My Crafty Christmas

Christmas cards: an angel cut-out from Christmas music (click to enlarge)

Here are two crafty gifts I've made for my family this Christmas,

along with my 2013 Calendar of Haiku & Photography.

Reindeer Christmas tree ornaments for the kids

Celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas haiku-style on 

Gillena Cox's blog Lunch Break from  

Tuesday, December 25 to Saturday, January 5

where she invites you to collaborate for the fifth year running.

I'm hoping to share in Gillena's Christmas story for the first time.

It would be great if you joined me! :)

Long Winter Nights...

...are perfect for getting crafty! But before I show you what I've been up to this week, below is the June page of my calendar. The haiku was written a year ago today and appeared in The Heron's Nest. The photo was also taken a year ago at the new Te Puke Cemetery, as the last of the sun was going down.

June 2012 - Kirsten's Calendar of Haiku & Photography

Now that winter has hit us here again in the Southern Hemisphere, I've been spending some time each evening sticking stuff to other stuff, and coming out with these cards:

I love using bits and pieces I find in old books, and adding a bit of origami is always fun. I look at these cards as mini canvases. I just see an image in my head, then try to collage it out into the real world. I'm not making these with any person or any occasion in mind. I'm just enjoying getting stuck into my crafting again, and enjoying having my own creating room for the first time, to do it in! :)

Crafty with a K

Here's my latest crafty piece: turning the wooden 'k' from my childhood (the front surface of which had been defaced with stickers - yes I loved sticking stuff to other stuff even then:) into an item of interest once again that I'm happy to display on my writing desk.

It's a project I'd had in mind for some time but wasn't sure what to cover it with. Then I remembered a page I'd marked in one of the old children's books I keep for collage and knew it would be perfect! You'll see I've kept that sense of childhood about it - I think we all need things around us to remind us to play.

A Vision of Birds

New ideas for creative projects seem to come to me no matter what mood I'm in nor where my energy levels are sitting. Some ideas can simply never be realised and have to be let go. Others just keep bubbling back up into my conscious awareness and need to be fulfilled.

          escaping

          from a 2nd-hand

          book

          two tickets for

          the bird gardens

The feeling of wanting to create something out of all the cards I was sent while in hospital last year can no longer be ignored. I have a vision of birds: of cutting each card into a bird silhouette and setting them on a background to be hung on the wall.

All the cards I was given during my time in hospital having IV
chemotherapy for leukaemia last year, from March to July, 2010.

I don't know how it's all going to work out but I'm willing to follow this vision and see where it leads! Will keep you updated :)

Crafty Cards for the Kids

My mum is heading to Canada at the end of this month to visit the newest addition to our family: my sister's baby girl, Sadie. I always give the kids books as presents so have loaded mum up with Christmas and birthday books for both my niece and nephew. Here are the cards I've made for their birthdays: Sadie will be one year old in April and Toby will be two this November.

They may not fully appreciate these but the fun was in the making :)

Riding My Creativity Waves

The poetry is slow in coming at the moment, which seems to happen after I do any month-long poetry challenge. But I've found what I do write during these times of recuperation is quality. I'm learning to ride my own creativity waves and no longer get concerned during these down times. Instead I focus my creative energy on other more hands-on crafts.

Monday night saw me finally finish the collage haiga that had been sadly sitting on my art table for over two months. It's a great feeling to have this one complete and looking so good now standing proudly on my easel (where all new artworks stand for a spell). Then last night, I made a card for my Mum's upcoming birthday, which features the colours she likes and an origami crane.

The card I made for my Mum's birthday 2011

I've done some more work on my haiga calendar as I decided I wasn't happy with two of the photographs and two of the haiku in my first printing. Now it is closer to fabulous. And I also did some baking over the weekend, which counts as creativity in my book! Black Doris Plum Crumble and a Date and Walnut Loaf - both wheat and dairy free, and super yummy! :)

Enjoy riding your creativity wave today, wherever it may take you.