More on our Christmas preparations

Hi everyone, it's Bellamine and Wendy again. We're going to show you a couple of photos of our decorations that didn't get in to our last post and to tell you what we've been doing to get ready for Christmas.

Mom painted some paper mache gift boxes to put under our little tree. Although they are empty now we're hoping that on Christmas morning they will be filled with little pressies for us. Perhaps some candies or toys will be in them when we open the lids and look inside.

There's a snowman box almost like the one our mom has and a cute ginger boy and a Christmas tree that's next to the star. Thanks Mom.

In our last post we really didn't show much of our tree because we didn't have it finished. Now it is and we're really happy with the way it turned out this year. Our mom has been collecting the ornamnets for this little tree for almost 30 years so we guess it's her tree as much as it is ours. Doesn't it look like it has snow on it? Mom said we could choose a Santa to sit next to it so we picked this one cause we like the pressies in his arms.

Mom is always rearranging things. If you look at the last post the three little Chrsitmas bears were on the other side of the everygreens and those BEE-U-TEE-FULL hand painted wine glasses weren't there. The wine glasses were a gift from our mom's friend Miss Crystal from Crystal Clear. Mom has already tried them out and says she thinks they make the wine taste even better. We asked for a sip to see if she was right and thought the wine still tasted YUCKY!!

There's a new ornie on the big tree that came in the mail the day after the wine glasses. Do you see it? It's a BEE-U-TEE-FULL beaded ornie with beads that spell Maddy Rose that our dear friend Karen Anne from Ireland Brady made. Mom just loves it and she and our grown up sister want to learn how to make some so we can have even more on our tree next year. We would make some for our little tree but it's really hard to work with beads when you have paws.

Today we're putting on aprons and giving our mom some much need help with the Christmas baking. We're hoping that we're going to be making gingerbread boys because one of the ingredients is mole-you-know-whats. Heheheheheheheheh Get it? Mole-asses. We know it's not really said like that but it's funnier when you do say it that way. It always makes the boys laugh.

Well that's it for us today. We're going to check the blog list really quick to see if we missed any posts and then we're off to help with cookies. Mom always lets us eat the ones that get broken and we feel a case of oopsies coming on.

Hugs,

Bellamine & Wendy

More Christmas Decorations

I've been busy decorating in the dining room and living room and have taken a few pictures to share with you. I've cut back a bit on the decorating this year as some of the boxes didn't make it down from the attic when my helpers were here and I'm unable to get them down on my own. That would require me to climb a ladder and this old broad doesn't do ladders. I'm too clumsy for that. Anyway I've decided that less is best right about now. I've been driving myself and everyone around me nuts trying to do too many things and now I'm all for trying to enjoy the rest of the time between now and Christmas morning. I've gifts to finish making and buying. Then there's baking for here and for gifts to be given to friends and neighbors. I also have my special fudge to make. Plenty of things left to do so I'll go ahead and show you some photos of some of my decorating.

Starting in the dining room here is the buffet with my very first Belsnickle.

There is an everyday Christmas print table cloth on the table which will be replace with a dressier one on Christmas day.

This is the tree with the handmade ornaments and the tree skirt is a patchwork one that I made about 25 years ago. I made matching Christmas stockings for each family member including the grandchildren. There are only two of the stockings still here at the house and will be hung on the mantel on Christmas eve.

As you can see, I didn't need to be worried about the tree being skimpy on ornaments. The only ornaments that aren't handmade are some little red apples that I added to give it some more red. Usually I use a lot of red in my Christmas decorating.

On the mantel there are some handmade NQR hearts from Oma Linda and a snowman and Santa from my sister Maggie. There is also an angel shelf sitter and a couple of snowman stocking holders nestled in there among the holly leaves and berries.


On the hearth there are some of my little snow kiddies and the stuffed snow couple were made by Maggie and given to me a few years ago. I have a much larger snowman collection but they're still in the attic.

This is one of my two treadle sewing machines that are in the living room. I've covered the top with a small Christmas quilt and have the patchwork Santa standing guard.

The only other Santa that I have sitting out is the one on the coffee table. I chose the two that are my Avatar. This one and the one on the buffet. They are the second and third Santa figures that I sculpted when I first started working with paper mache clay and are part of my personal collection. You can see a bit of my other antique sewing machine off to the side of the sofa.

Okay, that's about all of the decorations I took photos of before my camera battery died. I'm not sure when I'll be doing another post as I need to finish up on my things to do list but I'll try to get around to as many of your blogs as I can.

