Blog entry

Pick a Bouquet of Spring Flowers - Artisan Handmade Floral Gifts

Spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil.

~ Bishop Reginald Heber ~

I have always loved the quote shared above.  Bishop Reginald Heber (1783-1826), well known for his poetry, describes in just a few words the joyousness of spring on the return of flowers.  I, myself, can’t wait to finish the new flower bed I started digging last fall and filling it with native plants chosen specifically for pollinators of all types.  Let the flowers paint the laughing soil!  And let the colorful flowers be an important food source for bees of all types, flower flies, butterflies, moths, wasps and hummingbirds.  

With all-things-flower in mind, I invited artist friends to share two of their floral designs.  As you will see in the beautiful items below, there is a wide range of flowers to be had, from note cards to jewelry, from lampwork beads to photography, from photography to digital art and many, many more!  Be sure to pick a bouquet of floral beauties and support small handmade businesses!

For Twitter, please use the hashtag #SpringFlowers.

Make It an Artisan Handmade Christmas - 2022 - Week 12

Tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . tick . . . tick.   According to the Christmas clock, there is now less than 3 weeks (18 days!!!) until Christmas is here!  It’s hard to believe that almost a week has already gone by here in December, and, with it, the last week of the Countdown to Christmas 2022.  The Countdown has been graciously hosted all these 12 weeks (and many years) by Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions on their Buy Handmade from Makers blog. Yes, Week 12 has come and gone and 30 artisan handmade items from ten artists were left in its wake.  Any of the beauties will be perfect for a Christmas gift, one that was carefully created from the heart.  Support handmade independent artists by helping Santa make it a HANDMADE CHRISTMAS this year! 

Halloween and Day of the Dead

Halloween and Day of the Dead will be here before we know it!  To get the word out about all of the spooky goodies in our shops, please share two Halloween inspired items.  They don't have to be actuall Halloween items but can be the colors of orange, black and brown usually associated with Halloween, Dia de los Muertos and autumn.  The InLinkz is open now and will close this Saturday, September 10, at 12:00 p.m. MDT.  I hope to have the blog out by Monday morning.

If you participate, please share each item and the blog on at least two social media sites (I'll be tweeting and sharing on several Pinterest boards both from the linkup and from the actual blog).  Please use the hashtag #Halloween2022 for tweeting so the items are easily found.

Hot Summer Fun - Artisan Handmade Gifts

It’s hard to believe that we are already through a good part of the first week of June with most of the scorching summer still ahead of us - even though it’s not yet “officially” summer (June 21 at 3:14 a.m. MDT this year).  Up until the last few days, summer here in the Desert Southwest has been relatively mild.  BUT the triple digits have finally set in and the AC seems to run continuously.  As everyone says:  at least it’s a dry heat!  June is usually our hottest month.  And then the monsoon season sets in where we get most of the 9” of rain that is normal for this part of the desert.  Everyone is praying that the rains do start soon on schedule, normally at the end of June.  For the past several years, a big storm has shown up on the 4th of July where we can enjoy Mother Nature’s fireworks - and then the scheduled fireworks once the storm blows through, all from the comfort of our upstairs porch.  Hope that happens again this year since it’s quite spectacular.