Live Aloha

Retro Christmas

A long long time ago, the Sun Family would decorate their 6' silver aluminum tree for Christmas. There were many ornaments hanging from the tree and a multi color wheel provided dancing sparkles on each branch. The tree stood proudly in front of the living room window for all to see from the freeway.

As the days drew closer to Christmas, presents started appearing under the tree. Soon, they seem to multiply and take over the entire room.

Ah, Christmas morning is finally here. The daughters would wake early in the morning and were filled with excitement. But.....Mom and Dad weren't up yet. What are the girls going to do? They, well maybe just one of them, would walk quietly into their parent's room and hope they would wake up so they could open their presents.

Sometime over the years, the Sun family would open only one gift on Christmas morning. They wanted to savor Christmas as long as possible so they would wait until after Christmas dinner with their relatives and open their gifts after they returned home. It didn't matter how late they got home, they still waited.

Now, the family has grown to include a nephew, niece, and brother-in-law. All gifts are opened before Christmas dinner 'cause the two daughters can no longer keep their eyes open late at night and they rather go to bed!!

So, this year, I decided to go back in time and put up aluminum trees. If only I could crawl under my parents house and pull out the color wheel. Then it would be 1960 all over again.

Carondalet High School Christmas Tea

The wreath I made for Carondalet was not hiding in the bathroom! Yay! Here it is in the dining hall right above the table where other items were for sale. There's a tiny price tag on the wreath that reads $100.

 Countdown to Christmas images

http://countdown.tentwostudios.com/

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO MY FAMILY, FRIENDS,

 AND FRIENDS I HAVE YET TO MEET!

 

Bird Sculpture in Half Price Book's window.

Christmas Tea

In 2008, my niece attended Carondalet High School as a freshman. Every year, they have a Christmas Tea. My sister has been volunteering at the school and asked if I could make a wreath and a couple of centerpieces to donate to the boutique and silent auction. All three pieces sold...whew! I thought I'd have to buy them to save my pride. Ok, I'm a little slow in posting the pictures but here they are.

  
      Beaded Ornament

For this year's tea, instead of making items to sell, I made a five foot wreath. I have to say, this was the largest project I've ever tackled. I'm loving the color combination of lime green and purple. My sister loves it and I hope my niece and her school does too!

Winston wanted to be in the "Before" picture. I removed the picks that came with the wreath.

 Close-up of the bird.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Diva Rosary Swap

I am participating in a rosary swap on my diva group. We are suppose to make a bead that represents us and also add eye pins or loops so that we can connect all the beads when we receive them.

I thought about making felted beads or beading beads but instead I settled on clay beads.

I used violet, black, and translucent clay and conditioned them with a pasta maker. Then I cut the clays into rectangles and layered each color with sheets of gold leaf and ran the clay back through the pasta machine. Hey, where did the gold go? It didn't show up like I imagined it. So I added multi gold flakes and a layer of translucent clay and pressed them together. Ok, that's better.

Then I rolled the clay into balls and baked them. In the meantime, know my writing is huge, there was no way I could add my initials to the clay so I pulled out my mold and using gold clay, made suns to attach to the balls. After they were all baked and cooled, I glazed each bead, added eye pins and black beads and voila there was my finished diva bead.

Lesson learned with this swap, Clay and I do not make a good couple!!

Journaling Video

I found this short journaling video on Nic's Blog made by Judy Wise.  

Aileen and Martha

My friend, Aileen, is one of the most talented people I know. Aileen's wish is to hang out with Martha Stewart.   

Check out her Christmas banner and help her win by clicking on

the link below and rate her project.

Michael's Christmas Snow Banner