numbers

I am in search of a calendar that I want to look at all year AND has space to right everything down on. I haven't found it yet.

But I did find Robin Rosenthal's work and thought you might like it too:

BIRDS DECOUPAGE TEMPLATE

COUNTING BIRDS,18 x 24 inches

Maybe I'll have to make my own? Hmmmmm.

Make a Flake...

It may not be a white Christmas, but you can make your own snowflakes by clicking here!

Merry Christmas

Nativity by Federico Barocci (c. 1535-1612)

Immanuel

Immanuel means "God is with us" in Hebrew. "The virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14

How many days this year have you felt alone or wondered if life just seems full of the mundane tasks of work, laundry, or preparing another meal? I was just thinking about this idea of Immanuel and trying to focus on calling God by that name every day...would I feel His presence in my own life more often?

Tonight our family will prepare to receive the Christ Child, Immanuel, who is always with us... and I am not alone.

Go here to listen to one of my favorite songs focusing on Immanuel.

hee hee

I popped in to elsie marley's blog and saw this! I wish I'd seen it sooner-- it would have been a fun one to make this year! She posted instructions!!!

It's almost here!

Christmas is just around the corner and there's nothing I love more than reading our collection of children's books about it! Here is one that I love, not only for the story but the illustrations: Elsa Beskow's Ollie's Ski Trip. With a pile of presents waiting to be wrapped, I like to think that there was a time when one great present was enough, like a pair of skis, that you just couldn't wait to play with and would entertain you for the rest of the winter season! A simple tangerine and some German candy in the stocking were treasures to be appreciated. I will always try to make my children's Christmas fulfill their hopes and wishes, but deep down I wish I could live a life like Tasha Tudor where the simplicity of a few wonderfully handmade toys and decorating with whatever is on hand in the yard is much more magical than anything that could come in a box from toys r'us! Here's to appreciating the beauty and simple things this Christmas!

Merry Christmas to You!

I wanted to wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas!!! I hope that this coming year is full of creativity and love and happy times for you! I'm so glad I met you.

love,

Beth

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I chose to draw our family this year in the style of Lois Lenski (1893 - 1974), the acclaimed children's book author and illustrator. This illustration in particular is taken from her Christmas Stories book. She was born and raised in central Ohio and is even an OSU graduate! I find her work to be charming and full of the joy of the season!

not holiday/holiday...

I don't know why, but this website is totally cracking me up!: historically inaccurate decorative arts.

And amy has some great gift tags to print out as a pdf.

From Santa's workshop...

Now that I have my computer back, I can post some photos of what's been going on around here lately (I'm not making this up... visual proof!).
Here's my first attempt at Scherenschnitte that I did for our Church bulletin board. Yes, there are definately things I would change, but overall it serves it's purpose:

Here are my St. Lucia dolls in progress... I forgot to take a photo of them finished!

Here are the felt ornaments that I've been working on for our family ornament exchange! Two sweet pastries for my sweet nieces:

The Jingle Bell Christmas Pig for my little nephew with handknit peppermint striped scarf!! That's about all the knitting I did for Christmas this year... everything else had to be quickly made:

The end!

The pig pattern came from Hilary Lang, minus the platform and my own addition of the bells and scarf; and the pastries came from The Softies Book which I turned into an ornament and changed it a bit!

cheesecake love

I was watching Food Network last evening. I'm not one to watch much tv but it was one of those nights when all I wanted to do was lay on the couch in my pajamas and zone out. "Throw Down with Bobby Flay" was on and he went into New York City's Times Square to find the best cheesecake at Junior's and challenge the owner to a little cheesecake competition. Flay won, but Junior's seems to be the place to go! AND you can order any of their famous cheesecakes to be delivered to your front door! We almost did last night, but the thought of eating a whole one without company is incomprehensible. I was just down there on Monday and wished we had known about the place! Cheesecake used to be my all-time favorite dessert, besides pumpkin pie. My Grandma Stiebing used to make wonderful cheesecake the German way-- thick and cheesy with sour cream. Yum! So go ahead and order one... you know you want to!

11

My baby turned 11 yesterday! We celebrated by having a girls day in NYC. Her pick: The American Girl Store! I arranged a special birthday lunch at their cafe, she had her doll's hair done at the doll salon, got her picture taken on the cover of the magazine and shopped till we both dropped!! We took the train in again from Lancaster. New York City at Christmas is such a pretty site!

Happy Birthday Leenie!!!

Happy St. Lucia's Day!

Today is a perfect day to celebrate St. Lucia's Day (Dec. 13th) because the trees are all icy and it's dark and cold outside. The candles would be well-received if we were little girls in Sweden right now! My little St. Lucia dolls that I made from Alicia are all standing at attention, waiting to serve the family!

It was my last day of teaching for the Cyber Charter School today. I am sad to say good-bye, but I think they will be fine without me... they were off to a good start. I haven't felt the huge burden off of my shoulders yet, but with holiday preparations and the usual family obligations, I think there's no laziness in sight for a while yet. I do need to make two more ornaments so it's off to Santa's workshop for me!....

And have a very bright and merry Thursday! ;)

365

I just read Anna Maria's blog about the quilter who did one quilt a week for a year! They weren't full size but the creativity that stemmed from that was incredible.

So here's my thought:

What if I made a promise to do something creative every single day of 2008? I know that sounds very huge, considering that I couldn't get through a month of drawing. But what if it included writing, making up a song on the piano, drawing, painting, sewing, knitting, designing, taking a great photo, cooking a new recipe ... and the list goes on and on?

