Sylvia's Simple Shots

This Christmas featured 2 big events in one day.  First in the morning was the 4 Sunday of Advent.  We light the LOVE candle.  

We are so loved by God that He sent His Son for each one of us.

May we truly take that in.

I spent most of the afternoon and evening on Christmas Eve with my sister, her husband and my brother.

It was a casual affair where we browsed food - shrimp, ribs, and pyrohy like Mom used to make them.

We caught up on our lives with all the good and bad and it was lovely.

We had blueberries, honey and cream for dessert.  

I headed home about 9pm with  my heart full.

Late on Christmas Eve we lit the Christ Candle which is the middle one.

I just love the sparkle that crackle glass brings.  

Unfortunately, one of the inserts is broken and so I plan on replacing this Advent Wreath next year.

I will keep my eyes out.

I spent Christmas Day at home.

I purchased sourdough cinnamon buns from Freesons for breakfast. They were delicious.  They came highly recommended and did not disappoint.  

Turkey with all the trimmings was on the menu for supper. 

This was the first Christmas without either Mom & Dad.  I missed them a lot.

I headed to my sister's and brother-in-law's on December 28th to have turkey with them.

It was a good drive with good temps, little traffic and a pleasure.

I decided that I would stop and visit a thrift store to get soup bowls to match my white dishes but they were closed till Jan 2nd.

This is how much snow was on the ground for Christmas this year.  Not a lot at all.

The deer came to visit in their neighborhood and I got a decent shot.

They always have a natural tree.  It is covered with personal ornaments each with it's special memory.  I don't think there was a commercial bauble of any type.

The Nativity under the tree with a stable of olive wood made in Germany and the Avon white pieces of the holy family and the additional members of that night.

I did not remember that we have the same Avon white set.  Mine has few pieces.

The birthday party was great.  

This is one of the gifts received.  A vintage Fisher Price tool bench with all the accessories.

A bench press, a drill, a hammer, wood that cuts on the table saw.

All in working order after 20 years in service.

It will be enjoyed for a few more years.

I rode with my sister and brother in law which was appreciated.

It's great to have like minded family that value something vintage and would prefer those to consuming something new and not as well made.

Christmas Tree & Nativity Up

The Christmas Tree is up.  It was getting late in the season and I was anxious to hang the tree.

This is my wall Christmas Tree that I made in 2021 that hangs from a photo shelf.  The lights are part of the tree so that is a real time saver.

All the ornaments were hung with care.

Most vintage because I have been hanging them on a tree for over 25 years. All with precious memories attached to them.

The teapot from my Mom & Dad's tree. The snowmen my brother-in-law made. The vintage ones my aunt gave me when she was downsizing. The glass star that I bought for my large nativity scene which is packed in boxes. The green ball, a keepsake from one of our family Christmas. Stained glass ornaments bought at the big Christmas craft sale in the big yellow building.

The chair had to be moved to make room for the 2 TV tables that support the tree table top decoration along with the snow angel, the mercury glass owl, the candle stick holder and the glitter NOEL.

The movie I watched after the tree was up.  I have not watched my traditional movies this year but there is still time.

I have Polar Express, Love Actually, and A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart.

This was just the right length.

Some eggnog with nutmeg and cinnamon and a bit of whipping cream for a seasonal drink along wit the movie.

It's nice to have traditions to keep my head on straight when lots of things around me are just upside down.

I put up the Snowpeople Nativity this year along with the LED tree, the green ceramic tree and the great mint green one I got on sale which lights up.

All the players are there - the Holy Family, the 3 Wisemen and the baby lamb.

The table was set up with the red table cloth and plaid place mats.

All looks festive and ready for a celebration, even if it is a quiet one.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

It is that time of year!

December 1st. 

The star wreath went up on the front door.  This is the same one as last year.

That wonderful carved pine cone was done by an artist at the Allied Arts Council.  I purchased it last year at the Christmas Store.

I had a bit of a visit with my neighbour and he was waiting a bit to put up his Christmas decor.  It was a busy day with stuff going on at the building along with my prep for my family get together.

Another tradition for me is to put on one of my many yule log videos in the DVD and enjoy the crackling fire with Christmas carols being sung.

I always do this while I am making my Caramel Popcorn gifts.

It was 4 batches this year to make enough for family and friends.

I have been making this every year since about 1980.

About 43 years that is.  Amazing how that happens.  

There were years when I sold it to coworkers and I did 12 or 14 batches.

