Santa's Coming!

Hurrah! It's snowing outside, lovely crunchy snowball making type snow, and I am very excited. It seems like ages since we had a wonderfully white Christmas.

My co-worker thinks that it's hysterical that someone who is proudly pagan gets so overly excited about all things Christmas. Being pagan doesn't mean that we have to exlude all the Christmassy goodness just because we aren't Christians or aren't celebrating the birth of Jesus. The parties, gift-giving, cookie making, Santa, old Christmas movies, feasting... I can't get enough of it. We celebrate Yule but that does not mean that we can't fit in the Christmas hubbub too. Our beliefs and practices are something that we share as a family in our home. We create a Yule log from a cutting from our Christmas tree, we have a feast to celebrate the coming of the light. It's nice to have beliefs that are important to us and the freedom to celebrate them. Christmas is about the spirit of the season and not about what god or gods people believe in. It's a time to show your joy and your love for family and friends, no matter what their beliefs.

I think I'll go home early and make a snow goddess :)

Gifting

Being the craft enthusiast that I am I usually make a few gifts around the holiday season. My goal this year is to make almost all of the gifts that I am giving and those that I do not craft myself I'm doing my darnest to buy handmade.

Here is some of what I have made so far...

I'm really excited about making everyone on my list something that they will truly like. I know that there will be people who will be disappointed that they are not getting store bought (like my 9 year old cousin who when asked what his hobbies and collections were said "money") but I decided after last Christmas that I am the giver and that means I get to pick what gets given. Those people who are disappointed wouldn't be happy with what I bought them anyway. At least if I craft my Yuletide gifts then it means something to me.

Still have quite a few items on my list but I feel like I have made a nice little dent in the crafting department. When it's all done (hopefully around December 1st) I will take new/better pics of my beautious mound of glorious handmade goodies.

Ah the good ole' days

Ah, I used to paint loads of these little eggs. The idea came to me when I was really into fertility magick and I just loved making them. People seemed really pleased with them too. I had quite a few custom orders for these wee things. Here is one of the last ones I painted, and one of my favourites.



This fella is listed on my esty site if your interested in horney naked guys :)

Nifty Linkage

My friend sent me this link yesterday. I'm generally not a big photography fan but these photos are so well done and imaginative. I think that they really embrace what childhood play should be. It's wonderfully low tech and dreamy.

Click here to see the beautiful work of Jan Von Holleben

Ho hum

We weren't as successful at the Craft Fair as I had hoped. We still sold a few things and that is better than a kick in the head. I was really surprised how freaked out some people were about my Spirit Dolls. Sometimes I forget that people have different tastes and see things differently. I certainly find beauty in places that others might not. I really should know better. My family members are often weirded out by some of the things I think are nifty. Ha! My granny is always saying how much talent I have and what a shame it is that I don't make "nice" things. Although she also thought that my paintings were copies of someones elses originals and was shocked to learn that they come from my own apparently twisted little mind.

Anywho, I've opened up an etsy shop since I'm building up quite the collection of crafted goods. It seems like it may be a nice fit for the types of things I've been working on lately. Ebay was good fun for a while but the fees are a killer and the sellers, unfortunately, are not as supportive of each other as you'd hope. We've never bad mouthed other sellers or their wares. We figure that different people have different ways of doing things and that buyers should decide for themselves. It always makes me giggle a bit when I see people selling magickal herbs and saying "These are not ordinary culinary herbs". Aren't those just as important in magick making? I certainly consider rosemary and basil as two of the most versitile and potent herbs in my witches cupboard. Also the whole "these have been blessed by our high preistess..." gets me too. I don't want other peoples magick getting in the way of my own work. Ah well, as I said, we all have our preferences and I'm sure those things are important to someone.

Spirit dolls and Christmas boxes

I'll be selling my wares at the Toronto Waldorf School Candlelight Fair this weekend. I went last year and it was a really interesting experience. Spending most of my youth in inner city and rural community schools, I was awed by the school. The building, the feeling of community and the creative atmosphere... it was a far cry from my experience.

Here are some more spirit dolls that I will be taking with me. It's funny but I usually don't name my work. If I have to pick a title I usually just go with what the item is... "Fairy Godmother #1" or something of that sort. With these little dollies though I've really enjoyed looking at them and discovering their names. Anywho, here are the latest lot.






I've also been making a few shadowboxes to take along. It's been a lot of fun exploring Christmas with these. I've got a couple more in mind so we'll see if insomnia hits tonight so I can get them done to take along too... though I won't hold my breath about that.

Tub Tea

I've been crafting my fingers to the bone getting ready for the gift giving season. One of the gifts I will be giving are these loverly Tub Tea's. They look and smell so pretty and were incredibly easy to make. I ordered the heat seal bags on-line and they are fantastic. Love them!