Weekend thoughts...'Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus'

I wrote this post and published it a little while ago. Some of you may have read it. 
 
My decision to remove it for a period was based on something personal that happened a few days after writing it. I did not remove it because I felt I had said anything wrong. 

Something happened that made me want to give myself some time to re-read it and make sure I had written what I actually meant.

In this post there is reference to 'suffering through' the Christmas season. It's a fact of life that some people do. Christmas for some people can be a lonely time, even if you are with other family or friends.

I'm one of those people and this explanation, and the post, is another piece of me that you wouldn't normally see on my blog. I've only ever written about personal feelings a couple of times here.
 
I love the Christmas spirit of love and giving, and decorating the home and table. I even go as far each year to have a theme for my wrapping under the tree. That all goes a bit pear shaped when the other gifts are piled up under the tree when the family arrives. All in different colours to my theme!!! NOT an OCD moment...I think...not sure. Anyway I digress. LOL

I just don't have any connection to the lead up to Christmas because most years I don't have my immediate family with me.

I have a broken marriage, fact. I still find it very hard to let go of some things from that time, even though it's been a while now. But I have to let go, I know I do, for my own peace of mind. It's important to take into consideration that he and I are completely different people, we think and feel differently and put our priorities in a different order. I have to make that not bother me any more. It's very hard to do that, when sometimes you hear in your head, 'Did any of it mean anything?'

Sorry, rambling here! I'll stop now.

Suffice to say, in this post I mentioned briefly that I have set myself the task of getting over things related to my mindset of the breakup and the subsequent years.

I've done really well in the career department all these years, but still find the emotional part of me needs some soothing. It's tough when you'd been with that person since you were 17 years old.

Brendon, my eldest son, was recently here for a couple of days and showed me his first tattoo, an anatomical depiction of the heart. When I asked him what it meant to him, he said it's because he wears his heart on his sleeve. He does... and so do I. My heart is too open to being hurt or broken. It's interesting that both my sons have selected tattoos that are true to their characters. Darren has a large tree on his right side, from under his arm to his hip. When I asked him what it meant, he said, strength, endurance, dependable. We all wear our hearts on our sleeves though!

I've re-read the original post and I'm happy that I expressed what I was feeling at the time. Some of it is no reflection on anyone else but me, how I feel and what I think about (or actually dwell on sometimes, which is not good).

Christmas for me is a period of getting by until it's over. For those of you who read my blog, thank you for 'listening' and here is the original post.

Merry Christmas to you and your families, sincerely!
Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus...

'... He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no child-like faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.'

{excerpt from the letter Virginia O'Hanlan wrote to the Editor of New York's 'The Sun' newspaper in 1897}

It's been ages since I wrote a 'Weekend Thoughts' post, life has been so busy.

Where did the year go!

Over the last few days I've been catching up on my blog reading and 'revitalizing' my own blog. During my travels through blogland, I've noticed references to Christmas popping up. In fact, I've even started wishing blog authors Merry Christmas in my comments! Mainly because we are getting to the pointy end of the 'silly season' and I'm not sure if I'm going to get back to those authors to pass on my wishes closer to the Christmas event.

It gave me pause for thought about how we each think about, feel, suffer (yes 'suffer'...some of us do), enjoy, celebrate, worship, look forward to, dread the clean up (!)...of Christmas.

Which is the reason I come back to the letter from 8 year old Virginia all those years ago.

Even if there isn't a Santa Claus, and I'm not saying there is or isn't...how long before Christmas becomes, or became a frenzy, in your family? And I mean, the fun went out of it and it ended up being a mad rush to have everything organized, to select that perfect gift for that particular person..so on and so on!

It's hard to explain to littlies why there are SO many Santa's? When will my new baby grandson, Archie start to realize where his gifts actually come from. Will he be younger than Virginia's 8 years?

I ask these questions because I'm sure you've all noticed HOW MUCH EARLIER we see the 'gift giving seasons' become visible in the shops. Surely this gives it away!

We see Christmas decorations and 'Christmas Shops' in department stores popping up in October!!! We have no sooner finished with Christmas and the Easter season is upon us.

It's this sort of commercial trade that will have our babies wondering 'Is there a Santa or an Easter Bunny', earlier than we'd like.

You know what though, no matter whether they believe or not, it is still such a joy to see the look on their faces on Christmas morning.

Now I know some of you out there, like me, find the holiday season tough to get through, without family around, or from circumstances that have happened throughout the year, beyond any one's control, but being able to wake up on Christmas morning to the sounds of squeals of delight (not too early I hope), is something I'm hoping to have a lot of with little Archie (and whoever else comes along in the years to come).

