The Christmas tree is up

I had to work on Thanksgiving Day.  I usually work, unless it happens to be my day off.  The kids wanted to put up the Christmas tree before I went to work.  So we did. 
And today, Black Friday, I am glad to have it off and be home with the kids.  They are playing in their room and I am gearing up to work on my display/tutorials for next week's Craft Rave.

Ornaments

Today there are so many choices of pretty fabrics, or you can even go to Spoonflower and design your own.  Yet, for some reason, I prefer stamping on muslin and creating my own that way.  This time I used a butterfly stamp I've had for some time, and a stamp I bough from Stampington, designed by Colette Copeland.  It's a stamp of a girl.  Perhaps it reminds me of my daughter, or myself and that's why I like it. In any case, here are some ornaments I stamped, stitched and stuffed.   

 

A date to the theater

The library by our house had a Culture Pass to the Tempe Arts Center Theater.  The play:  The Velveteen Rabbit.  Who could pass two free tickets to it?  So I took Maggie to see it.  Her first play and she enjoyed herself.  I think I found my theater date.  We are planning to go next month again to see The Cat in the Hat.  

I used to go to the theater a whole lot more before I was married.  About every couple of months.  But I don't think my husband enjoys going, so somehow I've gotten away from going too.  

Maggie and I had a great time together.  It was a cloudy and rainy day and after the play we ran (or rather she ran, I chased her) around Tempe Beach Park.  Here are some photos of that.

   

Neck ties coin purses

Some time ago I got a sweet deal at the thrift shop by my house: two grocery bags full of ties for only a few dollars.  I couldn't really see how many, or all of the designs that were inside the bags, but I took my chance. I washed them and some of them got distorted, which was even better.  I like imperfect things, the more imperfect, the better.  And last week I ripped them apart and started making little coin purses.    

On a side note, the tomatoes I planted last May, that produced nothing during the hot summer heat, are finally making tomatoes.  These are the little cherry tomatoes.  My favorite.  Like eating candy, pop them in your mouth and squeeze the juice.  Mmmm!!

The school playground

The two little favorite humans I have!

You can't please everyone

The hardest lesson for me to learn: You can't please everyone, so you gotta please yourself.
I keep on practicing this lesson, and it gets easier, it's sinking in a tiny bit at a time.  The guilt I used to feel when I tried to make everyone happy, and it wasn't good enough for them, that guilt is not nearly the size it used to be.  In a nutshell, the last few weeks, it seems that the only thing that my family members have in common is me.  And displeased with each other, they all turn to me, as if I have to take a side.  A terrible place for me to be in, leaving everyone maybe more displeased than they were before.  What's a girl, a wife, a mother, a daughter to do?
Well....I just breathe, deep, and exhale loud, as if I were making wind and sweeping all the troubles away.  And I do wish I could find a place to hide and cry, but instead I get up, I show up, I am there, doing the only thing I can do: doing my best one minute at a time.
And I also wished I was a bird, or had wings to fly up to these beautiful blue skies and look at the world below and whisper: it's gonna be OK.

Birdies

I went to a vintage show/market yesterday, called Junk in the Trunk.  My friend Karen had a display there, and an extra ticket that she was generous to share.  Lots of neat things, that had I had more money I'd probably overspend. 
When I got back, inspired by the experience, I made these bird ornaments.  I used one of my favorite stamps, by Colette Copeland, then stamped, cut, stitched and stuffed these little creatures.  Added seam binding to be able to hang them.