My First Calender!

I used some of my sunset photos to make a calender at Cafe Press. I had never ordered there before and wasn't sure of the quality of their printing, but I received a copy today and wow- they do a great job! The photos were crystal clear, beautiful color, and they paper they use is very heavy and sturdy. I was very pleased with it. You can see it in my new Cafe Press shop right here.
Peace-
Linda

Gorgeous card, a new year, and challenge soon starts-

I just had to show this beautiful card from Shashi. Isn't her painting just beautiful? I was blown away when I opened the envelope and saw it. And trust me, my photo of it doesn't do it justice. I think I will frame this and set it out every year. Thank you, Shashi! Now I am ashamed that I didn't get it together this year and even send store bought cards, let alone make any this year.


Do you make new year resolutions or set goals for yourself at the beginning of a new year? If I were to make one it would be to finish art projects that I start! But I think I have made that resolution before, and obviously I didn't follow through-ha!


The photo a day challenge starts tomorrow. If you want to join us leave a comment and the addy of the blog you will be using to post your daily photos so I can add you to the blog list.

Happy New Year everyone!

Peace-

Linda

An ornament and the photo challenge-

Yesterday I received another swap ornament. This one was created by Sherry Goshon and it is just adorable. It's so tiny and darling- look how it doesn't even fill my hand (and I have small hands). Thank you, Sherry!

The sign up for the "Photo A Day Challenge" will continue until Jan. 1st. Then I will post a list with links to all those who are participating. Serena and Mary have new cameras to play with for this challenge. I can't wait to see the photos they take. Here is a list of the ones who have signed up so far:

1) Linda Fleming

http://thewindowtomylife.blogspot.com/

2)MaryO

http://meomsblog.blogspot.com/index.html

3) Judi Atsma

http://leapingcalf.blogspot.com/

4) Sue Kurowski

http://www.loloschild.blogspot.com/

5) Kerry Seymour

http://atticrosecreations-kerry.blogspot.com/

6) Helen Grossman

http://www.throughcameraeye.blogspot.com/

7) Art By Serena

http://artbyserena.blogspot.com/

Peace-
Linda Fleming

Lunch with my brother, a challenge and a calender...

My youngest brother, Jerry, lives in northern FL. and unfortunately, I don't get to see him often. So I was delighted when we arranged to meet for lunch yesterday. He had good news that he will soon be moving down to my area in about six months. Hopefully we will get together a lot more often once he is settled down here. We have so much in common- like dogs. He and his life partner, Joe, have three dogs, and one of them is a darling Jack Russell. During lunch we traded stories about our adventures living with a J.R. I think his has put him through more hell than Emmy has us-LOL! At least Emmy didn't eat a leather couch- hee hee!


Since Jan. 1st will soon be here, I need a new wall calender. I decided to try out Cafe Press, and made a calender there today with some of my sunset photos. I have never bought anything from Cafe Press so I have no idea if their printing is good quality. I should have my calender by the end of the week, so I guess I will see then. Here is the cover photo:




And speaking of photos... some friends and I are having a photo/blog challenge. January in the northern states is usually long and tedious due to cold crappy weather, and can cause a major case of cabin fever. So we thought to make the month more interesting, we would challenge ourselves to step out our door and take a photo every day- of anything- and post it on our blog. It's not necessary to write anything if we choose not to, so some days it may only be a photo posted. Just a way of sharing what we see out our door each day and maybe inspire us to notice things we usually overlook. If you would like to do the photo a day challenge, feel free to take this graphic and post it on your blog. January first will be Photo 1.

Peace-

Linda

Santa delivered and Marley made me weepy-

The nice thing about dogs is that unlike kids they are unaware of what day it is and have no expectations. So Christmas morning is like any other morning for them, and we got to sleep in, have our morning coffee and eggs before turning them loose with their Christmas gifts.


We took all their packages out on the patio, threw them on the floor and let the dogs have at them. Emmy immediately could tell one was a ball so she attacked it with a vengeance and ripped the paper off. Isabella on the other hand would sniff the packages and push them around but she wasn't quite sure about tearing the paper. Maybe she remembered all the times as a pup when she got scolded for tearing up rolls of toilet paper. But Emmy was more than happy to help out and unwrap all the packages for them.











