handmade ornaments

We decorated our tree last night and I just love ornaments. (Ethan apparently does too as he has been sneaking a few into his room). Every year, we get to admire these little works of art as we place them on the tree and remember of when, where and who we received them from. And, of course, I enjoy making and giving ornaments as gifts for the holidays. Here are some of my past handmade ornaments that now adorn our tree!

hand sculpted moon and star ceramic ornament ~ 2002

hand etched ceramic ornament ~ 2002
I took a ceramics class at a local community college that year and hand sculpted about 10 ceramic ornaments in all shapes and sizes. These 2 I kept for myself. I wish I would have thought to photograph them all before giving them away as gifts!

hand painted glass ball ~ 2003
This was my first holiday as a Soft Flex employee. I knew the owners of Soft Flex loved ornaments as well so, I wanted to give them a hand painted gift. I kept my first draft shown above and gave them a more polished final draft.

hand painted star photo ornament ~ 2004
This was Ethan's first Christmas so, naturally I wanted to give family and friends a photo ornament. I picked these star frame ornaments up at Michaels, painted them and used glass beads and artistic wire to complete the hook.


hand painted dragonfly ~ 2005

hand painted flower ~ 2005
During the 2005 holiday season I was a vendor at the downtown phoenix public market selling painted home decor. Therefore, I created a bunch of colorful hand painted wooden ornaments for sale. The dragonfly and flower ornaments above are 2 styles I kept for myself. If you've never visited downtown phoenix public market it is fantastic and well worth a look, they sell all made in az products from local farmers, foodies and artists. Great place for your holiday shopping!

beaded ornament ~ 2006
This Christmas Hudson was just 2 months old. I didn't have much time for creating but, did manage to whip up a couple of beaded ornaments using glass beads and artistic wire.

pine cone ornament ~ 2007
Last year I got Ethan involved in crafting our ornament gifts. Ethan and I painted pine cones in multiple colors. Then we dipped them into cinnamon for a sweet smell an sugar for a frosty look, we glued a bow and a loop of natural twine for hanging.

With only a few weeks till Christmas I have yet to figure out what we will create this year. I realized when posting this blog that I have created a new ornament every year since 2002! Which is pretty cool. I better start searching for ideas for my 2008 ornament.

Don't miss this great DIY ornament project my friend Jamie created at Soft Flex company.

back from sea

We just got back from our family cruise vacation and we had such a nice time. I was completely offline the entire 7 days and it was wonderful! I took this photo of our ship, the Carnival Inspiration, at port in Cozumel, Mexico. We went on a 4 day cruise from Tampa, Florida to Cozumel, Mexico with my husbands family, his mother, brothers family and sisters family. There were 7 adults and 8 kids total! Needless to say it was a busy vacation and a great time was had by all.

• spent quality time together with Bert's family
• relaxed on the serenity deck. (my favorite spot!)
• practiced yoga on the fitness deck
• rode the exciting four deck high 300 ft water slide (Ethan did this for 6 hours straight!)
  
• kids played games, sang songs, art & crafts at camp carnival
  
• played 9-hole mini-golf
• entertained by a high-spirited stage show (Hudson quite enjoyed the showgirls)
  
• shopped in downtown Cozumel
  
• relaxed at paradise beach in Cozumel
  

Here is a beautiful dancer in Cozumel. I enjoy exploring the native culture when traveling.

My attempt at nice photo of Ethan & Hudson. I think they were too into "party mode" to sit still!

happy halloween!

Mario & Luigi - Halloween 2008.

Okay I have to admit Halloween has been one of my "ba humbug" holidays. I love candy and sweets as much as the next person. And a good costume party can be fun sometimes. I know it's sounds wacky for a creative person to not enjoy dressing up and going all out on Halloween. And I do enjoy the dress up part but, honestly I have frightful teenage memories surrounding this holiday. Memories that include shaving cream, eggs, toilet paper, flour sacks and more. You see as I grew into my teens Halloween took a turn for the worst and I even stayed home some years to escape the torment that went on in my neighborhood after dark.



For the past 4 years (since I had my sweet little Ethan) Halloween is looking better. The kids so enjoy dressing up and trick or treating. I wish you all a frightening fun Halloween fill with more treats then tricks.

kids art: pumpkin pals

Ethan and Hudson's completed pumpkin pals

To celebrate the season, I hosted a Pumpkin Pals Playdate with the East Valley Hip Mamas Meetup group. Just in time for Halloween, the kiddos (ages 2-5 years old) decorated their own pumpkins. EVHM provided all the art supplies for this event, including a pumpkin for each child. Since this event was around dinner time, we had a Pumpkin/orange themed potluck dinner and the goodies were cheese dip and chips, orange chicken and rice, homemade mac and cheese, pumpkin muffins and pumpkin cookies.

