§ I'm Being Crafty....

...I've been accused of being crafty! In a whole 'nother sense. But this time, I chose to work on a piece of driftwood that I found while walking the shores of the beach in Port Aransas. I saw the round 'knot' area of the wood and thought it's ideal for what I've been wanting to try [a pom pom]. I've seen many online, coveting them, but never ordered any. I thought I'd give it 'a go' first to see if I could create something out of 'nothing'.

I cleaned off the sand, allowed it to dry for several days before beginning. Then, I asked Bud to let me borrow his carving knife. Not wanting to do much whittling, but enough to get the shape of a nose!! Of course the nose is not even close to a cherry described in " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' -a bit more bumpy if you ask me. LOL

I chisled, I sanded, I painted with my acrylic paints, I touched up here and there, and when finished I sprayed an acrylic sealer [gloss]. His beard is too long, but the jolly ol' elf IS ANCIENT. His beard just keeps growing and growing...

PS...Congrats to the Houston Astros: World Series Champions.

§ All Dressed to Chill...

§ Right Jolly Ol' Elves...

The two above are the ones that collaberated to get me to change the scene taking place! They are peering through the fireplace glass doors, watching Santa take off safely on his journey...

The other elves are happily taking a break from the strenuous work! By the way, the one with the white beard [2nd one from last], wearing spectacles, is the oldest of old...ancient one. A supervisor; I'm told!! And, it is said, the supervisor hired a Santa look-alike [seen in the first small images below] to keep the mischievousness at bay so the little ones remain hard at work in his absence.

After seeing the movie, the Polar Express years ago, I asked Bud to carve me the word "BELIEVE". I then painted and decorated it. It then became a traditional addition to our holidays!  Seventeen years now!!

Believe in what your heart is saying
Hear the melody that's playing
There's no time to waste
There's so much to celebrate
Believe in what you feel inside
And give your dreams the wings to fly
You have everything you need
If you just believe!

Josh Groban BELIEVE

§ ...And Laying His Finger Aside of His Nose, And Giving a Nod, Up the Chimney He Rose!

Not surprisingly, the majority guessed correctly!! I guess you could say GMTA!!

Y'all know the poem by Clement C. Moore I'm sure. Well, I was working on displaying my elves on the fireplace hearth and mantel.  I first worked on the mantel.  Adding my Santa candle holders with Santa candles.  And the jigsaw puzzle Bud and I finished [and I framed] last year.  Then...elves and a couple strings of lights from Dollar Tree.  Down to the hearth then.  I love these elves I have collected the past three years!  They're posable [or is it spelled poseable?]!!  No matter.  I had them all positioned and the two largest ones I made them standing.  They were now peeking into the firebox thru the glass doors.  As I stood back to inspect the work, I got an idea...like the Grinch, I got an awful idea!  I got a wonderful, awful idea!!  That entailed tearing them all down from the hearth, and starting over.  But first, I had to 'build' Santa Legs...  Rounding up all the 'materials I needed to make a soft sculpture set of legs, I started sewing and stuffing and stuffing some more.  Done.  Now, to get it to work.  Y'know that wonderful, awful idea...I opened the glass doors with the legs in hand.  Placed them just so after adding a light to light up the box.  Tied it to the flue handle...and voilà!  Next step was to place the elves in such a manner as before with the two largest peeking in... ...giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. At Hootin'  Anni's,  the hard working elves helping out [not just working at the North Pole as once thought -SOME elves do not like the cold of the North Pole and would prefer the balmy Texas Coast].  They were bidding him a safe journey as he flew off to other toy shoppes around the world!!!

One image is with the illumination to guide Santa upward to his sleigh... while the other is during the day without lighting.
With the strings of lights...

Next post will be close up images of the elves...

§ Lensball Shots [And my LAST Troll Doll]...

After cleaning my lensball, I placed it back in my car for future use in photography. While walking a short distance to the observation deck at Hans Suter Wildlife Sanctuary [too hot to be there too long], I grabbed my lensball and stopped to take some photos thru the globe. The sky was very impressive...

The cattails along the boardwalk were nearly expired. Several were breaking open to disperse the seed. But, against the blue in the sky, they were worthy of a photo or two:

I liked how the boardwalk railing showed unusual perspective and the beautiful cloud formation was magical:

As the sun broke from the clouds, I noticed in my ball that there was a rainbow effect [not a real rainbow] from the crystal refractive prism and then, I stepped a few paces further and tried to capture a single sunflower in the distance:

Tho, the images and the lensball photography is pretty nifty in all aspects, I've come to realize that I prefer making use of it for sunrises on the beach mostly!!  Once I made it to the covered deck, I saw that the water level was low, and only a minimal amount of active bird life was evident along the perimeter...gulls and herons, a couple of egrets and one of each; willet and skimmer. I left soon afterwards as the temp was soaring to the triple digit heat index; to the dangerous heat exposure.  Back to the car with A/C and then home where the room temp is more suitable than outdoors to be sure.

