Holiday Tunes

Christmas songs can be really joyful, fun, and awesome...and really annoying.

The Faves
One of my favorite Christmas songs is Baby It's Cold Outside sung by Dean Martin (and some random woman). It's an awesome song even if it does sound a little date rapey ("Say, what's in this drink?!") On the other hand, this song can be extremely annoying if done incorrectly. (and by that I mean sung by anyone other than Dino)

I love Wonderful Christmas Time by Paul McCartney. I'm typically into more traditional kinds of Christmas songs but this one just makes me feel so happy. It also really reminds me of my dad for some reason. It just makes me want to hop around like a little kid!

Pretty much anything by Mannheim Steamroller is amazing, though my favorite is "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". It is pretty much the ultimate Christmas song for me. When I hear it, it completely gets me in the Christmas mood right away.

Another Christmas song that really sets the mood for me is Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel. So, technically not a Christmas song, but Advent songs totally count. (And while on the topic of Advent songs, anyone remember the Advent candle song? "We light the advent candle one...")

Other great Christmas songs: Pat a Pan by Bing Crosby, Christmas Dinner Country Style by Bing, many things by The Trans Siberian Orchestra,

The Worst
A song that I absolutely abhor is We Need A Little Christmas sung by... anyone. This song weeds its way into my brain and never leaves. It's like an annoying children's song that gets stuck in your head and no matter how much you try to get it unstuck "When the Saints go Marching In" never freaking leaves. It's too sickly saccharine! 


Of course there are the other annoying Christmas songs: I want a hippopotamus for Christmas, Go tell it on the mountain, all I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth, I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus, etc

What are some of your favorite or hated holiday songs?

December Creations

     Like most women who surf Pinterest I have been wanting to make "sharpie mugs." I did a little research and found out that it doesn't really work the way they say it does: put on your design with a sharpie, bake it in the oven, and voila you have a dishwasher and hand wash safe mug of your creation. However, most report that even hand washing will remove your design. 
     What I've found is that oil based paint pens work best for durability of your design, but the dishwasher safe aspect is still up in the air. So I went ahead and bought some oil paint pens and some cheap travel mugs and made up some for my friends for xmas gifts.

How did I do it: I either drafted the designs I wanted in pencil first or cut out the shapes I wanted and traced around them with the paint. For the letters I taped letters to the mugs and went to town with the dots all over so that when I removed the letter there was a nice white outline of them. Then put them in a cool oven, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, turn off the oven and leave them in until cool.

Another update soon to follow with the embroidery project I am working on

xoxo Veronica

November Creations and Coming to Terms with Failure

November is nearing its end and it's time for an update of my creations. Things went a little differently than planned (thus is life, right?) and I ended up working on different projects than I had earlier stated. The projects that I have worked on this month have been gifts for Xmas and not so much things for myself. I am working on an embriodery project (pics to come soon). I painted a watercolor for my friend (my first time working with watercolor!) and I think it actually turned out pretty good (pics to come soon). There were a few places early on that I made some minor mistakes but I'm learning not to let those little imperfections in my work bother me.

Speaking of not letting imperfections bother me... The other project that I have been working on is sewing an Xmas dress for myself. I measured out the pattern and sized it to myself but I made an error somewhere along the line in the measurements and when I assembled the pieces I discovered that the dress was too small. The dress has a lace overlay and lining and I already cut all of the pieces to the wrong size. Talk about driving myself crazy. Despite my mistakes I have been trying to be optimistic and take out the seams and make modifications, etc but I have found it difficult to continue. It seems like at every step of the way I find something else in it that I need to modify because of my original mistake. I'm at the point where I'm not even sure if I am going to continue with it or just throw the whole thing out. 

This is something that I have difficulty with in many of my projects. I always want my projects to turn out perfect the first time every time. It is something I am trying to work on: to be more comfortable with "failure" and to just get back on the horse. Also, to realize that just because I made a mistake, that doesn't mean the creation is ruined. In short, I am trying to be less critical of myself. I need to start realizing that I have the ability to modify or to even start over if I don't like something and there is nothing wrong with that! Afterall, even some famous artists have painted and re-painted the same subject, why should I expect to be perfect the first time? Art, like anything else, takes practice and I need to allow myself to make those beautiful messes!

xoxo

V

Travel and Creations

     I finally have completed my degree and am working with a company where I travel from job assignment to assignment, usually each lasting ~3months. Now that I am getting settled and I have time to work on projects for myself I have a set a goal of completing at least 2 projects per month. These can be in any medium - sewing, painting, drawing, clay, etc. I want to have "documentation" of these creations so that I can see all of the things that I have accomplished, as this is hard for me to realize sometimes. I often think that I am being lazy because I can't see all the work that I do. In the few months since finishing my board exam I feel like I have not accomplished anything but looking around and listening to people talk I realize that I was actually very busy. I helped create 8 costumes for my brother's beautiful wedding and made Viking banners for decorations. That's a lot of sewing for 3 months! Below are some "teaser" photos posted by their photographer Pink Light Images.







 

I am putting forward a few options for my November 2014 project goals:
1) Upcycle one of my cardigans by putting lace pockets on it
2) Make my Xmas dress with the pattern I bought this month
3) Upcycle a men's dress shirt into a women's tunic
4) Create Xmas presents for friends & family


I will post more pics of the banners and wedding costumes as I get them and I will post pictures of my finished monthly projects as I finish them!

xoxo
V