pamgarrison

caught a glimpse of Christmas

           

Just a glimpse, as it flew by as fast as it came. Full of guests and sweets treats, gifts and good times. It has been a good year, and we're enjoying every last day of it. Until the New Year...

gift tags for you

            

I hope you are having the happiest of holidays! If you aren't done with all your wrapping and labeling, I've made some free downloadable tags for you to use if you'd like. I printed the one above and below on art paper, but any cardstock would do nicely. In the very top photo, you can see the art paper print on top of a print on regular thin printer paper. The pdf is below, with an added black and white version in case the kiddies (of all ages) want to color them to match your paper.  Merry Merry! xo

 

Download Pam garrison gift tags

Download Pam garrison gift tags 2011 colored in

Here's a link to last year's tags for you: gift tags 2010

happy memorial day

one last look at valentine's day yesterday

            

Hand stitching on top of felt hearts from Michael's craft store. Below, a super simple little garland made using sticky cut outs found there as well. (Great project to do with little ones)

A journal page showing some Valentine's made this year inspired by Thomas Campbell.

     

  And the finished pillow from yesterday's post.

I love Valentine's Day crafts!

happy heart day 2011

Pinning the adorable card made by new friend Jenny Sweeny to the seat back of a chair...

making a Valentine pillow for our bed out of fabric bought in Mexico...

and taking some of the watercolor and collage pieces made during Geninne's class and turning them into Valentine's too...

Happy to be home with my loved ones today. Happy Valentine's Day to you!! xop

holiday gift tags for you

 

 

 

My friend Charlotte made a downloadable pdf file using some of my illustrations for you. Just click here, print, cut out and enjoy! She also made some adorable gift tags for you, and I love these super cute gift tags as well. Happy wrapping! xo

inspired by anthro again

Once again, an Anthropologie display has inspired a flurry of creating over here.

 

 After Amy told me about this garland in the store, I instantly wanted to make one myself. Of course, with a different slant, but still, gotta give credit for the inspiration where it is due.

 

Here is a bad photo taken while in the store and still another below. My own take uses a more traditional Christmas holiday leaf, and switched up the color scheme, but the general concept is the same.

 

Thank you again Anthropologie display creators, I love seeing what you come up with!

 

Here are more shots of my version:

        

           


          

Nothing like hand made decorations for the holidays in my book!

{Ed: I used any felt (and combination of felt/wool  that was white/creamy white and in my fabric stash. I made one leaf for a pattern, and then cut them all out by hand. It's not a speedy project ;). Then I used a hole punch to punch the circle to string them through. The balls were just felt scraps that I sewed together in a somewhat round shape, very much imperfect, then sewed on by hand. }

sweet charlotte

Have I told you how much I adore Charlotte's  latest ornament stitchables?    Love, love, love.     So sweet, so fun, so happy.  Endless hours of fun to be had!   

 

 

            

happy thanksgiving

With a house full of family and friends, our urn runneth over ;)

Nothing like art done by children; all this art by my 5 year old neices Cate and Molly.  Here's Molly's portrait of Aunt Pam:

Hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving weekend! As always, I am thankful you stop by and visit here. I'll be back next week. xo

three long standing favorites

felt+circles+garland=happiness

Such simple things can make me so happy. Having an idea of something I want to make, then spending the time creating it, playing with the materials...works every time. I feel like a child again inside, no craft idea too silly or small to pursue. It seems it's taken me years and years to get back to a child's opinion of what is "worthy" of making...answer? anything your little heart desires. No reasons needed, no explanations, and no need for anyone else to desire to make the same thing or not. Just plain fun, connecting with my own heart for creating.

A good friend and I were having a conversation about artistic independence lately, and how we want to nourish that more. To me, it includes creating what I want for all the right reasons, authentic, filled with heart and soul and passion. It doesn't need to be understood or explained to anyone else. I guess I'm talking about permission,  giving yourself the permission to play however your heart yearns to. So consider this permission if it's been an issue of yours too over the years. Permission granted!

