Happy New Year

2012 has been somewhat of a crazy mixed up year!

I opened a new shop, Reflections on HandMadeArtists.

Got acquainted with some new friends such as Monika creator of MyEuropeanTouch who not only creates some amazing items with mosaics but her drawings are fabulous - I love this print Quill and Ink Drawing Post Card Monika Drake Mansion of  Tesdorf in Germany

I love what she does with broken plates - even pink ones! such as this delightful Shabby chic Mosaic Window Sash Pane Broken China Plate Rims

We had a Secret Santa gift exchange on HandMadeArtists Forum and I received this beautiful bracelet by Lisa, creator of Uniglets, I actually try to stay away from her shop, because every time I look I find at least one or two items I would love to have! 

Love this Blue Flower on Copper Vintage Assemblage Bracelet

and  in love with this Victorian Elegance Reworked  Vintage Necklace 

I finally reached 100 followers on my blog - and had a drawing for a stained glass ornament/ sun catcher. what was truly funny was I drew Lisa's name!  This is the sun catcher ornament and 2 little stars I sent her.  The sun catcher is clear stained glass that I hand painted with  a silver outline and a blue/green iridescent paint. The little star on the left, is a glass star that I wrapped with copper foil tape and soldered. Adding some clear and emerald green beads to the top and bottom for a purse or phone charm.  the star on the right, is a metal star I painted with aqua/blue iridescent paint and added some white curly cue designs.  We have become pretty good friends over the miles between Albuquerque, New Mexico and New York City.

I received a wonderful gift  way before Christmas, of 7 sets of double pointed knitting needles from Judy, creator of JuniqueGoods who makes these lovely Christmas Spiders , among other delightful creations. 

Please don't get me wrong, I value the friendliness and support by so many members of the forum, but, Monika and Lisa have become "friends."  I've gotten better acquainted with some other members too. 

I closed my shops on ArtFire, don't miss it too much! Still have my lisianblue shop on HandMadeArtists. Always grateful for the support and all that Kimberly and Andrew do for us through the forum, shop, and blog - and so much more! 

I got to have my grandson with me for a month here in Alb, and then I spent about a month in Colorado Springs with him, his sister, and their mom (my daughter).  I do miss them! The flood in their former home from the sewer back up was not fun! I was sick for over a month!  2012 was sort of like a roller coaster ride - like life usually is! In August, I injured the middle finger on my right hand, of course I'm right handed - it's still sore - but better with a few weeks of therapy. It has really cut down on my crocheting though. 

I look forward to 2013, with some changes in store - they don't have anything to do with New Years resolutions, just my own need to stretch a bit - both literally and figuratively! They just happen to be occurring with the New Year! 

Wishing you a wonderful healthy happy 2013 with all it's up's and downs sort of like that roller coaster ride! 

It always comes back up! 

HAF Featured Artist Lady Faith Jewelry

Barbara, the creator of Lady Faith Jewelry is  a retired school teacher and once again has time for doing what she loves, drawing, painting and making some great jewelry.  Barbara  originally created jewelry when she was very young,  around 5 or 6, when her grandmother brought home a bag of broken jewelry & she would put it back together with safety pins.  It is interesting how many of us find our way back to something we truly enjoyed as a child.

And Lady Faith keeps that childhood playfulness in much of her jewelry such as these Dangling Stacked Candy Earrings, what wonderful colors, and you could wear them with a variety of outfits!

These pretty Ruby Earrings on hand crafted sterling silver ear wires are still playful, although a bit more sophisticated 

Wouldn't it be fun to wear this wonderful  Mystery of Egypt Charm Bracelet while dancing! What fun with all those cool jangly charms!

You will not only find some very nice jewelry, but very reasonable prices on  Lady Faith's Jewelry, where you will find as she says " fun jewelry for the modern woman."  Enjoy! You can also find Barbara at her blog,  Jewelry by Lady Faith

Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and a bright and beautiful 2013. 

Thank you for coming by and have a great day!

Through The Eyes of a Child

It's 3:40 A.m.  I fell asleep earlier and slept for 2 hours and now I'm awake again! I was going through my picture files, cleaning some out, organizing them etc, and came across some my grandson took this past Aug.  I had just finished up my 84 Bits and Pieces Dancing Glass Wind Chime and had been taking pictures of it when Kai asked if he could take some.  I put the camera strap back on and let him have at it.  These are a some of the pictures he took.

Hint: Just click on the 1st one and then you can go through them pretty quickly! And they are so much more fun to look at in a larger size.

I have found that kids, from babies to older ones, really like wind chimes, and if they are shiny glass ones, all the better!

These are actually less than half of the ones he took that afternoon.  When his little sister Evie was about 7 mo's old, they came to visit.  There were a few times my daughter would go for a short walk around the complex, and  leave both kids in my care.  Kai is a piece of cake!  Evie at 7 mo's,  well that was different story!  I had a couple of different wind chimes on my patio and I found she would settle down and become a happy baby when I took her outside and ran my fingers across the wind chime making it sing. 

I have some "big" kid who goes by my apartment and once in a while will  run their hand across one of my wind chimes making it sing.  I can tell the difference between the wind, and a person making it sing!  When I'm outside, some of the kids around here will come by and ask if I'll make them make noise!  I love it!

