AHA moment...

Hello bloggers. Last night I spent a very restless and sleepless night thinking of all the things I never accomplished this year and why I sometimes just sit instead of actually creating what my mind is thinking of and how shall I be better in this coming new year. Well...

Behold I turned on my computer this morning and went into my very first blog I ever read: http://www.kerriposson-artist.blogspot.com and there it was...my AHA moment. Please check out her blog and read for yourself. It explains how having one word instead of an entire list is so much easier to do and definitely less overwhelming for many of us. Well that is exactly what I was so stressed over last night. I felt so overwhelmed and yet I do not need to.

So as I was making my comment on Kerri Jean's blog my AHA moment was the wonderful word I came upon to make my life and new year less overwhelming.

FOCUS is my word. What a wonderful word it is yet what a difficult thing it is for me to do. And as a bonus I just realized that this wonderful word has five letters in it and five just happens to be my lucky number. I believe this may just be my breakthrough year of being able to accomplish the creative things I have yet to be and do.

Thank you Kerri Jean. Thank you blogspot and blogs of all types as I have come to realize that this is a medium which encourages without judging, lets us all share our triumphs and struggles and brings like-minded artisans together in friendships otherwise not possible.

What is your method of bringing in the new year? Do you write out your goals? Do you make lists?

I am so happy that I can now FOCUS on what I truly want to accomplish in this new year.

Time to regroup...

After a wonderful Christmas with family and friends it is time to relax, refresh and regroup.

Not ready to put away decorations as I want to enjoy them without the hectic rush. I am finding myself today not out shopping but staying home in my comfy sweats, having a cup of tea and planning what needs to be done before the new year. DH and I are moving some furniture and getting rid of some old unneeded items. We are organizing a storage area which is never my favorite thing to do but must be done. I am the packrat and my husband is the throw-it-away guy even if he needs it.

We will enjoy the results and feel better after today.

However you are enjoying your day I hope you are taking time to re-energize your own batteries. Gathering lots of creative ideas for the days and weeks ahead. I am looking forward to seeing what each of you are doing in your creative pursuits. What are you making? What new mediums are you going to try? What challenges are you going to tempt yourselves with?

That is part of what I am taking time to regroup...what shall I be creating next???

Merry Christmas...

May you each enjoy today as we wind down to celebrate Christmas Eve. Some will gather with family and some with friends to share this joyous time. Eat, drink and be merry.

Tomorrow may you be overjoyed with your gifts. May you have food a plenty. Make lots of family traditions and memories to last a lifetime and beyond.

A very Merry Christmas to all.

Make Now & Give Now...

This is a wonderful quick gift to make for the men on your gift list. My very creative and intelligent sister Marie actually made this one for my husband for his garage and he loves it.

One day Marie and I were shopping and we bought a large package of scrap booking papers. We sat in the car and split the package so we each had half the papers. Not knowing what we were going to do with them but very happy to put them in our stash of craft goodies. Well, this year Marie used the papers to make wonderful gifts. She glued a car photo from a magazine onto this one as my husband is a guru of supercars. Then she printed with black permanent ink the rules of the garage. She used "manly" twine to fashion a hanger for the nail on the wall.

Personally I think this is very clever and what a winner it is for the difficult to buy for men gift.

Thank you Marie and you did a superb job of not only being creative but of making my man smile when he opened his gift and then hung it in his garage!

So bloggers you can easily see how quick and simple this will be to make and give. And you can change it up to suit any hobby or space your men need rules for. I will definitely be making these for next year.

Wrapping tip...

Here is my handy wrapping tip for this busy holiday season.

As you are wrapping presents and you are in a hurry and you still want to be safe...

Measure your paper around your gift and then fold the paper. Instead of grabbing the scissors and cutting the fold line or worse yet opening the scissors and sliding them down the fold line reach for your painting pallet knife and slide it down the fold line. The pallet knife is actually safer and it is offset so you can see what you are doing. I found it quite by accident and am really happy with using this method.

After 40 plus years I still bear a nasty scar from using the open scissor method which slid right through my hand between my thumb and forefinger.

Yes, you can go to the store and purchase a new fangled tool made by Scotch to slice your paper but who has time?

Let's use what we have and be safe all at the same time.

I hope this little handy tip will help you get those gifts wrapped safely.

There are those who love to wrap presents and make it quite a creative experience and there are those who will do most anything to not wrap gifts. I fall into the first category and learned how from my mom who was brilliant at making a gift look like a very special present made just for the recipient. It takes lots of time but with shortcuts like the pallet knife great wrapped packages are doable.

Merry Christmas to everyone and happy gift wrapping.