a few of my favorite things

shalom

'peace' in Hebrew, 

spoken in Israel and many other countries

Jesus and the lion and the lamb

www.holzbau-brunner.de

kershisnik nativity

www.commonconsent.com

A few of my favorite things....

like God's chosen people, the Jews -

and the wonderful nativity painting above.

I can just try to imagine all the angels and how excited and full of wonder they were when God's Son Jesus was born as a human!!

I also love the expression on Joseph's face!!!

...and did you notice that the dog sees the angels?

the angel appears to the shepherds

by Walter Rane

I love angels of all kinds.

I especially like 'male' angels, 

as all the angels that are mentioned by name in the Bible have male names!

artist unknown

found at www.rapgenius.com

I love to learn about different languages,

and different countries, their people and customs.

www.fanpop.com

I love children. All shapes and sizes!!

Hindustan Sikh children in traditional costume

www.hindustantimes.com

Ambunti village girls at the Sepik Crocodile Festival

Papua New Guinea

www.panda.org

school children cheering the Royal Irish Regiment, 2008

www.shropshire.gov.uk

I love silly dogs!

www.lolcoaster.org

our Great Dane Zeus, who always had to have something in his mouth...

I love humor and funny sayings!

nerd-o-vision pin

www.YellowButBoutique.etsy.com

and quotes:

www.Quotez.com

I love movies of all kinds!

animated funny....

'Despicable Me'

www.despicablemegames.info

live action funny....

'Jingle All the Way'

www.itplus.us

...musicals!!

'Mary Poppins'

and adventure!!

'Tarzan's Secret Treasure'

www.wikipedia.org

I could keep going with more movies, but I have so many favorite things...

like mermaids!

mermaid humor!

www.paint125466.exteen.com

"Sea Weed Snack Mermaid"

Collage Art Doll, from all recycled junk mail

www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com

I love the sailors' mermaids too...

the gentle manatee

www.mermaidmelissa.com

I love seashells, and beading...

an original design necklace I made with glass beads, wood and shell beads and natural sea shells

and coloring in coloring books!!!

Dover coloring book, colored with permanent bic markers

made into blank note cards for sale

www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com

I love paper collage,

and creating collages with recycled junk mail!

"and they shall call His name Emmanuel..."

original Collage Paper Painting by inkspired

www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com

and nursery rhymes, especially with vintage illustrations...

"The Queen of Hearts"

original Collage Paper Painting using all recycled junk mail

based on an 1889 vintage illustration

www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com

I love living in Colorado, USA...

Colorado Rocky Mountains

www.commons.wikimedia.org

because I can never get enough of nature...

what an incredibly creative God we have!

www.flickr.com

which brings up my lifelong fascination and love with animals of all kinds!

like elephants...

beautiful pottery made by my friend Orna, from Israel

www.OrnaArtHeart.etsy.com

and lions...

and tigers....

Tatiana, at the San Francisco Zoo, USA

and bears!!!

grizzly bear

photo credit: Carol Bock

photography.nationalgeographic.com

I love fairies...

poinsettia flower fairy

vintage illustration

and paper dolls

(you already knew that one, didn't you?!)

not sure where I found these vintage paper dolls,

but I do find so many wonderful paper dolls at

www.origamibears.com

sigh...

...that time has come where I must close for today.

It has been good to remind myself of all the wonderful things in this world!

I'm off to address a few Christmas cards.

What are you up to?

'til next time,

inkspired

www.inkspired.etsy.com

www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com

www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com

and on pinterest:   kkloberdans

'Party Decorating'

original Collage Art Doll with all recycled junk mail

www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com

Recycled Fabric Wreath, Daffodils, Spring Quotes and fav movies

What a beautiful morning!

We're having light rain that might turn into snow a bit later. No mention from the weather folk of accumulation. Yesterday I had 3 daffodils checking to see if it was time to bud out or not. In the past few years I think I have had daffodils poking out above a layer of snow every spring!



"Come and let us seek together
Springtime lore of daffodils,
Giving to the golden weather
Greeting on the sun-warm hills."

-   Lucy Maud Montgomery, Spring Song

Dover publications has a pretty coloring book of the letters of the alphabet.

