christmas & cake

we had ourselves a merry little christmas.

our home was bursting full of old and new friends, with singing and homemade music, sweets and fine foods, pink champagne and much merriment.

there was even a birthday cake for the christmas baby "frantic" frank. his mom always decorated his cake with the nativity scene.

my daughter and our friend spevak decked his cake out - they used what we had in the house and had to "improvise" some of the figurines.

my husband drew the smiling little peanut baby jesus - which frank ate before cutting the cake, to bring him luck in the coming year.

christmas was indeed a wee bit naughty and very nice this year.

wishing you sweet peace and golden tranquility in your coming year.

happy happy joy joy !

as promised * more cake

i told you yesterday that i was going to make yet another cake today.

a dark chocolate coconut cake, with chocolate cream cheese frosting decorated with cocoa powder, coconut and tiny, tiny white nonpareils.

tomorrow i will make my holiday cake finale - frantic frank's christmas/birthday cake.
he once told me that when he was a boy his mom always decorated his cake with a nativity scene.

do you dare me?

a cake a day

another day, another cake.
this time it's an eggnog cake with bourbon cream cheese frosting and candied walnuts.

is there anything better than a holiday cake?
there will be yet another one tomorrow
- a cake a day keeps the grinch at bay.

and i finished another wee stocking gift.
this one all done in space age materials. later tonight it will go to stylish friends who have a 50's vintage silver tree.
it should be a perfect hostess gift. it doesn't show very well in my photograph but that is a tiny bright purple jingle bell on the tip of the toe.

progress was made on our tree. i got out the pine cones that i glittered red and then painted the tips white. that was a year that i had a lot more time to fuss with christmas...

wall of paint

i have been working on a nice commission - which has left no time for beading.
the job is big fat holiday secret so i cannot post about it yet, except to say it involves my wall of acrylic paints...

i know, envious are you? aghast at the quantity of acrylic paints?

well, i got almost all of them, and the shelf, at an estate sale.
they were in the basement of an extreme hobbyist, stuff galore. i was charged $30.00 for the paint and another $5 for the shelf. it was a great day.

in hindsight i wish i had bought the wall of glitter too...

yes, i am still knitting tiny stockings while watching christmas movies late at night.

felled

christmas is coming...

we ritualistically killed a tree today and it was fun.

cake!

it's all about the sweets this time of year.
some covet glazed hams, giant roasts of beef or shrimp as big as kittens. others need clam dip or fat sugar cookies for it to feel like the holidays.
me, i love cake.

so, for a fabulous dinner party tonight i offered to make dessert.
it's a double devilsfood cake with whipped peppermint frosting and sugared cherries.

i may not be beading, but i am crafting like someone possessed.

merrily finishing up more christmas present potholders with embarrassing photographs.
this one has an image of my sister and i taken 20 odd years ago at her wedding.
we are not going to discuss that red dress she made me wear.

and on the back, the two of us these days.
this potholder is, of course, going to my mom & dad.

another potholder for my parents.
this one has pictures of them in their early twenties,
they have been married over 50 years - it's amazing, they are amazing.
and yes, they can still bicker with the best of them.

these need to get boxed up and delivered to the post office tomorrow.

teeny weeny stockings

because i am not busy enough i decided to knit some stocking ornaments to give as gifts...

the first two are ever so tasteful and homespun,

the third is all liberace inspired christmas - my kinda christmas.
a holiday where nothing succeeds like excess.

click here for the pattern compliments of littlecottonrabbits.

they are too cute, only about 3" long and they take about an hour to knit while watching cheesy christmas movies on nighttime tv.

gnome nog

i love these late 1940's christmas cards.
finding an unopened box of them at an estate sale was such great luck, they all went out in today's mail to our family friends.

at my house nothing says "happy holidays" like over-indulgent gnomes partying in the snowy woods.

is it a spoonful of tummy medicine, or booze, being measured into the spoon?

cheesecake potholder

another potholder...
another xxx-mas gift.

ssshhh, it's a surprise.

i did the poster ages ago for my friend frank.
frank should have a nudie potholder, right?

as to beads - because this is, after all, belvedere beads.
i torched a batch of crows using dark silver plum, pics soon.

crown roast of frankfurters

recently i took a quilting class from my friend margaret, of quilting with margaret.

since i dragged her into bead making i thought it was only fair for me to attempt some quilting.

the two afternoon class taught printing images on fabric using the computer and then quilting your custom fabric into something. i chose to make a potholder.

as you can see, i am a novice seamstress. it was a blast.
and now - everyone will be getting potholders for the holidays.

the best part of the class was getting to see margaret in action.
she is an amazing teacher.

there were women at every level of quilting, each doing their different projects, and still margaret managed to keep everyone going forward. she showed an eerie psychic ability (which all great teachers have) by knowing when i was about to do something stupid even when she was across the room, back to me, and helping someone else.

as winter closes in on us, i suggest that it is time for everyone to take a class in something.

it was wonderful to stretch out and so something creative that was new and unfamiliar. if a class is not for you, then go hang out with a friend who crafts in a different venue than you and make stuff along side them, it's a great way to get to know them even better and air out your mind.

joie de vivre

this is julia nunes - my daughter's oldest friend, they have been hanging since they were peanuts.



this is an amazing music video she recorded in her dorm room. it's an entry in a contest to win a ukulele.

yesterday, it's first day up, it had over 800 hits on utube.
how cool is that?
here's it's utube link if you want to support her cause by watching it there.

blue bird of happiness

as promised, a set of sketched instructions explaining how i made this bird bead.

these are scans from my bead sketchbook.






if you want to try making one and you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment. i will do my best to clarify my ramblings. i am not a skilled teacher but will always share all the information and tricks i have.

new figural earrings

a couple of new pairs of earrings for the sale this weekend at more fire glass.



i thought it would be fun to make some figural beads for earrings.
so monday i made some winged hearts and some tiny strawberries.



i also made some bird beads which i like so much that i am going to do a sketched tutorial on how to make them. check back in a day or two and i should have it posted.