CINDY'S ART AND SOUL CELEBRATION OF SUMMER CHALLENGE!

My good friend, Cindy Pack of Cindy's Art and Soul, is having a blog Summer Challenge. Cindy is an awesome metal smith artist. I am amazed at what she can create with wire, a hammer and a torch! I am also proud to be the owner of several of her creations. I will cherish them forever. Thank you Cindy!

Ok, this is what you need to do to win $30.00 to spend in either her Cindy's Art and Soul jewelry shop or her Casbeads supply shop on Etsy. Go to her blog, Cindy's Art and Soul, and follow the instructions. Very simple!

This is one of Cindy's new lovely creations, Dream Big. Isn't it just fabulous?

Peace,

Donna

Sunday...Let there be peace!

“The longer I live the more highly do I estimate the Christian Sabbath, and the more grateful do I feel to those who impress its importance on the community.”

~Daniel Webster

This photo is of the Chapel of The Holy Cross Church in Sedona, Az. It is quite famous actually, it is owned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix. This photo was taken by, ByNature a shop on Etsy. Stop by their shop, they have fabulous photos.

Enjoy your Sunday with your family.

Peace,

Donna

Premio Meme Award~

I was awarded this morning the Premio Meme Award from my good friend, Nathalie of Canadian Rockies Art. I am very honored to have received this award from Nathalie. Thank you Nathalie! Make sure you stop by her shop, she's an awesome jewelry designer.

The rules of this award is that I am to give 7 facts about myself and pass it to 7 people. Here we go!

1. I have two grown daughters and five grand children.

2. I have been married for 37 years to my high school sweetheart.

3. I live in the desert southwest, I guess that makes me a desert rat....I hate the desert!

4. I love cats, and my cat owns me!

5. I love to read history books, when I have some spare time, which is not very often.

6. I've made TV commercials while I lived in Houston, in my younger days of course.

7. I love to fish, my husband and I try to get up north as much as possible to fish.

Now to pass this award along to 7 deserving blog owners (in no particular order):
Orion Designs

SignatureSterling

fivetoninedesign

prettywhimsicalthoughts

mariesegal

trudette

alisonkelleydesigns

Have a great day everyone!

Peace~

Needs a good home!

Meet Goddess of Light! She's in need of a good home. She just loves to shine and sparkle, that's her job. That's all she know to do. She's made for it! Here favorite place to be is on your wrist. She can go anywhere with you. She's a Goddess! Since she's made with clear Swarovski crystals and sterling silver, she's learned to be very adaptable. She loves to be the center of attention and she's known to be a show stopper! She's looking for a good home, so if you are interested in taking her home with you, please come on by her present owners Etsy Shop and give her some love. You'll never regret it. She'll make you very happy forever!

Have a great weekend!

Peace~

Inspirational Thursday ~

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.

~Anne Frank

I love this photo of the Grand Canyon. This shows the magnificence and beauty of the canyon. This photo was taken by Heidi Hydrick of goldenmountain. She has awesome photos in her Etsy shop.

Peace~

~Wordless Wednesday~ My Etsy Finds

Rustic Red Birdhouse with Dangling Medallions and Drawer Handle by timesandchimes

Special Edition ttv print Birdhouse by Route3Photography.

Birdhouse Yellow Finches and Songbirds love this house Copper White at BeeGracious on Etsy

Have a great day!

Peace~

"My New Girlfriend! "

I got an email from my son-in-law yesterday

that said, "My New Girlfriend." This is what I found when I opened up the email. I was so happy that Sarah Palin took time out of her day to visit the USS Stennis to talk with my son-in-law (the on on the right) and the sailors that have been out to sea now for 6 months.

Military life can be very hard on a young families. I know from watching my daughter and her family. They have three small children and from

watching her and the other military families around them, this is real sacrifice. I love my military men and women and I'm very proud of

them. I'm happy to see that she does too.

My son-in-law has been gone for over 6 months now, he's on his way home. He's suppose to be back in San Diego in two weeks. We all will be there to welcome them into port. We are very proud of him. He's an awesome young man!

God Bless our military!

Peace

Inspirational Monday - Faithfulness!

Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. It is not enough that a thing be possible for it to be believed. - Voltaire

This lovely photo was taken by Stephen Bacht of BrachtPhoto on Etsy. He has an eye for photography. His photos are beautiful! Click the picture and it will take you to the listing.

Enjoy your Monday!

Peace~

Happy Father's Day!

The greatest gift I ever had came from God; I call him Dad! ~Unknown

I know I've been blest to have had the Father that I had. My Dad was the best! He would take my brother, sister and I everywhere with him. We've had some really wild experiences with him too, some I'm sure my Mom would not have approved, but we survived! He taught us some very valuable lessons, and the best of all, how to love! My Dad has been gone for over 17 years now, I miss him very much! I know he's in my heart and I talk to him daily. Dad, I love you very much! Happy Father's Day Dad!

I wish that all the Fathers out there a wonderful, peaceful and loving day. Enjoy your families and the love they bring to you.

Here is one of my favorite Norman Rockwell family scenes. I hope you enjoy it. This is from auntsuesoldnewlovely's Etsy Shop. She has lovely other Norman Rockwell prints and things. Check out her shop, you just might find that something special you've been looking for.

Peace~

New Listing! Meet Tears!

These are my newest creation listed in my Etsy Shop. I love working with wire and just twisting and turning to see what I get. I really like the way these earrings turned out. Don't you? I wanted a rustic, southwest charm to these earrings. To achieve this, I took very thick gauged copper wire, handmade the teardrop shape, then hammered the wire to give it texture. The links and ear wires are handmade with sterling silver. They were oxidized and tumbled to polish and strengthen the wires. These earrings are 2 3/4 inches in length. Thank you for stopping by and have a very creative day!

Hope you all have a great Friday!

God Bless~

Lovely Blog Award~

I have to thank Linda of musthaves for nominating my blog for the “lovely Blog Award’. Please check out her blog at: http://must-haves.com/blog3/?author=1 She is an awesome artist!

This is how it works:

1. Add the logo to your blog
2. Link to the person whom you received this award.
3. Nominate 7 or more blogs.
4. Leave a message letting them know that they received the “lovely blog award”

Now it is my turn to pass this award on:

http://fivetoninedesign.blogspot.com/

http://studiomarcy.blogspot.com/

http://gemheaven.blogspot.com/

http://signature-sterling.blogspot.com/

http://thyme2dream.blogspot.com/

http://vickiorion.blogspot.com/

http://pricillaspeaks.blogspot.com/

Enjoy and have fun with it. See how many awards you can get!

Peace~

~Wordless Wednesday~ Cool Nautical

Vintage Style By the Sea Corner Bookmarks and Matching Stickers by seasonaldelights

Stormy Skies Breaking by watercolorbypamela

Beachchair at Twilight - 8 x 10 Photograph - FREE shipping by MarcinkDesigns

You can visit these artists on Etsy.

Peace~

Should Have Done It Myself!

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I were having a discussion about keeping our land line phone versus just using our cell phones. I told him that we needed the land line because of the security alarm system goes through the phone lines. Which we replies, "Do we really need the alarm system?" Which I replied with just a look. You all know that look! Then I told him that we needed it for the DSL line, which he replied with, "Can we use the cable company?" Now I knew where we were going with this conversation....he wanted to switch everything over to the cable company. I then told him that would be fine, but we still needed the security alarm, unless he wanted to buy me a big attack dog and a gun, I'd be all for it. Besides we would have to change our emails on everything. A lot of computer work which he's not going to do. Okay, he says, we'll keep the land line, but I'm going to eliminate some of the extras that we have on the line that we don't use. I said that would be fine. So he called them the other day and told me that it was all taken care of. that alone should have set off warning flags! But I didn't say anymore about, went about my business, as usual. Last night we come home from work and I didn't have any Internet service!!! But we have our phone. I asked him just what he cut out of the phone bill, which he said only the things we didn't use. Like I believe that! I call the phone company, they said that he discontinued the Internet! I reinstated it, BUT it will take 24 to 48 hours to get it back, and a reconnection fee. In the mean time, I'm using my computer at work to do my business! MEN!

Next time I'll take care of it! Have a great day!

Peace~

Peace~

Peace....I'm hoping for a peaceful Monday. Like many, I'm sure, I hate Mondays! They just seem to be longer than any other day of the week. It just gets so hectic that I find myself praying for a miracle. Don't you feel the same? In my line of work, Mondays are always very busy days. I guess it's sort of paybacks for being gone from the office for the past two days. No breaks for us in the medical profession!

So every Monday I go to work and in the hopes that this Monday will be different. We won't be overworked, actually get a lunch and leave at a descent time. Is that too much to ask for? Man, I love my job!

