Only Stars for the Top of your Christmas Tree? NO!

Happy Holiday Season from Tennessee!  I bet all of you are planning your holiday shopping list for "Black Friday" (what a depressing name) for Christmas presents and all the holiday trimmings. Well don't neglect to adorn the top of your Christmas tree with something special this year; a snowman!!!

Two of my favorites are the snowman angel and the traditional top hat snowman, that coincidentally I make and sell in my Etsy store for $18.00 each plus priority shipping. A bargain considering even the cheapos are easily over $35.00 each.  And wouldn't you rather have something that is individually handmade with thought, care and a sprinkle of love? I would! 

Aren't they sweet? I think so!

 

Let me tell you about them: each one starts from tea-dyed fleece, the heads are sewn separately and hand painted with cheeks and eyes, a tiny wooden dowel is painted and placed for the nose, top hats are rolled of black wool felt, or a copper wire halo bent to shape is added. The snowman angel has wool felt wings that are sprinkled with glitter. The traditional snowman has a blue checkered (or similar) flannel scarf and a snowflake embellishment added. The snow angel has a rusted star attached to tea-dyed cheesecloth. Finally a "vintage" Christmas season tag is added.  Sweetness!

 

What makes this tree topper different, besides being adorable? You can add a gift card tucked into the hem, or you can use this tree topper as a gift jar topper instead! Make a special holiday dry mix, say cookies for instance, in a mason jar and top the jar with the snowman! The hem is open at the bottom so it'll fit right over. You can also put him on top of a wine bottle for a cheery hostess gift. Perfect to take to holiday parties!  You could even stuff it with tissue and use it for your holiday table centerpiece.

So come on over to my shop and give your tree a warm fuzzy this year. You'll cherish him for years to come!!!

Happy Holidays from My House to Yours!

I wanted to wish all my friends and By Way of Salem followers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

It's been about 4 years now since I started my By Way of Salem site and opened my Etsy store and along the way I've met so many great people who've become my fans and supporters of my art. I really appreciate it and take it to heart. It's why I keep creating, and I really do love everything I make. It's never been about the money, it's always been about creating and living a creative life. It's also my way of giving back to the animals as a portion of every sale is donated to my favorite animal charities in need. So thank you - from my house to yours! Merry Christmas!!!

 

 

Oh Christmas Tree (Topper), Oh Christmas Tree (Topper)

A Christmas tree without a "topper" is like not having frosting on your cake, a bow on a wrapped present, or no carved face on your Halloween pumpkin. Don't you agree?

Some people decorate with stars, some with angels, and some relate to whatever theme their tree might reflect. My favorite are of course snowmen!  The snowman tree topper that I make every year is an angel snowman with a rusty star and a vintage card tag. He's a customer favorite year after year.

Not only is he a tree topper, but you can also put a little gift card in his hem, or he can sit over a gourmet food jar such as cookie mix, jam, etc. Both of these ideas make for wonderful hostess gifts!

If you'd like to order one for yourself or a lucky friend, you can go to my Etsy store or email me directly. 

Snowmen Fall From Heaven Unassembled

Love that don't you?!  I do so love snowmen. They have a way of putting a smile on your face. It's so simple. I never get tired of painting or making snowman crafts.

I wanted to leave you a bit of Winter as we make our way into Spring and soon after, Summer. Sort of sad...but for us holiday artists, snowmen live year round, as do witches and pumpkins and all other ghosties as well.

Enjoy some of my favorite snowmen.

 

Merry Christmas to All!

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope everyone had a warm and wonderful holiday season this year. I'd like to share what Christmas means to me..

Christmas to me has always meant family. Of course I didn't realize that until I got older and was alone. Most of my family has passed; my mom and dad, brothers and sisters.  This day is bittersweet indeed.

Christmas as a child was magic! It meant the hunt for the biggest white flocked Christmas tree that my dad could get a deal on. Lol! We went to the same tree lot every year, at the corner of Moorpark and Woodman. During some really high-dollar years when those trees would be about $150, and back then in the 60's and 70's, that was A LOT of money, it would mean waiting for Christmas eve when the tree lots would be trying to get rid of their last ones. Even then they'd still be about $65, but he'd buy it anyway, grumbling the whole time. We'd tie it to the top of the car and drive it home, wrestle it into the house, flocking would be everywhere! and turn it all around to make sure we got the fullest side facing forward. My brother Phillippe was in charge of putting on the lights. I got to decorate with all the bulbs. Sometimes tinsel too. After it was decorated, I can remember sitting on the living room floor with just the lights of the tree on, how beautiful it was, and how magical...I still have all the family ornaments....

Once the tree was up, as the gifts were wrapped, my mom would put them under the tree. I think I was the only one who'd sneak to try to see what I got. Shaking each box and shifting around the contents to see if you could guess what it was. Sometimes I'd know just by the shape of the box, like when my mom bought me the Kabala fortune-telling game that I wanted so bad! It came in this weird shaped box so I knew that's what it was!

