It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, finally!

Thank goodness that we finally have enough snow to make a snowman! It may not be a lot of snow, but it's enough to give us a White Christmas. I also have pix of some of my Xmas deco. in the house. The top pic is my large white feather tree in the upstairs living room. It is decorated in silver, gold and pastel blue. The small feather tree is in the kitchen. My decorating theme has changed slightly, so I'm still trying to figure out how I want everything. Have decided to do the traditional tree downstairs in a tartan/Scottish them (a tribute to the Duncan heritage). It's not quite perfect, but by next year will be great. Will try and take more pix of decorations to post. Laurie:)

Sabrina's Christmas pic

This is a pic I took of Sabrina to send out with Christmas cards. It probably would have been easier to get her picture taken professionally. She always gives me goofy smiles. But I wanted to spend that money on presents, so decided to give it a try. Well, after much frustration and cursing (under my breath), this was the last pic I took. It's not bad, although she insisted on wearing her hat. This is the hat that she has worn everyday for the past year! It's starting to look pretty bad, but she loves it for some reason. Somehow she makes it look pretty cute! Laurie:)

Christmas Card time

Time to get those cards out, or maybe past time! Well, decided to try an altered art Christmas card. That is my daughter Sabrina, altered with wings and silver star. It reads Christmas fairie. Thought it turned out pretty neat. Will post the pic of her that I took to put inside next.

Visions of sugar plums

Visions of sugar plums danced through their heads! Everything is candy oriented this week. Even though I couldn't eat it, what with being sick. But it seems to be everywhere this time of year. In fact, I used a candy theme for a pixie I made for a customer in Italy, a sweet lady named Rosanna. I made a sugar plum pixie on a cupcake. I also made her a snowflake pixie. And this next Friday is "make a gingerbread house day" at school. And I get to help! Believe it or not, I've never made one! So I am really excited! Today, we went to the Mall of America to see the worlds largest gingerbread house and that was pretty neat. So I'm all candied out! For now anyway! Bye for now! Laurie:)

Let it snow

Well, finally am able to post! Have been very sick with stomach flu, the whole family. Am I'm still not great, but have to get back to reality and get something accomplished! Did finish this garland for ebay, "Let it snow". Will put it on ebay tonight. Also, have been featured as artist of the month on my nephew, Bill's, website.

Hi website is so great, and I am thrilled to be on it! So please check it out! bye for now! Laurie:)

Snowflake garland

This is my first garland for Christmas! It says "snowfall" to match the pixie. I will post both tonight. bye for now! Laurie:)

Snowflake pixie

This is my latest pixie, and her name is "Snowfall". Hope to get her on ebay tonight or Wed. night. Want to get a garland done too. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Ours was very quiet and very nice. Did some shopping too, although I do most of it on ebay and amazon. It's raining, thundering and lightening here today! Not normal for Minnesota this close to December! But it will probably turn to snow tomorrow. Then it will finally look like Christmas around here! Bye for now! Laurie:)

Here's the latest for Ebay

Just finished two more Christmas items for Ebay! I did a cream and blue pixie on a house top and an art squared in pink and cream. Will post them tonight, the 19th. Hope you check them out! Laurie:)

Finally! Some Christmas items for Ebay!

Whew! Finally got some things done to show everyone! It is just a couple of things for today, but have more coming! The top piece is an art squared (4" x 4") in cream and blue with silver glass glitter. The bottom one is art card size 2" x 3". It is also cream and blue with silver. I am pretty happy with these, had lots of fun with them! I did something new on these collages, by adding a little fake snow coated with clear glass glitter to the edges to add dimension and texture. Will probably put these on ebay this Sunday night. And, I'm working on a cute cream and blue pixie and more collages using pink and cream. So, stay tuned!

Mary Poppins at Macy's!