Here is one that's perfect for today!

 "Listen, can you hear it? 

Spring's sweet cantata. 

The strains of grass pushing through the snow. 

The song of buds swelling on the vine. 

 The tender timpani of a baby robin's heart. 

Spring!"

-   Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, Northern Exposure

This adorable little sprite is for sale from http://www.stitchandpurl.etsy/

Here is a torn fabric strip wreath from HollandFabricHouse, etsy:

I have seen many of this type of wreath, so I don't think I'm stealing any one's original idea.
SCRAP FABRIC STRIP WREATH:

things you will need:  >wire hanger
  >pliers to bend ends of hanger
 > a pile of leftover scrap fabric, chosen for theme and/or color
  >1 length of ribbon for center bow
  >optional - loop of ribbon for hanger
How to's:
Tear your fabric into 1" x 6" strips. Don't worry if some are 5" long - that is good.
I like the way the torn fabric looks, but you can certainly cut them with scissors or rotary cutter. You can also cut them with pinking shears for another look. All work great!
For a more elegant than shabby chic look, you can cut each strip into a ribbon point on the end, or make sure it has a clean straight across cut at the end.
Now go tear some more. This project needs plenty of fabric to make it look "fluffy"!

Take your wire hanger, and unbend the 'hook' top. Use your pliers, no need to kill your hands.
Now, open up the hanger to as straight as possible. Form a large loop or circle with it. Twist ends together to form a large wire circle. Too big? Use some wire cutters to cut the wire down to size desired, and twist the ends together. Clip off any sharp wire ends.
Wrap twisted ends with bow ribbon, to hide the wires and to protect your wall or you from any sharp leftover ends. Knot towards the back. Make a large loop from 6" cut of ribbon. Tie in place, or hot glue or Tacky glue the ends so it makes a nice hanging loop, around the twisted wire/ribbon wrapped section.

Now take that pile of fabric strips, get a cup of hot tea, and pop in your favorite movie.

Some of my favorites are:Goldie Hawn's Protocol, Bird on a Wire, Seems Like Old Times or Overboard
Steve Martin's Bowfinger (Eddie Murphy+), or Roxanne (Daryl Hannah, Shelley Duval+)
The Princess Bride (Carey Elwey, Robin Wright)
The Crew  (Richard Dryfuss, Burt Reynolds +)-does have bad language - :0(
Crocodile Dundee (Paul Hogan)
Once Upon a Crime (John Candy, James Belushi, Cybill Shepherd, George Hamilton+)
Twins and Kindergarten Cop with Arnold Schwarzeneggerany John Wayne movie!

Tie a fabric strip around the wire wreath. You don't have to knot, just pull securely without ripping the fabric. Slide to one end, where your wrapped ribbon is.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat!
Tie as many strips on as you possibly can.  Fluff out wreath.
  >optional - to fill in any holes or boring spots, take a 6" length of coordinating colored 1/8" or 1/4" ribbon. Tie  in between the fabric strips, randomly around the entire wreath. You may have to knot these, or drop a dot of glue on the knot as ribbon can be slipperey and want to come undone.

Tie a biggish bow in contrasting, complimentary colored ribbon. This is the same ribbon we used to make the loop hanger. Decide if you like your bow at the top, bottom, or even off to one side.
Take a super thin wire (or twistie tie) and attach bow to wreath. You can hot glue parts to make the bow stay where you want it.
Hang it up!
Here are directions to make one in a heart shape, and gearing it to children learning how to tie:

 http://piggygiggles.com/component/content/article/55-valentines-day/181-fabric-valentines-heart-wreath

This next one, with a tutorial as well, is from:

http://gardenmama.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/01/i-look-forward-to-sharing-with-you-today-a-sweet-project-my-children-and-i-have-been-working-onwe-have-enjoyed-our-time-sif.html

"The day the Lord created hope

was probably the same day

He created Spring."

---Bern Williams

c. 1910

That's all for today!

fine art print by YesandAmen, etsy

I trust you have had fun searching through your fabric scraps.

I always do!

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com

http://www.myinkspired.com/