Would you join me? :)

julehjerter

I have always loved those red and white Danish hearts! I found some links to make the traditional version and then some more creative variations on them:

Simple woven hearts,

"Weaving a Danish Christmas",

3-dimensional hanging hearts

Many variations of the weavings

Usually they are done in paper but I also found some done in felt!:

Let me know if you try some!

small

the winter issue of small magazine is online now to read!

i am inspired by:

the children's clothes~ esp. the one's using amy butler fabric!... i want to design and sew clothes for caroline now!

the "stone" furniture... giant pillows that look like large smooth stones in grays and tans

the toys ~ time to make more... maybe a robot this time!

the wallpapers by Stark ~ it's like dressing the walls

kids' rock bands ~ who said they couldn't?!

ambrosia salad ~ you know you love this too!

can I be a kid again???? ;)

Eye Candy

I just found the most amazing artist: Tord Boontje. (click his name for his gorgeous website!) If you go onto his site and look at Winter Wonderland under Installations, you will be amazed at the beauty! It's perfect for the season! I don't know how people can be so creative! I am inspired and am about to dive into a large papercutting of the nativity for the board at Church... let's just see if I can do anything half as cool as this artist's work!

Hope you're having a great day ;)
xoxo ~ Bethany

card inspiration

Click here for the coolest Scherenschnitte art that I've seen and a short demo clip! I would love to do something like this for my card! Cindy takes the traditional medium and uses it with contemporary images.

Amy at Angry Chicken created a red one and turned me on to it and the above link. Last year I sent red scherenschnitte inspired cards for Valentine's Day that I bought at the Landis Valley Farm Museum Shop right down the street. This art form was very popular in Pennsylvania German Culture.

Did I finish my card today like I planned? NO. I'm too grumpy. I guess everyone's entitled to a bad day once in a while.... especially when they spent the night looking at the ceiling because they drank a Diet Coke and then a Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks all in one evening! What was I thinking??!!! (I did get a lot done on my little felt ornament.. it looks so good!!!...but you wouldn't know that because I can't post my photos!!!... this is why I am grumpy!)

Great ideas!

Erinn at Happy Living Blog posted some wonderful holiday ideas and fantastic links to advent calendars!! I'm sorry I didn't let you know sooner! NEXT year I WILL make Jenny B. Harris' felt advent envelope garland!!! I saw it last year and loved it!!!

If...

If I could post photos, I would show you the cutest St. Lucia dolls I'm making from Alicia Paulson's kit! They are adorable! My OM team came over and I think one of my students wants to make them with me...she kept looking at them because they are adorable! Caroline helped me paint some yesterday while she was home sick!

If I could post photos, I would show you the beautiful print I received from Elena at French Toast Girl which goes perfectly with my house! (I will later.)

If I could post photos, I'd show you the cute felt ornaments I'm sewing for my nieces for our family ornament exchange! :))

If I could post photos, I would have taken a picture of the snowflakes falling last evening! It was beautiful and Ellie's first experience with snow flurries! She nipped and licked at the air!!

If I could scan pictures, I'd show you my sketches I did for my Christmas card...all in red pencil... I have a wonderful idea but without my Illustrator program and scanner, I'm having to be super creative to figure out HOW to do it!!! And before Christmas already gets here!

If I could post photos, I'd show you the Bulletin Board I'm designing at Church that my students helped me create this time (Jesse Tree ornaments).

If I could post pictures, I would have shown you the Mercersburg Chapel which is gorgeous and and keeps popping up in my memory.

If I were near you, I'd give you a hug, because I'm a HUGE hugger and I think my job in life is to fill everyone else's life with love... at least that's my story and I'm sticking with it!

Enjoy the Advent....
love, Bethany

For unto us a child is born...

"For unto us a child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace."
Isaiah 9:6

Listen to Handel's Messiah: For Unto Us A Child is Born on YouTube

Holiday concert

My family drove a couple hours away to Craig's home to see his mom's Holiday Concert at the Mercersburg Academy. The Community Chorus sings there twice a year for free! It is so beautiful as they sing in the chapel there and the music just fills the space! They always do a variety of songs, bring in professional soloists and an orchestra and the church is always packed with standing room only for four shows!!! It is in a rural area, but it rivals any city's choral group with the talent and beauty they share.

This year was Caroline and Nathaniel's first year to attend. With Caroline being in chorus and playing violin and Nathaniel playing the trumpet, I knew that they would appreciate it so much more! And they did! I had tears in my eyes watching their excitement at everything. The trumpet piece was one of my favorites and the pieces from Handel's Messiah. It just fills my soul and I understand again why I love really good live music! Behind the chorus was a huge stained glass window with many pictures but Mary and Jesus as an infant stood out, and as the sun set, the halos above their heads were the last thing you saw lit! Magical.

It is a blessing to be able to attend this and other concerts during the season! I'm thankful for beautiful classical music that reminds me of the many men and women who've come before me and how lucky I am to benefit from their creativity and knowledge today!

Yippeee!

Craig found a couple old cd's which held backed up files from before 2006!!! I have photos from when the kids were younger now! And so we are only missing photos from 2006-2007. We will replace the harddrive and then I will ask family and friends if they still have photos I sent to them (though the quality won't be as good, it's still something!). AND, I am good at backing up my Quicken file every time I pay bills, so I did have that financial information after all!!! Yeah me! I guess I just forgot that I do it, because it's a habit. So I did my bills tonight and am getting our life back in order.

Thanks for your supportive comments lately and please remember to BACK UP YOUR DATA!!

I can't wait to post Holiday photos soon!