I haven't had Christmas with one or both of my boys for three years and Christmas is something I dread most years, because of the distances between us. I miss them so much, they are so far away. One of those circumstances beyond any one's control.

Good news, Brendon, is coming to Sydney for Christmas. Only for a couple of days though. Perhaps we can do something, just the 2 of us. I've got my thinking cap on. Maybe the Harry Potter exhibition.

Darren, Natalie and Archie are staying in Mackay for Christmas, and it looks like the boy's Dad (my ex) is going to spend a couple of days with them. He hasn't seen Archie yet, and even though it's another year where he's been able to see Darren for Christmas and I won't, I have to find a piece of my heart that will wish him joy when he finally meets his grandson (yes, you can read disappointment in my tone, not a good breakup, so yes, I sometimes find it hard to let go).

I still have family to celebrate Christmas with each year, but it isn't one of my favourite times of the year. I prefer birthdays. Brendon is 30 in March and I'm looking forward to that. As it just so happens I have a month off, with his birthday right in the middle of my annual leave. And my niece is 21 at the end of February!

I'm so looking forward to Christmas mornings with Archie (and brothers or sisters, cousins). It's going to be rare but cherished as we are all over the place. Darren - Mackay, Brendon - Brisbane, their Dad - Bundaberg, me - Sydney, Natalie's family - Parkes, Sarah's family - Toowoomba (Brendon's girlfriend).

Both the girl's parents are the loveliest people and I get on quite well with them. It may just be that some years we'll have a combined Christmas here in NSW or in QLD. Or maybe someone has Christmas Day and the others have Boxing Day, who knows. Consultation on who goes where for Christmas, from now on, is probably going to be a tricky conversation, with someone feeling left out somewhere along the line each year. But that's how it is.

Thank goodness for Skype!

Merry Christmas everyone if I don't get to stop by and comment or pass on my holiday wishes. I hope it is all you want it to be.

One last indulgence, another photo of Archie, taken by Brendon last weekend when he visited Mackay to meet his little nephew.

{Image: brendongrove.com}

The fun begins...

...with Christmas just around the corner!

Now that my grandson has arrived...(you can read about the event here), I'd better get started on Christmas presents for him so I can take them with me when I visit Mackay in a couple of weeks. That will be my time to spend a week with Mum, Dad (my son) and baby...all...by...myself!

I probably should think about presents for his Mum and Dad too!

I've got 3 of these little guys, all are the same, triplets...and will do a 3D artwork like the one I did for Sophia earlier in the year here.

After the workroom had a major cleanup this morning, I set to making Archie's Christmas stocking. I finished making the pattern and cutting it out last night, with the intention of starting on it first thing after breakfast this morning....didn't happen.

My last visit to the holiday house, which is where I do the bulk of my projects, was 6 WEEKS AGO. I've been doing things in Sydney, went away for work to Orange, and had my trip to Mackay for Archie's birth.

Sooo.....my workroom and materials needed a bit of re-organization, to say the least! More to the point, I NEED MORE ROOM! But I suppose the more room you have, the more stuff you accumulate (i.e. materials and equipment...definitely not 'junk').

Christmas Stocking finished...tick, a couple of tote bags unfinished, but hopefully finished by the end of tonight, another little dress and cap for Amelia for Christmas...on the agenda...maybe for next weekend when I come back to the house. I have a week in Port Macquarie before I head off to Mackay, so will spend two weekends in a row (this week and next week...very rare), then head off to Port from here. It's only an hour and a bit to drive there.

Here's Archie's Christmas Stocking hanging on the workroom door handle.

I'd like to refine the pattern a little...it's probably a bit too long and should be slightly wider I feel. It was a tad difficult to make sure the lining was sitting right, making it wider will probably help with that.

A huge disclaimer on the embroidery sampler also...I am definitely NOT the needle work type o'gal!

Happy New Year...and a post Christmas wish to everyone

Welcome to the eve of a New Year everyone.

I've been a bit absent over this last month, so it's time to catch up a little bit.

Firstly, Merry Christmas to you all. I do hope your Christmas Day was filled with love and cheer. My Dad is visiting from QLD and it was nice to have him here on the day.

My thoughts go out to my friends and family caught in the floods in my home town, Bundaberg and a very dear friend in Emerald. Both towns are in dire straits, so if you are able to donate to the flood appeals, please do so to help them out.

I've had regular contact with some of them and they are all doing fine, with no evacuations...yet. It's hard to believe the amount of water in the Bundaberg area. I remember the floods in the 70's, and yes I was 'very young' then.

A big thankyou in advance if you can help. 

So, the lead up to Christmas was pretty busy for me at work, including a quick 2 day trip to Melbourne to join the national team for some strategy days on what's in store for 2011.

