February a month of hearts

Good morning! Yes it is despite the extreme cold. My youngest (still 7 for another week) was up early busy getting ready for school and brushing her teeth and doing all her morning chores before I even woke up! She even had a cup of coffee waiting for me with a bunch of hugs on the couch (morning cuddles). Yes this is a good morning. We had plenty of time to play "ice hockey" on the driveway while waiting for the bus. She was so cute. Usually her plan is to win but today she had to work very hard because she wanted a tie. I wonder what goes on in their little heads to make them want to be so agreeable sometimes and at others so impossible.

I'm in love with this cute little hen sent on a card from one of my customer's seamstress. Its a blue polish frizzle and the photograph is by Stephen Green-Armytage. He has an awesome collection of photos of beautiful chickens. My friend and I have been eyeing the McMurray Hatchery website too thinking of a spring order of chicks.




I peeked into the Etsy forums and found a way to see if I had been on the front page of Etsy. As much as I love their front pages I have very little time to look at them frequently enough to check. But over on Flickr I was able to find out from a collection of front page pictures. I just typed my username into the search option at the top right portion of the page. Wow. I never knew. Not that its a big deal or anything but still nice to know.

Winter is racing by at a snails pace... and obsessing about CPSIA

I can't say that January has been my favorite month of this year (though it has been the first). It seemed to be consumed by all the colds that our little family has suffered through. Somewhere in that time Christmas was packed up and put away for another year.



And somewhere in that time between trips to the doctors there was time for creative endeavors too...









Any free time I've had I have spent reading up on the new CPSIA laws. Though I don't make toys or clothing for children I have wondered if my ring pillows and flower girl baskets would be covered under these laws. And though I don't sell children's toys my husband and I have been avid creators of toys for our children. I would hate to see all the lovely small businesses dedicated to making beautiful and creative toys put out of business by this law.

I think the initial intention of the law is correct because our children should be protected from lead and pthalates in their toys and clothing. In the interests of making a profit large companies purchase cheaply made toys overseas without any regards to safety. In response to this small businesses have sprung up making lovely handmade toys with natural materials. But its these small businesses that will now be forced to close with the stringent CPSIA testing requirements. I do think that small businesses should be held accountable to certifying that the components they use to make their toys are safe. We can't just assume that they are safe. We need to demand supplies and materials that are safe and have the certification from the manufacturers to prove it. Any way I hope the CPSIA stay goes into effect and that during this time the laws are better worked out so that small businesses can be allowed to continue.

Merry Christmas!

A few photos of the holidays...





We are thankful for the good company of family and friends, good food, warmth and light, and good health.


The girls had their holiday concert at NEC. My middle child plays cello in first chair.


My oldest played viola and was lucky enough to have a few soloist parts.



Three little green monsters that I made for each of my girls...



A few cake topper sets which I completed just before the holidays...

Let it snow, let it snow, and snow and snow!

Well, that's what my kids are chanting anyways. Me, I could do with just a little less shoveling, roof icing issues, and icy paths to the house (not good for all the older family members that will be visiting in a few days). The kids say its like 40 days and 40 nights of SNOW! Not quite that much but it sure seems like it.

On December 11th school ended in a half day in anticipation of an impending ice storm. Who would have thought that this would be their last day of school for the remainder of this year? In fact they will return on January 5th! That night was a night of terror for us as we listened to tree branches breaking around the house. Like gun shots sounds rang out through the night from the nearby river bank. I worried about the tree branches that overhang our house.

By morning we were without power. I told the kids ... no power ... no school. So they went happily back to bed. We stayed warm in bed for a while and then went about getting the wood stove going. Rumors were that we wouldn't get power for at least 3 days! We tried cooking hot cocoa and macaroni and cheese. The woodstove worked great! The kids were thrilled by this whole procedure and I was pretty impressed at how quick things cooked. Why haven't we done this before?




We moved a comfortable chair and a few rocking chairs in front of the wood stove and the top part of one of the bed mattresses from upstairs onto the floor near the couch. The kids had a lot of fun though the lack of technology was always on their mind. My oldest daughter couldn't put the cell phone down as she txt msged her friends and played sudoku. For me it was a little stressful as there never seemed to be enough daylight. And candlelight was much dimmer than expected. Washing dishes by hand in water warmed up on the stove and searching for candles and camping gear in the dark basement. In any case we were one of the lucky ones to get our power back sooner. Many were without power for over a week. Shelters were set up at the school but with the cold weather and snow this was a difficult week for them. I was worried about water pipes freezing so I am thankful that we got our power back sooner than later.

A holiday greeting!

OK... a little later this year than usual. I have finally put together the outside of our family holiday cards this year. The girls each drew a tree in pencil and I assembled it with the text on this card. I did this by scanning each drawing into the computer. I added a little color to each and fixed any broken lines using "GIMP" on a mac. I miss my photoshop on the pc but that poor computer is still ill. Then I pasted each tree onto a single card and formatted it to fit on an 8.5x11 paper. We did this same card format with ornaments one year and I think I will continue this theme for a few more years (angels, snowmen, snowflakes, ....)

Let there be light!

Wow... I can't believe I have been struggling so long with taking photographs of my work. In general I am pretty happy with my photographs which is why I continued so long as I had. But it all depends on how much natural light I get. And a dark rainy day or evening doesn't work well. So that meant I was waiting for good light.

On Monday when I had no time and was pretty much overwhelmed with my custom work, Christmas holidays (I haven't even started on presents yet), house chores, taking children to orthodontists .... I sat down for an hour and made myself a light box. Such a simple thing gives such awesome results. I just took a cardboard box and cut out large squares in the sides and top. Then I cut white fabric sections to cover these holes and glued them to the cardboard.

Now I can take photos anytime of the day. I can't believe that I have struggled so long without this seemingly simple tool.

Saturday morning was breakfast with Santa at the elementary school. My daughter sang in the choir.



We have our Christmas tree up! Up to now I have felt that I've been too busy for Christmas. But just seeing the tree puts me in a good mood. Saturday at 4pm we went out up to Ashby and to a local farm. I miss the beautiful snow scene we enjoyed last year but it was nice to take home a dry tree. Of course we were practically choosing our tree in the dark (it was difficult getting everyone to agree) and it was dark by the time it was tied to the top of our van.

Our town Christmas tree lighting ceremony was Sunday evening. We gathered at the common to sing carols and then after the trees were lit all went to one of the local churches for more music and after hobo stew. Like all years we really enjoyed this simple moment of community.

Holidays ... on the way ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪

Its been some time since I last posted. Life got a little crazy when my husband was off to the emergency room with chest pains. And after all this time we still haven't figured out whats going on. In any case the symptoms he experienced haven't reoccurred recently so we all feel a bit relieved.

We had a lovely and quiet Thanksgiving with just us. I think November was overload of activity not to mention the medical issues.

As always I am busy creating and trying to balance a busy family life. Not an easy task sometimes. In the coming year I have promised to lighten my custom work load so I don't feel overstressed. As much as I love doing them there just is only so much time in the day.

Tomorrow afternoon we are off to get our tree. I'm not nearly ready for the holidays though but I guess they will come anyway. So its no use putting off getting the tree. My daughter joined a small chamber music group so now my husband and the older two girls are off in Boston at the New England conservatory until 3 in the afternoon. I can't say I'm too thrilled about the arrangement as it seems we have little family time on the weekends now. With the holidays coming this will be difficult too. I need to start planning our baking projects for the Norwegian lefse and cookies.

Here are a few photos of some of my latest projects...

an oak leaf pottery ring bearer with little brown birds





More of my cute little bird cake toppers...