Artful Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving my sister and her family came for a day of fun, food and art.

While the turkey was cooking everyone got to work on a variety of projects. Some of us started with stamp carving and block printing. A quick how-to from me, a few samples, all the tools and supplies, and they were off!



Even the dog got into the act, supervising while Sam was cutting out pattern pieces for a pet bed.



Whitman is already an accomplished artist and was eager to try this kind of stamp making and block printing.



He kept his first stamp pretty simple (below) but quickly advanced to larger, much more detailed blocks (which I totally forgot to take pictures of before everything got packed into the car, but I was really impressed.)



Sage assured me that she had already done this in school and she knew exactly what she was going to carve.



Everything she carved, drew or made today had a heart on it, reflecting her loving nature (and the fact that she's six ::big smile::).



Sam was working on the pet bed and it's amazing that she managed to get that 1" sheet foam cut into the multitude of needed pieces with the dog and a small cousin underfoot.



Linda tried the stamp carving too and, again, I forgot to take a picture of the block she made. She came with fabric and a plan, worked quickly and secreted the results away. I have a feeling her prints may factor into some handmade holiday gifts...



But most of the day she was knitting these neat "muttons" (mittens without fingers) for a co-worker. Last year she made me a pair and I love them. They keep my always-cold hands toasty warm and I can still work with them on.



I managed to open my new soldering iron, but never actually used it. Sage and I made some jewelry, but decided to keep it simple with beads, findings and fabric. She even made up a song about her new necklace and performed it for all of us. Over and over and over again. I could sing it for you now, if you'd like - it's still stuck in my head!

It was a wonderful, warm, creative day with good food to eat and good people to enjoy it all with. I'm so thankful for my family.