A Healing Christmas

Christmas for me this year took on a whole new meaning.

It was hard at first to get into the spirit of Christmas.

Or at least, the commercial spirit of Christmas.

I had no desire to buy gifts for anyone.

All I wanted to give was the profound feeling of love

that I had in my heart for my family.

But I didn't know how to wrap that up and give it as a gift.

So, I went to my art corner, and started creating.

I decided the best way to show my love and to start healing my heart,

was to make something with my hands and let my heart tell me what to do.

So, I did.

My 3 nieces ended up being the recipients of my creations.

Once I knew who I would be making my canvases for, the rest was fairly easy.

My oldest niece has moved far from her family and from me.  We don't get to see each

other very often, which I hate.  But I think she is a very brave woman to have moved

as far away as she has and begin her life with her fiance.  He is in the military and he has to leave her quite often.  She doesn't really know too many people where she lives so I imagine she

has some rough days.  I wanted her to know that no matter where she is in her life, she is

just where she is suppose to be.  And for her to believe in the journey that is her life.

God has a plan for her and all she has to do is believe and it will all take care of itself.

This is the canvas I made for her.

The butterfly has a tough journey before it gets to emerge as the beautiful

creature I know and love.  It's life is filled with challenges to reach it's goal

and finally be able to make it's cocoon and morph.  So for me, the butterfly

represents what hard work and belief in the journey can bring.  You just have to believe.

That is the same way I feel for Jessica.  If she believes, she will be amazed

by the beautiful life she and Joe are destined for.  So that is my wish for her.

Jess's sister Kristina, is also a beautiful soul.  Her faith in God is unyielding and cannot

be shaken.  I admire her so much for her convictions.  Oddly enough, I have learned so much

more about my own faith, because of her.  Isn't it funny how much a 20 year old can teach

a 46 year old without even realizing they are doing it?

I found one of her favorite bible verses, and decided to let it

be what would inspire my canvas for her.

Even though I knew exactly what I was going to do for hers, I struggled with it a lot.

I could not get the colors the way I saw them in my head.  I kept messing with it,

and messing with it and finally just had to stop and say enough already.

Some day I want to make her another one that I feel looks a little better, but I decided

I would still give her this one, knowing that she would understand the love that

went into it, regardless of how it may look.  She made me so happy when

she told me on Christmas day that she had already hung it in her room.

Last but not least, is my niece Meredith. 

She is my youngest niece at the sweet age of 17.

I had been looking at Christy Tomlinsons blog

and looking at her tutorial videos and came across

the tutorial for this canvas.  I immediately thought of

Meredith and her bright, cheery personality.  The colors are

not colors I would normally use in a canvas, but they were so fitting

for her and the happy, cheerful feeling of this canvas.

She and I are always talking about boys and whether or not there is

any special someone in her life, so I know that love or the

possibility of love is always in the air for her.

 If  you want to make this canvas too, you can click on this link and check it out.

Scarlet Lime...Love is in the air.

So after I made all of those for my nieces, I was in the  Spiritual Mood for Christmas.

AND I even felt like going and getting some gifts from the stores.  And I was in a much

better mind set and knew exactly what I was doing for everyone and felt good bout my purchases.

We had a Secret Santa drawing at work, and I made this an opportunity to make more art.

I got the idea from the

http://christytomlinson.typepad.com/christytomlinson/12-artsy-ornaments-of-christmas-workshop.html

You can still do this workshop I believe even though Christmas is over.  It has great ideas that

you can do now for next Christmas if you are still

in the Christmasy mood.

I made the paper Christmas Tree canvas.  I loved, loved, loved making it and
was very happy with how it turned out.  I think my friend whose name I picked, liked it too.
My secret Santa was amazing and bought me Copic Sketch pens, 2 new Somerset magazines,
and watercolor paper.  I was over the moon about my gift.

Okay, here is Angelica's Secret Santa gift.

 

So, when all was said and done, I was ready for Christmas.  My daddy came and spent Christmas with us and all 4 of my boys were with us too.  I will post more about that later and have fun
Christmas pictures to share, but will leave you with this picture of me, my boys and my
dad.  Poor Robby, he never gets to be in the pics because
he is usually taking them.  Sorry about the quality of the picture,
my camera has been acting up lately and making me ANGRY.

