Christmas in Washington DC

We spent a few days in Washington DC at Herby's sister's and brother-in-law's house on Capitol Hill. They live in a beautiful, restored house (they did almost ALL of it by themselves...meaning mostly Phil...) that's right across the street from Lincoln Park. Just beautiful and the city was all decked out for Christmas. Here are some shots I took...some of them were taken at sunset so that's why the strange light.

Award

I received this lovely award from my blog friend, Nobu. Nobu has several blogs but my favorite is his Funabashi Daily Cell Phone Photo blog.
He takes the most beautiful photos of Funabashi (Japan) every day as he goes about his life. His descriptions are interesting and insightful and I have learned a lot through his photos. He is a daily read for me.

Nobu also writes beautiful Haiku. Give his blog a visit and you may find yourself hooked like I am.
Thank you, Nobu

Madison's Christmas Dress

Madison's Christmas Dress 2008
Originally uploaded by Madison Avenue

I made this little dress from a picture I saw so it's not my original design. This was a little bit of a challenge. The dress you see here is my third attempt. It's fully lined, "fur" cuffs and a little snowflake design on the bodice. I hope to get a picture of her wearing it.
How do you like the icy blue color?

Christmas Inspiration

These felt Christmas tress are sorta cool. They're very colorful.
You can find the full tutorial - very nicely done I might say - over at the Thompson Family-Life blog.

I am looking forward to a couple of years from now when my grandbabies are old enough to know what's going on with Christmas and I can do really neat, colorful things like this. Right now I'm keeping it simple; here's my living room and living room mantle and here's my dining room. You can just barely see the branch I hung from the light fixture; here's a better picture here.
Maddie's only 17 months old and she's coming over today!! Yay! I made a dress for her; I'll post pictures later - that's a whole other story.

I would love some ideas on fun Christmas decorating for little ones so please leave me a comment if you know of something.

Do Not Open 'til December 25

I love the cards that Hilary Kanwischer creates.
This "Do Not Open" one is one of my favorites.

She also has some great ideas for packaging like this one for some sweet and salty goodies.
If you want to see a couple of the Christmas cards I did this year click here and here.

If you have some favorite Christmas cards or ones that you've made please leave me a comment. I would love to see them!

Christmas Card for Madison

Madison's Christmas Card
Originally uploaded by Madison Avenue
I saw an old vintage postcard of a little girl dressed in a snow suit holding a stocking full of gifts and a poinsettia.

It just struck me that Madison would look adorable in such an outfit. So I was lucky to find a picture of her that I could use. I just drew on the little snow suit around her picture. I put white glitter on the "fur" parts, gold glitter glue on the suit and clear glitter glue on her cap. I also added a few glitter snow drops.

Do you think she will like it? I am hoping to mail Christmas cards the first of next week. Do you still send Christmas
cards?

Christmas Kitty Card

Here is a Christmas card I drew in pencil. I drew this from a photo.
Obivously, it's going to someone who loves cats. I am not sure I am 100% finished with this card. I'm thinking of adding a little something to the white "fur" on the hat just to make the white stand out more and look more...furrier...what do you think?

12/12/08 Update: I did add a little clear glitter glue to the fur on the hat and the pom pom. It was just the touch it needed. Now it looks more Christmasy.

Decorating for Christmas

Here is some of my Christmas decorating for this year. I really wanted to cut my own tree and that's what I did. I also wanted to use a lot of natural greens wherever possible. I usually hang a lot of different ornaments on my tree but this year I wanted something simple, so I went with a red and silver theme in the living room and a green and gold theme in the dining room. Here are some pictures:

Christmas Ornaments Hanging in the Window

I just liked the way these looked hanging in the studio window. I made these this year and have now given them to the kids. It almost looks like snow, but it's not. That's the white house behind me where the sun hits it and it gives off great light all day long.

Snowman

I made this ornament based on Tone Finnanger's Tilda line. It's sort of a loose interpretation.

I made the button from polymer clay - my first one. The scarf is a little scrap of fabric from the dress I made for Madison for Christmas last year (sorry, no picture) and the wings are from the fabric I used to make her first birthday dress.