Hudson is in the zone.

Ethan contemplating what to paint on his pumpkin.

All 8 kids' pumpkin pals lined up to dry.

our anniversary

Yesterday, was our 7 year wedding anniversary. We spent the day as we do most days, working at home together. Our kids were with Nannie who agreed to keep the kids for dinner so, Bert & I could go out. That is a huge treat these days. We tried to go to an indian restaurant but found they were closed on m,ondays so, we instead went to an irish pub in downtown tempe called Rula Bula. We had been there a few times before years ago. The weather was nice so we sat outside in the courtyard and enjoyed each others company and some fabulous homemade fish & chips and for dessert, irish bread ice cream which was heavenly. Bert & I realized yesterday that we in fact spend on average 23 hours together every day! How sweet it is to be loved by you :)

dinky castle

The Mead's dinky castle! Here is the corn planter located on the side of the road as a marker for where to turn to reach Carla & Mark's neighborhood. How quaint!


You drive down the dirt road with breathtaking views of pine trees and mountains ahead and wildflowers bloom on either side.


Mark and Carla are wonderful jewelry artists. They chose to leave the phoenix area and move north to Alpine, Arizona about 2 years ago and they live in a beautiful cabin style home they built (aka the dinky castle). Please visit their website www.blackmountainjewelry.com to admire and purchase some amazing hand crafted fine jewelry.


Here's me & Carla in front of her home.


Bert & Mark in position on the couch. Picture taken from the bedroom loft.

Carla cooking some yummy dinner. She made dinner for us all weekend and it was superb! She is an amazing cook and everything was delicious plus, we had leftovers to take back to our cabin each night. What a hostess!

Well, I can't post about the lovely dinky castle without paying homage to all the wonderful woodland friends in the backyard. Carla is well stocked on peanuts for the blue jays and squirrels and sugar water for the hummingbirds (and boy there were a lot of humming birds) See Carla feeding the blue jays above!


Here are some stellar blue jays. See the baby up top chirping to her mama!

Here's me feeding a peanut to the abert's squirrel begging below the back porch.


The hummingbirds were the toughest to photograph. It is amazing how quick they are and how many there were! No joke at dusk there were sometimes 20+ hummingbirds feeding on the back porch. They aren't shy and fly right up to and all around you. I picked up some mini hummingbird feeders today via www.freecycle.org a recycling network. The Freecycle Network™ is made up of members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Pretty sweet.



Just before we left, Bert, Carla & I enjoyed a road trip satisfying lunch at the Bear wallow Cafe. Thank you to Carla & Mark for a lovely weekend. We loved the R&R and are looking forward to returning with the kids! Love you.

cabin fever

Here stand Bert & I on our cabin porch at Deer Dancer Cabins in Alpine, AZ. This place was fabulous! Rustic and simple with all the amenities (or non amenities) you need for a nice relaxing weekend. The cabins were secluded with pine tree views from every window!




Above stands Bert inside our cabin next to the wood spiral staircase with faux branding symbols (nice touch) that leads to the bedroom loft. And the second photo is the view looking down to our living room from the bedroom. Instead of tv, Bert made a fire a few times a day for us to enjoy.


Look at all these wonderful goodies our hostess Carla left for us in the cabin! It was such a sweet treat. We arrived on Friday, August 15 which was my 30th birthday. She left me a gift bag with a beautiful soy candle and natural soap from the Paisley House, this adorable vase and fresh picked flowers. She also left us 2 cup cakes and korbel in the fridge, peanuts to feed the birds & squirrels and advil in case we experienced an "altitude" headache. I also later found out she went around and straitened all the curtains and left a couple windows open for fresh air. Thank you, Carla for making our little cabin in the woods feel so welcoming!

ahh ... alpine

At an elevation of 8,050 feet Alpine, situated at the eastern end of Arizona's popular White Mountains, is surrounded by the beauty of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. Mountain lakes and swift running streams dot the countryside where Ponderosa Pine, aspen and fir dominate the landscape. ~ Alpine Chamber of Commerce

The photo is the road to Carla and Mark Mead's Dinky Castle!

This is the first of many Alpine posts I'm sure. I have tons of pictures, sketches and things to say about our trip. Bert & I had a fabulous weekend in the "Alps of Arizona". We visited our good friends Carla and Mark, made some new forest friends and enjoyed view after view of beautiful wilderness all with a heavy dose of peace and quiet. ahhh ... Alpine.

beading: mother's day

I spent 3 hours on Mother's Day Beading! Here are 2 Bracelet and Earring sets I created using Soft Flex Sterling Silver Extreme 925 Wire in .019 Diameter and Toggles from Soft Flex Company.