Happy New Year!

This past week or so has flown by!

Family arrived, Christmas came and we had a blast! 

Christmas dinner was AMAZING! 

Somehow I managed to time things perfectly.

Everyone left and I reclaimed my house. :) 

We have been relaxing and doing not much of anything since the 28th! 

I am loving every minute of this doing nothingness! 

I finally feel like I am catching up on sleep, gloriousness!

Not many pictures were taken, despite my new camera that I can't 

seem to put down.

The tree, clearly before Santa arrived. :)

We headed to the Skins game on the 24th! Had a blast, even though they lost.

Someone had a gooood time! :)

We played our annual Christmas Day football game.

(ok, the boys did.)

Everyone had a great time.

I am not sad to see 2011 go, it was a rough year for all of us.

I am welcoming in 2012 with open arms! 

This will be a great year.

 The only resolutions that I am going to make are the following:

Eat healthier

Exercise more

Be present

Relax

and, to try to grow my business!

That feels achievable.

Happy New Year's to all of you!

May 2012 be a great year!

Have you ever seen this many lights?

This is the front yard!

Keep in mind, all of the lights ON the house move!

(roof, sides, etc.....)

Santa is HUGE!

I love this house!

It's almost SOUP Time!

I. Can't. Wait!

Please hop on over to Lori Anderson's wonderful blog

Pretty Things

for more information.

It is a lottery this go round, only 200 folks will be able

to play along.

This will be fun!

Bokeh

or my attempt at it. I borrowed an amazing lens from a friend (do I have to give it back?)

and played.

Here is my attempt. Not quite all the way there, but nice.

bummed that this ornament got broken....

this may be my favorite shot of the evening, 

the tree reflected in a picture hanging in the living room.

Happy Tuesday!

Christmas!

I have been remiss in not posting photos of our tree and some of our decorations. Please forgive, and without further ado....

I love Christmas! Soon, family arrives and we will all be together.

Today we went to Ellicott City and wandered around.

What a great place.  

Do you see the Mrs. Butterworth's bottles right there? 

And then there is my boy!

Love him.

Artists helping Artists Silent Auction - Now Closed.

Thank you all for everything!

Several artists in the blog community have decided to band together to help a fellow artist in need.

All participating artists have agreed to keep the identity of the artist-in-need completely confidential and private.

Here is what you'll be bidding on:

This handmade bracelet features beads from the

wonderful Juls of  Julsbeads, vintage buttons, 

a Gaea bead and czech glass.

I will start the bidding at $30.

International participants welcome! Shipping costs will be included in the winning bid amount. Auction closes Sunday, December 11 at midnight. 

Would you like to be the winning bid?

Please leave a comment along with your bid.

 If you are the winning bidder, you will receive an invoice after the close of the auction.

********** There must be a way to contact you.**********

 If you have email preferences turned off in your profile, please leave your email.

Many people are auctioning items to help out!

 Please visit these the other artists below and place your bid!

There are some amazing items.

Check out the other artists participating in this Silent Auction:

Heidi Post
Marie Cramp and Lori Anderson
Barbara Bechtel
Erin Fickert-Rowland 
Keirsten Giles
Andrew Thornton
Karen Totten 
Kristi Bowman Design 
Nan Emmett
Maire Dodd 
Amanda Cargill Austin
Janice Everett
Rebecca Anderson 
Shannon Iko Chomanczuk
Erin Prais-Hintz
Jennifer Justman 

Erin Siegel Jewlery

Courtney Breul YOU ARE HERE.

Happy Bidding!

Two wonderful things!

First,

I had the chance to swap beads with the amazing Sandi Volpe. I also got the chance to meet her at a bead show/demo (Barbara Lewis - Playing with Fire). That was great! Please ago over and see the beautiful pieces that she creates.

I sent her my box of goodies and totally forgot to take a picture of what I sent off, sorry.

Here is what she sent me.

(loving every single bead!)

African trade beads, sparklies, recycled glass and that wonderful 

C pendant.

She made that, for me!

Love.

This photo does not do these beads justice. The blue is stunning.

And she also sent me some of her hand enameled beads, sari silk and chain.

Such fun. I have already created with these! 

Thank you Sandi.

Now,

I did purchase a Playing with Fire kit from Barbara Lewis when I met her at 

the bead show. It took me a while to get everything set up and get my torch working

(life got in the way)

But........I got it all set up this weekend and I 

PLAYED WITH FIRE.

This is so addicting!!!

Just a few pictures of the pieces I made.

And yes, I have burned my fingers picking up the beads while they are still hot.

My daughter is laughing each time I pick on up and say

"damn those are hot"

Eventually I will learn!

Such fun.

The first words out of my husbands mouth were

"you need more colors"

Yeah! Gonna get that link to him today!

We got our tree up and decorated,

it's about 10 feet tall and smells

AMAZING!

I hope you all had a great weekend

First Annual Virtual Craft Show

Have you checked it out?

Please go to Lori's blog and see this wonderfulness!

The jewelry is wonderful and I am loving finding

new artists!

Go Now!

70 artists! 70 giveaways!

Go Now, you won't be dissapointed.

Sue Beads Headpin Challenge

I was lucky enough to be chosen

to participate in Sue's Challenge.

She sent these wonderful sea blue glass headpins.

I loved them so much that I promptly forgot to take a picture,

and created.

They arrived and I knew immediately what I wanted to do.

(I love it when that happens!) :)

I made these fun beaded circles a while back and knew that I wanted to put 

Sue's great headpins right in the middle!

The color is perfect!

Thank you Sue for allowing me to play along.

Please visit her blog and see who else is playing.

CyberMonday! (a little early)

Just in.....

CyberMonday is starting early!

25% off of EVERYTHING in my Etsy Shop.

Just use the code cybermonday25 at checkout.

I.Heart.Macro

Pomagranates!

Fire!

Have you seen this glorious book?

I won a signed copy! Thank you Barbara.

That led to this.

I made these at a demo by Barbara Lewis this weekend.

She is wonderful and her family, fab! So supportive and great people. 

Do you know what is in here?

Enamel colors

Extra beads.

Yup, I am headed to Home Depot to get some MAPP gas and then I am going to 

PLAY WITH FIRE!

(and my hubby didn't even blink when I told him I bought a torch.....Hmmmmm )

Seriously, please check out the book, it is amazing! 

Very detailed and very, very easy to follow.

She is running a great special on her site, you get an extra color - for free!

Can't wait to play! 

And, bonus, I got to meet my Bead Swap partner, Sandi Volpe. 

Another beautiful person. So great to meet her in person!

I can't wait to get my swap beads together and ship them out. 

(she plays with fire also)

Playing with the Lens

i heart faces | autumn splendor

I did a shoot with my nieces and the leaves!

i heart faces

I.Heart.Macro

I am in love with autumn!

I know it is not a macro shot, but I did a shoot with my sister and her kids,

is my sister not beautiful?