Wow! What a crazy week last week was! Had lots of school events and was trying to get some more work done on my Christmas items for Ebay. Will be taking some pix of finished items in the next day or two. This weekend we went to the Christmas display on the 8th floor of the downtown Macy's. It used to be Marshall Fields, and before that it was Daytons. Thankfully, through all the changes they have continued to do the Christmas display. This year the theme was Mary Poppins, and they did a great job as usual. The top pic is of Mary flying up the bannister of the staircase. The second is of the chalk drawings and the third is of the old woman feeding the birds. The last is of me and Sabrina at the show, as usual with one of her silly grins. We have gone to this display every year since I met my husband, and now it is even more fun with Sabrina along. I usually buy an ornament too, and then date it, so we can remember which year we got it. Will try and get a pic of that too, to post. Well, better get back to my ornies, so I can get the pix on here soon. Laurie:)

Time for Trick or Treat!

Halloween finally arrived, and Princess Sabrina was able to pull out her pumpkin candy tote and take it door to door. And I even got out the makeup and painted my face ala "Cats". We had a ball, even though it was very cold. But we definitely got our exercise, and brought home lots of candy! I pretty much took off the last week to really get ready and enjoy Halloween. Now I can start working on Christmas items for Ebay. Will post them here as soon as I get something done. Hope you all had a great Halloween! Laurie:)

Some special Halloween ornaments!

Had to take a few more pix of my Halloween decorations, since I added some new ornaments to my black and cream feather tree. They are the two art squared pieces shown in the top pic. They are done by my good friend and great artist Jenny. She is the best! I LOVE her creations! The tree they are on is in my living room next to my armoire. On another wall is a set of silhouettes. I got the frames at an estate sale, and the middle one already had a silhouette of a little child. The other two were empty, so I made silhouettes of a witch and a vampire. Thought they turned out kind of neat. Well, better go and clean out my office so I can start working again! Bye for now, Laurie:)

Shopping for fall goodies

This weekend we went to Haupt Antique Market to shop and search for fun fall ideas and inspiration. It was just 45min. away, although we did get a little confused from our map. When we got there though we had a great time. It was featured in the October Country Living magazine. Even though it's in our area, I had never heard of it till I saw it there. It is an old house made into a store that sells antiques and gifts. And yesterday, they had a flea market in the yard. That is where I found the pumpkin you see in the bottom pic. Sabrina, helped me pic out the cutest one! It is felted wool, dipped in cinnamon wax. And the stem is a real twig. Very adorable for just $3! And inside the house I found the Nicole Sayre ornament in the top pic. I love her stuff! Sabrina just loved looking at all the Halloween decorations and pumpkins. I thought they had some great displays and I did get some good ideas. I would've taken pix, but forgot to bring my camera! Oh, well! You can check in out in Country Living or at there website. Bye for now! Laurie:)

Fall color

Fall is here, and I just can't stop looking out my window! The colors this year weren't as good as they could be, but the bushes in one our neighbors yard are beautiful bright red! Now that my allergies are finally lessening, I hope to get out more and enjoy the season. At the same time, I have to start thinking Christmas for my pixies and collages. But I can do both, I'm used to celebrating two holidays at once, working in retail for years. I'm probably the only person I know who doesn't get upset when I see Christmas ornaments out in October, it seems normal to me. I can understand why people get upset about it, but I'm really just used to it. I can enjoy looking at Christmas decorations and still be excited about Halloween. My daughter, Sabrina, was home for the past to days, no school due to teacher conventions. So went to Joanne's and bought some velvet posters for her to color. That kept her busy! Well, hope you have a great weekend! Laurie:)

More Halloween Decorations

Here are a few more pix of Halloween displays that I thought turned out pretty well. The top two pix are in my kitchen, in opposite corners. In one corner is my black tinsel feather tree decorated in black and orange. In the other corner is a large bird cage I painted black. All it needed to be spooky was a white pumpkin and a black crow. The last pic is a display I did on top of a dresser in my living room. It is meant to look a bit like a laboratory. I'm not totally happy with it, but will work on it more next year. I have limited money to spend on Halloween, but half the fun is trying to use what you already have and make it fit. Can't believe Halloween is almost here! Hope I have enough candy!! Bye for now! Laurie:)