{Some of these projects shown above are part of my project over at Amy Powers' Inspired Ideas Christmas 2010.The top garland was inspired by this Flickr favorite, and Heather Bailey has lovely felt for sale if you share my love of crafting with felt. Lastly, my love affair with felt last year can be seen  here. }

are you ready for some inspiration?!?

Above is a peek at one of the projects I worked on for Amy Powers' holiday magazine. I can not believe how much work Amy did, and how many wonderful contributors she gathered for her beautiful online publication. And all for free! So generous of her, as I know she has at least 100 hours of work in creating it. I know she does it with a joyous heart, and we are so lucky she does! If you've never met Amy, I hope you get to someday, she's a sweetheart through and through. Congratulations Amy! Your second issue of Inspired Ideas is beautiful. Go see what I mean here: Amy Powers' Inspired Ideas Christmas 2010. I hope you enjoy paging through as much as I do!

happy halloween

  

      Happy Halloween from our pumpkin patch to yours.

                     {pumpkins are made by my sweet friend Mary Stanley}

happy 4th of july!

Just wouldn't be the 4th of July around here without a home made apple pie. This one didn't come out looking very pretty (more like a crumble?) but it's just as delicious. Hope you had a great holiday if you live in the good ol' USof A!!!

a few special moments caught

My first ever photo with a little bit of bokeh magic in it.

The spectacular spectacle of decorated houses seen while walking around Balboa Island (not bad for an iphone in the dark, and yes, that is a moving reindeer merry-go-round on the roof top!)

Hand made giftwrap by my young neices. I'll save these for sure!

The sweet tags my son made for the gifts he gave his sister...without any prompting whatsoever.

that one antique ornament is just so precious overlooking the happenings on Christmas morning.

Catching my daughter working on her new gift from her brother. The two of us love puzzles. This is the third one this holiday season. My gathering of supplies for the online class I'm taking from Mary Ann Moss (more to come on that in next post), set on top of our Christmas day game of Risk, a gift for my son. We played for about 2 hours before I started trying to lose so that I could wander off and rummage through scraps. When they caught on to my scheme, they showed me mercy and agreed to take a break. It's patiently waiting our return...

Hope you've been enjoying your holiday time, no matter what you celebrate or where you are! I love that it seems the whole world has slowed down a bit.xox

wishing you and yours

And Happiest of Holidays to you and yours.   May 2010 be a wonderful year!

last week's activities

Old ornaments that are new to us this year. Wonder if I'll ever be able to resist their siren song..
We had some guests this weekend, so last week I spent some time painting and collaging something to go over the fireplace. It's really big, about 30x30". Those are photocopies of our family silhouettes. It's a work in progress, but far enough along to use on the giant blank wall.

 

And then I went to work on Holiday cards...late I know. I ask you, do your children put you through this when you ask them to take a picture for Christmas cards?!? It was not as fun as it looks in hindsight. Oh to be young and silly and fun...

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problem solving

Surely inspired by dottie angel, I made a snowflake curtain to cover the window behind our tree. It creates a lovely backdrop and I feel oh-so-clever for putting it all together. We have a wall of windows in our living room that are still in need of window coverings. (I just can't figure out what to do in that room, but that's a problem for another day.) The windows let in beautiful light for most of the day, and therein lies the problem for our Christmas tree. It can't take such direct heat and light. See what I mean?

So I grabbed a really old and destroyed tablecloth that I was saving to make big lapkins out of. Um, not sure what happened here, but it looks like it's been through a lot. There's a large tear as well as the burn.

 

Since doilies are having such a moment in the craft world, I too have caught the fever and been gathering a few. The rest are from JoAnn's Fabrics and were $1.00-$3.00. With those and a few upholstery tacks, it looks like we'll have our own version of a white Christmas.

Now for the yucky part: off to put the lights on. Not sure how or when that became my job, it didn't start out that way. But I want to have the tree ready for a family trimming  tonight, and that makes it worth it!

