Ignorance and Want

 

Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' has long been one of my favourite stories. One of the most stirring parts of the tale is the appearance of Ignorance and Want beneath the robes of the Ghost of Christmas Present. 'A Christmas Carol' is relevant and poignant every year, it has helped make me a more generous person and generosity always seem to be something we could do more of along with love, kindness, patience, compassion, forgiveness, peace ...

 

Twelve days on YouTube

ALF's 'Twelve days of Christmas' has been on YouTube since Spring 2014 and has been viewed over a thousand times. The project started in 2009, when Amy and I became obsessed with the song and we developed our pictures for all twelve of the different days. The pictures also exist as a collection of Christmas cards.

ALF Christmas cards

After designing my own grown-up Christmas Cards in 2015 I went through Amy's old drawings and found six that I thought could be developed into lovely child-like Christmas card designs. Together with mine they form the basis of a ten card collection.

ALF @ Landmark

I watched this church in Teddington deteriorate, over the years, from the top of a double decker bus on the way to Kingston. A few years ago it was taken over by the Landmark art centre. Now you can visit various arts and crafts exhibitions, held there on occasions throughout the year. In 2016 Amy and I visited twice.

 

The first visit was to the art show which Amy found very inspiring. The artists came from all over Britain and beyond, we especially enjoyed the natural landscapes and floral designs. The second visit was more crafty and Christmassy. There was food and drink on offer as well as glass fusion pieces, pottery, candles, porcelain lampshades, handmade soap and various needle-crafts. There were a few painters but not so many as previously. I bought Amy another needle-felt slide for her hair.

Lavender Baubles

I have been trying to come up with ideas for gifts and cards with a specific Christmas flavour for a number of years. I think I finally cracked it in January and October 2015. I think it was something to do with thinking about Christmas in these two months, a time near Christmas, but rather when it is a future thought or a recent memory, not when it is in full swing. After thinking of my four original Christmas cards I have been working on other festive ideas; ALF Christmas cards, colouring books, stickers, knitted gift bags and Christmas tree decorations. I was very pleased with my idea for lavender baubles which are based on my Christmas cards and feature four Christmas/winter plants and flowers; mistletoe, holly, poinsettia and hellebore.

Comfort and Joy

I have been meaning to give my Star Heart Dolls a makeover for quite some time and over the summer I found some time to do just that. It started with my desire to create two attractive Christmas dolls called Comfort and Joy. Attractiveness was key and I worked on making the dresses, hair flowers and shoes as lovely as possible and also to find pretty ribbons to finish them off. Working on Comfort and Joy encouraged me to create more dolls, I call them the four seasons. As well as Winter Comfort and Spring Joy, I now also have Summer Bliss and Autumn Reflection.

I also gave makeovers to the Dream Box dolls; Chloe, Jane and Alice, and the ALF dolls; Lorna and Amy.

    

 My dolls are made using old white sheets that are no longer suitable for bed linen, my daughter said I could have different colour dolls so I will be hoping to create more different colour dolls using different material in the new year.

Craft stall for Trinity Homeless

The chairty coffee morning for Trinity Homeless at the URC, Northwood Hills, was quieter than previous occasions. I was joined by both my mother and my daughter, so that made the occassion extra special.

      

The table was smaller than usual and I had brought new display items with me so it took a little longer to set my stall up. Amy helped a lot in this, arranging the dolls and the books very nicely. I was also given a smaller table which I used exclusively for my variety of cards.

We enjoyed a cup of tea and a chat and Amy took pictures of the church's interior which she thought might be useful for a life and death art project. Despite a slow start, interest in my crafts grew and in the end I sold over twenty cards, mostly Christmas cards, and about ten lavender scenters. The church was cleared and locked up very swiftly, but I was able to donate money to the homeless charity via a lady who took part in the Big Sleep Out.

This was my ninth craft stall since presenting my first one in a wine bar in Eastcote in 2013. I hope to branch out a little more for craft stall number ten and maybe go somewhere where my Star Heart Dolls might prove to be more popular.

ALF Christmas Cards

I worked out that the best time of year to work on Christmas ideas was in January. You are not caught up in the pre-Christmas rush, the taste of Christmas is still in the air, there is a bit of a lull in many other areas of life and the memory of the festive season is still fresh. I started on my batch of Christmas cards in January 2015.

And Amy's were developed in October 2015.

Christmas crafts for Trinity Homeless

I'm taking part in a charity event for Trinity Homeless in December  at the URC Northwood Hills and these are some of the crafts I have been working on. As well as my old favourites like my fabric brooch cards, knitted gadget pouches, lavender scenters, ALF books and greeting cards, I also have new selections of Shepherd's Bush Star Heart dolls, lavender birds and digital collage cards.

The cards I have been working on include, by special request, 'Get Well Soon' and 'With Sympathy' cards. I have also worked on my Virtue Haiku cards, at the moment I have developed four cards for my favourite virtues; humility, kindness, patience and diligence. A virtue haiku card I feel I should work on is one for generosity.

I'm glad the next craft stall I do will be for a homeless charity, I've been a regular supporter of the London homeless charity St. Mungos for several years now and receive regular updates about the good work they do which is very humbling.

 

                    

Xmas gifts for St Mary's

I spent a lot of my spare time in September and October working on my crafts, which has been pleasant and rejuvenating but also quite tiring. I made ten new Star Heart dolls following my visit to Shepherd's Bush, I also created more fabric brooches, in particular more crochet poppies, also new cards and more lavender scenters including new owls and swallows. I am also aiming to produce a new ALF Creations book of poetry, but I am still working on that idea.

Below are the crafts I have produced for the St Mary's Christmas Bazaar which will take place later this month. They include all twelve ALF Christmas card designs. I also have more crafts I have made for a charity event to support Trinity Homeless, which is taking place in early December, I will share these nearer the time.

    

Christmas gifts for St. Mary's

I've been working on Christmas flavoured gifts in January and October this year and have come up with a small collection that I'm quite happy with and glad I have enough for a decent donation for the St. Mary's Christmas bazaar. Among the gifts are ALF christmas cards, Comfort and Joy star heart dolls, lavender baubles, knitted gift pouches and a variety of sleeping angels.

  

 

Twelve Days

A few years ago Amy and I became a little obsessed with the song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'. Amy spent a few days working on various pictures depicting the twelve days. She ran out of steam a bit by the time she got to ten lords a leaping, eleven pipers piping and twelve drummers drumming, so the later days have been 'digitally enhanced' to increase the numbers. I spent some time working the pictures into a montage with the help of movie maker and a version of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' I found on an old Marks and Spencer's Compilation CD. The resulting video can be found on my YouTube page. More recently I developed the pictures into a series of Christmas Cards.

Sleeping Angels

 

My Sleeping Angels are made of cloth and filled with dried lavender. Lavender has long been reputed to aid a good night's sleep and bring sweet dreams. Unlike weeping angels, who are alien beings who turn to stone when you look at them, but if you blink they transport you back into the past and feed on your future. Weeping angels are the stuff of nightmares, but sleeping angels are 'such stuff as dreams are made on'.