Holidays

I won't pretend that this was an easy year.  Plus christmas time is always a hectic time of year for me.  This year was no different.  I got an incredibly late start; about 4 weeks too late.  It makes the season less enjoyable to be in a constant crunch mode.  I say the same thing every year, and it always ends the same anymore.  Stressed out and in a panic, then depressed its past and over.  Christmas seems to start on November 1st anymore, and usually by Thanksgiving I'm pretty burnt out on the music, decorations, and everything.  Even though I've accomplished nothing by then.  No presents finished, no tree yet, no decorations.  So then, after Thanksgiving, about a week or two will pass, and I will panic.  That's xmas for me.
So right now, I am in a holiday downswing.  I've visited with all my family, gave out all the presents I hurried to finish or buy, and now its just a couple days till the new year.  I'm just a little disappointed its over.  Time moves too swiftly, leaving little room to savor a moment.
All in all, it was an enjoyable time.  I spent a nice holiday with my family, and then the second part was spend with my Sweetheart's family.  As every family knows, it is hard to coordinate a large family gathering, and I've been lucky to be able to see everyone almost every year.

The year is coming to an end, and I will be spending some time over the next few days taking stock and revisiting lessons learned.  I will be planning and evaluating what's important and what isn't.  I will be taking what I need with me and leaving behind what I don't.
I hope 2012 brings opportunities.  I feel like 2011 has been a bit unbalanced.  Its either been more work and little play, or no work and no play.  I know that just because the calendar has been reset it does not mean the balance has been restored.  I wish I could say that "new year" means all the ongoing unpleasant crap can't cross the timeline into 2012 with me.  The journey will continue.  I remain hopeful though, the balance will be restored.  This year, I expect great things.

Cyber Monday & Free Shipping

I'm having a Cyber Monday Sale in my shop starting tonight at Midnight (EST).  Everything will be 20% OFF.  This will be the biggest sale of the year.  Mostly because I am also offering Free Shipping with a coupon.  The code is BLACKFRIDAY.  Just use it during checkout for free shipping. :)

So visit the shop and get ready for the big sale :) 
http://BlueDesertRose.artfire.com

Happy Holidays!

New Year

Another new year.  A fresh start.  The calendar is reset.

I hope you all enjoyed your holidays.  Mine were busy fun.  :)  With Xmas come and gone, my tree went up and has already come down.  Its a shame how quick the time really flies.  Last night was New Years Eve.  I spent some time with good friends, got my midnight kiss from my sweetheart, and followed by a glass of wine with super delicious chocolate.  Today has been a lazy day though.  I stayed up late last night and got up late this morning.  I did manage to finish my legwarmers I was knitting with my beautiful new knitting needles I got from my parents.  Now I am deciding on what to knit next.

I'm going to be working on some custom order bridal party stuff for a really good friend's fiance.  She's awesome and I can't wait to get rolling on these ideas.  :)  Plus that means I might get to use my new sexy polymer clay tools.  If not, I'm sure I will get to use them on a different custom order that I am going to be starting soon.  It will be my second frog charm.  I still have to post pictures of my previous custom orders including my first frog charm.

Hope you all have a wonderful new year!

Crunch Time

For those of you celebrating Christmas, its crunch time.  I am still trying to catch up and finish multiple things.  Gifts for family.  Special orders that are bordering on, if not already, overdue.  To those of you I am so sorry if your orders are not finished.  This is my first year balancing business with personal, and even though I don't get nearly as much business as some of my most favorite artists, I feel like I was scrambling the entire time.  I give them all so much more credit.  I hope as the years go on, that my business will blossom, and I will have to scramble that much more :)  I am really thankful for the scrambling.  I just had no idea what my custom orders would have in store for me.  Hopefully, if I am as fortunate next year, I will be able to balance it all out better.  :)

With the lunar eclipse tonight for all of Northern America, I have decided to stay up to see it.  Tomorrow is Yule, also known as the Winter Solstice, another holiday I like to celebrate.  So with it being the longest night of the year, it will also be the darkest.  They say that the moon in the total eclipse will be a red color.  I just have to stay up to see it.  I'm not good at going to bed and then setting an alarm to get up to see it.  When I'm asleep, I have a hard time pulling myself out of bed to do that sort of thing.  I'm way better at just staying awake.  I plan on working my buns off on the last few orders and presents.  I might also start my stew for tomorrow and wake up starving because my whole house will smell awesome.  :)  Might have to run to the 24 hour grocery store and get a couple more potatoes though.  Mine seem to have turned against me.  :X  Should be a fun night.  :)  Then I wont have to get up at 8 or 9 in the morning to make the stew.  It should be ready at lunchtime, but I think I'm still going to let it stew till dinner.  :)

So if you are in the U.S. and you want to see the moon, here is some more information about that. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/12/20/132199769/during-tonights-lunar-eclipse-moon-will-turn-into-a-reddish-ball?sc=fb&cc=fp

