necklaces in the shop today

A couple of stitched stone necklaces will be headed to my online shop today.

A little bit of shop-tending before making my daughter's birthday cake, wrapping presents, and packing for a weekend away. Much to do, much to do.

The happiest of holidays to those of you that celebrate.

random thoughts on a Sunday

Stitching on small stones that I plan to string up on leather as pendants. I haven't made pendants in a long while so I thought it was time.

I wanted to say a big THANKS to you that voted for my nonprofit on Thursday. Though we didn't win the money, it was such a great feeling to see familiar names among the likes. Thanks for helping out and for supporting the arts. You're my heroes.

I ugly-cried my way through the first chapter of 'Wild'. A good, hard, cathartic cry. I'm not quite ready to carry on with chapter 2 yet but my chest feels lighter. I guess I needed it.

I'll be doing a needle-felting demo on Jan. 3rd at the Northland Arboretum in Brainerd, MN if anyone is in the area. Some of my favorite local artists including my friend Haddie, and Bob and Amy Carls from Ripple River will be there too, along with new friends Carla Benjamin and Peg Serani. We're doing a little drive for the food pantry so bring along a canned good if you stop by. 4-8pm. Would love to see you.

It's the christmas season and I haven't had any egg nog. There's something wrong with that. On my to-do list...buy nog.

Speaking of the holiday season. I know this time of year can be really rough on some people. To those of you out there that struggle...HUGS. Big hugs. Tonight is winter solstice, and the returning of the light.

Have a lovely Sunday.

found the color

I finished that stone I was working on.

I was looking for color...I definitely found it.

I hit a point with this stone where I had "just enough" going on, then barreled past it, and you know... I'm totally okay with that.

I'll work on the "less is more" concept another day.

gimme color

Another foggy morning in the north woods.

Such strange weather. A month ago it was so bitterly cold I didn't want to leave the house and now the snow is almost melted and my ducks are happily wandering the yard, splashing in puddles.

In need of color (and finished work for my Jan. 3rd show), I started growing flowers on this stone. We'll see how it ends up.

Happy Monday, all. I hope your week is colorful and bright.

a full weekend

I've really been looking forward to some good productive working time and I got it, for the most part, this weekend. Between my dayjob, teaching classes, and hauling a teenager to and from driver's ed (gulp), there has been very little time for my work.

 Despite a full house and chores to do I managed to finish a stone and get a start on two new landscapes for a show I'm doing on Jan.3rd (more on that to come) .

I was pretty pleased with my productivity, especially considering this happened too...

More to come on that later too.

In the meantime, have a glorious Monday, all.