This year was the year my husband and I took another step towards semi-retirement.  We sold our house and purchased a two bedroom adult lifestyle bungalow. Finding a new house was a bit of a challenge – even though we were determined to downsize, I still wanted a studio space and of course lots of storage. I was feeling a little discouraged . . . but then . . . when we least expected it . . . we found exactly what we were looking for. We moved at the end of June.

I have to say this move was probably the most difficult move I’ve ever experienced. I’m not sure if it’s just because it’s harder when you get a little older, or the fact I had to decide what was coming with me, and what we were getting rid of. Downsizing years of stuff is not easy, even though I haven’t used most of it in almost a decade, I was still unexplainably attached to them. Finally moving day came and I haven’t look back. It’s been good.

One of the first things I did when we moved in was to set up my studio. I organized all my fabrics, made a couple of trips to IKEA for a new table and desk and sanded and cleaned my sculpting and assembling table – the studio looked fabulous . . . for about 5 minutes. Since then I’m running on overdrive. Things are chaotic in my workshop. Elves have completely taken over my workspace. Sculpted heads, fabrics, polymer clay, all sorts of little bits and pieces are scattered all over my new studio. During the summer I also took a silversmithing workshop and learned how to create hammered silver jewelry – I’m in love with this. I’m actually going to be taking a class on using my sculpting skills to create sculpted silver pieces. Stay tune for that. In the meantime a new corner in my studio has been taken over with jewelry supplies.

Right now my time is devoted to finishing off little details on this year’s new and final edition in the elf series.  I’ve also completed some commissioned-one-of-a-kind pieces. You’ll see them all on my updated website.

As I mentioned, this year will be the final edition in the elf series.  It’s been 10 years since I made the first set of elves. I can’t tell you how much joy it’s brought me to know these little characters have become part of your Christmas tradition and that my customers look forward to new characters every year. I love how some of you move them around at night to surprise your children every morning.  I love one story of how one of my elves has accompanied one family on all their travels. The elves have even accompanied some of your children to college and to war as a soothing reminder of home.  Thank you and I hope you enjoy this year’s line-up.

By the way, in my next post I’m going to have photos of all the elves I’ve ever made and their names, as best as I can remember. Stay tuned . .  .