Open House Around the World

Come on in to my Open House!
I know that the Internet world can be slow during the holidays as rubber stampers are maxed out on stamping and busy with activities. Yet some of us have moments where we would like to enjoy seeing what other stampers are doing. So I created this Open House to share some of my home and community's holiday traditions with you. I announced it as a swap at the Stamp Shack. Nine other bloggers have joined in this Open House with posts to share their holiday traditions from their corner of the world.

Welcome to Fairbanks, Alaska!
Thanks for stopping in...please help yourself to some goodies!

Let me begin by showing you around my town. Know you can double click most blog photos if you want to see something larger.

Recently it has been about zero degrees F most days but no wind - unlike many other places. We are enjoyng a much milder season than in many years. Of course the snow came at the beginning of October and we can expect it to be with us until at least the end of March.

We celebrated solstice last weekend and are thrilled to now be gaining sunlight. We have 3 hours and 49 minutes of daylight today and will gain another 59 more seconds of daylight tomorrow!

A river runs through the center of town with decorative displays on both sides of the banks. These pictures were taken at about 10 o'clock last Saturday morning. I used no flash so you could see the beginning of daylight.

The Northern Wind blows some light onto the riverboat. Lots of lighted characters fill the plaza across the river adding brightness to our dark days.

Ice carvings are a big part of our community’s holiday decorations. The polar bear, aka Nanook, is the mascot of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.

Dancer and Prancer welcomes us to North Pole, Alaska…just a 20 minute ride down the road.

Of course Santa Claus House is the big attraction in North Pole.

One of my personal favorite traditions is finding some quiet of the winter to enjoy making and mailing lots of holiday cards. These highbush cranberries are enjoying their own special quiet.

This year brought a new challenge as the electric was off for over 6 hours one Sunday during prime writing time. So like the pioneers before me I wrote many cards by candlelight huddled under a blanket.




I truly enjoyed making this peaceful resist card.
I made many other cards this season but this became my personal favorite...I love using a resist technique.

Many stamping friends from around the world shared beautiful holiday greetings. Many thanks to all!!

I enjoy cooking and sharing time with friends. Please help yourself and take a few seconds to look at how this ice bowl is made. Two stainless steel mixing bowls, with about a half to one inch space between the rims, are taped together and filled with water, greenry, flowers, and fruit. The whole thing is then frozen outside in nature's freezer. Bring inside and warm up so the ice bowl is released.

I am sorry you are running out of time but there is one last thing I must show you before you leave. Look at my favorite manger scene. It incorporates many different Alaska native cultures in traditional dress. You really must plan to visit again next year since there still is so much to see. Please leave me a comment for I have a doorprize for one randomly selected visitor.

Thanks for stopping in and sharing my holiday!

I wish you a most wonderful holiday season!

The next Open House stop is Mrs. Fence in Maine.

A Christmas Tradition

Tim Holtz is busy posting his tutorials for 12 days of Christmas tags. You don't want to miss this chance to see new ways of using supplies by a master teacher!
I thoroughly enjoyed working on the tutorials last holiday and have enjoyed the first 3 so far this season.

This first tag features Tim's new masks. They are very large in size but this shows how they can be used effectively on smaller items too. I love Tim's technique of spritzing the distress ink to allow it lightly color and soften the look of the mask. Also tried out some new grungeboard from his botanical set with the new distress stickles. What a fun tutorial to give a jump start on the holidays.



Tag 2 features a variety of blue alcohol inks and silver mixture spread on a craft sheet with glossy paper moved on top. Also used a splatter brush to add some white flecks over all (very difficult to see in this picture).







Tag #3 features the use of a fragment piece to spotlight Santa's face and one of Tim's metal tags. This new combination of stamped images for me was lots of fun and of course playing with the distress inks and Inkessentials white pen.

Thanks for looking...and know I hope to follow several more tutorials during the 12 days so stop back soon.