A Gift from my Sister....from the heart

Desk Top Calendar
with my art!

My sister, who is a "techie extraordinaire", put together this calendar using my art that she photographed (unbeknownst to me).  She used Shutterfly. Above is the cover which is actually part of some art on a journal cover that I have.  She said it was challenging to fit the photos to the program as she was using parts of my art, not an entire page.  See further...

The art on the left is part of the first page of a journal I started last January.  

And here is February.....with the bird above.

March...the Raggedy Ann legs...so love this if I say so myself.  

April says "Your life is big.  Keep reaching".  The way Dianne cropped the photos so those words weren't lost is perfect!

May...May flowers in bloom!  I'm showing you all of the months....

June is actually the same as the calendar cover, COLOR.

July, below....

August...

For August she chose the boat painting which I did in a Paint and Wine class, and also a painting from one of my journals, Moroccan architecture.

September...a sentimental favorite

October...the artist at work....

November...

...the playful side of me, it says "what do you do when no one is watching"

December, last but not least...HOME.

I can't even begin to share what this calendar means to me.  So special...she put a lot of time into putting it together.  And I love her color choices for the calendar months themselves that go so well with the paintings.  It's all just amazing and I love it.  (When the calendar is open...it sits like a tent, the black being the bottom when the calendar is opened). I LOVE IT!!!

Christmas Rewind....

 ...the rewind

Mirror reflection

My Favorite Things

Christmas for me is always a roller coaster of emotions.  It begins with the boxes in the attic that hold all of the decorations.  The reminders of Christmas' past when I was a child, up through when my son was a child, to present time when you reminisce about it all...lots of stories exchanged and remembering those no longer here.  I set the table with a vintage looking post card, napkins from my neighbor (something new!) and I remember shopping for that china with my mother back in the early '70's.

A glimpse at the table...the red water goblets belonged to my mother, grandmother...and possibly my great-grandmother, but I'm not sure about that.

I didn't take photos of the food...we changed it up this year by having braised short ribs, new potatoes, green peas...so delicious.  We had a berry crisp with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream for dessert. 

Virginia's Baby Cup

Virginia was my mother's mother (my middle name), who died before my parents were married.  Based on the time period when she was born, I'm guessing Virginia was a popular name back in the late 1890's, when that famous editorial appeared in The Sun, a NY newspaper , in response to a letter from an 8 yr old girl named Virginia, asking if there was a Santa Claus. Speculation on my part...but the timing is right. So this baby cup is one of my favorite things.

More of my favorites in the kitchen cabinet...old and new.

....and more on the mantel.

...and more...

It was great having my sister, Dianne and Steve here, and of course, my son, Tom...who is the best gift of all. 

NO TIME FOR ART....

60+ Degrees

I've never gone this long without posting some art...but I haven't had time to do any!  I took this photo this morning because I love the shadows the trees are making on the lawn. As beautiful as the fall is here in CT...it requires the most clean-up of any of the seasons...it takes up my weekends!  

Now I am in my usual Christmas "frenzy" of trying to get things done.  It doesn't feel like Christmas with these temps, but I do appreciate that I'm not out on slippery roads trying to get my shopping done.  

I didn't take any of my sentimental ornaments out for the tree this year...but I do like the overall look...

It's all glass icicles, red wooden bead garland and red glass bead garland.  It sparkles nicely!  

I'm still trying to put my living room and dining room back together after having it painted right after Thanksgiving.  It's a work in progress for sure.  I don't know where I want to hang everything because I don't want it to be the same as it was....thus the art has taken up residence in my guest room along with the books I had in my living room awaiting reassignment.  

This is the first Christmas in awhile that I haven't created something handmade for someone on my list.  That's often the best part of Christmas but it just wasn't meant to be this year. 
Now I'm waiting for the "all is calm" part of Christmas....