It's Christmas-time!

I think I'm still stuffed from Thanksgiving! We went to my mom's for the big day, so I fixed a turkey for us on Friday. It's just not Thanksgiving weekend if I don't have turkey sandwiches for days.

I also got up at 4:00 a.m. on Friday and hit the sales. Yes, I'm one of *those* people. I LOVE shopping on that day. I plan out my route on Thanksgiving night and hit the stores early. I managed to get everything that was on my list! And, I have just about all my shopping done! I have just one more thing to get for Mike and one thing for my mother. This gives me time to make some of my gifts. Mike did a little shopping on that day, too. He brought home a 42" plasma screen TV. The picture is beautiful AND he got a GREAT deal on it.

I am really looking foreward to Christmas this year. Last year, Mike spent the holidays freezing his tush off high in the mountains of Afghanistan, while Nicholas and I were trying to be merry here. It was not the best Christmas, to say the least.

Here is a photo of my dear husband and Rita Cosby, from MSNBC. We refer to her as Mike's second wife. LOL. He has always liked her, so this was a big treat for him. BTW, this is the hanger he lived and worked in.
Rita came to their base in Afghanistan just before Christmas with a group of pro wrestlers that were there to entertain the troops. We've never been wrestling fans, but I gained a new respect for them for going all the way over there to entertain our troops...On to the present. We are all happy at home this Christmas. I wish everyone was.

I promised another picture from Art and Soul. This was a bracelet I made on the first day of A&S. I even made the head pins. Oh! I can't tell you how much I love to fuse silver wire!! I really love this bracelet and I wear it all the time. The large tear-drop beads are a pink and black stone and the small ones are pink glass.
I made this in a class taught by Lisa Call. She is a wonderful artist and a patient teacher. For Christmas, my husband is getting me all the tools I need to start fusing silver wire. I reaaaaaally love to melt metal. I can't wait to make chains for the soldered charms I already make.

More Art and Soul goodies

I finally got my camera and a couple of projects from Art and Soul on the same floor of my house. It sounds easy, but for some reason, it never is!

This is the book I made in the dark with the Ashmans. Yes, in the dark. Our class was held in the bar at the nearby Holiday Inn. The ceiling was painted black and the lighting was just about non-existent. The facilities staff at the Holiday Inn was wonderful, though. They brought in lamps from other parts of the hotel and helped us as best they could. Of course, the other side of the room had lights that kept shutting off when they got over-heated! Most of us stayed and made the best of it. The Ashmans have the BEST projects! This covers of this book are beautifully textured Baroque glass with copper plumbers tape around the edge, framing printed transparencies. The bolts on the right side of the cover are not put in yet, as I need to grind my glass down just a smidge.

The spine is made from more plumbers tape, nuts, bolts, washers and a cut-up metal coat hanger. It's really a clever binding idea. I love this book! It truly looks like a relic from the sea.

More show and tell this week...

I'm still here!

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted!

Here is my first installment of "What I did at Art and Soul". Strangely enough, this is what I created in my class on the last day. But, it's scanned and I wanted to post, so here goes.

Albie Smith is a FANTASTIC teacher. She is very low-keyed and gentle, with a great wit. She was perfect for my last day, when I was running on adrenaline and my brain was on art overload. The technique we worked on required letting go of planning and over-thinking things. (Two of my vices!) The class had a very cool name: "Opulent Patterns and the Cross Structure Book". Sounds serious, doesn't it? We made paste papers and constructed a very beautiful , yet simple book structure. Here is the cover of mine:


It was all very intuitive and free-flowing. Perfect for the last day! Here is a page from the inside:


We used foam stamps, rubber stamps, stencils and plastic doilies. I remember my grandmother having plastic doilies! They are great for stamping. One of the paints we used was a wonderful bronze paint from Golden. It had bronze and green in it and I could have used that all day!

That's it for today. Tomorrow we close on the house we sold! And, it's our 16th wedding anniversary. Now *there's* a great way to start year 17!