Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

 Most years, I decorate a huge Christmas tree with hundreds of ornaments and sparkles, but this year our tree is so different .... it is a small jade tree in a pot, decorated in soft colours .  The  little tree is  from a second generation cutting from my grandmother's jade tree, brought from Hong Kong, or so the family story claims. The baubles are frosted glass with our grandchildren's names on them, made by my daughter-in-law.  I added a few little dolls also in pastels and  I hung some felted balls .  These little balls were made in Nepal, a couple of  years ago at  Seven Women , a centre  which empowers marginalised Nepalese women through education and employment.  There is a single wooden star resting on the top branch  of the tree.  Somehow all this seemed appropriate with the unsettled and disturbing situation  of the fast spreading  Omicron variant of Covid -19  here in Newcastle ( NSW)  - these colours are calm, reassuring  and subdued . The tree decorations reflect t

  Merry Christmas ! 

 

  A few days ago, I read an opinion piece about the absurdity of portraying a white Christmas  with carols about snow related activities in Australia. I thought that it was worth checking if any of our postage stamps have an Australian theme - happily there are quite a few - surfing Santas, Madonna and Child amongst Australian wildflowers and this one - drawn by Kylie Courtney aged 6 in 1988. This koala in a Santa hat looks rather content to be celebrating in the bush on a sunny summery day.  On this card, I have stitched a paper collage to hint of the bush where koalas may celebrate Christmas happily.  

  I am all for recycling, so here is a card that next year the recipient can reuse ... just remove the decorated "tag" and use it as a gift tag  next Christmas!  This is a stitched fabric tag featuring a Christmas postage stamp issued in Australia in 2008.  The stamps from 2008 are amongst my favourites.  And very special Christmas wishes to  the  Tag Tuesday   team and  followers ..... 

 There's nothing like the traditional red and green to make it really feel like Christmas.  This stitched paper card features a Christmas stamp issued in Australia in 2012. It really has a festive feeling . Both the 2012 Christmas stamps celebrate the traditional with contemporary graphics. 

 Another of the vintage Christmas stamps - 1966 - is featured on this collaged card . It was the first Christmas stamp issued with a decimal value . Do you remember when it was only 4 cents to post a card?  The non-representational angel is an image from a  rubber stamp, impressed onto fabric  and then hand coloured with marker pen. I chose this image to complement the Nativity scene depicted on the postage stamp. 

 Today's card celebrates a Summer Christmas, inspired by frangipani . The stamp is a vintage one and  one of the many I have of this issue. I like it because of its stained glass window look and the unusual Christmas colour of magenta. There were such brightly coloured stamps that year. 

  For a change today , this collaged card features a Christmas stamp from Great Britain.  The collge is created from commercial papers  The postage stamp refers to Verse 2.10 from the Gospel of St Luke...    But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.     Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

 Last year,  both the secular and religious postage stamps for Christmas featured Australian flora - quite a lovely change from traditional images.  Today's card is a stitched and coloured pencil rendition of NSW Christmas Bush to reflect the theme of the native flowers on the stamp.  Here is the 2020 Christmas issue : 

 One of the more popular images on postage stamps is the Adoration of the Magi ( or more commonly known as The Three Wise Men) . On today's card, a 1998 Christmas stamp is featured on a stitched paper collage .  Here are some of the many  other stamps  telling the story of the Magi .... 

Card #16 is a paper and cloth collage. Most of the papers are gel plate printed.  The featured stamp is Australian issued in 2012 as part of the Christmas series.  Hope you have already done your Christmas posting - it is almost too late....   

  Today's card is an abstract landscape collage, picking up the colours in this bright Christmas stamp from 2009. Both of the stamps with religious connotations, from this year are very colourful and have a contemporary feel to them.   

Featuring an Australian Christmas stamp, issued in 2008 , today's card is a mixed media collage - a commercially printed paper and a painted digital print.  This stamp designed by Melinda Coombes, is one of a series, which Australia releases for Christmas each year. Each series is recent times has  usually depicted both the religious and secular aspects of Christmas .  This 2008 series of postage stamps is amongst my favourites.  

