For this week’s cards,  I worked in collaboration with my daughter Samantha.  The main materials used in these “cards” is felt.  They are designed to fit perfectly into a business size envelope for easy mailing but instead of being a traditional card, they are mini banners that can be used by the recipient as a decoration.  For the main design of each banner, we used a retro pattern from a Christmas magazine (I believe it was either a Woman’s Day or Better Homes and Gardens Christmas issue from the 1970s).  We used Aleene’s Tacky Glue for assembling and embellishing the cards.

For the blue dove banner, we added some rhinestones and glittery embellishments from a multi pack that we purchased at Dollarama.  I noticed that with the glare, you can’t see some of the detail on the dove but it has a tiny sequin eye and a few sequins to enhance the wing and tail.  I sewed tiny little star charms (also part of the multi pack) at the bottom of the banner to add some movement.  I feel like the dove still looks a bit flat so I’m considering adding some dimension to it with Stickles.

On the Santa banner, once again we added some red glittery hearts, a white pompom and little red jingle bells to the basic design.  It’s already a fuller, busier design so we refrained from adding too much to the beginning felt pattern.  There’s something about Santa’s face I’m not quite satisfied with and may work on changing for the rest of the ones we made of this design.  His head seems a bit too small to me and I’ve not yet found something for the eyes that suits him the best but overall I think it’s quite cute.

This one is my favourite at this point and the one I feel is completely finished.   It started as just a simple tree shape on the red background.   We began by adding some garland of a glittery red rick rack from Fabricland fabric store.  The stars and ornaments on the tree are all from another multi pack purchased at Dollarama.  For the presents, I started with the two white ones.  My daughter had purchased some adhesive backed decorative felt Christmas ribbon at Michaels to use for some gifts she made.  I had her save the white paper backing from the ribbon and cut out some of the gift packages to use under the tree on this banner.  I also used a green felt square from the multi pack to make a smaller gift, adding some thin red ribbon from Michaels to it.  Once again, the jingle bells are from the multi coloured pack we got at Dollarama.

Your next stop is Robin’s Nest  Full list of participants is below! Have fun hopping!

Here’s what’s on my work table – part of my inspiration for my Steampunk Valentine swap creation.  You still have time to join in!  There’s one week left until it needs to be mailed out.  Check out this post for the details:  http://cynchronicity.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/steampunk-valentines-day-swap/

Remember you can work with any materials or techniques you’d like – make an ATC, create a greeting card, paint a small canvas, do a collage, sew something, practise your quilting skills – anything and everything is fair game!  Come join us!

Sugarplum:  “If you don’t pick me up, I’m just going to climb right up your leg!”

Here’s another idea of a Valentine’s Day pendant made in the Steampunk style.  I made this last year on one of my shows using metal tape (found at a hardware store, used for duct work), metal washers, a styrofoam heart as the base, heart and key themed stamps, Staz On ink, wire, a Tim Holtz gear and grunge paper, and an eyeglass chain that I got from Dollarama.  Quick and easy to make and lots of fun to wear!  If you’d like to see the playback of this show for a step by step tutorial click here:  In the Zone show playback

If you’d like to take part in our Steampunk Valentine swap, check out this blog post for all the details:  Steampunk Valentine’s Day Swap We’d love to have more people join in!  Remember, you can make yours out of any materials and using any techniques – it just needs to reflect both Valentine’s Day and Steampunk and it’s a one on one swap so you only need to create one item.

I’d also so appreciate your support in voting for this project for the FaveCrafts blog hop.  I could win a FlipPal Mobile Scanner if I get enough votes!  Go here and click on the “like” button below the picture of this project to vote:  http://www.favecraftsblog.com/january-blog-hop-love-is-in-the-air-crafts-giveaway/

I’m really excited to have joined the Festive Friday blog hop for 2012.  I get so busy around the holidays that I never seem to find the time to get my Christmas cards finished.  I was even lamenting to my daughter this year that I would just purchase some and send them out but people expect me to be “crafty” and would likely give me a hard time about not making my own.  Instead, I didn’t send out any.  So, this is my attempt to circumvent that problem for Christmas 2012.  Every 2nd and 4th Friday of the month, we’ll be sharing our Christmas cards and hopefully, inspiring you with our ideas!

sigh…does anyone else see one of my hairs there in this picture?  Guess I need to look a little closer next time!!

I began with a piece of bright blue cardstock folded into a 4 by 6 inch card.  I cut a piece of silver metallic tape – it’s not the duct tape that most people would think of but it IS used in duct and furnace work.  I always keep a roll of this stuff on hand because there are just so many great ways to use it!

Dang it…that hair is really annoying me.

