Well, I am back from my holiday break today.  I am still getting over the Illness of Doom 2008/2009, but I am ready to be back at work….it’s a hell of a lot better than being sick and on vacation!

So, today I want to share with you some of my Christmas loot from Mr. Indie Fixx, share my holiday decorations (better late than never) & my resolutions for the upcoming year.

I opened some very nice indie goodies on Christmas morning from Mr. Indie Fixx. He used both Indie Fixx and the Indie Fixx Galleria to shop…what a good boy he is. This is what I got—a necklace from Lemon Grove, a print from Creative Thursday, prints and other goodies from Paper Sparrow & a notebook and wallpaper swatches from Freshly Blended. He also gave me another necklace from unnamed shop, which I had asked for, but neither of us were very happy with the quality, so I am sending it back.

I gave him the book Core Memory : A Visual Survey of Vintage Computers • Featuring Machines from the Computer History Museum, published by Chronicle Books.  It’s pretty much what the title states, a coffee table picture book of old computers. He really liked it, especially when he came across one of his first computers…the Commodore VIC-20.  I also gave him a floppy disk pencil cup from GeekGear, a subscription to Make: magazine and a plush ‘I love you’ robot from Littlebrownbyrd Creations.

In addition to buying Mr. Indie Fixx and all my other peeps presents, I had a lot of fun decorating the house this year for the holidays. I made snowflakes for all the windows. I just love making snowflakes, but I don’t really stick to traditional snowflake shapes. I much prefer to make more ‘abstract’ snowflakes.

I also made this garland from a template from Hello Handmade Paperie.  Sorry the picture is a little bit blurry, but it spells out Happy New Year. I really was looking forward to a happy start to this new year. We had plans to get together with friends for New Year’s Eve and plans to go to Washington DC and the Philly Zoo over the break, but then I got sick and all that went out the window. I’m sure hoping 2009, the year,  is better than it’s start.

So, that leads me to my New Year’s resolutions. I usually don’t ‘do’ resolutions, I sort of think it’s a contrived convention. This year, it made sense to me though. I had some time off and plenty of time in bed with nothing better to do than to make lists, plus I’ve been thinking about my goals and where I want to go both with Indie Fixx and the non-Indie Fixx part of life. Anyway, here’s what I came up with for resolutions for this year.

My resolutions

1. Spend more time with my family - I’ve become a workaholic over the past 3 years and the one area of my life that I feel has suffered the most are my family relationships.
2. Spend more time with myself - I need to read more, craft more, exercise more, try new things, follow through on some of those ideas I have, learn new stuff, etc. The things I enjoy doing and the things I should be doing to better myself and take care of myself too often fall by the wayside.
3. Cook more - I’ve recently gotten back into cooking. I used to do a lot more cooking, but fell into that all too convenient trap of pre-cooked convenience foods.  I love cooking, but I started dreading the time it took, I know many of you know what I mean, but I honestly get so much joy from creating good food and feeding hungry people.
4. Eat better &  exercise more - So cliche, I know, but oh so necessary.
5. Get outside my comfort zone more often.
6. Create more - Whether it’s with food, crafting, writing or whatever. I want to create for the sake of reawakening the spirit, not for any other reason.
7. Read more - I used to read at least 2-5 books a week & now I’m lucky if I get through 1 a month.
8. Make new friends and rekindle old friendships.
9. Clean my house and reduce the amount of shit I own.
10. Stop allowing myself to worry so much about what others think about me, my looks, my life, my choices.

That’s it for now. Later this week, I will be sharing some additions and changes that will occur here at Indie Fixx.  Love ya!

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by Vicky Sorsby

Happy 2009 to ya! I’m still on holiday so the ladies from Supercute are stepping in for me today to share their resolutions for the new year. How about you? Do you have any resolutions you want to share?

by guest contributor Supercute!

It’s that time of year once again. You stare at that third cookie and cup of nog and vow that next year you’ll be able to fit into that slinky New Year’s Eve dress. Yoga every day! Oh, and you’re finally going to have organized closets and a neat pantry. You even vow to get yourself on a budget once and for all! Yes, it’s resolution time! Over here at Supercute, we thought we’d share our resolutions and hope you’ll share yours in the comments.

