Christmas filled with love

Christmas was wonderful.

Hubby made his yearly oatmeal chocolate cookies. He bakes I eat.

Paige and Tyler

   

Tyler took this picture of Grandpa.

He took this one too. He was pretending to be paparazzi .

He took this one too. Notice that I’m wearing the gorgeous necklace that I got for Molly Alexander’s Secret Santa swap from the talented Cindy Wimmer . Looked fabulous….it’s my go to necklace for so many things.

Here’s my son with Tyler after struggling with getting the Bat Cave out of the box.

DIL opening her gifts from Paige.

 

It was another beautiful Christmas surrounded with family. Now, on to the New Year to see what surprises await!

My Secret Santa Recipient

My Secret Santa gift arrived for none other than Jan Thomason a wonderful paper artist. I’m so grateful to Molly Alexander  for hosting this Secret Santa swap because through it I’ve met two wonderful people that I wasn’t aware of before. My recipient Jan Thomason and my Secret Santa Cindy Wimmer .

The earrings are Argentium  silver. I  cut out the stars from sheet copper with my jewelers saw and fused them into the silver with the torch. I  cut individual beams coming from the stars into the silver with a cutting wheel using my flex shaft for sparkle. Shining down from the stars are pale pink and clear Swarovski crystals. The ear wire is sterling silver and also was handmade by me.

They’re very shiny which made them difficult to photograph but I did my best.

Merry Christmas to all of my friends, new and old.

Christmas is almost here!

 The decorations are all in place. Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about the Secret Santa.

Yay Santa !!!!

DIL and I took the kiddos to see Santa the other day. Paige was being smart and asked for a “Red Rider BB Gun” and Santa laughed rolled his eyes and said “ for the thousand’t time your gonna shoot your eye out”.

Tyler had the same look one his face that you see in the above photo the whole time he was up there. Didn’t know what he wanted so he didn’t have much to say.

Tyler is entertaining himself while waiting in line.

They’re happy.

All in all it was a lovely day. I’m keeping busy with some special orders and getting ready for Christmas. Almost done with my shopping and decorating. When I have a chance to get some photo's I’ll post them.

It's been awhile

I've realized that it's been quite awhile since I last posted anything. It isn't that I've been sitting here doing nothing, I just haven't written anything.

Anyhow, I've got a busy week-end coming up. Saturday and Sunday I'm doing one of my favorite craft shows--Trims and Whims. It's here in Shelbyville and it's always a good one. After Saturdays show closes I'm off to another event in Shelbyville. It's the Christmas tree lighting. Always a fun time but this year I'll be participating as a vender. I'll be showing my jewelry at the Keepsake Shop in town.

A busy week-end--more after all the festivities.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

"GOD BLESS US, EVERYONE."
Tiny Tim

Cookie time

Christmas is near~~~~do you know how I know this? We spent the day baking hubby's yearly oatmeal,chocolate chip cookies. He baked and I ate them, that's where the "we" comes in. They are so good and chewy and smell divine. He likes to bring them to family, the people he works with and we also take and deliver them to some of our neighbors.So, Merry Christmas all....I'm going to grab some more cookies!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Ben Stein's Commentary on Christmas
I found this commentary at Nomadic Creations http://stacieflorer.typepad.com/nomadic_creations/ and I liked it so here it is..
my two cents.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.
My confession :
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year.. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a crèche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.
Billy Graham 's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (regarding Katrina ) Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'
In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem ( Dr Spock 's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves..
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. Are you laughing yet?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it. no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.
My Best Regards, Honestly and respectfully,Ben Stein

Christmas Parade

Today was the day that Santa Claus came to Shelbyville!!! A good time was had by all....There were dogs and horses and miniature horses! Tractors and marching bands. And, it was cold!! And fun. The marines started it off.

I just love,love,love living in a small town.

I really got into the Christmas spirit today. I feel so blessed and grateful that I'm here and it's now.

And here's is Santa!!!! He comes to town on a fire truck!! Merry Christmas, Ho,Ho,Ho!!!

Lazy Summer Week-end

I enjoyed a nice week-end. I sold jewelry at a local farmers market and after that really nothing. Just hung out at home~~~~ didn't even work on making more jewelry. Just stayed low key. The farmers market is one that I usually do each Saturday morning and the setting is so pretty. It's in a cute small town on their courthouse lawn.


It seems that quite a few people were buying Christmas presents already. Can it be that close already? Starting tomorrow I'd better get busy making more jewelry. If sales keep going as well as yesterday I don't want to run out of stock. :D




























Oh, and I did play with my camera a bit. Took some pics of Jake my sweet cat. He's a handsome fella, if you ask me. Especially being a senior citizen and all. He was 17 years old in April and he was a gift to me from my son when he was a kitten of about 8 weeks old.

I like the soft focus look of this one.