A Folk Art Christmas

For this Christmas season of joy and celebration, I'm joining Vee's December Notecard Party. 

"Candy Cane Cove"

"Christmas at Grandma's and Grandpa's"

( Over the River and Through the Woods)

"Christmas in Fox Creek Village"

"Christmas in Holly Ridge"

"Christmas Nativity"

You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger

and my prayer for compassion for all the families who suffered such a terrible loss in Newton, CT.  Our prayers continue and will continue to be with you.

 

Dreaming of a Beautiful White Snowy Christmas

I'm down with a cold and have been busy trying to get some Christmas shopping done.  Every three hours I've been taking Zicam trying to stop this cold from progessing and it seems to be helping.  Since my head isn't too clear I thought I'd share a few photos and get back to a little nap.

This is Christmas 2010 and I'm still dreaming of a white Christmas.  Snow is in the forecast for tomorrow night.  I'll be crossing my fingers.

I took this photo the other day and added some snow on Picmonkey.  Look the grass is still green.

Tomorrow I have to be feeling better so that I can work on some fudge and cookies.

Stay safe and healthy because Christmas is just around the corner!

My Last Cupcake Painting of the Year

Welcome and please come inside.  I want to share my final cupcake painting of the year with you.

"Baked Fresh Daily"

This painting is listed on eBay.

Beautifully displayed on a three tiered stand are cupcakes and candies baked fresh daily. Yummy chocolate cupcakes with blue frosting, truffles, petit fours, and chewy caramel mini cupcakes are a treat for the eyes as well as the tummy.

This week I have been trying hard to get another painting listed on eBay and also had started another folk art scene. I felt like I was just rushing things.  Each day I would look at this cupcake painting and it didn't look completed to me.  Then all of a sudden it clicked and I added the candies tucked in between each cupcake.  I've got to learn to stop rushing just in order to get something up and listed to sell. 

I've also been struggling with the folk art painting that I started.  I've been wanting to paint this one on canvas for a very long time.  I don't usually repeat a painting, but when I first painted this scene I did it on a large metal tray that I display each Christmas.  Since it is round, I couldn't crop it for a print. 

It may be a Christmas scene, but I've decided to wait until after the holidays to continue working on it.  It needs time and I don't want to rush and mess it up.  It's one of my favorite all time scenes that I designed for my instruction book "A Village Christmas" that was published several years ago and is now out of print.

"Home for the Holidays"

The old woody, the little yorkie in the car, and this beautiful old Victorian house were so much fun to paint and I hope it will be just as much fun the second time around.

So, I'm taking my time with this one and will let you know when it's finished.  I want to learn to enjoy painting again and not rush things before they are truly finished...

and I want to take time to enjoy Christmas with my family, friends, and blogging buddies! 

Slow down....

Enjoy Christmas, celebrate Christ's Birthday and wish everyone you meet a very "Merry Christmas!"

Christmas in the Kitchen

Christmas in the kitchen is bright reds and touches of green.  I love traditional red and green for Christmas. This little setting is on the wall above my stove and this box/shelf holds all my spices.

A simple addition of red balls and some evergreen to a large scale, go great with my old dishes and red Folgers Coffee can on the shelf.  The hook scale on the side of the cabinet is where I usually hang my wet tea towel.  I always prop my recipes behind this old rolling pin while I bake. 

A Christmas flour sack kitchen towel hangs on the handle of my oven and is available at Sweet Magnolia's Farm on Etsy.

   How cute is that!  Get one for someone on your Christmas list and get one for yourself!  She has lots of different ones to choose from.

This is another one of my older Christmas paintings titled

"Chuck Goes Skating" 

(by the way, Chuck is the little black cat)

I'm linking this post to:

Painting, Decorating and Baking Christmas Cookies

I thought I had put up a lot of wreaths on our windows, but I believe these folks win the prize!  This is an old Christmas painting I did a few years ago.  Christmas scenes are my favorite subject and I could paint them year round.  At this moment I am working on a new cupcake painting and should be able to share that soon.  After this one is finished I'm putting up my brushes and taking the rest of the month to finish up preparing for Christmas and enjoying some family time.

I'm still playing around with the tripod and camera settings and taking different shots of our tree.  I promise these should be the last two tree photos that I'll share. 

This morning I made sugar cookies and you can find the recipe here.  These cookies melt in your mouth and the aroma of fresh baked cookies will linger throughout the day!

Are there any presents under your tree yet? 

I'm linking this post to:

Christmas Decorations

Today I did a little decorating outside with some left over evergreen from the tree.

It's not really snowing here.  I just edited this photo at Picmonkey. 

Last week I made a top hat from black posterboard.  I had seen these somewhere in blogland and decided to see if I could make it myself.  I took the shade off a lamp and swapped out the hat.

The postcard in this picture is our home many years ago.  The family we bought the house from gave it to us and the previous owner passed it down to them.  I love how this "Greetings" postcard has stayed with the house over the years.  Several things have changed as each family did some remodeling.