So, here we go…

Becky’s Resolutions

Oh, New Year’s Resolutions! I’ll be honest. The idea of resolutions freaks me out a bit. Maybe it’s the commitment? Last year, I resolved to put numbers onto our house, and I just realized that I never did get around to it. Though, I guess there’s a little more time to do it still. Get off my back, OK?

I think that part of the reason that my 2008 “resolution” failed is that it was more task than habit. I’m going to give a couple of real resolutions a go this time around!

First off, in 2009 I want to create something every day. I’m so impressed with the folks who commit to Thing a Day and thought it would be nice to try to do a sort of boiled down version for myself. What I make doesn’t always have to be some masterpiece, which I think is one of the hangups that keeps me out of the craft room sometimes. It could be as simple of cooking something that’s totally out of my comfort zone for dinner, working on something for Glue & Glitter, or doing a bit of writing.

My other resolution ties right in with the first one. It’s time to pull things together in the old craft room. That’s right: organize that crafty stash and keep it that way. This is probably the more daunting resolution of the two, but it just has to happen. Who knows what amazing supplies I’ll unearth that I didn’t even know I had!

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by San Smith

The first step on the way to a tidy craft room is sorting out storage. I totally envy San Smith’s art room. My sewing projects would take a lot less time to get started if my fabric were as organized as her paints! I love the idea of swapping my big computer table out for something smaller to make room for more supply organization, too!

The real trick will be pulling this off without buying anything new. The call of IKEA is strong, but brand new pieces aren’t the most Earth-friendly choice. I’m sort of drawn to the idea of hunting down pieces that need a new home and maybe a coat of no-VOC paint. A challenge that means hitting up yard sales and thrift stores is one I can definitely handle!

Liz’s Resolutions

I’ve discovered that a list of resolutions doesn’t work for me. I start to feel pressured and resentful and just give up on all of them. This year, I am taking a different approach. I have one resolution that will be an ongoing process and will affect many areas of my life:

Follow through.

My biggest flaw and worst enemy is not bringing ideas to completion and not staying on top of things until they are finished. I have lots of ideas - heck, I am always brimming over with ideas. Taking those ideas and creating a plan and then, and this is key, sticking to the plan is where I tend to fall down. Some things do get done, but a lot of great ideas fall by the wayside because I don’t follow through. So with that in mind, here’s a little bit about how my one resolution will affect three different areas of my life.

1. Personal life: I’m that girl you know, the one who says that she’s going to do something and about 60% of the time, it gets done. 85% of the time, it gets done after a gentle reminder. I want to bring that 60% up to 85% and then move that 15% of undone things in to the “done with a gentle reminder” category. Not perfect, but resolutions shouldn’t be about being perfect. Don’t be too hard on yourself, but DO choose a goal that’s a stretch. something that you can feel really good about when you complete it - because nothing feels better than getting to the end and knowing that you did the work and deserve the rewards.
2. Crafty life: I can’t tell you how many great craft ideas have fallen by the wayside over the years. Or worse still… someone sends me a link to my own idea that someone else has come up with independently and then executed beautifully. I think the key here is a craft journal to record my ideas. Even more so, the key is being able to come back to those ideas and try them out when I have time. Following through on my idea even if I can’t get it done right away and not getting distracted by the next cool idea I have is the goal here. (Can you tell that there’s a trail of half-finished craft projects in my apartment?)
3. Green life: The best way I’ve found to encourage green thinking and living in others is to lead by example. I know I have picked up on habits and practices from other, greener friends and I have seen the influence of my own actions on other folks. Making sure I recycle as much as possible. Always bring my re-usable bags to the store. Saying no thank you to that plastic fork and busting out my travel set of silverware instead. One day after a visit to the farmer’s market with a friend, a woman stopped us and told us that we were an “inspiration” with our reusable bags. That felt pretty good - and hopefully it encouraged her to think about making the switch as well. Consistently eliminating waste, reusing items, taking that trash and turning it in to treasure - that’s something I can be proud to follow through on.