Silly me, I decided a few weeks out from Christmas, I'd better get a move on with making the Christmas pressies for this year. I did OK in the end, thanks to some great ideas from you wonderful bloggers. I'll let you know who they are as I go along.

My boys have both moved into new addresses, and I thought as a surprise, I'd make them each a set of Christmas decorations. Darren's set was in green and Brendon's in blues.
 
I started with wreaths made out of circles cut from some Murobond paint chips I had accumulated. 

If you've seen the paint samples from Murobond, you'll know they are a decent size, so I was getting 3, 4 and 5 circles from each colour in varying sizes. I included some contrasting papers also. The project was finished with some small silver hearts and buttons for embellishments. Viola!...instant wreath in about 1 hour.
   

Then I moved on to making some birds from a post Tina at Rubie's Place featured. These are also featured on the 'Christmas Tree' we had at home this year. You'll see what I mean soon.

Next some wooden heart shapes covered on one side with a flocked transparency and a contrast blue (or green) on the other side. The wreaths and the ornaments were finished with a white or an ivory ribbon to hang them.

Garlands were next. Again, the theme of circles was carried through to these. There's also a photo of Brendon's tree (well branch) with the decorations.

With the decorations finished and mailed off, I settled in to making a present each for the girlfriends. Brenda at 'Hoo are you lookin at?' has fabulous fabric boxes. Mine aren't quite the same, but they were OK in the end and both the girls liked them, which is more important.


Sarah's is the owl and Natalie's was a shooting star.

The Christmas Tree was a bit different this year!!! 

There just wasn't any room in the house in Sydney to accomodate a long table for 12 guests, the loungeroom furniture and the usual Christmas tree. 

I used some brown paper to cut triangle panels to make the different levels of the tree then decorated it with bunting, christmas birds the same as the decorations I made for the boys, some more silver hearts, and circle 'baubles'. The tree was topped off with another dove.

I was really happy with it!! It all came together at around 11 pm on Christmas Eve.

This is what the normal tree looks like. It's quite big but beautiful, so we missed it a bit this year.

The theme for Christmas wrapping this year was white paper with a contrast tied off with twine and the gift tags I made in November for the 'Christmas Giveaway'.

Some other projects completed in the lead up to the big day...

A matching set of cushion and matryoshka doll for my niece in Bundaberg. The print 'In the Pink' is another great idea from Tina at Rubie's Place, using freezer paper as a template for the print.

 


Lastly, phew it was a busy week and a half, was a present for the wife of one of my co-workers. One of my products soon to be on 'jane on jane st'. Fabric Art similar to my Wallpaper Art. They will both be available soon and in 3 sizes. Stay tuned.

I took the photo at work on the carpet, with my phone, so it's not a great photo, sorry. The fabric is some curtain fabric offcut from Ikea. Beautiful colours.

So everyone, that's what I've been up to in the 4 weeks since my last post. I do hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and have a fantastic start to 2011.

May everything you hope and strive for comes to fruition.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

(Anyone else having trouble with Blogger formatting. It drove me crazy doing this post!!!)

Last chance for my Giveaway...Christmas Tags

That's right, my GIVEAWAY finishes tonight at midnight and I'll be drawing the winner tomorrow when I get home from work.

To be in on the draw, follow this link to:

1. Be or become a follower
2. Post about the Giveaway and come back to leave a comment on the Giveaway post here
3. If you Facebook or Twitter, tell your followers/friends, then leave another comment letting me know you've done so, here.

That's 3 chances to be in the draw and all 'roads' (links) lead to my FIRST BLOG GIVEAWAY!!

Good luck everyone!! and thank you for your encouragement throughout the year.

My one year blogging anniversary is coming up in January. Stay tuned for some extras that month!!

Have a safe and joyous Christmas...Terese

Handmade Christmas - Filigree Notepad

My Creative Space today showcases some of my Christmas presents coming along reasonably successfully. I've redone my Filigree design and will print it this weekend, then use it as new covers for 2011 Diaries.

To give you an idea of what they will look like, I've just photoshop-ed them for now.

I'm still tidying up my new design, which Jennie from Posie Patchwork has so aptly named 'Flutter'. I may do one diary in Filigree and one in Flutter. Not sure I'll see how it goes.

Hope you are all having a great time preparing for Christmas. I see Kylie from My Flying Ducks has a lot of her prep done already. I haven't even thought about my tree yet.

My Dad will be here soon to spend Christmas. He turned 80 earlier in the year and still rides his motor bike from Brisbane to Sydney to visit. Not sure if he's riding it down this time. Maybe I shouldn't ask, so I don't worry. You know the old 'blind as a bat' and 'deaf as a post' thing. Ignorance is bliss sometimes I think!!

