Five Days till Christmas

Just wanted to share a little bit of Heaven.....My two grandson's...This is the cutest picture, and the best looking Santa I have seen. My two boys are the greatest, sweetest, funnest little guys.  We don't get to see them very often but I love them dearly. I wish they didn't live so far away and I wish we weren't so tied down with work, so we could see them a little more often..
I want to wish you all a fun filled Christmas surrounded by FAMILY, FOOD AND FUN.  And the greatest of the gifts is LOVE......................................DIANE


P.S.  I had a book made of my first month of blogging with pictures and as soon as I see it in person I will let you know how it turned out.  It was $30.00 with a hardbound cover and color pictures..I can't wait to get it. I will keep you posted.   MERRY CHRISTMAS

Light up the Night

Lighting up the night at Christmas time is something that we do to give back to our little community. Every year my Husband goes to this extreme project to thrill the town and the children of the town. He starts putting up the lights way before Thanksgiving so that Thanksgiving night we can turn them on and start the Christmas Merriment.  Most of the old lights have been traded for the new LED lights which save a lot of energy and money.  We went to the annual Christmas dinner with the Rotary International.  Every year we get invited by our friend to be their guest. The food is so fabulous, the Turkey moist and the stuffing fluffy. Yams and mashed potatoes, pie and wine. yummmm

After we stopped at one of the churches and viewed their Live Nativity.  It was wonderful they all wore beautiful costumes and the animals were all live, moo and bah and goose and duck. Songs of Christmas being sung. Truly a blessing.  I hope they do it again next year.  They went to a lot of work for this two day event.

My prayer is for an end to Cancer. My blessings go out to all those suffering with Cancer that they might have a new year Cancer free.............I believe in the power of prayer.            Hugs and well wishes...Diane Glass

Sit and Sip, Slow Down

Now is the time to slow down some and enjoy the Holiday unfolding. Yes there are still many things to do, but if you don't stop for a few minutes and regroup you will miss some of the Joy.  I have chosen to slow down today and say Hi to all my fellow bloggers.  Take a few extra minutes to smell the coffee. Think about my many blessings and give thanks.  Time for me is at warp speed. I always remember hearing how fast time flies when I was in my youth.  I guess we never slowed down to think about it much.  Now I can see.  Time Flies. 

My Santa present came early this year.  I got a new sewing machine. So needless to say I had to re-boot my studio AGAIN.....I made two pillowcases, and a curtain. My machine is a Janome 2010.  So far I love it.  It has 50 stitches and threads the needle. I have a quilt in mind that I want to make so I will keep you posted.  Enjoy the moment,REMEMBER Martha Stewart has a staff.......................Blessing and Joy.               DIANE

Christmas Jewels

Barely enough room for my coffee mug...Finished 30 pair's of earrings. Each one carded with inked edges and embossed with fancy stamp on the bottom.  Each pair has the little rubber stoppers on the back. My name and date...whew....what a project.  I also made six necklaces.  They are going into the Flower and Tea Shop.  It is really amazing how many beads I have and still buy more..Every time I think I will use up the one's that I have, I find the need to buy just a little something to enhance my project..You know how it is?!

The price on these is $15.00.  I have some that are as low as 6.00.  Keep in mind that the Tea Shop gets 20%.  How does that sound? Think I will sell them? Think that is a good price?  Please let me know what you think.   Any and all suggestions appreciated.    HUGS...................DIANE

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Well I can finally show the necklace that I made for my Sister.  She opened it Christmas day at my Mother's house and although I wasn't there to see her expression she called later and said she liked it.  It was my favorite and I made several different necklaces.  It is made with fresh water pearls in the warm color they call chocolate..  I liked it so much I bought two other colors and want to make more now that the Christmas rush is over.  These are 10 mm. Pearls and just breathtaking with Chrystal beads as the focal. The over all length is about 18 inches, and each pearl is knotted on each end. They are fun to make.

World of Dreams and Make Believe

Well.....I had a lot of fun with that last post. Many people didn't read to the end to see that it was all a spoof. I know personally I hate that person...the perfect person.  The one that is always ahead of me with their shopping, wrapping and decorating.  Spotless house, perfect children. You know the type.....the Martha Stewart type...I on the other had was trying to gift wrap on the kitchen table that was loaded with this that and the other.  Shoving it from side to side instead of clearing it off first.

This really is our house.  My husband does it every year.  It seems to grow in the glow every year....bigger. He enjoys it and the whole town enjoys it so it is worth it. 

I hope everyone has a Blessed Christmas with family and friends..............spread alittle joy and kindness.  DIANE

Thankful

As the end of the year approaches I tend to reflect on my life.  The things that I have enjoyed, the people who have enriched my life. Growing another year older, the love of family. My aging parents and the troubles they are having almost daily it seems.  I think a lot about the loneliness's they each have, having lost their partners in the last few years, living alone. The unwillingness to change and downsize their homes.  The forgetfulness that comes with age and the memories of their childhood that become so strong. Stories that I have never heard are coming out.  The bike that they shared with their brothers.  One bike and three kids.  This week my mother-in-law locked herself out of her car with the groceries on the front seat. Today the locksmith comes to open the car..luckily she didn't by ice cream.  My mother got out of the hospital only to find that she couldn't get in her house.  The neighbor that so lovingly took her to the hospital, carefully locked my mothers purse and keys inside the house. Luckily my niece found a front door key.

