Holiday Break
Enjoy winter vacation — we’ll be back on January 2, 2012!
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Archive for
Dec 26
Dec 19
Monday Post ~ December 19, 2011
“Nothing builds a child’s self-confidence like unconditional love. Let your children know that you love them for who they are, rather than for what they do.”
~Michael J. Gelb, How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci
What are your plans for creative practice this week? It’s holiday time, so enjoy a broad brush when it comes to creativity: cooking, baking, decorating inside and out, making gifts, making cards, getting creative with wrapping, savoring the magic, finding ways to enjoy the small moments of each day.
Share your goal(s) as a comment to this post, and let us know how things went with your creative plans for last week, if you posted to last week’s Monday Post.
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Bonita Rose: Holiday Tinsel Wreath DIY
I made this gorgeous wreath this morning, and it only took me about 15 minutes.
You can do this. You can! And what’s really important to mention? You can find most of what you need at your local thrift store! Ready? Here we go!
What you need:
- an old wooden embroidery hoop, 12 inches (I used the 12 inch size, but you can use whatever you have on hand — bigger or smaller, up to you!)
- a package of vintage holiday tinsel (my tinsel was gold, silver and white, use whatever you can find!)
- white paper wire-stemmed roses
- glass glittered star
- silver ornament hook
How to make your wreath!
- sit comfortably.
- open up your embroidery hoop and slide one end of the holiday tinsel between the two wood hoops, then screw tight, with the tinsel end attached.
- loop around your tinsel through and over your hoop until the entire hoop is covered in tinsel. (as you are working, you can smoosh or spread out the tinsel as you see fit, to get the look you want!)
- when you are nearing the end of your tinsel strand, tuck in the last part of tinsel, and voila!
- place star on ornament hook and hang from top of wreath.
- use wire-stemmed white roses and wrap around wreath in bunches of three. No need for glue!
Ta-da!
You can loop a white ribbon at the top of your wreath for hanging, or you can do as I did. I didn’t attach a ribbon.
My plans are to lean this beauty against a pretty white wall.
The part about this wreath that I LOVE is that you can remove the flowers so easily, just unwrap the wire stems. You can remove the hook and the star and change it up if you like. Nothing is permanent. I love that.
So so easy! I honestly love how easy this was and how sparkly and pretty this turned out!
So next time you are thrifting, be on the lookout for embroidery hoops and tinsel garland.
What do you think? Don’t you just love it?
Make a holiday tinsel wreath in no time at all!
Happy Holidays!
XOXO
Bonita Rose
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Dec 12
Monday Post ~ December 12, 2011
“Remember this December, that love weighs more than gold!”
~Josephine Daskam Bacon
What are your plans for creative practice this week? It’s holiday time, so enjoy a broad brush when it comes to creativity: cooking, baking, decorating inside and out, making gifts, making cards, getting creative with wrapping, savoring the magic, finding ways to enjoy the small moments of each day.
Share your goal(s) as a comment to this post, and let us know how things went with your creative plans for last week, if you posted to last week’s Monday Post.
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Dec 5
Monday Post ~ December 5, 2011
“If I am curious and seeking new experiences, I can probably surprise myself in some way, which leads to brand-new experiences. Having adventures on a regular basis leads to habits of pleasure.” ~SARK
What are your plans for creative practice this week? Given the specifics of your schedule, decide on a realistic goal or a milestone to reach for. A goal as simple as “I will be creative for 10 minutes every day” or “I will gesso three canvases” is what it’s all about. And if you aren’t in goal-setting mode, remember that regular creative practice is what it’s all about. Just show up and do the work.
Share your goal(s) as a comment to this post, and let us know how things went with your creative plans for last week, if you posted to last week’s Monday Post.
Suggestion: When you’re deciding on your creative intentions, it’s a good idea to think about WHEN you’re going to write those 2,000 words or paint that canvas. Try to schedule the time slots in your calendar (if you keep one), understanding that flexibility may be required. If things don’t happen when you wanted them to, that’s OK. Give yourself a gentle push with one hand, but pat yourself kindly on the shoulder with the other if you don’t reach your goal for a given week. Sometimes it’s easier, sometimes it’s harder. Ride whatever you’ve got.
It’s also useful to have a sense of your minimum requirements (come hell or high water I’m going to write 100 words) while keeping a lookout for sudden opportunities to do more. You know, the day that the baby takes a monster nap or your partner takes the kids out to run errands and you find yourself with an unexpected “extra” half hour. Grab that time for yourself. You can catch up on the dishes and the laundry later. If you keep something creative in the back of your mind for those sudden opportunities, you’ll be more likely to use them to your advantage — rather than squandering your precious bonus moments on Facebook or vacuuming out the sofa cushions.
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Christine: Advance….and Retreat…
Oh, the holiday 
season is upon us once again! As a jewelry artist and metalsmith, this should signal some of the busiest sales times of the year for me. The truth is, I prefer to have my busy-ness occur before Thanksgiving, and be done. Since I don’t need to support myself with my work (I only really support my work with my work), it’s not as crucial to maximize the sales figures.
Besides, I’ve had a very successful year, being able to pay off my new kiln, bank some money toward a new torch, and send in an entry to a much larger show for spring that has a much larger booth fee. So, I’m pretty happy all the way around.
This is also the time of year when I feel myself totally pulling back from all the online communities I belong to, and spending time focusing on my “real” life and family and myself. It’s the season, I think, to turn slightly inward, become more insular. I’m posting on forums less, blogging a lot less, not getting involved in art trades or challenges or online classes. That works for me, and it’s been happening for at least the last two years, so now, instead of resisting, and wailing about how my mojo has left the building, I lean into it and accept it. The funny thing is, I think most people who go through something like this, and get all panicky about it, feel that the community they’ve become a part of will somehow leave them behind if they don’t constantly stay engaged. I’ve never found that to be true for me, though. People I *really* want to stay connected with will still be there when I re-engage.
It has to do with the amount of creative energy I don’t realize I am pouring out in the time between Halloween and New Year’s Day. Stopping to consider it, in that time frame our family has a holiday, followed by a birthday, Thanksgiving, another birthday, Christmas, and then finally, New Year’s. I am designing and making costumes, decorating, cooking, baking, choosing and wrapping gifts, planning birthday parties, decorating some more, cooking and baking some more, choosing more gifts, MAKING so many gifts, doing more decorating, telling stories, playing with my kids, going on special holiday outings, and just enjoying the rush of family life in this season. Whew! All of that uses creative energy, and social energy, and I am just frankly OUT of energy to spend on my online presence. It’s okay, though, because come late winter, I’m ready to go again!
Fields that have a chance to lie fallow will become more productive later on. By letting my artistic and online social “fields” lie fallow for a time, I can manage my holiday season and my art-making seasons with much less stress. How do you manage?
Studio Mothers: Life & Art 
