My Official Start of the Holiday Season

Every year the weekend before Thanksgiving, my friend Jan and I head to the charming town of Northville, MI for what I consider my official start to the holiday season. Our primary destination is the greens market where we get wreaths along with cuttings to make our own baskets.

After, we hit some of our favorite shops -- and we'll do that too, too! Read on!

The day before we left it was 73. But that morning it was cold and snowing. Sort of snow-rain-hail. Needless to say we bundled up!

There are scores of beautiful wreaths, festive baskets and kissing balls.

Of course, we're both into picking the best we can find. But when there are so many choices it is both easy and yet difficult!

I liked this heart shaped wreath but opted for the traditional circle.

Kids could even mail their letter to Santa!

Our favorite shop in Northville is one called Gardenviews. We've been coming here for years and years. It was as festive as you could imagine.

There were beautiful trees everywhere.

And lots of magical displays.

You won't forget about the magic of Santa here...

...nor will you miss some country charm.

And if your style is more formal, well, we saw that, too!

You'll find woodland joy in sweet animals...

...and lovely ornaments.

And if being at Gardenviews doesn't get you in the holiday spirit, I'm not sure what can!

As we left town I couldn't help but notice how charming it all was -- "The Snow Queen" at the theatre, the town clock with its wreath, the church on the corner and the American flag. Yes, even the town felt a little magical this day.

Onward! Let the holiday season begin. A Happy Thanksgiving to you and a Merry December!

Painting the Town Red and Green!

I've been in a creative and emotional slump of late. Initially I was burned out getting ready for the sale but it just got worse and worse. I needed something beautiful, fun, creative. I tried to get into a Southern Exposure workshop I'd not previously enrolled for but they were filled (and I'm headed back in another week or two anyway). Then I saw that Michelle Detering, who taught the watercolor-your-pet class was doing a Christmas card watercolor class.

I was so ready!

Michelle does a fun class and we had seven students eager to paint their hearts out. And paint we did. She had roughed in two designs, a deer...(here's an early look at mine)

...and a snowflake.

She taught us different background techniques and we were able to use some new materials like a wonderful fluid that mixed to make a pearly sheen on the snowflake.

Then we had two blank cards. On one we worked with a wax resist pencil, like the kind you get in Easter Egg kits.

On the other she showed us how to do a winter scene.

Your best work is rarely the work you do in your first class but I felt fairly pleased with most of mine and I think others in the class were, too.

And best of all, we had an enormous amount of fun.



Which for me was what it was all about! (Rudolph's red nose is not from the wine Michelle served, but some of my boo-boos may be related!)

Oh, and here's something to remember. A few days after the class, Pat, who attended with me, came over and she said "I liked my cards better the next day." And I agreed in terms of mine. If you aren't pleased with your work, or even if you are, leave it for awhile and come back later. You probably will like it better when you aren't so close to the frustration of getting it right. And if you don't, you can make any corrections or modifications when you aren't perhaps so stressed.

Do you make your own Christmas cards or some of them? Photos? Collage? Paint? Mixed Media? Do you make every card individually or do you photograph or scan and then print. (I recommend VistaPrint.com for nice quality, excellent prices and frequent sales.) Share!

Random November

I'm working on a couple of other posts that seem to be taking longer to get right. So until I do, I thought I'd share a bit of random sights from my neck of the woods.

This fabulous peace fence greeted me after my watercolor class this weekend (that's one of the posts I'm working on).

Isn't it wonderful? Makes me happy to look at it!

It was a good weekend indeed -- choreographer/dancer Billy Bell ("So You Think You Can Dance") was in residence at MSU's theatre department and spent time choreographic a piece with the university's dance group.

In addition to the department's performance of Billy's piece, Happendance, an area dance collective, also performed several pieces.

It was really exciting to see these talented young women (and a couple of men) perform.

And even more interesting to hear Billy talk about his vision in choreographing the piece, the music he selected and working with the students and community.

I admire dancers so much. Their grace, talent and flexibility are all qualities of which I have little. Bad feet? Yes. I've got those! This much we have in common!

The event was held at the dance studio which is located in this converted barn.

It houses a number of tenants, including a church fellowship and the studios for music lessons.

And it was a perfect day. Brilliant blue sky.

Even the shadows were interesting!

Hunting season opens soon and I dread what might happen to the deer at the ditch (that I have yet to see this summer) or others.

These two were in the yard across the street from a friend of mine -- a fairly busy residential neighborhood.

They seemed right at home -- and very wary.

I leave you with another look at the peace fence.

Let there be peace on earth. And let it begin with me.

This posts joining the Share Your Cup blog link party. Check in HERE for more fun links to exciting and creative holiday fun! 

Getting Our Holiday Groove On

Many of you may know that every year I do an annual holiday sale with other artists in one of the artists home. It was last week and I wanted to share some of the photos.



There were ten of us this year and we all do complementary but different things. For example, there are several jewelers but their work is very different.

I had my silk scarves that I learned thanks to Elizabeth's blog! Dig into her tutorials for some fun ideas!



I also had quite a collection of mixed media collage cards, along with photo cards in two sizes.

The small notes are thank you sized, the larger ones 5x7.



For the first time I put some of my watercolors on the cards. I was so happy those went well!

I was also pleased to see Thanksgiving cards sell. I always wonder who still buys cards. At least a few people do!

I had a few other things too, mostly holdovers from previous years. Those include some mixed media canvases and plaster boxes.



The little Scrabble tile pieces had a few fans, too!

Of course, there were tags, journals, pocket-sized silk kleenex holders, mini-notebooks lots of fun things!



My fellow artists created calendars, pottery soap dishes, soap and lotions, pens and accessories, cozy knits, ornaments, coasters, keepsake boxes and so much more. I think we did a lot of our own shopping too!



And we had lots of good treats and door prizes.

After I fill some special orders this week, the remaining inventory will be available if anyone is interested. If you are, let me know in the comments and I will probably create a link or blog page here where you can take a look.

This posts joining the Share Your Cup blog link party. Check in HERE for more fun links to exciting and creative holiday fun!