Felt Snowflake Dress Christmas Ornament

I made this little dress out of felt with some tulle for a petticoat. I sewed on the snowflake beads and added ric rac for the trim and hanger. The tiny white ribbon belt completes this snowy little outfit.

Martha Stewart Popup Christmas Card

I made this card from Martha's pattern. I like the way it turned out. I used a sturdy white paper with some swirlies on it that remind me of snow. This was actually my second attempt. I misunderstood the directions the first time around and cut my card completely in half the wrong way.
The card lays perfectly flat for mailing and the branches sort of pop out when the card is bent.
If you want to do this make sure you have a sharp xacto knife. It will make all the difference in the world.

Vintage Christmas Ornament

This tiny little birdie is so cute!
He is flocked with paper tail and plastic beak. Adorable little knit stocking cap. Bits of gold glitter are sprinkled on his body. I am not sure how old this is but it is probably from the 50s, 60s or possibly 70s. Only about 2" high.

Elephant on Wheels

I used Hillary Lang's Pig on Wheels pattern to make this elephant.
I loved the pig she did but we're big on elephants around here and I made this for Madison to hang on the Christmas tree.
I know it's not very Christmasy but I think she will like it.
I had a little trouble with the gusset but with a little working it came out ok - not as nice as Hillary's but ok for a first try. Make sure you stop by the Wee Wonderfuls blog and also check out their shop for some other great patterns.
Thanks, Hillary.

Vintage Christmas

These little girls are just adorable. They are from 1978 and were made in Hong Kong.

These are plastic and normally I'm not a huge fan of plastic ornaments but these are just too cute. I think they look Scandanavian or German.
What do you think? Sweet.

Children's Book Plates

Aren't these sweet?
On page 38 of the latest Small Magazine. I love this magazine. The way they lay out their pages makes you want to buy everything just because it looks so cool. It always gives me good ideas as wel Take a look if you get a chance. By the way, all of the book plates are made by Etsy sellers.
Have a good evening.

Play Kitchens

I saw this adorable kitchen on Our Sweet Life's blog.

She made this for under $60 mostly out of recycled materials. Really cute and the ideas for expanding on this are endless!

Then I saw this kitchen from a Sears1959 Wishbook. The whole kitchen was priced at $27.95. Can you imagine! I know I'm showing my age, but I could have been that little girl and boy would I have loved this kitchen! It's pink for cryin' out loud.
As a side note, I was about this age, maybe a little younger, when my grandmother took me shopping one day. I can't remember the store but I remember a photographer taking my picture playing with some of the toys in the store. I had no idea why he wanted my picture but I didn't need an excuse to play with those toys that's for sure! Then my picture showed up in the newspaper! I think it was some sort of article on Christmas shopping and the season and all that but I can't remember. It's been a long time since I've seen the picture but I'll never forget that day. I think my mom may still have it somewhere.

How Sweet

More loveliness from Be-House.

Loveliness

Eucalyptus and chestnut garland. Simple. Aromatic. Lovely. From Be-House.

Amy Butler Snow Mum Pillow

I am constantly amazed at the generosity of bloggers. This is a perfect example. Amy Butler has provided free instructions for making this pillow. You can download the full pdf file here.

Election Day 2008

I voted today. Did you?

Williamsburg Winery Event with Lynne Rosetto Kasper

After our visit to Colonial Williamsburg we headed to the Williamsburg Winery. I worked with the Winery and WHRO's Development Dept. to set up an event where Lynne Rosetto Kasper, host of The Splendid Table, came to speak. We had a very good crowd. The Winery is a beautiful place. Herby played for the crowd and they loved him. I had my picture taken with Lynne. She was gracious and also very funny. We talked about - what else - food and wine.

Approaching Wessex Hall

Some of the WHRO crowd

Lynne Rosetto Kasper

Lynne speaks to the crowd

Lynne and me

Herby plays for the crowd.

Colonial Williamsburg

Colonial Williamsburg is about 45 minutes from where we live. This is where much of our Nation's history was shaped. We are fortunate to have such a place so near and since I have lived in Virginia all my life I never tire of visiting there, as it is so much a part of my heritage. It is beautiful this time of year. It is always beautiful, really. Here are some pictures of the houses, shops, people and buildings. The trees were also gorgeous. I hope you enjoy these photos.