Holiday Tidings

I have been bustling around my house decking the halls and making holiday treats.

In year’s past I have been known to have up to four Christmas Trees up at a time but this year I have kept it to only two. The one room of our house where we gather to play billiards has been adorned with a festive, glamorous and shimmery spectacle perfect for a fun lounge atmosphere.

It’s a more modern spin on holiday décor with a fluffy, shiny silver garland along with some of my hand painted glass ornaments which to me seem like small abstract pieces of process art.

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…and I can’t forget the treats! A recent favorite among my friends and family is fresh homemade marshmallow. I’ve taken it a step further with the addition of our home grown organic almonds and drizzled with dark chocolate; a creation I like to call Craggy Cul de Sac. It also wouldn’t be a homemade delectable from me without the personal packaging to take the gift over the top.

Handmade Holiday Goodies!

Come shopping at the Old Fashioned Holiday Bazaar and help support SLO High School Band!

The Happiest of Holidays

Photo by Katie Coordt

Yeah, that’s me…I just love the Holidays. A quick shot snapped unbeknownst to me by cell phone and sent to me sometime last summer as “fodder for blog posts”, gotta love family.

For many families it’s the holiday season that inspires and creates fond memories for years to come. Gathering for meals and performances of The Nutcracker, sitting down to watch Frosty the Snowman or Christmas Vacation, no matter the event they are all surrounded by holiday flare. Sparkling, colorful lights along with the fresh scent from the wreath on the door add to the warmth of the scene. The carefully decorated Christmas tree being the focal point of any holiday celebration is where I gain my devotion to create my hand painted glass ornaments. If one of my ornaments can help recall that special Christmas memory for years to come then I couldn’t be more honored.

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My studio has been turned into a holiday workshop for my one of a kind, hand painted glass ornaments since early fall.

This week sets off the biggest selection of my ornaments available in schemata as well as a few new locations if you want to see them in person.

The Art Works…Paso Robles, California
Paso Robles Art Association Showroom…Paso Robles, California
San Luis Obispo Museum of Art~CraftArt Market…San Luis Obispo, California
The Gallery at the Network…San Luis Obispo, California
Marque…Laguna Beach, California
Moyaboya…Creemore, Ontario, Canada

And for one day only, Saturday, December 4^th…at the Old Fashioned Holiday Bazaar, a fundraiser for the San Luis Obispo High School Band.

CraftArt Market 2010

Shopping for handmade holiday gifts? The annual CraftArt Market is happening now at the San Luis Opispo Museum of Art ~ a showcase of artisans who create high quality jewelry, handbags, scarves, folk art, mini photos, prints and paintings, sculpture, home decor, ceramics, art glass and other handmade fine craft items on sale at the Museum of Art from the day after Thanksgiving until New Year's Eve.

Available in the show are my hand painted glass ornaments and collection of one of a kind beaded jewelry.

CraftArt Market open daily 11-5, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve until 3.

Start Your Christmas Dreaming

I have been busy, busy preparing for a hopping holiday season in schemata. With a few hundred hand painted ornaments now ready for upcoming shows, galleries and online browsing I am happy to share some handpicked sets. I personally went through all my finished ornaments and mixed and matched a few coordinated collections to make your holiday trees the envy of all your friends. These sets include four or five various shapes and sizes to give you a well rounded showing of my creations. They come thoughtfully packaged in an attractive clear paint can for storage or impressive presentation for gift giving.

Look for more sets to be available next month at the Paso Robles Art Association’s show Small Treasures and keep updated with all my craftiness with SchemataCraft on Twitter.

Summer Blues

So. It's 106 degrees here today and I am focused on cold-weather accessories and holiday decorations...what's wrong with this thought process. I'm an organizer, a devote planner and lover of the perfect presentation~none of which happen at the last minute.

Hence the look ahead at what in a few short weeks will be on everyone's mind~fashionable, unique fall accessories...

I present to you my latest hand knit scarf Blueberry Puree created with a variety of yarns and fibers against a 100% pure Merino Wool body.

 
Speaking of "blueberries", need a tasty accompaniment to your morning coffee? Nothing beats the softness and pure summer flavor of fresh blueberry scones...

 
Okay, back to work now...I have been loading schemata with a rainbow of new hand painted glass cube ornaments...you know, there are only 122 days until Christmas?

Tweak your Traditions

I am a self admitted holiday fanatic and celebrating Christmas in July would be perfectly fun for me. I could go with a more tropical approach to the usual holiday traditions. Find a sturdy palm tree to decorate with bright colored twinkle lights and all the fun surfing Santa’s and pink flamingo ornaments I have collected. Host an evening summer feast on the porch with fresh fruit salads and tantalizing pineapple infused cocktails. Instead of carols by the piano, we’ll have Mr. with his acoustic guitar at sunset. A surfer girl can dream…

My early Christmas dreaming is the result of preparing for the busy holiday season by creating new hand painted glass ornaments. I am looking ahead with many new glass cubes to add to schemata. Since each ornament takes about a week to complete with all the layers and drying time between I tend to work in multiples. Below is a glimpse at the steps an ornament goes through until completion.

 
My Christmas in July gift to you…free shipping in the U.S. and $5.00 shipping everywhere else with the purchase of 2 or more items available in schemata.

 
Only 161 days until Christmas…

Hippity Hoppity

Team T International is hosting an Easter Egg Hunt full of fun spring finds from various handmade and vintage shops found on Etsy. Hop on over to see all the collections.

For me, crucial to a successful Easter Egg Hunt are just a few key details~

Make sure the event can happen Before the Rain.

When out in search of the hidden treats and treasures, don't forget to look In the Tall Grass.
And, maybe most important of all, be thoughtful in the goodies that  are to be found.

 What's an Easter Egg Hunt without the traditional, brightly dyed, hand dipped eggs. One of my family's favorite tricks for creating beautifully swirled and speckled eggs is to add a couple of bits of butter to the coloring cups.

When you are about half way done coloring all the eggs, warm the cups of dye in the microwave just until it's slightly warm to the touch, enough to melt the butter. Then drop small bits of butter on the surface, allow the butter to melt without stirring. Now continue dipping the eggs into the colors, as the eggs go into the dye the butter swirls around and grabs onto the surface of the egg creating a resist against the dye. Unfortunately, after a few different eggs get dropped through the butter it breaks down on the surface and starts to lose its effectiveness, but by that time you should be finishing up.

Colorize Your Spring

For about four years I have been creating hand painted holiday ornaments for Christmas, always describing the process as being a lot like dying Easter eggs. The dyes seem to make their own patterns and much of the colors created are a bit out of my control. This year I was able to find clear glass eggs, something I hadn't found in the past, and from there my spring has become a lot more colorful. I have starting joking that "these eggs are what the Easter Bunny would make if he could use an airbrush".
 

'Tis the Season...already?

Holiday season is here, now! Only 43 days 'til Christmas and I'm already feeling the pressure. Along with the usual decorating, shopping and entertaining that goes along with this time of year I have the added joys that come with creating a seasonal find. I have been making my hand painted glass ornaments for about five years and selling them locally at The Art Works in Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo Art Center-CraftArt Market. This fall I opened schemata; a second shop on Etsy featuring my fine art crafts. I have been busy creating enough ornaments to keep all my galleries stocked with a variety of shapes and colors to choose from. They have gotten rave reviews from shoppers and those who know what to look for in one of a kind creations-recently featured on MyShoppingConnection and soon they will be available on Fey Handmade.

Glass Ornaments

My hand painted glass ornaments are now available at both, The Art Works in Paso Robles and the CraftArt Market at the San Luis Obispo Art Center.