The cost of ingredients keeps going up so it is a precious commodity.

I had several folks ask if I was making it again this year!  It was a resounding YES!  They were happy.

Not all things stay the same.  The Glad Storage bags that I have used for years are not longer available.  I used the last of them last year so I had to try and source new ones.   I need food grade plastic so that was a bit harder to find.  I bought these at Michaels but they are pretty short but did okay in the pinch that was this year.

I met my aunt at the Allied Arts Christmas Store that opened this week.  She had been not feeling well and was on the upside and want to get out.

We had 16 tables I believed filled with wonderful art.  It was fun to look through the fiber art, the watercolor, the jewelery, and much more.

I bought this little composite stone bird.  It is made by Lisa Douziech.  It is so metallic and sparkly.  Beautiful color and shine on the resin.

@lisadouziech

We went over the Perks around the corner for coffee and a visit.

The Sinister Booksellers of Bath is a sequel to the book a read recently.  This is again by Garth Nix.  

The story continues with Susan and Merlin and the rest of the magical entourage.  This one starts with a sorcerous map which Merlin gets sucked into and has to be rescued.  Susan has discovered her magical heritage and her powers with stone came in handy during this rescue.

An Ancient Sovereign is running amock in the underworld and needs to be stopped to ensure the safety of human and magical folk alike.

Another great book.

Some of my family got together again this week for a Christmas lunch.  It was organized by one of my sisters and hosted by another.

Tourtiere was on the menu with a great salad.  Then strawberry bavarian for dessert.  I bought caramel popcorn, another brought a cheese ball, there was nibbles and goodies to munch on all afternoon.

This is my sisters tree which rotates and sparkles like crazy!  It was December 2nd and I am glad she made the effort to have it up for your time together as family.

Check out the bling on her tree!  It was wonderful.  With Mom and Dad both gone now we have to navigate what family gatherings will look like going forward.  With our get together in October and this lunch it is looking good!

Christmas Tree Scent Ornaments - Batch 2

I sold all 3 from the first batch so I made up a few more today and delivered them.

Felt is the best material for passive diffusers so the oil should be put onto the darkest of the balls so in this case the black or grey ones would be best.  

I had these ready the other day but I did not know I had sold so many Christmas Tree Scent ornaments so I packaged these up and delivered these as well. The gallery was open today which was really great!

Stuffed little quilted hearts.  The left one is cotton fabric in kraft striped and ivory snowflake fabric. Added a wooden button on the front and a bead on the hanger cord.  A loose stitch of teal thread around the edge.

The second one is kraft plaid with teal and heart wool fabric.  It sports the same wooden accents and teal stitching. 

The oil on these should be put on the back or directly on the wooden elements if you are careful. 

Christmas Card Challenge - Watercolor - Aug - Salt Backgrounds

I created a watercolor background for my large Christmas greetings for this month's challenge.

I started with 140lb Arches watercolor paper I purchased from my sister. It had been rolled up so I spritzed it with water and let it relax itself to flatish.

I cut a strip about 6 inches tall and the width of the sheet.  I taped that down to my waterproof work surface.  I used my small watercolor palette I created the other day.  You can follow this link to the post which contains the details. 

I soaked the paper with my spray bottle then I just worked with the greens and blues in my palette. As I moved across I switched from the blues to adding red to create purples. Once I was happy with the colors I misted it again to ensure the whole surface was wet then just added some table salt to the surface.  It then dried for several hours.

I believe this is rough water color paper but is softer than the sheets have I have been using. I was very happy with the pattern produced by the salt.  Once completely dry, I cut it into 4.00 x 5.25 inch sheets.  These will leave a small border of the card base showing.  Since I was not using Stampin Up watercolors it took a bit of evaluation to see which card colors to use.

While the paper dried and searched the internet for some free large greetings I could use. The card above features the one I liked best.  The greetings were sized to be smaller than the watercolor background and printed grey on vellum.  They were then heat embossed with gold powder.  I ripped the edges to provide a more natural edge.

On the right I created some portrait (tall) cards with vellum greetings which also included images. This one is a Christmas tree. For most of  these cards, the vellum is adhered to the watercolor background with tiny gold brads. Then the watercolor layer is adhered to the card base with 3D foam tape squares.

The greeting on the card on the left has been around for a very long time.  It is very classic fonts and makes a great greeting.

The card base on this card is Marina Mist. The brads used on this one are larger sparkly gold star brads. 

