my Christmas/40th Birthday present

i had to share. spoiled rotten this year. i hope everyone has safe and happy holidays!

three blogs you must visit

I stumbled across these two blogs because Gail at the Shabby Cottage Studios (where i am a design team member) posted two new banners she created for other artists on her blog. gail did my banner and i love it, so i wantd to see what other artist she was designing for and what their blogs looked like. i kept following links and looking at these creations. OMG. i lovethese blogs so much i had to pass them on to you. i hope you love them as much as i do. the first one is vanessa and her blog is here at A Fanciful Twist. i want to buy her pottery and so many of her prints. here is an example of her work, this was the piece i saw on sherry's blog that drove me to vanessa's blog.
you gotta go read through this blog.

how did i find her, i found her through a wonderful lady named Sherry who you can find here at Esprit*d'Art. gail did her banner which looks like this. i don't know sherry, never meet her, but when i read through her blog i see such a wonderful soul. i have tremendous respect for her because not only is she a talented artist, but a breast cancer survivor too. and any of you that read my blog know that i have a special place in my heart for those who bravely battle that disease. i will visit this site again and again because of how she views the world! i get lost in her posts. kinda like i do when i read nina bagley's posts.

part of what i find so fun and interesting about the blog=o=sphere is the ability to meet and see inside of the soul of people we would have never met in our daily lives. go visit all three of these increadible people. i made it very easy to just click and travel to their worlds.

locks of love, so proud of my daughter

my mother is a breast cancer survivor. i am so proud of how she delt with the whole thing, from chemo to radiation. it made a hugh impact on my daughter and she has grown her hair out twice for locks of love. she told her soccer team that if they won the soccer tourny in virgina last weekend she would cut her hair. now her team has never won a tourny, and they are playing up a level from last year. she and several of her friends were going to cut their hair at the end of the school year for locks, but as a little extra incentive for her team, she upped the ante and said she would move up the date. well, they won their first tourny last weekend, and she went on monday to make good on her promise. i am so proud of her, to give back and act on something she feels strongly about. she asked me to document the event. the only thing i don't like about the hair cut is this, it makes her look so much older! argggg! she is so beautiful anyway, now she is beautiful and looks older! here are the pictures.


before pictures


bracing for the first cut and the cutting of the ponytail!


the ponytail befor the cutting starts and after the cutting is finished


here is the final style, at first i think it shocked her and she was a little upset losing all of that hair, but now she loves it, and so does everyone at her school!

gotta watch this video

this is the funniest thing i have ever seen! you have got to watch this. i laughted until i cried. let me know waht you think of this short video. i would love to know if you found this as funny and as true as i did. enjoy!

adventures in bead land!

i am involved in a Secret Santa bead swap with the Bead Hive Group on eBay. because i don't have a bead store near me at home, i have taken advantage of being in a bigger city and checking out the great bead stores while on vacation over the thanksgiving holidays. i found some great places and great people, and i wanted to share with you. i also found some great beads to send to my secret santa, but sorry, not posting that here!


first i want you to meet tammy who owns island dreams beads. she is a hoot! she was so friendly and helpful. you gotta go and visit her web site! she will ship to you and she has some great lampwork and polymer clay artists that design for her. i will definately be going back when i am back in town. and here is the really cool mural outside of her shop! check this out.





Here are some really cute designs the "islanders" put together at Island Dreams Beads. they are too beautiful.






while i was there they were having a trunk show with an increadible lampwork and polymer clay artist named Suzy Komar who owns her own bead business called Bizzie Bee Beads. here are some examples of her work. She is amazing and I bought several beads from her. if you click on her name you can contact her about her work. check out this eye candy! this is a sample of her polymer clay work.














and her are some pictures of her gorgeous lampwork beads! i have no idea how she does this fantastically detailed work.







beatiful aren't they? i may start carrying her work on my Etsy site, that is how much i love her work.

i love sharing about the people and places i find on my adventures! i think as an artistic community we have to support eachother, so if you haven't taken the Handmade Pledge yet, go to the sidebar and click on the Handmade Pledge banner and take the pledge this season! i will share more about the places and faces i found on my trip soon. later!

CD's Artistic Endeavors - C-Dizzles World: thanksgiving day to remember#links

CD's Artistic Endeavors - C-Dizzles World: thanksgiving day to remember#links

thanksgiving day to remember

usually i don't post the same message to both of my blogs. one blog is for my family, to keep in touch, share family events and pictures and other family related news. the other is for my artistic endeavors, to share art i have created, neat art and antique places i have found on my journeys, and to meet and stay in touch with other creative people. this post however has to go on both blogs.

this thanksgiving we went to see the hubby's family. it was a 14 hour drive to get there are we stayed a week. in fact, we are still here. on thanksgiving day we cooked at my BIL and SIL's house, and took the food to my MIL and FIL's house. see, they are in the process of moving into a new house so they did not have a full fridge or all of the pots and pans moved yet. so, the BIL cooks the turkey each year because let's face it, he is the best turkey cooker in the land. so, he took it in the pan to my MIL's house to cook in her oven, and being the really cool uncle that he is he took my teenaged daughter with him. in fact, he is so cool he let my daughter drive the three blocks back from my MIL's house to his house. three blocks, all on subdivision roads, no traffic, nothing. and she did great, until..................................... she pulled into the driveway. i think the following pictures tell the rest of the story better than i ever could.







the really cool thing about the whole situation is this, no one got upset, except for my daughter who felt so horrible about the whole thing she cried for a long time. my BIL and SIL were so cool about it and were more worried about her and making her feel okay than they were about the house or the car. she confused the gas peddle for the brake, and when the car did not stop she pressed harder, and the house stopped the car! yes, very new driver, just learning, can you tell? needless to say, we will never forget the thanksgiving that she drove into the garage, without opening the garage door first!

