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 Photo Cards - Craft Sale

I have been spending a good chunk of time working on still life photography as the weather outside is less conducive to being out with camera.

I filled a vintage hobnail candy dish with Christmas ornaments.  I chose a variety of sizes, shapes and finishes. Some were shiny others matte; silver, green, red were the colors I chose; and I had round, pinecone, stars and hearts for shapes.

I decided to make the silver heart the focal element.  Shiny surfaces are hard to photograph because your camera as well as anything else near ends up reflected in it`s surface.














This is a resin Nativity home decor item which I bought recently.  I loved the colors in it and it had enough relief to make it interesting.  It stands on it`s own.  I created a gold background which mirrored it`s warm tones and provided a nice bokeh effect.

I am not providing an insert in my photo cards to it`s nice to have the sentiment on the front.  I created on with a light sentiment but the one with the dark base is by far the best one.








I originally created this image for a Christmas card order a while back.

This is one of my stained glass Nativities with a tealight in behind.   I love the soft seamless background and how the pink is picked up on the bottom of the image.

I translated the image to a 4x6 format and printed a few in the different colors.

I have a good variety so they should appeal to quite a few buyers at the sale tomorrow.