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Make It A Handmade Mothers Day - Week 5
Posted April 6, 2021
Another week of the Countdown to Mother's Day 2021 has come and gone. Week 5 is here already!!! Hosted by Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions on their Blu Print blog, Thirty-three unique handmade items were shared from 11 artists. Many are one of a kind and each will make a memorable gift for Mom on her day. Since Mother's Day will be here before you know it, this is the perfect time to start thinking about and buying a gift(s) for your Mom (and, perhaps, for yourself). Browse all the wonderful handmade shares for Week 5, visit the shops of the artists featured and buy your Mom a beautiful gift that was handmade from the heart. For this year's Mother's Day: BUY HANDMADE!
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Make It A Handmade Mothers Day - Week 1
Posted March 9, 2021
Julie and Hurricane Harry of Blue Morning Expressions are once again hosting the wildly popular Countdown to Mother's Day 2021 - Week 1 on their The Blu Print blog. Last year's Mother's Day Countdown 2020 was a resounding success . . . so the 2021 version is up and running. Since Mother's Day will be here before you know it - on May 9 - this is the perfect time to start thinking about and buying a gift(s) for your Mom, Grandmom, Aunts and other beloved women. Browse all the wonderful handmade shares for this week, visit the shops of the artists featured in this week's Countdown and buy your Mom a beauty that was handmade from the heart.
Beautiful Flowers - Artisan Handmade for Spring
Posted February 25, 2021
Photo by James J. Shaw
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.
William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream
Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair . . .
Susan Polis Schutz
Make It An Artisan Handmade Valentines Day!
Posted January 10, 2021
Before we know it, Valentine’s Day on February 14, will be here with hearts, cupids and items in pink and red assailing us everywhere. Across the United States and in many other countries around the world, candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. Although the history of Valentine’s Day and its patron saint is shrouded in mystery, February has long been celebrated as a month of romance. St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman traditions.
Make It a Handmade Christmas 2020 - Week 1
Posted September 22, 2020
WOW, wasn't last Christmas like . . . three months ago? With as strange as the year 2020 has been so far, it’s hard to believe that Christmas is only 93 days away (according to the ever ticking Christmas clock). It’s not too early to start thinking about your Christmas shopping list. A perfect place to start is the 12 week Countdown to Christmas 2020 hosted by Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions that is filled with a wide variety of handmade gifts. A good motto to follow: SHOP EARLY, SHOP OFTEN! And, most of all, SHOP HANDMADE to support small businesses!
Flora and Fauna - Artisan Handmade
Posted June 25, 2020
The Earth is such a beautiful place to live on, if we just take the time to look and observe. No matter where we go, unique plants and animals can be found, two very important parts of any ecosystem. I’ve been lucky to have lived in many places and many different ecosystems, from Central Texas to North Carolina, from near Georgian Bay in Canada to a forest in Northern Virginia, from North Texas to an island in South Carolina. Now I live in the gorgeous Desert Southwest. The flora and fauna of each place was awe-inspiring - some the same but, most often, very different. Since I love what Mother Nature has to offer, I find it all VERY, VERY interesting and want to keep on learning about how our wonderful Earth functions . . . and what we need to do to heal it.
Summer Flowers - Artisan Handmade - Three for Thursday
Posted June 4, 2020
Summer will soon be here. Despite the (expected) triple digit heat that has set in here in the Desert Southwest, the water wise flowers I planted last year and in the cool of this spring are blooming up a storm. Everyone who knows me really well knows I love to work in my flower beds . . . and am ecstatic at the resulting blooms. So my beautiful flowers are the inspiration for this week’s Three for Thursday where I feature three items from three artists. This week the artists are: Roxanne of watercolorsNmore; Jacki of Christie Cottage; and me, Catherine of Shadow Dog Designs. Enjoy the wide range of floral art. Hopefully one or more of the items will soon be on the way to you!
Julia's Roses (And A Few Irises)
Posted May 10, 2020
My good friend, Julia, `spent many years creating a most amazing rose garden in her backyard. They are her “babies” and she spends many enjoyable hours working in the garden, talking to the roses and inhaling their heady scents when blooming. She also communes with the wondrous nature that is all around. However, in years past, she’s wasn't at home when the roses were in full bloom. She would fly to Bolivia for three months in the spring (autumn in Bolivia) to visit her brother and other relatives in the town where she grew up. I always felt sad for Julia when she was away, knowing how she was missing her amazing rose show. I’d go to her house, take photos of the roses, blog about them and then email her the link. But that definitely wasn’t anything like being in her garden to enjoy the beauty each bush provided
Make It a Handmade Mothers Day - Week 9
Posted May 5, 2020
Watch out! Mother’s Day will be here very soon, this Sunday, May 10! It’s still not too late to order a handmade gift from the beauties shared this week on the Mother’s Day Countdown 2020, hosted again this year by Julie and Harry of Blue Morning Expressions on their The Blu Print blog. This is Week 9 of the Countdown, the last week, 13 handmade artisans shared a total of 39 wonderfully unique items. Browse the wide range of eye catching shares for this week - many of them one of a kind designs - visit the shops of the artists featured and buy your Mom something that was HANDMADE from the heart!
Flowers for Your Ears - Handmade Floral Earrings by Shadow Dog Designs
Posted June 6, 2019
“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.
