Merry Christmas to All And To all A Good Night

What in the world do leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, and especially the partridge who won't come out of the pear tree have to do with Christmas?
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From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.

It has two levels of meaning the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.

The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.

Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.

Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.

The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books 

of the Old Testament.

The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.

Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit - Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.

The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.

Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit - Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.

The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.

The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.

The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed. 

So there is your history lesson for today. Now you know how that strange song became a Christmas Carol.

Merry CHRISTmas Everyone

Altered Mannequin

This was a wonderfully fun project for me.  I bought the mannequin at Hobby Lobby (with my forty percent off coupon) so if I ruined it, I wouldn't feel so badly about it.  But, the good news is I didn't ruin it!!!

First I decided that I would make some sort of hairpiece out of polymer clay. I decided on a Marge Simpson hairdo, only a red color, not her famous blue. After that was cured, I began the decoupage process on the large portions of the doll.  I picked out colorful paper as the doll itself is a drab color.  When I was finished I thought that it needed something else.  I used my Believe stamp on the same paper and then decoupaged it onto the front of her blouse.  Posing her was so much fun as you can see!

She stands 10" tall which includes her hair.  There are three different mannequin sizes at Hobby Lobby and this is the middle sized one.  I think I will try the large size next time.   The small one is too tiny to really do anything with.

More Altered Paint Brushes

Creating this bow was half the fun ~ adding it to

the paint brush was the other half.  I painted then sanded the handle  making it look weathered, then gave the bristles a bit of paint to add to the charm. I really love the grey and pink colors together.

Altered Paint Brush ~ Guardian Angel

I created this art doll out of Polymer clay over a fabulous little paint brush that I bought at The Home Depot ~ that is where I buy all my paintbrushes.  The plain wooden handles are perfect for the project and the bristles do not burn in the oven.  The first time I put one in the oven, I cringed, thinking that I would have burned bristles or no bristles at all  when it came out.  But lo and behold, these wonderful brushes do very well in the oven. I have to say, they even do well after the bristles are painted.  I wanted to add wings to this art doll after I had it finished, so back in the oven it went.  I did have to use some fiberfill to prop the wings on each side as they were heavy and wanted to pull away from the body.  Fiberfill is awesome for polymer clay baking.  It will keep round beads round and prevent that little flat spot from appearing on your beads.