meet the family:

Ruthann (and Baby Patrick): Ruthann is Mr. and Mrs. Bell’s eldest child. Outside of schoolwork, Ruthann spends most of her time helping with the younger kids. She certainly appreciates the bump it gives to her allowance. She is wholly committed to both braids and bangs, and her favorite color is red. She has yet to […]

meet the family:

Uncle Pete: Martha’s husband, Pete, is a retired professor of music. He offers music lessons to anyone in the family that shows interest. He loves filling the house with music throughout the holidays, eagerly enlisting the help of any available grandchildren. Pete loves his signature red suspenders, Ann Marie’s old painted upright, and has made […]

letting it snow…

I decided to revisit faux snow for the external vignettes, using glittered blanket snow and iridescent flakes.

meet the family:

Aunt Martha: Aunt Martha is more than happy to help her sister, Ann Marie, through the holidays. She steps in every year, preparing meals as Ann Marie handles all the holiday goodies. The sisters are so close, Martha and her husband, Pete, moved into the carriage house on the property this past spring. Martha enjoys […]

make it so…

ST:TCT Year three: This year: trading “planetary bodies” for “space ice”… And introducing: Star Trek Storytellers. Nearly all series represented: Nothing yet from Picard or Lower Decks, both shows being released after 2020 ornament designs were announced. Some movies are in the mix as well: The reboot movies all have ships on the tree as […]

meet the family:

Grandma Ann Marie: Grandma Ann Marie (Mrs. Bell’s mother) is the matriarch of this multi-generational household. She looks forward to the holiday baking season, continually rolling out fresh cookies for the entire neighborhood. In fact, she’s fairly certain that half of her kitchen helpers don’t actually belong here. She’ll still send them off with a […]

meet the family:

Little Nicholas: Nicholas loves sneaking treats to his best friend, Spot. Of course, he also loves kicking his sisters’ shins under the dining table. He’d rather be out building snowmen with the neighborhood children, but Mrs. Bell admonished him for wanting to ruin his new Christmas knickers. He’ll plot an escape during the post-turkey napping…

meet the family:

The Natalies: Natalie Ann delights in reminding the entire family that she is the older twin by two minutes. Natalie Marie is happiest when declaring with vigor “I’m Natalie Marie-e-e-e!!!” Their favorite shared memory is of wandering the halls of the Overlook Hotel on family vacation in Colorado. And Mrs. Bell loves that the twins […]

meet the family:

Mr. and Mrs. Bell: Mr. and Mrs. Bell love hosting huge family gatherings. Marriage was a foregone conclusion once they started adding up family members on their second date. Mr. Bell likes moustache wax, bowties, and argyle sweater-vests. He loves showering his wife with surprise gifts in front of an audience. Mrs. Bell likes petticoats, […]

therapy: day two

Holiday decorating soothes me. It is a happy place. I’d say more so than gardening, as it reflects all of those years as a floral designer. I had an epiphany yesterday. I have always enjoyed making. I have always enjoyed Christmas decorating. As a florist, I’d put in sixty hour weeks in the warehouse dressing […]