My Wish For You

I found the following poem on Susan Tuttle's blog and loved it so much I wanted to share it with you. "This is my wish for you:

Comfort on difficult days,
smiles when sadness intrudes,
rainbows to follow the clouds,

laughter to kiss your lips,

sunsets to warm your heart,

hugs when spirits sag,

beauty for your eyes to see,

friendship to brighten your being,

faith so that you can believe,

confidence for when you are in doubt,

courage to know yourself,

patience to accept the truth,

love to complete your life."

~anonymous ~

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

(photos taken on trip to Paris 2004)

Diana

Giveaway Winners

Thank you all for leaving such kind comments on my Giveaway post. I was so excited to hear from so many new people as well as those of you who leave comments regularly. Two winners have been selected and they are:

Alice Peterson will receive the bracelet with framed tintype, Swarovski crystals and black onyx beads. Congratuations, Alice. Alice is a jewelry designer herself. Be sure to pay her website a visit and see her treasures.

Dawn Binyon will receive the colorful necklace featuring a pair of vintage dice embraced in a sterling silver case. I also invite you to visit Dawn's blog to see the crafty things she has been up to. Congratulations, Dawn!!!

Christmas is a grand time of year and I love getting together with friends, giving and celebrating our blessings and family. Today I am decorating our tree and how nostalgic it is to go through the boxes of ornaments we have collected throughout the years. It's like hanging sweet memories on the tree.

Whatever tradition you embrace, I wish you all a joy-filled Christmas, happy Hanukkah or Kwanza! Remember that your soulful flame burns brightly. Share your Love and warmth with others and watch the Light return.

I am going to take a break from blogging until after the holidays so that I can devote my time to enjoying the beauty around me, the joy and contentment of family and friends and be so ever grateful for the abundance in my life.

Joyful, Joyful, Joyful

Hugs

Diana

Santa's Elf

~gift bag~

I have been playing Santa's little elf during the last few days and have been having so much fun. With my little red elf's outfit complete with hat, turned-up buckle shoes and red tights......oops wait a minute, I'm getting mixed up with a movie I just watched...... okay now focus, Diana!

Today I designed the little gift bag above to hold a piece of my jewelry for a friend. These little bags are a great way to repurpose those bits of fabric, lace, ribbon, paper, vintage millinery pieces, buttons, etc. you haven't known what to do with.

~gift tags~

Then it was time to create some artful gift tags. I have a set of the 12 days of Christmas rubber stamps and featured each day on a manilla tag. I first aged my tag by distressing the edges with a tool that was in a distressing kit by Making Memories...for the life of me now, I can't remember the name of it. You could also use sandpaper or an exacto knife to rough up the edges. I then stamped my tag using a sheet music stamp. Using acrylic paint in an ivory tone, I brushed a thin layer of paint over the stamped sheet music. Taking a baby wipe, I wiped off just enough of the paint to expose some of the sheet music below. Then I stamped the 12 days of Christmas images onto tea dyed water color paper with black ink. I tore each image out and distressed the edges with Tim Holtz's distress inks. With matte medium, I attached each image to the tags. The crown image was then stamped in place as well as the "To" and "From" on the reverse. Using my eyelet setter, I set a gold eyelet in the center of each crown. I love my gold leaf pen... which I used to highlight the edges of each tag. Gold boullion (a fine gold metal thread from my floral design days) was then wrapped around each tag.

~close up of a wrapped gift in which I incorporated a heart shaped stone~

~Christmas Card~

Christmas cards were next on my list and I had fun layering images, fabric, inks, ribbon and gold thread.

I have had time to design some jewelry as well...here is a pair of earrings in which I used etched brass, brass findings and a vintage cut glass jewel.

And I finally had time to secure all of my charms to my bracelet. This bracelet is a sample for the class "A Charming Romance" Riki Schumacher and I will be teaching Feb. 6 & 7 and then again April 10 & 11 on the beautiful central coast of California. See complete information on this class in a recent post and in the sidebar under Teaching. This class will cover many techniques: pmc, etching, cold connections, embossing and more. Class size is limited and spaces are filling up already. Email me if you should like to join us (belladonna1351@charter.net). Riki and I would love to have you.

