Sweets to the Sweet, and New Year's Cheer!

Yes, we were quite busy the last few weeks, which is why my blog has been so quiet. And, it seems, much of what we have to do for Christmas revolves around food! Hahaha!
I wanted to share some pics with you of our sweet exploits this year. The top pic is our little gingerbread house. We had a big family get together where 5 gingerbread houses were made! It was quite alot of fun.

As you can see, ours turned out more of a gingerbread castle. :)

And here's as I was making my yearly batch of sugar cookies:


Here's my little dog Ross (right after his wonderful hair cut!), just waiting for a piece of dough to drop!




We had ALOT of cookies! I think (after quite a few were pilfered still warm from the baking sheets!) I made over one hundred of these yummy morsels of sugary goodness.



With a generous dollop of icing and sprinkles!



And last but not least, a finished platter of them complete with my home made struffoli (a tradition Italian goody, also called honey balls). This was one of the many many plates set out for Christmas Eve celebrations at my house. You can see the vintage tablecloth I was given by my Nani years ago beneath it.


Lastly, here's a pic of my yearly sausage quiche that I make up for Christmas Eve. I USED to be able to eat it...but now I can't have dairy! Waaaahhh! I always manage to sneak a teeny taste, though. ;)


And now, I'll wish you all a happy & healthy New Year! I hope 2009 will be full of wonderful things for you all!

Dickens Faire 2008

Well, as some of you may know I love the Renaissance Faire. And so it's only natural that I should love the Dickens Faire as well when it rolls around during Christmas!
This is probably the last year to be held in San Fransisco. I love Dickens, and every year for the last 20 years or so I've read faithfully Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" during the holidays. I love walking into the Dicken's Faire; it's like stepping back in time and into one of his amazing books. The characters roam the streets and interact with people, and they perform pieces from the novels. It's just amazking.
Here are a few pics I wanted to share with you:

Here's Father Christmas, all decked out.

He was so wonderful, and nice, and patient with all the kids. He took time to listen to each one that sat on his lap and gave them his undivided attention. Wonderful man!

This is Jacob Marley, from A Christmas Carol.

So creepy, he was a wonderful ghost! I love how red his eyes turned out in this pic, though quite unintentional. :)

A Victorian era dress.

The costumes worn were amazing! This was one of my favorites. I was able to take so many incredible pics of dresses that I'm sure they'll be showing up in my paintings soon! (side note: take a gander at the Phantom of the Opera in the background!)

A living store window!

Ladies (and men too!) stand in this store window displaying the corsetry that can be bought...living statues! It's amazing to see. This is just one of the models and poses, but quite a pretty display, don't you agree?

Hear hear, and Happy (belated) Christmas!!!

Snowman Friend - Completed Painting!

I finished my little snowman painting! And just in time for Christmas. :) *sigh!*
The background is more greenish than what showed up on my scan, and for some reason my shading on the snowman didn't come out as evenly as it looks in person. But I'm so pleased with it!
You experience Christmas in two ways. First, through the eyes of a child, everything is so new, every experience exciting. Second, through the eyes of a parent, you see everything through your child's eyes, making each moment wonderfully sweet. Seeing Christmas through your son's or daughter's eyes, you have an incredible appreciation for your parents and the experiences they gave to you, and you find that being able to enrich your child's life through those special moments and experiences yourself is such a blessing.
Happy Christmas to you my friends!

Illustration Friday - Catch-up... 'Rambunctious' and 'Voices'

I've been naughty in not keeping up with my Illustration Friday posts! So here are my quick little sketches for the last two weeks...far from perfect, just very rough sketches from my doodle book. "Voices" didn't come out nearly as nice as I'd have liked, and I just couldn't get the shooting star affect right in "Rambunctious", but here they are. From my Christmas-infused mind and straight to paper!

Angel hiding in the boughs...

"Late at night, while the gingerbread men slept peacefully in their sugary houses, and while the stockings drooped from their heavy loads with sleepy abandon over the empty hearth, a sweet little angel floated silently down from heaven to nestle amongst the twinkling lights and scented boughs of the Christmas tree."

Here's a little angel I made out of a clothespin, some feathers, and present filler many years ago. She wanted to say "hello" from her little bed in the Christmas tree, and to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
I hope all of you are finding much joy in the season! We managed to make gingerbread houses on Sunday...what are you all doing to celebrate?

Sketchbook Finds - 12/16/08

My production of artwork has dropped drastically as Christmas winds it very quick and merry way toward us. I know I've been remiss in posting here, but thought I'd do something I haven't done in a while: I'll share a sketch from my ever-present doodlebook with you!
This is something I did back in May, and is my version of Rapunzel, with the rampion of the story about the base of the tree. I'm hoping one day to make it into a painting...eventually!

Hoyden Designs Giveaway!!!

***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! Thank you SO much to all who entered, and all the lovely comments left!***

SimplySentimental at Etsy has been kind enough to host for me a giveaway of one of my glass tile pendants! Yippee! This is the pendant you can win, with a print from one of my Dreaming of Darcy series of paintings called "Mary":

Isn't she lovely? A very elegant and romantic companion to just about any outfit! AND, she comes complete with an 18" handmade black pleather necklace cord!
To enter, simply go on over to the SimplySentimental blog and follow the instructions! The contest is open until December 22nd, and then a winner will be chosen to receive the above pendant!

Showered with Love!!!

I have been blessed beyond words with not one, not two, but THREE blog awards recently! I am so very touched! Here they are!:

The 'Spreader of Love' award from Mannie Vincent!

(Thank you Mannie!)

The 'One Lovely Bog' award from Sara Faghani!

Thank you Sara!)

The 'Marie Antoinette' award from Juie-Ann!

(Thank you Julie-Ann!)

Here are the rules for accepting these awards:
(1) Post a copy on your blog
(2) Mention who gave you the award.
(3) Pass the award on to 6 others.
(4) Leave a message on their blog letting them know the honor has been bestowed upon them.

Now time to pass these on, and to some incredible artits!...
1.) Alicia Padron!
2.) Vita!
3.) Stella!
4.) Diana Duda!
5.) Cat!
6.) Shelagh!

Please visit their blogs and show some love!

Work in Progress - 12-8-08

As busy as the days are leading up to Christmas (I hardly had time to breathe this whole weekend, we were so busy! I do love it, though.) I did manage to sketch this out while relaxing a bit in the evenings. I thought I'd try my hand at practicing illustration, and at the same time get into the spirit of this, my favorite season of the year. I'll hopefully add some color to it when I can catch up on my sleep! Any feedback, as always, welcome. :)

Letting Go - Completed Painting!

Well, I'm sure you'll agree that it took me long enough to finish this one! Haha! But finish her I did, and I'm really pleased with how she came out. :)
Here's my latest watercolor painting, called "Letting Go". On her lap is a tiny yellow bird, offering his leg for her to tie her broken heart to. He'll take it up and away for her, to free her from the pain she's suffering now. I usually don't add too much symbolism to my paintings, but I added some to this one. She's wearing grey, to show that she's emerging from mourning. The yellow shoe peeking out from the hem of her gown is a symbol of hope, and yellow signifies to me happiness. And the tree trunk she's sitting on signifies that she's been wounded and has felt felled like a tree, but the tiny leaf beginning to sprout on the branch shows that there's still life after great turmoil (thank you Alicia for noticing that! I wasn't sure anyone would!). I added some close-ups, since it's hard to show the detail I wanted to convey in a full pic. Thank you for all your kind words as I've worked through this one!