Gorgeous Blogger Award!

Gorgeous Blogger Award!  (The Illustration didn't come thru', so I added this one!)

Oh how sweet! Just the other day, I received this award from a sweet fellow blogger, Lin. Thank you Sweetie! I really appreciate it! I love visiting her blog of handmade cards which you can see at her site here.
OK...now for the rules.....

 A. Accept the award and thank the person who gave it to you. ----DONE!

 B. List 10 things about yourself -----DONE!
  1. I'm 1/2 Italian & 1/2 Norwegian & should be in counseling!  :)
  2. I used to be an illustrator, but now am more into fine art.
  3. I was immersed in Cuernavaca to learn Spanish, and now that I need it, forgot most of it!  :)
  4. I've traveled to alot of the continents, but am now happy to stay home and create!
  5. I am a mixed media artist, as much as I try to narrow it down to one medium!!!
  6. I'm 5'4" tall & need to lose some weight!
  7. I love sports cars & hope to own another someday!
  8. I am married to the love of my life!  I never knew how happy you could be until I met him!
  9. My 2 priorities in life are creating, and loving my family and friends.
  10. I've just moved from Hawaii to New Mexico & am still getting used to where everything is & WHAT it is!  :D

 C. List 5 additional things you DON'T like ----DONE!
1. Bigotry
2. Racism
3. Gossip
4. Liars
5. War
 
Then pick ten people to give this lovely award to! The first person gets to pass it on!-----DONE!
 So hard to decide.....so I randomly picked bloggers who I like to visit :)  There's so many more but my computer is broke, so I don't have access to everyone I love!  Soon tho'!  I even missed my own Blogoversary!!!  ACK!

 1. JoTee's Art blog  ( I love her January doll!  See it here.)
 2. Matilda Labo's Art blog
3. Nancy's Blog Womankind
4. Griselda's Spirit Dolls and Assemblage Art
5. Danny Gregory's Blog
6. Bead Journal Project and all their blogs
7. Robin Atkin's Blog
 8. SpeedieBeadie
 9. Urban Sketchers
 10. Plays with Needles ( check out an old post here)

There really are a bunch more, but that's all I have for today!  So Sis, JoTee, you win the #1 Gorgeous Blogger Award!

Santa Fe Bead Fest!

Yahoo!  I've been waiting to be on the mainland so I could go to something like this!!  It was overwhelming how many vendors there were!  But being basketmakers also, the first thing we bought at the bead show was a basket from Zimbabwe.  It helps the families in a village there.  Here's the pic of it...we just couldn't believe the weaving:

 

We actually did get a few beads!  Not many as we were really trying to stick to our budget.  But here are a couple pics:

 

Did a close up so you can see the beautiful copper owl locket I got.  Just couldn't resist it!  

I love owls so much!

Footprints in the ???

Ya know how when you go to the beach you make your footprints in the sand?  Well, I couldn't resist & do the same with the snow!  Crazy am I?  Nope!  Here's the evidence:

 Ya gotta love this Mother Earth of ours!

Happy Solstice!!!

My swapping buddy made me these cute little foam sunshine faces! I just had to turn one of them into a Summer Solstice wand! They are so cheerful! I'll bring this one up to Koke'e tomorrow to celebrate the Solstice with some pals!

Happy Summer Solstice!

Crochet Lesson for Lovely Ladies!

So lately, when peeps find out I'm leaving the island, they want to learn a few things I happen to know. I've taught basket making, weaving, beading...but lately it's been crochet! A few weeks back I taught one pal, & now this weekend I taught 3 beautiful women their first crochet stitches! They all did FABO, in spite of the fact I'm not the best with words. Much better with my hands! LOL! I wish them all the best on their creative journeys!!

WIP Simply Charming Bracelet

I decided I wanted to make a charm bracelet with only handmade charms on it! Well, maybe a few special personal charms I've been given will be added also! Along with the charms I made for the swap with my pal, I've also made these little charms above. One is a beaded fish using a real fishing barrel swivel for the attachment. The other is a beaded Swarovoski crystal & seed bead heart. I already had the bracelet finding, I just need the special charms. I think my next ones may involve fabric!

Swaps! Not to be forgotten!!!

