Ornament Swap/Blog Hop

When Sally Russick 

proposed the idea of an ornament swap on her blog,

I was ready and willing,

and 

it has been fun!

My partner was Holly Westfall.

Here's what I received.

When I opened the envelope, this is what a saw!

Isn't it great so far?

There's more!

Inside the tin was a beautiful red bag!

How did she know, red is one of my 10,000 favorite colors.

I took a peek inside the bag.

SMILES!

More wrapping!

The excitement is mounting!

At last, and isn't it beautiful!  It was worth the wait!

And here, my beautiful, new ornament hangs on the tree!

Sigh!

It is beautiful!

Now, here is the list of other participants.

Be sure to check out their blogs and see what they received in this swap!

Erin Prais-Hintz and Alice Peterson

Sally Russick and Kim Hora

Susan Kennedy and Kathleen Lange Klik

Patty Gasparino and Cindy Wimmer

Hope Smitherman and Melissa Meman

Jennifer L. Justman and Sandi Volpe

Jenny Davies-Reazor and Christine Altimiller

Rebecca Anderson and Jen Velasquez

Jeanette Blix Ryan and Tamara Soper

Holly Westfall and Mallory Hoffman

Thank you, Sally!  I enjoyed this swap!

 

Three Beautiful Things This Week

Three Beautiful Things This Week was inspired by a wonderful blog that Clare writes called Three Beautiful Things. Everyday, Clare writes about 3 Beautiful Things that happen each day in her life. It's a wonderful blog! I can only hope to imitate her in a very small way.

1.  Wooo Hooo!  It finally happened!  It's taken a long time, so I really learned to appreciate what happened.  I hit 500 sales in my Etsy store!  I am absolutely thrilled!  Thank you, Bonnie, for purchasing the item that made 500 items in my Etsy store!

2) I had lunch with Sister Alene, and we celebrated Christmas with lunch and small gifts to each other.  I gave her my Singing Nun Mixed Media portrait.  You can see it over HERE.  I also included a little money with her card.  She gave me things I truly needed:  a beautiful handmade note pad.  She cut the pieces of paper herself and two Christmas pot holders!  I love them!  I was so blessed!

3) See the pendant in the photo?  Instead of cleaning a closet that really needs to be cleaned, I took the afternoon off, and played!  The pendant was one of the results!  It's going to be fun to wear!

Weekly Photo Challenge - Celebration

We celebrate with food!

Celebration

c-e-l-e-b-r-a-t-i-o-n

Celebration

Just Playing - The Girls and Embossed Metal

This part is all Maggie's fault!

She posted about an online class she was taking.

I thought it sounded great, so I am taking it, too!

Anyway,

here are some of the fruits of that class.

The Girls!

I am making this for a friend's birthday on January 2.

Since I know that she doesn't ready my blog,

I can post it here!

This is not quite finished yet.

I have to add some kind of frame and hangar.  

I'll try to show you the finished product before her birthday!

This "girl" is a singing nun!  It's for my friend who is a nun.

I plan to put this on her Christmas card this year!

I love these little girls!

I plan to make more!

I've also been embossing metal.

That has been fun.

The next step will be to cut these pieces of brass, copper, and tin.

I tried to make bead caps using the embossed metal,

 but I found the embossing goes away.

so, it's back to etching for bead caps.

 These embossed  circles do make great jewelry.

I've been playing with paints and metal.

How have you been playing?

Incentive!

Finally,

I am only 2 sales away from the 500 mark in my

Etsy Store!

I'd like to reach that 500 mark before the end of 2011, so I'm adding a 

Touch of Incentive.

My 500th sale will find included in their order

this bracelet 

which I am calling

Touch of Incentive!

This could be yours!