Santa Came Early!

My SIL sent me this little poem that she found on the internet and I just had to share it with all of you. I bet a lot of you can relate to it ( I know I can!). It gave me a good chuckle:

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree.
I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me.
Could it be cardstock or chipboard or lace?
"Or a Cricut," I said, with a smile on my face.
And that's when I heard him, "Hi Santa!" I said.
"You know....good little girls should be in their beds."
"I know I should Santa, and now I've got caught.
But I was just so excited to see what you brought."
"Well, let's take a look in this room where you work."
He shook his head quickly, and left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear...
"You've got enough crap, I'll see you next year!"

I finally got my TagMate System with sterling silver tags to use for my jewelry and I'm so excited. Infinity Stamps is having a Jewelry Artist Holiday Sale now through January 1st. They are a very easy company to deal with and it only took two weeks to receive my personalized stamp system from start-to-finish. I love the resulting stamp and feel like this is the "icing on the cake", as far as finishing-off my jewelry creations! What are you hoping Santa brings you this year?

One of My Treasures

This is one of my absolute treasures. This is my favorite Tasha Tudor print and the fact that she had signed it makes it even more special to me. My dear friend Karen and I both bought this print, "Laura in Snow", back in 1991 and had Ms. Tudor sign them for both of us. It was known that this was one of her favorites too. I can't believe I've had it that long and that I finally got around to matting and framing it just yesterday. I had always meant to do it sooner, but like a lot of things, I put it in a safe place and never forgot about it, but always thought I would get to it a lot sooner! I always seemed to really remember it around this time of year, but now it finally has a home hanging on my office/craft room wall. I just love being able to look at it - it just brings a smile to my face.

Tasha Tudor was not only an incredibly talented artist and author, but her life is an incredible story in itself. She really lived life on her own terms. She passed away on June 18th of this year at the age of 93! Her family has a website where her prints, books, etc. can still be purchased and her legacy lives on. Be sure to check it out.

On The Needles

This is what I have on one set of needles at the moment. It's a pattern from Susie C Shore Designs called "Butterfly Kisses". The pattern ended-up having a mistake in it, which is noted on the website now. I had emailed them saying that I thought there was something wrong with the pattern and they checked it out right away and were so gracious about it. They sent me two free patterns for emailing them and letting them know about it. I was just so glad just to get the pattern corrections that the offer of the free patterns was above and beyond nice! You can't really see the pattern too well, as it will have to be blocked. I will post pictures of the finished muffler/scarf. This is going to be a Christmas gift for my cousin "C". Hopefully she won't read this post!

I also have a fun Christmas Tree Hat on the needles for my little 3-1/2-year-old nephew. He loves to wear hats and he's still young enough to not mind wearing really silly/fun ones! I figure I can only get away with this for maybe another year or so!

What projects are you working on for Christmas?

Unbelievable

These are just a few of the unbelievable and heartbreaking images we in the Los Angeles area have been dealing with since late last night. There are over four major fires going on here in both Los Angeles and Orange Counties at the same time. The two bottom pictures from Yorba Linda, which is in Orange County, show a multi-million dollar estate burning to the ground with an infinity pool in the foreground; the top picture shows both the Yorba Linda fire and the one burning in the Newhall Pass, which is in the northwestern part of Los Angeles County. It seems like there is no end in sight. The fires just keep hopscotching because the embers are being carried by the wind and are starting more fires miles away from where they originally started. There was a major fire that started last night around 10:30 that ended-up totally burning over 500 homes to the ground in just one mobile home park. There were reports of the wind being 70 m.p.h. This all just makes me heartsick. It's so hard to watch, but it's like an accident - you just can't help but watch. We had a horrendous fire about five years ago in the San Bernardino area in which hundreds of homes were also lost at this same time of year and one in the San Diego area. This has always been the fear when the Santa Ana winds pick up and when it has been so hot (records were set again today) and everything is so dry. As one newscaster just said, this is a dire situation and to add insult to injury, there are reports of looting. I don't understand the mindset of some people.

Beaded Hearts Charm Bracelet

These are the best photos I can get. I ended-up using my Ott light inside the house, as I couldn't seem to get a good photo outside. I have a lot to learn about taking good photographs, especially with lighting. There is a tutorial online that deals with making your own lightbox that I need to investigate. I'm hoping that will vastly improve my photos.

I wore this bracelet yesterday when I got together with two of my dear friends and got a lot of compliments on it. My friend "K" wants me to make her one! We met for lunch and some shopping. I bought some really pretty vintage German glass beads that are in the shape of acorns, some Swarovski crystal drops (I love Swarovski crystal) and some goldstone beads. I have ideas for all of them!

Election Day!

Everyone, please get out there and vote today. As we have seen in the past, every vote counts and we should not take anything for granted. I feel very priviledged to live in a country where a woman can vote; it wasn't always that way. Enough said.

Finally, It Feels Like Fall!

It finally feels like Fall here in Southern California - yay!!! It rained yesterday and it was the perfect day to make some chicken stoup, which I did and it was yummy. I have enough leftover to have for lunch today. It is a very cloudy, beautiful day today with a temperature of 66 degrees. I love this kind of weather - especially since we just had the warmest October ever recorded (since the 1870s or thereabouts when they started keeping records of the temperature).

Today I'm tidying-up and organizing my office/craft room a bit so I can get busy making jewelry for my Etsy shop in time for Christmas. I've been missing my crafting mojo lately, but I think it's starting to come back. I perused some of my jewelry books last night for inspiration; I find that usually helps, and it did. I'll keep you posted (no pun intended) on my progress and share some of my creations here on my blog.

It sure is nice to have gained an extra hour - any extra time for creating is a bonus! Have a great day!