...I have come to the end of my troll collection...

↓ My 30th Troll Share ↓

TROLL DOLL COLLECTION Holiday Themed LARGE hard sculpture Santa in PJs circa: 80s

§ More of My Sketches....

They're all self explanatory.



Raccoon


Wizard of Oz characters [matted and framed and hanging in my movie themed bedroom]


My dear Saint Nick

Osprey...[also matted and framed hanging in my bird sanctuary ---the dining room]  Our dining room has three windows [one bay window] and the view through those windows are my multiple bird feeding stations of seed, peanuts, suet cakes and woodpecker blocks and three cut fruit holders... along with three hanging hummingbird feeders and a ground level bird bath with clay birds perched on the rims.  The interior walls are covered from mid wall to ceiling of my paintings, sketches, and framed photos I've taken over the years.

§ Ms. Elainie

I treated myself to a box of popcorn, a small drink, and a movie the other day. I went to see CATS. Now I know why it isn't doing well at the box office. I was greatly disappointed in the movie. Yes, it was a musical of sorts. But, in my opinion it was more a ballet than anything else. Naturally, my favorite character is Mr. Mistoffelees.  The one song [Memory] made up for the fiasco.

.....
Daylight
I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life
And I mustn't give in
When the dawn comes
Tonight will be a memory too
And a new day will begin
.....

Those lyrics always bring tears to my eyes.  I'm such a push-over!

Yet, the set, the costumes, the special effects, and make-up were fabulous. In fact, I would be surprised if those categories were ignored by the Academy for at least nominating the movie ...for the animated cat ears alone. But, it was a near total wipe-out otherwise. Unless you enjoy ballet! lol The initial trailers of upcoming movies, there were two I think I may have to see on the big screen. Both based on classic stories. Jack London's Call of the Wild and the other Dolittle. The aforementioned has Harrison Ford and the Dr. Dolittle will be played by the Iron Man...[Robert Downey Jr.] In fact, I have never read the book Call of the Wild...I am now!! Bud bought me a copy of it when he was in Barnes and Noble the other day. I've only read the first chapter so far. I was worn out when I opened the book and dozed off. Must get my nose into the book before the movie comes to the theater. So, I can say what I usually say "The Book Was Better".

Moving to another subject, I was conversing with a cashier at our neighborhood grocery store. She had the acrylic nails that are so popular these days. But what caught my eye while she was scanning my purchases was the color and the finish. Black [I wear a lot of black 'cause I like it], and the finish was matte. It was nice looking; the finish. I mentioned that I liked it and she had to tell me that at the nail salon, if you want the matte look, it's an extra $5 charge. Well, I have only been to a salon once in my life and the gal that worked on my nails was uncaring...she cut my cuticles too close, jammed it into my finger so rough I was in pain. Then, to top it off, my index finger became infected from the close cut. I vowed to never go again. I do my own nails. Anyway, to stop the chit chat on this subject, I looked for "matte" polish online. What I came up with is the matte top coat. I went into Target and found it. Now, I hafta 'try my hand' at the job. Hope it is what I want to accomplish.

Before and After

What is the meaning of multi-colored fingernails? According to this site, this is the best answer.

One more thing. My Christmas gift from me...I couldn't resist him. I don't have one like it. At least not until this year. It was his slippers that sold me:

The Nutcracker

§ All that Glitters is Not Gold....

While in search of more holiday gnomes, at Home Goods, Bud found a new santa for me....a santa fairy. One kind I didn't have in my collection. He's pose-able, so I placed him on the fireplace mantle with the elves. And speaking of elves, I went to Michael's and purchased a few items to make an elf wreath. The wreath is on the fireplace brick, just above the mantle of elves..

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Of course, I had to bring out the "Believe" that Bud carved years ago...




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For a few days, a couple of hours a day, I have been busy with my craft brushes also...I bought some red glitter glue and have been 'painting' the red vases with the glitter. They are now filled with artificial velvety poinsettias, on our Christmas present...a new dining room table and chairs that was delivered Tuesday afternoon.

Looking through the vases from the "other side" of the table...