Handmade envelopes from Liz’s flickr photostream

Lori’s Resolutions

I have to admit, this has been a really tough year for me. While there are so many things we can’t control, like tornadoes and the loss of family members, looking back at this year I can see many ways in which I might have done things differently in order to better deal with the unavoidable. I have a very wise friend who once said that sanity and creativity were like a well, and you had to do what it took to fill that well up so that in times of drought you had something to draw on. Truer words were never spoken, and in that spirit I am making the following two resolutions.

First: Create for myself.
From what Liz said about the notebooks filled with sketches and half-baked ideas, to the simple pleasure of allowing oneself the downtime to get lost in a personal project, “selfish” creating is a way of giving back like no other. I used to do this all the time, but once my livelihood depended on my two hands, I let myself feel guilty about time spent on personal projects. Yes, yes, I can hear you laughing now. You’d be laughing harder if you saw me last week, staring at my closet, running late as usual, cursing the fact that I had nothing to wear to the fancy Xmas party that didn’t require 20 minutes of finishing.

Second: Take advantage of what’s already available.
There’s not much like travel for inspiration. I have to admit, Husband and I got a little spoiled in our honeymoon years… LOTS of travel and bits time living in other countries. We’ve both lived in this city for most of our lives tho, and I admit we’ve gotten so jaded about this place that we haven’t done half the things on any good tourists’ list. Are we crazy?!? Apparently. This city has grown since I was a kid, and I haven’t kept up with it. Bonus: local attractions are cheap and don’t involve questionable sleeping arrangements! This year? Pretend I’m a tourist in my own city, yet sleep each night in my own snuggly, kitten-filled bed. That’s a win all around, I think!

The last resolution involves a habit that is a result of stress, not a causation. My dirty little secret of hippie shame is my addiction to take-out sushi and microwaveable noodle bowls. Yep, that means those darn plastic containers that are never the right number to go in my recycle bin. I’ve gotten pretty good with the recycle/reuse part of the Green Triumvirate, but I have to admit that I could certainly make some improvements in the reducing category. Most of that revolves around better planning and not letting myself get to the point where I’m about to chew my own arm off because my cupboard contains cat food, peanut butter and ketchup. (It’s happened…just hush!) This same issue manifests itself in my craft room, where half the time I know I own a supply, but can’t for the life of me figure out where I stashed it, so I repeat buy. Expensive AND wasteful. woo! SO… yeah, organization2009, for the win!!!

So anyway, those are my top 3 resolutions. What are yours? (wait… I should add in #4: no more cat rescue. 8 is enough, anyone want a kitten?)

From Lori’s  flickr photostream

About the contributors: You’ve heard of Superbad? Well now, it’s time to learn about Supercute!  Supercute! is a collaboration between three independent artists who believe that a kinder, happier, sustainable world is possible with just a little optimism and a whole lot of cuteness.  Lorigami is a self-employed artist and crafter living in a tiny house in Atlanta with her husband and entirely too many cats. When she’s not working on a renovation project, she likes to make pretty things out of vintage, found and recycled materials. Lizerati makes makes beautiful art pendants using found objects. She’s currently living in Atlanta, GA where she loves the craft scene but hates the deadly heat of the summer.  Becky Striepe of Glue&Glitter loves turning found and vintage materials into something cute and new. She hopes that the things she makes help folks see that reducing their ecological footprints is not just possible but fun!

I’m still on holiday today, but Samantha Hahn is stepping in for me today with a post for the Guest Blog. She is sharing some resolutions and a few Happy New Year’s cards. I do hope you all had a nice holiday, I sure did and I will be back soon to share my Christmas goodies with you!

by guest contributor Samantha Hahn

Hello Indie Fixx readers, Samantha here, just visiting from my blog Maquette. I was happy when Jen asked me to share my new years resolutions (personal and professional) with you. Resolutions are important to me. I think artists are hard on themselves so new years is a good time to reevaluate and think of modifications in life that could help us personally and professionally in the upcoming year. I thought it would be interesting to share my resolutions and those of two other illustrator/surface pattern designers I’ve become friends with through the blogosphere, Jessica of Treasuring and Yasmine of a print a day.