As Emmy ran from package to package, Isabella settled down with one at a time testing them to see is they would be a good nursing toy. Emmy sees a toy and she immediately attacks, looking for a weak spot so she can rip it to pieces, and Isabella gently holds her toy between her legs and nurses. Yes, I know- we have dogs that are polar opposites of each other.


In the following photos you will see that Emmy is all action and Isabella calmly lays with one toy at a time. Aren't they just the cutest dogs enjoying their Christmas ?

Christmas evening we went to the movies to see Marley and Me. From the previews I'd seen I was expecting it to be a happy silly movie about an incorrigible dog. And for the most it was, but toward the end as Marley got older and started having health problems, I started to get weepy and a lump formed in my throat. It made me start thinking about all the great dogs I have loved and lost to old age. Next thing I knew, I had tears running down my face. And when it looked like Marley was going to die soon, I told Mike I had to leave because I knew if I saw the dog die I would be loudly sobbing with snot running out of my nose. So to spare us the embarrassment, we got out of there before Marley died, and now have no idea how the movie ended. It really was a great movie but I just wasn't in the frame of mind to handle a tear jerker. So I am just going to pretend that Marley lived forever.


We spent the rest of the evening sprawled on the couch with the dogs watching TV... and this Christmas officially came to an end.

Peace-

Linda

Mike made biscotti, and the stocking were hung...

... on the entertainment center with care- because we don't have a chimney.



We found a delicious sounding recipe for triple chocolate biscotti, so Mike got ambitious today and made it. Oh my, it is truly rich and sinful! We have so many goodies in the house I feel fat just looking at all of it!


The neighbors across the street invited us over for a Christmas Eve dinner and get together with their family and friends. The food was out of this world! And their home was so festive and beautifully decorated. Then later tonight after the party was over, they brought over platters of left over food and desserts. There is no possible way we can eat it all the food we now have, so I will have to freeze some of it.


As soon as the girls went to bed, we filled their stockings and wrapped their presents. Of course they are just like kids, they won't want their gifts but will spend the day trying to get each other's.

Tomorrow afternoon we plan on going to the movies to see Marley and Me. I find it hard to believe that there is a naughtier dog than Emmy, but we shall see. I saw a promotional clip of the movie showing Marley hanging out the car window, but Emmy has already done that- all that saved her was the harness she was wearing. It was quite a sight seeing her hanging out the car window suspended by the harness- her tail was wagging and her feet were paddling air... and I was totally freaked. Once we got stopped, hauled her back into the car (ignoring the people staring and pointing) and knew she was okay, we laughed hysterically for almost an hour.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and the merriest Christmas ever!

Peace-

Linda

White Christmas Cactus, Mystery Package, and Darlene Love Rocks On Letterman!

As soon as Mike got home today, we headed out to Tropiflora to see if they had white Christmas cactus. They had three white ones left, and also some gorgeous gold ones. So I now have red, white and gold!

After the nursery we did a walk through Target to see if they had any small trees we liked. We wanted three to put in each of the bay windows next year. But we didn't see anything we liked, so I will look on-line. Then it was off to the grocery store, which was over flowing with shoppers when we got there. We packed our cart with goodies galore- candy, all the ingredients to make cookies and biscotti, crab meat for seafood nachos, cheese balls, summer sausage, assortment of crackers, and too many other things to list.



Sometime late evening, there was a delivery left on our patio, which Mike discovered when he was taking the dogs out. It had the UPS marking on it, but it was strange that the dogs didn't hear the truck pull up or the delivery person coming into the patio. The UPS truck is one of their favorite things to bark at, and no one gets on the patio without them noticing. According to the label it came from a store in Tenn. but until we open it we won't know who sent it. We decided to not get gifts for each other this year, and put the money into new floors and having the kitchen back splash tiled instead. Now instead of having nothing under the artificial palm tree in the living room, we have the mystery package!

At 11:30 we sat down and enjoyed our yearly tradition of watching David Letterman's last show before Christmas. I always get a kick out of Jay's story about the Lone Ranger, and then the knocking of the meatball and pizza off the Christmas tree with a football, but tonight Dave also had Mickey Rourke on which I didn't enjoy. He just didn't fit in with the light hearted tone of the rest of the show. Oh, well, after he finally shut up and finished talking about pimps, whores, and professional wrestling, it was time for Darlene Love's performance of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). Wow! As soon as she stepped on stage I forgot all about that nasty Mickey. And if you didn't see the show- she was definitely worth waiting for- thank you Ms. Love for another memory!

Peace-

Linda Fleming

Christmas Traditions...

Mike and I are not what you would call traditional kind of people. But we have one tradition we have repeated every holiday season since 1986. Every year Darlene Love performs on David Letterman's last show before Christmas. She always sings "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)" accompanied by Paul Schaefer and the CBS Orchestra, with a full choir plus additional strings and horns. I swear every year the arrangement and her performance gets better and better. Last year the show was a repeat due to the writer's strike, but we still watched it because it's our tradition! Actually we stopped watching Letterman years ago when he lost his edge, but the Christmas show we always tune in for without fail. This year David's last show will be tomorrow night (Tues.) and you can bet we will be sitting in front of the TV waiting for the moment that Ms. Love steps on stage. Just check out this video from 2006- she'll knock your socks off!



I finally got some time this afternoon to restart my Santa gourd sculpt. I was unhappy with what I had previously done, so I scraped all the clay off and started over. Of course this is just the rough beginning work -

Some of you may remember all the problems I had with Santa/Dirty Old Man sculpt I did a few years ago- how he became overcome with lust seeing Grandma Gourd naked with her tatas showing and threw himself off the table, cracking his gourd, trying to get to her? Well, I learned my lesson and now all my gourd sculpts in progress are firmly wedged into a bowl to keep them in place and avoid any tumbles to the floor.

Peace-

Linda

Ornament Swap...

I finally got around to taking pictures of two ornaments I received last week. The first one is from Hoppa- isn't she pretty and glittery on my little tree?


And this darling little merbaby from Helen is just precious! She fits right in with my ocean/beach themed tree.

Thank you Hoppa and Helen!

Peace-

Linda

Shopping, eating and sunset...

Unlike the northern states that are suffering with heavy snow and frigid temps, our weather has been unusually nice this past week. So we spent the day out on Anna Maria Island. We started off shopping- the first stop was my favorite store the Sand Dollar. I picked up some yummy smelling candles, a bar of my favorite soap, and some small star fish I will use to make a garland.

From the Sand Dollar, we went on to my favorite clothing stores where I stocked up on capri pants and light weight sweatshirts for our cool winter nights. And Mike got some longed sleeved tees. We also found some darling xmas ornaments for the neighbors, since I never got around to making anything for them this year. We always give the neighbors an ornament I made for them, a plant, and fudge. Last year we gave them each a red Christmas cactus, and they have all said their plants have thrived all year and are loaded with flowers right now. I have to call around tomorrow and see if I can find white Christmas cactus to give them this year.


After we were done shopping, we stopped at the Beach House restaurant for supper. The weather was so nice we ate outside on the patio, and watched the sun sink into the Gulf waters.

Peace-

Linda

Winter Solstice-

Winter Solstice- the longest night of the year that gives birth to the new sun, and the gradual lengthening of daylight begins. This year the actual moment of the Winter Solstice is Sun., Dec. 21, 2008, 7:04 a.m. EST. In the northern sky on the night of the Winter Solstice, the three stars in Orion's Belt align with the brightest star in the Eastern sky showing where the Sun will rise in the morning after Winter Solstice. The Winter Solstice and birth of the new sun has been observed and celebrated since the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. The Solstice is observed by modern people at ancient sites such as Stonehenge in Britain and New Grange in Ireland.


So if you live in an area that has been hard hit by these nasty winter storms, keep the faith! The days will start growing longer now and spring will arrive in a few months. Yes, I know- that thought doesn't help right now when you are ass deep in snow, with more on its way, and it's snot freezing cold.

Peace-

Linda

One last ornament-

I made this ornament for my dear friend, Mary O, but didn't want to post it until she received it because I knew if she saw it she would know it was for her. Mary and her husband, Roy, put up a bluebird nesting box on their property, and this past summer they had the enjoyment of watching a bluebird couple build a nest in the box and raise their babies. So I just had to create a Christmas bluebird for her-LOL! After creating the bird and wreath in my graphics program, I printed them out on card stock, embellished both pieces, and then glued the bird to the wreath. The metallic stitches don't show up well in photos, but if you click the photo it will enlarge to full size and you can see more of the details.

And now that I am finished with the ornaments, I have been sculpting a santa on a gourd. I had quite a bit done, but then decided yesterday I wasn't happy with it, so scraped all the clay off and am starting over-LOL! At this rate, I may have it done by next xmas;)

Peace-

Linda Fleming

The Christmas Slug...