{Ed: Hey! Check it out, maybe it wasn't only dottie angel in the back of my brain, but Martha. After seeing Alicia's post on her darling doily packages, I clicked her inspired by link and there was a snowflake curtain! Although, of course, Martha being Martha, and Martha's people being Martha's people, it is perfect and beautiful. I like it better on a sheer fabric even, although, for my sun exposure purposes I wouldn't have been able to go that way. Everyone loves doilies, don't they? Martha has more ideas here}

jenny's new adventure

Last night a few of us got together to hear all about and celebrate Jenny Doh's leap into a brand new adventure. It's a big change, as she's been at the helm of so many Somerset publications for 6 years, but a leap she had to take to follow her heart and make a big difference in the lives of many. (I know, I know, she will be sorely missed, but she promises to transition and train her replacement so all readers will be just fine.) Her new adventure is called Crescendoh, who's subtitle says it all: creative passion, authentic community, focused compassion. I have had many lengthy discussions with Jenny about her yearning to combine her masters degree in and passion for social work with her passion for art and artists and the stories that combine the two. I am excited to participate when things get rolling. It's going to be so rewarding to see the lives that Art-Saves (the motto of Crescendoh). Hope you'll check it out and help me cheer her on. Above is a little present I gave her to celebrate her newly planted seed. And here we are on our walk back to the car last night with Amy.

 

I found this window display sign fitting for her news and the season both:

 

We couldn't help but admire the endlessly creative and inspiring Anthropologie window either:

 

Congratulations Jenny, your future looks very shiny and bright, just like the last alley we walked down while saying our goodbyes:

 

Best wishes for much success in the future!

the countdown begins

A few years ago, Amy and I bought these advent boxes with plans to alter them. After being a work in progress for a loooonng time, I have finally finished up mine and am putting it into use today! It started out as an advent calendar box from Target, similar to this one. Every year they seem to sell some version of the same. I then covered it with paper and labels and scraps. Pretty simple really, not sure why it took me so long. 

 

Now for the really fun part: finding/making/putting treats inside to be discovered day by day. 'Tis the season!

 

looking ahead

And just like that, fall is officially over and if feels like we are rounding the corner on another season. Which, of course, leads me to think about what's coming up in the future, both near and far. A little bit ago, I decided to try to travel less, which means applying to and accepting less teaching jobs. I have only one more committed travel-to teaching event for the entire next year actually: Donna Downey's Inspired Artist Workshop. 

As I work on my class offering for that event, I thought I'd ask you, those that might be attending or wish you were, what your wishes might be for class content. I'd like it to have a journaling emphasis, playing with all different sorts of materials and mediums, but I'm open to hearing other ideas as well. So for those of you coming to play with me and coming to get inspired, what would you like out of the class? Let me know!

hope you had a happy thanks

As I continue the clean up and put away, I wanted to stop and say thank you to you: friends I know, and friends I don't, lurkers and commenters, regular visitors and first timers. I am grateful for all this blog has brought to me and that includes you. With many thanks and good wishes, xox, pam

current goings on

Making some gifts for friends and family that are joining us on Thanksgiving. Still love these boxes from Martha Stewart (I bought at Michael's over a year ago). Always wish Martha by Mail still existed. Sorry that it takes me so long to get to projects and by the time I do the products aren't in the store anymore.

 

Making some Christmas paper things using photos of mine and even a flyer from Restoration Hardware.

 

Making a special gift for one of my best friends, Kelly (that those who attend Silver Bella get to know), who's had a hard year. Such a hard year that she's behind in her blog reading, so no worries that the surprise will be revealed too soon. We used to live on the same street. We met while she was out pushing her babes Max and Sam in a stroller and walking her dogs Dave and Greg alongside.  I knew I would love her and her funny take on the world right then. We used to be creative playmates and then she moved across the country. Still makes me sad to think of the loss, but I do get to see her when we meet yearly at Silver Bella. So I'm sending this pick me up. An advent calendar sort of gift box. 25 treats for her to open whenever she feels the need, or one a day until Christmas.

 

Of course, what I really need to be doing is grocery shopping and cleaning. I am so easily distracted to making things instead. So much more fun. But seriously, in an attempt at honesty, here is the office desk this morning, as is, untouched.

