Holiday Preparations…

Before :

After :

David and I opted for a table top tree this year.

A little less maintenance and a lot less cat adventures.

It, of course, had to have our favorite ornaments on it,

like this puppy we got the same year Chica came to live with us.

Or this fat angel cat, black, to remind me of my best cat ever, Georgie.

I love that the tree has my handmade touches too, like these paper love birds.

And that it is topped with something David and I created together; this stained glass star.

Little traditions that make the holiday decorating feel like home.

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I was a little awed this morning by the fact that it is only 11 days until Christmas Eve.

I haven’t really done any shopping yet.

But I have made a promise to myself that this year, I will do my very best to take the stress out of the holiday.

My Christmas 2012 mantra is “Do it with Joy, or don’t do it at all !”

It has helped a great deal when I have completely taken the focus off of trying to find the people I love “the best gift ever” which I used to do in the past. Instead, I am thinking of little things that will make them smile, and let them know I love them. This feels so much better !

So I know it will all get done however it gets done, and that will be okay.

The important thing for me this season is to have a chance to put my arms around those I love and squeeze them tight.

And to bask in the joy and gratitude that we have this time together.

Now that sounds like a perfect Christmas to me !

Happy holiday preparations to you, Beautiful Ones !

May you find sweet Joy in all you do.

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T’was the weekend before Christmas…

So it was a busy weekend before Christmas at the Queen’s palace.

It was Day 7 of the Canadian Chickie Christmas Swap and our Mother Hen, Hostess Extraordinaire, Dawn was the gift maker.

Brown paper packages recycling sewing patterns ! Ingenious !

Gorgeous attention to detail…

Sweet swap key…

and this beautiful, beautiful Hang Up, made just for me !!!

I love the quote – it so reflects how I feel about Winter too !

Thank you, Dawn. I have hung my Hang Up right in front of my computer so I can enjoy gazing at it every day !

Now, it wasn’t only about opening gifts. It was about making them too.

The Rock Fairy was almost as busy as Santa…

She doesn’t do the whole sleigh/reindeer delivery thing but has to rely on getting things to the post office and allowing the wonderful USPS Elves to get the gifts to the rock lovers on time !

Keeping up with orders and having enough rocks to decorate for the whole winter meant one last trip here :

to North Beach in Hampton Beach, NH before the snow comes and covers her supplier !

It was cold but not too bad. Only about 34 degrees F and not too windy ! A perfect December Rock Picking day for the Rock Fairy and her hunky Man.

These nutters seemed to think it was also a perfect day for surfing ! Me, not so much !

We also did a little hall decking…

Here is the tree. I went with colored lights this year. I usually always do white lights and most of my ornaments are traditional green, white and red or natural fiber tones.

I think I like the white lights better but I remember that our trees when I was a kid were always lit up on color so I thought I would try it.

It ended up looking very old fashioned to me, but pretty…

These fun little bubbling ornaments that shine blue look right at home!

The gorgeous stained glass star on the top that David and I made looks beautiful on any tree !

as does the gorgeous white doggie sitting the the twinkle light glow…

Today, Monday, is Day 8 of the swap and Heather’s beautifully wrapped gift was up.

The wonderful collaged book mark on the front gives a hint to the beauty inside…

This beautiful collaged writing journal ready to fill with doodles and words in the New Year !

Thanks so much for this lovely gifty, Heather ! You did such a beautiful job !

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So it is Monday, 5 days before Christmas Eve.

The week will be filled with baking, wrapping, last minute errands and a 7 hour trip way up North to share Christmas morning with my side of the family.

I am feeling like I have it under control, like I have set expectations low enough that I can get to everything, and that it will be filled with sweet moments of joy and gratitude along the way.

One thing though !

I miss my ART !!!

I am so looking forward to January and February where all I have scheduled is creative time for myself !!! Arty hibernation, here I come…

My beautiful Muse and my abundance of toys await me…

In the mean time, I have visions of silliness dancing in my head…

I just signed up for this fabulously silly class with Carla Sonheim that starts January 5th.

A gift for myself ! Merry Christmas to me !

Maybe I will see you there, Beautiful Silly Ones !

Happy Holiday Making !

An Grrl Inspired Artwalk

So a while back, I participated in a discussion on grrl + dog's blog and was the lucky winner of some goodies traveling to me all the way from Sydney, Australia. They arrived last week !

And here is what was inside. The great zine "pasticcio" and a note from grrl to "go forth and create" !

Also in the envelope were these great, colorful tags and stickers with "art" quotes on them !

So the happy Queen had a plan !

I grabbed my dog snack pouch, the tags, some "Rock your World" rocks, my camera and put the beautiful Chica on her leash and headed out into a gorgeous fall day in Manchester, New Hampshire !

The first tag went on here :

It seemed kind of appropriate, don't you think ? grrl + dog, me walking the dog, me beautifying the ordinary a little ?

So the second tag went here, about a block away ! (see Chica checking out the neighbourhood news ?;-))

But I decorated other places too !

There was also some world rocking going on (like I promised Julie)...

With all that decorating work, I made sure I look the time to look up...

as well as down...

(How's that for a grrl+dog pose !)

All in all, a very wonderful artwalk. I think grrl would approve of how I used her treasures, don't you ? Thanks again, grrl !

In other news, the Queen will soon be revealing what she has been working feverishly at behind the scenes, aided by her magnificent and studly Computer Geek ! Hint : It may be a place to sell her wares !!!! (I know, I suck at hints ! I always give too much away !!!!) Stay tuned !

Happy Monday !