Yes, it is the little things in life that we can be thankful for.  Family, friends and the creative moments.  Mostly our health I guess.  We don't always think about it until someone we know is going through ill health.  So I give thanks for all I have and I pray for the ill, the lonely, the out of work, the down and out and the hungry............DIANE

Just in time for Christmas

Tricky to photograph....these necklaces are long, and not real easy to photograph. I cleared off my mannequin to show the length. The last one is done with copper chain. They would look good worn with a plain chain or two of different sizes. I will list them on Etsy as soon as I get a chance. It is quite a process to photograph, up-load and re-size and then up-load to Etsy and do all the descriptions.....really sorta a pain...It goes against the artist in me to even sell my stuff...that's why my collection of stuff I have made is bulging to overflow. I did better selling my stuff local. It is a touchie/feelie type of thing.................Have a warm and fuzzy day................DIANE

For The Love Of It

The latest necklace's that I have made were shorter and lighter in theme. I am still using the lovely background which is a beautiful box that is also used to store the finished product.

I have once again broken down my studio and put away most of my beading stuff. Then I realised that I
had joined a charm swap in a altered art group that I am in. Luckily everything is still pretty handy so I didn't have much to do to find the things that would be used in my charms. It was fun to get out my scrabble tiles again. More on that later.

I was really missing my friends on
the site and the fun of trading so...
against my better judgment I joined
a few more swaps. One is a postcard
challenge. Just one card so that
won't be too much and the other is a
Swap of five SKINNY'S. A skinny is
smaller than a postcard 3"x5". The
theme is a fun one and I will keep that
to myself until later. I will share the finished
project later.

Have a creative Sunday and don't forget
the Creator............

Lazy Afternoon

I have been on a Jewelry Kick lately. My old art light burnt out and I had to buy a new one. I up graded to a bigger model with a nice big magnifying glass attached. It took me a while to get the hang of it. You know how your work space is set up and everything has a place. Well this light has a larger base and a bigger (longer) light head. So after bumping my head a few times I moved everything around and set it on my right instead of in front of me. I am learning to move the magnifying glass to suit my back. I still catch myself looking over it but all in all it is much better. Really helps on the beading.

The bottom picture is a collage I did of my grandmother. I took a lot of pictures to see which set-up compliments the jewelry and which detracts. I probably took 100 pictures of several pieces of jewelry I made. Thank goodness for digital pictures.

Last time we were in town I bought a external hard drive to store all my pictures on. Get this......It is one tera bite. I had never heard of it either. Can't really understand how much a gig is...Tee...don't you just love talking computer language??? Anyway 1 TB is equal to 1000 GB. Lucky for us BEST BUY has very helpful young people that will talk slow and try and get you to understand...The boxes are also giving more information. This one tells me it will hold 285,000 JPG's...LOTS OF PICTURES.

I haven't decided if I want to remove from my computer all the files. Might speed up my pc a little or take a chance on loosing all my pictures if my pc crashes. Humm.....I almost never back up my files. baddddd.

Well I guess I will get with my lazy day and throw in a load of wash and head for my messy art table and sort out some beads that have been getting stirred up with a big stick or some Mad Artist.....................Have a creative day. DIANE

Art Gives Me Wings

Ahh yes.....Crowns and Wings and Artsy Things. A very big influence in the world of altered art. It seems as though everything has sprouted wings these days. You will find them on puppy's and kittens and kids. And crowns aren't just for royalty anymore, vintage women are my favorite to crown. And don't forget the crowing glory of the pointed hat and you can Zetti just about anything. I am loving the Journal pages that I am seeing out and about. They are fun and colorful and just full of imagination.

I have four more necklaces to share and then on with something else. I know it may seem early for some of you but I am already thinking about what to make and give for Christmas. I have an idea for two small scrapbooks and one altered book. I guess that's a start, just to think about it.

Art On..........Diane

Christmas Blog Party

Pretty Petals is hosting a blog CHRISTMAS PARTY. Follow this link and you can see all the lovelies that were added by all the people who have joined. There are over 100 people that signed up. http://prettypetals.typepad.com/prettypetals/2008/12/a-pretty-little-christmas-blog-party.html

The top picture is a felt and button snowman that I made, he was so fun and a good way to use up some of those buttons that we hoard...

The middle picture is a Santa that I made with a friend of mine. We just had to get together and play with clay.

The angel is a tree topper that I love. She adds a little light to a dark corner.

Well the snow finally got here and I have lost my high speed Internet but I am going over to look at the other entry's at the CHRISTMAS BLOG PARTY. Have a Happy MONDAY..............Diane