I wish you the happiest and must fruitful year! Please enjoy these FREE downloadable cards I made for you! Just click on the links below or the images themselves to open larger printable files.

Happy New Year Darling - Large

May the new year bling you joy - Large

Happy New Year - Large

Now for resolutions:

Samantha Hahn’s resolutions
PERSONAL: Positive thinking! I need to try to feel good about who I am, and what I’ve achieved instead of being hard on myself. I need to work on accepting compliments without embarrassment or self effacement and just absorb positive sentiments. I also resolve to try and enjoy each moment, recognizing how lucky I am to have family and friends who love me and who I love.

PROFESSIONAL: To be more organized! To allow myself downtime without constant guilt. To work hard when I’m working, and relax when I’m not working, instead of always feeling guilty. I’d like to achieve a better balance between work and play and the way I feel during both periods of time. The major goal is to cut the anxiety out and work efficiently and keep good records! I’d also like to be more focused and choose a few areas to attend to rather than trying to do everything and spread myself too thin.

Jessica Gonacha’s resolutions
PERSONAL: I am setting an intention to transform my negative thoughts into positive ones. For example, each negative though can be reframed– if I’m thinking about something I don’t want, I can reframe it to focus on the opposite– what I do want! I want to say a big YES to life.

PROFESSIONAL: I intend to be less obsessed with checking my email. I think it can be a creativity destroyer, yet I obsessively check it all day long. I think it will help me focus more on
getting into the creative zone.

Yasmine Surovec’s resolutions
PERSONAL:
a.) To be nicer and generous to people and animals in
general. I think it makes living a bit easier when
there’s one less crabby person.
b.) To spend more time with my husband, family and
friends (and my 2 cats and 2 dogs). I sometimes find
myself lost in work and making things that I
oftentimes forget that the reason why I’ve been
working really hard is for the people I care about.
c.) Volunteer more.
d.) Give myself more vacation time.

PROFESSIONAL:
a.) Open my own online store!
b.) Regularly contribute a portion of my earnings from
the said store to non-profits.

Another Christmas Eve An Indie Holiday Story for you from Heidi  of My Paper Crane. Heidi shares her super cute tree and what makes Christmas special for her.

1. Your favorite holiday tradition.

Every year we decorate a gingerbread house and while it is messy + we never eat it, I love doing it.

2.  A favorite cookie recipe?

Magic Cookie Bars

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 (14 ounce) can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts

•  Heat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees for glass dish). Coat 13×9-inch baking pan with no-stick cooking spray.
• Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of prepared pan. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press down firmly with a fork.
• Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars or diamonds. Store covered at room temperature.

3. Share a story behind a special ornament on your tree.

On the top of our tree instead of a star we have a Queen Of Hearts tree topper. My husband and I are big fans of Alice In Wonderland and so when we got our first tree together it seemed only natural that something related to Alice would reside on top.

4. All you want from Santa is….?

For everyone to love their gifts from me!! I didn’t really have any major gift wants this year but I love love love coming up with gift ideas for other people, so I really hope everyone enjoys them.

5. Your favorite Christmas movie and why?

Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas because it always makes me tear up, good nostalgic memories…and Jim Henson!

6. Are you dong anything special for the holidays this year?

My parent’s and youngest sister have all moved out of state within the last year. We used to do a big Christmas Eve at my mom’s house each year (this is the first year that my side of the family is not all together) Since this year it just leaves my older sister her family and mine for Christmas Eve we have a big night planned for my house, an all day event. We plan to try and make up for the missing family by celebrating all day long.

7. What’s the best toy you ever got when you were a kid.

I can’t even remember…maybe some fisher price little people? I always liked art kits too do those count? Nothing impressed me more then a new box of crayons!

8. Why is Christmas special to you?

I love the time we spend on our friends and family. I love baking for everyone, and trying to plan out the gifts. I love that we have all these mini celebrations with different sides of families, our own family, and then friends. Oh and I love all the crazy decorating and lights, just LOVE it!!