hope everyone else's thanksgiving day was a little less eventful than ours! happy holidays everyone!

thankful

there is so much to be thankful for this year! again, my husband, for loving me and supporting me in my day job and my artistic endeavors and obsessions

my children, two teenagers, both with great heads on their shoulder, good grades, kindess, strong sense of right and wrong

my family, all of them, whether we are close, or far away, family is always there when we need them, and we are always there for them when we need them

my friends, but mostly the ones that have been there for me through the roughest times in my life, and the ones who have allowed me to be there for their roughest times

my art, the opportunity, time, and money that has magically appeared (through the grace of God)this year so i can really spend time developing my skills

my health and the health of my loved ones (no breast cancer for me this year despite having a biopsy)

my home, we are really trying to make improvements to the house and yard so it feels more like home for all of us

my on-line community of artists and friends, for the opportunity to be on a design team, for the opportunity to go to Art and Soul next year, for having a blog that i enjoy so much, for finding other increadible people through the blogging community

for "stuff" like my iPod touch, my little digital camera that fits in my purse, my laptop, and my studio that was completely redone this year and organized

the success of my "day job" which is my consulting business for nonprofit organizations and faith based organizations, allowing me to be home for my children more than ever before and allowing me to set my own schedule for the most part

becoming closer to God through study and prayer


Those are just a few things I am thankful for this year. i have been too blessed this year to be able to list everything. it has been a great year, full of blessings and opportunities.

i hope all of you have as much to be thankful for as i do this year. have a great turkey day, enjoy friends and families, and even if this year has been hard, be thankful for what you have, even if it is not much (i have been there to my life too)

trips, goodies and gas prices

i had to travel this week, and when i do i like to scout out new antique stores and visit old favorites. this is one of the many advantages of having to travel the state for my job! first, lets talk about gas prices. i have one thing to say about the current cost of gas.................ARGGGGGGGGG!!!!!


Enough said on that topic.

moving on to better things. i went up toward morgantown, west virginia. think WVU. i have been elected to the board of directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Central West Virginia and i am so excited about this! what a wonderful organization. i have to stay the night when i attend a board meeting, so this gives me the opportunity to prowl for goodies for my altered art and jewlery making! and did i ever hit the jack pot this week!

i have a few favorite places i like to visit when i travel that way. one is Sisters Antique Mall at exit 69 (i think that is the exit number) off of 79 in Flatwoods, West Virginia. i can spend hours in there! this is about the half way point on the way to Fairmont, West Virginia so it is a great place to stop, stretch and search for treasure.

when i arrived in Fairmont, i saw a new sign that said Fairmont Avenue Antiques. ohhhhhh, a new place to check out! i was so excited. so, i went. and am i ever glad i did! i meet the nicest person there, and guess what, she designs her own wall paper! i have never met anyone who does that, and i saw some of her work and those of use who do altered art would just die to have some of her scraps! maybe she will start selling us some!



it was a lovely shop, with room after room of delightful goodies. i spent so much time in there! i found some wonderful items, some really old LIFE mags from the early 1930's, a new mag i had never seen before from the 1930's, an old doll in the nina bagley style. i found old buttons, wooden pegs, milk bottle caps, and tons of other stuff. this is now one of my favorite stores and on my "go back to list"! here are some pictures of this awesome store for you viewing pleasure!







i have unloaded the car, and now i need to unpack my finds, put them away, and maybe take some pictures of my favorite finds to post! the biggest thing i have found is that when i get these things, many times i don't need all of it. so i was thinking about putting together some kits or packages with some of these finds on my Etsy site for others to buy. what do you think about that? would you leave a comment if you think that is a good idea?

ok, i am off to play with my new toys! i am leaving tomorrow for our annual thanksgiving trip to oklahoma. this will open up a whole new search for goodies and treats! i can't wait to see what treasures i can find in another state! my hubby is going to see a football game, and he spent $200.00 on his ticket alone! so, because i did not want to go, i get the same amount to spend in the art stores, bead stores and antique stores! so watch out oklahoma, here i come!

new stuff on etsy

ok, i took the plunge and put some of my polymer clay beads on Etsy. Hope you guys will check it out and give me feedback about pricing and quality of pictures. Here are some of the pictures of what I have in my store. Click on my Etsy store link underneath my blog banner to go visit and give me some feedback. Thanks guys! I appreciate you guys taking the time to help me out on this endeavor!

Mother/Daughter Day

we went to canaan valley for my hubby's firm retreat. while he was in meetings my daughter and i took a mother daughter day. when we arrived on friday night this is what we saw laying right outside our door.

needless to say, we thought that was really cool! on saturday we took off early and drove to davis to grab some breakfast. we had a great time but it took over two hours to get our breakfast. they lost our ticket! we enjoyed spending time together, but that much time? we giggled our butts off!




well, after our two hour breakfast we decided to go see Seneca Rock and then go to Seneca Caverns and tour the caves. we had a great time in the caves. can't you tell? i fell in love with some of the flow rocks and rock formations. Seneca Indians used these caves to escape the harsh winters, and the guide did a great job telling us the history of the caverns.





here are a few more pictures. i would love to be able to figure out how to do some of these patterns in my polymer clay work. hummmmmm......how to do that?



so, i hope you enjoyed the pictures, my daughter and i sure enjoyed the experience. we also saw snow, but we didn't get any good pictures of it. we were sad about that, but we enjoyed seeing our first snow of the season.