Tis the Season

Only 4 days till Christmas! I love this time of year, although it's feeling a little less festive as we don't have a tree up this year. Just us at home - we are going out for all the Christmas meals this year, and as we are going away shortly after Christmas, it didn't seem worth it. I'm missing it though - I'm tempted to cave and put it up, but seems a bit late now...

I got into the spirit this week though, making a mountain of chocolate fudge to give to colleagues at work as gifts. And I wrapped all out gifts today, so that put me in the Christmas spirit as well. Maybe I should have some spiced mead tonight - we always say it's like drinking a Christmas pudding.

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas - I'll be blogging all about my adventures in New Zealand after New Years.

On the Tree...

A few weeks ago I promised an image of my glass ornaments on my mum's tree. I gave this tree to my mother for her birthday (it's in November) 2 years ago, because she has difficulty managing the big tree herself. So, I bought this cute little tree, stripped it of the gaudy plastic acorns and gold bows it came with, and began to fill it with glass ornaments that I had made. Last year I was overseas for Christmas, so there were no new additions, but this year I have added quite a few new ones. I guess I have started a new Christmas tradition :)

We'll have Christmas cheer if it kills us....

I am sitting here on my couch (can I just say - I love my wireless router) watching the lights on our Christmas Tree flash merrily. But that bit of Christmas cheer was hard won today.

Every year the assembly of the stand for the Christmas tree causes much consternation. It's a terrible design. As I generally decorate the tree, assembling the stand has become Jason's contribution to the whole process. This job frequently produces frustration and colourful language, but today the aggravation rose to new heights. It seems the stand had become worn over the years, and the threads had worn down. Jason drove off in search of one of the stands used for a real Christmas tree. Surely they cant be all that hard to find? I mean, they sell real xmas tree's on every street corner in the last few weeks before Christmas - what the heck do people use to keep the darn things upright? He came back empty handed and set to trying to jerry rig our current stand.

After another selection of frustrated outbursts, off he went again. This time I tried ringing the hardware store - the receptionist thought they had them, so that was his next destination. He finally returned without a tree stand, but having undertaken some lateral thinking, he had a metal market umbrella stand. While it's a little large (I'm using a tablecloth to cover the stand) it's sturdy and folds up for storage. Operation Christmas Tree can now proceed.

Of course, as I packed up the empty boxes, we noticed a dish-shaped object that belongs to the original stand, and had been overlooked earlier. It's entirely possible its absence was why the stand wouldn't work. Oops.

Anyway, the tree is up, which is a sure sign for Christmas spirit to decide its time to arrive at our place. I spent the evening writing Christmas cards and wrapping secret Santa gifts for my glass forum.

Here is some pics of our tree, sans lights. (Every time I tried to take a photo with the lights, the flash fired and washed them out). The closeups are of our new decorations we bought in various places, mostly Christmas Markets, in Europe last Christmas.

This Icicle decoration was a gift from the Faberglasshutte in Lauscha, Germany.

These 2 ceramic stars were bought from a ceramicist at a craft market in Nuremberg, Germany. I can't remember where these little guys came from - but they are cute, arent they ?

Revisiting Ornament Thursday...

I was hoping to have some photos of my ornaments strung up and hanging on Mum's Christmas tree today, but I haven't been able to take the photo yet. So, here are a few more beads I hadn't yet made when I took the last photo. Please excuse the image quality - I took these ones on the floor in front of the window, instead of in my photo tent, with lights.

Ornament Thursday

Margot over at 'The Impatient Blogger' has invited her readers to participate in a showcase of handmade Christmas Ornaments every Thursday. As I have been working my proverbial off all week making glass Christmas Ornaments, the timing is great! This week I will post pics of some of my Christmas beads - next week I might show them strung up and hanging on a tree :)

I was especially happy with my little Santa's - they have such individual character. I made 3 this week, and they are all different. I think the one in the bottom row looks like he possibly has taken a few too many nips of the Christmas sherry, the other two are very wholesome looking. :) Unfortunately, after all the hard work they didn't sell at my market last night, but that's a whine for another night (when I have some Cheese and crackers to go with *smile*).

Is it possible to have too much torch time?

Most of my friends who, like me, juggle torch time around work and family, would say no. But, this week I am thankful that I don't work full time as a bead maker. That is often seen as a lofty goal for 'hobbyists' of many crafts - the ability to stop working a normal job and support yourself with your art. I have always hesitated to even be committed to regular sales through a boutique or gallery, due to a fear that beadmaking would stop being fun if I had to do it, and had deadlines to meet. But some times of year are just more optimal for selling, and you have to suck it up and get on with it. For me, that is before 'Festival' (SCA event over Easter) and before Christmas - especially this year, as I had several custom orders and a Christmas market to prepare for. So, I have been torching almost every night for the last week or so, and all weekend. Tonight was the last night I could torch before the market, and I only lasted till 9.30pm. I just didn't want to anymore. I'm tired, and my back hurts from the position while torching and I hated that feeling of 'I have to'. Talk about killing the creative urge!

So, I look at the somewhat paltry pile of good to sell and wonder if its enough. Its amazing how much harder it is to gather inventory when you can't sell jewellery. What the heck - the table was only $20 and I sold 10 Christmas beads to a SCA friend last night, so it's already a good sales week. At least the Christmas beads force me out of my comfort zone. I usually avoid sculpture like the plague, but I can make some cute little critters and such when I put my mind to it. :)