I just love the artwork of Marisa Haedike of Creative Thursday fame.  In fact, I have a few dozen of her prints on my Christmas list and I sure hope Mr. Indie Fixx was paying attention…

Anyway, Marisa found this clever idea for making tree ornaments from Starbucks cup sleeves on the Internet and decided to add some of her tiny prints  to make the cutest ornaments ever!  She was selling them in her Etsy shop, but they are all sold out now. You can read about their creation on her blog though.

You can also read about Marissa’s most treasured ornament for her An Indie Holiday Story submission.

Every year I open a little brown box that holds an ornament I made in the 3rd grade.  And every year I’m still so excited when I open that box and every year I love it a little more. Considering what it is made of I can hardly believe it has held up as long as it has, and hasn’t gotten crushed in all of the many, many moves I’ve made since the third grade.  It is made of a white Styrofoam egg carton. We basically cut all the egg “cups” out of the carton and then cut thin upside down triangle shapes all around the edge of each cup, to make it look like the edges of a star. Then all the cups are attached to a white Styrofoam ball with a long pearl tipped pin that also holds a couple of blue and white beads and a blue metallic snowflake. The pin presses through the center of the egg cup and holds all of the baubles in place. When it is finished it resembles a big white snowflake with touches of silver and blue. I’m still so impressed by the ingenuity my teacher had in coming up with this idea for such a pretty ornament, that I have to say is also a timeless design ! And as the story goes with ornaments, when I unpack it every year, I’m reminded of my childhood, the dreams I had and the dreams I have, and I think about how my life has turned out and what my child self would think about my life now. And I think she’d be very happy.

Margaret from Resurrection Fern (and on Etsy) shares her pretty & pretty clever frozen icicle doily snowflakes.  You can read about how to make them here, but this one is really only for people who live where the temps are at freezing or below.  It’s gotten cold enough here lately, but too bad it’s going back up to be in the 40s & 50s for Christmas day.

Margaret also shares her An Indie Holiday Story  with you.

Christmas is very handmade in my home. I think one of my very favorite holiday traditions is the dolls’ Christmas that we celebrate on Christmas Eve. I borrowed this from Tasha Tudor. On Christmas Eve we decorate a tiny tree and each of the children are allowed to invite one of their dolls or special stuffed animals to join in the celebration. They each receive tiny handmade stockings with doll sized treats and one or two small gifts under the tree. Usually, they are a new handmade outfit or knitted hats. The dolls and children then have a tea party with tiny party sandwiches , cookies and cupcakes.  My three daughters would almost always invite the dolls that I made for each of them but my son would bring a different stuffed animal to the party every year, from puppies to dinosaurs.

Image courtesy of Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

On a budget? Well, who isn’t right now? However, that doesn’t mean you need to forgo planning an off the hook New Year’s Eve Party. I’ve got some tips that will help you get more shizzle for your swizzle stick.

Linnea Johansson, party planner extraordinaire and author of the book Perfect Parties, says that that no matter what type of party you are planning or the amount of your budget, “Don’t try to do everything, keep it simple and put your focus on one or two things and really do them well instead of doing everything so-so.” So, let’s break it down.

Food
Don’t feel like you need to serve a 12-course meal; cocktail parties are a lot easier on your wallet. Just make it clear to your guests that you’re not throwing a dinner party. Also, keep it simple and don’t try to serve 15 different appetizers, but instead come up with 2-3 inexpensive little nibbles.

Image courtesy of the Food Network

• Tsia Carson, from the website Supernaturale and the author of Craftivity, likes to make cucumber cups filled with sake. Your guests can drink the sake and then eat their cups…food and drink in one. Here’s a recipe from the Food Network.
• As a southern girl, Jennifer Perkins of Naughty Secretary Club likes to serve black-eyed peas for New Year’s Eve. She uses this recipe from epicurious.com for a tasty and inexpensive Black-eyed Pea Dip.
• Cookthink.com can also be a good resource to help you come up with recipes using food you already have in your cabinets!

