make Christmas presents

i have plans for what to do with my stuff from pottery.

-Me: Red Pen Cup and water caraffe/cup.
-Mom: Snakeskin Jar and Porcelantern
-Dad and Mary: 2 of the Nicest of the Blue Mugs + mexican cocoa mix and home made marshmallows. (?)
-Guys at work: Porcelain Bell ornaments, M,R,S,V, (ferns) tied to bags of cookies.
-Zann and Richard: Porcelain thrown bell (in box)

i’ve been working on these fabric necklaces..lots of beads and sequins and glittery things. i think i can make some bracelets and brooches too. i guess this counts for the daily art making goal too. toys for the boys!(or custom t-shirts)

I am just in the begining of my christmas card making, which is really when my thought processing starts to happen around christmas presenting… which is i understand a little belated.
Cards are looking good, i think i’m going to be doing ‘manual clip art’ as in cutting randoms out of magazines and glueing them onto my blank cards (my supplies including 70 envelopes and 44 sheets of cardstock that i’m folding in half cost a total of 4.00 plus tax at the japanese import store!!!)

I have lots of mugs, pots and a lantern for my momma that i made in my ceramics class this fall for people nearby. I’ve decided that my christmas prezzies for the munchkins that live with my sister will be a 2 part thing… part 1 is a character that i make for each of them… and a fill in the blank letter with a bunch of questions for them to answer on them. I’ll use the info to then develop a story about the character that i’ll write into a story book and illustrate myself. If i have my act together i think i’ll be able to get the books done for each of their birthdays… I’m pretty excited about that project because its kind of a way to keep up to date on them and what they like, and how they are growing up. Its hard to be away from them.

I think the only one that i’m going to buy something for is my nephew who i am planning to send something really cool and olympics-y. A cool tshirt that he can wear during the events etc. and maybe a mixed cd of some west coast musicians…?

my mom is another story.
I’m going to start making creatures and then i’ll worry some more about that…
oh yeah, and homemade marshmallows and crackers for the guys at work. :)

Its going to be a very busy month but i’m loving it!
Lets see how stressed out i get. :P

jewelry for the women but what do i make for the men in my life?

I am so happy that I actually followed through with this and made scarves. Now, I haven’t had my Christmas with my family yet so I haven’t given away any scarves, but they look great! The first few didn’t turn out the best, but they just keep getting better and better!!! I think I am going to move on to blankets next! :)

I decided that I want to make some scarves and paint pictures for people. I don’t really know what to do for some people, but I will figure it out. I mean, really, what would I make my dad? I don’t know what he likes any more. I want to buy him an MP3 player since he has been working out a lot here lately and he wants to be able to listen to music. But what to make him?? And my father-in-law, uncle and male cousins?? I guess I don’t really know what guys like as Christmas gifts. I know I am going to try and make scarves for the females I know…and paint some pictures. I guess the rest will come to me.

But it’s okay! I’m not seeing Tomasina till tomorrow.

I painted two more bird houses in different color schemes. Made photo greeting cards for my mom.

Today I assembled a scrapbook of photographs I took at my friends’ request at the memorials for her parents (both this year.) I don’t think she’s had the energy to put anything together and another friend thought it was a good idea. I did it in scrapbook format so she can write in captions if she wants. I’m including extra pages she can add if she wants.

I’ll give it to her tomorrow and a bird house is going to my other writer friend. yay!

I feel pretty good about everything I made this year.

Well, almost. The cookies are baked though, I just have to put them on a pretty tray for Tuesday to take to moms.

I wish I had taken a photo of just how badly I’d botched the paint jobs on these before. But I persisted!

I had to tell myself that when you haven’t really dabbled in paint for a few years, it’s quite silly to think you can just sit down and do something fabulous. Had to think about what I really like to see and what I am honestly capable of. (NOT sharp geometric shapes right now.)

I’m so pleased with these that I’m going to make one for my friend Braveheart, too.

I hate the way the first painted birdhouse looks. Will repaint it. I want simple designs. I am probably being too much of a perfectionist. I just want my homemade gifts to be lovable!

Discovered that the 2nd birdhouse is broken, so will go back to Michael’s and exchange it. What’s creepy is that it looks like it was returned before because some one already started to paint it!

The colors of paint are really bright. I can tell that Hydra doesn’t really like them and am torn between my idea and what he’d like. Our tastes are pretty different, but we come together in the middle and choose some good stuff.

Frustrated and feeling in a little over my head, but I’ll fix that.