Christmas Countdown 2022

Greetings friends - happy Wednesday! If you follow me on social media, then chances are, you have seen some of my recent creations for the Poppie Cotton Christmas Countdown Challenge. Poppie Cotton created a very fun word prompt list beginning on December 1st - each day, you can use the word as a prompt to create something and post an image(s), tagging them for a chance to win prizes - you can participate as little or as often as you like. You can visit their Instagram page post for all the details...and visit their website for a downloadable list, a coloring page and Santa templates! I have been participating on  most days and have enjoyed my time creating projects for some of the words...

I have posted on multiple days, and here are some of my photos and creations....

Day 1 - Christmas Pincushion

I created two cube pincushions, using the Poppie Cotton Snuggle Up Buttercup fabric Collection. 

Day 3 - Hot Cocoa

I created a whimsical mug rug with a tea cup of hot cocoa, using mini buttons for marshmallows. I was just playing around...but will create a pattern, if there is interest (let me know in the comments!).

Day 4 - Peppermint

For peppermint, I created a small project bag - appliquéing the word JOY and using wool for the peppermint appliqué. I used  red, white and green baker's twine for the zipper pull. This was a lot of fun to make and was (again) just me playing around in my studio...

Day 5 - Ornament

This day was easy - I used my 2021 and 2022 cross stitch Christmas ornaments..."My Frosty Friend" and "Bundled Up Birdie"....

Day 6 - Cookie Exchange

For cookie exchange, I made my favorite molasses cookies and photographed them on my Alphabet House Mug Rugs (pattern available in my Etsy Shop in both paper format and digital format). I also provided my molasses cookie recipe, so you can make a batch yourself!!

I hope these creative ideas will get you in the holiday mood and provide some inspiration and Christmas cheer! I have more posts up my sleeve for future days, so look for those on my social media pages...

For now, it is back to work - I am feeling quite stressed with client orders after my time away in New Zealand and recovering from a terrible case of the flu (I am much better, but still have a nasty cough!)....so I am busy from morning until night in the studio. I will share some of those pieces soon. Also, I have some very exciting news to share in the coming days - I am a brand ambassador/designer for a favorite company and will be posting fun projects and tutorials for them soon...stay tuned for that announcement...

Sky High in Colorado

Hello friends - I am finally back with a long overdue blog post...you know how it is - take a short vacation and spend weeks playing catch-up with work. We had a wonderful trip to Colorado - fresh mountain air - nature - time with friends....beauty in the journey. It was a lot of driving, but I enjoyed the quality time with my husband...and I came home refreshed and a little lighter - spending time outdoors always gives me a feeling of calm and helps me see "the bigger picture." I took a million and one photos (what's new??) and gained some perspective, while finding inspiration for new creative projects! The breathtaking autumn colors were just starting to appear...and even though there is currently snow on the ground, it was unseasonably HOT during our visit.  I will let the images do the talking (I'm just posting a few favorites) - and then post a short update at the end....

I hope you enjoyed just a glimpse at the beauty we encountered during our trip! For now, it is back to work with all sorts of holiday orders in the works. I have over one hundred project bags cut, fused and ready to sew (although, I am still waiting to get my fancy machine back from the shop - they are waiting on a part) and I have been doing all sorts of needlework finishing...the Christmas rush is on! I will be posting a few updates soon with images I can actually share. It is slower going with my older sewing machine, but I'm doing my best to stay on track. Another slow down (and partial reason for the delay in this post) - our Internet was out for over a week while we were waiting for a new router/modem to be installed - yeah, that was challenging...but things seem to be back to good again. With my husband's travel schedule, life continues to be insane here (especially with a possible move on the horizon)...but things are humming along and it is a joy to be creative/artistic every single day. Thanks for visiting with me today...and I hope you'll stop back soon...

Blooms, Bees, and a Barn

As an artist, I am obsessed with nature...the colors, textures, shapes, shadows, values, and lines. Just being outside sparks my creativity to no end and provides me with inspiration for all of my original designs. Earlier this month, my husband and I took a road trip to Illinois to visit my mommy and her husband Dan - they live on a gorgeous lakefront property that my mother has lovingly nurtured and gardened. Her green thumb is evident throughout every nook and cranny of their yard. She's planted vegetables, trees, shrubs, berry patches, flower gardens, even a quaint woodland garden...and she has things blooming year-round. The manicured grounds truly look straight out of a gardening book...and it really makes me wish I had more time/space/money for landscaping. Every time I visit, I take hundreds of photos that get my creative juices flowing. Here is just a sampling of the photos I snapped during our stay - some of which, I have already printed and tacked on my "art in progress" board...I hope one or more of these images will inspire you (click on any image to enlarge)...

If those photos aren't enough, on the same trip, we visited a fabulous apple orchard in Wisconsin  - the Ten Eyck Orchard in Brodhead, WI (side note: they have a wonderful Facebook page, with all sorts of inspiring images). We enjoyed a journey through the corn maze - Travis and I actually made it all the way through and came out the exit without a map (not too bad for our first time in a corn maze). We sampled a few fresh apples...and I flipped over a really cool bee skep and the incredible round barn. It was a delightful morning and I would definitely recommend this orchard to anyone in the area...

I hope you enjoyed your visit today! I'll be back again soon with more sewing projects and needlework finishing, plus a little announcement on a new addition to our family...stay tuned...