Nativity Idea. New Moon.

Earlier today, the girls and I decided to make some clay. The last time we made clay (about a year ago) it was really gritty and coarse from the huge amount of salt, and I wanted something more smooth. After much internetting magic I tracked down this recipe which looked pretty encouraging. As I write this, the clay is drying, and seems to be cracking a bit, but is certainly more smooth. My 3yo made various Christmas shapes from cookie cutters, and my 5yo and I tried our hands at Nativity scenes. My figures are inspired by Russian nesting dolls – I plan to paint them, hopefully in detail, so I’m crossing my fingers that the clay holds up well.

Posting this sketch reminds me... I have the Twelve Dancing Princess mural almost finished. Just 3 more princesses and a little more background...

Oh! And this weekend, we have secured a babysitter!

Wooooooohooooooo!

Canvas Knitting Tote.

After having a bag with a velcro closure that kept grabbing the yarn of my knitting projects, I decided to make a tote bag so that when I run out the door, I know my latest project is in there and ready to rock. I had some leftover canvas from 10 years ago that I had used to make an oil painting that I later sold at a garage sale, which is now hanging in some boutique (and when I say boutique, I mean a totally weird alley store with lots of incense and mood lighting) gallery in Hartford. It took three days of flip-flopping over how to decorate the canvas, and I decided to stamp it with circles using sparkling silver fabric paint. For me the result is a little underwhelming, but c’est la vie. The bag suits it’s purpose!

Oh! And here are the girls from Halloween: