Ok...who's tired exhausted?

This year I really, really tried not to get myself into my usual holiday frenzy.

I went very low-key on the decorations.

Didn't over-schedule the social calendar.

  Or fret about trying to make everything just perfect.

Well, except my cut-out cookies.

In the last few days of driving

here to there, back and forth, hither and yon,

I appreciate how blessed I am

to have cherished family and friends to gather with.

I hope you, too, have made the holiday season

exactly the way you want it.

Or close enough.

Now go and find a quiet, peaceful spot to reflect.

 

Or wrap up in your new Snuggie.

You deserve it.



A Christmas Story*

Once upon a time a gracious girl from Illinois and a bachelor boy from Wisconsin were dating. The girl hinted that the boy needed a Christmas tree at his house, for when she came to visit. The boy surprised her with a lovely tree set up in front of the picture window. There were no ornaments on the lovely tree, so the girl cut snowflakes out of white paper to hang on the branches.

The next Christmas, the bachelor boy got on one knee, by the tree in front of the picture window, and asked the girl to marry him. The girl said yes.

The girl still hangs the same white paper snowflakes in their Christmas tree every year. She thinks they are magic.

And they lived happily ever after...The End.

*Based on a true story (the grateful girl giggles)

Last Friday and Saturday my friend Jody and I had an

Open House sale

in her hair salon at her home.

It was a terrific time to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.

And an excellent excuse to eat cookies all day.

Meet little Truffles, our resident lap warmer.

Now that's full-service shopping!

Check out Jody's jewelry creations on her website:

http://www.creativelooksbyjody.com/

Nine Degrees Below Zero

I've been watching the snow fall all day,

listening to the winter weather advisories on the radio.

Any car that goes by is traveling at a snail's pace.

Copious amounts of hot coffee and cozy Uggs

are barely keeping off the chill.

I'm all wrapped up in flannel and scarves.

And finding it hard to share the enthusiasm of Pompeii,

our black Lab...

Soon the snowmobile trails around here will be open for riding.

Tourists will be flocking to the ski hill in town.

Kids will be sledding and tubing.

Man, really wishing I wasn't such a cold-weather wimp.

It all sounds like fun.

I spent time with an outstanding group of women at a party last Thursday,

where I offered my jewelry and handmade gifts for sale.

We drank wine and wassail and ate a selection of sweets and fondue.

The women at the party offered lots of encouragement and compassion,

which I really appreciate as my new venture develops.

It's a bit intimidating and deeply personal

to have my creations viewed by others,

to become vulnerable to critique.

But these kind women made it very easy to calm my self-consciousness

and make it a fun evening!

A humungous thank-you to the party hostess Amy,

whose beautiful home was magically decorated with lights and swags.

The Christmas spirit is alive at her place!

Much gratitude to Janet, who gift wrapped the entire evening!

From the bottom of my heart, I hope these lovely ladies enjoy their purchases

as much as I enjoyed creating them!

It isn't the size of the gift that matters,

but the size of the heart that gives it.

~Quoted in 'The Angels' Little Instruction Book'

Maybe it's my age and the place I'm at in my life.
Or the effort it's taken to get to this point.

It could be the gentle souls who surround me,
including the furry, non-human ones following me around all day.

Or perhaps it's my work-in-progress
of releasing unconstructive things in my life that bring me down.

For all the above, I truly could not be more grateful.
My heart is in a good place these days.

A Happy Heart.

SPECIAL DISCOUNT only for my BLOG READERS!

To save 15% on all items in my store now through Monday, November 29th,

enter the coupon code HAPPYHEART15.

http://www.happyheartstudio.etsy.com/

Really getting into the holiday spirit over here...

Getting ready for some jewelry and gift sales coming up,

so I've been making some fun appreciation gifts

for teachers, friends, hostesses, hairdressers, bosses, co-workers...

and all the folks on the gift list
who deserve a little rememberance this time of year.

It came this way, I promise...

(crunch crunch)

Not too long ago on a late Sunday morning, my friend Sarah and I met at Starbucks to catch up, over a couple of steaming pumpkin spice lattes. Sarah is a professional model and fashionista, jewelry and accessory lover, and an all-around fantastic human being. In the midst of all the caffeinated chit chat, a creative brainstorm formed, and our idea finally came to life last week!

Collaborating with a wonderful photographer in Milwaukee, we had a photo shoot featuring Sarah modeling jewelry and accessories from Happy Heart Studio (made by me)! Here is a sneak preview from our shoot. Isn't she adorable?

In this photo: Happy Heart Studio ring

http://www.happyheartstudio.etsy.com/

Here is model Sarah Pointer's website:

http://luxxiroyale.com/

Photography by:

http://www.lightworksimaging.net/

Just Like Hollywood, Baby

Sam, Buddy and Pablo


I've been babysitting my three nephews for a few days, and we have been busy, busy, busy. So many projects, not near enough time. Today we had a photo shoot in the play room with some of our star stuffed animals! Didn't my 9-year old nephew do a fabulous job on the photo editing (above)? Loving the SPECIAL EFFECTS...

