Christmas Countdown 14: Christmas Tree #12

Christmas Countdown 14: Christmas Tree #12 - Playful

Seoul : http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2897710

Advent Blog Day 12 - Playful
If you had to guess what would be the softest, most cuddly material to create a Christmas tree from, I don't know if many would think 'teddy bear'. Obviously a number of people have, and while I think the idea is a little bizarre, it's probably no more weird than some of the crazy Christmas trees we have already seen this month. There is no doubt that this is a playful idea, and a good one if you are in the business of retailing teddy bears.

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/560557484866498385/

Takashikaya, Japan : http://garden-frenzy.blogspot.com/2010/12/takashimaya_16.html

Sheraton Grand Hotel, Beijing :http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn/BeijingInformation/BeijingNewsUpdate/t1460811.htm

While teddy bears seem a favourite Christmas toy symbol, Disney creations have also found themselves front and centre in the Christmas tree stakes. This huge tree (about 15 metres high) seen at London's St Pancras' station ( the same place which hosted the giant LEGO tree) was made entirely of stuffed toy versions of Disney animated characters.

St Pancras station : https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristintablang/2015/12/16/most-wonderfully-bizzare-christmas-trees-in-the-world/#27148ae2ef7e

Not quite as spectacular perhaps but equally cuddly are trees made from other children's favourites. I can't verify where these trees were made, but Hello Kitty might be a clue?

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/424605071093963300/

http://hello-kitty.tumblr.com/post/70200046990

Very few households could gather so many soft toys together to make trees of this size, but it could be a very good way of approaching "tidying up" if children were encouraged to stack their toys in a Christmas tree formation, if only for this season.

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/310607705521885647/

And just because teddy bears are cute, whether they are stacked as Christmas trees or not, I am adding this link for my blog followers who like to make teddy bears for donations to Red Cross, women's and children's refuges, charity fundraising or hospital groups and other charities.

I'll be back here tomorrow with some amazing Christmas trees to share with you.

In the Pink

At Tag Tuesday . Pinky O' Hagan is hosting a tag challenge which asks for 'a bit of pink".... not so difficult if you like pink. I don't use a lot of pink in my work, so it was quite a bit of a challenge when I thought only of pink - my thoughts went to pink roses, pink hearts, pink confectionery !!! Then I referred to this week's colour prompts, #coloricombo by artists Este MacLeod.... pink with sap green, dark tea, and sea green. I'm not sure I got the colours in this palette exactly, but here is my tag, a stylised landscape - The collaged background of the tag has torn pieces of watercolour art rejects, painted magazine pages and a little bit of gift paper. The tree silhouette is decorated with paper dots, cut with a hole puncher.

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

The Sea - for Tag Tuesday

For the current challenge "The Sea" at Tag Tuesday, I made a couple of painted/ hand drawn tags . These were created from a piece of watercolour paper which had been sprayed with acrylic paint - blue, yellow and quinacridone gold. I then sketched over the top , trying to follow some pattern created by the splatter and then add some felt tip pen lines watercolour pencil to highlight the shapes. The tags represent the fantasies of the hidden city of Atlantis and a mermaid. With this theme in mind, I also add a free motion stitched tag I made earlier this year for 29 Faces -

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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