an easy calendar

... to make that is ...

(I'm sorry if you followed my post title thinking I had the answer to EVERYTHING)

I received a cool desk calendar easel thingy last year and it was filled with photos for each month.

I'm simply recycling the holder by using these cool postcards with a little monthly calendar glued on each postcard. 

A regular 4X6 frame could work as a holder too. 

The tear off monthly calendars are give-aways at hardware stores and drugstores this time of year. 

I almost didn't post this because it just seemed too easy and craft simple - like - hey - everyone's thought of this already. 

But as my Dad said, "All I see is teacups on your blog lately." 

So I give you an easy arty idea :)

Tea anyone?

Are you up for a tea cup exchange?

Pat at Artfully Ooglebloops is organizing it.

It's a one on one exchange and today is the last day to join the fun.

My teacup from the last exchange is one of my most treasured.

Drop in on her today and put your name in the hat ....

*

I'm still in recovery mode from the Christmas holiday.

It hits me like a truck every year.

And every year I come up with a new coping strategy for next year.

I hope to have it all done earlier next time.

In my imagination I see a no shopping zone in the month of December.

No stores with the gaudy decorations and nauseating music.

I did say imagination ... didn't I?

*

It's almost 2011,

can you believe it?

I thought it would be fun to share some beautiful blog discoveries I've made in 2010:

daisy yellow for colorful fun

every life has a story for beautiful journaling and stitching

iHannah's blog colorful and oh so creative

loppisliv scandinavian tranquility

lovely world colorful and simple design

michelle palmer beautiful illustrations

n2theblue rare but beautiful posts

river garden studio another world

soeurs du jour amazing photography

spirit cloth meaningful quilting

still alive photo processing techniques

talk at the table insight and compassion

the odd inkwell unique poetry

thxthxthx a thank you note a day

vita verandan more scandinavian tranquility

* * *

I hope you have a beautiful week and a very Happy New Year if I don't see you before then ....

... thanks for stopping in for tea!

Oh - and be sure to visit the other tea blogs listed in my sidebar!

most unique gift

I wanted to show you this cool olive can that my sister gave me for Christmas

It's huge

(here's my hand in front of it so you can get an idea of the scale)

The wheels of imagination are turning in my head big time ....

... I guess you could say that she "Knows Me" to give me a gift like this

(contented smile)

Do you have a most unique gift with your name just written all over it?

I'd love to hear about it!

* * *

It's been a hectic few days ... and we're off to the city today.

I won't be able to check back in until this evening,

but my big plan is to visit EVERYONE!

I miss you!!!!

shortest day

happy shortest day

a good day for a hot cuppa joe

a neighbor's sweet son was door to door with coffee

(school fundraising)

who could resist his dimples and towhead?

I'm not really a coffee drinker any more

but it sure is good today!

* * *

here's my joe on a table with a few of my favorite things:

*

my girls many years ago playing "beach" in the winter

and the Sweet Husband on Santa's lap as a kid

*

 a Christmas angel with my great grandad's lamp in the background

he was a newspaper man and I love to imagine his inkstained fingers under this lamp

*

my grandmother's candy dish

*

a plant I found by the side of the road on a summer walk

* * *

and outdoors under the sheltering maple tree in the weathering chair

is the quilt

* * *

Merry Christmas!

(please check out the tea on tuesday blog list in my sidebar)

saturation

after more than 20 days of rain

 today was a sun saturated day with

snow in the mountains

sun on our backs

water in the streams

and a camera in my pocket

santa baby

A few days ago I showed you my workspace and Teri asked about the cut up coke can on my desk:

What do you plan on doing with the cut-up soda can? Will we see a photo of that soon?? Hope so!


So I transformed that kitschy can into kitschy art.

my soapbox speech:
Sometimes I think christmas (commercial and what I consider lower case christmas) is just so "in your face" with hideous color combinations, shiny plastic, unnatural sparkle and glitter ..... blah blah blah .... it only feels good for about 5 minutes.


What is kitsch?


Urban Dictionary says it this way:
kitsch - As an art movement, lifestyle, or literature and film genre, kitsch is pleasingly distasteful. It's melodramatic, overdone, gaudy and tacky or sentimental and folksy. It's so bad that it's cool. Your cat might attack it, but it's hot. 

Sentimentally charming, tacky and fun all rolled up in one. One catch with kitsch is that you're never quite sure if it's supposed to be serious or not. It's that uncertainty that is amusing.

Kitsch is a type of art based on love for the human expression and must have some form of talent and technical skill. It’s critics often use it as a scapegoat calling it "bad art."

