Happy Holidays!

2013 is winding down and I'm still trying to find balance and time.  I'm not quite there yet but I'm working on it.

I want you all to know how much it means to me to have been able to share my work, my life, my journey with you all.  Your insight and input, words of encouragement and humor, have enriched my life in countless ways.

I'm looking forward to filling the coming year with so much more.

Wishing you and yours much love, health, and happiness in the coming year.

xo

Lil

aka

Lisa

card giveaway winners

Thanks so much to everyone who entered, but my youngest has picked two winners from the hat and came up with 

Elizabeth who said: "I love them all!  But my favorite is A Gathering of Stones.  I'd be so happy to win!"

and

Marlene who said: "I've always admired your creativity with stones.  I love stones also.  My favorite set is Gatherings of Stones."

Ladies, please email your addresses to me at lilfishstudios(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll get your sets out to you.

Thank you all for playing along!

a card giveaway

It's fun at this time of year to open the mailbox and find handwritten holiday greetings from friends.  I was thinking how nice it would be if I could, myself, send more handwritten notes out throughout the year.  Email is nice, but there's just something about an out-of-the-blue letter to hold in your hand, isn't there?

So with that thought in my head, let's have a little giveaway, shall we?

Here's what you need to do...go to my shop and look at my card sets and come back here and leave me a comment telling me which is your favorite. 

This giveaway is now closed.

I'll draw 2 names on Monday evening (Dec. 16th, 2013) and the winners will get a set of cards of their choice.

Thank you, everyone, and good luck!

sending the sniffles packing

The sniffles have found me.  I've been trying to outrun them but alas, they were faster than me.  I'm employing the healing power of my foraged teas, some raw local honey, a warm blanket, and a handmade mug and hopefully those sniffles will be sent packing in no time.

Moments like these make me very happy that I spend the time gathering and drying all those helpful herbs (commonly referred to as weeds) from the yard.  Stinging nettle, mullein, yarrow, dandelion root, pineapple weed, raspberry leaf, blackberry leaf, strawberry leaf... they're all here to help heal in one way or another, even if only in their ability to get one close to nature.  I personally think that sort of medicine is incredibly powerful.

Wishing you all a warm and healthy weekend.

it comes through

A stone completed.  Less a meditation on nature and more a reflection of my current state of mind.  I'll leave it up to your interpretation, but it had a working title of 'it comes through'.

Grey wool and thread courtesy of some acorns, twigs, and leaves gathered from the woods and given an iron afterdip.  Shocking red glass beads surrounded by little glimmery stitches of silver.

In my shop.

making acorn ornaments with the kids

With the weather so dreadfully cold, and the kids getting squirrely from cabin fever already, I thought we'd do a little crafting to help keep their fingers busy.

I had some of these acorn caps left that I had painted with metal paint a few years ago and a bag of beads that I thought would make good acorn bodies so we put the two together to make ornaments.

I had hoped to sew through the beads and cap but the kids found it a little too difficult to manage so we compromised.  First, I drilled holes in the caps and put a hanging loop in.  Then I sewed the tiny bead on to the bottom of the large bead, a step I could have skipped but I liked that it made them look more finished, and the kids glued the bead into the cap.

The results are pretty cute, I think.  They each made enough to hand out to some of their friends, with a couple left over for the tree.

I think that glass marbles would work well too, in lieu of beads.  Wouldn't they be pretty hanging in front of the window like this?

Hope you're all enjoying your weekend.  Happy Sunday.

a quick check-in

I saw that Lark is sharing several free felty craft projects over on their site, including my very own penny rug bouquet.  There are some stocking plans, ornaments, a wreath, and more.  If you need a little crafty inspiration, you might want to stop by and take a look.

Thanks so much to those of you that have taken some of my new greeting cards home.  I'll continue to offer them in the shop so if there are any images of mine that you would like to see in greeting card form, just let me know.

I'm still trying to find my footing with my new job.  My days are long and there isn't much time for art once I get home so I've taken to sewing on my lunch break.  I'm working on my third batch of Art-o-mat stones and though I'm working at a snail's pace, my goal is to get them done before the new year.

I hope you're all doing well and staying safe and warm.

Happy Wednesday.

greeting cards are in the shop

Just a quick note to say that my new greeting cards are now in my shop.  They are available in sets or singly.  Each is professionally printed with one of my images of my work on them and are blank inside for your own sweet note.

Want to have a look?  Click HERE.

Thanks, all!  Hope you have a great start to the week.