Kudsudama Ball Ornaments

I am participating in a Christmas Ornament Swap over at Yarnigras.blogspot.com. The theme was Christmas, and we were to make 5 ornaments, send them to the hostess and she would send back 5 random ornaments from other swappers. They all had to be hand made. I am really excited to see what comes back. 

The ornaments below are about the size of a softball. Each Kudsudama ball has 12 flowers. Each flower has 5 petals. Each petal needed to be folded and glued together.  In total I folded 300 petals, to make the 5 Kudsudama balls. You can find a great tutorial here.  It took me a  really long time to fold all of those little papers.   

 But in the end it was worth it. I added a loop of ribbon to each one so they could be hung on a tree or from hook. Elyssa and I had a  hard time deciding what beads to use for the centers and for the petal tips. Then the dilemma of should we spray paint them or not? Or leave them be so they yellow with age on their own... Oh what to do? In the end we left them white to let them age on their own. 

I am very happy with how they turned out. I am now making a really big one out of magazine pages that I can spray and hang in a corner somewhere. 

October Photos of the Month

One day I will blog again... I promise! But for now I guess I will just have to deal with the fact that all I am capable of is putting together a Monthly Photo post. Sadly there is so much I want to share but have not had the time to  do so.  

This was a month full of artsy endeavors. Elyssa started to draw faces and eyes. Last month it was dogs. She creates these pieces very quickly. I just love to sit and watch her work. I think for a 12 year old she is 

ah-mazing!  She is not intimidated by a blank sheet of paper like I am. 

This years harvest/ halloween brought us to a strange place. Ashton does not want to dress up anymore. It makes me sad. He is growing up so much. He will be 15 next week.  

Elyssa decided to recycle one of the costumes in the trunk. I didn't really get any pictures.  I suppose I will always paint my face, just because I can. This is the first year I have strayed from the butterfly theme in quite sometime.  I did go into the restroom and startle myself at least once when I looked in the mirror. The black and white was so striking. 

My artsy endeavors are not near as amazing as E's tend to be but I do have fun with it. 

I have found it to be absolutely therapeutic. Zentangle has been found to lower blood pressure and have the same effect on the brain as  meditation, and since I don't meditate, zentangle and prayer will do nicely. 

Sometimes I get those pesky heart palpitations, which bring on feelings of anxiety. At those times I take a time out and grab my fancy pens and a piece of scrap paper and let my imagination go to town. With in about 10 minutes I feel much better.  The top piece was done on a scrap of card stock, it is only

 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches. It is the perfect size for doing a quick zentangle. 

This piece was done on 8 1/2 x 11 piece of printer paper. It took up most of the page and most of the evening to complete.