Do You Believe??? WOYWW

 

 The year that I was in the third grade, I still believed in Santa.  I had asked for a Barbie doll dream house.  When the packages arrived, my two younger sisters, got their asked for gift, but mine ended up being art supplies along with a hand written letter from Santa that said that my doll house had been delayed as the elves had been so busy, but were working on it and would make a special delivery for me later.  I was not disappointed as I had in my hand the letter in the most beautiful handwriting that I had ever seen!  Besides I got an extra gift that year with getting the art supplies! I don't recall my sisters getting an extra 'cause Santa only gave out one gift! It was always the special one, as mom and dad always gave us homemade gifts, clothes and underwear!  When my doll house finally arrived,  I simply had to tell my school friends that I had finally gotten my Santa gift!  They looked at me in disbelief and said, you still believe in Santa???  And they laughed at me!  That was when they told me that he DIDN'T exist!  I mean, What the Elf???  Was I played for a sucker or what?  I couldn't believe what I was hearing,  No Santa?  NOOOOOOOOO!!!  I so wanted to believe that the handwriting was authentic and sincere more than the gift itself!  Just when were my parents gonna tell me?  I was so crushed that I ended up being embarrassed in front of my friends.

Well now, here I find myself in Santa's workshop of Santas, spreading the belief to other adult art traders.  There is still something magical about believing even if we have to grow up.(or do we?)

Arts In the Cards had a Santa exchange, so we all made our own version.   Rather than traditional reds and greens, I added other colors with yet a Santa appeal. For me, Santa's weight has gravitated south, much like mine has! To my amazement, I even have chin hairs! Even my hair is getting whiter too!

  My original drawing started out twice the size of this and I decided to make it more manageable to fit into Christmas card envelopes so I had to reduce it on the copier.  I also bought some TomBo Dual Brush pens from Dick Blick in flesh tones.  I really like how they blended!

The claim to fame on these brushes is not only do they blend with other colors, but once the color is mixed, the tips will self clean after blending!  I did however manage to smear a little of the black ink from the printer in an area that I didn't want to but it wasn't enough for me to want to change it.  The pens ran $26.00 for a pack of 10.  Next time I will pick up the other color bold tones and the pastel set.  I still want to try out copic markers one day, but unfortunately my budget won't allow it at this time. Perhaps  I shall simply have to ask Santa!

For the rest of the Santa, I ended up using colored pencils.  Then I embellished with crystals and glitter glue.

My Santa's workshop wouldn't be complete without working on a quilt.  I finished this Christmas piece for Vickie in gold Superior thread. (I love working with that stuff!)  However I couldn't get the thread to sparkle for the camera, but it really is there!  Just like Santa, ya gotta believe! 
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