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On the eve of this hopeful new year...

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

-Emily Dickinson

 

This baby new year that is upon us has his work cut out. 2008 has been a year of great personal challenges for me and for so many other people. It is a year that I will never forget. Despite the many hardships that so many endured, I hope that there were some wonderful things that happened too, in your world. As for me, I prefer to focus on the wonderful things, not so much the hardships. I always want to see my glass half full rather than half empty.

I am thankful for gainful employment that enables me to work from my home, I am thankful for a child who humbles me everyday with her love, for an amazing husband who supports my passions, and for a wonderful family and friends that are always there for me. I am thankful that I have art in my life to be passionate about. I am thankful for all of you who I call my online friends, who care to visit me and leave comments on my blog - they mean more than you know.  I will celebrate the end of a difficult year, and raise my eyes to the hope of happy times ahead. Happy New Year to you and yours, and may your celebrations be safe ones.

Love, Ranjini

The Undressing of the Christmas Tree

Apparently I couldn't wait until after the New Year to take the tree down. The last time I was this eager about purging myself of a Christmased house, I was three months pregnant and had full fledged morning sickness. The smell of pine and coffee together sent me running to the bathroom to gag. I have that same feeling, but I am definitely not pregnant. Hormonal, yes. Pregnant, no.

For one thing, we'd been living with it engulfing our tiny great room (the word "great room" is a misnomer in our house). And it was lovely while I had visions of sugarplums dancing in my head. Now I just want everything put away and organized, and better yet, someone else to do it all for me. That of course, is not happening, but I did get the tree down and all the ornaments safely put away for next year without a single broken ornie this year! How's that for ambition!

Now, if only I could look this dreamy with a Christmas tree draped over my back as I haul it down the basement steps.

Another Christmas Past...

How was your Christmas? Hope it was wonderful. I got back before Bobby and Alekha from Nashville yesterday to a frigid, cold house. I had to come home early as I had to work today. I came in expecting a warm, welcoming house after an arduous journey (the airport was a nightmare - waited in line for nearly an hour at the skycap baggage check!) only to find that the batteries in the thermostat had died, and with it, so too had all the heat. We were lucky that that the pipes didn't burst. It was cold and rainy but not yet freezing cold -- so we lucked out. It finally heated back up to normal eight hours later but made for a miserable evening.

I had so many plans for yesterday but was so cold I could do little else but sit by the fire with a cup of tea and watch tv. I considered going out to Barnes and Noble, but it was pouring rain and too, I was pmsing so was just in a pretty miserable state of mind all around!

Anyway, glad the heat is back up and the workday is over. I had to change my playlist (and my blogheader) out right away - I love Christmas music but I can only take about a month of it. I think I can manage the decorations for another week. They'll be going down pretty soon after that though!

Have you seen the sneak peeks of Jenni Bowlin's upcoming kit for January? Mine landed in my mailbox today and it is so incredibly gorgeous. Pale pinks, silvers and whites -- the *perfect* color combination for a quiet winter's day. Jenni's doing a giveaway too so go signup after you ooh and aah over it. Her eye for vintage color combinations is unparalleled.

Here's an image - I'll try to post a few more later today -- I need a hot cup of tea and some uninterrupted creating time now!

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing...

   

Merry Christmas to the world, and to you, wherever your little corner of the world is. May 2009 be the year of peace for all.

Love, Ranjini

Four images for you

to make up for not posting all weekend! Sorry for the delay, these four will bring us back on track through today though. So glad to know I am not alone on my feelings on the photocard vent! I will try to post some extras tomorrow as well, as I'll be in Nashville from Christmas Eve through Friday. Hopefully we'll be able to go to the Opryland Hotel - it's so gorgeous there at Christmas. In case I get wrapped up in things though, best wishes to all of you for a very merry christmas indeed!

 

 

 

We have a winner (and a rather ungrateful sounding vent, because I know you will listen and understand!)

I used the random number generator here to pick the winner and it chose Number 14.

TamaraTamara

My current job is an executive director of a provincial charitable organization. My dream job is to be a stay at home crafter and be able to make great meals from scratch every day for my dh.

 

Lucky Tamara, please email me at [email protected] with your address and I'll send you some holiday crafting goodies! Congratulations!

I am still trying madly to get Xmas things done. We leave for Nashville on Christmas Eve, but we are having our own little family Christmas Sunday morning since we won't be in our house for Christmas. Though I love being with family, I really am starting to want to celebrate in my own way, at my own home. Of course Alekha was told that Mommy had to make a special request to Santa to come early and that he very graciously accommodated.

Thank you to those of you who have mentioned linking to my blog, I really appreciate it and am happy to share these images with you! These next two images are for Charlene - I am trying to come up with more boy images that aren't so pastel - but that seemed to be the predominant color theme for these era postcards! But hopefully these two here are ones you can use and that will make you smile!