But this makes me happy:

 

This is going to look like a repeat post and it is. I am linking up to Natasha'a Christmas linky party over at Keeping the Christmas Spirit Alive 365 and I don't have time this morning to create a whole new post, sorry:(

Thank you Natasha for asking me to join.

Now I am not a decorator or a super talented, artsy, crafty person like most of the amazing women on this house tour, but with the help of one of my sons and some great old ornaments from my mom, I think we did okay. So, let's go take a look.

This little plaque says it all.

First stop is the kitchen and what I like to call, Santa's Village.
These are the old houses my mom and dad passed down to me.
I remember as a child they were under our Christmas Tree every
year, I have done it a little differently, but these are my prized possession.
I took lots of pictures of these.

The kitchen window gets a frosty look from some spray snow

that my son's friends helped to do. Then a Snowman they named John

fills in a big window. A Christmas Cactus with some Holly clippings

make for a simple centerpiece on a table usually full of food.

An old bottle I found in an abandoned house, makes the perfect container for a few

sprigs of Holly on my kitchen windowsill.

The family room is where we put our tree. This year, in memory of my mom,

I used all of the vintage ornaments she gave me with just a few handmade decorations I made in

school when I was really young. I just love these old ornaments and never get tired of them.

We always have a fire in the woodstove, so hanging the stockings from the mantel is not

a good idea because of the heat. So, the mantel gets it's own little wintery scene.

A lighted wreath and a few containers filled with solid colored vintage ornaments and fresh greens cut from our woods finish up the family room.

My nativity scene comes in the form of a German Pyramid that my mom gave to me.

The candles make me nervous when they are lit, so they don't stay lit for long, but I just love it.

This is not such a great picture, but I did want to show you that we do hang our stockings, even if

it isn't from the mantel.

To finish up my little "tour", we go to the foyer where I have a very old

Santa felt stocking hanging on a door, a few fresh cut greens and old glass ornaments,

and another lighted wreath.

Well, that pretty much does it. I hope you have enjoyed looking at my simple little decorations.

I had the best memories of my childhood Christmases and my mom while I was

putting up these decorations. I hope she sees how much I love the traditions she handed down to me.

Here's wishing you all, a Very Merry Christmas!!!

Thanks for coming by.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas Part II

Welcome back and welcome to my first attempt at joining a "linky party."

I am joining in on Jennifer Rizzo's Holidayhouse Walk Party.

Now I am not a decorator or a super talented, artsy, crafty person like most of the amazing women on this house tour, but with the help of one of my sons and some great old ornaments from my mom, I think we did okay.  So, let's go take a look.

This little plaque says it all.

First stop is the kitchen and what I like to call, Santa's Village.
These are the old houses my mom and dad passed down to me.
I remember as a child they were under our Christmas Tree every
year, I have done it a little differently, but these are my prized possession.
I took lots of pictures of these.

The kitchen window gets a frosty look from some spray snow

that my son's friends helped to do.  Then a Snowman they named John

fills in a big window.  A Christmas Cactus with some Holly clippings

make for a simple centerpiece on a table usually full of food.

An old bottle I found in an abandoned house, makes the perfect container for a few

sprigs of Holly on my kitchen windowsill.

The family room is where we put our tree.  This year, in memory of my mom,

I used all of the vintage ornaments she gave me with just a few handmade decorations I made in

school when I was really young.  I just love these old ornaments and never get tired of them.

We always have a fire in the woodstove, so hanging the stockings from the mantel is not

a good idea because of the heat.  So, the mantel gets it's own little wintery scene. 

A lighted wreath and a few containers filled with solid colored vintage ornaments and fresh greens cut from our woods finish up the family room.

My nativity scene comes in the form of a German Pyramid that my mom gave to me.

The candles make me nervous when they are lit, so they don't stay lit for long, but I just love it.

This is not such a great picture, but I did want to show you that we do hang our stockings, even if

it isn't from the mantel.

To finish up my little "tour", we go to the foyer where I have a very old

Santa felt stocking hanging on a door, a few fresh cut greens and old glass ornaments,

and another lighted wreath.

Well, that pretty much does it.  I hope you have enjoyed looking at my simple little decorations.

I had the best memories of my childhood Christmases and my mom while I was

putting up these decorations.  I hope she sees how much I love the traditions she handed down to me.

Here's wishing you all, a Very Merry Christmas!!!

Thanks for coming by.