On the FIRST DAY of Christmas...Thursday, December 11, 2014

ok...WHO STOLE one of my days?  I was going along very nicely.  I was getting my ornaments painted and mailed and had plans to get my cards mailed by the 10th.  On Wednesday, I took the first half to the Post Office and went and bought some more paper so I could print the rest of the cards.  I sat down to the computer and looked at the date and it said DECEMBER 10, 2014...I THOUGHT I had ONE more day to meet my self-imposed deadline!!  sigh...

Oh, it is ok...I'm still doing really well.  I have all of my ornaments painted except for one batch to send to a friend as a swap, but that is ok cause I KNOW what I need to paint, and that should be done on Friday and into the mail on Monday...ALL is well!!

I've been thinking of doing a blog of the twelve days of Christmas, but in reality, the 12 days of Christmas start the day AFTER Christmas.  They represent the days until Epiphany, the time when the Wise Men supposedly found the baby Jesus.  I often laugh that we teach our children in Church that all these events happened in ONE NIGHT and when we do Christmas programs, that is what we do...

I had an AWESOME Old Testament Professor who taught us to look at the Bible for FACTS.  NO where in the Bible does it say that Adam and Eve ate an APPLE...it was a fruit, and never names it.  We are taught about Joseph and the Coat of MANY COLORS, when in fact, it is more likely that EVERYONE wore colorful coats, but Joseph's coat had SLEEVES, which meant that he was not expected to do work.  Most of the coats did NOT have sleeves so that the workers could work.  And finally, Dr. Ramsey taught us that NO WHERE did the Bible say that Jonah was swallowed by a WHALE, but just a LARGE FISH...sigh...I don't guess there were unicorns, either... ;)

All of that said to say that I am STILL going to make an attempt to do 12 days of Christmas, with a twist.  I HOPE to share 12 memories that had an impact on me during this Blessed Holiday Season!  AND if I don't get them in BEFORE Christmas, then all will be well, cause I STILL have the season of Epiphany to get it finished.

Today, my memory is of Caroling!  I LOVED to go caroling.  I didn't care how cold it was, NOTHING felt better than to see the faces of the shut-ins as we sang those old Christmas favorites of Silent Night, Away in a Manger, Hark, the Herold Angels Sing and always ending with We Wish You a Merry Christmas!  I would laugh at the people would try to bring us into their homes so we wouldn't be cold!  I LOVE Music...

I had a special order for 15 of these magnets, so I thought I would share a very quick mixed media project.

For this project you will need, a piece of Music (I always make copies of mine cause I can't bear the thought of ruining a piece of music...it is like throwing away a book!!), 3 colors of paint, Black Paint, DecoArt Decou-page, scissors, piece of wood, wire or a magnet and a brush for basing and shading and a liner brush.

Paint the piece of wood with Wasabi Green (a light green).  While this is drying, cut the piece of music into a heart shape.

When the paint on the wood is dry, generously brush the top with DecoArt's Decou-page.  Generously brush the BACK of the heart and position it onto the wood as you wish.  Quickly brush over the top with more Decou-page removing as many bubbles as possible. (OK, I don't have pictures of this, but I THINK you can paint a SOLID coverage on a piece of wood...go for it!!)

When this dries, take the Raw Sienna, and Float around the edge of the paper heart.  Thin this paint and paint OVER the entire heart to give it an antique look.  Take what paint you have left in the brush and brush a few brown streaks onto the green part of the heart.  Note:  Don't worry that you don't know how to float, simply load ONE CORNER of a damp FLAT brush with the Raw Sienna (brown) paint and keep this edge of paint on the edge of the paper...You are trying to make the edge DARKER.

Do the same thing with the Dark Green.  Load the Dark Green onto the edge of a flat brush and go around the heart and then the edge of the wood.  Again, brush some streaks of what is left on the brush onto the light green part.  Add the writing.  Either free-hand the lettering or go to the computer and choose your favorite font and trace it.  Use thinned Black paint and a Thin liner brush (18/0)...You CAN use a Sharpie pen to write on the letters, BUT be careful and make sure that it doesn't smear and THEN it MUST be sealed with a MATTE SPRAY paint or it will smear!!

 

Attach a magnet or a wire for hanging and call it DONE!!

I hope this Christmas Season as we PREPARE our hearts for the coming of Christ, that we will prepare our hearts to offer GRACE to those in our lives.  We are not perfect and for the life of me, I don't know WHY we expect others to be! We ask for help and then complain because they don't do it like WE want it done...The stress of the Season can make us UGLY, so be sure to throw in an extra bit of FORGIVENESS (GRACE) as we practice the Golden Rule...Nothing beats a PRETTY HEART!  I wish you MANY BLESSINGS today...~charlotte♥