Handmade Christmas Gifts

I don't recall if I talked about my Christmas ornaments last year. I originally got the idea through one of my twitter peeps Caroline, aka @familystories. She's awesome with the genealogy crafty stuff. Here is the link to her tutorial.

I decided I wanted to try to make some. Just for my grandparents at first. I found old photos of their parents. I made them two each, one photo on each Christmas ball.

Mildred & Lewis Bieda

Then I decided to make one for my aunt and Uncle.
Last year my friend and coworker got married and I picked her name for secret santa. Actually, today is her anniversary. I had so much fun making the ornaments for my family, I figured I'd do the same for her.

The gifts went over so well that I decided I would make more for my grandparents. And when I found out my cousin was getting married, I made up my mind to make some for her.

I look just adorable in my blue dress...

Can you tell the pics were taken at the same time?

I had a reason for choosing these particular pictures. The whole meeting my dad and other grandma thing. I didn't want them to feel left out or that I was abandoning them for a new family. I dunno if that makes sense but hey.

For my cousin and her hubby...

I made them two balls, two pictures on each. One with the first dance pictures, and one with pictures outside the church.

Decided to make one for my uncle too. One ball, four pictures.

 I also made ornaments for someone else. But because its not Christmas yet, they haven't seen them and I can't post those pictures. ;)

Ok well I can post this one...

The blue one is actually pictured above. The one with my Busia and I.

The rest of the story... for now

I've been neglecting my blogging duties. I apologize. I've been busy and distracted and yadda yadda...

So where did I leave off? oh yes the necklace. That was a Friday.

The next day I was feeling very blah. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to see my dad again before we left on Sunday. The original plan for that day was for me to go out with my mom, uncle, and little cousin. I was going to take fall pictures with pumpkins and all that kind of stuff. After that there would be a festival, a restaurant, and a Halloween fest with my best friend. Well, the first didn't happen, and I was even more bummed out. Having free time and doing nothing, but knowing that later on would be busy and I couldn't spend more time with my dad.

Later on I got to thinking. I decided to ask my bff if she would mind if I asked him to come with us at the Halloween thing at Knoebels. Of course she had no problem with it. After all, I've kept her up to date on everything. From the minute I found out about him she was googling stuff just like I was. She's the one that called me after midnight to say she found him on facebook.

So I sent him a text and in less than two minutes he replied saying yes. We met up around 8:30 and went on a few rides. It was weird but normal I guess. I mean, most kids take it for granted when they're at a park riding rides with their dad. Me? I was thinking huh... this is different... this is new... It was fun though. And cold. Not used to the whole... cold weather thing.

The park closed around 10, and with the lines and everything we only managed three rides. So we were standing around awkwardly and he said sooo what are you doing after this? (did I mention he said that the other two times we met up?) we had no plans so we decided to go to a bar. Just talked about random things. He said he wished he could see us off at the airport which was just... I dunno what word to use. lol. it meant a lot. When we got ready to leave he gave me a big hug. I got into the car with my friend and she drove back to my grandparents house.

Now I was ready to cry anyway. I was barely holding it together. I got out of my friends car and wasn't even to the door when my phone went "bing!" and it was a text. I read the text and just... lost it. It was very sweet. Actually an understatement. lol. That message (and the others that followed) just meant so much. He said he loved me. I don't know if I wasn't expecting that, or if it was all the emotions or what but... it was an amazing feeling. I can't even describe it. Anyway, I walked into the guest room and my mom saw me and I couldn't even talk I just shoved the phone at her. I cried, and she cried. Lots of female emotions going on lol.

Next day we were getting ready to leave. Emotional again. Between me crying and her crying and trying to hide it from my grandparents... sheesh.

Gonna try to speed up the story. lol. I told my Busia about this whole thing the day after we got back. Surprisingly she was happy about all of it. I dunno why I was so freaked out. She told my grandpa and I guess he's cool with it too. And apparently my Busia told all of Elysburg. Or a few people. and you all know about gossip in a small town. After I told her I told my aunt and had her crying. Everyone we told this story to has cried and compared it to a hallmark or lifetime movie. People at work couldn't wait to hear how everything went.

My dad and I are still talking on twitter and facebook (he requested us!), and text. He has tickets to come down to visit, but I'm not allowed to know when. He and mom are conspiring. Isn't that weird? It's like what normal parents do. Plan a surprise for their kid.

I don't know how everything is going to work out but it has been amazing so far. I'm working on some projects right now. Some super sneaky Christmas gifts. Homemade of course, some similar to last years. I'll post pictures later. Can't give anything away yet.

Ok peeps, that's it for now. I'll try to post again later this week.

Being Crafty

Lately I've gone back to my artsy fartsy self doing charcoal drawings and such. Genealogy kind of went on the back burner. But hey I'm getting money for the drawing I did where as I get zippo for genealogy. I even went to a museum this weekend (Ringling up in Sarasota) and that just made me want to do even more stuff.

I went on pinterest today and found that Geni.com has a pinterest page. Woohoo! This is dangerous though. If you don't know, pinterest is crack. And I start looking and hello genealogy craft!


Photo leaves! You can see the site it came from here. Now I was really excited thinking there would be a tutorial on how to make it. Sadly, no. From what I understand someone else makes them onto cloth and then sells them. Well as nice as that is I have no money. Whats a girl to do?

I started thinking... I printed out some photos back in December when I was working on the genealogy ornaments. (Thinking back, I don't even know if I posted pictures for those on here) Anyway I'm thinking of making a tree with similar leaves.

The tree would be on canvas. Made out of gesso and cheesecloth. If that confuses you then don't worry. It's something I did in high school. and a little in college. So much fun. Almost as fun as charcoal and I think even more messy. When ever I get around to it I might post a tutorial with pictures. Have to figure out how to do pictures with gesso. I really don't want it all over my pretty camera or phone.

Anyway. Gesso and cheesecloth for the tree. Maybe some gesso texture in the background. Then let all that dry. Then comes the paint. I'm trying to figure out the colors. I might have to order some stuff online though. I remember using something in high school (maybe another kind of gesso?) that had a pearly quality to it and looked pretty and shimmery when mixed with acrylic paint.  After it's all painted I would add the leaves. My version of the leaves would probably just be the photos sprayed with hair spray and cut out into leaf shapes. Probably covered with mod podge. I'd have to fool around with it.

I just had to get the idea out into written form before my brain exploded.