Bits of the holidays and thoughts on the New year

My hope for the New year....

"I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart untill it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit." Dawna Markova

A New Year...fresh starts and clean slates. I truly want this year to open me more. I want to really loosen my heart untill it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. For the last few years I've held tightly to my heart. Having children with special needs makes your heart so much more tender, the isolation and rejection are sometimes so powerful the gut reaction is to pull in closer to yourself, and risk less. But in the risking less, there is also the living less, the feeling less. I think my greatest wish is to be fully grateful and fully present in this life I have been gifted with.

I love my christmas tree. It is entirely covered in snowflakes that I have been collecting over the last 15 years. It's all shimmery and silver. Of course this year my daughter was obsessed with putting her toys on the tree so it was also covered in a toy doctors kit set and stuffed animals. Haha! I also made a few crafty things that I really liked. The first was a cookie sheet advent calendar. I got an inexpensive cookie sheet from the dollar store, put scrapbook papers on the back and then some paint. Drew a grid for the days and then had a blast making all the numbers up to 25 for the countdown. Then you adhere magnets to the backs of your various numbers and they can be stored on the other side of the cookie sheet untill their day arrives. Then drill holes at the top and hang with a pretty ribbon. I also made one in red and green for a friend. I love the way it turned out. I saw the idea a few years ago on another blog.

A close up of the Month banner at the top.

Some detail shots of the various ideas I used for the magnetic numbers.Buttons, bottlecaps, mini cards, vintage dominoes,scrapbooking charms and even an antique brass three.

Detail of the bottom corner, I used paper scraps, and stamped snowflakes with watered down paint.

A shot of the whole thing.

The next project was in Amy Powers "Inspiried Ideas" online e-magazine which was so amazing! It was so much fun to make this yarn ball wreath and super easy too!