Speaking of Advent...

My friend Barbara is the first one I tried out the idea of a non-Christmas advent with, 9 years ago almost exactly.  Her birthday was a few months after we met, and we had a major interest in common: quilting.  This was exciting considering that in Germany, quilting as I know it is only done amongst a handful of people.  (Cotton quilting fabric that you can buy for $3 a yard here in the US is a minimum of $12-19 over there.)  I was also new in town and only had to work about 20 hours a week, so I had time on my hands to get creative.  And so I designed an advent calendar for the week leading up to her birthday.  It was the first time I remember designing something considerably complex, and it worked!!  It was really something.  I credit those two years in Germany as a time when I really took a step forward in becoming an artist, from art-for-fun to art-for-real.  

I actually managed to just put my hands on some photos!  I took these with my very old SLR camera in November 2002 (click on the photos for a close-up.):

Once you opened the door, there was actually a little pocket that a tiny gift could fit in in there.  And so that year, Barbara received not only this calendar, but a individually wrapped chocolate each day at school delivered by a person we knew in common (teacher or 8th grader or her husband), and a little trinket in each pocket.  It was a lot of fun.

The next year, I made an advent calendar for my Christmas card called "An Advent Calendar for the Rest of the Year."  One of the most complex cards I've made in bulk (not counting the pop-up card this year), only about 20 people got one of those, and to this day it is one of the highlights in my memory.  (Does anyone still have theirs?  If you do, can you scan it and send it my way?)

Nearly every year since 2002, I've given Barbara 7 things each year, and lucky for me, she has actually done the same!  I've given her jelly beans with inspiring quotes, sewing supplies, random trinkets, and cooking gadgets.  Last year I got 7 things for the bathroom (nail brush, nice soap, tub mat, lotion, hand towel), and one year she gave me one recipe a day to create a 7-course menu by the end.  (We also have a love of cooking in common!)

This year, I'm also sending her a recipe a day, but one with embellishments--a mini art piece in itself.  On weeknights, Germans generally eat a cold dinner of bread with stuff on it (meats, cheeses, veggies, spreads).  Well, I thought I'd send her recipes of various ways to spice up those weeknight meals.  She now has a recipe for a new spread or dip or salad to add to what they already eat for each weeknight leading up to her birthday.  Here are the first four cards:

 

 

I'll post the final three next week!  As a bonus for today's post, since you had to go so long without a post from me in October, I thought I'd include one of these recipes for you to spice up your own weeknight meal.  This is one of my very favorites:

Walnut Sauce (the one from the orange card--I know it is from a wonderful cookbook that I don't own, perhaps my friend Kyran can help me out with the citation?)

You'll need:

¾ cup walnuts

1 clove garlic

2-3 tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper

boiling water

In a food processor, mix the walnuts, garlic and ¼ tsp salt until finely ground.  Slowly add oil while still mixing. Pour in a small amount of the boiling water to reach desired consistency.  Sauce thickens as it cools.  Season with pepper.  Yields about 1 cup.

Serve atop whole-wheat pasta topped with some micro greens and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Leftovers are also great spread on toast!

Advent Calendars

I'm sorry that I've been absent from my blog these last 3 weeks! All I've been doing is working on ten new advent calendars.  I just couldn't see that getting on just to tell you that that's all I've been doing would be very inspiring!  I thought I'd finally get back to you today to report that they are here.  When they're finished, they actually feel like they're worth all the effort, but making 10 in a row, assembly-line style doesn't show results till the very end--it was hard to not get bored and stay inspired. (Click on the photo for a closer-up view.)

If you're interested in buying one, please see my Etsy shop!  Believe me, they are even better in person. :)

As an artist, I'm already thinking Christmas!  It is a strange thing to prepare for such a thing in October.

My "Other" Life

You know I love being at my art table.  Love it.  Period.  And yet, my "other life" (like "the other woman") takes over sometimes.  I found myself having to look at my archives for something to post today, because it feels like it has been ages since I've made something significant enough to show you.  These are cards I made recently, but still, nothing this week.  Sigh!

The card above was made for a dear colleague on occasion of her retirement, and I have to say, it's one of my favorites of all the let's-combine-scraps-in the-right-order-to-make-something-aesthetically-pleasing cards I've made in this Denise Schmidt fashion.

 

I particularly like that I elaborated on the theme for this birthday card for my step-mom in the message I wrote inside.  Things like, "You deserve to stop that negative self-talk," "You deserve to eat an entire bowl of strawberries," and "You deserve to have kindness in your life."  

And this was a variation on a theme from the bat card I showed you a couple weeks ago.  It is more vibrant and contrasting when you look at it in person, but at least this photo gives you an idea of it.

My friend Brittany emailed me saying that Advent Calendars are "hot" this year.  That's what I've been working on in my limited art time these days, especially as the one I've got on Etsy has received hundreds of hits (people looking but not buying).  I definitely need to post more on there.

A small celebration: I sold the giraffe bike band to a stranger on Etsy last week!!!  Special thanks my new Sunnyvale, CA customer!

A Long Time Coming

You may remember this excellent creature I made about a year and a half ago?

(Click here to return to the post about it, and to see the hilarious video we made!)

Well, it turned out to cost hundreds of dollars to ship abroad, so we saved it for the day that my niece would someday visit us here.  Well last week we presented it to her (she is now 4½) on day 1 of her visit, and she was delighted!  At first, she named it Helinka, and all of us shook our heads at where she came up with that name.  But a couple of days later, she declared it had a new name.  No idea how one would spell it in Spanish, but in English, here's my best attempt: Juvia.  Turns out Juvia is the name of a horse in a very popular horse story  at home (I suspect similar to Black Beauty here). Here is the very satisfied customer, riding Juvia with her best friend Teddy.

Inspired by the pillow I made a couple posts ago, here is another one, made with the leftovers from that one, and gray scraps from our newly-fabric-covered closet doors (in our bedroom). 

Today, I've otherwise been working on business stuff (possibly getting a marketing/PR intern in January??) and assembly line production.

A Thank You Gift

As a thank you to the folks who participated in my 100th blog Etsy activity, I made these fun miniature collages and turned them into wall-hangings.  

What I liked the best is that they were all created (as is my style) from one larger collage, then cut up and embellished.  But this time with small collage things.  Each overall piece measures about 4½" square, so the collages are only about 2½" square.  In total I made twelve but the 12th one didn't get photographed.

This butterfly one was one of my very faves, so I thought I'd give you a chance to see it close up.  Remember to click on any image for a closer view (right-clicking and opening in a new tab helps to not navigate away from my site).