William

Well, I have to admit that I haven't been incorporating art into my life the last few weeks as I had hoped when I started on this part of my journey.

Most of my time has either been working, or more importantly, being with Will. He has spent more time playing than wanting to create art.

Two days ago he went to the hospital where he will be for about two months. While visiting yesterday we talked about drawing, he said he's drawn some Mario pictures for his walls and asked me to draw him some pictures for his walls. This is what I brought him today. Can't show you a picture of them on his walls, as there are no cameras (or anything) allowed on the ward.

He seemed happy to have them and his roommate liked the Pokemon Togapi the best. ;-)

The day after

Traditionally today is the day that the Christmas tree, and decorations go as well as making the pip-a-neir. ( a danish cookie, however in recent years this has been pushed back to Saturdays or Sundays)  Well, I got the tree and decorations up.  I think I counted at least 2000 lights on my tree.  Seriously.  I like a bright tree.  The sad truth is, I really want to go out and get another 400 lights, the top of the tree is looking pretty dim to me.
Remember all those snowflakes I made?  Well, before decorating the tree, I put up several and took a picture.  It looked so pretty, I think I may have to make a few hundred more for next year and only put up the snowflakes. 

with just the lights, see?  Doesn't the top look dim compared to the bottom?

I think next year the tree will be full of snowflakes like these!

I love decorating for the holidays, My house has changed over the last few years.  I seem to have less space to decorate, as my son's needs have taken over the whole of the dining room, and half my table space in the living room has been taken over by Sophie (our hamster).  But what I did do I think looks cute, I didn't take pictures of the pictures on the walls though.

Handmade wooden santas, made by my grandfather, and painted by my grandmother and mother.  These were left over from the days when our family used to have a big Christmas craft sale at Ledgeview Farm.  I miss those days.

My only spot in the once dining room- now Will's therapy room.  I may loose this soon, here's hoping it stays till Christmas!

Some of my colored snowflakes ended up in some windows.  Including my front door, thanks to a friends suggestion.

The Christmas tree is always my favorite.  I dread putting it up because I sneeze the rest of the day, and this year was no exception.  -sneeze- (bless me) And the lights drive me crazy.  I hate putting the lights on, but they look so pretty when done that it's totally worth it.  This year, after the lights were on and 3/4 of the decorations were up, the lights started to act up.  I had 3 fuses blow, and a string that's temperamental, oy vey!   Well, at last they seem to be working, I hope they stay that way!

Will was such a big help putting up the tree, decorating it, and making me take breaks throughout the day to spend quality with my favorite person in the whole world.  Who could ask for a better day than that?

Will put up the garlands by himself, did NOT want my help!

And here's our tree this year.  It's so beautiful.  It's hard to see all the ornaments with this blinding light though. ;-)

My favorite part of the day was putting up this wall display.  Now dad can see what I did with all those 4"x4" blocks of wood he cut for me.  And yes, I meant for it to look random.  I'm hoping to add to this wall in the future.

What did you enjoy today?

My new hat-ette

So, I was over at  delia creates   where I got this really cute idea for a hat.  I didn't have the items she called for in her instructions so I went with what I had.  I think it still came out cute, maybe not as cute as Delia's though.  Here's where I went:
http://deliacreates.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween-hat-ettes.html

and here's what I made:

Sorry, I didn't get a real model to wear it.  Will refused, and so did I.  Just realized I forgot the stem, I guess when I picked this one the stem didn't come with it. 
My son Will was making light sabers while I made this little hat-ette, then we went for a walk in the neighborhood.

I love burning bushes in the fall, ours always seems to be late in turning red, but it's catching up.

Reminds me of Christmas and how life should be

I just thought this was interesting.  Will did not share my enthusiasm for stopping to take this picture.  He thought I was weird.

Apples

What?  Well it's been a few days since I've posted anything.  Update: wedding project almost complete.  Otherwise I've been busy with work and child rearing.  I managed to get out and go apple picking.  So inspired to make apple crisps, and lots and lots of apple sauce.  But I also think of all the crafts and art that can and are made with apples.  A great project to do with your child is to make apple prints.  Where you cut the apple in half and stamp it on paper.  What a great idea for wrapping paper!  I've never been into the whole dried apple dolls, but how fascinating to think that people can carve faces out of fruit.  What other arts/crafts do you use apples for?

