Haiku New Year!

Hope you are all enjoying your holidays and getting to take some time off from work. It's been a lovely holiday for me and my family, although not a very crafty one. I did get some nice crafting tools for Christmas, including a soldering iron, which is something I've never used before. I am soooo excited about learning to use this in my projects.

Just a reminder that you have mere days to submit your holiday haiku for a chance to win. The poet who submits the haiku I like the best will receive a pack of custom note cards, perfect for sending out your post holiday thank you notes. Here's a picture of a sample:

You can choose the color you want and add an initial. For more info on available colors, click here. You must leave your haiku as a comment on this blog in order to be considered (see last post for rules), and a winner will be selected on New Year's Day.

A parting haiku for inspiration:
Pop the bubbly cork
Midnight kisses for your love
Happy New Year all!

Counting down to counting points again,
Jenny

I'll Have a Haiku Christmas

Christmas cards are sent
You should get yours very soon
Lost in mail, you think?

Ah, haiku. Who doesn't love it? Haiku is efficient, structured, and can fit any mood or theme. As a writer who never seems to have enough time, I love haiku-ing. It lets me have a creative moment without having to develop a plot, characters, setting, or any of that pesky stuff that you need for stories. Unlike writing for Corp America, I don't have to build a chart to go with it. And unlike crafting, I can do it anywhere with no supplies and no need to purchase anything. What a great art form!

As we draw nearer to Christmas, I want to encourage your inner Japanese poet to burst forth. For the last two weeks of the year, submit your own holiday or crafting haiku in the comments. On New Year's day, I will select the haiku I like the best (yes, this is completely subjective) as a winner. The winner will receive a prize, which I'll tell you about next week.

Rules of the Contest:

1. This contest is open to everyone. Doesn't matter if you are related to me, married to me, or mothered by me. Doesn't matter how long I've known you. Doesn't matter if I know you at all. Doesn't matter if you are a follower of the blog.
2. Your haiku must follow the rules of haiku: 3 lines: the first line is 5 syllables, the second is 7 syllables, and the third is 5 syllables.
3. Your haiku must be about the holidays or crafting. By the holidays, I don't mean Easter, Flag Day, Labor Day, or just any holiday. I mean a holiday traditionally celebrated at this time of year.
4. You must post your haiku in the published comments. If you email it to me, speak it to me, leave it on my Facebook page, text it, send it to me privately, etc., while I will enjoy that, it won't be considered.

And now a bonus haiku to get your poet gears churning:
Glitter on my face
Ink stains cover my fingers
Signs of crafting time

Sayonara,
Jenny

Getting Carded for Christmas

Have you sent your Christmas cards yet?

Okay, I actually can't get onto anyone about this without being so hypocritical there should be a new word for it. Hyperhypocritical? I am the worst person in the world for sending cards on time. It's pretty annoying. I really ought to be better about it, and I want to be better about it, but yet I'm not. I haven't sent a single card, and will probably only send out a handful, though I've made quite a lot to put up on my etsy site (jenboothe.etsy.com).

The card I'm showing you in this jaunt into the World of Morecraft was a therapeutic little card to make. I ended up making several of these cards at the same time, so I got into a groove and had to just be still and focus for a while. Wine helped. I highly recommend making yourself your favorite holiday drink and listening to the new Michael Buble Christmas CD (which is terrific!) to get into your own groovy little place.

To see how I made this, watch the slide show. Then get your rear in gear and get your Christmas cards out! What are you doing playing on the Internet when you have all those Christmas cards to write? Do it! (Note: this motivational speech is really for me, but if you benefit from it, too, so much the better.) 

Procrastinatingly yours,
Jenny

Ode to the Little Blue House

Greetings, all. Hope you are making it through the holiday season with a minimum of stress.

I decided to undergo a little stress busting myself by taking a class at the Little Blue House last weekend. Regular readers will recognize that I frequently mention LBH as a place where I get many of the supplies I use in my projects. After last weekend, I realize the time has come for not just a shout out but an actual declaration of my love for the Little Blue House. Yes, this is love. But a statement is not enough, either. It must be done in song.

(to the tune of Beethoven's Ode to Joy)

Little Blue House, how I adore you

You inspire me to create

Papers, inks, supplies and classes

With teachers who are super great.

A big ol' THANK YOU to Tracy and her team for being patient with me, the slowest and most injury-prone crafter ever to pick up an X-Acto knife. Extra-special appreciation to them for not rolling their eyes or just outright smacking me on every single project when I say "I want to use different papers/colors/embellishments." By the way, this is on a LOT of projects.

After the class got the crafty juices flowing (eww, that sounded better in my head), I made the kiddo turn off the Call of Duty game and sit down with me for some crafty good times. The LBH blog featured 12 Days of Ornaments leading up to Thanksgiving, and I loved one of them enough to force my child into a child labor situation. This was the FaLaLa Folded Tree ornament. The kiddo did most of the work on these, with me just assisting as needed. He refused to allow me to take his picture making these (street cred), but here's a picture of one of the finished ornaments:

Tracy has kindly allowed me to post a link to her blog showing you the instructions on how to make this darling ornament, so follow this link when you're ready to make some for yourself.

And if you're in the Keller, Texas, area, I highly recommend you stop by the Little Blue House yourself for some stress busting and creativity boosting.

Having a Little Blue Christmas,
Jenny