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A Spooky Halloween / Samhain! - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade
Posted October 24, 2017
Halloween will soon be here, a time for pumpkin carvings, dressing in costumes, trick or treating and parties Halloween has been around for over 200 years - how did it evolve? To answer those questions (and refresh my memory), I decided to share a short history of Halloween, dealing more with its ancient traditions.
Halloween dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). The Celts lived about 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France and celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest. It also marked the beginning of the dark, cold winter, the time of year that was most associated with death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, Samhain was celebrated when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth.
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Caribbean Blue - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade
Posted October 18, 2017
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
Make It a Handmade Christmas - Countdown - Week 5
Posted October 17, 2017
Week 5 of the Countdown to Christmas has come and gone. A plethora of handmade beauties by talented artist friends were shared. Christmas will be here before we know it. According to the ever ticking Christmas Clock, there are only 68 days until the merry gentleman in red leaves gifts (or chunks of coal). Hopefully Santa (and you!) will make it a handmade gift giving Christmas this year!
With the quickly approaching gift buying and gift giving season in mind, Julie and Blu of Blue Morning Expressions are hosting a twelve-week Countdown to Christmas 2017 featuring artisan handmade items on their The Blu Print blog. The twelve week time period was chosen to correspond with the Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas.” This week, a wonderful assortment of handmade items were shared in the Countdown. Included are all styles of beautiful jewelry, lovely crocheted and knitted items for many members of the family, breathtaking photography, eye catching original art, glowing lampwork glass beads, art glass plates, dog owner accessories, cute holiday tags, collectible thimbles and Christmas ornaments . . . all these, and more, perfect Christmas gift ideas were shared.
The Sky is Already Purple - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade
Posted October 11, 2017
"The sky is already purple; the first few stars have appeared, suddenly, as if someone had thrown a handful of silver across the edge of the world."
I have always loved this quote from Alice Hoffman’s novel, Here on Earth. It is so very evocative of watching the sky turn dark here in the Desert Southwest during this glorious time of the year. When the sky is transformed for a few minutes into a magical velvety bluish-purple color, a multitude of stars come out to to play, twinkling away. Then the sky will finally slip into a depthless black and even more stars will appear . . . and, hopefully, a shooting star will streak across the sky. Another reason autumn is my favorite time of the year.
Make It a Handmade Christmas - Countdown - Week 4
Posted October 10, 2017
Do you hear the tick, tick, tick of the Christmas clock? As we are all probably aware, Christmas will be here before we know it. According to the ever ticking clock, there are only 75 days (when this blog was posted) until the day of gift giving and merry making.
With the approaching gift buying and gift giving season in mind, Julie and Blu of Blue Morning Expressions are hosting a twelve-week Countdown to Christmas 2017 of artisan handmade items on their The Blu Print blog. The twelve week time period was chosen to correspond with the Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Week 4 has come and gone on Julie and Blu's "Countdown to Christmas 2017." In its wake, a wonderful assortment of handmade items were shared. They included all styles of beautiful jewelry, lovely crocheted and knitted items for many members of the family, breathtaking photography, eye catching original art, glowing lampwork glass beads, dog bandanas, cute holiday stickers . . . all these and more creative beauties were shared.
Happy Halloween and Day of the Dead! - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade
Posted October 4, 2017
There is magic in the night
When pumpkins glow by
Moonlight
Anonymous
Make It a Handmade Christmas - Countdown - Week 3
Posted October 3, 2017
Week 3 of the Countdown to Christmas sharing of artisan items has ended. Where did the week go? As we are all probably aware, Christmas will be here before we know it. According to the Christmas Clock shows that there are only 82 days left until the jolly man dressed in red shows up to leave gifts . . . or a lump of coal depending on if you were good or not.
With the approaching gift giving season in mind, Julie and Blu of Blue Morning Expressions are hosting a twelve-week Countdown to Christmas 2017 of artisan handmade items on their The Blu Print blog. The twelve week time period was chosen to correspond with the Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas.” As was mentioned above, week 3 has come and gone on Julie and Blu's "Countdown to Christmas 2017." In its wake, a wonderful assortment of handmade items were shared: from all styles of jewelry to crocheted and knitted items; from photography to wooden clocks; from original art to lampwork glass beads; from dog bandanas to ACEOs; and many, many more creative beauties!
Make It a Handmade Christmas - Countdown - Week 2
Posted September 26, 2017
Tick, tock, tick, tock . . . the Christmas Clock shows that there are only 89 days left until the Jolly Man in red arrives.
With the approaching gift giving season in mind, Julie and Blu of BlueMorningExpressions are hosting a twelve-week Countdown to Christmas 2017 of artisan handmade items on their BluPrint blog. The twelve week time period was chosen to correspond with the Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Week 2 has come and gone on Julie and Blu's "Countdown to Christmas 2017." In its wake, a wonderful assortment of handmade items were shared: from jewelry to crocheted and knitted items; from lampwork glass beads to wooden Christmas ornaments; from photography to original art, and many, many more creative beauties!
Make It a Handmade Christmas - Countdown - Week 1
Posted September 19, 2017
WOW, wasn't last Christmas like . . . last month? Yikes! According to the Christmas clock, there is only 96 days, 20 hours, 54 minutes and those rapidly descending seconds until Christmas is here . . . once again! And it's even closer by the time your read this!
Autumn Inspired Handmade Beauties
Posted September 7, 2017
The cooler temperatures of autumn have arrived here in our area of the Desert Southwest. It still gets into the high 80’s or low 90’s during the day but drops down into the high 60’s at night. The monsoon season has pretty much ended, the horrid humidity mostly gone, and our drier air has been welcomed back by everyone. It is so nice to turn off the air conditioner (at least until early afternoon) and open windows and doors to allow fresh desert air to blow through. While I don’t see any trees changing colors yet, the desert is extremely green after the above average rainfall we received the last two months. Maximillian sunflowers can be found all over, as well as masses of small yellow, purple and terracotta colored wildflowers that I don't know the name of but enjoy immensely nonetheless. My favorite time of the year!
