Trimming the Tree with Teddies

I have been hand painting ornaments for as long as I can remember.  I have made all different kinds and have gotten some interesting requests on what to paint on the ornaments!  My favorite things to paint on glass Christmas balls, though, are teddy bears.  I happen to be a teddy bear lover and collector.  I have teddy bears in almost every room of my house.  They sit on a shelf in the kitchen, on my hutch in the dining room, on an antique dresser on our computer room, and on a wicker chest at the foot of our bed.  They are a part of who I am and fit perfectly into the décor of our cozy, folksy house.  So it goes without saying that my favorite subject matter would be teddy bears.  I use them as my models and they love to pose for me.  They are such hams!

 I add lots of different details to the teddies on my ornaments to create a different personality for each one I make.  I usually like to create one- of- a -kind ornaments since it is difficult to capture the same look more than once.  My bears also pose for my hand painted stools.  They are busy little fellows and all vie for the chance to be immortalized on one of my ornaments or stools.  Some of my furry friends are naturally better at posing than others, but I would never let them know, so as not to hurt their feelings.  Like a good mother, I love them all the same.   The hardest part of creating my teddy bear ornaments is letting them go, but as long as I know they will be going home to someone who can appreciate and love them, it makes saying goodbye so much easier. 

So this Christmas, I have started creating some teddy bear ornaments like the ones in my shop on ArtFire.  On Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, there will be free shipping on my ornaments.  I hope one of my teddy bear ornaments makes its way into your heart this holiday season!

Culinary Inspiration

Although my first creative loves are painting, and crafting, I have to admit, I have always loved baking, decorating cakes and candy making.   My love of baking began when I was a child.  My grandmother lived with us and was a magician in the kitchen.  She made lots of delicious meals, but baking was her specialty.

My grandmother was born in Germany and had an endearing accent, often substituting her v’s for w’s.  We still smile when we read her handwritten recipes where she suggests using a  “handful” of sugar, a “pinch” of salt and a “pount” of walnuts.  Her biggest thrill was making the weekly trip with my mom and me to the grocery store and picking out some “nice” meat.  She loved going to the local farm stand in the summer, and buying fresh fruit and one of my favorite vegetables, corn on the cob. 

Gram, as we lovingly called her, had her baking specialties.  I loved to help her make homemade apple strudel.  She would lay out a tablecloth on our kitchen table and after making the pastry, we would stretch it out until it covered the whole tabletop, then she would cover it with melted vegetable shortening and finally a mixture of apples,  sugar and cinnamon.  I used to love eating the unbaked apples and cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Gram used to set some aside just for me.  After the pastry was stretched out, she would cut off the edges and then lift up the tablecloth on one side and roll the strudel from one end to the other.  She would lay the unbaked strudel carefully on the baking pan in a crescent shape and pop it into the preheated oven.   The delicious smell of baking apples and sweet spices filled the house, but that wasn’t an unusual occurrence.  There were always delicious smells coming from the kitchen in our house, thanks to Gram.

Princess Cake

My version of the  Oreo Turkeys

When I was a teenager, I began making cakes, often from scratch, like Gram, then I moved onto making cream puffs and éclairs, from scratch.  When I got married and had children, I created all sorts of fun birthday cakes for them.  I made a princess with a cake skirt, a butterfly, Winnie-the-Pooh, a fish,  Thomas the Tank Engine, a dinosaur, a beach scene with teddy bear cookies among others.

Oreo Turkeys

 I began making different kinds of fudge at Christmas for my mother-in-law and it has since become a holiday  tradition.  In recent years, I have begun making peanut brittle, thanks to a recipe one of my colleagues shared with me.  That too, has become a traditional homemade treat.   My daughter gave me a candy thermometer last Christmas, so I tested out a recipe for English Toffee which I brought to a party over the summer.  It was a big hit, so that will definitely be a treat I will share with friends and family at Christmas this year.  I also tried my hand at fondant and created a sheet cake in the shape of a wedding dress for my daughter’s bridal shower.  For every holiday, I make my homeroom a sweet treat…chocolate covered pretzels with sprinkles, molded candy lollipops and at Thanksgiving last year I made these Oreo and Peanut Butter Cup Turkeys.  The girls loved them, so I will whip up another batch for this year’s homeroom. 

Fish Cake

Taz



Winnie the Pooh

 Creating gives me such joy. I am very lucky to come from a very creative family and to be able to carry on our traditions.   Both my mom and I have compiled some of our favorite family recipes for my daughter who has incorporated many of them into her culinary repertoire.  Gram, we may not be stretching out homemade pastry on our kitchen tables, but we know you would be proud of our culinary accomplishments!

Looking Backward and Forward

Today is my daughter and son-in-law’s first wedding anniversary.  I know they really have been a couple for seven years, but their wedding was a very special day, nonetheless.

My daughter is a graphic designer and I am an art teacher, a wonderful wedding planning combination!  As soon as my son-in-law popped the question, my daughter and I were on the phone planning the wedding.  We spent weeks combing the internet for locations, ideas, colors and dresses.  My daughter is a take charge girl and took care of all of the details, booking the church, the venue, the DJ, photographer, the menu, and the shuttle busses.  She had a plan, and a definite idea of what she wanted.  We exchanged ideas daily and the excitement mounted.  My daughter lives 3 hours away from us, so everything was done long distance.  The wedding was going to take place closer to where she lived as well, so it was just easier for her to take care of all the details. 

So where do I come in?  Well, once the details were taken care of, we started planning the diy part.  She had definitely done her homework and knew what she wanted.   She loves a neutral palette.  She loves the play of textures and different types of paper.  She sent me a photo of a beautiful fabric flower and the rest is history.  I made the flowers for the bouquets and centerpieces from white and ivory sheer fabric and the flowers for the accent pieces from burlap and satin with large fancy button centers.

I decorated white and orange pumpkins with wedding sayings and their initials.  I made the bird bride and groom wedding cake topper, and the flowers for the wedding cupcakes from music pages from an old book. 

My daughter designed her save the dates, invitations, and programs.  I wrote out the envelopes.  She is a stickler for details and created lists, detailed instructions for the guests and bridal party!  She brought in lots of vintage props for her candy bar, votive glass candle holders and tea lights for the tables and hung mason jars with tea lights from an archway in the reception venue.  She painted signs with their initials on framed burlap and various signs and props for their photo booth as well as. That was a big hit and lots of fun, by the way, especially for the younger kids who started the ball rolling.

I even made flowers for the church and boutonnieres for the groom and groomsmen.  Not only did all of this save us money, but it made the wedding a unique and beautiful event.  Where did my son-in-law fit into all of this?  Well, he knew to stay out of the way of creativity and welcomed it!

The day was beautiful and went off without a hitch.  My daughter and her bridesmaids looked gorgeous and my son-in-law and his groomsmen looked handsome.  The flowers, the decorations, the guests, my husband’s speech, the food, details, everything was picture perfect and just as she wanted it. 

The day after the wedding, I felt like an athlete after the season ends, or an actor after the show closes.  I had been in creative overdrive for months and now it was all over.  So several months later, with my daughter’s help,  I started my own business doing what else?  Creating wedding items, of course, as well as baby related items.  Hmm, I wonder how much longer it will be before I go from mother-of –the-bride  to grandmother- of- the- baby ?    I guess it’s never too soon to start planning, right?