TWO THINGS ..both exciting

SPECIALS 

SOME OF THESE HAVE BEEN PRICED ON THE WEB NOW

Others I have a stash to clear..but need to paint up a sample...

I am making some space for new designs to come on board & be there smiling very soon.

I sell christmas all year & rarely do many specials..but this year I am changing a bit so I need to keep my stock all just enough until July ..but I can always order it in..

nothing ever retires.

as you will see the return of some angels..of a few years ago..

You see I am different than a lot of these designers in that I personally paint it all...

& I see my design faults, dislikes of a shape or the detail takes so long when peak times..

or I start to think I want to try this or that...

So I place things into the retired box & I store them on file so can browse them whenever to see....

So do take advantage of the specials & the prices...

Barb 

www.theodoracleave.com
do NOT copy to your computer thanks

 Karene's creative work with some wood pieces & 

dream a minute 

& 

use buttons also.

How gorgeous these look & it is a wonderful creative of Karene's from Crookwell.

More to see

 Michelle in Frances sent me her newsletter last night

I 

was so thrilled to see more buttons 

& using Marg Low's tag designs 

So beautiful

& 

so many 

Gorgeous Michelle.!!!

http://carnetsdebroderie.over-blog.fr/ 

I love seeing what is made with the buttons...

Below photo are things I was playing with last year at the beach

www.theodoracleave.com

copyright Barbara Smith 

been browsing

www.theodoracleave.com

I was wondering what to do next ..a visitor had just left & it was too hot to roam far if at all!!!

So I had saved a couple of sights to look at & one look led to another & etc

I pleasantly came across this blog which featured a gorgeous heart 

so I click

& find

 It has the Robin in Blossom Bird on it

Really gorgeous

so go see...

http://karencunninghamdesigns.blogspot.com/

Saturday....

For me it is interesting, as the days after Christmas seem to stretch out before me...

What would I want to do now...

Besides walk before the heat sets in for the day  ?

Sometimes it is a bit of housework...

Believe me choices like this are fantastic...& it feels good after all is done.

I do need to get the Millie stitchery booklet finalised

& I have a big table to spread all of that on...!

I am really very excited in all of the new wood designs

but

very excited to see how a couple of these turn out..

all very well drawing the pictures...

they then are into another medium that is more rigid & has some boundaries in movement.

I look at the drawings beside me here & they are in pen now & I am wanting to do some more in this style..

It's kind of ????? different...unexpected to what I set out to do...

Love that bit !

www.theodoracleave.com

Table Setting Christmas day

I used this as our table setting 

for Christmas Lunch

Each 1/4 of the tree had a different view.

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Gone for another time !

Boxing day being on holidays & feeling like I had indulged in BAD stuff on christmas day..

I went for an early walk in the park..and again today.

Really lovely walking under the huge oak trees & pines....

Then I decided to go to the first session of the movie 

Philomena...

I did enjoy it... it is truth & can be raw on the emotions so take a tissue...

well 3 will be best..

It's about homes for pregnant young mothers.

I grew up in this era & knew of people who had children in homes & even in our ancestors this has happened.

It is excellent for social history...

 I arrived home very restless for some time...

Eventually settling to attend to my next batch of designs...

things that need to go from pencil to pen & think of sizing....

& then 

things just got out of control...

Some are Christmas....& with the French Rabbit....buzy body's itself in a few designs...

Including some for everyday...

Few buttons...one santa has made it to the selection I have already..

Some garden scenes... some cats & birds...& flowers

Any circles have thin frames

&

Many are earmarked for bigger things as well...

Then I await with baited breath for the cuts to arrive back once all work goes into normal mode.

Which I must say in some ways I welcome 

as I drift into a doze on the couch if I sit to read...or just watch TV....

I am so used to being occupied...

But it is also great not to be snatching time out....for a while.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

theodoracleave.com

Soft rain cools my Summer

What bliss... 

Soft gentle rain ..

the air is deliciously cool.

It is refreshing..

it softens the hustle & bustle

Just the birds 

&

Distant traffic...

The images in the photograph

are to one side of the computer on my desk

I have been staring down on them for several days now..

It is funny as I often rearrange them

look at them in a different way

Just things that have fallen together..

and they make interesting patterns !!!

You can gather this laid back feel is still with me..LOL

www.theodoracleave.com

copyright B Smith 2013

wound right down now

It is sooooooo lovely this swanning about doing whatever happens !!!

I find a short nap in the afternoon creeps in..

But I don't want that habit to kick in ..just in the heat it is ok..

Walks in the park...

today a lot of activity was setting up for carols this evening.

Men on things high up in the trees..trucks & cars about in what is usually walkways.

Visitor pop in.. phone call there...email & no post...today

I am waiting for several magazines to arrive from Stampington in USA & they are never getting to me...or they are so late.

I think our postal system is slower...because of the parcels coming in from overseas..

but I so long for these magazines to arrive.

Since Borders left our shops..no one takes these divine magazines on...or just an odd one ...

I shall go draw now....the floors ..a little later in the day. 

www.theodoracleave.com

copyright Barbara Smith 2012

Closing Up for Christmas work

I have finally made a decision !!!

I am closing my work shop now until 

6th January 2014

I have been in holiday mode for a couple of days & rather liking it! LOL

The hot weather as usual I am not in favour of...wake up all tired & sluggish...

curtains closed, air cons on...

so who should be complaining..

I have these things to close & turn on. 

www.theodoracleave.com

copyright Barbara Smith

I will still chatter on here 

It is just a lovely break of not snatching time for myself

but

having an absolute luxury of having time for myself..

It is  at this point I realise how much time I spent focused on work.

I may do some specials on the web.. as I have stuff etc that I am a bit bored with moving from one place to another..

we'll see.

OPEN IN COWES Vic...

COWES 

has now a new coffee & cake spot inside a gallery of photography & glass...& pottery & 

If you are down that way over the holidays

Experience this new spot.

A girlfriend & her husband have opened this new venture on Friday

The belief in santa & christmas decorating

.....That belief in Santa began back when...

( see the picture )

Where the tree was a gum tree branch Dad would cut in the bush where he worked..

Always a drama that tree & bucket matched & bucket didn't leak..

Afraid my do his lolly sort of father would just discard the tree..

before I had time to put the silver tinsel over the leaves & small branches.

Paper chains I had made with Mum would scruffily adorn the tree too & maybe a crepe star or a round bell would unfold, same as the little baubles I found last week .

Then I would wait the few days for Santa to come down our chimney with his sack of 

presents & the stocking covered in red netting that house a tiny bag of sweets & a whistle & a magic fish and ??? do not recall the rest.

So today I do capture the Spirit of Christmas..

it is such a glorious memory to relive over & over as I paint or in the past also sewed & stuff Santas..

The memory of occasions are planted so young...

It was  a day I always waited with expectation to play with whatever Santa brought...

it was a tense household & for someone young this swirls & folds into their fabric of life.

PLEASE do be MINDFUL of this if you fancy  a fissy fit is in order when small children are about & especially at Christmas time..

grasp the Spirit of Christmas not the haste of a different world which produces bad memories for children mixed with that hope of Christmas. .

www.theodoracleave.com

copyright B Smith 2013