This is the story of the Christmas Slug...

Once upon a time there was an old woman who lost all track of time and missed Christmas... because she was a doddering old slug!
I was out shopping yesterday and picked up a box of holiday cards, intending to address and mail them in the next day or two. Then last night when I was watching the late local news they were saying cards not mailed by yesterday probably won't be delivered in time for Christmas. Why in the hell did I think it was 3 weeks until Christmas and I had all the time in the world? Today I was working on the beading of the first of 5 ornaments I intended to make for the neighbors, and realized I would be beading frantically from now to Christmas Eve if I hoped to get them all finished. And that is really not how I want to spend the next week, as I am tired of beading and not enjoying it as much as when I was doing the ornaments for the swap. So I am going to be the Christmas Slug and give up any hope of completing ornaments on time for the neighbors. I'll buy them a box of candy. What I really want to be doing is sculpting a santa on a gourd. I don't know why, just have the urge to sculpt a santa. So I dug some gourds out of the shed and have them soaking in bleach right now to get the yucky black stuff off. And since this is for myself, I don't have to worry about having it done by any certain date.


Though we decided not to decorate this year, I saw these candle holders yesterday and just had to get them. So there is a hint of Christmas in our home, with candles burning in the new holders and the ornaments from my swap friends hanging on the lit palm tree in the living room.

So far I have resisted doing any baking or goodie making. So no cookies, fudge, or other goodies to tempt me. I am determined not to gain any weight this holiday season. It's just too damn tiresome and hard to lose it after the the New Year, year after year-LOL! The way that extra weight visits each holiday season, I feel like I should give those pounds a name, they are like old friends that arrive too early and leave too late. I'll probably make some special things for us to have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but it won't be weeks of eating goodies like it usually is for us. Now that we live in Florida I can't hide extra pounds under heavy clothes until I get around to losing it. Today I had on shorts, a tee shirt and flip flops ;) I know you all are freezing up north, and I wish I could send some warm sunshine your way.....

Peace-

Linda

Lock up your egg beater!

I couldn't make something like this up if I wanted to-LOL! I tell you, the craziest things happen in Florida. This was one of our local news stories from yesterday...

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/dec/14/armed-burglars-demanded-egg-beater-say-deputies/
Armed Burglars Demanded Egg Beater, Say Deputies
By NEIL JOHNSON The Tampa Tribune

It must be one special egg beater.
That was the loot two men demanded after entering a home in Plant City, one brandishing a pistol and the other holding a knife to the resident's throat, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.


The two men face charges of armed burglary of a dwelling after being caught outside the home on State Road 60 in Plant City about 4:25 a.m. today, the sheriff's office said.
Deputies arrested Robert Thompson, 2211 Holloman Road, Plant City, and Taurus Morris, 5852 Odom Road, Lakeland.


In addition to the burglary charge, Thompson faces a charge of aggravated assault.
The sheriff's office said the two men came into the victim's home about 3:35 a.m. Thompson armed himself with a folding knife while Morris held a chrome pistol, arrest reports said.
Thompson held the knife against the victim's neck and demanded the metal egg beater which was found in his left back pocket when he was arrested, the sheriff's office said.
The report also said the victim knew both men.


Thompson and Morris are being held in the Orient Road Jail with no bond.

Christmas flowers, ornaments, and how-to's...

My first open blooms on my Christmas cactus! I think these last few rainy and gloomy days made her decide to open some flowers, adding a splash of cheerful color to the patio.


And to further brighten this dark, cloudy weather we are having, I found two ornaments waiting for me in my mailbox. I told my swap partners that my tree has a beach/ocean theme, and am simply delighted with what they created. The first one is from Karen - isn't it charming? Love the vintage women wearing the old timey swim suits. I just adore it! Thank you, Karen!

And the second one is from Mary O. Isn't it just so elegant and gorgeous? See the little sandollar, starfish and shells? And the back is just as lovely. Thank you, Mary! I will treasure this.

After I opened the packages with the ornaments I began to get just a twinge of the ol' holiday spirit. So I dug out the ornaments Jacque made for me last year, and put them and the new ones on my lit palm tree in the living room. This will be my holiday friendship tree. I'll try to take some pics of it tonight.

