CHRISTMAS IN JULY
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Autumn Artisan Handmade Gift Ideas - Three for Thursday
According to the calendar, we're about ½ way through autumn, the favorite time of year for many people. I live in the Desert Southwest and most people don’t associate the desert with fall color. But we have it! Granted not as eye catching as the forests in along the East Coast or the aspens in many places in the Rockies. Color is here, nonetheless: glowing yellows and reds and purples of the deciduous trees. And my amazing cosmos are looming up a storm with carmine reds, pale pinks and glowing white. The hummingbirds left about a month ago (always sad to see them go) but new migrant birds are showing up, especially the cheerful little juncos. Am waiting for the beautiful blue scrub jays with their raucous calls and jaunty attitudes to show up under the bird feeders.
Autumn Beauties - Artisan Handmade Three for Thursday
“Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower” . . . Albert Camus
Even though it still is getting into the low 90’s here in the Desert Southwest, the mornings have begun to fill with the glorious tentacles of autumn. Everyone I know wants to linger as long as they can outside, sipping their coffee or tea, reading the newspaper, or, like me, just sitting and taking it all in. Not as many hummingbirds are practicing gluttony at the hummingbird feeders. Am assuming many are winging their way further south for the coming winter. I’ll miss them - a bittersweet goodbye. Fall is just around the corner.
Give Me Red! - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade
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If I could tell you about Red
I would sing to you of fire
Sweet like cherries
Burning like cinnamon
Smelling like a rose in the sun
Dixie Dawn Miller Goode, from Rainbows Around Us: A Celebration of Color
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!
Christmas Stocking Stuffer Gift Ideas - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade
Christmas will soon be here, less than two weeks away. The ever ticking Christmas clock says there are only 11 days left! But fear not! If you have waited to the last minute to buy stocking stuffers and/or gifts, I have pulled together a collection of wonderful artisan handmade ideas, any of which Santa would be proud to deliver. Please browse the items below.
Make it a HANDMADE CHRISTMAS this year!
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!
An Explosion of Flowers! - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade
Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul. Luther Burbank
Since we there has been quite a long string of triple digit days here in the Desert Southwest, most of my outdoor potted plants have quite blooming, with the exception of a vibrant fuchsia colored geranium that makes me smile every time I look at it. Now gardening pretty much consists of watering and deadheading the spent blossoms. Hopefully the monsoons will soon show up (they are a bit late this year) and bring much needed rain and cooler temperatures. Until then, I’ll dream about masses of colorful flowers.
Fiery Red and Orange - Wonderful Handmade Wednesday on Indiemade - May 18, 2016
The temperatures are beginning to heat up here in the Desert Borderlands (although I can’t complain since this has been an unusually cool spring). With the higher temperatures, it seems the sunsets become more fiery in all their blazing yellows red, and oranges. A sunset a couple of nights ago gave me the inspiration for this blog post: Fiery Red and Orange. I browsed through the studios of Indiemade handmade artists and featured a fiery red or orange (or both) creation from each. I hope you enjoy these richly colored selections.
