Holiday

Off to LA, bright (actually not bright at all. 2 o' clock is nowhere near bright) and early in the morning with Miss Liz!

Loot And My Little Collection

My stash of intruments is growing! Added to my collection were a new Ukulele, a new Keyboard, a sweet new Mic, and some software to get it all going. I'm beside myself with excitement, and it's a good thing I have a whole ten days off to play with my new things(minus one day. I don't count Monday as a day off. It's a dentist day, in which I expect to have teeth pulled, and things filled, and shots, and blood, and general nastiness. ). I've expirimented a bit with the new Uke, and the Mic, and they are beautiful. I cannot wait to officially start recording legitimate things!
Also cannot wait for New Years in California! Lizzie Menthol and I are heading out on Thursday for fun times at The Viper Room, and Disneyland! A far cry from last years' New Years, in which we were both very very ill and spent the New Year watching "Mean Girls" and drinking White Zinfandel , whilst bemoaning the fact that we were not out celebrating at somewhere more fascinating than my living room. Hooray for LA!!!
In sadder news, I took down the classy black and white Christmas tree to make way for the Keyboards and everything else. I hate taking down Christmas trees and decorations. But not so much that I leave them up til the Fourth of July like some around here... And the joy of new instruments made the "Day After Christmas Blues" not so bad.

Glaedelig Jul!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!! It was a wonderful day, lots of family, food, silly string, and musical intruments for everyone! I'm off to play with my new things and finally make Chrimboll Cards for everyone. Pictures of my loot coming soon!

New Loves

I've had the guitar for quite some time, but never really touched it. I only ever played the piano for ages, and I was somewhat afraid of the guitar. Then I became obsessed with the sound of the ukulele beginning last year and have wanted one ever since. Then a week ago I found one for next to nothing. It's really just a toy, but it works nicely when you have no idea what you're doing. Then I decided if I could figure out Uke tabs, I could surely figure out guitar tabs! And so today I learned the A, E and D chords! My fingertips are on fire, but I'm fantastically proud of myself.

Richardson Family Christmas Tree Decoration Process...

Once a year my whole family (or most of it) gets together for the Decorating of the Christmas tree, a much anticipated event. Mums makes far too much food, we play card games (or in this years' case, "Guesstures".... somewhat like charades), watch Christmas specials, listen to Handel's" Messiah" about 800 times through, and drink champagne, then everyone falls into a serious food coma and Mums decorates the tree entirely by herself. Everyone else encourages her by telling her how well the tree decorating is coming along, and how they'll get up in just a minute and put something on the tree (this rarely happens).
Thanks Mum for being a such a good sport, and loverly job on the tree, as always!

I Heart Sweden; First Aid Kit Edition

Sisters, Klara & Johanna Söderberg create the prettiest harmonies I've heard in quite some time. Not only are they ridiculously freaking cute, but they are greatly talented too. I adore them, and my crush on Sweden deepens...

Hard Believer

In The Morning

You're Not Coming Home Tonight

Bettie Rebel Vintage

Bettie Rebel Vintage is now open! I've been somewhat lazy putting things up in the Etsy shop, due to the impending holiday madness. But there are a few things up, among them are my favorite pair of rhinestone clip on earrings from the 50's and some really cool vintage dresses.
Thanks to all the lovely ladies who modeled and baby Jadyn, who I think should be the BRV mascot, "Baby Rebel". She excels at looking coyly over her shoulder.
I'll be doing this again, hopefully soon, complete with wine, pink champagne and fancy party snacks, if you're interested in joining us and being a part of Bettie Rebel madness, let me know!

My Etsy Shop; Gweniverejoy.etsy.com

Stuck In My Head

Autumn Story

Pretty Girls

White Winter Hymnal

Dry

Oh Bondage

Felty Goodies for Corabelle and Nutmeg! So far there's only two breakfasts, but soon there will be lunch and dinner and baked goods.

This years' Christmas cards. Recycled brown paper bags and vintage buttons (supposedly my great grandmothers'!), and tea-stained paper.

Tea stained paper is my second favorite project of this Monday, and the nicest smelling.

And my very favorite was fusing plastic shopping bags! When you fold them up and iron them (between sheets of parchment, of course.), they become sheets of pliable fabric-y plastic. I've made a few things with it, but my favorite is the wallet. I know I am somewhat blinded by creativity, but I think it's sort of genius!

Messy messy art room...Finished product!

Gingerbread Mayhem and Happy December!

I had very very high hopes for my first batch of gingerbread. Idea No. 1 was to create the Millennium Falcon. But after studying the pictures for an hour, I decided it would be far less tiresome to build the seemingly simple and lovely Eiffel tower. Creating templates and actually baking the stuff wasn't bad at all, but due to all the icing and candy, the first two tiers toppled to the counter soon after I added them, leaving only the bottom of the tower and six sad beret-ed Frenchmen. I was seriously considering rebuilding, but I decided on a less ambitious undertaking. 19th Century New York City. Which is in the works!

I'm absolutely loving this December so far! Aside from the disastrous end of the gingerbread Eiffel tower, that is.
As soon as all the turkey and pies were gone, it seems the whole family began preparations for Christmas! My niece, Corabelle learned (and found that she absolutely loves)to sew and with a little help from her Nonnie, made Christmas stockings for everyone in the family.
I found early on Black Friday that my beloved 6 ft. baby-pink Christmas tree was missing from the basement, and then later on realized it was gone entirely. Turns out someone had thrown it out during Spring cleaning. So off I went to look for a new one with the help of Mums. Finding a 6 ft. pink tree is not an easy thing though. So I decided on a shiny new 6'5 white pine with black and silver decorations, and found I love it just as much as a pink one, if not more.