Maybe kitsch is a little more naughty than nice

tea and company

my kitchen table has been taken over by a puzzle

(Not really ... It's on a plywood board and can be moved.)

but it's like the elephant in the room

it's the last thing on my list of things to do

... so I won't.

Oh look, there's a sweet doggie ......

he says, "please come outside with me"

"o.k., sweet doggie, let's go outside, even though it's soggy soggy wet out there."

Featured in today's post:

my grandmother's tea cup (Lennox "The Orchard")

Cobalt Blue English Teapot

Constant Comment Tea (delicious)

daughter's jigsaw puzzle in progress

Bouvier des Flanders (Theodore)

The Quilt (quite quite soaked)

* * *

for more very special tea,

please visit the tea on tuesday blogs listed in my sidebar

it's the little things

I've made
mini cards made from

mini stamps

carved out of white erasers

(click HERE for the how-to post)

and mini gifts

of decorated matchboxes

"merry"

and

"bright"

(click HERE for the post about these)

* * *
I'll see you tomorrow for tea and catching up on things ....
until then,
 I hope you're warm and dry today

I know there's lots of snow for some of you guys

and if you're in LA you're trying to keep cool

Our town's river is expected to crest above flood stage tomorrow ...

we live on a hill, so we'll stay dry, but it's so hard on the folks who don't.

on workspaces and white elephants

a martha stewart, I am not

and my desk 

(which is NOT a lovely shade of bottle glass green)

is in a constant state of array

ar-ray

[uh-rey]

- verb (used with object)

to place in proper or desired order

to marshal: Napoleon arrayed his troops for battle

but my mind, of late, is in a constant state of disarray

it hits me hardest when I walk into ANY store

even the grocery store

it's the the christmas music and the displays 

they propel me into an instant state of wandering aimlessly and losing any focus

it's intentional I'm sure

a conspiracy to help boost the economy, right?

which brings me to the white elephant:

this is the white elephant gift I won last night

it was the last gift on the table

I had already lost the John Deere tractor clock

 (which makes real tractor noises)

this last gift was the messiest wrapping job in the bunch

so it was the last one picked

when I opened it I could hear a collective groan

and the guy who brought it apologized.

he said,

"it's really good for falling asleep."

I said,

"I love it."

but I don't think anyone heard me say that.

and I do love it.

bloggie tea

I've had an iPad for a little over a month now.

I love using it to visiting my favorite blogs,

but I'm waiting for an app from Google Blogger to make posting a lot easier.

(I've done it, but you have to use the "edit html" tab instead of "compose")

There's an app for Wordpress Blogs ... so it's just a matter of time I'm sure.

There are apps for everything.

Even for tea.

Tea Remedy for iPad ($0.99)

 "select your mood on the teapot, and look to the cup to find your perfect cup of tea"

or

The Little Tea Book HD ($1.99)

"A fascinating little book about the drink of drinks, tea."

or 

The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakur ($1.99)

"a guide to the history of tea .... and more"

But I see no free tea apps.

I'm all about what's free right now.

And 

slow

and

natural

and

very

very

unplugged

like the weathering quilt:

 and a weathering recipe box:

How are things weathering where you are?

* * *

for more tea and wintry weather,

please visit the tea blogs listed in my sidebar

"Tea on Tuesday Blogs"

ornamental

The Sweet Husband's sweet sister made these ornament hooks and

ornaments

 aren't they beautiful?

they add some elegance to our very eclectic tree

our most loved ornaments are the handmade ones.

I'll bet it's true for you too!

*

a very happy and joyous 

second sunday of advent

and 

fifth night

to all my friends

journaling

I've been keeping up my journal pretty consistently
... which is unusual for me.
I have loads of started journals
and not one single completed one.
I think I'm on a roll with a method that works for me.

Basically it goes like this
(and this technique I learned from Willowing and Friends "Art, Heart and Healing"):

1. write a two page spread in pencil - thoughts that need to get out
2. on a separate piece of paper record the gist of what you wrote
3. gesso over the pencil, lightly or heavily, depending on how revealing you want to be
4. collage, doodle, paint, etc. over the gessoed part
5. write in the bit you wrote that was a summation of those original thoughts

Because of the personal thoughts included in my journal 

(which is as it should be)

I'm only showing you bits and pieces of it.

I hope to inspire you to have a place you can write down your hopes and dreams and fears and worries.

There is something good about putting those thoughts to paper

finding the beauty in them

and then keeping them secret.