New holiday tradition! Advent calendars! Who's to say that as an adult I have to stop enjoying the excitement of one of the best holiday traditions? As a child, I always loved the anticipation of chocolate each morning, and enjoying be sugary treat in front of my sister, who ate all hers on the second day. (I think she still has a problem.) I am a believer that now that I am all grown up, the quality of treats should really be top notch.
   Also, I live with a trustworthy person, who would never steal my candy, so there's no fear of that, (Rachel…)
   Of course we will paint them, and glitter them. Oh yeah, and fill them. I'm pretty sure I can fit Lego Minifigures in there. I will post a picture post glitter.

   Okee dokee, I bought the 3Doodler pen. Judge me if you want, I needed it. If there ever was a person who required such a tool, it's this girl. So let me review!
   Any of you who watched the commercial, as I did, was expecting to pick up this fancy pen and create  any number of magical creations. This was not the case. After an hour of frustratingly slow progress, all I had to show for it was a table full of misshapen plastic bits. I was starting to feel like maybe I'm not as artsy fartsy as I thought! I had to show this pen who's boss.
   I was also very optimistic that this pen is for more than just doodling, figuring that melted plastic must stick to all sorts of other materials. In my quest to prove this to be true, as well as become the master of 3Doodler, I pressed on.  After some doing, I came up with these. The card was fun and easy, but the plastic became unstuck quickly. I used my favourite spray glue and some glitter to save it, and it worked out great! The eye started just as a doodle, to see what the pen is really made for.

Now here is where the whole game changed, I got out the iron. Stroke of genius I tell you. I used some waxy type paper that came with my iron-on transfers, to keep the plastic from sticking to the iron. Then I used a lot of pressure and no steam to get the plastic to adhere to a tight weave, no stretch fabric.

 But No, it does not end here.
   See these little spaces in between the green lines of the eye? Well I'm about to cut those into little holes. Yeah I am.

And here it is on top of my computer screen to emphasize the holes. This makes me happy. This is also only the beginning… Just imagine, the clothes, the layers, the glitter, infinite design possibilities. All of this leaves me with another question, what else can I melt it to?

   One of my new favourite things, Port! Thank you Tania. If this is something you have never tried, I highly recommend that you do! Not only is it delicious and full bodied, it is made with grapes, it is fortified at 20% alcohol, and is made in Portugal.
    I am a person who seems to disagree with grain alcohol, or rather it seems to disagree with me. Sometimes I feel like this makes the selection very limited, so I was extra enthusiastic when I discovered this delectable thirst quencher.
   Somehow this beverage seems fancy to me, like it deserves to be served with expensive chocolate, or a lavish Julia Child calibre meal. Pretty sure this needs to happen.
   This fits perfectly with my Campaign to Enjoy Winter! I think that the very low temperature today (-27 C with windchill, according to the radio) deserves an extra effort to appreciate this crazy weather, and I know it will get colder…
   Last year I thought my fridge was broken (it has a history), but really it had been so cold outside for so long, the fridge no longer felt cold to my hands. Also, I'm pretty sure I got a touch of frostbite on my legs last year while I was waiting in line for 50 minutes at -21C, to get into a bar at 5am to watch the Gold medal Hockey game, in which Canada won. Go Canada!

Stay Warm.

   The day has arrived! My David Suzuki sweater is here! Is it everything I have ever imagined? Yes! Way fluffier that I dreamed, perfect timing for cold cold winter. Those knitters must have been knittin' up a storm!
   Thank you Granted Clothing, worth every penny.
http://www.grantedclothing.com
   I can fulfill my dream of sitting in my bed watching movies while wearing my cozy sweater and hooking a rug. Now you get an idea of the calibre of goals on my bucket list, I think I take the phrase "It's all about the simple things" a little too literally.
   It also makes me feel all fuzzy to know that there are people alive in Canada making a living by hand knitting. When I win a big lottery, I will buy a sweater from here for everyone I like (you're welcome).
      You can also see my new hair colours! (It's not your computer screen.) That some teal, blue and pink! I love it, and now you have the chance to say out loud all the things you don't like about it, in private. Thereby saving you from saying it to my face and hurting my feelings, which I would never tell you about. Besides, as Francis (and Ellen) says: "What you think about me, is none of my business."
   All this makes me wonder, now that the extensive wait is over and the forever desired sweater is finally in my clutches, what now? I require a new-fangled wish. Another novel want, perhaps a real goal with more objective and focus, maybe even something to add more meaning to my life! (Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.)

