The Lady of Shallot in Gummy Candy Stained "Glass"?!

I ran across this last week in e-talking to the artist-- Kimberly Chapman-- who developed the book above, and I thought you all would find it fascinating, too.

Kimberly creates stained-glass look art out of...

Wait for it...


Gummy candy.

I KNOW, astounding, right? Look at this close-up of her Lady of Shallot...

Blew me away. I'd be delighted to see a stained glass window like this, let alone to learn it's a clever confection.

Anyway, Kimberly has a book explaining how to go about these sorts of projects, so I thought I would pass the information on to you clever, crafty readers. Her website is here: http://www.eat-the-evidence.com/gummy/

She's got some other interesting things on her site, too, like art, and actual stained glass projects. There are some droolworthy Tiffany-type lamps she's done. (And you all know my addiction to lamps!)

Hope everyone has a sweet weekend ahead of them!
--Jenn

Spruced up for the Holidays

It started with one. A nice fresh Christmas pine each year, decorated in whatever I had on hand. Then I bought my house. And while I still put a real tree in the livingroom-- like the red-and-gold fellow up above-- I soon stumbled on these four-foot-tall fake trees at Family Dollar for just $10. So I treated myself to a second tree, especially for the dining room, and decked it in mint-and-rose Victoriana that color-coordinated with the room.


Shortly, I determined the spare room needed a little “sprucing,” too-- and lo, the “Fun Fir” sprung up, all bedecked in a hat, scarves and vintage jewelry...


This was followed by the entry-way tree-- AKA the “Sweetie Tree”-- covered in enough candies and cookies to tempt Hansel and Gretel. (Sorry, kiddies, no cookie for you-- the food is faux.)...


In no time, I was decorating the potted palm in my Victorian/India-influenced bedroom with glittering bulbs in spicy shades...


And peer pressure drove my housemate to add a tres chic tree to her French blue abode...



It’s not quite a case of being unable to see the forest for the trees here at Waterhouse. But it’s close…

And I love every minute of it.

Now, you might think having all these trees must be completely unmanageable. You might say, “There’s enough to do around the holidays without causing extra trouble; you have obviously been hitting the eggnog too hard, missy.”

Ah, but no: I am no fan of ‘nog. And also, decorating these mini-trees has been very, very easy. I simply set up the tree and decorate it once. Then when the holidays are over, I cover it in two trash bags (one over the top, one over the bottom) and store it in my attic for the rest of the year. The tree remains dust-free. If any bulbs fall, they fall into the bags. And the tree is ready-to-go for next year with minimal effort.

The joy of these trees has been in decorating according to theme and room scheme. And because I pick up appropriate ornaments at Christmas sales and at thrift stores around the year, I’m able to keep the costs low, too.

So if you’re looking to branch out in your Christmas décor this season, I can safely say, a mini-tree can make some mighty pine--er, fine-- memories.