Winter in the High Desert

We did get a bit of snow.  Did I get a photo?  I did not.  But I will carry the memory of it forever, because it was Gypsy's first snow.  She's around four years old, but she grew up down in the frying pan of southern California, and spent another six months south of Phoenix, so--first snow!

She was astounded.  And delighted.  Couldn't explore it fast enough.  First, she ran around trying to figure out why the smells were so muted, and what IS this cold white stuff?  She poked at edging rocks around what had been flower beds--are those still rocks?  Yes.  She bounded THROUGH what had been flower beds, a thing she quit doing months ago because it made the humans yell.  Okay, they still yell when I run there. 

She tried to eat the snow, she pawed bare spots to check if the dirt was still under it, and it took FOREVER to get her to go pee so we could go back inside.  We walked in it, and she apparently has some sled dog in her, because our formerly well-mannered walker was suddenly pulling like a draft horse.  Finally I got her twenty foot lead and just flew her like a kite--she'd run wide arcs in front of us, back and forth. 

So our mountain snow dog got her first snow, and we know our move to the White Mountains this coming spring will make her verrrrry happy.  And since we'll have a good fenced yard there, we'll be happy too.  Ha!

Since the snow all melted (it doesn't last long at 5,000 ft elevation), we've had a mix of sun, rain, and--just recently--lovely fog.  We don't get fog up here often, so I enjoy it when I can. A view at 7:30 in the morning from our back porch--normally the sun's well up by this time, but we can't even see across the golf course!

In case I get my head stuck in the clouds or a project, I hope your holiday season--all of it, in all its aspects--is full of love, peace, and sparkle.

Noel Night

There's a lady in Chandler AZ (about 2 hours from me, south east of Phoenix) who has an antique store within an antique mall.  She actually has five booths, all put together to make one shop, so to stay she has a store is not overstating matters.  Carries the most fascinating mix of antiques, Victorian themed art and clothing, architectural scavenges, and folk art.  I could stand there all day and not see all of it, so much detail.

Well, she found me at a doll show and asked if we could talk...the result of which talk was that she'll now be carrying my dolls in her store.  (I think I already posted this news, but didn't go back to see.)  Each year, the antique mall has an event called Noel Night, during which all the merchants have a sale and stay open late.  There's a restaurant which has great food, and music, etc., and it's apparently a pretty busy night.  Patti asked if I would make a particular doll for Noel Night, and of course I did.  Her name is Victoria Noel, and she's 28" tall.  Cloth and clay, as usual, and wool hair.

I've got three more dolls in the works for this event, and hope to have them all finished in time!  I'll post them when they're done.  But in the meantime, here is Victoria (Patti wanted an "attic fairy").

Yule at the House of Conwell

I don't go too heavy on the decorations, for several reasons.  First, the hubs is only willing to alot (cheerfully) a certain amount of year-round space to storage.  Second, our family is too far and too spread out to come see us over the holiday season, and few of our friends are willing to travel this far out to visit.  That's not as pathetic as it sounds.  Or maybe it is, but oh well.  I'd throw a party if I thought it would help, but we barely remember how to throw parties.  Third, and maybe most salient: what goes up, must come down. 

But I do have a few odd collections, one of them I collect for the hubs.  I've always collected for him, with or without his permission, because he's just not a collections kind of guy.  So between the nutcracker soldiers (we are a military family), the vintage toys, and the elves, I have enough to keep the Bah Humbugs away, but not enough to require a storage unit and a week to put it all out.  Our tree is three feet tall.  Maybe next year, when I have grandkids here (only six hours away...oh. my. goodness.) I'll push for a big tree, but for the last few years, this little tree has worked fine.  I have to put mini ornaments on it, and save the larger of the kid-made ornaments for the pine garland over the entertainment unit...but it's a cute little tree.

The "husband's collection" of nutcracker soldiers, along with the beer steins his brother got him when stationed in Germany.  I like that they're standing under a copy of the Constitution.

The Elf Shelf.

Toyland.

Our tiny tannenbaum...

So while I have three reasons for not making a ginormous display, I have one really good reason for dragging it all out every year, even if the hubs barely looks at it.  I love to revisit all the things my kids and I made together over the years.  The ornaments Josh and Renee made in first grade, with gap-toothed pictures of themselves, Jason's art-class masterpieces.  The technicolor reindeer Casey painted the year Phil and I met.  I have a felt campfire I made back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.  The little paper spiral of smoke is long gone, but the little logs and flame are still there, literally hanging by a thread.  The ghost of Christmas Past comes alive, smiling sweet memories for me every year.  I make everyone new handmade ornaments every year, for the Ghost of Christmases Yet To Come.

I don't think it's too early to wish everyone a wonderful season of Holy Days.

I got my doll!

This is the first time I've participated in Zan Asha's Doll Swap... and it was fun.

I've posted pictures of Sonny the Studio Elf, the doll I made for my swap-partner, Kim.  Making him was mostly why this was so fun.  Making a doll specifically for someone is a blast, because the energy is directed and channeled somehow.

 

So Sonny went off to his new home with Kim, and this is the doll she made for me:

Hasn't he got great colors?  I named him Jim-Bob, because he looks like the sleepy-faced brother on the Waltons.  He now has a home on the Elf Shelf, and will remind me every year of this Doll Swap adventure.

A Reindeer for your favorite Science Weenie.

I had so much fun making this guy.  Bought the papermache deer at a thrift shop, did his eyes and nose with paperclay, and then covered him in a vintage--at least 1950's, maybe earlier--physics text.  As I went through the pieces of torn page, I kept running across little phrases that made me wonder...maybe physics and the mysterious flight of reindeer are not mutually exclusive?  Nice to think so, anyway.

Whadda ya think?

Two sales, one coupon code...

Has to do with a leaky memory, maybe.  Dunno.  But on our two stores, the Hermits' Garden on Artfire, and the JDConwell Etsy store, I put up a coupon for discounts until December 18.  The Hermits are offering free shipping on every item, and JDConwell (love the third person much?) is offering 10% on any item.  Mostly I was just playing around with coupon codes, having decided I should at least see what they're about.

Pretty fun, really...and easy.  Almost too easy.  Yeah, so why use the same code?  I just liked the code, actually, and it seemed to work.  SOooooo, to that end, if you use coupon code 2010Yuletide in either store, you'll save a little do-re-mi.  And that's always a good thing.

This little guy found a new home for the holidays, he and his birdy buddy.