 

Need I say more? I think not. Hope your Thanksgiving Holiday prep is coming together with a little less feet dragging than mine!

amy came over to play

{Amy's view of my closet, for more shots through her eyes, go here}

Amy came to play today and we had so much fun! We never really get together much; living about 30 minutes away from each other, and having the limitations of our kids' school and sports schedules, (mixed in with everything else of life) but we decided that a little time is better than no time. We're going to make that our new way of thinking and try to get to each other's houses more often.  We didn't get much done, but it was inspiring and that was the point. Just by talking ideas and looking through each others stuff  our creativity gets awakened. There was much talk of Thanksgiving tablecloths, Christmas ornaments, and project ideas. All the pictures here are parts of a project she came up with that I'm working on. What usually happens is we will talk about a new idea on the phone, we'll each start it, maybe email some photos along the way and then talk about it some more. This time, after the phone conversing and photo emailing we got to see the project in process and give feedback, then continue our projects alone and start at step one again, phone call,photos, ...you get the idea. But as you know, everything is better in person, so we are going to try to include that step more often. Whenever we meet each other say for lunch or somewhere, we always bring whatever we've been talking about, but getting to each others homes is sooo much better.

 Creating alongside Amy is one of my favorite things ever, it's so fun to be with someone who thinks similarly yet different than you. She thinks she's messy, I think I'm too neat. I think I'm too colorful, she thinks she's too monotone. We appreciate the differences in our creative styles, and draw them out in each other, pushing each other to someplace we wouldn't get on our own. Creating is  just so fun that way, have you found a playmate yet?!?

silver bella '09

  Teresa has gone and done it again! Another  Silver Bella event has come and gone. I was a teacher along with these other great gals.  Silver Bella is a whirlwind weekend of community and crafting and celebrating the season that is now upon us. It is always fun to see the reuniting of old friends and the making of new ones, the over-the-topness of gifts and booths, and supplies and outfits. It's such a festive feeling from start to finish.

How cute is T in her flowery necklace? Very. I didn't take a ton of photos but I did remember to take a few. I have stopped traveling with my good camera, trying to lighten the load and get around the country more easily, but I think my little camera might be getting a bit tired, these photos seem a bit blurry. That seems fitting, because the weekend is a bit of a blur as well. Time goes by so fast and is so full that I feel like I didn't get a chance to visit with friends for more than a minute, or create, or sleep. I even brought a laptop and didn't even take it out of it's case. Each time I attend any event, I think I'll feel more prepared or more in control of time, but I think it's about time I gave that delusional thought up and surrender to the blurriness of it all. With that, here are my somewhat out of focus photos:

 

Charlotte, Kaari and Anna, all teachers, during the opening night welcome dinner.

 

 

Dawn (Kaari's T.A. and dear friend since 2nd grade) and  teacher Rebecca at the same dinner.

And Denise and Jennifer, teachers too.
 

 

Here  Jo (the guest speaker) and Kaari are deep in discussion.

And one of my dearest friends in the whole world, Kelly,  that I seem to only see once a year at Silver Bella, with another dear friend that I met at Silver Bella years ago, Charlotte.

The attendees are one of the very best parts of Silver Bella. They have such enthusiasm for the entire event, and continue to up their game each year with trades, and sisters, and gifts and supplies, and I could go on and on.... Here's the gang from my first class Friday am:

We've got Alisa Nobile, Amy Huff, Carol Ryan, Carolyn Logan, Cynthia Flores, Denise Nelson, Eileen Clough, Elisa Osnaya, Elizabeth Shea, Ella Marie Jenkins, Heather Ales, Heidi Gordon, Heidi Wallingford, Jennifer Day, Jennifer Hayslip, Joanna Lewis, Karla Nathan, Leanne Shawler, Lori Oles, Lynn Lebsack, Marguerite Blanks, Robin Sanchez, Sheila Ann Rumney, Stephanie Harris, Susan Elseth, Suzanne Duda, Terry Frias, Valerie Jones, Leocadia Eyre, Kelly Jacobs. 

