Christmas angels

I finished the two angels and quickly photographed them before delivery to my friend for Christmas gift mailing. She seemed delighted. I hope the recipients are also. I worked on them mostly in the evenings after helping Tech Guy during the days with his move. Wow, does that boy have lots of stuff! He has inherited his father's gadget-collecting trait.

Here is a close-up of one of the dolls. I had fun doing the wings with feather stitch embroidery and gold beads. The collar is hand-crocheted. Some time ago I got on a roll and made many of these collars (my crochet phase) and now I have quite a few on hand. Little did I know that they would come in so handy later when I was pressed for time. The collar is decorated with an old button sewn on a yo-yo (a fabric circle gathered around the edge and drawn in.)

So now I'm taking a break from dollmaking to do Christmas shopping and card-addressing, and of course, cartoon-making. I thought maybe I could slip by this year without the cartoon, but quite a few of the cards we've received include notes that say something like, "Marcia, we always look forward to your cartoon.....you're still doing it, aren't you?" One of my biggest cartoon fans was a lady I worked with over 25 years ago. She used to make a bunch of copies and send them to some of her family and friends...and even a few of our old co-workers. Several years ago she passed away, and the next Christmas I received a very nice card from her daughter who asked if I might continue to send the cartoon to her since it had become somewhat of a Christmas tradition for her family. So I guess I'll get my drawing tools out tomorrow and see what I can come up with. After all, I hate to disappoint.....

I've been sketching up a few ideas for Christmas ornaments in preparation for next years' craft-selling season. I sold quite a few this year, and I know there are many people who look for handmade ornaments as opposed to those that are mass-produced. I love when I can use something I have on hand too, like the driftwood Santas I made a few years ago.

So I guess I'd better go start the card-addressing project. Tech Guy's two cats, who made the move home with him, are exploring the treehouse at the moment, and walking over my keyboard. Maybe they aspire to be guest blogcats. I can only imagine what tales they would tell......