   In my campaign to enjoy winter, I feel as though I have to register for Edmonton's upcoming impromptu giant snowball fight! (This is a real thing.) It sounds fun and crazy and I think I might need some of that right now, don't you?
   Feeling a little uninspired… Have glitter, don't know what to glitter, and that's a problem. I'm pretty sure that there should be a glittery mood indicator, the less glittery, the lower the mood.
   After much deliberation, I did add a little glitter to my door with this big 'C' that I cut out of sticky vinyl (on my Cricut machine), sprayed with glue and coated in red glitter. Then I stuck the wreath (I received as a gift) on the door with magnets. It did make me feel a little more inspired!

On the other side of the door, was my version of a fridge, covered in magnets and pictures. It was getting a little crazy, so I took matters into my own hands. I think I will be getting more of these picture frames, I picked them up cheap at Ikea and added a tiny magnet to each corner with super glue. I liked them so much, I put some on the back door! Now that I look at these pictures, I think they need a bit of glitter, umm, a lot of glitter maybe.

That tiny black dot in the middle of the door is a tiny mustache, of course. Now I must get back to the glittering...

   Ok people, who has heard of a 3Doodler pen?
    It is the most amazing new art pen and it is for sale for the low price of about $100, and I need it. Yes, I require a pen worth $100.
   I can hear some of you saying that it better be freakin' amazing before you will deem it worthy of anyones hundred dollars. Let me assure you, it is.

   This pen writes in three dimensions with plastic. You heard me correctly. My mind is reeling at the possibilities, what materials would not fuse with melted plastic? I saw an application on fabric and that was it for me. Anyone who has not heard of this needs to look it up.
http://the3doodler.com

   I wish I could buy one for each and every one of you. I wish I had one right here so I could play with it and take pictures and show you what it can make! Soon enough…

   I did buy a different toy this summer, the new instax mini8 camera, it is a new polaroid type instant camera and I love it! It is funny how entertaining it is to watch the anticipation of a horrible picture slowly developing. I am currently using it for a different project, a gratitude scrappy journal. (May also be called an artsy fartsy journal.) I just doodle whatever, include a memento of the day and all the things I'm grateful for. It highly recommend it, both the journal and the camera!

    I'm turning over a new snowflake. I do love winter, however I'm starting to feel like maybe it's for the wrong reasons. Previously winter kept me coming back because of the cookies and hot chocolate, the movies and wool blankets, and the absence of physical activity.
   This year may be the year I learn a lesson from other frozen countries and enjoy the outdoors. Maybe take in a coffee on a frozen patio, perhaps enjoy my sheepskin rug on the hammock, have a fire and roast a marshmallow, maybe even ski. Perhaps I require a full Elsa from Frozen costume so I can go sing from the mountaintops all while spinning and flailing in a glitter throwing frenzy.
   One thing I do love about winter is burning candles, and also, glitter. So I have combined the two to make these glorious and inexpensive yet fancy looking centrepiece candles.

 These are so easy, just lightly mist all the way around with spray adhesive, then sprinkle and roll whatever fine glitter you want. I used cream coloured candles and warm gold tones, also white candles with white glitter. It looks best if the candle and glitter kinda match. Before you get all fire department on me, I have tried this and neither the glue nor the glitter causes any flare ups in the flame (but of course you should always use proper safety when using candles and never leave them unattended). I hope you give it a try, everyone could use more glitter!