I sure hope all of you are enjoying you week and have just about all of those things that needed doing done.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Our First Tree Decorated

I finally got one tree decorated this morning and as soon as I finish here I'm starting on the second one.  This tree has been decorated with ornaments that I've had at least 20 years or more. On this tree are Baby's first ornaments for each of my grandchildren and several snowmen with our names on them. Many of the ornaments are Hallmark Keepsake and others are ones that just caught my fancy and I had to have them. I know my bear gang is thrilled as they were starting to think we weren't going to have a tree this year. Bellamine hasn't stopped clapping her paws and jumping around since she woke up this morning. So, without further comments from yours truly here are some photos.

I took some closeups of some of my favorite ornaments. I've noticed that lately clicking on a photo doesn't necessarily make it larger. Don't you just love the kitten in the basket? Then there's the little bunny with the key to your heart. This tree has at least a dozen snowmen and several Santa Claus ornies. There's even a unicorn.

I will be posting again when I get another tree decorated. The next one is going to be decorated with the ornaments that I've been making.

I hope all of you have gotten many of your preparations and decorating completed so that you're able to relax with that cup of tea or cocoa and a cookie or two. If not you're in the same boat as I find myself but now I'm beginning to feel more confident that I might actually get all of my preparations completed on time. Wish me luck.

As always, thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays to all of you.

TOO MUCH TO DO, NOT ENOUGH TIME

Since my last post a week ago I've been busy trying to get caught up on my Christmas preparations. I've been up hours before the crack of dawn and have been working nonstop trying to get to a point where I feel like I've got everything under control and can take a break and relax. It isn't happening. I'm just as far behind as I was a week ago, maybe even further behind if that's even possible. I don't even have a Christmas tree up and I've never been this late in doing that. I have however made more ornaments just in case I do get one up so I have something to decorate it with.

Here is a sample of some of the ornaments that I've been making in my "spare time". Spare time is found in those hours when the rest of the world is asleep.

I showed you some of the little paper mache Santa heads, here are some of the elves that work making toys for those good girls and boys.

These little heads are fun to make and I love painting their faces but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to stop making them if I ever plan on getting them out there on a tree. I've managed to make two dozen for myself. I've been sharing them with my sisters or I'd have more.

I've also spent some of that spare time on making two dozen stuffed fabric heart shaped cushions. I got the idea from one of the blogs that I follow, sorry I can't remember which one so I can't give credit where credit is due. These little hearts have allowed me to use up some of the fabric that I have secreted away in boxes. If I make two dozen of these a year, it would take me until I'm 110 years old to use up the fabric stash, that is if I don't go out and buy more. As a bonus, making these hearts lets me use up some of that fiber fill too.

I've used four fabrics that go well together and if you look closely you can also see some of the clothes pin Santa ornaments I made a few weeks ago. I remember where I got the idea for these. Thank you Denise. That would be Denise from Country Creations by Denise. I didn't make them exactly like she did but close enough. I made thirty of these little guys. Next year I'll get around to making the clothes pin reindeer.

I just noticed that I have 100 followers now. Wow!! I never thought when I started blogging last March that I'd ever have this many people interested in seeing what I've been up to. I just want to let you know how much I appreciate your interest and thank you for spending some of your time here with me. 

I should get back to work. I need to get some of my mess cleared away so I have a space to set up a tree or two. I still haven't gotten them down from the attic as my usual helpers never got around to doing that yet. I guess I've been too busy to do a proper job of nagging.

I'll be getting my baking under way this week and I need to get the Christmas cards in the mail. I still have gifts to shop for and so many other things to get done so I may not be around much in the next few weeks. I'll try to visit as many blogs as I can and may not always have time to comment but we'll catch up later I'm sure.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

PHOTOS FROM CHRISTMAS PAST

I've recently been going through old photos to try and find some that I can scan and make into Christmas cards for my grand kids. You'd think I'd have tons of pictures but that's not the case and half of the ones I do have are fuzzy.

Years ago I took photos all of the time with my trusty 35mm camera with all of the expensive lenses and attachments. This was not an automatic camera mind you and since I needed to focus manually as my eyesight worsened so did the quality of my photos. I started taking fewer photos and let my kids do most of the picture taking when we got together for holidays. For some reason they never felt the need to share with me as the pictures were of their children. Go figure. Since then I've purchased a couple of cameras that are automatic but up until recently haven't taken enough photos to even bother getting photo boxes.

So going through the photos I came across a few I thought I'd share with you. While I was searching through the packets I started feeling nostalgic for the days when my grands were young and innocent. I really miss the excitement of the holidays as demonstrated by the young. You've heard the saying Christmas is about the kids? Maybe it's just something I say. It's pretty much how I feel about this time of year. I'd love to have a time machine and go back to the years when my kids were little and getting up on Christmas morning.

Here are a couple of photos taken the Christmas of 1992. I was living in Vancouver at the time.

Santa's helper setting gifts under the tree. Not all of us helpers are elves you know.