I found some old sheet music online and printed it off and put it in the typewriter.

I've been practicing taking photos at night of the Christmas tree with the lights off .

I read somewhere that I needed to have the ISO at 3200 and I really like the results.

This old house was freezing today because I kept opening the windows to hang up my wreaths like in this little painting that I did a few years ago.  I ran outside to see if all the wreaths on the windows were centered and started laughing.  One wreath was upside down.  All the bows were at the bottom except one and it had the bow at the top. 

I've been adding a few decorations each day.  Either I'm getting too old to do this in a day or my decoration boxes are multiplying.  Are you finished yet?

Catherine Holman

White Christmas

Our local theater is playing "White Christmas" on the big screen.  I can't wait! 

I adore old Christmas movies!  What's your favorite?

Catherine Holman

Cupcake Collage Print and Kitchen Christmas Decor

I'm having so much fun decorating my kitchen with my freshly painted white cabinets.  Now I need to start baking some Christmas cookies!

Check out my new "Cupcake Collage Print" in my Etsy store:



 Remember to use the discount code BLOGREADER12 to receive 25% off in my Etsy store. 

Catherine Holman



Decorating Fireplace Mantels For Christmas

I've decorated this mantel twice already.  Am I the only person who does this?

While going through boxes I came across these new little trees that I bought on sale after Christmas last year.  The sales lady gave me a funny look when I plopped 15 of these sweet little trees on the counter.   So, I took the garland off that I had used for years and put up my little forest on the mantel, saving a few for other areas of the house.  

This is actually a faux marble fireplace that I painted on the wall.  The only real fireplace in this house is directly behind the same wall in the family room.  You can go through either doorway into that room.

I've always wanted to hang my stockings from this fireplace, but it's a huge stone mantel and there is no way to attach them.  I've tried the adhesive strips, but they won't stick to it.  The stocking holders that sit on top of a mantel don't look rustic enough with this fireplace.  I'm up for any ideas if you have any.  I've tied them to the garland before, but I'm not crazy about that either.  Picky, picky......

This is my husband's old truck that he played with as a child.  It's old and rusty and is hauling a load of Christmas trees. 

I'm linking up with The Lettered Cottage for Mantel Decorating Ideas in the Holiday Home Link Pary and Holiday House Link Party with Jennifer Rizzo:

Catherine Holman

Folk Art and Cupcake Art Sale

I'm still decorating, but wanted to take a moment to let you know that even though Cyber Monday has gone and past, my blog readers can still get a 25% discount in my Etsy Store through Christmas.  Use the code BLOGREADER12 at checkout.  We offer a variety of personalized prints that make great gifts.   Just look under shop sections in the left sidebar of my store and scroll down to personalized. 

Remember that after Christmas the discount goes back to 15% and that savings is good for all my blog readers all the time. 



Catherine Holman

Our Christmas Tree

It snowed the other day.  Great big fat flakes fell from the sky and ended pretty quickly.  I was so shocked to look out the window while putting lights on the tree because it had been rather warm the day the day before.  I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.  How about you?

Late Sunday afternoon our daughter, Amber, and son in law, Scott, were going to a tree farm to cut down their tree and invited us along.  We had already decided we were going to use our artificial tree like we have for years.

I took this photo of our son, Eric and Amber taking their own picture. 

See all those trees behind them?  It's always magical to walk through a tree farm with a saw in hand ready to make the perfect choice. 

This one's too crooked,

too fat,

way too tall.....

Victorious!  Amber and Scott loaded their tree up on the sled and pulled it back to send through the shaker, where loose needles are shed and then the tree is bagged in red netting.

My husband was concerned that he was being a scrooge about this whole tree thing and told me to pick one out.  Did we cut one down?

No, they had some beautiful frazier firs that had been shipped in and standing up around the barn where you go for hot chocolate and pop corn.  We found what we were looking for there.  They bagged it up and hoisted both trees on top of the vehicle.

Realizing we no longer had a tree stand, we make a quick trip to the store,

then returned where we worked at removing the red netting.  That tree was wrapped so tight that we had to work at pulling the branches down just like an artificial tree.

Once we had all the branches shaped we stood back and proclaimed, "It's so perfect that it doesn't look real.  It looks like an artificial tree, but smells great! 

(perfection)

My husband decided it would look more real if we used the big old fashioned colorful lights.  I think he's right.  It reminds me of the trees of our childhood.  It may not be fashionably cool with tons of white twinkly lights, but it sure is nostalgic.  Now I have to figure out what kind of ornaments to use. 

For some reason this tree scared our dog, Lady who went flying up the stairs when we brought it in.  This is her first Christmas tree.  She seems to have adjusted today.

Hopefully the cat doesn't decide to give it a climb. 

Below is a new recipe card, my gift to you.  You can print this on 4 x 6 index cards.  Jot your favorite Christmas cookie recipe on it and slip it in a package for a friend.

Enjoy!

Catherine Holman