Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Monday, January 17, 2011

Christmas concert

On Dec. 22 at 8pm A-daughter-in-law Sang in front of the J.C.Penney's store in downtown Alamosa. Here she is with Lori her accompanist.

This is M & Z watching. We all went and enjoyed her enthusiastic singing even though it was cold. I was the only one who had to take a few warm breaks and go inside the store.
More Z & A.
D looking over Lori's shoulder possibly singing along. It was a fun new tradition for us. It was a good Christmas concert, unfortunately not many other people passed by. I love to listen to A sing.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Wood Burned Nativity


This is a close up of the three wise men, They are all the same shape, but I wanted to make them look different. I am done, but not entirely happy with their appearance. I did make each vessel they are carrying look unique and that was one of my goals. I would like to make their clothing look more eccentric, but could not figure out how.

In this one you can see almost every piece except the standing sheep and the donkey. Each piece took a long time it seemed (a little like curling your hair one strand at a time with a curling iron). The whole idea of this wooden nativity, was to have a set that children can actually play with, which mine have, and the nicks and dents don't really show at all.
This close up of the sheep's wool, shows the swirls, that I made with an attachment I created from a piece of copper wire. It made a tremendous difference in the speed of this process. I tried to do it with the tip of the iron and it looked bad and took forever. But with the wire attachment it went much faster and looks more uniform.
Yea! A finished project! Just in time to put away for another year.
YEARS ago my sister and I cut these nativity pieces out of 2x4s and 2x6s. I have 2 sets. It took me a long time to decide how to finish them. One set I started to paint and one set I started wood burning. Then I stopped, and had children and put it off and put it off. This year I resolved to finish the wood burning ones.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Repurposing & homemade


Above is a picture of the "tie rack" I re-purposed into a key holder with one of my mosaics on the shelf. I think it is much better than the previous one I had, but did not take a picture of, so you will just have to believe me.

Above are some wooden painted snowmen that I have had for a few years. Below are some out of 2x4s that my son A and I made for my son Z for Christmas.

We have a sibling gift exchange that went to homemade gifts last year. I think they turned out quite nice and I like the thicker wood because they stand up much better than mine which are out of 1" thick wood. We decided that if they make something maybe the gifts will mean more to the maker and the receiver. It seems that while they were given the money to buy something for each other, very little thought went into the gift. Now they think about it a long time and at least put some of their own effort into the gift.