  It's time for Christmas gnomes :  What is the story behind Christmas gnomes? They originated out of Scandinavian folklore and were “house gnomes” who lived in or under the house. They would protect the children and animals from evil or misfortune.   A nisse ( Norwegian) ,  tomte (Swedish) , tomtenisse, or tonttu (Finnish:  is a mythological creature from Nordic folklore today typically associated with the winter solstice and the Christmas season.  On today's card he is surrounded by Christmas gifts in the form of a Christmas stamp  (Australia 2017) 

 Card #11 features an Australian Christmas Stamp issued in 1969 - with  the contemporary colours of green and  magenta echoed in  stitched flowers and vegetation.  In 1969, besides this stamp with an image of Mother and Child in a stained glass window, a more abstract design was also issued with references to the Tree of Life.  And if you missed the first 9, here they are. 

Today's "Christmas Carol" Card  has been repurposed from a free motion machine embroidered piece I made for last year's Christmas Countdown.   What is your favourite Christmas Carol ? This is one of mine, played with one of my favourite instruments, the cello.   

 Card #9 celebrates a couple of Christmas traditions - mistletoe and the Christmas tree.  The postage stamp featured is from an Australian Christmas series in 2011.   Why do people kiss under mistletoe? A young lady caught under the mistletoe could not refuse to give a kiss . This was supposed to increase her chances of marriage, since a girl who wasn't kissed could still be single next Christmas. According to ancient custom, after each kiss, one berry is removed until they are all gone. https://www.almanac.com  ›

 One of my favourite colour combinations - black , white and red. While this collage hasn't a Christmas reference, I think there is a Christmas feel to it, so I have included it in this Advent series.  The postage stamp depicting Sturt's Desert Pea , the floral emblem of South Australia, was issued in 1971. 

 Holly is a popular symbols of Christmas and features in this collage , referring to  the colours from the 2012 Australian Christmas stamp . What a  happy image of another icon , Rudolph the red nosed reindeer!  But a snowflake on an Aussie stamp celebrating a summer Christmas? 

 Card #6 celebrates one of the 1998 set of Christmas postage stamps by popular Australian artist , Ken Done  whose work is always colourful and brightly illustrative. All three stamps in the set were naive drawings of the nativity.  This card's collage is reworked from a previous one I did for a decorated envelope in the Christmas Countdown blog series last year . 

 Today's Christmas card features a vintage postage stamp issued in Australia in 1968 . It is a collage with paper, fabric,  gold  foil and thread.  The Stamp celebrates the Christmas Hymn ' " Adeste Fideles " - Oh Come all Ye Faithful and here is some information about this well known  Christmas carol....  "O Come, All Ye Faithful" is a Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade, John Reading, King John IV of Portugal, and anonymous Cistercian monks. The earliest printed version is in a book published by Wade in 1744 ( Wikipedia) 

 Unusual colours for Christmas ... this collaged card features an Australian Christmas stamp from 1976.  This postage stamp is one of many in the history of Christmas stamps which features the Madonna and Child. In contrast, the first 'commercial'  Christmas card claimed to be sent by Queen Victoria in 1843, depicted a family enjoying the festivities of the season. It depicted them making merry and drinking wine happily. Its image caused much controversy and condemnation from the Temperance League. 

 Christmas Card #3 : Red Robin collage featuring a  British Christmas stamp.  Thanks to a friend who thought I would enjoy creating with this stamp - I did!  I used some printed rice paper, some of my own ink marked paper and fabric. 

 Today's card is a stitched paper collage with an Australian  postage stamp from Christmas 1977 . This  this card was repurposed from an envelope collage I made in last year's  Advent  project.  Link to 2020 Christmas Countdown Happy Surfing, Santa! 

 For this year's Christmas Countdown , I will post a handmade Christmas card each day of Advent ...  The first Christmas card of 2021 is a fabric collaged card featuring a Christmas postage stamp from the 2007 collection.