VALENTINE PAPER DOLLS

I posted a version of this paper doll on Facebook a few days ago....actually, on Valentine's Day.  At that time, it was a printed doll that I printed front and back and then pasted together.  It was not going well as I could not get them to match up.  I switched my process and traced the front of a doll onto watercolor paper, cut it out, painted the front and then the back--single ply.  I made eight, so each one was a little different.  I lined them up on the mantle before sending them off and this is what they look like:

As you can see, I outlined one with a pen and she really stands out!

This is the back of one of them:

BYE!

TY SOPHIA

 

One of the unusual things I got for Christmas was a journal from Sophia.  It's not like any other journal I've ever had.  It is titled "Wreck This Journal" and each page has a prompt for something do "wreck" it.  Some are things like tearing up a page or pasting one page to the next.  Others are things like using the page as a napkin or composting it.

It is a good challenge.   I have a tendency to think of my sketches and writings in a journal as "precious."   This journal is forcing me to get over that.  It is a work in progress.

TY GRIFFIN

 It's February and I am still doing my thank you notes.  It is fun for me and a challenge to decide how to visually show my gifts.  For instance, Griffin gave me two containers of ice cream--one peach and one raspberry with chocolate chips.  I didn't want to paint ice cream containers, so I made the decision to do a little painting of peaches.  I can think about doing the raspberries another time.  Griffin knows I love ice cream!    

Griffin also came over to help me with "winterizing" my patio furniture and sweeping the patio.  I don't have a storeroom, a basement, or a garage....so it is a challenge,  A painting of my cleaned-up patio wouldn't be very interesting actually.  The peaches were, I think, a good choice.

Thanks Griffin....I never pass on a chance to eat ice cream!   I haven't even shared it!

TY WOODWELLS

C

Every Christmas I get a special gift of Moravian cookies from Clemmons, North Carolina.  My sister-in-Bobby and her husband George send them.  They actually live in Woods Hole Massachusetts. Bobby is Howard's little sister and they grew up together in Clemmons and in the Moravian faith.  Oh, by the way, Bobby is really Catharine, but is called Bobby because, when she was brought home from the hospital as a baby, he called her Bobby.  The name stuck.

Mrs. Hanes is famous for the Moravian cookies which are very thin, hand rolled, cut and packed.  The ginger ones are spicy and the sugar ones are just right on sweetness.  I think there are other flavors, but these are what we like.  They are a special part of our Christmas festivities.  This was from a photo on the cookie tin, but I think I made Mrs. Hanes much younger than she actually is.

Thank you, Bobby and George.  The cookies are always welcome.

TY BLUMS!

 

No, I didn't get a vineyard from the Blums.  I did get a vineyard product, though....specifically Pride Mountain wines!   How nice, and what a great connection.  This little painting (on a thank you card) was made from a photo I pulled off the website.  Clearly, it was taken in Fall and reminds me of how the hills turn golden and the vines are heavy in Northern California that time of year. 

The wines are very good, of course!  I have opened two bottles so far.  One to celebrate 2021 and one to celebrate a new President.  

I also got ornaments from Violet and Roland.  Violet did a three-dimensional one and I tried to reflect that in the thank you card:

That was fun!

And Roland sent a wooden robot:

What fun to have these special ornaments that I can use every year.

The Blum family helped me have a great Christmas.

TY Louisa and Peter--I LOVE Paris

I'm still working on thank you cards from Christmas.  OK, I'm just taking my time with them.  This one is to express gratitude for some very fancy teas from Paris!   Those who know me know I love Paris--the song is an earworm now, but I can't help it.  

Louisa and I went a few years ago, and I still treasure those memories.  Recently (in November) we went by zoom to Paris with Road Scholars and it was great.  We learned about places that are not in the tourist guides and also a lot of history, as well as Notre Dame, etc.  That's inspiration for another trip when we can travel again.  

Louisa found some special teas from Paris for s me at a shop here on Capitol Hill.  They are Dammann Freres and I got four flavors plus an amazing tea ball.  The teaball has a little teapot which you can see in the sketch above.  The mug I show in this sketch is also Parisian (you knew that by the Eiffel Tower).  The teas are truly special.

Peter is going to get me some macarons to enjoy with the tea.  I just haven't given him the go-ahead yet because I had a lot of left-over sweets from the holidays.  

The really amusing thing is that I also gave them teas.  They have been enjoying chai tea in the morning and so I gave them a gift set of chai teas.   You'd think we're related or something! 

January's Bird is a Puffin

 

I had a lot of fun with this Puffin, but I may do another one next month.  This Puffin is an Eastern Puffin and I have been thinking about the Puffins at Cannon Beach in Oregon.  The ones I used to see in Oregon are a little different--they are Tufted Puffins.  Both are very colorful in breeding season, but apparently are dull grey the rest of the time!