Christmas Nostalgia: Paper Mache Santa

Not having the chance to compare the two, I swear this Santa is the same style as the one that memorializes "Bucky", my nicknamed brother who pre-deceased my birth. I remember Mom painted Bucky's at least twice and there may have been more touch-ups. Bucky's is far cuter, has more personality, and has a cute candy cane instead of an icky ribbon stuck on his left mitten. It's funny how both have chipped paint on the toes of their boots. As with the wee-winking-tree, I found this on e-bay along with the celluloid reindeer (in different sizes but sans styrofoam sleigh) that pranced through a billow of glass beaded garlands across the top of the TV every year.

What I haven't found: the bas-relief paper mache reindeer that used to leap across the living room wall, angels crafted from Ivory Soap bottles, gilded trees created from pasta encrusted cones, and tulle angels appearing to float when pinned on drapes. Holiday corsages created from metallic leaves, chenille stems, glass beads and baubles, ribbons, bottlebrush trees and wreaths, pinecones often painted and glittered, and ribbons are almost common. There are plenty of Nativities out there but Mom's is the only one that has a cow with horns of metallic springs along with: cool angels, four wise men, enough sheep for sacrificial slaughter during any major holiday, and, of course, palm trees rescued from my old dinosaur play set. And as much as I have looked since having internet access for ten years, I have never seen a picture and only a terse reference to my PEZ holiday candy dish.

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I'm an artist?

Here's what I've been making:

And this:

Plus this:

And my current favorite:

No wait, it's really this one:

Have I suddenly embraced my inner psychedelia and poured myself on canvas? I wish. No, the simple truth is I did it the old fashioned way and cheated with used a computer program and now you can too.

click the image to begin

Kaleidoscope Painter is furiously fast and fun for creating instant images. The colors are as brilliant as my old black-light posters and are easily changed. What a brilliant time waster. And my apologies to the real artists out there.

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Quiz: If you could be a doughnut...

I didn't intend to have another quiz so soon but I couldn't resist with this one. It's just for fun and not very accurate (well I don't think so) because my favorite doughnut is a buttermilk bar. Although on over-thinking it, I do like a luscious chocolate.

You Are a Boston Creme Donut

You have a tough exterior. No one wants to mess with you. But on the inside, you're a total pushover and completely soft. You're a traditionalist, and you don't change easily. You're likely to eat the same doughnut every morning, and pout if it's sold out.

What Donut Are You?

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Christmas Nostalgia: Wee Winking Tree

I remember we had two of these little trees. A battery powered a light on the inside that shined out through the sides and made the star glow. Ours, as was typical, were broken and I don't remember the lights ever working. And I'm still wondering where the patterned base came from as I don't remember it at all. If you had asked, I would have said it was definitely solid colored. But what I do remember is the little star on top. For some strange reason I always associated it with a pat of butter. I was delightfully surprised to see these being offered on e-bay.

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