The missing December posts

I mentioned I was sick, right? Geez - I'm so glad that's over. Well, I guess technically it's not over but after three months of hacking my brains out and trying all sorts of different medications that didn't work, I stopped taking the drugs and listened to my body. And guess what? I figured out what was going on. I told my doctor and she agreed with me. YAY! Now, I take minimal medicine and control what's going on via my food choices and am back to myself. Shew!

Anyhow - between all of the coughing, I did manage to squeak out some art stuff in December. I have hopes of posting more, but if I don't get to any of the other projects, I want to at least acknowledge this one because it was a lot of fun, and I want to give thanks to the challenge creator and folks who swapped with me.

Louise Gale came up with a fantastic idea of doing an ornament swap. I signed up and immediately came up with an idea I was sure would not only be fun, but super easy. Wow - was I wrong.

I attempted to make wreaths out of wooden balls. The trick was painting them. They just never turned out the way I wanted them to, so I scrapped the whole idea and took a route I was more comfortable with - paper and pens. This is the final result:

The Front

The back. It reads, "For Lucy, nothing said "holiday" more than gold sparkles."

The inside. It reads, "Follow your happy, this holiday and everyday."

I was pretty pleased with the final result and I hope the recipients enjoyed them. In return, I received three adorable oranments.

A cute little bird (green, nonetheless) from Kimberly Turner of soggydogstudios.

An adorable house (I received the one on the far left) made by April Cole.

I received one more, but I can't find the card that came with the ornament or the blog, that I know I've seen. It was a super cute candy cane stripped circle ornament. I loved the simplicity of it and it's something I might try to mimic for gifts next year.

I loved the process (despite my own set backs) and I loved receiving goodies in the mail! Looking forward to more swaps for sure!