Brenda Baker Productions

"Art allows us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time." -Thomas Merton What happened, 2015? Not enough art. So...I'm ringing in 2016 with a little personal challenge to get me jump started. During my winter vacation, my goal is to create something every day and post it to the blog. Why now in the last two (and busiest) weeks of the year? It all started with a recent mid-year admission process (day job). As the student's mother and I worked closely together, we found we had some things in common. Turns out she had looked at my bio on the school website (written five years ago) and saw that I described myself as a papercrafter and blogger. Truth be told, I have not been able to make a lot of time for my art in the past year, and I haven't blogged since January, for goodness sake! It was sad to admit that I haven't made time for these things I love. I'm going to turn that around. I have some time off over Winter Break and will do my ver...

Oh, how I've missed paper-crafting. Haven't created a single crafty thing since before I moved in June. (Oooh, except that mini-album in July, but I'm not going to count that. It was soooo long ago!) So, you can imagine my sheer pleasure in being able to sit down and actually make a Christmas tag tonight! It's just one tag, but it's a very special tag. It brought me such joy to sift through my papers, uncap that glue, plug in the sewing machine and pick through my ephemera. Such. Joy. And, I know that it's just one tag. But it feels like such a gift to me!

Happy solstice! This is the day every year that I try to cut myself some slack and allow myself to [mentally] cross things of "the list" that simply aren't going to get done before Christmas. *sigh* One thing I can never compromise on, though, is preparing the house for the holidays. Here's what we've been up to in the Baker household. I think it looks quite festive, if I do say so myself. There's a story behind this Spry can! At the ballet studio, Ashley has gained the nickname "Spry" and my sister found this fabulous vintage vegetable shortening can, filled it with flowers, and sent it backstage to Ashley during the Nutcracker. Love the color and the cute little man on it! The big boot is new this year. I bought it at the Girlfriend's Christmas Gathering at the Olympia Fairgrounds in November from the wonderful gal who owns "The Rabbit Shed." Shi-ny bright! Love these colors of these little vintage balls and the...