What's Next... Penelope

I am doing a series of portraits of the women from Homer's Odyssey. I have already done Circe, the sorceress/goddess who liked to turn men into animals. Now I am working on Penelope, Odysseus' faithfully, waiting wife.

Sketch first. I wanted to show her waiting, because that's what she did. And, somehow, I'd like to show her attachment and love for O. I've got a few ideas. After the sketch I picked out colors and fabrics and began cutting and pinning.

The reds and pinks were chosen to show her ardent love and faithfulness to her husband. The blues (there will be more blue showing up) are to symbolize her sadness because she misses O and sometimes wonders if she'll ever see him again.

Penelope is a bit of a change up from my usual creepiness, a refreshing change up. But not for long.

Christmas Decorating- The Master Bedroom

That's right! I am finished with the master bedroom. I cleaned it yesterday and decorated it today. I always start with my bedroom (it's my favorite room in the house). I keep the decorating relatively simple, playing off of what I already have in there. Here it is...

Next I'll be tackling the upstairs hallway and the upstairs bathroom. Stay tuned!

Christmas Planning Begins

As I alluded to yesterday, I am ready for Christmas!

Well, that's not quite right. I am ready to get ready for Christmas. Yes, that's better! I am ready to get ready. Ready?

So, each year I strive to get a bit more organized. Not that I 'm not organized. It's just that I am also a procrastinator. An Organized Procrastinator. Who loves making lists. Who love-loves crossing things off lists. There you have it!

Anyway...the other day I decided to make myself a new Christmas planner. I hemmed and hawwed over just how to make it to suit all of my list making needs. Well, there just isn't a planner big enough. So, I made two!

The first planner is a binder (red and white, of course) that I divided up into a Nov/Dec month-at-a-glance section, a day by day section, a meal planning section and a project/decorating/cleaning section. I also have folders for patterns for gift making and a folder for catalogs and Christmas-themed magazines.  It is basically an organized notebook to help me keep my thoughts and notes...organized.

The second planner is strictly for gifts; wish lists, shopping lists, coupons, receipts. Wanna see it?

Do you love it? I had seen these little planner/journal things in magazines before. They are made out of a file folder! I did a search for directions on how to make one and...volia!

I wanted something smaller for my gift lists so that I could take it with me when I shop. I also wanted to be able to hide it easily from various prying, blue eyes.

 It opens to four pocket sections; one for gift ideas/info and one for coupons and notes...

 

...and one for shopping lists and one for receipts.

What's next? Cleaning, of course! All signs of Halloween have been eradicated. Now it's time to clean, clean, clean. To Christmas music! ;)

*The lists are from here. Ideas for making and decorating the planner were found here. Enjoy!

It's November...

...you know what that means? Time to decorate for Christmas!!!

Call me crazy, I don't care! You know what I did yesterday? I put on Christmas music and backed away all of my Halloween decorations. Yes, I said Christmas music.

What's next? As any good elf knows, it's time to make some lists. Not just gift lists either. That's what I've been doing today, making lists. Cleaning, decorating, gift making, decoration making lists. Because I like to make list almost as much as I like to decorate for Christmas.

Are you getting ready for Christmas yet?