I added some vellum adhesive in the opposite corners to keep the vellum close to the watercolor.

 The watercolor background features the transition from green to blue in my original painting.

This watercolor background was the toughest to match to card stock.  I tried Chocolate Chip, Perfect Plum, Sahara Sand and eventually settled on Soft Suede. 

That is the challenge - when I was painting I did not measure the width of the colors so this piece ended up with some muddier colors with the n bright blue on the right hand side.  

This is the other portrait (tall) card where I combined an image and a greeting.

Again, I was not thinking of images at all when I was painting.  I had to trust I could work it out once the watercolor background was dry.

I think this worked out well.

This card features Bermuda Bay for the card base.  Another landscape (wide) layout.

This time tiny gold star brads in all four corners.

I will be adding quarter sheet inserts with a seasonal sentiment to each of these and pairing them with a white A2 envelope.

Another great set of cards for my box.  Ready to give come December st!

These worked out well and the background is worth considering again.

Recent Photos

I finished this book over the holidays.   I was disappointed in some of the themes in the 25 short stories.   This is the first book she published so interesting that is one of the last I read.  Her books got much better.

Millions of people travel on London's tube every day, yet we usually only give our fellow passengers a cursory glance. Maeve Binchy infuses the nameless people with stories to provide a cross-section of London life.

One of the last books I can read from this author as I have checked most of them off the list.

There are couple I still have not read.

Sister Caravaggio (2014) - stand alone novel
A Few of the Girls - short stories

Suggestions for other authors I may enjoy.

This is the gift I received from my sister and her husband.  This is a large spool holder for my sewing.  I have invested in some neutral colored spools - white, grey and black in recent months as buying specific colors is expensive.

Most of the girls at quilting all have one of these.  My sister had let me know what I needed and how to DIY one for myself.  Our plans to share wire fell through so I just did not get it done.

I see my brother-in-law's work in the beautiful wood base.  The loop replaces the loop on the machine.  The tall stick is for the large spool and the little one may be for a bobbin based on my research on line.

I am ready to get back to sewing but I have been taking a few days of down time as I have had a lot of company in and days out since December 13th.  I need some recharge time.

With a no caffeine tea regime I had put Bengal Spice and Licorice Spice on my list.  We had some at Mom's on Christmas Day and she requested a box on Boxing Day.  More of us on avoiding caffeine when possible.

I decided I needed a shorter string of lights now that I sent the 4 foot tree, the large ornaments, and other decorations to the second hand store.  I have decided to use my small ceramic tree with a shelving unit which will hold the few glass ornaments I have kept.  I added some narrow garland to the rungs of the shelf and hung the ornaments from there.  The old string was much too long and heavy.  I found these Retro lights by Noma.  They are irridescent, sparkly and a wonderful shape.  Love them.

The warm plastic lights are on the dark green ceramic tree and the white but still somewhat warm tear drops are the new ones.  I kept my iridescent bead garland.

The plan has not completely come together this year but next year will be better.

I kept all the small glass ornaments, the coordinating bead garlands, and the colored  ornaments which meant something to me.  Love the crystal tear drops from chandeliers. I could not resist the mercury glass tea pot on for 50% this year.

I placed the burgundy gift boxes at the base of the tree.

I bought this book at the library sale for .25 cents.  It was excellent.  It is set in France but more in the country which I enjoyed more.  The main character is English on a vacation and discovers a mystery about Isabelle and a stash of diamonds.  I will check other titles by this author.  The Splendour Falls by Susanna Kearsley.

Sharing with Angie at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf who hosts Mosaic Monday #60.

Card Exchange Cards

I started with a Pea Green card base. I placed a piece of organza ribbon across a strip of designer paper, taped the ends to the back then attached it to the front of the card.

I used a coordinating desinger paper which I cut square, adhered to a pink paper from the same set cut just a bit bigger.  These were adhered together then I added 2 iridescent snowflakes with pink brads.  This was adhered to the card front with 3D foam tape.

I added a Stampin Up Word Window greeting on the left with 3D foam tape.

I started with a olive green card base.

I assembled my trees by cutting the black strips and adding one to each tree with a tiny brad. The trees are adhered to the card front with double sided tape.

I used a Zot to adhere the silver stars above the tree to the card front.

Ripped a white card stock to create a snowbank.  Adhere to card front then trim it to the card edge if necessary.

Layer the white circle greeting onto the black larger circle. Add the 3D foam tape to the back and adhere to card front as shown.  