Holiday Sap

While risking sounding like a great big holiday sap, I'm going to share a story...
Tonight was my friends holiday cookie exchange.  A tradition that I have been lucky enough to take part of for the last 3 years now.  The first year I got invited was because one of my friends mothers friends couldn't make it at last minute, and they asked me if I would like to be a part.  Well, I think she did end up being able to make it or something, but I think I ended up having to bake 13 dozen cookies.  This year and the last its been 12 dozen, and I'm pretty sure that will end up being a set number from now on.  More than 12 dozen cookies gets a little out of control. 
Anyway, this year has been hard for me to get in the spirit, but I would like to thank my 6-year-old Goddaughter, and her little 2-year-old sister for rekindling some of that magic for me.  Though the budget was tight, I picked up a little book for them, and made them each an ornament. 
When I arrived I was greeted by my Goddaughter, and shortly after she told me she had a present for me.  She ran to the kitchen and right back with a little box in her hands that she proclaimed proudly that she had wrapped all by herself without any help, and with what had to have been an entire roll of tape.  That alone makes me smile.  There was a little gift wrapped and taped to the outside.  It was her gift to me from her schools Santa Shop.  Its crazy to me, because I remember Santa Shop when I was a kid.  Mom would give me money and I would get to go shopping for my family members, picking out each thing specifically for them.  I unwrapped it, and it was one of those magic towels.  In case you are unfamiliar, basically a compressed cotton brick that you put in water and it expands and turns into a towel.  Mine has penguins on it.  The bigger box I unwrapped had an ornament just for me with "Godmother" in red on a silver bulb.  It was very sweet.  It had to be the look on her little face when I looked up, how excited and happy she was to give it to me, that really struck me right in the heart.  She gave me a big hug, and when I told her I had something for her and her sister, she got so excited.  By the end of the night, her and I ended up on the couch, reading the story book I got her together.

Christmas is different being a grownup.  Its harder to keep that magic going sometimes.  My Goddaughter reminded me tonight though why I like Christmas.  She was so happy to give me a present.  She didn't even know I had something for her.  I had gone there, planning to surprise them with a little gift, when in fact she surprised me.  She gave me a better gift than she even knows.
 

Welcome Christmas

I'm feeling nostalgic today folks.  I didn't think I could get into the season this year.  I didn't think I would find myself smiling about the holidays.  I've been a bit of a Grinch for the last couple years.  It seemed to get worse with each one.  I don't know why.  Like last year, I wasn't going to put up my tree.  I wasn't going to put up any decorations.  However, yesterday, I decided to dig my stuff out.  Perhaps because I was feeling a twinge of guilt, perhaps it was a phone call I had a few days ago where my mom asked if I had put up my tree, and I said I didn't, and she said "Do it.".  I really wasn't going to, but here I am now, typing next to the glow of little colored lights.

My city is being bombarded with big fluffy snowflakes.  Its sticking to the branches and everything else.  Its pretty, and snow before the new year makes me happy. 

So, as I look out the window, I guess I could say I feel like this...



I've been working on a few different custom orders, making presents for family and friends, planning for parties and get togethers, contemplating building a toboggan, and I'm going to be baking cookies and maybe making fudge.  :)

Time to get back to work.  I'll leave you all with this :)  Fahoo Fores Dahoo Dores...

Holiday Ornament and a Christmas Giveaway

I know, I know, it's a little early for me to even want to think about the upcoming holidays.  Insert nauseous face here.  However, I have a good reason for bringing it up before Thanksgiving Halloween.  I have discovered a giveaway being put on by Craftbits.com.  They are giving you the opportunity to win anything you want up to $150 and $20 shipping.  A huge generous win your own Christmas gift giveaway.  :)

So, I have picked my gift out.  I have decided, and it was hard to pick, that if I were to win I would absolutely love to win the Harmony Wood Circular Knitting Needle Set from KnitPicks.com.  They are beautiful wooden interchangeable knitting needles, and I had almost forgotten about them seeing as how they are a little out of my budget for now.  I love them, and a very good friend of mine has some and she loves them.  The joins between the needle and the cable is very smooth and wont snag up my yarn as I work.  This would be an amazing gift.  :)

If you like to knit you should really check out Knitpicks.com

While I was perusing Craftbits.com, I came across something that took me back to when I was kid at Christmas.  Every year when I was little, I would decorate the tree with my family.  I could tell you about all my favorite ornaments, but for now I will just tell you about one.  It was a little scotty dog shaped ornament.  It was plain and brown colored, and kind of like a cookie with a ribbon thru it.  It was kept in an old butter dish with some tissue paper because it was handmade and fragile.  The best part about this ornament is that it smelled like cinnamon apples.  :)  So, while I was looking at all the little crafty projects on Craftbits.com I was really excited to find this project.  Cinnamon applesauce tree ornaments.  I'm so excited to finally know how to make these.  :)  I think this might be the ornament I make for the family this year.  I just need to find a cookie cutter that I would like to use.  Or maybe 2 or 3! Lol!  I never realized how simple it was to make these.  Plus, this is a nice craft to do with little ones.  Kids love to get dirty!

The Holidays Are Approaching

Now that Thanksgiving has passed and the weather is turning colder, neighbors are building elaborate festive lawn displays. The holidays are coming. Every morning since black Friday I wake up and reevaluate what needs to be done. Most of my shopping is finished, but there is still quite a bit to be completed. Hopefully I will be done with it all soon, so I can relax. I refuse to be running around pulling it all together on Xmas eve like last year. I want to be able to relax a little bit this time.

As like everyone else, the budget is tighter this year and some things have to be forgone. We have to be more selective about what we do for friends and family. A stocking stuffer or two less, more humble presents, makes for a more creative holiday. To try and help save a little money I am going to continue to offer the Free Shipping coupon and $2.00 off coupon thru December. If you are trying to purchase something as a gift make sure you leave enough time for it to be shipped.
The coupon codes are available in the previous post and are also listed on the website.

There has been quite a bit going on these last few weeks that I haven't had as much time as I would like to have to work on some new designs. So far I have only one new charm finished. I started a new one last night. Unfortunately, unless I neglect everything else for the next couple days, including sleep, I don't think I will be able to have enough inventory to do the show on December 5th that I was hoping to do. Perhaps I will call just to see if there are any more tables left and go from there. The new charms will be listed in the shop soon. Fingers crossed.