OK...finally got some pics of swaps with my neighbor pal!!! These first 2 pics were from swaps a few weeks back...these are what she swapped to me!! Gotta love those little "Round Tuit" pieces! And the lovely little cane pieces. May have to use one of them on a new WIP!

This is this week's swap! We do whatever we feel like, so this week she made me these 2 sparkly ATCs! They are more magic in person! Gotta love glitter, but it can be hard to photograph for me!

And since I'm doing this certain WIP, I made her the 2 charms you can see below:

Kept 2 for myself for my WIP!

RAAKed!!!

Some of you may have read I was RAAKed just a little bit ago by a pal...you can see her site here! I think she has a different Flickr account where she shows her beautiful art! Anyway, after my last post, she asked me if I realized the flap on top opened! I hadn't! I kept pushing it down thinking the humidity in Hawaii was making the glue come undone! So I quickly got out my new personalized magnet box, & lo, & behold...it opens! I wondered why she hadn't signed her name to her art! And here was this wonderful note you can see below:

She is such a sweetie! And has a certain style about her that I can tell anywhere! Below you can see the pic she sent me to show me how it was originally sent. What a wonderful surprise! Thanks, sweetie!

I've been RAAKed!!!

For those of you who don't know, a RAAK is a Random Act of Art Kindness...kinda like a Random Act of Kindness, but in this case, someone sends you a surprise piece of art they made for you! In this case, one of my e-pals sent me a personalized box of magnets she made just for me! I met her on a Yahoo group we are both in. You can find her site here! She doesn't show alot of her art on her blog, but she has such a beautiful style! I wish she would show more! :)

Here you can see as I opened the box what I found!

And here is a close up of the personalized magnets! How fun!

Thank you so much, Pal!!!

TURN THOSE SPEAKERS ON...or not...

Hi all!

Just wanted to warn you I added a Jimmy Buffett Playlist to my blog! If you are a Parrothead, turn up the speakers!!! If not, well then, turn them down, or go to the bottom of the front blog page & pause it! Just wanted the option for myself! Gotta have my happy music!

Fins to the left!

See you in Margaritaville!

It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere...hey, it's always 5 o'clock here!

Oh, and you can pick different songs down there too! Have a fun week!

What? Happy Blogoversary???

I had no idea there was such a thing as a Happy Blogoversary! Apparently people keep track of when they started their blogs! So I looked back & my blog was born 5/24/2007 at 12:11p.m.!!! It was a Thursday & I was nervous!

Now here it is almost 2 years later & I know how to transfer html to make that little button on the left side that tells me how many days it is until my Blogoversary! 55 days from today!

AND I find out that people celebrate this in different ways! Hmm...how will I celebrate? I'm not just sure yet, but know it will be a fun day! So I posted this little pin I made for a pal just before I started this blog. I guess I still like all those brilliant, fun colors! LOL! Well, since the blog will be 2, I guess that makes sense! Go Inner Child!

Scattergories

OK...my pal Jo, had a challenge on her blog, & if anyone tried this, & sent her the link, you could win a piece of her art! So I plan to win! :) Of course our names are in a hat, but I'm sure I'll do fine at getting picked! :D

SCATTERGORIES ... and it's harder than it looks! Here are the rules:
* Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the questions.
*They MUST be real places, names, things ... NOTHING made up!
*If you can't think of anything, skip it.
*You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.
*If your name happens to start with the same letter as mine, sorry, but you can't use my answers!
My name: CC
1. Famous Singer/Band: Cher
2. Four letter word: Crap
3. Street: Cane Crop Road
4. Color: Cranberry (prismacolor pencils say so!)
5. Gifts/Presents: Candy
6. Vehicle: Chevy
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Crafts
8. Boy Name: Christopher
9. Girl Name: Caren
10. Movie Title: Canadian Bacon
11. Drink: Chardonnay
12. Occupation: Carpenter
13. Celebrity: Charlie Sheen
14. Magazine: Computer World
15. U.S. City: Chicago
16. Pro Sports Teams: Cleveland Browns
17. Fruit: Cherry
18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Cat ate my homework!
19. Something You Throw Away: Cans
20. Things You Shout: Ciao!
21. Cartoon Character: Clifford the Big Red Dog
There you go, Jo! Put my name in the hat!!! ;)