These are headed to my card exchange friends today.

Recent Photos

It is the second week of Advent.

My Christmas cards are ready finally.  I guess it is like the cobbler whose children have no shoes.  I get my Christmas card orders done then I can get to my own.

Before craft sales came into my life I would have all my cards, my shopping done and parcels mailed off by December 1st.

Those were the days!

Take time this week, even just an hour to relax, have a cup of tea, put your feet up by the tree and enjoy Christmas.  My tree goes up today!

I was able to whip up a last minute gift this week because I had a Ready2Fill calendar left over from craft sales and 12 photos of various subjects in my photo organizer.

With a bit of double sided tape and some pressing this calendar will be headed off to its recipient.

My photo organizer is designed for cards but I use it to store my stock of photos.

It keeps them dry, dust free and out of the light.


I store the following.  Now they are all in one place and easy to find and labeled so I know if I have store of any particular size

• 3.5 x 4.75 for photo cards sorted by wide and tall
• 3.5 x 5.00 for half sheet calendars must be wide
• 4x6 photo calendars usually 4 different styles in any given year
• 4x6 photo for half sheet photo cards sorted by wide and tall
• 5x7 & 4x6 photos for framing sorted by wide and tall

Finished The Lilac Bus this week.  I generally love her books. This one was okay.  Story about how some residents from a small town in Ireland travel home from Dublin each weekend on the Lilac Bus.   Some are helping family with a local pub, some are keeping secret relationships and do not want questions asked,  and others miss their home town and friends so visit to catch up.

My Christmas Tree is up!!  It took a lot of plugging to the task to get it done.  It was not as easy as other years to keep motivated.  Not sure what is up with that.











I always put clear lights on the tree.  This year I chose to include mostly clear ornaments with a few precious ones from years past.  The one on the left is one I received from Mom when she downsized her collection which were on the tree when I was a kid.  Clear lights with a diffuser helps to spread the light. The one on the right is clear glass with wire wrapped around it. 

I set up Christmas tea this morning.   A Lancaster County Christmas adds to the background in the top left.  I realize I don't have a Christmas Teacup so I will on the search. I used my red mug with the white tea pot.  I brewed a spiced black tea in the Marsala tea.  Some yogurt and banana, 3 cheese tea biscuits and a couple sweets rounded out goodies today.

This Christmas candle centerpiece was a gift from my sister many years ago.  I added a safe battery operated pillar candle in the glass rose bowl and it was perfect. Set on a Battenburg lace doily and was the focal point on the table.

Sharing with

Friends Sharing Tea hosted by Bernideen
Tuesday Cuppa Tea hosted by Ruth

Creating Christmas at my house

The place is looking like Christmas.

I have the wreath on the door.  It features green with pine cones and some sparkle from silver accents.  The glitter fruit, bird and silver ribbon bow. This is one I made myself several years ago.














The tree is up for the first time in several years!  

It's a 4 foot tree I have had for years. It's sitting on the antique trunk I use for a side table next to my chair.  The tree is decorated in a neutral color palette of clear lights, white pearl ball ornaments, clear glass ornaments, and 40 or so crystal tear drops rescued from an old chandelier and a few ornaments which I have received over the years that have sentimental value.


There is a green fabric tree skirt with a white ruffle which my sister made for me many years ago.  I have added some snow blanket on top of the skirt.
I have placed my tiny nativity on the snow with a glass tree and stained glass angel hanging from the tree in just the right place. 

The advent wreath is again in a neutral color palette with white tea lights in crackle glass holders placed in cylinder vases in 4 different heights with a tall beeswax candle in a crystal holder in the center.

The Advent Calendar is hung with one  figure being moved from the border edge to their place on the calendar every day!  This one was made by another sister several years ago who is a quilter.  Panel is by Nancy Halverson.

The bubble night light sits in the hall and provides a wonderful light and great pattern on the wall. This light brings me back to my childhood when we had a string of these on the tree.  As the liquid in the candle heats up bubbles magically appear. I was fortunate to find one at a craft sale some years ago and purchased it as a memento of years passed.

Finally, the Yule Log DVD is in the player ready to provide a Christmas atmosphere in the living room any time I need it.  It provides music as well as the crackle of the fire so it's perfect to craft to or have on when company is visiting.
Caramel popcorn is on the agenda for this week so that will be several recipes to share with friends and family. 
Sharing with Jann at Daily Cup with Mrs Olson on her turn at Creating Christmas link up.