I had more questions left in the comments about the ornaments I made. Yes, the finished ornament is two layers of cardstock- a front and a back. So that they will fit together, in your graphic program be sure and mirror a copy of the front to use as your back outline and shape. On this first one, I was too lazy to create an actual back image, so the back is just a layer of cardstock which I then covered with mulberry paper.

For the angel, I actually made a back image, after mirroring a copy of the outline of the front so that they would fit together. I do all the beading and stitching before putting the two parts together, and that hides my back stitches.

You can place your hanger between the front and back just before gluing the two together. If you had unlimited time, you could embellish both the front and back. And yes, I make the holes before I start to bead and stitch.

Hmmm... it's beginning to look a lot like christmas.....

Peace-

Linda Fleming

PS- I sprayed both back and front with several coats of Plaid Clear Acrylic Sealer (Gloss)

Ornaments are done and bring on the rain...

I finally got the last ornament finished today- whew! I've been working pretty much every waking minute this week to get them done on time. Today was the day they were supposed to be mailed, but I am relieved to only be one day late. Someone asked me how these were made- I created them in my graphics program (I use JASC Paint Shop Pro), printed them out on cardstock, and then embellished. Anyway, I will get them in envelopes and mailed tomorrow- unless we blow away...


We have severe storms forecast for tomorrow, with heavy rain and 40- 50 mile per hour winds. I could do without the wind, but the the rain will be very welcome. As of today, we have only gotten 34 inches of rain this year and normal for our area is over 52 inches, so we are down more than 18 inches. We ended last year over 20 inches behind, so we really needed a normal rainfall this year. The weather has been so strange lately. The past 7-10 days we have gone from running the air conditioning to running the furnace in just a 24 hour period, several times. The past two days have been very warm, but we will cool down drastically by Friday. One day I am wearing shorts, tank top, and flip flops, and the next day flannel pants, sweatshirt and socks- it's crazy!


We decided not to decorate this year. Usually we go all out and have the entire yard lit up. But we are both feeling so tired right now, we decided to skip it this year. We'll just be lazy and enjoy the neighbors lights.


My Christmas cacti buds are so close to bursting into flowers, I am sure with in a day or two some of them are going to be open. The hanging baskets of bougainvillea are still blooming like crazy, and several of my bromeliads are getting ready to open their spike of flowers, too. Looks like the patio will have plenty of color even without us decorating!

Peace-

Linda

I hope there is a hell for evil software programs-

Is there anything more annoying and frustrating than a malfunctioning computer program? Well, I'm sure there is, but that is my bitch for today, therefore it is the most annoying thing in the world. I was working in my graphic program this morning creating another ornament, and just as I was about finished and ready to print, my anti-virus program began updating, and that's when all hell broke. Next thing I knew, I had 57 windows open and my graphic program froze. I couldn't get any of the windows to close, and couldn't save the image I had just worked on for hours- the program remained frozen. The program is set to automatically save anything I am working on if the computer suddenly shuts down. So as I flipped the back switch on my computer to shut down, I just prayed the image would reappear when I turned everything back on. It didn't. It was gone. For good. And I was really, really pissed. I mean really, really.


What did happen is that as soon as I rebooted, umpteen million windows popped up again. It was like my computer was possessed! Finally a window popped up saying there was a problem with the recent update from my anti-virus program. To solve the problem for now, I had to revert my virus program back to a previous update, and changed my settings so that it can't automatically update anymore. Now I will at least have control over choosing when to unleash its diabolical updates- the bastard!


I desperately needed some supplies from Michael's - had to have them to finish these ornaments. And of course Michael's on a Saturday in Nov. is always crazy, but it wasn't as crowed as I expected. I must have missed the early horde that stampeded through the floral section- there were floral pieces strewn all over the floor! I had visions of old snow birds fighting and snarling in the aisles over discounted flowers and garlands. Anyway, I got everything I needed for the rest of the ornaments, or at least I think I did. Does one ever have all the art supplies they need? I came home with beads, embossing stuff, copper beading wire, paints, markers (I'm not sure I need the markers, but what the hell?), beading needles, holeless beads, and a few other things.

