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Gift Ideas for a Handmade Mothers Day - Week 8

 

 

 

Wow!!!  It’s extremely hard to believe that there only two more weeks of the Mother’s Day Countdown 2018 which is hosted again this year by Julie of Blue Morning Expressions on her The Blu Print blog.  Week 8 came and went and fourteen handmade artisans and one vintage seller shared a total of 45 wonderful items items. Since Mother's Day is quickly gaining on us, on Sunday, May 13, this is the perfect time to start buying a gift for your Mom.  Why don’t you browse the wide range of unique shares for this week - many of them one of a kind designs - visit the shops of the artists featured and buy your Mom something that was HANDMADE from the heart!

Handmade Earrings and Necklaces for Mothers Day - New Jewelry by Shadow Dog Designs

 

 

It has been almost a month since I last shared my newest Shadow Dog Designs handmade necklaces and earrings.  Where does the time go? Most of my time has been spent getting ready for art shows and then selling at art shows.  My first was last weekend, the Kermezaar Art Festival, with two more big shows this month. Fortunately my stock of jewelry is pretty good, but I always like to have at least a few new things for each show.  Will continue with creating new pieces as soon as this is posted.

Gift Ideas for a Handmade Mothers Day - Week 5

 

 

 

Week 5 of the Mother’s Day Countdown 2018, hosted by Julie of Blue Morning Expressions on her The Blu Print blog, has sped right on by.  Fifteen handmade artisans shared a total of 44 beautiful items. Since Mother's Day will be here before you know it, on Sunday, May 13, this is the perfect time to start making a list of gift ideas / buying a gift for your Mom.  Browse all the wonderfully unique shares for this week, many of them one of a kind designs, visit the shops of the artists featured and buy your Mom something that was HANDMADE from the heart.

Spring Colors! - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

 

 

Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love!   Sitting Bull

 

 

With spring definitely here in the Borderlands, I have been thinking about colors quite a bit as the brown of the desert bursts into so many glorious shades of green.  The white and pink fruit trees have pretty much quit blooming, so the various shrubs, hardy trees, ocotillo, cactus and poppies will add their beautiful spring colors: yellow, pinks, oranges, reds, purples and others all against the huge dark blue sky.  My soul revives!

Happy Spring! Happy Easter!

 

 

The celebration of the return of  spring and Easter brings the promise that everything can begin again, of letting go of the old and embracing something new, of renewal of the self and of the earth, and of faith.  Just think of everything associated with spring and Easter: promise, resurrection, birth, new love, romance, nesting birds, butterflies, daffodils, tulips, peach blossoms and so many other cheerful flowers.  

Caribbean Blue - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

 

Usually when I’m working on a blog post or listing an item in my Indiemade shop, my Pandora station is palying on my computer.  My stream has a great blend (at least to me) of classic rock, some more modern rock, some folk music and a big dose of Celtic inspired music - that's the Scots-Irish coming out in me.  Yesterday, as I was finishing up another blog, the song “Caribbean Blue” by Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (better known as Enya) came on.  Even though Enya sings many Celtic folk songs, some in Gaelic, with her usually heavily synthesized backdrops and multiple layers of her own voice, she is more of a New Age musician, in my humble opinion.  "Caribbean Blue" was a mega-hit for her, and rightly so.  I find her music very relaxing and always pause and enjoy the minutes when songs of hers show up in the Pandora rotation.  Sometimes I'll even plug in one of her CDs and totally bliss out.  To see the amazingly beautiful video of the song click here: CARIBBEAN BLUE 

Eclipse Blues - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday

 

 

Yesterday, I was flying back home from Dallas right as the eclipse was happening in far West Texas.  Unfortunately, the sun was right above the plane, so I couldn’t see any of it.  But I was able to see the ground (something like 40,000 feet below) slowly growing darker.  Although since the eclipse was only about 65% in my area of the world, it didn’t get anywhere as dark as a full eclipse.  But what was interesting was watching the sky as the sun dimmed and then grew brighter - what beautiful shades of deep, rich blues showed up and then slowly dissolved into the more normal paler sky blues.  The colors looked almost velvety if you could just reach out and touch them!  

 

The photo above is the one and only photo I took yesterday towards the end of the eclipse. I just pointed my old iPhone at the sun and clicked, hoping the sun wouldn't fry the lense. Not a great photo by any means - the sun doesn't even look like it is eclipsing with all the "light leakage." It wasn't until I downoaded the photo on the computer that I noticed the lense flare with a clear eclipse shape in it, which is what the sun actually looked like at that time. Yay! But look at the sky . . . what an amazing color!

Radiant Rainbows! - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

 

 

The monsoon season is still going on here in the Desert Southwest.  Most every afternoon, the sky clouds, the wind starts to howl, thunder can be heard and lightning seen . . . and if we are lucky, rain falls.  As happens so often here, our house can get a deluge but a friend just a few block away may only get a few sprinkles.  If the rain ends at just the right time, a magical rainbow can be seen towards the east.  Sometimes a paler secondary - or even very pale triple - rainbow forms.  A colorful, visual gift!  The photo above shows part of a double rainbow (that tried to turn into a triple rainbow).  At the end of this post is a single rainbow, both taken with my trusty camera.

Happy Independence Day! - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

 

 

Independence Day will soon be here, in less than a week.  It was quite an interesting time, a time populated by giants of U. S. history:  George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Richard Henry Lee and many others.  The 4th of July has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1870 (and a paid holiday to all federal employees since 1941).  But the tradition of celebrating Independance Day dates back to the late 1700’s at the time of the American Revolution.  On July 2nd, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence from Great Britain.  Two days later, delegates from the thirteen colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document largely drafted by Thomas Jefferson of Virginia but with help from John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert R. Livingston of New York.

Relaxing Blues and Teals - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade

 

 

Blues and teals are relaxing colors, both mentally and physically.  In color psychology, the colors control and heal the emotions, creating emotional balance and stability.  Worldwide, the color blue is the favorite color, a color that is seen as reliable and responsible.  Teal, a hue that is halfway between blue and green, is seen as happy and friendly, and is the most common color requested by photographers for logo designs.  

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