 

This is a photo of the Friday afternoon class with: Andra Hepler, Andrea Singarella, Betsy Begens, Cammie Polak, Catherine Aguilera, Cheri Schmitz, Christina Sequino, Christy Spencer, Cynthia Sanders, Danielle Muller, Gabrielle Messina, Jane Jennings, Jennifer Kershner, Jodi LeJeune, Kana Conger, Karla Steele, Kelley Kirk, Kim Hanauer, Kristina Malone, Linda Richter, Michelle Arnold, Pam Keravuori, Peggy Lucas, Shannon Arnold, Susan Skinner, Tracy Hughes, Virinia Burrows, Meleen Dupre, Kelli Flitton, and Hope Wallace.

Lineage of Love was my Friday workshop. Here's a photo of one of the samples:

I have to thank Janice at Papier Valise and Jenny of Jenny Bowlin  for their sponsorship. Love their products so.

 

 

My Saturday workshop was Holly-Days Countdown Wreath (an advent calendar concept, adding one holly leaf a day until the big day). For this class I owe Heather Bailey a debt of gratitude, for generously donating some of her new, beautiful felt.

 

Joining me on Saturday morning were: Alianna George, Ali Gripp, Amy Smith, Andrea Singarella, Bianca Gaspard, Cheryl Stoneham, Colleen MacDonald, Debe Leone, Denise Nelson, Gabrielle Messina, Gina MacIntosh, Jennifer Norman, Kara Ward, Karlene Gray, Kristy Street, Linda Richter, Lisa Baggett, Lisa Orme, Marsi Bennett, Megan Hunt, Melissa Danner, Michelle Early, Paige Bingham, Rachel Velder, Rebecca Gawryl, Robin Kesner, Shannon Johnson, Shawn Street, Sheila Rumney, Valita Baxley, Vicki MacIntosh, Virginia Burrows, and Stephanie Spacy. Jo Packham joined in the photo fun too.

At the end of the day Saturday I had the same workshop but unfortunately didn't remember to take a photo until the very end. Lots of people are missing in the photo. Some finished up, some were exhausted from a weekend of crafting,  some met friends at the free happy hour in the hotel, etc. Here are the die-hards:

 

All the students in the class were: Amy Littlejohn, Beth Evans-Ramos, Corrine Ayers, Cynthia Heath, Debbi Schuldt, Georgia Evanson, Heather Rowley, Janet Doherty, Jenny Lor, Jessi Nagy, Julie Fjell, Kari Ramstrom, Karla Steele, Kim Caldwell, Kim Hanauer, Lana Koch, Leocadia Eyure, Lori Oles, Maija Lepore, Margie Dickinson, Marlene Haveron, Molly Hughes, Sabrina Sane, Sandra Navarro, Shannon Arnold, Susie Vergenz, Valerie Jones, and Joy Campbell.

This photo sums up the fun. My friends Kelly and  Cori,  these two always have me in stitches.  I'm sure scenes like this go on all weekend long in room after room. If you want to see more Silver Bella photos, you can go to the Silver Bella flickr group. Hopefully, lots of finished projects will end up there, they all were so great you'll want to see all the different classes. Thanks again T, great job as usual!

Can you understand why it took me so long to do a recap post? I've never had so many links in one post ever! That said, if yours is missing, or incorrect (I know there are some of those), please let me know. Now I'm going to resume my typical let-down/re-entry behavior I always feel/do after being away at any retreat: as little as possible, ha ha!

...

happy harvest

i'm fall(ing) for felt

  

Actually, I've always loved felt, but I couldn't resist the play on words since I used it to make a garland for fall. So simple and so sweet to me. I was inspired by Elsie's adorable fall garland, and also two rolls of garland leaves made of felt (seen below). I don't remember where I got these mass produced felt leave garlands, did anyone else get these last year? Maybe it was Martha at Michael's? Or Pottery Barn? Possibly from a friend that works at Crate and Barrel? Wish I could remember. Anyway, back to the handcrafted leaf garland. Want to make a fall leaf garland of your own? If so, you'll need some felt. Heather Bailey has some beautiful colors in her new felt line that you can see here. I'll leaf the rest to you, ha ha. And if you don't want to make your own, I'm going to make some for my vendor table at Silver Bella, so you can get one there!

Here's the mass produces felt leaf garland I was mentioning above:

        

hope it was hoppy