I began by embossing star shapes into the metal tape.  That’s one of the fun things you can do with it – it accepts embossing very well!  I wanted a subtle pattern of stars in the background.  This tape has a paper backing that you peel off to reveal the adhesive.  I stuck it onto the card base and then used some scrap pieces of corrugated cardboard and cut more stars out of it to glue on top.  I added some little rhinestone stars (from a big multi pack of embellishments I got at Dollarama dollar store), letting a few of them overlap onto the blue background.  As you can see in the picture below, I added a touch of silver to the cardboard stars by highlighting the ridges with some silver Amaco Rub n Buff.

I made a white star out of Amaco Cloud Clay.  I used a star shaped cookie cutter to cut it out and then pressed a star shaped cookie stamp into it to “emboss” it.  I let this dry overnight.  This is an ornament that the recipient can remove from the card and use as a tree decoration so that they receive a little gift along with a card.  I added a little round white tag with silver metal trim and two little star charms (also from the Dollarama pack) to the ornament with a blue metallic string.  The tag allows me to personalize this with the name of the recipient.  I poked a small hole in the card using my Tonic pokey stabby thingie (also known as a piercing tool) and drew the string through it to secure the ornament inside the card.

The sentiment on the inside of the card is:  Love came down at Christmas.  Love all lovely, love divine.  Love was born at Christmas.  Stars and angels gave the sign. ~ Christina Rossetti

Your next stop is Robin’s Nest  Full list of participants is below! Have fun hopping!

Ok so remember last year when I was in a heart swap and I ended up creating a Steampunk Valentine necklace for it?  No?  Well, above is a picture of it to remind you.  At the time, I had said that I really wanted to do a full blown Steampunk Valentine’s Day swap this year and I’m going for it.  Interested? 

Here are the details:
This will be a one for one swap.  Once you’ve signed up, I’ll randomly match you with another participant.  You’ll send directly to the person with whom you’ve been matched – this will reduce the possibility of customs holding up the shipping.

The only restrictions on what you can make are that it must reflect both the Valentine’s Day and Steampunk themes.  It can be made in whatever materials/format/crafting technique you prefer – you can create a card, jewelry, a mixed media canvas, a sculpture…you can use fabric, paper, clay, metal….whatever you choose to do is just fine!

Please take a photo of the item you make.  I’ll set up a group on Facebook (if you’re not on Facebook, you can still participate – you can just email me your photo) where we can post photos of what we’ve made and let others know when we’ve received our packages.  I’ll then write a blog post to showcase all of the items to the rest of the world.  You, of course, are free to blog about the swap as well.

The deadline for sending this is January 31st (in the mail by that date please!)  to allow a little extra mailing time for those of us outside of the US to hopefully get it there by Valentine’s Day. 

If you’d like to take part, please email me at creativeedventures@gmail.com and provide me with the following:  Your name, mailing address, and tell me, are you able to send to someone outside of your country? (if you’d rather not that’s perfectly ok – I just need to know before I start matching people up!)

Gold is one of the most ancient of treasures.  It is mentioned in scripture as far back as in Genesis 2:12:  And the gold of that land is good…”.  In ancient times, gold was one of the most important of tradable commodities as its value remained quite stable.  It was a gift of great honour and value.  Gold speaks to Jesus’ role as the King of Kings.

Flickr, lowjumpingfrog

Frankincense comes from the resin of a tree that grows in the desert.  It was considered a rare luxury and a symbol of purity in worship.  It was another special gift of honour for the Lord and reflected His future as our Highest of High Priests.

Myrrh comes from a tree and was another very expensive item in those times.  Myrrh has a lovely odour but a terrible, bitter taste.  It was used in making holy oil and ointment, as a natural pain killer (in particular it was used to those about to be executed to help ease the pain which is why it was offered to Jesus when He was being placed on the cross), and to prepare a body for burial.  It is said that not only was this gift given due to its expense and rarity but also as a foreshadowing of the fact that Jesus was born to die for our sins.

Flickr, Wonderlane

Some Epiphany customs are:

The chalk ceremony:  We have chalk blessed at church and then mark this inscription over our doors:  20 + CMB + 12.  The numbers stand for the year (2012 is shown here) and CMB stands for the names we traditionally assign to the Magi:  Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar.  They are also an abbreviation for Christus mansionem benedicat – Latin for Christ bless this dwelling. 

The parade of kings:  Children make crowns and other costumes if desired to dress up as the Magi and parade through the house.  In some countries, like Belgium, children will take this parade outside, going from house to house singing and being given treats at each residence.

King’s Cake:  Also known as Twelfth Cake, a cake is made in a ring cake mould so as to represent the crown.  It is baked with charms in it that are said to foretell the future for the person who finds them.  For example, a coin might stand for wealth, a ring for marriage.  A bean is baked into the cake and whoever finds that is named King or Queen of the day!

