Cards Made....

...this year I've opted for a simple cross stitched present design with a little gold bow on top bordered with some frayed handmade paper, simple, modern and full of those beautiful Yule colours of red, green and gold. Another job to cross off the neverending list.

I hope all your preparations for Yule, Christmas and the New Year are going well too.

Calender Complete

Another waiting project done! All 24 advent calender pictures are now finally complete. Who knows, in the future I may add some extra decoration/embroidery or some such to the calender itself (such is the beauty of making something like this to use and alter as you see fit) but for now, I can happily say that 3 years of making is finally over and the advent calender is finished!

Only a couple more lingering jobs left to do before the new year, and I'm quite determined to begin 2010 with no out-standing projects 'hanging over my head'.

Calling All You Arty Types

Having been looking around and following a few new blogs I stumbled across Mother Moon's Message, where I found a button link to a very new site called the Pagan Artist's Network, which I joined. It's a quiet place to meet and socialize in a Pagan artistic community where you can share your work and find like minded souls. Having applied and been accepted as a member I thought I would mention them and hopefully some of you crafty souls might like to join too.

I will be creating my profile soon and hope to see you there as well.

Be sure to let me know if you join and I'll look out for you.

Blessings x

Fey Altar Refurb!

About time I had a reshuffle of my bedroom altar, you always know when it's time because the energy just doesn't feel right and I for one find I don't want to spend time there. A few days ago I finally bought my Pan statue, as found in a little shop in town, amazing enough considering our town isn't exactly full of stuff. You can just about see him there on the left, next to the oddly phallic plant I bought today for him. The intention was to just get a nice little houseplant but the one he guided me to has a errr... appendage hanging from the middle of the raised trunk bit. Very fitting for him I must say and rather unsurprising that he would want such a representation.

I removed a lot of my small faeries leaving just a couple of different statues, my crystals and cauldron etc and adding a large selenite crystal and ivy plant for the Lady's presence. I do tend to use this altar for my work with Pan and the fey as well as my meditation and journey work but I have a thing about balance in the energies everywhere, especially on my altars. I can't help but have a sense of symmetry both in the look and feel of my spaces.

Anywhoo, just thought I would share it with you all. The more regular use of my oracle cards as one of my goals is going well, so well in fact that my 'bonding' with them has me creating my own divination set. I've been meaning to do this for a while, I've had a couple of items set aside that speak to my psychic senses, hidden away awaiting this project. Having found the rest of my items yesterday and today I'm going to create a drawstring bag and casting cloth for them then give them a go... I already feel well connected and eager to use them, I'll post some pics and a little description of the set when I'm done :)

*****

Another sidenote (I seem to be adding these a lot at the moment): I've actually been onto and updated my myspace page, so if you're on there feel free to add me or leave me a link to your page in my comments and I'll add you xxx

Sculpting on the Full Moon

It cannot have escaped your notice, my witchy friends, that it was the full moon last night but what many of you may not have known is that yesterday was also the festival of the Welsh Goddess Arianrhod, who has recently sort of become my patron Goddess. Now, I have always steered clear of subscribing to a main pantheon, being eclectic and connecting with the deities I have been called to for different works, excepting the Hindu Goddess Kali who guided me through my 'early years' in the craft, but even that was a temporary partnership.

Anywhooo, having finally accepted this calling I decided that last night would be the perfect time to connect with her. I felt the urge to get out the clay and create something and this is what I made. As an artist I'm usually pretty abstract, creating loose and fluid forms relating to the energy I connect with, simple, beautiful and usually naturally curvaceous. All of my work, including my paintings tend to subscribe to this. It is a Goddess representation with a shallow integrated offering bowl at the base, a large inset moonstone and spiral detail above. The only wonder I have now for when it dries fully is whether to paint all or part of it, maybe just the spiral (?), in silver. We shall see.

*****

It is also worth noting that there is a second full moon on the 31st December. It is, of course special enough to work with the power of a blue moon when it comes around, but what a way to ring in the New Year! I hope this is a powerful herald of good things for 2010 after so many of those I know have had such a tumultuous and difficult year. It seems that 2009 has marked the end and new beginnings of many cycles that certainly in my experience have been both unavoidable and 'meant to be'. The Wheel has been turning, milestones have been reached and fate has definitely had a large hand to play in my life and the lives of those around me this year.

Project Complete!

As you may remember, in April I began a project to make my own dress... something that I've never done before, thought would be a challenge and hell, I just wanted to see if I could do it. Well, I finally finished it last night and, if I do say so myself, I'm pretty pleased with the results, especially considering this is a first attempt and has all been hand-stitched as I don't own a sewing machine.

I'm not sure I would do it again.... at least not by hand, but then the fancy will probably take me at some point in the future and I'll end up starting all over again when I've forgotten just how much work it involved, lol.

Blessings x

Preparing For The 'Festive Season'

I seem to say this all the time but December is a crazy busy time for us, more so this year I think than any other as I have quite a bit of 'me time' too when mum is coming to babysit the kids so I can go out and do non-child related things! It's Beths birthday on the 19th, which is fast approaching and she will be 5 this year! I just can't believe how the time has flown by!

A few days later of course it's Yule, which is when I tend to decorate my house and I make wish stars for the tree which I'll blog about a bit nearer the time :) Then it's Christmas, and this year I have my mum, dad and brother coming over for lunch... it'll be the first Christmas in years that I have actually had dinner with them so I'm really looking forward to it.

The good news is there's plenty to keep me busy so the cold and dark winter days fly by, though I still have a really hard time getting up in the mornings.... I'm not a morning person at the best of times, and when I'm all warm and cozy in bed and it's all dark and cold outside it makes it even harder :( That said, I do actually really like this season and the anticipation of the bursting of new life in spring that comes with every passing day.

So I finally dug out my ongoing project yesterday.... the advent calender. This'll be the third year I have been making it, and I'm determined to have it finished by the end of the month. It has been a mammoth project, particularly seeing as how I haven't had a huge amount of time to spend on it and I really can't abide doing Christmas related activities at any other time of the year:

The first year was taken up making the base, stitching on the green felt pockets and cross stitching the gold numbers too. The second year I began making the pictures for each day:

They are all cross stitched and attatched to a piece of red felt to be pinned over the numbered day as we arrive there. I managed to do all but 8 of them last year so that is my job this year... to do the final 8 pictures for the last few days on the calender. Each picture is completely different and include cartoon animals, carol singers, angels, faeries, santas, reindeer and snowmen stylised the same as the one shown above so they all match each other.

My other preparations so far also include the drying of oranges. I like to make dried orange slices to hang on the tree as sun symbol decorations and they look really pretty when the lights of the tree shine through the slightly transparent dried fruit flesh. I also dried a pile of cut orange peel for use in another seasonal pot pourri or table decoration later on in the month. I'm not sure which yet.

*****

Oooooh, and I weighed myself today.... I've lost 6lb! over 2 weeks, that's 3lb a week which is bang on target and quite surprising seeing as how I haven't been doing the exercise I should be because I've been a feeling a little sqwiffy... so far so good :)