I even got Will involved and picking only the most perfect apples he could find.

 We found a beautiful dragonfly that wasn't camera shy:

We also tried our hand at candy apples that night.  Will thought they were a great treat for dessert, but very sticky.

 Do apples inspire you?  More on apples later I'm sure!

People who have inspired me

Today, I feel like contemplating why I feel the need to fill my life with art and beauty.  I've always felt this way, but haven't necessarily always followed through.  This summer I met a beautiful young woman named Eileen Palmer who is very artistic, she draws and paints and I'm sure does many other wonderful and beautiful things.  I met her at my camp Empire Grove at camp-meeting.  She came with her mother who was the guest minister for the week.  She was sitting on the chapel stairs sketching one of the camps on the grounds.  We started talking, she gave me her blog address and I've been following and been inspired ever since.  You can go to my profile and see her blog there it's called "nature, whimsy, reflection"  I'd add the link here but I'm not that technilogically advanced.
Now while Eileen definitely renewed my passion, it was always there.  There are many others who have inspired me.  For example, with crocheting, although I've been doing it for a while my friend Sarah was the first to inspire me to make animals, before it was only afghans and scarves, with a few dishcloths, mittens and hats thrown in for variety.  But now, when I know someone is having a baby, out comes the yarn and an animal is on it's way!  Well, maybe not all the time, but you know what I mean.
I have a very dear friend (through my mother) who is amazing.  Whatever I have seen through pictures or in real life that she has created inspires me to learn to do it for myself.  She has just started her own blog, and although there is nothing posted as of yet I'm sure it will be amazing and I will be bothering her to teach me in the ways of art.  I think of her as the mixed media master, and I want to be her "grasshopper". Her blog, again I don't know how to add a link but it's "thingz take thyme"  I'm sure once it's up and running it will be a very inspirational place to visit.
For photography, my father has done the most to inspire me, although our family friend Steve Phillips is also a huge source of inspiration.  These two men in my life take some of the most beautiful photos I've ever seen.  I started out wanting to learn how to take beautiful photos as a way to have more in common with my father, something we could share, enjoy and talk about.  But throughout the years it has morphed into more for me.  It has become a passion in it's own right.  Not only do I want to do it for some common ground with my dad, but I want to do it because it is a great source of pleasure for myself.
As for the other crafting stuff I do, I have found my family a great source of inspiration, both grandfathers were into carpentry. (something I have not really tried my hand at but am very interested to learn), my grandmother was a seamstress, must be where I got the skills to sew some of the period pieces of clothing I did a few years back.  My other grandmother and mother were/are very talented at needle point.  My whole family got together every year for a craft sale at "the Farm" every year before Christmas.  We made Christmas decorations, from painted wooden Santas to tree ornaments to baked goods.  It was always a success and a joy to create with and spend time with my family.
My mother is (although she will tell you "not anymore I'm not") very skilled at crafts of all kinds.  She can knit, sew, needlepoint, bake, cook, scrapbook, create cards, draw, paint, stencil, calligraphy, and the list goes on.  We have been known to get together to create and share resources, though not lately, I'm hoping to start making the time to get together with mom and others who like to create.  I love learning new things and passing on techniques that I know to others who are interested in learning and growing in artistic talents.
There are others who have inspired me along the way and I'm sorry for not talking about everyone, but I just don't have enough time to extol the virtues of everyone I know and how they inspire me.  Just know that you do and I am grateful.  With out you I would not be the woman I am today.  Thank you and I love and appreciate you all.
Of course, Will is my biggest inspiration.  Trying to see the world through his eyes, and leaving something beautiful to inspire him to continue the family legacy of an art-filled life

Where do you get your inspiration?  And will you inspire others?

Photos

Today I got some photoshop software.  I've been having a lot of fun with it, changing some of my pictures I've already taken.  I can't wait to spend more time with these apps.
This is my son Will waiting for the bus this morning.  I love to see his smile.

 This is a picture I took about a week ago at one of the homes I work at.  I had a lot of fun with this one.

 And these last two are flowers in my own yard that I've taken the last couple of days.