Entertainment

• There is no need to hire a DJ, just create your own Mp3 playlist. Get your friends involved too, but make sure to be specific about what you are looking for…if you are looking for booty jams, you don’t want to end up with smooth jazz!
• Becky O’Neill, the designer behind Becky OH! suggests putting your guests to work as the entertainment. “At the best New Year’s Eve party I ever attended, everyone was required to do a performance. The night was organized around the acts and it was so much fun. Some people even learned new skills to come, like flamenco dancing, tap dancing and even stand-up.”
• If you are lucky enough to have a Wii or know someone who has one, have a Wii Sports tournament. It’s a really great icebreaker!

Booze
The biggest party investment hands-down is alcohol.  Since buying multiple types of booze is definitely more costly, one way to save some of your dinero is to serve punch or just one kind of cocktail. Also, try shopping at a warehouse store, the prices are often a lot cheaper. Don’t forget to check in with your liquor store though. Many have a buyers’ club or offer discounts on cases.

Decorations and Ambiance
While decorations can be important to setting the mood or setting up a theme party, it’s very easy for party planners to overspend. Make sure not to forget those three little words…do-it-yourself!

Friends of Jennifer Perkins at last year’s New Year’s Eve party.

• For a little bit of decoration and entertainment, Jennifer from Naughty Secretary Club, suggests getting guests involved in making their own pipe cleaner tiaras and hats.
• Use food as décor. Nicole Batch of Pink Loves Brown fills glass containers with the brightly-colored Japanese candy called Pocky. Voila…edible decorations! You can also make fruit sculptures with Styrofoam and toothpicks.

Your Look
It’s quite possible to spend a small fortune just primping for your big party, but consider going to a cosmetology school for your hair, make-up and nails. The cost can be unbelievably cheap! Visit BeautySchoolsDirectory.com for a state-by-state listing of cosmetology schools.  Plus, don’t forget about thrifting or refashioning your outfit.  Or swap with a friend.

Theme Parties
Theme parties can be helpful in the planning stage, since they help provide some structure for your party.  They can also be a real blast if planned well.

• New Year’s Eve Scavenger Hunt – have guests bring a list of at least 5 resolutions. Then shuffle the lists and distribute them amongst teams.  The teams need to find at least one item that relates to each of the resolutions on their collective lists.
• Pimped-Out PJ party – everyone wears their pimped-out or refashioned jammies. Serve cookies and Kahlua & milk. Provide lots of pillows and blankets. With everyone already in his or her jammies, you won’t have to worry about anyone drinking and driving.
• Foodie Cooking party – everyone brings a recipe and the ingredients to cook over the course of the evening.
• Movie Night – have your guests dress up like a character from a movie and bring a DVD to watch. Watch movies and serve popcorn and cherry rum and cokes.

General Cost-saving tips

• Thrift for serving trays, dishes and punch bowls instead of buying new. It’s more eco-friendly anyway.
• Don’t buy coordinated napkins, plates and cups. Just buy in bulk and save some money, your guest will not care at all.
• Don’t worry about mailing out invites, just pick up the phone or send out an email. If you just love paper, make your own invitations from recycled materials and hand-deliver them if possible.
• Throw a party with a group of friends and share in the costs of the planning. Chances are you all want to invite most of the same people anyway.
• Make a budget and stick to it. It’s just like going to the grocery store without a list, you are going to spend more if you don’t make a budget right from the start.

That’s it folks.  I do hope whatever your plans are that you have a rockin’ good time!

Here are some lovely illustrations to help you celebrate the Winter Solstice!  I want to let you know that posting will be light over the holidays, as I am taking a much needed break to be with family & friends. Don’t worry though, there will still be plenty of Indie Fixx to feed your fixx.  I will be doing some posting and a few friends will be helping me out as well.

‘Winter Cheer’ from Sarah Jane

‘My Favorite Spot in Winter’ from Belle and Boo

‘Snow Bunny’ from Stephanie Fizer

‘Hide n Seek’ from Hide n Seek Illustration