But the best gift I ever got was my Schwinn Slick Chick Stingray bicycle! It was magenta, my favorite color, with a silver glitter banana seat and a sissy bar. I LOVED that bike more than anything. Another favorite gift was a pair of ice skates I wanted so bad. My mom bought them 2 sizes too big, and even when I got older, they were always too big. LOL!

Christmas of course included our big holiday dinner. It'd be at 1:00. There were 6 of us kids, plus my mom and dad, so it was a full house every year. As we got older, there'd be husbands or wives brought along, or maybe a boyfriend or girlfriend. My dad was a chef and so he'd make most of the meal. Always a turkey, and then either a ham or a prime rib. We'd have turnips cooked with bacon fat (takes the bitterness out), baked potatoes, baked yams or sweet potatoes, THE best gravy in the entire world, green beans sauteed in butter, butter flake rolls and cranberry sauce. For dessert there'd be an assortment of pies; apple and of course pumpkin, and my dad would make plum pudding with hard sauce for my sister Yvonne. We'd have wine and champagne, and coffee with dessert. Family dinners were the heart and soul of our holidays and I think it's that tradition I miss most of all; to have my family all gathered around the dining room table.

After my dad past in 1990, there were no more holidays together as a family. A couple of times I flew down to Los Angeles to have dinner with my one remaining brother and his wife and her family, but it's not the same. My dad was the glue that held our family together. Not a day or a holiday goes by when I don't miss him, or my brothers and sisters.

So on this most special of days, Christmas, always remember that the best present you can have will always be your family. Merry Christmas!

Oh-So-Cuddly Snowmen

I've been busy painting lately. Snowmen. Lots and lots of snowmen!  These are a few of my favorites. I paint this little guy on all sorts of things; wood, rocks, canvas, clay - anything! I just think no matter how you paint snowmen, they are always cute! I have these for sale in my Etsy store and they've been selling out as soon as I list them. Must be lots of snowmen lovers and collectors, like me out there!

Merry Christmas To All!

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family. Thank you for your love and friendship throughout this past year. I have the most amazing fans of my art; from California to Russia and everywhere in between! Thank you for your support. I'm truly blessed to call you my friend. May you all have the merriest Christmas! And Happy New Year! With love, Jeannine

Painting a little bit of Winter

These are my latest little creations. I say little because these are petite canvases of 4 x 5. They are done in acrylics, then embellished with decorative papers and distressed letters. I was so charmed by them when they were finished, I didn't want to sell them!

I'm working on a few more right now. I know, it's close to Christmas and I'm a bit behind in my seasonal creations, but I can't create by the season. I have to feel it, or it doesn't happen. I could paint snowmen all year long, even in Summer. Right now, I'm feeling a bit candy cane-ish, so we'll see what I might come up with! Ho Ho Ho!

Snowmen; My Favorite Winter Friend

There's more to a snowman than meets the eye! He's the icon of Winter, our childhood, children's books and movies, and this lovable character is everywhere! On coffee mugs at Starbucks, plates at Pier 1, napkins at grocery stores, greeting cards, door hangers, gift wrap, Christmas ornaments, holiday sweaters bound for the return counter, and so much more. And who can possibly pass up a huge field of snow and not at least think about building a snowman? Not me.
I myself have a huge collection. Every year I set out to purchase at least one thing "Snowman". My collection includes gift bags, decorative tins, soft sculptures, carvings I bought in Switzerland, candleholders, ceramic statues, german glass ornaments, Bob's boxes, tins that were once filled with chocolates, even greeting card boxes I had to save because the snowmen were too adorable to just toss out. They're so cute and cuddly, I don't know how anyone can resist them.

Do you know who built the first snowman? It was in Eau Claire, WI in 1809 by Vernon Paul and his little girl Yetty. How about the world's tallest snowman? Apparently that record was set in 2008 in Bethel, Maine as a way to put Bethel on the map. The snowman stood 122 feet and 1 inch! How did they get up there??

One of my favorite books as a child was "The Littlest Snowman". As I remember, it was a story about a snowman that came to town and brought joy. As the thermometer went up, the snowman started to melt. The snowmen went and got every flavor of ice cream and ate it, then sat upon the town Christmas tree. A northwind came and blew all the ice cream flavored snow all through the air. A beautiful written classic children's book that every family should have. So wonderful...wish I still had mine....
If you've been following my art and blog for any length of time, you know I incorporate a lot of snowmen in my art. I've painted, stuffed, glued, and glittered them and I never get tired of seeing their cherubic faces. And I'm always on the search for more to add to my personal collection.


Snowmen bring smiles to our faces. They're a way of celebrating the bite of Winter, young and old alike.

If a snowman had a voice, who do you think he'd sound like?