Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Photo blogging challenge - December 2013 "Festive"

Festive .... festive, festive, festive .... what is festive?...   yeah, i was kind of humming and ha'ing on this challenge ... what to photograph to show festive ....

I could do trees, decorations .... pretty packages tied up with pretty strings and bows ... maybe even a fat man in a red suit ...

.... yeah ....

so I went with ..... Bitches!!!!

yes, i said it .... Bitches with a capital B .... let me explain .... years ago, a group of 8 women met at a large paper crafting group ... we enjoyed each others company so much that we broke away from the large group and became a small group of good friends.  We decided to give our group a little brand and decided on the oh so appropriate and happy "Paper Dolls" ... we even made paper dolls of ourselves  and took them with us on photo shoots and exotic locals ...
Then one night .... during a pj party crafting overnighter, we got into lemon meringue martinis .... in a very heavy way .... all i remember is a whole lot of laughter, many many delicious lemon martinis and the "Bitches" was born ....

 Our annual Christmas crafting event ... yeah ... nothing says festive like moustache shaped sugar cookies frosted in pink! (and note the festive christmas necklace)
 and what would our Christmas event be without Feuerzangenbowle!  Izzy is soaking the zucker hut in rum ...  (and check out that festive top!)
and then the cone is lit .... and what is that rum soaked sugar zucker hut melting into you ask???  well a good three bottles of merlot that has be simmering in spices ... yum!

 Every year, one of the bitch's husbands (he is a chef) makes our lunch ... open faced turkey sandwiches, with french onion soup, and a couple of amazing salads ... don't those sandwiches look festive!!!

Amazingly, one of the girls bought us all glasses that say "Merry Christmas Bitches" ... much laughter ensued .... 

and that is my festive contribution to this months Challenge.  Make sure you stop by PJ's blog a'lilhoohaa to check out all of the Festive posts by other bloggers ... 

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year ...
Peace love and paper
Jo

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas!


Wishing you peace, love and joy!
Jo

Monday, December 23, 2013

wishing you Joy!

... and peace .... love and laughter .... light and being .... and all of the beauty each moment of the day offers ....

I kind of had those thoughts running through my brain when i met up with a friend to make picket houses ... you know ... you just have the wood cut in the shape of a picket ... in this case we were working with 2 x 4 pickets ...

So i was wanting to make some vintage styles winter white houses to go with 2 houses i made last year ... but sometimes,  the company of a good friend, and a lot of laughter, changes your art mid course ...


 this is my "joy" .... plain wood with layers of vintage hymnal paper, gesso, acrylic paint and patterned paper.  The words were originally cut out of Christmas scrapbooking paper, but that all changed witht he addition of paint ...the hand was painted about 4 times ... then i decided on white ... this shares the table with a very old quilted table runner i made about 15 years ago ..


detail ... some floral patterned paper still shows through ... there are many flowers in joy!


I think my favourite part is the eyes ... the all seeing house .... looking for joy and it is right there ... it just has to see it ...

the second house ..."the daily dance" ... sometimes this is what my days feel like ... I have a bright pink key to wind myself up (really .... just strong coffee does the trick) and i am walking on fragile little pearls all day ...

the pair ... not even close to what i had in my mind but i am so glad they turned out as they did!

and back to my original thought .... "wishing you joy and peace .... love and laughter .... light and being .... and all of the beauty each moment of the day offers ...."

thanks for stopping in, and have a very merry Christmas!
Jo