The Baby Group Moms made cupcake ornaments this year. Like so many traditions, the tradition of Moms making ornaments at my annual Christmas get together happened once by chance and turned into an expected event.
Several years ago when the Moms arrived, I had neglected to put away the materials for the peanut elf ornaments I was making that year. “Oooo”, someone exclaimed, “We want to make those!” And so they did. The next year when I invited them several asked,”What will we be making this year?” And a tradition was born!
This time of year I head out to craft fairs and open studios with the best intentions – to find Christmas presents for those on my list. Somehow though I always find more for me. This weekend it was my Fall tree that profited from my shopping trips. I came home from the Parlor Room Makers Market with a knitted acorn from Sweet Bauer Knits.
The next day I went to a craft fair at a local high school and couldn’t resist an owl from Hoot Owl Designs.
Daughter: Look, I want to buy that mug.
Mom: You already have lots of mugs.
Daughter in that “Oh Mom” voice: Of course I have a lot – I have a mug collection!
Making little paper ornament treats for my friends and coworkers has been one of my Halloween traditions for the past ten years. I find an image I like and (sometimes after a little engineering) copy it on card stock. Then I find an appropriate candy to add. This year I used two gravestone images and paired them with Peep ghosts. Another year when I was using a Day of the Dead image, I was thrilled to find some skull candies from Germany.
This year since I already know what I am making for my Valentine ornament, I was lucky to find the appropriate individually wrapped candy at the after Halloween sale – so stay tuned!
When the Saints Come Marching In
My niece Emily sent me this link to an article on collecting the other day. Allan Gurganus begins by stating “Collections collect collectors. It doesn’t work the other way around. A certain object misses its own kind and communicates that to some person who surrounds it with rhyming items; these become at first a quorum, then a selective, addictive madness.” But not just a madness – collecting is the secret to happiness according to another collector he meets. One of my favorite parts of the article comes at the beginning when he is describing his first collection – leather marble bags. After being invited to a display of his top 10 his father asks, sounding concerned, “How many do you think you’ll finally need, son?” Gurganus concludes that his family just doesn’t get it.
Gurganus collects theories about collecting too (of course he does), I like his conclusion that his collections are what he has instead of an “invisible God or too many cats”. He writes, “A collection can warm up history. It can console you, a form of rosary-bead love. My diverse holdings signal to me that I am finally home…They help me gather myself.” Amen!
While I call it a tree, it is actually a dead branch or two. This year I initially hung two branches but after I had been hanging ornaments for awhile I realized I was going to need a third branch.
This year’s new ornaments included a wooden acorn, a bird made out of an almond (one of last year’s handmade Christmas ornaments but it seemed more appropriate for the Fall tree), and an antler ornament I bought at Walmart (I realize deer lose their antlers in the Spring but somehow antlers seem more Fall like).
When we went to the Garlic and Arts Festival a few weeks ago I knew there were craft booths and I expected handcrafted garlic bulbs ornaments which would be perfect for my Fall tree. There were none but I found a bulb shaped glass piece by Noah Rockland which looked like garlic to me!
The antlers are in the middle of this photo all the way over to the right and the glass “garlic” bulb is below them and to the left (under the witch silhouette).
Last Sunday we drove up to Greenfield for the Riverside Blues & BBQ Festival. While the pie eating and beer barrel throwing and rolling contests were fun to watch, it was the music that got and kept us there. Charlie Hilbert charmed us with his guitar and harmonica playing as well as his offhanded wry comments. Vanesse Thomas and her band delivered a high energy show equal to many we’ve seen at much bigger festivals.
Many years ago on a beautiful clear Fall day a friend and I were looking at the multicolored trees silhouetted against the incredibly blue sky, when she declared, “This is why we live in New England!” I have been meaning to write a post with this title ever since we started having a string of such days but I guess I have been to busy enjoying them to write about them.
Every weekend there is another Fall festival to attend. This year so far we have been to a chili festival, a garlic and arts festival (the festival that stinks) and to an amazing event called Art in the Orchard. In addition to the installations placed throughout the farm, they had a big red frame they invited people to pose in. Here I am in the frame with one of those beautiful blue Fall skies.
Last week our local newspaper had an article about salon walls. A salon wall, the article explains is a way to “…showcase personal treasures and create art at the same time …( by) mount(ing) shelves or frames on a wall and fill(ing) them with whatever pleases you”. Salon walls, the article explains have their origins in 17th century Paris when the Royal Academy held exhibitions or salons to showcase student’s work “mounted in a closely knit configuration”. I had never heard of a salon wall but I certainly have them!
Downstairs, the entry way to our condo has three walls that meet this criteria. To the right as you walk in is the quilt stitched by my sister in law that commemorates our 20th wedding anniversary. Hanging above it are three small pictures – a block-print heart by my niece, map art by my younger daughter, and a print by local artist Ann Lewis. The next two facing walls have family photos hung in salon wall style – my family on the right and my husband’s on the left. Our downstairs bathroom has three salon walls composed of suns. The kitchen sports a few salon walls of it’s own – one composed of black and white ceramic art and Alaskan art by April White and another composed of related ceramic pieces topped by a clock.
The living room has several salon walls composed of paintings of musicians, a wall of suns, a grouping of landscape pictures and two eclectic groupings:
The first photo shows a grouping that includes two pieces by Denise Beaudet and two gourd masks as well as a spirit doll. The second photo shows a salon wall that features a collage by my mother, a horse from my grandmother’s horse collection, a painting on a feather – a souvenir that a friend brought back from Costa Rica, a painting on a leaf – a card my niece sent from England, another card from my niece, and a Will Barnet print – my sister gave us all Will Barnet prints one Christmas.
The newspaper article on salon walls concludes with a quote from collage artist David Kassel, “Families grow, important events continue to happen, collections change over time. A great salon wall is never finished.” I know mine never will be!
As soon as the nights start getting cooler my thoughts turn to Christmas and I begin making my window decorations. Some years I find my inspiration early and this year
some sleeping gnomes were one of my first finds on Pinterest. Thank goodness for Pinterest because as I have lamented before, the special Christmas magazines that used to begin coming out in August have virtually disappeared. I have noticed, however, an increase in special Halloween issues. All I can say is; What’s up with that?
