The Maker's Space

http://christmasartwalk.com/ Go to the above address to find out about the Barrington Christmas Art Walk.  Original art pieces depict to Christmas Story placed all around the city.  It is now open for self guided tours through December 24!

By Jenna Sveen To keep you interested, I promise I will make a connection between Santa Lucia and ISIS.  As you all know, I love being Scandinavian and relish in the traditions and culture that were passed down to me by my grandparents. As a pride-filled Swede, I was looking on Ikea's website yesterday (duh) for some Christmas candles that I needed. I stumbled across what appears to be Ikea's version of a blog titled "Celebrate Christmas Like a Swede." Most of the stuff I alr eady do or at least was familiar with, however, I was reminded about the importance of light during the month of December in Sweden. Two of the tips were "No room without a candle" and "Make you indoor light come alive." The blog reminded readers that the darkest day of the year is in December and on that day in Sweden you can hardly, if at all, see the sun.Thus to combat this, Swedes fill their homes with light. Each room contains numerous candles and special Christmas l

I wanted to hang above our mantel something that would remind us not just of the Christmas season, but something to carry into the new year. After reading through many Christmas hymns, I settled on O Little Town of Bethlehem. I love the imagery of the ending of the first verse that speaks about our hopes and fears colliding together the night Christ was born. For decades, the Israelites waited hoping for their savior to come and deliver them. They lived in continuous fear of what nation would be next to control them. Would the next nation make them slaves? Would the next ruler be kind or cruel to them? Similarly, we all have hopes in our lives that we cling to, that keep us forever moving one step at a time to the next thing. Sometimes these hopes are the only thing that get us out of bed in the morning. However, the hopes are often crushed or tempered because of the fears the hopes won't come true. We battle back and forth between succumbing to our fears and fighting for our hop

Taking a break for creative paper ornaments at The Maker's Space 7pm. Photos from Thursday, Dec. 3 paper crafting event are below.  What a wonderful way to slow down.

http://eeditionmobile. chicagotribune.com/Olive/ Tablet/ChicagoTribune/ SharedArticle.aspx?href=CTC% 2F2015%2F11%2F30&id=Ar00401 Adults coloring to relieve stress, have fun Creative hobby gains popularity as a convenient way to unwind, with or without the kids BY BARBARA BROTMAN AND CORILYN SHROPSHIRE  CHICAGO TRIBUNE BARBARA BROTMAN/CHICAGO TRIBUNE  Moms color at the Purple Monkey Playroom in Chicago for a BYOB coloring book party for adults. Inside a North Side play gym, the scene was one of quiet bliss. Women sat at a long table, quietly coloring in pictures in coloring books. It could have been kindergarten, only the paper cups with pictures of Elsa and Anna from “Frozen” were filled with wine. “Wine and coloring — you can’t beat that,” Heidi Jacobson said happily as she headed over to take her place with a coloring book of her own. This BYOB coloring party, hosted by a toy store owner for a meetup group of mothers, was evidence of the explosive pop