Flickr, SecretTenerife

Putting away the decorations:  On Epiphany, the shepherds in the Nativity scene are traditionally replaced with the Wise Men instead.  Once the feast of Epiphany is over, it is the customary time to put away the holiday decorations.  The remains of the Yule log are put away in a safe spot so that they can serve their purpose as kindling for next year’s log.  The Monday after Epiphany is known as Plough Monday.  The ashes from the Yule log are gathered up and spread over the fields to bless and fertilize them in preparation for another season of planting.  The local priests would also bless the ploughs on this day, a tradition that still occurs in some countries.  More information on Plough Monday is here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plough_Monday

This is also a perfect time for singing We Three Kings (despite the fact that biblical scholars remind us that we just assumed there were three kings because they brought three gifts, just as we assumed they were Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar because these were some of the most likely to have made the journey to find the newborn king)!

Happy Epiphany!

Flickr, Ryan Vaarsi

The story of Babushka goes like this:  A short distance from the town of Bethlehem, long long ago there lived a woman called Babushka.  She prided herself in having the cleanest house in town and was known as the best cook around.  It took a lot of work to maintain this reputation and so she was always very busy with a lot of work to do.  She had heard that there were some kings from the East soon to be passing through town on their way to Bethlehem but Babushka was much too busy to look into the matter and she kept on working. 

Then, one day she saw a great parade coming into town and there, at the end, were three kings dressed in fancy clothing.  When they reached Babushka’s house, they stopped, seeing her peering out of her window.  They explained to her that they were on their way to Bethlehem to see the newborn King of Kings and asked if she would be able to provide them with some food and a place to stay.  Babushka was a generous soul and a wonderful hostess so of course she opened up her home for them.  She cooked them a delicious meal, made up beds for them, and bustled about making sure everything was just perfect. 

Flickr, Mar10os

The following morning, the kings thanked Babushka and asked her to come along with them to meet the Christ Child.  Babushka told them that she was much too busy to leave her home and the kings went on their way.  Shortly after they left, though, Babushka had a change of heart.  She gathered up a basket of toys for the newborn King – they had belonged to her son who had died so long ago.  Oh how happy it would make her to bring some joy to another little boy with these gifts!  She sat down for just a moment to rest before setting out to meet up with the three kings but she was so exhausted from all the work she was always doing that she fell asleep. 

Many hours later when she awakened, she grabbed the basket and rushed off into Bethlehem to join the kings and meet the Christ Child.  Unfortunately, by the time she made it there, they had all left town and she couldn’t find them anywhere.  It is said that Babushka spent the rest of her life searching for baby Jesus so that she could present Him with the basket of gifts.  As she journeyed, whenever she came upon another child, she would give them a gift in His honour.  It’s said that every year on the eve of Epiphany (Twelfth Night), Babushka begins her search for the infant Jesus once again and brings toys to all the boys and girls she encounters as she travels.

Added note:  I just came across this post about wonderful cake ideas for Twelfth Night from Pam of Gingerbread Snowflakes and had to share it with you:  http://gingerbreadsnowflakes.com/node/480

We’ve had a big dumping of snow here in London, Ontario – about 17 inches in a 24 hour period.  Now, I’m not really a fan of snow (why yes, that is a HUGE understatement) but our dog Trinity LOVES the stuff.  It really does help on those bleak snowy days to see her galloping and prancing and leaping through the snow in the backyard, happy as can be.  She loves to go out there and do doggie snow angels, she loves to just plop down and have a little rest in a pile of snow, and most of all, she loves to just shove her face right into it.  Today she came in the house and had snow right up to her ears because of it!  She kept blinking and blinking because she had a big piece of snow in her eye!!! Silly girl!

This wheel asks you “How bumpy is your ride?”.  By looking at the diagram you can easily see how in or out of balance the different areas of your life are.  For example, when you look at mine, you can see that I’m fairly well balanced in most areas except significant other/romance, health, and physical environment which are lacking.  One thing I might take away from this is that I really need to make changes to my home – have maintenance work done, take care of and organize some areas so that they are easier for me to maintain on my own.

One of the exercises I like to do when I’m taking stock and regrouping is to create a personal life assessment wheel.  This wheel helps me to think about the areas of my life and how satisfied I am with their current direction.  I have done these before on my own but recently, I came across a website that actually has a tool for creating these wheels – even easier than creating your own (ok the thought “why reinvent the wheel” just popped into my head! Ha!).    Here’s the PDF for it:   http://www.thecoaches.com/res/pdf/Personal-Assessment-Wheel.pdf  There’s also a professional version to use for your business here:  http://www.thecoaches.com/res/pdf/tc-profwheel-Final.pdf  See the diagram pictured above for an example.

I’m also taking part in Andrea Schroeder’s Month of Possibility over at The Creative Magic Academy.  Her classes and blog are wonderfully inspiring and I always feel so uplifted by her words.  To quote her, this Month of Possibility is “A month filled with explorations, experiments, lessons, inspirations, clue-finding missions and special goodies that help you deepen your relationship with possibility.”  Check out the link if you’d like to join in: http://www.abccreativity.com/2012/01/01/forget-resolutions-introducing-a-whole-month-of-possibility/  I’ll be blogging about my Month of Possibility over on my personal blog at:  http://cynsreality.wordpress.com