One of the delights of being part of a mixed marriage is getting to celebrate the holidays from both traditions, and that is particularly enjoyable during a year like this where we get to light the Chanukkah candles at Christmas Eve dinner.  We enjoyed a double festivity last night!

Part of the fun of Chanukkah for me this year has been the artists swap I did with the other Jewish artists in the Altered Workshop.  The eight of us each made eight gifts, and sent one to everyone in the group.  Each night we open the package we received from one of the artists.  So far, I have received a beautiful necklace, a gorgeous art doll=pincushion, and an incredible hand-dyed ribbon scarf.

Last night was the night for everyone to open my gifts, and I was hoping they wouldn't disappoint.  Everyone seems to like them, and FINALLY, I can go ahead and show y'all pictures, without fear of ruining the surprise!

I made fabric collages, using the theme "A Woman of Valor" (from the Old Testament, see here) and then turned them into little herbal sachets.

I used a mixture of herbs from my garden, mostly lavendar, that I cut and dried the day we decided upon the swap, so that they were all ready.  The scent was overwhelming, but nice, and hopefully will scent a drawer up very well.

I scanned a few of them that didn't photograph well before I sewed them into sachets.

The backs were done using hand-dyed fabric, and were all variations of this one.

This was a fun swap — is, as we are still going for three more nights.  I've enjoyed it and I hope to revisit the "useful fabric collage" concept a lot more next year.

I just received this in the mail.

It's not often that you get a piece of mail so pretty you have to scan it before you open it!

At first I couldn't think what it was, but then I remembered I had bought some stickers from a seller on Etsy.  The stickers are fabulous — they are little scans of the seller, carambatack's art.  I have never met her, but I am so in love with her work! 

Isn't her work wonderful?  I'm hoping to purchase a couple of her original pieces to keep in my office after the first of the year, but I liked her work so much, I wanted to share it with everyone!  Here is the direct link to her etsy shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5002535.

If y'all will stand it, I have to make one last proud mommy post.  My baby premiered in the Nutcracker Friday night.  We're now three days into the run of the ballet, and everything is going beautifully.  She is lovely in the role, and it has been worth all of her hard work and effort.  She seems to be enjoying herself immensely.

In a week or so, I'll be back to my normal schedule of mom-ing, working, and arts & crafting.  But, for the next little bit, I'm still a proud ballet mama.

Here is a back stage picture from tonight, and I've just had to cut and paste the entire review from opening night for y'all to see, since it mentions Ellie.

Alabama Ballet's Nutcracker performance a triumph for children of every age

In a December plagued by financial bailouts and unstable
markets, there's solace in the unbroken patterns of
holiday tradition. Since 2002, Alabama Ballet has milked
that comfort zone with George Balanchine's exquisite
choreography for "The Nutcracker," but this
year's production, which opened Friday at Samford
University's Wright Center, had an extra dose of
childlike escape from hard times.

The return of the Alabama Symphony after a year of
recorded music had a lot to do with it. The pre-concert
wonderment of curious children peering into the orchestra
pit was likely enough to spark the interest of future
artists.

Never mind that only 33 musicians can crowd into the pit
to play a reduced score of Tchaikovsky's music, or that
the amplification detracted from their naturalness. Under
conductor Les Fillmer's able guidance, all seemed well
again.

On stage, even the tedium of the Act 1 narrative seemed
more bearable than usual. Roger Van Fleteren played a
playful, grandfatherly Drosselmeier. The mice in the battle
scene seemed scarier. The children's cast was sharp,
especially Ellie Vance's well-acted portrayal of Marie.

Jinsong Gao chimed in with a fine violin solo in the
"Sleeping Beauty" excerpt. The snow scene was
enchantingly danced by an ensemble of 16, as snow fell
profusely – sometimes in clumps – on stage and in the
audience.

The best dance is reserved for Act 2, capped in this
performance by Tatiana Ledovskikh. First exhibiting her
grace, strength and elegance in the Dance of the Sugar Plum
Fairy, she twisted, turned, then threw herself into the
capable arms of Cavalier Matthew Prescott with seamless,
silken glides.

Chinatsu Owada was a sensuous "Coffee." Kathryn
Gebler, always a striking presence, led a well-trained
bouquet of 14 flowers in the famous waltz.

This is a disciplined, well-trained company doing the best
"Nutcracker" there is. Dance aficionado or not,
you owe it to your inner child to see it.

A couple of quick pictures.

I'm so excited!  Spoonflower has selected a fabric I designed to be in their weekly contest!  Please go and vote for me here.

I'm so excited!  When I designed and ordered this fabric for a project I was doing, I thought it was one of the most exciting bits of crafting I had done.  I used scans and bits of some collages, and put them together on paper before scanning them to get the final fabric design.  I hope everyone else will like it too!  I'll take a photo of some of the actual fabric to post later this week.

This is how six looks.

But he'll always be my baby!  (The one in the green pants)

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart.

Happy Thanksgiving (a day late). We seem to be celebrating by going from starbucks to starbucks.