Merry Christmas!

Wishing all of my readers out there a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I haven't done much in the way of new drawing this year, so I am posting an old pen and ink I did of a poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima). Still one of my favorites!

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Holiday Greens & Gift Market in Kerrytown

I had a chance to have a booth at a local holiday market this past Friday, December 7. I was all set up at the Kerrytown Market & Shops here in Ann Arbor along with a number of other artisans and vendors to help celebrate Festive Fridays during this holiday season at the 1st annual Holiday Greens & Gift Market.

It was a cold and rainy evening, so crowds were not as busy as we'd hoped, but there were still a number of folks who came out to enjoy shopping, s'mores, caroling, riding the Jollie Train and seeing Santa!

I made a handful of sales, so that was fun. Here is a look at my booth:

A shot of my whole booth - fortunately, my friend Claudia of Artitlan (on the left) brought a tarp that hung behind both of our spaces and kept us fairly warm and dry!

 

 
My jotter journal sets in the middle, natural stone pendants in the back (with sliding stone necklaces in front of them) and bookmarks on the right.


 

A peek at the left side of the table with my necklace display.



 

 

And my bookmarks and bracelets along with my 'Stones of Michigan' display card.

I look forward to adding some new items to the shop this week. Have you ever had a booth at a holiday (or other) market? What was your experience?

Happy shopping!

Happy New Year!

And here we are to New Year's Eve already! I want to wish each of you a very happy, healthy, creative new year in 2012!

I thought I would round out this year's posts (my 200th, in fact - wow!) with some images of gifts I created over the holidays. I was bracelet-crazy this year and had a wonderful time making these for friends and family:

Double wrap in 1.5mm brown leather with 4mm sodalite beads and a dark blue button closure.

Double wrap in 1.5mm brown leather with 4mm sodalite beads and a pearly button closure.

Double wrap in 1.5mm brown leather with 4mm lapis lazuli beads and an antiqued gold metal button closure.

Single leather wrap with 6mm flower amethyst beads and a cute purple and silver button closure.

Red leather macrame bracelet with a cute candy-cane striped bead for the closure.

Double wrap with 1.5mm dark brown leather 
and gorgeous 6mm Tiger's Eye beads and a swirly brown and tan button for closure.

Double wrap black leather with elegant 4mm cat's eye quartz beads and a black button closure.

 


Another double wrap with black leather and 4mm cat's eye quartz beads, this time with a cloth-covered black button closure.



  



Double wrap in 1.8mm black leather with beautiful, vibrant green malachite beads and a faceted black button closure.

 

Double wrap with dark brown leather and 4mm Charoite beads. The swirls of browns, earthy greens and golds in the beads matched very well with the leather and gold metal closure.

 

Double wrap with 1.5mm black leather with fun snowflake obsidian beads and a silver metal flower button closure.

I also did a couple of additional jotter journals with some of my Spoonflower fabric swatches.

This is small jotter, approximately 3" x 3.5" made with 32 blank pages for notes, lists, doodles, etc. I used waxed linen bookbinding thread to sew in the pages and added a few white beads for embellishment. This is quilting weight cotton fabric in my roses pattern.

This small jotter is also approximately 3" x 3.5" made with 32 blank pages for notes, lists, doodles, etc. I used dark green s-lon beading thread to sew in the pages and added some flower amethyst beads on the spine for embellishment. This is quilting weight cotton fabric in my cyclamen pattern.









I am looking forward to a new year of creativity, drawing, beading, and perhaps more bookbinding. I am also interested in opening an Etsy shop, and I have some of my own ideas of what I'd like to include...what things would you like to see there?

Well, stay tuned for more creative adventures. I'd love to hear about the new things you are hoping to try in the new year, too, so let me know!

Happy New Year!

Holiday Fabrics! Poinsettia now available.

And here are a couple more for you! I took advantage of the recent fat quarter sale at Spoonflower and ordered a length of my poinsettia fabric in organic cotton sateen. It turned out beautifully! It's an elegant, simple design in black and white, based on my original pen and ink illustration of a poinsettia flower. 

 

I also ordered a length of linen cotton canvas in my holly print.

Either of these would be great for holiday decor (placemats, table cloths, etc.) or even as reusable wrapping for gifts! 

Hope you are enjoying the season so far!

75% off of 75+ Holiday Greeting Cards at Zazzle!

Zazzle is having a fantastic sale on holiday greeting cards:

75% off of orders of 75+ cards! 

Use Code: JOY2THEWORLD at checkout.

 

That may sound like a lot, but I know we send out over 80 cards to family and friends each year, so it's really a pretty great deal!

Remember, you can choose different designs - they don't all have to be the same. You might like some of my offerings below and then find more of another designer on Zazzle. All of them can add up to you 75+ for the 75% off!

Maybe you'd like one design for your co-workers or employees, and a different one for friends and family? My current cards are below. All of these can be customized with your greetings, name, and more:

 

  

The offer is valid through October, 31 2011 11:59pm PT. Happy shopping!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Wishes!

Merry Christmas and happy solstice! I did this little sketch of our cat, Lucy, sitting at the window sill at our old place a few years ago. Loved how she was looking out the window as it was snowing. I added the hat, but otherwise the red walls and red and green drapes were actually how we had the living room decorated! :)

As we all look forward to celebrating the upcoming holidays, I want to thank you all for your interest in my blog and wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays! I look forward to creating more artwork in the new year and hope you will join me for the journey.

Botanical Ornament - American Holly

This is one of the ceramic ornaments that I have recently put into my online Zazzle store. It features a small botanical painting that I did of an American Holly.

The ornament can be personalized on both sides, and I am actually going to add the date and order one for our tree :) They make great gifts for the holidays. 

Keep in mind that you don't have to just choose holiday themes. I have a number of ornaments available, including:

Traditional:

Poinsettia (pen and ink)

Rose (colored pencil)

Noel (calligraphy)

Botanical and Wildlife:

African Daisy (colored pencil)

Camel (graphite pencil)

American Red Raspberry (ink and colored pencil)

Lone Cypress (pen and ink) -- this one is metal, not ceramic.

Come on by and take a look!

Looking for a holiday card?

Are you looking for a unique holiday card? Consider a botanical art card that can be customized to include your holiday greetings. The American Holly above is available for ordering through my Zazzle page:
http://www.zazzle.com/ccreech21*

Cards are available in the traditional greeting card size or in a smaller note card size. Bulk order discounts (in as small a quantity as 2) are available, so the more cards you order the lower the cost per card. It's a great way to obtain distinctive cards this holiday season.

UPDATE 2010: I have also created matching return address labels that can be customized with your information as well as a beautiful ceramic ornament, stickers, and stamps - all featuring my American Holly painting.