fa la la la la ...

 tiny books for friends

"Mistletoe-ing and to-ing and fro-ing has taken the place of my usual painting practice this month.  Well, that's the month of December for you! ... There'll be time enough to get back to the canvas's after the dust settles in the new year.  
In the meantime I'm making little gifty's.  I came across directions for tiny wee books on Pinterest (oh that time sucker!) and made 3 of them which I personalized with a little poem for each of the gals I went to Vermont with, along with images of some of my paintings which I resized on the computer so they were only about 1 inch.  I made the one above for my pal AEmilia.  It's hard to get an idea of it's scale in the picture, but it is only 1 3/4 inch high!

Ella's playtime cloth storybook

 Then there is this little playhouse story book I sewed for Ella.  In case you dont know, Ella's my grandaughter; and she's coming here at Christmas this year, YAY!  She is 14 months old.  She has a big dog at home whom she loves, so I included Asha dog's bed in 'Ella's' room in the book.  The clothes and dog toys have velcro on them so they can be changed or moved around.  It was very enjoyable working on it, and fun doing something completely different. 

Mike the 'mason'

Speaking of doing something different...this guy inspires me! That's my younger brother Mike in the red t-shirt...he and his partner Jen got back from Nicaragua a few days ago. They just spent 10 days on a build with Habitat for Humanity.  It is the third year they have gone to do this.  They travel there on their own, then join up with a group doing small build's for families in need.  It is exhausting work, but he says it means so much to the families that receive these homes; it's worth the toil.  Now to me...THAT is the meaning of Christmas.  Mike is not really a mason, he and his partner are both Ottawa police.  And I am just a little more than a 'tad' proud of them!