Handmade Christmas Art Revolution

Good Morning Everyone!
I hope your Christmas was excellent! And that you got just what you wanted.
I know the last couple of post were simple, short and sweet! Christmas is over now...so we can back to the 'normal'. LOL

I think we'll start this post off with Jan's completion of the grand kids kitchen. She said the kids loved it. Even the older ones enjoyed playing with it.

Completed.....

fridge and oven open for inspection  :)

On Sunday (the 23rd) we had a small get together with Dennis, Shirley, Amy, Barry and Barb. It was a nice gathering. We did food and goodies and some gifts. Amy made lobster/crab dip and my daughter made hash brown casserole. There were cookies and candies and fudge. Spent a couple of hours and really enjoyed ourselves. I'm glad everyone got the chance to come over and spend some time together. I got two new nutcrackers from Shirley and Dennis. Ones a penguin and the other is a goose. And of course everyone had to point out how I didn't put my collection out this year. Yeah - was not in the mood to put them all up. I made some homemade goodie bags this year. I made hot/cold corn pads, sea salt and sugar scrub, cookies in a jar and bath bombs. Amy's mom, Barb, seemed really pleased with the corn pad. And Amy just used the sea salt and sugar scrub yesterday. She told me her face was so soft. :)  Sally used one of the extra bath bombs and said it worked really well. I used the 'tester' corn pad and it was wonderful! It creates a moist heat which is really nice! Who knew you could use corn? Not me! I hope that they all enjoy the gifts!

terry clothe and flannel hot/cold corn pads

(Connie's a Georgia fan)

cookies in a jar and sea salt and sugar scrub....

complete with instruction tags and wrapping paper lids

(the lids match the handmade tags)

tangerine bath bombs - they smell so good!

(like my packaging?)

had to hunt all over for citric acid for these

close up of the tags.....

On Monday night we got a very welcome surprise.....

My sister/brother in law showed up with Jim and Marta. We haven't seen them in many years (almost 18 years, doesn't seem possible). They had driven down from Canada to surprise Dennis and Shirley for Christmas. They hung out for a while and we talked and laughed. It was great to see them! I am so glad they came! Sally didn't get out of work until 9pm. So I told her she couldn't get her pj's on cause there was a surprise coming. I think the surprise was worth waiting to get changed. She was really happy to see them too! Didn't get any photos....really slacking on the camera work this year.

Christmas this year was celebrated twice.....

Once at home with my wife, daughter and Perry. It was really nice, even though my daughter decided that 6am was wake up time. Jenifer got clothes and perfume and a bunch of other things. I managed to sneak in a book on dreams. It gets harder each year to really surprise any of them. I got my wife new pj's (nice warm ones) and a 'spa day' (which is what she wanted). And I surprised her with a new ring. It's a padparadsch (pronounced po-per-ra-zzi). It was a replacement for the large one I got her years ago that was stolen. She was really surprised and can't wait to wear it to the New Year's party we are going to on Monday.

And then we went to my son's house to celebrate with the grand kids. It was great to see their faces light up. :)

Unfortunately, Lawton (our oldest grandson) wasn't there. He was celebrating with his dad. Shaylor had a good time ripping open all the wrapping paper. I think next year they can come to our house. Way too much stuff to be toteing back and forth (yes, my wife went overboard - next year I won't let her go shopping alone. HA).

All in all, it was a pretty good day. I hope that everyone was happy with what they got.

Christmas Tree in the bay window

2012

 

my surprise - a new Keurig

and all the goodies to go with it

and what i asked for....

give up?

it's a bike trainer

gotten away from exercising...

time to get back to it!

the amazing mask my daughter picked out for me

the surprise for my wife

And now for some total randomness....

peppers and sausage over rice with garlic potatoes

made this a few nights ago for dinner

YUMMY!

am i the only one who absolutely hates these damn things?

can anyone tell me what the numbers say?

i thought my eyes had just given out

a tease from the Yule invitation I'm working on for next year...

what a great idea!

just a thought  :)

I finished reading ART Revolution by Lisa L. Cyr last night - sometime around midnight. I have to admit that once you get past the beginning (history lesson) and into the techniques, it's pretty interesting. It has given me some inspiration to try some new things. There are a few artists in the book that I really like. However, I find most of the artwork...not to my taste. That was a polite way of saying ICK! Some of the work in the book was horrible. Sorry, there is no other way of putting it.

this is Dave McKean

you can see more of his work here

(this was NOT in the book)

Rudy Gutierrez

you can see more here

(this one was in the book)

this is Lisa L. Cyr

you can see more here

she is also the author of the book

(this is from the book)

Matt Manley

you can see more here

(this is from the book)

Well, I think that is all for this post.

I hope your upcoming week is fantastic!

I will see you Next Year! :)

til then....

Be Good, Be Safe, Be Happy!!!!

TTFN