Tree time

Its nearly Christmas, which i dont think has escaped anyones notice, although I am feeling singularly unready for it. I think it is the snow, it has put me out of whack somehow. We braved the trip into town yesterday and I can imagine there were lots of unhappy retailers, the last saturday before Christmas and it was dead. Not completely deserted but people were few and far between and given the state of the roads hardly surprising but it just didnt feel like Christmas because of it.

However I have been sorting out Christmas trees, our tree in the living room looks much as it did last year but this year i did a little tree for the studio too (which will move inside just before Christmas day).

I got a bit excited about the idea of having this mini tree in the studio and so I decided to put handmade decorations on it. This is the tree I used to have as a teenager so it does have some bits (paper garlands, bead strings and a cute little string of brass bells) that I want to keep on it from then, but as far as baubles go I wanted to make my own. I have made blown glass baubles in the hot shop before but there is no way this little fella would hold that kind of weight so I made lampwork baubles. 

As I have had a (very very lovely) surprise early Christmas present this week in the form of a sandblaster, which my lovely Himself decided was too big to wrap up or hide anywhere, I had to include a little sandblasted  disc too.

And simply because I have one, and they are gorgeous I had to include this adorable little ceramic button by the terrific Tan of course.

Im thinking I may have started another little Christmas tradition and that it would be nice to make at least one new ornament for it each year and (hopefully) see my skills in this area improve or at the very least see how they evolve ! 

Now Im off to make some mince pies and hoping that the smell of them cooking wafting around the house will make me feel more Christmassy. 

Its that time of year, things are getting Christmassy, the mornings are frosty, and I made Penguins.

"So, erm, do you come here often ?"

So far I have made 22 penguins and I managed to get some pictures of some of them last night before they put on their new outfits and went out into the world as phone charms. I love making penguins, I love the fact they are all different, the expressions it is possible to get on their faces. They were so cute that I had to keep one for me.

Is there anything that you love to make near Christmas, something that makes you feel all festive ? Feel free to comment or leave a link to a photo, Id love to see. 

Make

If you havent noticed it, scroll down a ways and have a look at the badge down there on the right, yes thats it the reverb10 one, have you had a look at the site yet ?  There are daily prompts to reflect on 2010 and lots of participants, some of whom have shared their blog details if you want to follow their responses each day.

I signed up at the beginning of the month thanks to noticing it on Ali Edwards blog. I had already decided to do some form of photo diary for December and this fitted in quite well so I have been joining in, in a digital format, pairing photos with words in Photoshop each day. Todays prompt was about making which was perfect for me at the moment. So out came the sewing machine again and off I went, inspired to action.

6/12/10 photo, taken with the iphone hipstamatic app

I have been wanting to make myself a tool roll for my "essential" lampwork tools, the ones I take with me when I go to classes or meet ups, so, I did. And Im quite pleased with how it turned out. 

Have you dusted off any making skills recently and made something in a media you dont usually work in or used a technique you havent tried for a while ?

Link-Share

I have decided I need to make some changes and improvements to my website (you may have noticed that for me my website is an ever evolving creature, which, like my glass work, I keep trying to improve) so I have been reading about ways of writing better product descriptions, and I thought that might be interesting to you too, if like me you occasionally struggle to hit the right note

Christine Gierer's Handmade Results - Handmade jewelry descriptions

Meylah - how to write product descriptions that tell a story

Karon Thackston's 7 step process for writing enticing product descriptions

1st December, advent calenders a go...

The countdown to Christmas has begun today, despite my best plans I am so not organised and ready !! I think I am now going to be doing lots of internet shopping of necessity due to the snow, as in true British fashion a little sprinkling and everything has come to a halt.

Its not that we have that much snow, maybe 3" tops, but there are roads closed and few or no trains !! The view from the studio window is rather picturesque though -

The picturesque-ness does not extend to the inside of the studio which is freezing, I have been torching practically sat on my heater ! However it was a productive day and commissions and presents have been worked on. 

We have had a sudden influx of birds visiting cat tv (the bird feeder) so I have also taken some nice photos of them today which Im thinking might make nice Christmas cards if I get my skates on and get them printed, then there might even be time to "embellish" the cards before sending them.

I hope you Christmas preparations are going well ? Are you the organised type or a last minute dasher ?