three canvases

These three little (4"x6") canvases are happily peering at me from the bookshelf lately.

What will they become?

new year's cleaning

My friend Tamaki is from Japan, and she says that before the
Japanese New Year, people undertake a cleaning process
around their homes which is similar to spring cleaning.
I really like this idea of getting the old cleared and the new
prepared at the beginning of the year. Also, it's 60 degrees here,
which makes it much better cleaning weather than the 85-90
we get when it's time for spring cleaning. So we've been
doing some good scrubbing lately, including this refrigerator wash down
that got us back to where we were pre-Thanksgiving.
And ready to fill up again. Hello, Costco!

long walk

ashton's ornament

Happy New Year!

elliott's ornament

Nice typing, huh?

ornaments

I really liked Jodi Ohl's Sweetheart Magnet idea in the

January, 2009 edition of Cloth, Paper, Scissors.

However, turning the whole thing into little Christmas ornaments

seemed more timely, and fun to do with the kids!

So we've been collaging our way through these little 2x3" treasures.

and julie

keith

 

I woke up at four this morning, which certainly wasn't my plan. 

But I'm grateful for the quiet after a week (enjoyably) full of people. 

I've been sensing my kidometer running low. Maybe this will perk it up. 

So here's my Christmas gift for Keith. Scroll down to see the other similar posts..

As for the other delightful gifts exchanged, here's the lowdown: 

Keith wrote wonderful poems for each of us. 

Julie worked with Anna (age 10) to create haikus with watercolor backgrounds. 

Cheryl painted a card for each person with a letter inside about what she likes about them. 

Eric created and hand-illustrated a card game that includes each person in the house 

and their unique characteristics, which we played together at the end of our 

house Christmas celebration.   Oh - and Jesse (age 14)  jumped in with a rap that he had 

recorded and written out for each of the (non-parental) adults in the house. 

All in all, it was a very festive and laughter-filled time. The only person who didn't 

think so was 4-year-old Elliott, who was done exploring his stocking and 

ready to move on to opening his own presents.

The last of these is coming tomorrow, so stay tuned!

for cheryl

This one's for Cheryl.

And a merry Christmas to you!!

homemade Christmas

We celebrate Christmas in many ways and iterations around here. This year, our

household decided that in order to go slightly less overbudget, the adults would

make gifts for each other (even a note would do) and just buy gifts for the kids.

Well, it turned out to be a very fun and funny adventure which the children also

enjoyed participating in. I'll tell you more about it soon. For now, here's my gift

to my husband. It's mixed media on Raffine ArtSketch paper.

And a blessed Christmas Eve to you all!