Olathe Nativity Exhibit 2014

January 25, 2015 by shelley

Olathe Nativity Exhibit 2014

Each year I loan some of my nativities to the Olathe Stake (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) for their annual Nativity Exhibit. (There was a nice write up in the Kansas City Star about it.)

Argentina Nativity

German Nativity

Ghana Nativity

Philippines Nativity

Olathe Nativity Exhibit

Kenya Nativity

Ghana Nativity

Kenya Natiivity

Idaho artist Nativity

China Nativity

Ecuador Nativity

Italy Nativity

Argentina Nativity

Ghana Nativity

Nativity at Olathe Nativity Exhibit

Ghana Nativity

Snow Globe Nativities

South Africa Nativity

Decorations at Olathe Nativity Exhibit

Liberia Nativity

Kenya Nativity

Decorations Olathe Nativity Exhibit

antique nativity

USA artist

Kenya Nativity

Zimbabwe Nativity

Kenya Nativity

English designer Sebastian Bergne Nativity

South Africa Nativity

Olathe Nativity Exhibit

Kenya Nativity

China Nativity

Egypt Nativity

Olathe Nativity Exhibit

Moose Nativity

Puzzle nativity

Hallmark puzzle nativity

Kenya Nativity

Maasai Nativity

Olathe Nativity Exhibit

Peru Nativity

Olathe Nativity Exhibit

Kenya Nativity

Olathe Nativity Exhibit

Kenya Nativity

China Nativity

USA artist nativity

Olathe Nativity Exhibit

Liberia Nativity

Poland Nativity

Idaho Artist Nativity

Dansk Crystal Nativity

Kenya Nativity

Decorations at the Olathe exhibit

Live Nativity Olathe Nativity Exhibit

Decorations at the Olathe exhibit

Nativity contemporary style.

September 19, 2014 by shelley

Nativity in a contemporary style by Sebastian Bergne

Nativity contemporary style

I could not resist this nativity!

I also loved the artist’s, Sebastian Bergne, explanation of the design…from his web site (I even left all the English spellings.):

“The scene of the holy couple, shepherds, wise men and attendant livestock – which is not in fact biblically accurate – has become so widely reproduced that it can now be understood even by a simple arrangement of blocks, as a recent wave of minimalist nativity sets has shown.

Sebastian Bergne’s Colour Nativity is five identically-sized wooden columns – which stand in for the wise men, Joseph and shepherd, each in their characteristic colour – alongside a shorter blue block for Mary and a white oblong for the baby Jesus. A slender golden pillar completes the set as the Star of Bethlehem.

“The project makes use of our learned experience from exposure to thousands of images, toys and Christmas cards over the years,” says Bergne. “Each of the characters is recognisable by its colour, proportion and place in the composition.”

Continuing his research into the meaning and use of colour in objects, Sebastian Bergne has designed a contemporary nativity set. Each of the characters is a minimal wooden block that is recognisable by its colour, proportion and place in the composition. The project makes use of our learned experience from exposure to thousands of images, toys and christmas cards over the years.

The hand crafted and painted beech wooden blocks are stored in a box that completes its character as a toy set with a difference. Set size: 135x260x35mm

Following the original edition of 6, this one set of the second edition of 250 sets are currently available only through buysebastianbergne.com”

In its box:

Sebastian Bergne nativity

The fun continues in Portland!

July 11, 2014 by shelley

Jen planned a non-stop vacation for us in Portland.
We visited B.J. at work at Intel. We went shopping. We visited Portland’s Museum of Contemporary Craft. One interesting exhibit was one in which each item of clothing had a story to it. It was bought off of EBay and there had to be a story connected with the item or it wasn’t added to the collection. One was a flapper dress from the “roaring twenties” It was the narrowest dress I had ever seen The wearer must have been tiny. The dress had blood splatters on it from a stabbing the wearer had witnessed! Quite the story.

Museum of Contemporary Craft Portland Oregon

I like the artist Hilary Pfeifer, Bunny With a Tool Belt. She has items in the gift shop. We bought the book Arfabet

Arfabet by Hilary Pfeifer

And Jenn had a surprise for me. Hilary Pfeifer lives in Portland. Jenn contacted her and arranged for us to met her at her studio. What a rare treat!! We had her sign our books.

