It’s hard to believe that December is already here. Although, since it’s been snowing here in Saskatoon since late October, how surprising can it really be? Hah!

Now that all my conventions and art markets are done for the year I have more time to blog regularly and work on personal project, which is a huge relief. I am excited to work on things other than kanzashi for a bit. I’ve also been updating the AppleDainty Shop with all the kanzashi leftover from my last show. If you like my work, I hope you give it a gander.

If you missed me at the shows, you can still shop like you were there – I’ll be offering free standard domestic shipping on all orders over $50 from now until the end of December. Just use code HOLIDAYMARKET at checkout.

Anyhoo, since Christmas is coming up quick, I thought it would be a good time to feature some tsumami Christmas tree ornaments. I made a handful of them for the Calgary Expo Holiday Market, but they weren’t big sellers. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting them to be, and I am kind of relieved because now I can give them to friends and family like I originally wanted to.

These ornaments were pretty simple to make. I started with 1inch foam balls from Dollarama (AKA, the greatest place ever). I used some regular white Elmer’s type glue and a rhinestone studded brad to attach the hanging ribbon. Once the glue dried it was time to decorate.

I used to find placing petals on the round ball surfaces difficult, but now that I’ve done it a few times it’s really not that bad. I usually work in stages, adding the prominent elements like flowers and leaves, then adding the filler background petals in later. Since these are round, it makes it a lot easier if you give things a bit of time to dry. Once one side is dry, you can work on the other side without worrying as much about wrecking up your previous work.

I also discovered that starting with a round object as your base doesn’t guarantee that your result will be perfectly round. My cherry blossom ornament, while pretty, isn’t very round. I feel that is caused by having petals oriented in different directions. The ones that had all the petals positioned in the same direction were much more round.

All in all, I am pretty satisfied with how these turned out. I feel like I could have done more interesting things with larger foam balls, so maybe I will do some more elaborate ones next year.

Speaking of next year, I am starting to look into what shows I want to try and attend for 2018.

I’ve only applied for a handful of shows, because I honestly don’t have the time or energy to go to more than that. I really enjoyed Calgary Expo Holiday Market, and would like to do Calgary Expo itself – but not in 2018. Maybe 2019 instead. I think I want to try Otafest this year instead.

I’ve actually applied to do a kanzashi panel, and I’m going to apply for their artist’s alley (which is by lottery) when it opens this weekend. It’s the 20th Anniversary for Otafest, which is also in Calgary, so I feel like it’s going to be a good year for the show. I’ve only done a panel once before, and it was about webcomics, so if I’m selected this will be a whole different kind of experience.

Are there any shows you would recommend, or like to see me at? Let me know in the comments. And thank you to everyone who came by my table at Calgary Expo Holiday Market, and especially to all the lovely people who bought from me. You guys are the best!

That’s all I’ve got for this week’s post – but there’s more coming on down the line, so check back again next week for more art, crafts and cookery.