I Never Thought I Could Be a Folk Artist

It all began with a little jealousy. As it turns out, a bit of jealousy can be a good thing when it is used in a positive way. My husband had been given an ornament by an old girlfriend. Each year, without fail, when asked which of all his ski based ornaments was his favorite, that was the one. Finally, determined to trump that ornament, I decided to make one. If you've been following the blog for a while then you've seen this guy. He loved it. I finally trumped that old ornament and a new Christmas tradition began.  
      

The following year, I made Rudolph. At the moment he's out getting a new set of antlers, but you can see him here if you like.
Next came this crazy guy with his peach pit face

               

and his sticks made out of leaf stems.

Last year, 2 little guys came to be. First up was this crazy mountain man. I have no idea what the seed pod that I used for his face is, but it worked. It was just something I found while I was out for my morning walk.

While I was putting my things way, this little guy just decided to emerge from the pile of seeds and pods. His glasses as well as his mustache are seeds.

He's even sporting a backpack! Of course the hat is my creation ;)

This year, a cousin to last year's mountain man came to life. Even Christmas Creatures need family!!!

His hat is a horse chestnut seed and the white "ball" on top is another seed that I popped off of a tree in Texas. Look closely and you'll see that he's smoking a stogie just like his cousin.

Once again, a new creature emerged as I was putting away my bits and pieces.

  

 I just love how he came together. I still need to add his sticks.



Here you can see that his ears are really just a seed pod that opened up.

The gang in all their glory :)

I was looking at the group all together and it occurred to me that never in my wildest imagination did I think that I could create these little folk art creatures. I'm glad that I was a little jealous. The creatures give me a tremendous sense of joy as I put them together and even more as I look at them. My husband has insisted that they don't get put away with the other ornaments. He feels that that are too special and need to be seen all year long. That makes me very happy :)