Artist Hilary Pfeifer and Jenn

Artist Hilary Pfeifer’s art studio, Portland, Oregon

Jenn at the studio

Jack and BJ and artist Hilary Pfeifer

Walking up the driveway, even it was decorated.

Work in progress at Hilary Pfeifer’s art studio.

I had to add one more of Hilary Pfeifer’s (Bunny With A Tool Belt) nativities to my collection:

Bunny With a Tool Belt Nativity

Nativity Christmas Tree

January 30, 2014 by shelley

I have collected vintage Christmas Nativity postcards for years.

Vintage postcard nativity Christmas tree

I wanted to display these vintage postcards in a way that we could enjoy them. I decided I would decorate a Christmas tree with them. I liked how it turned out.

Nativity Christmas tree using vintage postcards

I found some simple postcard frames on the internet.

(Simple postcard frames.)

Vintage postcards in simple postcard frame

I ordered some star ornaments.

(I found some gold glitter star ornaments at Crate and Barrel.)

Postcard with star ornament

I ordered some gold glitter star sheer ribbon.

I got this ribbon from Paper Mart.

Gold Glitter Star Sheer Ribbon

It was accented with gold and copper colored Christmas tree ball ornaments.

Vintage Nativity Postcard Christmas Tree

I had a star tree topper on top and draped gold glitter fabric underneath. I have found a great new use for my vintage postcard collection!

An Advent Calendar Kit- Make an ornament a day!

January 29, 2014 by shelley

Make and Ornament a day advent calendar kit

Make an ornament a day advent calendar kit

For each of my grandchildren this year I made a advent calendar kit which included all the supplies to make an ornament each day. I found the idea on the internet (this website offers a kit [sells out quick-I was too late]. The website also has templates and instructions for each ornament).

In addition to the kit to make an ornament I also included a small Christmas tree, extra ornaments, a star tree topper, bags to keep the completed ornaments, a photo book which included a scripture, video and thought for each day to go with the ornament they made. I also included a binder with big pictures (already printed) for each day, the scriptures already printed and a video disk, a clothesline and clothespins to hang each ornament before it was placed on the tree and a small tree skirt to go around the tree. A cute Christmas box was also provided to store everything in one place until the next year.

Since I was too late to order the kit (already sold-out) I decided to do it on my own. I also decided to make changes and embellish it a bit, “make it my own”. I wanted each ornament to be a bit more of a “project” for my grandkids (the oldest being 5 years old)- a bit more painting, a bit more glueing etc. I made sure all supplies needed were included so busy moms did not have to run and purchase supplies. So putting the kits together was not as “quick” as the website suggested where I found the idea. I precut all items- but left all painting and glueing for the kids to do. Small children like sparkle so I added items to add sparkle, if possible, to each ornament. This also meant a lot more glueing which small hands can do. I also had small phot0-booklets (which held 4 x 6 photos) for each child. The booklet had several pages for each day (a picture of the ornament, the thought, the scripture, and a web address for the video). The 3-ring binder had big pictures of the Savior coordinating with each day. The significance of each ornament and the moment it represented in the Savior’s life could be talked about with small children using pictures as they worked on the ornament. It also included the scripture of the day (already printed for use), and a disk with the videos pre-recorded and the thought or quote of the day. I wanted to make it so everything was in one place. I wanted to make it so busy parents did not depend on the internet, did not have to go find scriptures or lookup a video etc. The kit had the photo booklets for each child along with the “kit” for the ornament. Each family got the big binder with pictures, scriptures and videos and supplies to finish the ornaments. The results were a fun advent (and “project”) for small grandchildren.

Make an ornament a day advent kit

The completed small tree had an ornament for each day. My grandchildren made the ornament that went with a particular scripture, video and thought.

Make an ornament a day Advent calendar kit

Make an ornament a day advent calendar kit

: Make an ornament a day advent calendar kit

I also made an individual bag for each ornament to store it safely:

Individual bags to store each ornament

Each kit also had a “clothesline” and clothes pins so the bags may be hung at the beginning of the countdown in anticipation of hanging the the ornament on the Christmas tree on the appropriate day. Definitely an advent calendar that can be enjoyed for years to come.

Booklet:

Booklet is in .doc format (look in your download folder). Each page measures 4″ x 6″, ready to be printed for a photo book.

booklet pages 1-33

booklet pages 34-66

booklet pages 67-99