Hayride at the pumpkin patch

This year we decided to go on a hayride at the pumpkin farm. It was pretty neat! The middle pic shows the beginning of the ride where you go past a corn maze. The bottom shows a graveyard on the hill, and the top shows a ghost hanging from the tree. We all enjoyed it, esp. Sabrina. The haunted house is her favorite, but this may be her new favorite! Hope you had a great fall weekend! Laurie:)

Goofy picture time

Here are more pix from the pumpkin farm. They had so many of these signs, that Sabrina was going nuts! I even had to get into the act and take my pic with Frankenstein. Laurie:)

Fall fun at the Pumpkin Farm!

Yesterday, was our annual trip to a pumpkin farm that is about 30 min. away from us. It's called Country Sun Farms. We've been going there ever since, my hubby, Rob and I met. Over the years they have added new attractions, such as this haunted house that Rob and my daughter, Sabrina, are standing in front of. There are big, beautiful turkeys that run around the house. This year they added an outhouse and trunk that shake and open all by themselves! I love the big signs with the head cut out to take your picture. This one with Rob, Sabrina and the "witch", is one of my favorites. They added a couple more of those this year, so now they have at least a dozen! And Sabrina wanted a picture with each and every one! We sure had a blast! Laurie:)

New pixies for Ebay!

Just took pix of my latest (and probably last ) Halloween pixies for Ebay. These turned out just great I thought. There is a set of three feather tree pixies. And, a spider pixie, which was such fun to do. They should get listed tonight, barring any natural or unatural catastrophies. So, everyone can get a sneek preview! Hope everyone had a great weekend. We got to go to a huge garage sale to benifit cancer research. Found a couple of neat things, a really tarnished bowl for 2 bucks (the more tarnish the better), and a sweet pair of bunnies for easter. They are made of satin balls and chenille, and I'm 99.999999% sure they are from the 60's. Have a pretty good feel for that time period, since I grew up in it! Well, better get back to work! Bye for now- Laurie:)

I love to decorate for holidays!

What could be better than decorating for a holiday! It makes me feel like a kid again. My sister and I would take over the entryway to our house for every holiday and transform it with homemade decorations. Little did I know that I was training for my future career. Here are examples of a Halloween theme I did in my dining room. I decided to transform some shelves and a small cabinet into a witch's pantry. It was so much fun creating potions, and turning everyday items into magical tools. I also have a picture of the top of my armoire with white craft pumpkins and a paper mache rabbit. Will take more pix in the next few days. There's a huge harvest moon out there tonight! Hope you get a chance to see it! Laurie:)

Wow! I love fall so much, that even really bad allergies can't take away from my enjoyment! It's not just the color of the leaves, it's the way the daylight looks this time of year. And even the cloudy days have a special quality to them. My daughter Sabrina calls them "goo clouds", I guess because they have that heavy leaden look to them. Very atmospheric! Just need more cold days, to kill off the ragweed, has been warmer than average here. Anyhoo, have pics of my latest auctions on ebay.
First, to the left is my fairy on a box, "October". Above that is an art squared "Pumpkin Fairie", and directly above is an aceo called "Frost on the pumpkin". The art squared and the aceo are what is called art cards. If you've never heard of them they are big new trend in art. Technically they are the size of a baseball card (2 1/2 x 3 1/2) and can be traded or sold. There is also art squared cards, mine have always been 4x4, but can be other sizes. I really enjoy doing art cards because they are quicker to do, and because they can show collage and altered art so well. Normally art cards don't have anyway to hang them, but I like to add a length of ribbon or ric rac. That way they don't have to be framed. I'm working on one more fairy on a box and a set of fairies for a feather tree. Then I will be winding down for Halloween. I'm already thinking of ideas for Christmas! Have seen some really cute vintage items on ebay that are really inspiring me! So I'm itching to get started! Stay tuned! Laurie:)