Happy Everything

What kind of friend have I been to you?
.. not too great - as I haven't even wished you a Merry Christmas or a Happy New Year?
I just got so into my projects, and then the family-ness of it all... that I simply neglected to thank you - who I am so happy to have in my cyber-life - rejoicing with me in triumphs and joys - and encouraging me in the hard times. You've been a blessing to me this year!
Thank you for being my bloggy friend and for reading this humble little scene.

I spent a lot of time this Christmas thinking about another humble scene... about a young mother who was faced with so much insecurity and instability - and it really was a sweet thing to dwell on - to refocus on, as it's so easy to get swept away with all the obligations of the season. To think of God caring enough to give gifts to us and then to wrap it in humble, humble packaging.

...which made me think of "packaging" I have in my life that I want to lighten up on. Maybe to accept more humble means....

I have a list I am working on... J and I yearly sit down with a New Years journal that we started the year before we got engaged... and we read, laugh, and re-read all the lists that we have made over the years - things we've accomplished and things we wish we'd done... books we read - unexpected things that happened... It's a wonderful tradition for us.

This year's lists are jumping around in my head now - and a few lines are in my journal, but for now, they are there. (I'll share later)

As I wish you a Happy New Year tonight, I challenge you to think about the wonderful things you accomplished this year, the ways you grew, the surprises (both good and bad) that shaped 2008 - and not to just lay down goals (LOSE WEIGHT!) that feel rote and sometimes unattainable ... but to rejoice in what happened this year - and to thing of some of the humble, attainable things that lie ahead in 2009.

January is my favorite month. I love the quiet. I love the lack of things on my to-do list. It's a simple month, and often quite a creative time for me. I'm very excited to turn the calendar tonight.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you!

Mimi & mama project

So the design director decided the morning of one of our many Christmas parties that we needed to bring a dolphin toy to her friend, Marley. So there we were, in our jammies, sewing away, stuffing and wrapping up a storm... We had to make one to keep, obviously...

Baby Z gets some new threads

I've been sewing all day!
Here is something I've been meaning to do since Ze Artiste decided that MY old Cabbage Patch Kid was his "Baby Z" complete with the original saggy baseball uniform that I opened the box to find him in. (I believe his name was something like OTTO back then) Baby Z is the only baby that Ze Artiste will play with, he is not into girlie dolls.

So today, I made the baby some new clothes... For Christmas, to match Ze Artiste -and the shorts I made him a while ago... It is still a challenge, to make doll clothes or boy clothes that are not woosy... But I love this outfit... I hope my little man does, too.

Flamingo Christmas

What am I doing while not wrappjmg presents like a madwoman? Helping my little wonder be a flamingo... This after whipping up a pillowcase angel costume this morning for the Christmas pageant at church...Nevermind the impossibly messy room... It was spotless 24 hours ago.
Oy vey.

Weather

I am really inspired by today's rare Los Angeles stormy sky ... I loved Chicago's wild weather when we lived there for 5 years...And I miss snow so much at Christmas ...
I'm itching for some weather reports from you all... Will you send me a photo of how it looks outside?

Holiday Spirit

I took this photo the other day, and though I am not a fan of flocked trees normally, this photo is so pretty to me... (thank you infrared filter!)

Today the Design Director and Ze Artiste are decorating gingerbread houses with momma and helping me make beanbag doorstops to take to our neighbors.

We're in the spirit...

Sweet bag

We may start having these show up in etsy, but I've been making these for gifts since coming up with the strap idea the other night at our craftygifty night. The buttons are from Great Grammy's vintage stash that I inherited. Cute, eh?

December Sunset - beauty

Be inspired.
I may not love LA, but December sunsets win me over every time. I'm fortunate enough to be driving west at sunset tonight, listening to Christmas music with the kids in back and a warm quiche smelling up the car as we take dinner to a friend's house.

Crafty/gifty night - and all the fun we had!

