We spent last Christmas at my place so M didn’t decorate much. I thought it was sad that he didn’t have a tree, and I kept seeing these ones on flickr, and then the moths snacked on my green sweater and next thing you know I was making this guy.

I sewed the rick rack on before giving it to M and he got to “decorate” the tree, pinning on the buttons and pom-poms which I then glued in place.

For the base I used a scrap from an old screen-print mandala. I inserted cardboard to make the base flatter and used a wooden knob that was kicking around the studio for the tree trunk.

This year the crazy holiday crafter struck again when I decided to make an advent calendar on November 30th. Pictures soon.

Thanks to M for these photos.

The dire threats of weather men are manifesting as heavy rain and gray skies instead of the threatened snow.

A day for indoor pursuits: cats, tea, making a necklace, and gloating over yesterday’s good mail:

A crow patch from bird&b at etsy.
And all the way from Australia…

…a bracelet by Helle at gooseflesh, which I immediately put on and wore out to an art opening. It kept me smiling in the middle of a roomful of networking arteeests.

I recently unearthed this wood lino block print I made ten years ago. Saved it for today.

Some of my holiday ornaments are still up, I can’t bear to put away the snowflakes hanging on my windows just yet. They’re cotton crochet that has been blocked and sized to make a rigid ornament. In the daytime they look like ink drawings on the sky, and at night they reflect the light, white against the darkness outside.

Looking at them day after day has brought me back to drawing mandalas. There’s something so soothing about developing a pattern from the center out, and magical in the way I can’t anticipate what will happen as it grows.