Santa's Checkin' His List

Now available on Spookytime Jingles!!!

Santa WIP

Santa WIP for Spookytime Jingles. Don't forget, STJ is listing twice in December!! (Dec.1, Dec. 13).

Look what I Won!

We all have our good days and not so good days. I was having one of the latter days when I was pleasantly surprised by not one, but two blog awards. How great is that!?

Here is the first, from the talented Flora of Bone Head Studios. It's called " The Marie-Antoinette A Real Person, A Real Award."

Here are the Rules for the Award:

1. Please put the logo on your blog

2. Place a link to the person from whom you received the award

3. Nominate at least 7 or more blogs

4. Put the links of those blogs on your blog

5. Leave a message on their blogs to tell them

And here are my selected winners:

1. Huckleberry Arts

2. Garboodles

3. Howling Moon

4. Chicken Lips

5. Surprise, Delight, Joy

6. Audrey Eclectic

7. The Smiling Goat

And here is the second award from the also talented Annette of Huckleberry Arts. Thanks for the pick-me-up Annette!

Here are the rules:

* Put the logo on your blog or post.* Nominate at least 5 blogs(can be more) that for you are Uber Amazing!* Let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog.*" Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from."

And here are the winners:

1. Sleepy Hollow Folk Art

2. Fantastic Figments

3. Fat Jak Originals

4. Marie Patterson

5. Honey Girl Studio

Sorry if you've already received one of these awards. Guess now you'll have two! You are all very deserving.

My 10 Favorite Christmas Movies, and some...

I'm a movie fan, and a sucker for Christmas movies in particular (cheesy though they may be). It's November, and Steph and I have broken out the Christmas DVDs. I've watched the classics growing up, and some may be great to me, if only for the childhood nostalgia, while others have only emerged in recent years as instant classics.

I'll start with my 10 favorite Christmas movies (unless I'm forgetting something.)

10. Nightmare Before Christmas. So it's a mash-up of Christmas and Halloween, but it's an ingeniously made classic as far as I'm concerned.

9. A Christmas Story. Most of you would probably like to strangle me for putting this movie at number nine on my list rather than 1, 2, or 3. The fact is, this one's new to me and I'm not sure I've even seen the whole thing from beginning to end. However, from what I've seen, it deserves a spot here.

8. Miracle on 34th Street (the old one). I don't care who you are, you can't watch this one and tell me it didn't give you a touch of Christmas joy.

7. Prancer Yeah, yeah I know it's not really a guy movie. I grew up on it, it grew on me, and now it's one of my Christmas staples.

6. It's a Wonderful Life I love this movie and it's good old fashion moral. Again, sorry it's not closer to #1 on my list.

5. Polar Express This movie restored my faith that great Christmas movies can still be made today... well four years ago. Truly an amazing flick.

4. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation One of my favorite Christmas movies, and vacation movies. Could be the funniest movie on the list other than #1. I get cracked up just thinking about it!

3. The Santa Claus No-one could have done it like Tim Allen. Such a clever and original idea for a movie. I love it. Unfortunately I can't say the same for the two sequels.

2. Elf My favorite Will Ferrell movie and one of my favorite comedies. There are parts where I can't stop laughing.

and the winner is........

1. Home Alone Wish I knew how many times I've seen this! It never fails to bring the laughs, and that good "Christmasy" feeling. Hands down, my favorite Christmas movie.

And now for some honorable mentions, some of which I'm a little ashamed:

Jingle all the Way This is an almost painfully bad movie, but Steph makes me watch it every year. She doesn't even like it!! However, it has somehow become something of a tradition and it would be kind-of sad to miss it.

Earnest Saves Christmas A childhood classic to me, just didn't have a place in the top ten.

Home Alone 2 It's pretty funny but it's almost a complete knock off of the first one. I'll still give it a watch now and then.

Jack Frost A bit too depressing for me.

So what is your favorite Christmas movie? Check out the poll over on the side bar and vote for your favorite.

Naughty or Nice STJ is listing TWICE!

Yep, you heard right, so don't forget to check out Spookytimejingles on the 1st AND the 13th of December!

New Ornament WIPs

I have a few ornaments in the making, including a couple of Santas, a couple of snowmen, and an elf. Some of them will probably be on Etsy before the week is over, so keep an eye out!

Joyful Winter Snowman

Available now at Etsy.

STJ Sneak Peek

Don't forget to stop in at Spookytime Jingles at 12:00 am for these guys and more!

Winter WIP

I haven't made a lot of closed-eye pieces in the past, so I decided to try my hand at it. I'm not yet sure what will become of this guy. I'm thinking maybe he'll show up on Etsy pretty soon, so keep an eye out!

My Collection

This is something that has been near and dear to me for my whole life. When I was a kid, my grandma gave me a cheap, factory made nutcracker. Somehow it struck a chord with me and I've been collecting every since.

My favorite nutcracker maker is Christian Steinbach, who is also one of my biggest inspirations as an artist. Unfortunately, he just passed away last year. Hopefully his children and grandchildren will carry on his legacy.

In light of the oncoming Christmas season, I'll be posting a picture of a nutcracker from my collection at least once a week.

I'll start with my very first German nutcracker, a Steinbach given to me by one of my grandma's friends. She's a very generous woman!

"Sherlock Holmes"

WOW

This little guy just remembered that the next Spookytime Jingles update is just around the corner, and I think his expression says it all!

Visit me at STJ November 13th to find this elf and more!