The Last Day of 2010: Reflections

I'm in my lakehouse studio (Finny calls it the "tudio") and looking out on a very melty White Rock Shoal. This has been a busy week of winding down the old year. Most of the usual year end obligations have been met (checks written for donations, bills paid, laundry folded, holiday things sort of stored for now) and there will be much gladness tomorrow if the MSU Spartans can outfox the Alabama football team.

So, this is the last holiday of the year. A highlight of the last few weeks for me has been the joy of my family. Everyone was here for Christmas! What a present that was for me! I know how difficult schedules can be for young families and for adults in early/mid career. So it was especially satisfying to gather round the Yule table with all our children, grandchildren, and our friends. That makes life good.



Dad Hayes in his red wool vest from Wanda



I worked steadily all fall on a hand knit vest for my Dad, Stanley C. F. Hayes. Dad has had a rough time since a fall that he took in August. He's home at the farmhouse south of Fond du Lac in Wisconsin and I just thought that a warm vest would be a good thing for his Christmas. The knitting was finished on Tuesday, December 22 and the vest traveled via overnight UPS package to his back porch on the day before Christmas.

Thanks to the wonder of the internet and a loving sister a photo of Dad in his new red vest arrived late on Christmas Eve. His smile tells all about the warmth of the wool and the care that many, many stitches now give to him.



It has been a good year. There have been many miles, many hours, many stitches. That's okay and that's good.

Winter Pines ATC#4

#4 in Winter Pines series of ATCs (artist trading cards) by Wanda Hayes Eichler, Pigeon, Michigan.

The base is a Strathmore ATC, 100 lb. vellum surface. The background is Glimmer Mist with an overcoat of gel medium. The black stamp is applied on top of the gel medium and left to dry.

Marker accents are red, deep brown, medium tan, medium green and gold green. Although unrealistic, the red berries add a holiday flavor to the ATC.

Winter Pines ATC#3

#3 in Winter Pines series of ATCs (artist trading cards) by Wanda Hayes Eichler, Pigeon, Michigan.

Background lines are drawn with Tombow ABT marker. The evergreen is stamped using a VersaFine onyx black stamp pad. Tombow markers are used to accent the lines of the black image.

Winter Pines ATC#2

#2 in Winter Pines series of ATCs (artist trading cards) by Wanda Hayes Eichler, Pigeon, Michigan.

The snowflake is made using a wine cork that is cut into an asterisk shape. I used an Encore Ultimate Metallic Gold stamp pad to stamp the snowflakes.

The background is 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" scrapbook paper with flecks.

Winter Pines ATC#1

#1 in Winter Pines series of ATCs (artist trading cards) by Wanda Hayes Eichler, Pigeon, Michigan.

A light cream paper shows off the black graphic that is accented with color and design.

Read more about how these ATCs are created in my later posts.