Thursday, December 29, 2011

Approaching 2012 and Why Kronos?



Many time clocks and payroll systems are under the name of Kronos. Have you ever wondered why?


Kronos also known as Saturn in Greek Mythology is identified as the Father of Time.  

He was once the leader of the Titans.  The Titans existed before the Greek Gods.  Kronos married his sister Rhea and they had many children.  Kronos was foretold his children would overthrow him.  Fearing his children, Kronos swallowed each child as they were born.   

When Zeus was born his mother Rhea hid him and tricked Kronos into swallowing a stone instead.  Over the years Rhea convinced Kronos to release the children he had swallowed.  The released children joined with Zeus to fight and defeat their father and the Titans. 

Kronos was later exiled to roam the earth and harvest the ground to survive.  It is said Kronos understood the wrong he had done to his children and roamed the earth in grief.  Images of Kronos depict him carrying a sickle or scythe.  

The sickle symbolizes the destruction of an old crop to make room for a new crop - the end of the Titan reign.  It is shaped like a crescent moon- cycling from one period of time into another.  The idea of harvest can also be associated with death, the end of a growing season.  In a poetic sense, Kronos eating his children represents that time devours all things and nothing lasts forever.   

Since the early 1900s, the image of Kronos with his sickle has been used in advertising and greeting cards to usher in a 
Happy New Year.     

Kronos through out history has often been used as the name or reference to time keeping.




May you have a healthy, happy & prosperous 
New Year!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Hope, Peace, Love & Joy - Merry CHRISTmas

 My wishes to each of you,
Hope, Peace, Love & Joy this CHRISTmas season!

May the light of the Christ candle be light in your lives each day...

Merry Christmas!

My heartfelt thanks and appreciation to each of you for your friendships and following my blog!

 

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Christmas Buttons

Have you noticed my page link above for 
My Button Collection?

If not, please click on it to see some of my favorite buttons. 
This image was created using a miniature sleigh and some of my favorite buttons.  It was used as the front cover for the 
2005-2006 Winter Missouri State Button Society Bulletin



This year I am delighted to add these three Christmas buttons to my collection.  They are made by artist Kelly Buntin-Johnson


  
Size: NBS medium
Classified: Design under plastic
Materials: Vintage image printed on archival paper mounted under a domed carbon-polycarbonate lens with German glass glitter
               Mounted in galvanized steel  
               Wobble ring shank


Kelly is offering some of these Christmas buttons in her Etsy shop diddywadiddy 

They may not last long, so hurry if you want to treat yourself or someone else to a wonderful Christmas button!




Friday, December 16, 2011

Holiday Gift Creations

I managed to create a few Christmas gifts before the early December interruption of foundation repairs to our home 


Do you like them?

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Happy 3rd Blog Anniversary to Laurie at Indulge Your Shelf


Happy 3rd Blog Anniversary to my dear friend Laurie at  

Click here to visit Laurie - she hosts an awesome blog and I know you will want to follow her!

Congratulations Laurie!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Decorated for Christmas

In 2005 I began scaling down my Christmas trees & decorations.  At that time I had 37 Christmas trees throughout our home.  They ranged from 2' to 7.5'

I love REAL trees and greenery, but I rarely use them.  I decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving and REAL trees & greenery do not stay fresh to New Years when I take down the decorations.  

Sometimes I will add sprigs of fresh greenery into artificial greenery.  In 2005 I donated our huge 7.5' FAT Christmas tree.  It was so heavy to carry upstairs and it consumed our family room.  We now have a 7.5' slim-line tree instead.  It doesn't have the same appeal, but it's manageable.

I seem to add and purge a few decorations each year and manage to keep my storage area brimming full.

While some decorations have their annual place of honor, I do enjoy creating different vignettes each year.






































































Merry Christmas


 

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Simple & Cute Holiday Desserts

Simple & Cute Holiday Dessert ideas
Melted Snowman Sugar Cookies
 These ideas were shared by a friend, but I do not have the recipes. 
The Melted Snowman looks like a sugar cookie base with Royal icing, a marshmallow head & colored icings for the details - 
CUTE, CUTE, CUTE!
Santa going down the chimney
Isn't this idea scrumptiously cute?
 
Looks like a brownie (suggest cutting with a deep biscuit cutter) or a chocolate cupcake base, a strawberry smooshed into white icing and a dollop of white icing as the snowball tip on 
Santa's red hat.
Can you say YUM?

Monday, December 5, 2011

2011 Evening Star Button Club Holiday Party

On December 19th, Evening Star Button Club held their holiday party at my home.  We had a wonderful afternoon full of good food, friendship and craft time.

Everyone looks fairly into their own thing in this photo and we were as we were opening handmade gifts from one another.  
I missed capturing the oohs and aahs.

Here are the handmade items exchanged
Lee gave a foam pad used for beading & button work.  This is a great work tool to keep beads & buttons from rolling away & helps to protect them.  Lee is an avid beader and does beautiful work.  She also created for us a handmade bead & button bookmarker

 Linda created Bitsy Bunny Button Book and used buttons as the book jackets - it opens and closes like an accordion and has its own keeping box!

Linda also created a folding fan from playing cards - How clever!

 Dana creates beautiful fabric & button pins from vintage and designer fabrics & buttons.  I now have four of her creations and they are LOVELY.

Can you guess what this is?

Tara created for us a Post note keeper using paper, ribbon & a button... note the darling button paper on the jacket.  Practical and adorable!

Lori's charming & clever 'old truck seat springs' button Christmas tree
This photo does not do justice for Pam's CUTIE PATOOTIE Holiday Nesting Bird - I adore him!

Jennifer was not able to share a created gift as she sewed her thumb with her sewing machine, Ouch!

With the chaos of our foundation repairs I did not have time to create anything. 


Awesome handmade gifts aren't they?

After we ate and did our gift exchange, I turned my kitchen into a craft room.  We created art tags, greeting cards and paper wreaths.  




Dana

Lori

Jennifer (foreground)
Linda (Background)


 Lee

Here's my art tag


We often take note around the holidays the special blessings of family & friends... I am so blessed to have this group of amazing women as friends in my life!

I hope your holiday season is blessed with the love of family & friends!