Winter Wonderland

I spent Christmas back where I grew up.  I forgot how amazing it is when the frost covers everything.  It was so beautiful!  This isn't snow on the trees, it's hoarfrost.  It sticks around in the early morning, until the sun hits it, then it all disappears.  

These fun shots were worth my frosty fingers.

Winter Landscape 2

Here we go again.  This is acrylic on board, 19.5 inches square.

Detail shots:

 Here it is on display.  Ooo-la-la!

Also, yesterday Jenna and Katie made these cute houses (they even cleaned up after themselves).  They came up with the idea and did this all on their own.  Cute creative kids.

Christmas Tree Photos

I've been playing around with photographing the Christmas tree.  I'm no pro, but Katie made a lovely little model, and I like how these photos turned out.  So I decided to share.

Shiny Objects

Oh the magic of Christmas!

Easy and Perfect Snowflakes

I don't know about you, but we spend many hours every Christmas season, making snowflakes.  I'm talking finding-paper-scraps-in-the-carpet-all-season-long, many hours.  I've also found one quick trick, that makes them look great every time.

First, here's how you fold a basic 8 sided snowflake.  Start with a square piece of paper folded into a triangle, then follow the steps below.

Here are 3 snowflakes that I'll demonstrate on:

Cut away the extra paper.

Now, here's the "trick".  To start with, cut away one large section in the area pictured below.  This will leave a nice bold shape on the outside of your snowflake.  This cut should take up at least half of the length of the snowflake, and will be your one main cut, that defines the entire shape of the snowflake.

Next, you can never go wrong with cutting away a smaller version of your first cut.

On the remaining portion (this will be the inner part of the snowflake), cut away any shapes and  designs you want.  It really doesn't take too many cuts to make it look great.

Here are the 3 I worked on for this example.  The bold shape on the outside makes the snowflakes look perfectly lovely.

Have fun creating!

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DIY Ornaments for Kids

Yesterday we tried out this simple and fun idea I came across on pinterest.  The kids loved it, and so did I.

All you need are plastic cups, sharpies and an oven.

Draw on your design:

Now watch it shrink!  I set my oven to 325 degrees, it only took a few minuets to shrink.  I kept an eye on them the entire time.  It was fun to watch.

Wait until they are more melty than this to flatten.

 It took some playing around, but soon I found the "sweet spot".  Find the time when they are at just the right temperature to flatten with the spatula (they have to be malleable enough to flatten, but not so hot that they curl).  If I didn't get it right the first time, I left it in the oven a little longer and flattened them again when I took them out.  I would suggest starting with just one in the oven at a time, until you get the hang of it.  Then you can do half a dozen at a time, it's like playing a mad game of Whack-a-Mole when you're flattening them all.  If you leave them in the oven too long, they will curl up on themselves, so try to find that "sweet spot".

Make sure they stay flat until they are cool.

Here we go again!  We made batch after batch after batch.

The kids got really creative with all their designs:

Enjoy!