My favourite part

You know, as much as I love making things, it's not the making that gets me most excited... it's the embellishing and decorating.

The mini piece I showed of yesterday is coming along nicely today. There's still a few bits and bobs to add but I'm rather chuffed with this wee place.

Next to a wine bottle for size reference. The whole thing is about 6.5" wide by 8.5" tall.

Pretty things for your ears

I'll admit I don't know my Bach from my Vivaldi, but there are certain pieces of music that induce a sort of glorious euphoria in me. There are some works that are so beautiful that they force me to sit agog, smiling stupidly, until their conclusion.

Bach - Cello Suite No.1 i-Prelude
Bach - Sleepers wake
Puccini - O mio babbino caro
Puccini - Nessun Dorma (Paul Pott's singing this makes me ridiculously happy)
Johann Pachelbel - Canon in D
Debussy - Clair de lune
Vivaldi - Winter
Carl Orff  - Carmina Burana... Give this part a listen
Gershwin  - Rhapsody in Blue
Mozart - Alleluia

Some music simply makes the world a better place to live in.

WIP's WIP's Everywhere

I've got a LOAD of crafty things on the go at the moment. My work load this week has been pretty skinny so I've been enjoying the extra crafting time. A number of those things I'm working on are tiny, wee things. I figure I can share this particular work in progress because no one will know if it's for them or not since at least a few people are expecting a tiny something ;)

That's a penny in the foreground for size reference.

I am not a big fan of poly clay but I do like how these wee things have turned out. They still need a bit of tweaking and this is actually a small part of a larger project... but I'm fairly pleased how things are progressing. I'm getting excited about where things are headed with this and I hope and pray and have all my digits crossed that it turns out as lovely as it all is in my head :)

I'm telling ya', all of those miniature poly clay artists out there have truly earned my heartfelt admiration. You folks are amazing and must have some damned nimble fingers!

The Baron Von Kringlemas

I've been busy working on four different dolls over the past week or so. The Baron Von Kringlemas is the first to be completed. He's an eccentric high ranking Christmas elf who loves camels and hot toddy's :)

I'm pleased as punch with his hoity, twisty moustache.

He's got some pretty spiffy buttons too!

And who doesn't love stripey legs with jingle bells and pointy toes?

The best thing about the Baron is that he is a surprise! He'll be leaving for his new post shortly... I sure hope his new family doesn't mind uninvited guests for the holidays :)

Ottawa Adventure

My husband worked the big Wine and Food show in Ottawa this past weekend. My auntie lives there so the kiddo and I tagged along too and did some visiting and sightseeing.

One of our very favourite places to go in Ottawa is the Museum of Natural History. It's such a great old building and the dino displays are fantastic. It's truly an inspiring place to be and I highly recommend it if you love all that old stuff :)

Here's the kidlet on the stair case. If you visit the museum look around carefully and you'll find animals hidden all over the place.

A magnificent old specimen shadow box of strange deep sea creatures. Just look at those labels!

How fantastic is this old deep sea diving boot? The whole suit was wonderful but the boots are what really got me.

This aquarium was mindblowingly colourful. I like to imagine that some dinosaurs were colourful pinks and purples... I mean we really don't know that they weren't. Who knows, perhaps some of those big buggers were polka dotted.

Perhaps my favourite exhibit was a gallery of giant moth photos. There were so very lovely and it was tempting to reach out and stroke the photos to see if they were really that furry and fuzzy (I just barely managed to contain myself) The photographers name is Jim de Rivières and he managed to turn those lowly moths into something quite spectacular and magical.

The other exhibit which the kiddo and I loved was a collection of frogs. The colours, sizes and shapes of those things is fascinating. There was a very neat zoetrope there which showed a frog jumping and a computer where the kiddo virtually dissected a frog. I took a load of photos of the frogs but I'll just share this one for now... I wish I had written down what type it was *sigh* ... anyway it was the most fantastic shade of minty green and looked as though it was made of marshmallow. Simply awesome.

We had a grand time at the museum then had lunch in the market. We got lost on the way back to aunties house and had to call her to come and pick us up. LOL Now we're safe and sound back home from our big adventure.

Huzzah for glitter

I'm beyond busy but I have managed to finish up items for a "Legend" swap. Here's a couple of the items on their way to my partner... I sure hope she likes glitter :)

Oona the faerie

Princess Lily's book of love poems and tokens from Jack

The spiral from an ugly one horned mule... better known as a unicorn.

Heads up!

For you crafty folks out there I am organizing (at the requst of the idea's orignator cackle) the Tiny Fairy Tale House Swap on craftster. Make one wee house, max size 4" x 4", based on one of your partners Fairy Tale theme prompts. Send outs are December 10th.

I know it's close to Christmas/Yule and all that jazz but it's only one small house. Come on! You know you want to do this :) *arm twisting in action*

There are only 20 spots for this swap so get in there already!