He even helped design this blog post. Did I mention he's a boy genius? And that he's sitting right beside me as I say that?

We also made the name collars our stuffed models are wearing.

Guess who received a bracelet that says "BEST AUNT EVER"? (blush, blush)

Your work

is to discover your world


and then with all your heart


give yourself to it. Y


- Buddha








I recently read my Grandma's high school diaries from cover to cover (that's one of them in the photo above). I feel more connected to her now that I've had a glimpse of what her life was like before marrying and raising two daughters (my mom and aunt are in the black and white snapshot). Grandma's diaries were mostly about her daily activities and happenings, like the day they got electricity in their house, fishing and weekend camping with girlfriends, and the first date with my Grandpa. As I savored every word she had written, I kept wondering if her life had turned out the way she wanted it to. I never thought to ask her that. With all my heart, I hope it did.

"Find happiness within yourself.

Then share yourself with others"

- tag from a Yogi teabag (don't you just love those?!)

Here's one of the newest additions to my online store. I've made a collection of fabric flower pins, using mostly vintage fabrics from my Grandma's attic that I didn't have the heart to throw away. I've been wondering what to do with my Mom's 1960's-era high school dance dresses and Great-Grandma's early 1900's quilt that is brittle and falling apart.

So I came up with my own version of this hot fashion trend I've been seeing all over the stores and magazines. It was great fun to find a new use for these old dresses that my cousins, sister and me used for dress-up at my Grandma's house!

First Snowfall

Anyone who knows me well,

knows that I'm not a big fan of anything to do with winter -

the cold air, ice and gray skies

that keep me out of my garden for six months of the year.

But I have to admit that it's kind of exciting

when the first snowfall of the season arrives.

I awoke this morning to huge white flakes falling outside my window.

So today I'm staying in my fleece jammies, drinking coffee,

and making holiday items for my store!

Autumn Greetings

I don't have to travel too far

to find a wonderful variety of Fall's bounty.

Just down the road
is a farm stand
with hayracks
full of pumpkins.



And whatever kind of gourd you fancy.

Oh, the mini pumpkins!


I love those.

See the mountain in the distance?

That's where we got married, right at the top, overlooking the valley.

We can see it from our kitchen window.

A quiet moment in the timber behind our house

Captured on the Trail Cam

Feelin the Love

It's a cold, rainy, snuggly kind of day.

We're all feeling it over here...

Is it just me, or is it kinda hard to concentrate

when someone's staring...

A Big Thank YOU!

Holy moley you guys,

I haven't been this excited since the day I discovered

blue nail polish.

I'm overwhelmed by the amount of support and kind words

about my new online shop.

It was so much fun today to see orders coming through,

as I happily made more items for the store.

THANK YOU so much - my heart swells today!

NOW OPEN - HappyHeartStudio Shop!

I'm pleased to announce that my online store is up and running!

Been creating jewelry and other items to fill the store shelves.

.

These are some bracelets I've made.

Hope you check out my store at HappyHeartStudio.etsy.com

Secret Project Revealed

A couple weeks ago I was working on a secret commissioned project.

Now I can show what was in the works...

These are personalized tree markers I created for a party host,

who had his guests choose and plant a tree in his new fruit orchard.

After each family planted their tree, they hung the marker from a branch.

These were so much fun to make, a really cool project.

I'm loving these kinds of creative challenges!

Last week the corn was harvested in the field that's right outside my studio window, behind our house. I love seeing and hearing all the activity at our place. It's an exciting time of year that brings back lots of memories of being a farm kid!


Happy Harvest... Happy Creating!!

All Wrapped Up in the Studio

My Mom is here for a visit and we've been spending time playing in the studio. Each morning we have our coffee there while we play around with paper, beads, buttons, markers, ribbons, and fabrics. For my sister's upcoming birthday, we transformed plain boring gift bags into a "present"ation.

So...I'm sworn to secrecy about my latest studio project...

I'll share what I've been working on in a couple weeks.

Check out the wicked sky from yesterday evening:

Studio Cat

King’s Blue… that's a good color choice!

Lucky the Studio Cat

Creating with Kids

I've had the opportunity to be around some pretty wonderful kids lately, working on fun creative projects.

This is my nephew creating a sidewalk chalk masterpiece in their driveway. Here he has drawn the sun, clouds, lightning, the ocean, and is working the final details of the sharks.




We were up north with friends this weekend, and nine year-old Emily painted on my hands with watercolor pencils. On my left hand is a flower (roots and all) and the sky above. On the right is my cat Lucky sitting in the grass, his name spelled out on my knuckles.

Studio Day

My fabulous creative friend Jody

came over for a

play date

in my studio!