Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!  Whichever holidays you celebrate, I hope you are enjoying the season. Looking toward a bright new year in 2012  :)

Inspirations

I'm really excited to share these new wall tiles and ornaments with my artwork and inspirational words. In a nutshell, this is why I create! Each of my paintings has an inspirational meaning behind it, and the words I chose for them capture the essence of each piece. I hope they inspire you too :)

The 4"x4" tiles are $12 and the 2" ornaments are only $3 each! If you live in Portland, come visit me at the Winter Solstice Art Fair this Thursday 12-22. Also, I will be adding them to my website gift shop soon, stay tuned! Or feel free to email me if you would like to order one. :)

Mistletoe and Ornaments

 

So, with all the holly and cedar around, I made mistletoe :) One hangs above each doorway in the house. Good luck charm! 

These crochet snowflakes are so fun and quick to make, here's the pattern! I used Sugar N Cream cotton yarn. Mini Snowflakes Pattern 

And in the studio, now I'm working on a big batch of ornaments for shows!

I'm adding these in my online gift shop too. Beautiful Oregon....

Someone loves holiday boxes...

And someone else much prefers the holiday fabric pile :)

Holiday Decorating!

I love this time of year, our little house feels so magical after decorating. There was frost on the grass outside this morning. The sky is bright blue today and we have a holly tree in the yard with stunning red berries! So amazing and beautiful nature is in every season...

 

Inside I have transformed our country/cabin-style house into holiday spirit! First I made one large wreath and several mini cedar wreaths for the windows, using a simple wire circle and cedar branches from my neighborhood... I love how simple and natural they are. I used a coat hanger for the frame.

These raffia ornaments are inspired by the Scandinavian straw ornaments my grandma used to have. I'll post how to make these soon! They decorate the ficus tree perfectly :)

 Tiny characters all around! The gingerbread people are available in my shop at www.robin-phillips.com :)

 

I love how it looks in the morning light...

 

And in the studio, I'm cutting squares for holiday star potholders...

Happy holiday decorating! :)

Getting Ready for the Show

I have three holiday art/craft shows this month, and I'm busy as a bee in the studio finishing new items! Sipping lots of vanilla coffee and staying up until the wee hours this week... I love doing shows, it's really fun seeing tons of other wonderful handcrafted items, meeting new people, and hearing which items people like best.

Here are the latest goods! First, I've been working on ornaments. They are hand-cut from travertine stone, and then hand-painted. I thought about all the beautiful places in Oregon I've visited when making these. I love the texture of the stone works naturally to form a landscape.  :)

Then, a new series of paper collage cards for the holidays! I used lots of papers, buttons and yarns from my stash and found new ones to re-use from thrift stores too. I look forward to card making every year. In the past. I have made them for family and friends, but this year I decided to offer them in my shop too :)

And on my thrift store shopping trip, I found all these cool vintage holiday fabrics and yarns!

More gingerbread people are cut and waiting to be sewn ... Their eyes are baby buttons.

Holiday gift baskets!

If you live around Portland, Oregon, come visit me:

December 2, 2011 Duniway Holiday Boutique
10 AM -7:30 PM, Duniway School, 7700 SE Reed College Place, Portland, OR


December 18, 2011 Crafty Underdog Holiday Art/Craft Fair
Sat 11 AM -5 PM, McMenamins Mission Theatre, 1624 NW Glisan, Portland, OR


December 22, 2011 Winter Solstice Art/Craft Fair
Thurs 4 PM - 8 PM, Eagles Lodge, 4904 SE Hawthorne, Portland, OR


Or if you can't make it to a show, see my new online gift shop, www.robin-phillips.com. I'm very excited to have this shop up and running, it's a dream come true for me. :)

The Mountain Afghan

I've been getting more time in on the Mountain Afghan in the evenings now, which will be a perfect addition to our rustic house. I picture it draped over back of the sofa, which is a deep chocolate brown. I love bundling up under quilts on the sofa and crocheting when it is dark and chilly in these late fall evenings. I have my cup of tea, kitties on lap and dogs at my feet :)

And I'm immersed in the simplicity of the granny squares. Crochet has always had such a warm, cozy feeling to me. My grandma taught me a crochet chain, sc and dc when I was about 8. She lived in a cabin in the woods, in a small old village in Tennesse at that time. I remember she always called me Robin Lynn, maybe because it was more Southern... She passed away when I was in high school, and I then I inherited her hooks and sewing box, which is one of my favorite treasures to this day. The hooks rested for quite a while, but in recent years, I have started crocheting again. Last year, my Mom picked it up again too (who hasn't sewn in a long time). It's so soothing once the hook starts moving.

Grandma's sewing box

Different color choices make the blanket so rich. I'm using the same 10 earthy colors in different combinations, with a light blue border, alternating the sunburst square and granny square. I started it earlier this year, and on our Colorado/Wyoming trip this summer I finished at least 15 squares. I was so inspired by the colors in the landscape for the blocks. Now I have 36 squares done! Will keep posting updates on it when there is more! Each one is new color combination, which is the most fun part. Iko's favorite part is pouncing the yarn balls, and Jorellis likes to sniff and lick them :)

Puppy Play Day

We watched a friend's puppy this weekend, Lucy, a Great Dane mix. The dogs had so much fun. Muddy tracks all over the house and endless play time, it was a wild house. Our dogs, Phantom and Kiva, now 5 and 4, had to take turns playing with the puppy, she wore them out!  First, they played for almost 4 hours outside and inside...

 I like to charge the big dogs!

 

Dog pile...

We're so happy in our muddy paws!

Ok, time for a break...

I took the big dog's bed!

Then Aunt Kiva (our German Shepherd) taught little Lucy how to bang her bowl, and pout when she wants food (no-no!)

What a cutie!