Gnome ornaments

I always like to have a little something to give to friends… usually it’s handmade…what else would you expect from me.

Mini-me brought home a large spool of kitchen twine that she had used in an art installation last year. I wasn’t sure how we were ever going to get through all the yardage until I started making these cute gnome ornaments.

I was inspired by a Pinterest video. https://pin.it/4wRPmea

I wrapped the kitchen string around my hand until it felt thick enough. I tied the middle then slipped off my hand and cut the opposite side from the tie. I then tied a loop of bakers twine to serve as the hanger before beginning work on the hat.

 I made a circle template with a bowl then cut it in half. I used scraps of flannel from my stash for the hats. After rolling my half circle of flannel into a cone shape.  I used a hot glue gun to adhere first the hat together then stick the hat to the gnome body being careful to thread the hanger loop through the top of the hat. I then added a coordinating button or two to the hat and a wooden bead tucked up under the rim of the hat for the perfect gnome nose.

Thankfully I also have a stash of wooden beads to make the noses.

They turned out so cute and I used up the whole spool! Renew, reuse, recycle. ♻️

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Snow, snow, snow

What a wild ride at the beginning and end of my winter break. We’ve had snow storms that bookended the time off.

Winter break started two hours early with an early release due to weather. Now we are having our second snow day in a row! That just doesn’t happen!! Can’t say I’m sad about two full weeks off.

Leading up to break we did a couple fun things at school such as winter week theme days, treats and even pancake breakfast cooked by our administrators.

We each got a mug to fill with treats. I decided to add a my signature flower as well as my name to my mug.

Our special education team had a week long secret Santa exchange…this was day 1 for me.

I also made a bunch of Gnome ornaments for work friends. I’ll do a separate post on how I made those.

Christmas is a favorite time for Marvin. He loves a good box.

And bows!! Bows are his favorite. We actually save them so he can have some to play with all year long.

Mini-me got him this very special bow. He LOVES it!

The whole family was off work between Christmas and New Years. The company Mr. G works for generally closes that week and J took the week off so he could move. Yep you heard me…he moved out. He is living in a house in the neighboring town with one of his buddies from high school. Of course with the crazy horrible weather yesterday, we went and picked him up from work and brought him here for the night. None of the roads were plowed and his little sedan would have never made it. Thank goodness for four wheel drive.

New Years Eve we went for brunch at Hell’s Kitchen and enjoyed some great live music.

And a massive Bloody Mary! I couldn’t eat more than a couple bites of my meal after that. Lucky for me, I had a good leftover lunch the next day! 

I’ve been doing a bit a creating as well such as this card from scraps laying around my desk. There are a few journal pages as well but that will be a different post.

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Happy New Year!

Another year is in the books as they say…but really who are “they”?

Yesterday I started thinking about my Word of the Year…realizing I hadn’t picked a new one or reflected on my WOTY for 2022.

So lets look back at 2022 first… My word was treasure.

I took time to treasure time with family and friends. Treasure memories of those no longer with us. While doing this I realized that some of the things I had that I treasured were more about the memory associated with it than the object itself. This has been quite freeing. Not that I have become a minimalist by any stretch of the imagination. I’m an artist and maker…we collect stuff.

And now for my word to help guide me in 2023…

I am all about refreshing things in my life this year. Refreshing spaces, personal goals, attitude, and mindset just to name a few.

I honestly almost used renew again for my WOTY but that was my word for 2017. However refresh is a similar word. Reset was also on my mind. It is really hard to pick one word. I like to think of it having a broad meaning yet being something I can measure.

As the year goes by I will touch on ways refresh is guiding my choices.

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Fall in review

Since I haven’t posted pretty much all fall, I thought it would be a great idea to do a little fall in review post.

I did a tiny bit of art journaling at the beginning of October.

Then my focus changed. Instead I found myself at the sewing machine.

I finished my cozy scrappy quilt. It’s so snuggly…Mini-me has claimed it every time she comes home. I see another one in my future.

I earned this fun little piece of inspiration last month. These Fitbit badges are like a gold star…silly I know, but it makes me happy.

Another thing that was once again amazing was the Veterans day program at my school. We haven’t had the full program since the pandemic.

Local veterans and members of the community are invited to join us.

It was amazing to have close to 800 middle school kids quiet and respectful for an entire hour on the bleachers. They really stepped up and showed us how well behaved they know how to be.

Our display case was beautifully decorated with pictures and memorabilia of veterans that are part of our staff members families.

Including my dad…WWII veteran.

Marvin’s birthday is also on Veterans day. He turned 8 this year… he’s terribly embarrassed about it.

At Thanksgiving break, Mini-me brought home some succulents that were gifted to her. The plant in the yellow pot was so top-heavy that it wouldn’t even stand up anymore. I transplanted it and gave it a friendly owl to keep it company. I kept telling her how happy that plant made me…then it hit me…it looks like something out of Dr Suess. How could it not make me happy?!?

T stands for Tuesday

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Coming up roses

I was thinking about my girl this morning and out came a journal page.

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Feeling the art journal love again

It’s taken a while but I’m getting the urge to create at least in my art journal.

In fact, this was the second page I created on Sunday afternoon.

While searching through my stash I found some watercolor color experiments. The colors spoke to me in that fall sort of feel.

The lined page to the left was a shiny paper from junk mail. I didn’t want to cover the lines but at the same time didn’t like the shine. I used some glimmer mists to knock it back.

Yesterday was a rough day for me. I was very emotional which is not my usual state of being. I’m a very stoic person…I’m Norwegian raised in the mid-west. It takes a lot to crack my shell.

I did what I like to call a mind dump on my page. I like to write very messy and somewhat layer the words. This makes it difficult to read. This is purposeful. I need to get it out but I don’t want to go back and relive it later when I’m paging through my journal.

I saved this label from a beer my neighbor shared. (using as my drink reference as well…it’s a twofer) The beer was really interesting. You could taste a hint of orange and copious amounts of honey. I’m not sure I loved it but I did love the label.

It’s not my favorite page in the journal but it served its purpose.

Today is a work day of course with some grocery shopping on the way home.

T stands for Tuesday
What are you doing today?

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Fall vibes

I do love Fall. The crisp mornings, the rustle of fallen leaves, flannels, jeans, hoodies…all the pumpkin goodies. The warm colors of autumn are also my favorites. You’ll find them all over my house and in my art.

I had so much fun pulling together items to layer. Bits of wallpaper, book spine, scrapbook paper, ephemera postcard just to name a few.

I used some distress oxide to bring the background colors together.

I then dripped water and blotted to make the cool light spots. Love that look. This is my first distress oxide ink pad, and I know it won’t be my last.

I’m nearing the end of this journal. Just a few pages left. It’s been a really fun challenge with all the different types and sizes of papers.

It has gotten quite chunky. Good thing I made the cover with a long wrap around tie to hold the chunkiness in.

When it’s complete I’ll do a recap at least of my favorite pages.

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