I have a friend with a deer addiction, and I think it might be rubbing off on me. The crafty section of my brain has been working overtime, and there is no way I will ever get to everything I want to do. However, I was thinking of Valentine's Day, and my felt hearts ... and deer heads (I will explain more of that in a bit), and a deer head is the perfect fit inside a heart ... right?
And I was kind of stuck in the living room, so I decided to play in my journal.
I free-handed the one in my journal, but it was inspired by this one at Going Home to Roost. The link is to the downloadable PDF file.
I was limited to the supplies I had close by, so ... a Sharpie marker and some scraps of self adhesive patterned paper left over from making the ornaments from coasters a few weeks ago.
Last weekend Katie participated in an ornament exchange with her two best friends, Kaitlyn and Mia. Kaitlyn's mom came up with the idea to have the exchange, and she is the one that hosted it.
As usual we put off buying our ornaments to the last moment, and when we headed to Hallmark at noon last Sunday we were in for a rude awakening ... Hallmark does not open until 1. Luckily there is a Marshall's just next door and they had really cute and UNIQUE ornaments. I will never complain about shopping in Marshall's. I love that store! It satisifies my need to save money and get great bargains, and it always feels like you are on a treasure hunt.
But I digress ... we found the perfect ornaments for her swap (and a couple for her teacher and one for Katie). We had to rush back because we were already a little late for the start of the party. I am so glad I decided to walk in with Katie because I was able to snap a couple pics. Who could resist taking pics of these beautiful best friends?!
They had stuff laid out for the girls to make their own bags of trail mix, though I think the majority of the mix was Jelly Belly jellybeans.
And of course the main event ... the ornament exchange. Katie got really cute ornaments, and /i think the other girls liked their ornaments, too. Katie got Mia a penguin glass ornament and Kaitlyn a high heel shoe ornament. Katie had already given Kaitlyn one of my handmade owls, and Mia got one of her own as well.
This is Katie's ornament choice ... the other ornaments were this same type/style.
Tuesday night we finally brought the tree out of the attic and began to decorate it. The kids lost interest rather quickly, and they spent the rest of the night trying to get on the Naughty List. I did love Connor's choice of the first ornament to hang. That Santa has been a part of my Christmas for as long as I can remember. And yes, Connor is wearing his Halloween costume. Ironman gets into the Christmas spirit, too.
Katie went for a more recently acquired ornament.
Wednesday afternoon I got a sudden urge to craft. (Oh, and I had my follow up appointment with the doctor about my meningitis and encephalitis on Wednesday. Doc gave me the all clear. It will still be awhile before I am running at 100%, but I am on my way) I did not have the sudden urge to go too far out of my way to craft (and I didn't want it to cost a cent - you know, other than all the stuff I have already bought). To be fair, that is rather easy since my dining table looks like a craft room gave birth to triplets on it. I gathered up a few supplies I had just lying around. A couple plastic ornaments and a stack of chipboard coasters that have been lying around forever that were begging to be Mod Podged fit the bill exactly. A couple old books that I didn't mind mutilating and my box of random buttons and I was ready to play. It may not be high art, but I had fun ... and when Katie and Kaitlyn joined in they had fun, too.
Of course Katie hid from the camera (she is the blue blur in the background) so you would never know she was having a blast.
Katie made the next two ornaments.
Connor made this next one all on his own.
Those plastic ball ornaments were hard to cover, but I love the result. Just Mod Podge and some book pages torn into wee pieces. Thank goodness the pieces are tiny ... I would hate for someone to try to read it. Yes, I used an old Lavyrle Spencer book ... 
And I couldn't resist the urge to use a bunch of buttons to cover another ornament (we used E6000 for the buttons)
Okay ... so I might have a slight button addiction.
So ... that was a little picture heavy, but it was full of Christmas goodness. Hope everyone's holidays are shaping p to be wonderful!
I placed a new print in my etsy shop last night. I created this painting for my daughter's friend. Her mother said she wanted one like I had made Katie for her birthday, but I couldn't manipulate the colors on that one quite to my liking for Kaitlyn's room, so I created an all new painting. I of course waited for the last possible moment because I am Queen Procrastinator.
I love how this turned out. Hopefully you will love it, too. It is listed as a 20x30, but it can be printed at any size that is of the same ratio. I can even turn them into party invitations on request. The possibilities are endless. Just want a single peace sign? Pick your color.
I was hesitant about pricing my first poster print. I am offering this first at only $30 plus shipping. 
