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Halloween and Day of the Dead Handmade Jewelry - Three for Thursday

Halloween and Day of the Dead will be here very soon.  Halloween is the last day of this month, October 31, when ghouls and goblins and vampires and princesses and more show up at your door for tricks or (preferably) treats.  Day of the Dead is actually celebrated on two days: November 1 for Dia de los Angelitos (Day of the Little Angels - for deceased children) and November 2 is Dia de los Muertos (for spirits of all the dead).  Women who celebrate these holidays definitely need unique handmade jewelry! To help with this, three jewelry items from three handmade artists are featured in this Halloween and Day of the Dead Jewelry blog post. The artists are: Mary of PrettyGonzo; Linda of VictorianStyleTreasures and, me, Catherine of Shadow Dog Designs.  I hope you enjoy the earrings, bracelet and necklace that are showcased. Please visit the artists’ shops for more wonderful handmade jewelry, many one of a kind designs.

Flowers for Your Ears - Handmade Floral Earrings by Shadow Dog Designs

“I must have flowers, always, and always.”

Claude Monet

I totally agree with Monet.  There are a lot of things I can give up in life, but flowers are not one of them.  To plant a seed or seedlings into the ground . . . and then a miracle happens. Sometimes slowly and sometimes quickly, the plant grows and flowers emerge.  I have been redesigning flower beds here at our house using a wide range of water wise plants: knipofia (called “mango popsicle’ - truly well named), several salvias in several colors, a fabulous penstemon; Russian sage, Texas red yucca, gauras and many colors of the workhorse of the desert garden, the glorious lantana.  Every plant I chose has to benefit bees, butterflies and/or hummingbirds. I have seen bees and butterflies on the flowers, but the hummingbirds seems to prefer the feeder and the mimosa tree, which is blooming right now. Several times a day, I go out and just look, and am always filled with a sense of wonder and awe at the sheer beauty at what is happening.

Flower Earrings - Artisan Handmade by Shadow Dog Designs

When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else. Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower.  I want them to see it whether they want to or not. Georgia O'Keeffe

One of my all time favorite artists is Georgia O’Keeffe.  Whenever I’m in Santa Fe, I'm always drawn to the museum named after her.  While there, I almost go into a meditative state while contemplating her paintings.  Her flower paintings are dear to my heart.

All through my life, I have had flower gardens, some rather grand and some on a much smaller scale, such as the one here in the Desert Southwest.  I cannot imagine life without the beauty and cheerfulness of flowers (or dogs, for that matter!). Life would be so bland with out them.  Because of that, flowers designs can always be found in my handmade jewelry, especially the earrings.  For this blog post, I chose 10 pairs of earrings, some new and some that have been in my shop a while, to feature. There are many others in my SHADOW DOG DESIGNS shop.  I hope you will stop by and take a look . . . and maybe buy a pair for yourself or a loved one.

Shopping for Handmade Christmas Gifts - Tuesday Tag

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