Sitting on the sofa is my daughter, Bambi and her friend. I'm in the center of the photo, I think hubby took the picture and since I was passing out gifts he thought I was the main figure in the setting. In the foreground are the tops of my grand's heads. I don't think they would be impressed with this picture of them. I'm showing you it because this is what I looked like 20 years ago.  Not too shabby for being a grandma.

This is one of the few photos of AJ during that time period. I think he was shy around me because he really didn't remember who I was. He's holding a picture of himself and his brother that I had sitting on a shelf.

This is Christmas of 1994 and Ariel and Donovan sitting with me in front of my tree. I just noticed we're all dressed in black and gray. Not very festive. Ariel was 3 1/2 and Donovan was 7 at the time of this picture.

Ariel looked so excited and happy with her new sweater while Donovan looked more subdued. Must be the age difference.

Donovan with a few of his gifts taking a break waiting for someone else to open a present.

Okay, I guess I have to confess that we were all goth this Christmas. That or there was a terrific sale on black. Bambi actually did wear black most of the time and I've been known to have a dozen black dresses at one time hanging in my closet.

Ariel got this large chocolate bear the night before Christmas and insisted on sleeping with him. She did want him to wear some of her pajamas and was disappointed when they didn't fit.

These pictures are some of the last ones I took back then. I have more but they really are so terrible I'd be embarrassed to show them.

I'm still working on my ornaments. I've made 30 by painting Santa on clothes pins and have made several more cookie ornaments. I'm not happy with most of the last batch of cookies and don't think I'll waste time painting them. I might be able to salvage some stars and trees and a couple of the snowmen but for the most part I wouldn't think of hanging  them on the tree. I'd rather the tree be skimpy on ornaments. I also have a Belsnickle nearly ready to paint and two more in the early stages. I have some fabric ornaments cut out ready to be stitched and some paper ornaments that I've started.

Thanksgiving is in just a few days. I went out this morning and did my shopping for the dinner I'm preparing. I tried to think of everything I'll need but you know how that goes. I'll be in the middle of my preparations and realize I forgot to get_________, fill in the blank.

How about you? Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving? My son and son-in-law got down my Christmas dishes from the attic this morning while my daughter and I were grocery shopping. They put the boxes in the living room of all places. One of the things I like to do is switch the dishes out and use only the Christmas ones during the month of December. The guys were just trying to get ahead on things I need help with not thinking about a house full of people on Thursday. I found out today that Donovan won't be able to make it as he's on tour. I'd better do some more checking to see if there are going to be any more no shows.

I want to wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving. I pray you have family and friends to surround you and a wonderful meal on the table. I wish you health and happiness and that you have a day so memorable that years from now you'll think about this one Thanksgiving day with a fond heart. Thanks to all of you who have become so important to me. To those who have left encouragement to me in your lovely comments. To those who've become dear friends I say thank you.

I should get back to my painting.  As always thanks for stopping by.

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

I have this habit of waiting until the very last minute to finish a project and sometimes I wait until it's almost too late to start one.

Case in point, I've decided to decorate the living room Christmas tree with nothing but hand made ornaments, and although it's a wonderful idea and I really am glad I thought of it, why did I wait until last week to start?

I associate gingerbread men cookies with Christmas and figured they would be fun to make so those went on the to-do list. Salt dough seemed like a logical choice for making them so I went on line and did some research and found a recipe I thought might work well. Okay, here's where I tell you that I've never made salt dough before and haven't played with play dough for many many years so I had no idea of what to expect as far as what the final results would be.

I wasn't really crazy with the way the "cookies" made with the dough came out but went ahead and decorated them and they'll get put on the tree as I'm running short of time and need all the ornaments I can make so the tree doesn't look too bare. Once the first 6 gingerbread men were cut out I cut out 6 Santa cookies. Here's a sampling of both styles.

Part of the reason I wasn't really thrilled with the salt dough is I didn't expect it to puff up as it did on some of the pieces or warp as it did on others. I've got another recipe that I'm going to make today and hopefully it will work better than this last one did.

The next ornies I'm going to show you I made with paper mache clay. I had some pmc left in the container that wasn't enough to start one of the larger pieces and I nearly dumped it when I decided to play around and see what I could make with it. The following three ornaments were so much fun that I've made more that I'm waiting for them to dry so I can paint them.

They're not quite finished as I've got to add a cord loop for hanging them. These Santa heads are about 5" long and 1" wide. The next ones are a bit larger.

Even though I'm getting a late start on making my ornaments I hope to get enough finished by the time I start decorating the tree so it's not too skimpy. Besides the cookies and Santa heads I'm hoping to get a few stitched ornaments finished.

I'm really not too concerned though as I've got plenty of help painting. Here are a few of my helpers.

Okay gang, break time is over, back to work. Don't forget to put your paint smocks back on before you start painting.

As always, thanks for stopping by.