Okay - one final thing I have to say, and I am saying it because I know you all will get me on this, being paper artists. I am probably in the minority - I am probably one of the last few people in my social circle to send actual greeting cards. I mean, real, honest to goodness greeting cards, either handmade or manufactured (and even if they are manufactured greetings that's okay - there are SO many beautiful ones.) And somehow I feel horribly ungrateful saying this -- and I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I see that photocards (the kind that you can buy in a batch at Walmart or from any photo studio) are overwhelmingly taking place of the charming greetings that people used to send. Not that I don't want the photos, don't get me wrong here. I just want them tucked into an actual greeting card, with lovely graphics. I remember the days as a child when I would just pore over the stack of Christmas greetings that arrived at our home. I would love reading the annual Christmas newsletters or the handwritten sentiments that accompanied it. Mom would even allow us to use some for cut and paste projects. I thought they were just so magical, embossed, foiled, glittered or the really special ones that were handmade. I think too many children nowadays will grow up thinking a Christmas card is a photo with a preprinted greeting on it. And somehow I think that just takes away some of the magic of Christmas, not to mention what it does to the greeting card industry and all the designers whose bread and butter depends largely on Christmas card sales. Okay, off my soapbox. And if you are one who just sends a photo greeting - please know no harm is intended, it's just a personal wish of mine. I felt a little guilty saying that, hopefully it didn't come across sounding ungrateful! Happy weekend - hope you are ahead of where I am -- and able to sit and enjoy the weekend before Christmas and not be running around harried and tired!

Sweater Weather

Apparently I missed a day! Here's an extra image to make up for it. Will be blogging on the run until Friday as I am out of town all day tomorrow for work. Hope the weather isn't too bad where you are. Stay warm and do fun holiday activities if you can!

Holiday Postcard Greeting

Gotta make this quick - enjoy today's image - a pretty pink postcard that you can download and print. You could certainly glue a photo down over the sentiment on the right side of the page, or maybe add a recipe there and print it out, glitter it up, or print it into labels to use as address labels on cards. Have fun with it, and I am so glad to hear you are enjoying the images!

Maman et sa fille (Mother & Daughter)

I love this gorgeous image. There is something so tender in the young mother's expression, it captures perfectly the relationship between mother and daughter. It particularly moves me because Alekha has asked for this doll for Christmas. The world keeps on spinning and moving forward, yet some small things will remain the same and never change, a mother's tender glance, a cherished childhood wish, and the love that is shared between a mother and her child. Thank God for children - their innocence and their love is nothing short of pure and miraculous and they keep us young at heart and focused on seeking all that is true, good and beautiful. Don't forget to give your darling(s) a hug and tell them you love them today, and every day.

Christmas Decor

 

Thank you for playing along on the giveaway! If you haven't signed up yet - feel free to do so (two posts ago) -- the drawing isn't until later this week. So fun hearing what all of you do and what you dream of doing. It's interesting to see that so many of you would love to have a creative business. I'd encourage anyone who has that dream to sit down, write up a business plan, talk to other people who've done what you seek to do and see if you can learn from someone else's mistakes. Hold tight to your dreams.

I love Christmas. The problem is I can never decide on decor. And I have a lot of it. I went through several phases:

• Traditional red/cream (think Carl Larsson - swedish christmas)

• Rich jewel toned Victorian colors - hunter greens, cranberry reds, gold. Lots of paisleys. This was from my early days of married life - a phase that I detest now!

• Victorian Pastels - pinks, mint greens, pale blues and old golds

•  Silver and white - lovely when I bought it but looks kind of boring to me now.

• Aqua and peacock blue (my most recent fave from last year)

• Mossy earthy greens and chocolate brown with gold (from 2006)

• Hot Pink and Purple (don't like these two together alone now, but I love them mixed with some teal/turquoise) and/or orange.

This year I couldn't decide on what to do so I set up different trees (we have one really large one, it's artificial because I freaked out the year I forgot to water the real one for about a week and thought I had created a fire hazard that would burn the house down.)

I ended up doing several different "vignettes" to be able to use all my holiday decor. This hutch and sideboard is a favorite piece of furniture - over ten years old now but I love it. I used my winter banner (snow queen banner) from last year's december project kit and built the rest of the display around that. The stockings will come down after Christmas and maybe the santas, but the rest of the wintry stuff I''ll probably leave up until spring. I'll try and post some of the vignettes every day -- the photo in the new blog header shows another area (the pass through to the kitchen) where I've perched all my sweet little pinocchios and christmas elves and several little sleighs and sleds I've found here and there. (Goodwill is a great source for old Xmas decorations.)