Phew! I'm tired!
But tonight's "crafty/gifty" night was SO fun.
I think I may have a few converts to my insane way of living and creating - and more than one friend asked about how much a sewing machine costs...
We had 3 different machines going and I made these gals sew! Everyone left with multiple items that they'd made - most everyone had at least 2-3 different things that were completed.
The funniest thing to me was when J walked in at 10pm, everyone in the house went, "oh....." at the same time - knowing that the fun had to end eventually.
Here are fun photos from the event.
some of the things made... embellished tees, bookbags and totes, headbands, sachets, cloth napkins, ornaments, lots of earrings, a hand-painted stool, some painted canvases, pillows and more! I helped everyone a little bit - but these girls really did their own work... they were so funny calling their hubbies - saying things like, "yeah, ME! I was just sitting down at a sewing machine sewing! ME!" super fun... everyone was asking about when we could do it next.
I wonder what J thinks...

International Sanctuary

Today I had lunch with the girls from International Sanctuary, which is the most wonderful non-profit!

"iSanctuary is a new and growing non-profit organization that was formed to develop social enterprises for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation.

Currently we are training 40 rescued girls, from the ages of 13 to 18 in Mumbai India, in the skill of jewelry making. Once the girls are trained, their products are brought to the US and UK to be sold to fund their futures."

I was introduced to them by my dear friend, Tori Higa ... she'd blogged about International Sanctuary a few months ago, and I'd bought some jewelry then - and invited them to a recent event where they sold alongside me with my Libby Dibby booth. I was so excited to meet Wendy and Stephanie (who spends most of her year in India). Tori and I are talking about someday going to India ourselves to work on designs and concepts with iSanctuary to sell and support this important cause.

Today, the four of us met up for some inspiration and yummy Mexican food. Stephanie and I chatted and played with my beads. We had a lot of fun experimenting on some new concepts that she thought she might be able to take back to India to teach to the women and use in their designs that sell online. (Plus it was fun to dig out my beads again!)

I am just so excited to know these amazing women and I hope you'll check out their site and spread the word about this good work that is happening!

Crafty/gifty

I have a lot of craft supplies around here. It's borderline insane.
So as a little gift to some of my galpals around here (some of you actually read this blog!), I've offered for 10 of them to come over on Tuesday night to get crafty, using my stuff.
I'm not planning on making anything myself, just being an extra set of hands and a little extra courage for them to make some fun gifts. I'm really looking forward to this and it sounds like they are too.

We're pulling out all the junk. It's going to be fabulous. (and messy)

oh - and here is one of my other pieces for the swap I did... I made these gift tags and had to share.
My favorite part is the sewing for the lines -something I did for the book about the caterpillar... it's such a fun little touch.

photo wreath

I really like those photo ornaments, but they were starting to take over our tree...so this year, I gave them their own wreath and I love it! This may turn into a little tradition.

Autumn in Los Angeles

Next time I complain that I miss Autumn in the Midwest, remind me to drive through Hancock Park (in LA, oh, only about 1 mile north of me!).... this felt so good this morning... (nevermind the guy in short sleeves)

quote of the day... inspiring...

I found this quote in the gutter of a blog I peeked in on tonight.


"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity....
It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events.
Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."
Melodie Beattie

Did I show you our Christmas card photo yet?

We had a lot of fun using Libby Dibby as our outfitter for our Christmas card photo this year.

Here are a few happy moments from our shoot with Josh.

the photos are not showing up big here, but if you click on them, you can see them up close.

Cyber Monday

Turning the lights off tonight on Cyber Monday... Packages at the door ready to go out tomorrow... Tree in the background. Quiet house. Everyone sleeping. Stockings hung. And a little leftover Thanksgiving chocolate pie in the fridge for a bite before bed.
All is well.

Black Friday Cyber Monday/White Stockings

I'm doing a Christmas swap through the Domestic Bliss blog and I have been scratching my head as to what I can make for my swap partner... who indicated she loves white and vintage things... White? (me?)
So I found some of Grammy's old stashes of lace that I have inherited and I used some to make these tonight... I'm excited about how they have turned out. They are sweet and a little yellowed with age. But lovely.
One we will keep here, but the other will be stuffed with other sweet handmade items... Some ornaments and hand hammered ornament hooks, some jewelry...etc... I'm trying to plug away at it a little every day. I like the deadline and I like the inspiration.
Now I'm off to bed, because I like sleep too.