But anyway, moving swiftly on… Day 1: ta-dah!!

I like to put up a wreath on December the first- for me, it signifies the start of Advent, the build-up to Christmas. Fergal will make a wreath for the front door, and this one is for my large window in the kitchen (where the crystal hangs and through which we watch the birds- this window is in constant focus for us!)

I started with a round polystyrene ring (you could also use a wire hanger, padded with newspaper taped on) and to this glued strips of an old book:

I cut out leaf shapes from the book pages and gave them a wash of watercolour paint in 2 shades of green.

As ever, my omnipresent helper (as ever, doing her own thing. I sometimes give myself a little dart of shock to think that some day, some day, I will craft by my lonesome. It simply never happens. Rare to have one by my side, usual to have at least three, often I have four (the teen no longer crafts with us, just hangs around in case some home baking is involved and he is called on to help nosh the lot))

Arrange these in a pleasing arrangement on the ring and glue down.

Gather your buttons: I used all reds with the odd deep pink thrown in- red is the complementary of green, so in a green arrangement if you use a dash (or several) of red, it makes the green “sing: (or at least it should)

I arranged my buttons off-centre in a group- you could, if you were a more organised and linear person than I, arrange them in equal distance from one another around the ring, or in any other combination that pleases your eye!

I simply glued these down with PVA, then when dry, attached the hanging ribbon with slightly stronger glue to make sure it all held.

In situ: the crystal hangs inside the wreath (this was a happy accident!)

We are also going to do this great idea from Karen-

“During the Advent season, whoever comes to the house traces his/her hand on paper and the hand gets added to the wreath… As our Advent prayers are said, we remember, especially, to pray for all those people who are a part of our wreath” ~ what a really lovely idea!

See you tomorrow for more Crafty-Advent-Craftiness!

]]> http://blog.thenest.ie/2011/12/01/craftadvent-day-1/feed/ 9 http://blog.thenest.ie/2011/09/18/pages-from-a-sketchbook-2/ http://blog.thenest.ie/2011/09/18/pages-from-a-sketchbook-2/#comments Sun, 18 Sep 2011 17:58:58 +0000 Emily http://blog.thenest.ie/?p=2903 Thank goodness I had a sketchbook when I was in hospital…

These were drawings I did the night before our little man was born: first in pen, then coloured in with (all I had to hand) “Staedler Crayon Twistables”! I usually use paint but the slow layering of crayon colour was very meditative!! 

These were painted as an affirmation or a prayer that our baby would just come out safely (By that time; the night before he was born, I was very worried something was wrong with him because I had been so sick)

I didn’t have a plan as such when I started drawing these, and I just made up the wording as I wrote…

As organised as ever

a- where did we fit it all in the house?

b- why doesn’t the house look empty???

I stand at the door of the studio and think: (and frequently shriek) “Oh my goodness, look the the amount of “stuff” we have amassed over the years!!” (Fergal is also an artist and despite all his protests, is as much of a hoarder as me)

I have had practically no time this week-it has been non-stop to-ing and fro-ing, so the sorting and cataloguing of this is taking forever (and won’t it be fantastic when we are done?)

But we will get there- shelves are being filled, boxes labelled, paints stored together, material folded, half finished projects are being re-examined…

 ideas are piling up;

excitement and longing to paint, print, craft: is filling this wonderful space!

These are elaborately layered personalized art pieces…..unique to each child.

These personalized paintings are one of a kind, painted using mixed media: paint, collage, stitching, buttons and photos.  They make great gifts and can be done in any theme/color scheme to match a nursery or child’s room!  Each painting is completely original and can be personalised with name, date of birth, birth weight & time etc.

I also have made these:

 This is a limited edition print of an original painting which can be inscribed with the name, date of birth, birth weight etc ….. making it unique to the child. Each print will be signed, dated and numbered, and only a limited number of 10 are printed of each painting.

The original painting was painted using watercolour inks and pens.

Available in our shop, and as soon as I can get my Etsy shop up and running too!

My dear friend Tara came over yesterday and we had a lovely lunch and chat.

A little present of a gorgeous magazine for my cup of tea in the afternoon….

And some artworks… (I need to balance my brain after all the Homeopathy case work…) these ones are mixed media, paint and collage, not finished yet, have to and have a think where to go next with these

This is collage, a bit strange I know, more work to do…

“The Forgetting and the Remembering”

This is mixed media also: paint, collage, hand dyed vintage laces and buttons

And a few tags, they are ATC size, double the delight!!!