Create joy

Halloween is in two days and here I am working on Christmas ornaments! 

The irony of this will not be lost on anyone who knows my habitual holiday routine. Which is, don't give  much thought to anything holiday-ish until after Thanksgiving, or preferably, after December 1. 

That makes for a short shop, ship, prep, and gift season. Not to mention eating, drinking and merrying!

create joy. text on paper, found rusted wire, glass beads.
backed up by my studio.

I've collected a few special ornaments every year since my 20's, and made some over the years, especially with my kids. Last year one extremely fragile glitter and glue star still remained. Not bad for fifteen years. One year I had the brilliant idea to make wired twig stars with beads with my son's third grade class. It was an explosion of wire and beads, and at least three more parents and the teacher to assist any frustrated little fingers. Haha! The teacher is still my good friend, thank god.

Fast forward to this year. I recently completed an order of word tags for a new retail venue (hurray!) and have been feeling motivated to make more "words" that connect me to holiday and family.

So this year I have decided to start a new art tradition and make limited edition ornaments.

I set to work on many, many sketches, and many prototypes using materials ranging from twigs to broken ceramic tiles, wire and papier mâché. 

I'm happily hard at work on the design I chose, and I will unveil them here soon. Stay tuned.


Meantime, I'd love to hear back from you about your holiday ornament traditions.