Over it" and I couldn't agree more. Virginia on the other hand loves it... until it got too deep for her to move!
Here's Virginia sporting my best scarf for her Christmas walk. For those who don't know her name is Virginia because when we adopted her they told us she was rescued from Virginia.
I am so thrilled by the gift Joe made me. Now I did put the suggestion out there that he could make me some peace signs for the garden, but never in a million years did I anticipate the end product! For the larger of the 2 he used an aluminum transmission gear from a diesel boat engine. The other is a steel fly wheel from a small crane. I'll post photos in the spring when the garden is in bloom meanwhile I put them in the snow to have a look. Thanks also to Joe's buddies Neil, Mohan, & Jonathan who all had a hand in the project. Peace!
Callan was about 5 when she made me her first pillow shown in the photo. 19 years later not only do I still have it but I still use it in my car everyday! Last year I got a new car so I asked her to make me a new one but it never made it out to the car...this year I got her to make me another one by saying that everyone else is always using my pillow....and thus a new tradition is born. Can hardley wait for next year! Check out last years pillow Christmas "Present"
Every Christmas for the past 4 years Callan has made me a calendar comprised of her work. To ensure that this tradition remains a tradition I start inquiring in late October if she has started my calendar and move on to nagging in November! Here's a group shot of the new & the old. Most importantly according to my new 2010 Custom Made Calendar By my favorite artist Callan Molinari there are 85 days till Spring, let the countdown begin!
To make this years card production a little ( a lot) easier I treated myself to a paper cutter. Now I can't imagine how I survived all this time without one!
I bought the Turf Shamrock & the Angel ornaments in Ireland. The Angels were made by Eastern European Artists living in Ireland. Callan brought me the Delft bell from Amsterdam & the Sun Star from Tuscany. Ironically It survived the long trip fine but broke once it was home.
Browsing through Etsy & came across a fabric I did the art for. It's always fun to spot something you did & in the case of fabric to see what someone else has done with it.
Today is my Blogs 1st Birthday! It's been great fun & I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to look or leave comments.
It was a great day to walk around Manhattan yesterday so after taking care of work related errands I stopped by the Union Square Holiday Market. It's always disappointing to me when there aren't a lot of hand made items so I was delighted to find Artist Fernanda Bekerman's booth Loco Deco, Eco Friendly Objects. The 3 pieces I bought were little gourds, Santa is only about 2 1/4" tall. She had all kinds of designs in a range of sizes & a collection of plush items. If your in the area drop by her booth.
There are so many benefits to working from home, but by far the best is that everyday is bring your dog to work day.
I haven't put my tree up yet and judging by the amount of new ornaments I've aquired this year I may need a 2nd tree! I just went on etsy & this seller was featured, I love the bold style of her work. This snowflake ornament is the newest to be added to my collection. Check her out with this link shoshona snow ceramics
Today I went to the Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Fair in Manhattan. It was a very nice event as one would expect from Martha. About a 1/2 hour wait to get in but once you were in you could take your time & it wasn't overcrowded. I bought a "lil purse" $10.00, a scroll work ornament $15.00 and a hot chili pepper Santa for $7.00, a great deal for handmade unique items! The stars in the 2nd photo seemed to be a big hit @ $30.00. A lot of people were leaving with them, I would have also but I had several other stops to make & given the rotten weather I passed on it, there's always next year!
Here's another personalized I gift I made for co-workers & friends one year. These were fun & easy to make, ( good thing because I made 25 of them! ) The overall size is 5 1/4" square, the mirrors are 3" square & the easel backs are 5" both bought @ Michaels craft store. When I did the art I left a white box in the center to help in placing the mirror. Click on the images to make larger.
Here's an easy personalized gift to make. I did mine in illustrator but these can be done in a variety of ways, rubber stamps, hand drawn, even using photos. Using an oval shape that fit nicely on the hanger I did the art lining several up on one sheet & printed on Epson premium presentation paper. I then put twin tac (double sided adhesive sheet) on the back & I put a laminate sheet on top to protect it. Next I trimmed the ovals, adhered them to the hanger & used a bone folder to burnish them. I made 21 hangers for co-workers one year so we would each have our own hanger, they were a bit hit!
After 6 months of procrastinating and living with 2 boxes or rocks on the kitchen table, Callan & I finally painted our rocks. I think you'll agree these guys definately ROCK! My favorite is the alligator Callan painted, he'll be living in my office while the others will hibernate till spring when they will have a summer home in the garden.
One day my dog "Virginia" was barking at the door so I went to check what was going on. When I opened the door there were 4 turkeys on my doorstep! I don't know who was more surprised me or Virginia! Now this may not be unusual in some places but it's not what one would expect in a borough of New York City!
We had heard that Ireland had the highest accident rate in western Europe but for some reason that didn't bother us, until we got in our tiny rental car & hit the road! Life altering to say the least, I aged 10 years from the airport to the hotel. We alternated between cursing & laughing so hard we could hardly breathe. Don't underestimate the learning curve of everything being opposite, even the gas guage works in reverse. We did have GPS, a few flaws with that were we had no idea what distance a kilometer or meter is so when instructed to turn in 250 meters we were at a real disadvantage. Also the streets are not clearly marked with standard signs, in standard places, like on a corner, like we're used to. The GPS spent more time "re-calculating" than anything else. We had also read that while the roadsides are beautiful they tend to be narrow & curvy, that was the biggest understatement of all! We had to back down a windy road until we came to a driveway to go in so a truck could pass us, another day a car had to back off a little bridge so we could pass. The highways are roomier but they have these things called "roundabouts", the name says it all! Now when all is said & done and we swore never to drive in another foreign country we were quite proud of overselves for not adding to the high accident stats!
Just got back from Dublin with a few new rules for traveling. Most important new rule is to only fly non stop from now on! Last night on our incredibly long journey home we flew over New York (Home) and 1 hour 40 minutes later landed in Atlanta Ga., 4 hours later got back on a plane to New York & 1 hour 40 minutes later landed in NY! INSANE!!!!