Ornament Exchange 2014

This was so much fun!  Basically, in the middle of October I asked these fabulous ladies to each make enough ornaments for everyone in the group.  Then, we got together the weekend after Thanksgiving and exchanged them!  So each person received about 11 new ornaments.  Here are all the ornaments and the people who made them.

 Gauchay joined the exchange and we were so happy to have her!

I thought it might be fun to share a picture of each participant too!  This is Gauchay! :)

Her lovely ornament.  She actually had quite a variety of different types, but they were all adorable!

My aunt Alysa and her baby Mirren.

She made these super cool terrariums!  I wish there was a picture of each individual one because they were all so fun!

My aunt Wendy.

She made these sweet lollipop ornaments.  They look good enough to eat!

My lovely Mom.

She made these super cute penguins!  She also had a few other cute ornaments.

My sister Miranda.

She made these awesome color swirl ornaments!  Each one was unique and had its own design.

My sister-in-law Melissa.

She made these cute painted wood ornaments.  They were all so intricate and detailed!!  There were a variety of adorable shapes which were all painted beautifully.

My aunt Alyson.

She made these disco ball ornaments.  They are so pretty on the tree when they catch the light.  It is so cool!!

My sister-in-law Jenni.

She made super cute, sparkly ornament shapes out of clay/dough.  They were all so cool looking with sparkles!

My sister-in-law Tawnee.

She made these cute poinsettia ornaments, which are also sparkle-full.  So cute!

My sister-in-law Heidi.

She made these cardinal/dove ornaments!  She painted them and put feathers on them.  They look so, so awesome!  

Finally, these are the ornaments that I made:

I made a variety of different ones, they all involved burlap in some way (love/hate relationship there).  My Mom totally saved my bacon at the last minute!!  Thanks Mom!

Here is a picture of all the ornaments!  

Hopefully you can see all the names!

This kind of allows you to see the variety of different ornaments that people made.

Loved all of the ornaments.

I cannot tell you how much fun this was!  We had some treats, played holiday taboo and admired all the ornaments.  It was so cool to see all the creativity involved in each persons ornament.  Thanks so much to all who participated and helped me out, it wouldn't have been possible without you!  Hopefully, we can make this a yearly tradition!

Love,

Courtney

Nail Painting

So, I went a little crazy with the nail polish last week, here are the results.

1.  Polka Dot Nails

What it was supposed to look like:

What it actually looked like:

This one didn't turn out too badly.  I just unbent a bobby pin and used the squishy end.  I got the idea from this video.

Either end works just fine.  Just dip one end into the nail polish and press it onto the end.  The firmness that you use will determine how large the dot is.  If you press it softly, the dot will be small.  If you apply more pressure, the dot will be larger.

2.  Cloud-y Design Nails

What it was supposed to look like:

What it actually looked like:

This doesn't look too bad in the picture, but it would be nearly impossible to do on your left hand.  I'm pretty sure this was a freak of nature happening.

3.  Strawberry Nails

What it was supposed to look like:

What it actually looked like:

Yeah, this did NOT work out like I thought it would.  Like, at all.  It seemed really easy, you just cut out little triangles from a piece of scotch tape and then tape it onto your nail.  Yeah, it's not that simple.  

4.  V-Tip Nails

What it was supposed to look like:

What it actually looked like:

I have a very difficult time free-handing stuff.  (If you couldn't tell).  I am going to try this again with tape.

5.  Giraffe Print Nails

What it was supposed to look like:

What it actually looked like:

This was a train wreck with a capital T.  My nail polish must've been defective.  It could not have been user error.  Not possibly.

6.  Heart Nails

What it was supposed to look like:

What it actually looked like:

-

Yeah, this one didn't get past the production stage.  Again, the idea sounded simple.  Just draw a heart onto tape and press it onto your nail.  However, tape is sticky and that is the moral of this particular tragedy.

Tape likes to stick to itself.  A lot.

7.  Swirly Nails

What it was supposed to look like:

What it actually looked like:

This turned out like Jackson Pollock meets Monet's Waterlilies (not in a good way).  I think the problem might have been that my swirl-er was a little too large in the tip.  

I hope you enjoyed this post, I had a lot of fun trying out all of these ideas! 

Love,

Courtney

Cameron's Art Project

For his humanities class, Cameron had to take photos that showed different concepts and techniques in art.   He did such a great job that I wanted to show off his pictures.

This picture was supposed to show the concept of framing.

Leading lines.  The teacher showed this as one of her examples.

The rule of thirds.

This picture was painted by Cezanne.  This part of the assignment was to recreate the painting.

Here is Cameron's take on the still life.  I thought he was very creative.

Cameron loves this class!  He is experiencing all types of culture and art.  I can't wait to see what his next creative assignment is!

Love,

Courtney