pestilence & random photos

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like many of you, i am knee deep in holiday madness. to make things more interesting, the entire belfry has been hit with a pestilence of moderate proportions. i am not even going to tell you how i had initially spelled proportions; thank you spell-check!

fortunately we have enough food to last a few days longer, & plenty of holiday crafts & movies to entertain us. 

now that i have bored you with talk of pestilence, i shall bore you further with random photos. think of it as my gift to you.

the above is a letter of the week card that i made for elfling. i cropped an image i found by googling free vintage christmas, then added the text.

this is elfling's transferring/sorting bowl for the week (see here for an explanation) of christmas. i have been buying different colors & sizes of pom poms when i find them. these were all purchased at the japanese $2 store.

elfling made his first winter solstice luminary!

to make sure you know you have come to the correct blog, i have included a poorly lit photo, of a non-ironed sewing project. see? you know for certain whose blog this is now. this is elfling's cape, which i made for xmas. i used two beloved receiving blankets (the other side is clouds), & a velcro closure. basically it is a giant bib that is to be worn backwards. i did photograph the process, so perhaps i shall post a tutorial. stop laughing.

& finally my mother's yule cake. for some reason everyone proclaimed this my best attempt yet. i have no idea what i did differently, but it was insanely delicious.

now that i have bored you completely, i shall be off.

have a happy christmas (happy tuesday, to those of you not of a christmasy persuasion), do!

~peace.

ps :: yes, i did notice that this was a mostly elfling-centered post. i do still have thehobbit, it is just that he's dreadfully dull these days ;)

walking in a winter wonderbelfry

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life got in the way of holidayificating (real word) thebelfry at the beginning of the month, but i finally managed to put everything out. the santa collection was the last to get set up. odd, but the moment i began unwrapping the santas, the stress of the previous weeks seemed to melt from me. that santa, he's a magical one, he is.

i recently re-hung thehobbit's wee coat rack, so elfling could hand his jacket & hats. of course, a few pegs had to be reserved for the little decapitated santa heads. my mother made these for me many, many years ago - i love them so.

speaking of my mother: these tiny bottle-brush trees came home with me this past summer; i found them in her studio. we are now on our way to a yule tree collection!

thehobbit is now in charge of decorating our actual tree. i have no photo to share with you. rather, i have a photo, i just have no intention of showing it to you. let us just say that thehobbit, whilst he has many talents, shall not have a career in tree-decorating. but isn't this a lovely photo of a tiny gingerbread ornament?

i hope you enjoyed this riveting tour of thebelfry's winter holiday decor. i would love to see what's in your home. post a link in the comments if you'd like to share.

~peace.

of broken rules & red-clad wizards

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my rule has long been, no holiday goings-on until the first of december. yes, i am one of those people who constantly occasionally rants voices displeasure at the barrage of christmas items & decor appearing long before the season has even begun. but come on! ornaments on sale alongside hallowe'en costumes?

well, it would seem that all it takes to break me is a tiny elfling sweetly asking if we could go see santa today please. & so we did.

being a great old man of 14, thehobbit did not wish to be seen on film. i did attempt a few photographs, but he managed to ruin them all by scowling at me. except for the above. don't his shoes look happy? (yes, i did cut elfling's beautiful long hair off. i am still in mourning, so do not wish to discuss it.)

the grove is my favorite place to go each year. it is such a beautiful center, & they decorate it stunningly. if you are in los angeles, go earlier in the season, & never on a weekend, or it will be too crowded to enjoy.

faced with the man himself, elfling could not even brave going inside the cottage. instead, we stared at him through the front door, then later through the windows.

he did wonder how it was that santa was up in the sleigh at the same time he was in his cottage. manlyman replied with ooh look at the tree!

i could not get the entire tree in my shot. it. is. huge.

trolley was dressed fancy for the season. elfling refused to ride, even though he loves trolley.

this is how he prefers to visit trolley. with bars keeping them safely apart. toddlers are so odd.

the fountain is a favorite of the entire belfry clan. it dances to music, & there are koi in there!

on our way home we had to pop into a mall for something, & you'll never believe who we ran into. santa! how ever did he manage to get there so quickly? santa is clearly the greatest of wizards.

~peace.

hustle & bustle & videos

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there has been much hustle & even more bustle in thebelfry these last few days, which is why i have not been around to chat with you. unless you are vastly more together than i (& i suspect you are) you have been hustling & bustling as well, so not noticing my absence. shame on you.

it has been difficult, but we have managed to squeeze in some holidayness (real word). in addition to crafts & outings we have watched: miracle on 34th st (original & newer), elf, a charlie brown christmas, & a plethora of youtube videos. here are the videos getting the most play:

~peace.

santa peggie

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put some presents under the tree. for me. (that is how we are singing the song these days.)


unlike his first 2 decembers, elfling is good & truly aware of the magic all around him. that awareness has breathed new life into traditions that had become stale, or forgotten over the last few years. don't get me wrong, thehobbit still adores the winter holidays, but he has long since outgrown the squealing at even drawings of santa stage. know what i mean?

oldies may remember me babbling about my santa collection last year. well, when we set them out the other day, elfling went mad! he wanted to hold each & every one, kiss them, hug them, & even have deep conversations a few. unfortunately, most of the santas are old, with a few being quite fragile, so we had to limit his santa-loving.

which brings us to the santa peg you see in the above photo. i knew elfling needed a santa that he could carry about with him, one that would survive a month of toddler kisses. it was great fun to paint, & i love the way it turned out. i did forget to paint arms, but i am pretending that i meant to do so - that can be our little secret.

as with steve, the santa peg is nowhere near perfect. i rushed it, so it would be ready when he woke from his nap. it is coming in whispers, but i am actually learning to find peace with doing things good enough. 


sing with me! santa peggie, put some presents under the tree...

~peace.

the keys to my shop

ok, i'm finally excited about the holidays. would you just look what santa is putting in my teeny one's very first yet to be sewn stocking!

image :: property of mama made it

i found them at this etsy shop. take a look around her shop, she has some great stuff - after you've lingered here awhile, that is :-)

lately i've been discovering all sorts of etsy shops that thrill me. do you have a favorite? leave it in the comments, so we all can see!

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speaking of etsy shops - i'm in the middle of tweaking mine . today, if the sun stays, i'm going to reshoot a few things already in theshop, shoot pics of a giant stack of new items, upload the said giant stack, & the reshot items.

in the past i was happy to have my little corner shop on etsy, but i focused more energy on my in-person sales. there's nothing like watching people fondle your wares, ya know? hmm, that sounded delightfully naughty ;-)

as much as i love doing craft shows, i think it's time to make my etsy shop the focus. hence the afore mentioned tweaking. wish me luck!

~peace.