december again . . .

i look so forward to december every year. christmas has to be one of my favorite holidays. i love the vintage holiday ornaments and christmas lights covered in snow. it seems we are always baking something together and my studio becomes littered with scaps of wrapping. there are secrets in the air and the tree smells so good. we make hot cocoa and sit by the tree waiting for that special night. now that i won't spoil the surprise here is what we sent my sister kris in florida.




the santa cup is only 2 inches tall and says 10 cents made in japan. tapegirl painted the merry monster and the snow bunny in the top photo. she has a new blog up--i know i'm going to love it!
i made the vintage stars for the ornament i gave away this year.
tomorrow i am taking down the tree and all the decorations. i guess i will pack away the tinsel and garland. school starts already on wednesday.
looking forward to december next year this is my calendar page for december 2008.
our art group is putting together a calendar with each of us taking a month. here is marilyn's february calendar to get you excited about valentines day.
i'll link up the other months as the gals post them. we get to see the whole thing at our January art group. cant wait!


and here are a couple more pages that i made for my nostalgic book of days.





time to say goodbye to the chex mix and dark chocolate orange sticks, sleeping in and staying up way too late! we are planning on making tempura veggies tomorrow night to welcome the new year. i hope you are planning some wonderful festivities for tomorrow.

happy, happy, julie

one spot left for february art nest. . .

a little bird told me there is one spot left for our february art nest retreat!

i guess you could put in a good word with this guy and say you really, really want to come. . .



then you could make a tiny paper chain and count down the 61 days until you would come enjoy 4 days with these amazing artists.





visions of mushrooms will dance in your heads ~~ anahata


nestled all snug in their beds~~ pam


a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer~~ amy

maybe send a tiny note with one of santas elfs to us here in the snow to say you'll go. . .
theartnest@hotmail.com

what. . .you didn't know santa used hotmail? he's a busy guy :)

merry, merry. from the nest

tinsel wreath tutorial

i am a bit of a vintage tinsel junkie. . .

so there was this big ball of green and silver tinsel at the antique store in Omaha for $1.00.
i couldn't resist. even though it looked a bit ratty and melted in places from sitting a little too close to those old big bulb lights on someone's tree fifty years ago. i had visions of little wreaths adorning all my packages.

i am working like a little christmas elf making a big pile of tinsel wreaths tonight and thought i would share how to make them.

the tinsel i am using is 1 1/2 inches wide. you could use a smaller tinsel and make a smaller wreath, or loop it around twice to get the fullness.


the bows are from dollar tree $1.00 for 12. they are a fun old looking velveteen ribbon with a wired silver cord twisted around the center. here is the tiny 1 inch bottle brush wreath that was my inspiration.



step 1. cut 7 inches of tinsel and gather together a small red bow, 5 glass garland beads, and Aleene's tacky glue.



step 2. form the tinsel into a circle 3 1/2 inches across. overlap the two tinsel ends and secure by twisting the silver wired cord around the tinsel. trim ends



step 3. put a bit of glue on one side of the glass garland bead and nestle it down into the tinsel.


this is last years tinsel wreath with the addition of silver stars and some foil garland.



enjoy, julie

the nostalgic book of days

occasionally a small, worn book will call to me from the shelf and i will know right away what it will be.
that is how 'the story of the other wise' man came to be in my shopping sack and walking out the door.
published in 1895 with red cloth covers and gold printing it is rather magical. the story is charming and the slender size of the book a pleasure.
it has become the nostalgic book of days. i left a small space on each page to write about the day and to record my feelings as december 25th draws nigh. here is the beginning. . .