Anyway, keep cheery in readiness for the 'silly' season and enjoy.

Don't forget my giveaway is still on until Sunday night, midnight Aussie time.

Hope you will join in!

More Creative Spaces every Thursday over here at Kootoyoo.

New tags + Don't forget my Giveaway!

I've been doing some more Christmas tags. They are a bright and cheery red.

I'm finishing them off with the red and white twine I bought from Kikki K a couple of weeks ago. I had these in mind when I bought it.

Don't forget I have my very first giveaway happening over here. These red ones are a bit bigger than the others on the giveaway.

Come over and have a look. Follow for 1 entry, post about it on your blog. Come back and leave a comment about your post for a 2nd entry. Let your followers on Twitter know and/or your friends on FB, come back and let me know for a 3rd entry!

Entries close Sunday 5th December at midnight (Eastern Aust Daylight Savings time). Please make sure you leave your email address so I can contact you when you win.

Sorry to anyone overseas, this giveaway is for Australian followers because Christmas is so close, but I'm planning another giveaway in January for my blog's anniversary.

Have a safe and happy Christmas everyone!

My Creative Space and Christmas giveaway

It's been a while since I've posted a 'Creative Space' piece. I have been doing a bit, trying out new designs, making things, lots of bits and pieces but nothing really concrete yet. You've seen them regularly when I've done individual posts about what I've been up to.

This Creative Space is a bit special, for me anyway. I made it to 3000 page views on Tuesday. Because of this I thought I'd offer a giveaway of one of my designs. We are fast approaching Christmas, so I've made some Christmas tags. You could use them for your Christmas presents or perhaps to decorate/dress the table.

{Christmas Tag Proof in green and complimentary stripe}

The tags have a complimentary stripe AND because I liked the design so much, I did them in 2 colours, green and blue. The sets include 10 Christmas tags and 10 matching striped tags.

That means you could win yourself 40 tags and you can decide how you want to use them, together like I've displayed them, or as individual cards. I'll even send some extra ties to you, just in case you want to use them as separate tags.

To be in the running and have 3 chances to win:

1. Be or become a Follower of 'designed to a T'.
2. Post about the giveaway on your blog and come back and leave a comment about it.
3. If you Tweet or Facebook, let your followers and friends know then come back again and leave another comment.

I need to get them to you before Christmas, so the giveaway will finish on Sunday 5th December at midnight (Eastern Aust Daylight Savings time). Please make sure you leave your email address so I can contact you when you win.

Good luck everyone and thank you for following and your support in my (almost) 1 year of blogging.

Sorry to anyone overseas, I'll need to keep this giveaway to Australian followers because of the time frame but I'm planning another giveaway in January when I reach my blog's anniversary.

You can see more fantastic Creative Spaces at Kootoyoo here every Thursday.

Enjoy and have a safe and happy Christmas.

Christmas Cards - TICK

First cab off the rank - Christmas Cards. DONE

Last week I revealed the Christmas Card design I'd been working on. Well, they're finished.

The design looked much better as a small image, so I've gone with A5 size (folded) on ivory card with a pearl finish.

I just need to find an appropriate phrase for inside, which I'll print on a transparent paper and this will be glued to the fold. I'm finding it hard to come up with something I'm happy with for the greeting.

Somehow 'Merry Christmas' doesn't sit well, especially if you've gone to the effort of making the cards yourself. They need something special.

Any ideas??

A handmade Christmas this year

You have all inspired me so much this year, so Christmas will be a full-on handmade gift giving bonanza.

I've started with this fabric covered notebook for my boss. The fabrics I won over here at 'It's all about the fabric', arrived a little while ago, so I've covered the notebook with one of those pieces.

Michelle over at Paper Tree Design has given me some ideas for gift tags here. I'm using unbleached card and found a fabulous little bird stamp set at Kikki K. I'll do my own little stamp of a Christmas tree for him to sit in, so I can stamp it in a different colour.

Thea at Thea & Sami, my inspiration for all things screen printing, got me back on track with the skills I had years ago when I worked for 2 different screen printing businesses, and the girls at Harvest Textiles are also an inspiration. A big thank you especially to Thea who has been most gracious to anyone who visits her blog.

I printed my 'Grassdragon' print in repeat here on about 2 mtrs of fabric a little while ago, so I'm going to make that into some place mats for someone.

I've even completed my Christmas Card design today. The design will stay as a black print and I'll do it on either silver or gold card. I'm thinking silver. Then that would lend itself to the colour theme for this year. 

I have a different colour theme every year for my wrapping. The last time I did silver about five years ago, I had a regal purple to go with it.