Wishing I could be with my Kai and Evie for Christmas, but it's not to be this year.  Hopefully next year.  I was with them last Christmas,at their home,  they are so fun to be around.   

H A P P Y    H O L I D A Y S

HAF Feature: Highlights

What's a highlight? you ask.  Well, a highlight is collection of  creations  that in this case are all handmade and for sale on HandMadeArtists.com.  They are usually done with a certain theme, color, idea, etc, in mind.  We also  have Highlight contests!  Those are always fun!  The person with the most comments or sometimes views wins!  What do they win?  Depends on what the person sponsoring the contest decides to give away, usually something from their shop.   There are some great highlights to browse through,  and a  nice way to see a variety of some awesome hand made creations all in one place.

A few of the latest Highlights
HHC#20 Hunter Green and Cranberry Challenge
Festival of Lights  ( a great one if you like blue)
It's Snowing Rainbow Colors - What a great title!

I'll leave you with these 3 to get you started - because once you go there, it's easy to see the rest!

Just to entice you a little, I'm featuring one item from each of the highlights listed above such as this awesome Fused Glass Double Rainbow

Or how about a Swarovski Christmas Charm PDF Tutorial 


Pretty Charm!

this Candle Wee Dram Key Chain Flask is cool! (No drinking and driving though  ;)  )



Be sure to check out the Highlights too!











Thanks for coming by and have a wonderful day & love the comments!  Comments are moderated, they will not show up until I approve them - Patience please, I will get to them - I promise!

HAF Featured Artist Finding Charm

I'm catching up from last week!
Featured this week is Sarah creator of Finding Charm.  Sarah got into making jewelry because she wanted items that went with her clothing that didn't break the bank. She bought some beads and Finding Charm was created.

I love ankle bracelets but don't  find many jewelry makers make them.  so, I'm excited that Sarah does, such as this pretty White Beaded Ankle Bracelet 

This Light Pink Tear Drop Bracelet looks like a fun piece to wear!

and perfect for the holidays and any other time of the year is this lovely Cranberry Red Beaded Necklace, Bracelet and Earrings Set 




If you're looking for a little bling for the holidays, as gift or for yourself,  visit Finding Charm on ArtFire or

Finding Charm on Etsy

Finding Charm on Facebook

Finding Charm on ecrater

Finding Charm on zibbet

No excuses for not being able to find her sweet creations!  Oh yes, she makes some very nice eyeglass necklaces too!
Thanks for coming by and have a great day! Leave a message too - they are moderated and will show up after I approve them - keeps the ickies out!

Shhhh! Secret Santa.....................

LOL Secrets already out!
Not too long ago a bunch of us at HandMadeArtists forum got together for a Secret Santa thing!  I admit I was a little leery about doing this, as I had participated in something similar a few years ago, and well I was pretty disappointed with my "gift".  but, we have some great creators on AF, so I wasn't too concerned!
Normally I check my mail once a week, maybe twice a week if I'm expecting something!  I knew people were mailing things out, so I tried really hard to check my mail box more frequently.

Friday night just about 9:00 I was fixing myself something to eat, and I thought Oh shoot, I'd better get over to the mail box before the door gets locked up. I live in a fairly large apartment complex and the door to the main building gets locked up every night!  So, I put my slippers & a coat on and headed off to  the mail box.   I opened the box and there before my eyes was a brown paper wrapped box ( love my mail man!)
On the way back to my apartment I looked at who it was from, and then got really excited!
I managed to contain myself and grabbed my dinner and sat down to unwrap my present.  What a present it was!

First, is this pretty shiny red box
(I have a thing about boxes!)

lifting the lid I found this great card with a note printed to the side (note part is cropped out)
and a lovely purple fine net bow just under the card,

lifting those out, I found a neat blue tin (my thing for boxes - well double that for tins!)

and inside the tin was this incredibly awesome bracelet made just for me!
Be sure to click on the images for a better view!

I have to tell you, this is no light weight bracelet!  It weighs almost 2oz!  I had just bought a digital scale on Friday - so I had to play with it weighing things! And it's well made too!  So, you are wondering who did I receive this beauty from? I received this delightful bracelet  from Lisa of Uniqlets on HandMadeArtists

Part of the fun in this, was we were to post a picture of what we received in a thread on the forum.  I did it pretty much the way I did here - except for telling people who it was from - and had them guess!  It didn't take long for someone to guess.  Lisa has such a unique style, just like all of her creations, they are unique!  Each piece of jewelry she makes is a one of a kind creation.

I  went to her shop just before writing this and fell in love with this beautiful Victorian Elegance Reworked Vintage Necklace 

and check out this amazing Cuckoo Vintage Steampunk Necklace , now seriously can you say you've ever seen a Cuckoo clock necklace?  Well, maybe, but I doubt it was as unique as this one! 

This Art Nouveau Lady in the Flowers Bracelet is brilliant! 

If you are looking for some special jewelry for that someone special in your life, I highly recommend you pay a visit to Lisa's boutique Uniqlet's on HandMadeArtists Shop.  Be sure to check out all of her pages - everything is different on each and every page!

I'm so glad  you came by, be sure to leave a comment!  Comments are moderated (sorry) so you will not see your comment right away - but I will get to them as soon as I can!

Have a great day!

and now i'm going to put up my Christmas tree - really early for me!