My studio is a mess- two drawings in the works on one work table plus all my colored pencils and pens (and I have a lot) and sketch pads, another table taken up with 2 WIP sculpts, clay and sculpting tools, and another smaller table is covered with all my beads in a big mixed mess. I don't understand why I can keep my house neat, picked up and clean, but my computer desk and my studio are always a mess. Piles of stuff on top of other piles, and all the piles on top of stacks of other stuff. Stuff everywhere. I'd take pictures of the mess in the studio, but I am sure you would all be appalled. It's obvious that I must clean and reorganize my studio... as soon as the ornaments are finished. For now I am left with this one small open area on one of my long work tables to work on the ornaments. As you can see- this open area isn't so open anymore-

Peace-

Linda

Angels, Soon-to-be Blooms, and Be Happy...

Two more angels finished! So that's three done now, half way to the finish line. They must all be finished and in the mail by the 10th- eekkkk! This is why I seldom participate in swaps. I am so frigging undisciplined, always under estimate the time I will need to do something, and then panic as the deadline draws nearer. This blue one is certainly an unconventional xmas angel, but hopefully some one will love her oddness. I did the lines in her wings with metallic threads- which don't show up well in photos- and they are a bitch to sew with as they tend to ravel and catch easily when trying to sew it thru the cardstock.

This next one is the most typical looking angel I have done so far. I used copper beads on her and embroidery floss thread instead of the frustrating metallic thread. I also used acrylic paint and some of that shimmering dust stuff.

My Christmas cacti are so close to blooming! It looks both Big Mama and Baby Girl will be in full bloom just before xmas.

As for being happy... did you know that if you are a happy, upbeat person you could be having a positive effect on people you don't even know. According to a recent study:

" Happy Friends Make You Happy- They concluded that the happiness of an immediate social contact increased an individual's chances of becoming happy by 15%, Fowler says. The happiness of a second-degree contact, such as the spouse of a friend, increases the likeliness of becoming happy by 10%, and the happiness of a third-degree contact -- or the friend of a friend of a friend -- increases the likelihood of becoming happy by 6%. The association was not seen in fourth-degree contacts (the friends of friends of friends of friends). Having more friends also increased happiness, but having friends who were happy was a much bigger influence on happiness." You can read all of the study here- really very interesting article!

As the song goes...Don't worry, be happy!

Peace-

Linda Fleming

December calender and a bitch about yearly holiday letters-

Once again I am late getting the calender done. I forget about it until I look at my wall calender and realize I don't have the current month put up. The ones I post here are a smaller version of the ones I make and print out for my wall calender. I think for next year's calender I am going to use all sunset photos we have taken- a whole year of sunsets! And plan on spending a couple of days this month making all of the 2009 pages, so I can just print it all at once and be done with it for the year. Anyway, click on the calender and it should open to full size, and you can then down load it to your computer for your personal use on your desktop.

And now the topic of yearly Christmas letters some people send with their cards... they don't seem as popular as they were years ago, thank gawd! I don't know which are worse- the ones that brag about every promotion, award, vacation, new cars or the ones that feel the need to share every rotten thing that has happened to them in the past year and how miserable their lives are. I just don't like them- any of them. And here is why- I figure if I'm a close friend then I have been talking or writing with you throughout the year and I already know what has been going on in your life. And if I haven't talked with you in the past year, then we obviously are not good friends and I'm not interested in the accomplishments of you and your children, or how miserable your life has been this year. But you know my wicked streak has been tempting me to write one of my own- a very satirical holiday letter about my past year-LOL! Maybe even with illustrations ;)
Peace-
Linda Fleming

Angel finished as the Moon, Venus, and Jupiter Align...

Did you happen to step outside this evening and see the alignment of the crescent moon with Venus and Jupiter? I tried taking pictures but they didn't turn out- drats! It was a gorgeous sight to see. You can go here and see a picture of how it appeared here in Florida.

I spent the day in the studio embellishing an angel for an ornament swap. She is all done except for another layer of holeless micro beads on her boots, which I will do tomorrow.

Now on to the next ornament.... I have one in the works in my graphics program, which hopefully I will be ready to print out soon, and then start the embellishing.


This was the first full day I have spent in my studio in ages, and it sure felt good! I turned my stereo on, played my favorite CDs, and sang my heart out as I beaded and embellished. Now that the election is over, I will be watching less TV during the day, and listening to more music. Which always improves my mood! Just something about music, being creative and the solitude of my studio that takes me away from the daily worries and stresses, and my little world becomes a place of peacefulness and joy. Almost like entering an altered state of consciousness.

Peace-

Linda Fleming