Friday, December 21, 2012

Journal Your Christmas - Dec 20 - My Favorite Nativity Scene

I love nativity scenes!  The first one I owned was one I made decades ago.  My mom and I took ceramics classes together for a whisper of time when I was in middle school.  I made a 5-piece set-- well with that kind of ceramics, it is more honest to say that I sanded off the seams and painted a 5-piece set.  I always wanted to be sure I had one I guess.  It was my only set for years.  When I got my first apartment, I bought a much larger set, complete with a creche structure, from a department store.  Then, I bought a painted wooden set -- perfect for children to play with-- when I was in my 20s.  

...But my favorite is one I received last Christmas -- or was it the Christmas before that?-- from my mom.  It is a hand-made set that she bought at a little store for me.  I love it and left it out for a long time after Christmas, thinking I might just leave it out all year long.



I love all the detailed folk art painting on the figures.  I love the way that Mary and the Angel have their hands folded for prayer.  It is a curious set too-- Joseph looks a bit like a Wise Man with a gift in his hands, there are "extra" people aside from the Wise Men and the shepherd, and the shepherd seems to be holding an invisible shepherds crook.  I think this is what makes it as special as the painting and details.  

This was the subject of my December 20 page of my Christmas journal.  I messed with the lighting a bit to make the tree with bokeh lights in the background more white and less colorful and, in the process, washed out a lot of color from my set.  I loved it with the papers I wanted to use though, so I ran with it!





I made a little file folder that tucks in behind the picture to journal the day's events.



Today is my daughter's last day of school and I still have more sewing to do for her gift.  I suppose middle-of-the-night sewing will be on my agenda for the next couple of nights.  I hope you are in better shape with your crafting than I am!

Thank you for checking my blog post today!


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6 comments:

Sis Patterson said...

Beautiful nativity set and gorgeous layout. I love the colors in your photo and your page selection is wonderful! The praying shepherd boy and wonderful layers of color on the mat are perfect - and the file folder is precious.

WOW - I am so impressed with your work on your project!!!

JennyKozar said...

I love this! I find it amazing that will all you do you have kept on top of this. Thanks for always inspiring me!

Hrvatica said...

Beautiful nativity set and the praying boy cut is the perfect compliment to your photo.

R said...

What a beautiful photo and LO.
I love coming here for inspiration. Have a wonderful holiday!


rhondah*

cdm317 said...

Love this! It's one of my favorite pages that you have done.

Mrs. Green said...

This page is stunning!

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But wait!  There's more!  Click 'older posts' above!