Winter Wonderland

This is my third post about Winter Wonderland. Post 1 : the event. Post 2 : swaps. Post 3 - this post : the pieces that I made for the swaps.

Inchies

Inchies - iddy, biddy, little 1" square pieces of art! I challenged myself this past week to make 55 and frame them, for my 55 coming up this week! Done! And I love them. And I love them framed. Although I see some have been mounted somewhat crooked! That goes to show that life has imperfections. And after 55 years, believe you me, there have been them!

Winter Wonderland ~ The Swaps

I have definitely neglected this blog! Busy doing other creative things. So, catch-up time and hopefully will do a lot of that this week. I see the last post was about Winter Wonderland held in Manhattan Beach, CA. At the event ~ well, pre-event ~ we were given the option to sign-up for swaps. Not everyone does, but I'd say most do! And there are several, so you have to pace yourself. I signed-up for the Christmas Stocking swap, glove and socks swap, snow globe swap, Christmas angel swap, Christmas ornament swap, and Christmas wreath swap. The interesting thing was creating these things and then really having to part with them. It was fabulous thinking outside of the box and creating one-of-a-kind goodness to share away. My bigging dilemma was how to transport that Snow Globe. Everyone started with the same type of globe - a glad dome that was about 8-10" high and a circumference of about 4", on a wood base. The sky was the limit - create a little piece of winter wonderland in your dome. First off, the shipping from the US to Canada to get my globe was outrageous. I worried every time I held it that I might drop it. I.was.not.going.to.order.another! Let's just say that the globe got handled very little, and with kid gloves, it seemed. It made it ~ carry-on style ~ and a goodly wrap of bubble wrap. Here are some photos of some of the swaps.

Winter Wonderland

The thing about leaving a cold Winnipeg winter day behind is not such a bad thing at all! At the end of November, I went down to Manhattan Beach (LA) California for a few days. Met some fabulously talented gals and had myself a mini-vacation in the process. Okay, yes, got drunk of all of the vintage love that was swimming before me every day. And shared in some fantastic swaps. I went a bit earlier than the event and stayed a little bit after -- in which time, I managed to dip my toes in the ocean and watch some surfers cresting over the waves (OMG); and I spent several hours browsing through the Fashion District (double OMG). So, I'll let the photos do the talking ...

Stay tuned ... more Winter Wonderland posts to follow.