I know that the holidays can be so very hectic and stressful. But amongst all of the FA LA LA LA, it is so important for me to keep focused on the true meaning of the season and hold LOVE in my heart and gratitude for the gift of HOPE Christmas brings.

******

On another note, only two more days before the drawing for the two winners of my holiday GIVEAWAY. Be sure to leave a comment and your email address on my last post if you would like to be included. Good luck!

Happy Holidays!

Diana

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

During this Christmas season it's important that we focus on giving gifts of ourselves....a sort of one-size-fits-all type of gift. I have decided to have my first blog giveaway as a token of my appreciation to all of you who take time to visit and for your support and kind words throughout the year. I celebrate you and wish you and your family a blessed holiday season.

All you have to do to enter in on a chance to win one of the items above is to leave a comment on this post. You have until December 15th at midnight PST to leave a comment. On December 16th, I will randomly draw the names of two winners. Please be sure that I have your email address so that I can contact you. Good luck!

On the first day of Christmas, I gave to my true loves:

The gift of my Undivided Attention

On the second day of Christmas, I gave to my true loves:

The gift of Enthusiasm

On the third day of Christmas, I gave to my true loves:

The gift of Creative Energy

On the fourth day of Christmas, I gave to my true loves:

The gift of Simple Seasonal Pleasures

On the fifth day of Christmas, I gave to my true loves:

The Gift of Tenderness

On the sixth day of Christmas, I gave to my true loves:

The gift of Good Cheer

On the seventh day of Christmas, I gave to my true loves:

The gift of Beauty

On the eighth day of Christmas, I gave to my true loves:

The gift of Communication

On the ninth day of Christmas, I gave to my true loves:

The gift of Surprise

On the tenth day of Christmas, I gave to my true loves:

The gift of Wonder

On the eleventh day of Christmas, I gave to my true loves:

the gift of Peaceful Surroundings

On the twelfth day of Christmas, I gave to my true loves:

The gift of Joy

Tootles

Diana

A Charming Romance

I have a little something you may want to add to your Christmas Wish List artgirlz. Riki Schumacher and I are teaming up once again and offering a mixed media jewelry art workshop. The focus will be on PMC, etching, metalsmithing, and embossing. A Charming Romance will be offered two different weekends, so hopefully one of the weekends will work for you. The first weekend workshop will be February 6 and 7, 2010 (Sat. and Sun.). The second workshop will be April 10 and 11, 2010. Click on the flyer above for all of the important details. The event will be held in Riki's Pismo Beach studio on the beautiful central coast of California.

Riki is a superb jewelry designer in addition to being a Certified PMC Instructor. Our goal in developing this class was to create a workshop in which students would learn several mixed media jewelry art techniques on a small scale. Thus, being able to accomplish a lot in a 2-day period. Everyone will design charms for their romantic-themed bracelet (or whatever theme you desire) using the PMC, etching, metalsmithing and embossing techniques taught in class. It is our hope that everyone will leave with a "charming" wrist adornment full of tiny examples of the weekend's techniques. So, start looking through your drawers and gathering special elements and embellishments you would like to include on your bracelet....for me that would include bling of course.

The payment of your registration fee will reserve your spot in class. Kit fee is payable the weekend of the class. Spaces are limited, so don't delay.

Join us and let Riki and I pamper you with yummy snacks, lunch, good company, inspiration and hopefully a few gorgeous sunsets along one of California's most beautiful coastlines. Now's the time to start your New Year's resolutions and honor that creative self of yours.

"Inside you there's an artist you don't know about....Say yes quickly, if you know, if you've known it from before the beginning of the universe."

~Jalai ud-Din Rumi~

Tootles

Diana

email: belladonna1351@charter.net