Christmas Artwork

On the same day we bought our Christmas tree, I chanced upon a metal heart frame. Within it were smaller hearts. It had the colour of rusty metal and it was not something I would normally choose to take home even if it were free. I would say "Send it to the scrap metal dealer."

 Yet something compelled me to this heart frame. Maybe they were the hearts within the heart, I'm not sure. Maybe in a more creative burst lately, I felt that love grows from the core. Love, represented by the heart, grows into something beautiful. I vowed to make this heart beautiful inside out. 

I walked past the aisle and then I turned back, after asking hubby if it was ok to buy it. Hubby, as he always is nice and sweet to me, said it is ok. He hardly ever says it is not ok for me to buy something. 

 When we reached home, we were already tired and did not do any decorating. Then on Wednesday afternoon, after a Japanese takeaway lunch from the Wok to Go, we were energised and started decorating our Christmas tree. The same evening, I decorated the heart with a few knick-knacks, acorns and slingers which I had bought separately.

I recalled with fond memories of Michelle and her hubby's stay with us here in Alkmaar. The acorns were collected from the Zuid-Kennemerland National Park. We went cycling in the dunes together with them. Michelle and Kaie also took two acorns for keepsake. Had they not collected the acorns, we would not had done so too. So here is thanks to the both of them for contributing to this craft of mine.

 This is the end result after one hour of standing up (yes, I did not sit down on the chair while doing this) trying this and that. Everything I did on the heart was by trial and error. If it didn't look nice enough to me, I would take out the pieces and start over again. Quite a perfectionist you could say, until I was late on dinner. Hubby was on the sofa and I asked him what time it was. He said it was already ten minutes past seven.  I was surprised that I was lost in time. I immediately rushed to cook him a nice dinner.

My Christmas craft now hangs on a nail on the side window. Here is a motto I want to put with it.

"Love grows into a Garden." Quoting from a painting in my house in Malaysia where there was a garden of flowers and the same words below it. I remember my mother re-painted the flowers when it faded. I liked the fact that she restored the painting.

Now I do not know where that painting went too, but this Metal Heart reminds me of it. So here is also a thanks to my mother for this artwork inspiration. All the people who are close to me at heart contributed to this artwork. A big thank you to all!