Blog entry

A Melange of Handmade - Three for Thursday - June 20, 2019

This weeks's Three for Thursday is a melange of items.  Since I have an addiction to words, I wanted to give a brief etymology of the word melange.  The word, which rolls off the tongue to so beautifully, first is first found in French documents around the comes from the 15th century French word meler, meaning 'to mix, mingle."  Meler, in turn, came from the Old French meslance or meslinges (a set of diverse elements).  So, according to The Free Dictionary, the modern word means “a collection of various things.”  Which is the perfect definition of the variety of handmade items I found from artists and am sharing in this post:  The items featured are from three handmade artists:  beautiful original watercolor paintings from Roxanne of watercolorsNmore; fun and handy to have cards of various types from Jacki of Christie Cottage; and a selection of one of a kind handmade jewelry from me, Catherine of Shadow Dog Designs.

I hope you enjoy these picks.  And that you will visit the shops of the artists for more handmade beauties.

Friday Twitter Tree - Artisan Handmade - May 31, 2019

The Twitter Tree© will be hosted by a different shop M-W-F.

Monday: http://christiecottage.blogspot.com

Wednesday: http://elunajewelry-nc.blogspot.com

Friday: https://www.shadowdogdesigns.com/blog

Instructions:

Only 2 Items per person

Each tweet must contain the hashtag #SDFTT

2 other Hashtags may be used.

Please include a brief description of your item in the tweet.

Keep your Tweet under 140 Characters (including spaces).

No Mature Items

Tweet Everyone’s Listings. (It is not fair to others if you do not fully participate.)

Limit of three (3) hashtags including #SDFTT.

Happy sales!

Here are my two for today:

A Moment of Zen - Three for Thursday

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love to garden, mainly growing flowers.  There is something so gloriously fundamental about putting my hands in the living soil and planting something that will benefit bees, butterflies and/or hummingbirds (my way to decide what to plant - plus drought tolerance once established is a must since we live in the Chihuahuan Desert).  Planting and tending to the plants is my meditation and I experience many moments of Zen when I feel deeply connected to myself, to others and to Mother Earth.

Just what is “Zen?”  It’s to explain, especially when it is often tossed around so carelessly in popular culture (maybe like I just did above).  Zen is an authentic spiritual tradition, a path to an awakening: awakening to / realizing who we really are, and awakening the aspiration to serve others and take responsibility for all of life.  Zen is believed to be our true nature expressing itself moment by moment.

Make it an Artisan Handmade Mothers Day - Week 8

Mother’s Day will be here in just a few short weeks on Sunday, May 12, 2019.  If you haven’t already bought your Mom a gift, I have the best solution for you for your shopping needs!  Check out the Countdown to Mother’s Day 2019 collection hosted by Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions on their The Blu Print blog.  Each week, handmade artists share up to three of their unique items, each one a perfect gift for even the hardest to please Mom. This week, 12 artisans shared a total of 36 unique items.  Browse all the wonderful handmade shares for Week 8, visit the shops of the artists featured and buy your Mom a meaningful beauty that was handmade from the heart.