This beautiful photo was created by Eye On Nature of ionnature.etsy.com. This is a gorgeous photo of a Peace Rose. Check out their shop, they have more lovely photos and cards with gorgeous flowers.

As John Lennon's words say, "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I know that I'm not the only one...." Keep on dreaming of peace, it will happen someday. (But not on Mondays I'm sure!)

Hope you all have a peaceful Monday!

Peace~

Feathers In The Wind

While I was pondering over what to write in my blog today, I decided to create a pair of new earrings instead. Which I find to be a much easier task for me to do. You see, I don't write very well, I feel that I really don't have all that much to say that would be interesting. I don't lead a very interesting life! I go to work and come home, maybe create or do some housework and that's about it! Pretty boring don't you think?

So to just sit down and create a blog daily is most challenging for me to do. I sort of feel like I'm back in school, and we won't go there about my school academics, or the lack of them! Maybe that's part of the problem, I should have been learning how to write instead of daydreaming! I would also assume that I'm not the only one out there that has this problem. Right? So if you would bare with me, I'll eventually get the hang of this blogging thing and keep up on a regular basis. In the mean time, here's a pair of my new earrings that I listed this evening on Etsy. So not all of today was a loss!

Feathers In The Wind Earrings are made with Sleeping Beauty Turquoise gemstones and sterling silver. Click on the name and it will take you to the listing in my Etsy Shop.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Peace~

What is a Yart Sale you might ask? Well, it is Art + Yard Sale = Yart Sale. Now you have a sale!

Join in the fun! Check out my YART Sale in my Etsy Shop. This sale will be going on through Sunday, June 14th. Just click on the YART SALE section on the right side of the page on Etsy and it will lead you to my sale. You can also search for YART SALE and find many, many other artist who are participating in our sale. I've already had a sale! Woo Hoo!

Hope you all are having a great day!

Peace,
Donna

(think YART SALE)!

YART SALE on Etsy!

You might be asking yourself, "What is a Yart Sale?" Well, Yart is an artistic spin on the traditional yard sale:

Art + Yard Sale = Yart!

This years 2nd annual Yart Sale is sponsored by the Etsy Supply Street Team (ESST) on Etsy. It will take place June 10 through June 14, 2009. Everyone with a shop on Etsy is invited to participate!

I have a lot of items listed under the YART SALE section in my Etsy shop. I've also listed the link here. I'm cleaning shop so I have room for new styles in the near future.

I hope to see you at the sale! Enjoy yourself!

Peace,
Donna

Inspirational Tuesday ~ Courage

"One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest."
- Maya Angelou

I think we all need a little courage, don't you? Hope you all have a great a Tuesday.

Peace,
Donna

Birthdays! Out of the Mouths of Babes!

This past weekend it was my sister's birthday. Now she's nine years younger than me. And as you can suspect, we don't tell our ages. This has worked for a long time now. We'd have parties and when someone would have the nerve to ask us how old we were, we'd reply with that standard phrase, "Oh me? I'm 29 years old." This has worked well for the longest time. BUT, yesterday when my nephew asked how old his mom was, she replied, "Why, I'm 29 years old." That's when I piped up that I must be 38 years old then. Man, I'm liking this story! So my little grand daughter who is standing there listening to all of this says, "Grandma, how can you be 38 and Aunt Judy is 29 when my Mommy (my daughter) is 34?" Ok, who invited this little kid to the party? So now we told her that Aunt Judy is actually 39 years old and I'm really 48 years old. It worked for her, so that's our story and we're sticking to it! ;)

I thought I'd share with you all what I made for my sister. I know the trend in jewelry seems to be more wire, so I made her a wired wrapped bracelet and earrings. Here's the finished product. What I did was take copper wire, form the hearts, then connected them all together. I oxidized the bracelet and earrings and then tumbled them for strength and shine for about 4 hours. They sure did turn out shiny. Just beautiful! In the end, my sister, who was 29, then quickly turned 39 loved her birthday present.

Hope you all have a great Monday!

Peace

Puppy Love~Kitty Love

With the economy the way it has become, we are finding more and more animals out on the street. These animals don't know how to fend for themselves. They've been some body's pet and taken care of. The shelters are becoming overcrowded very quickly. Our Maricopa County East Valley Shelter is the 2nd largest in the country, they take in 50,000 dogs & cats each year. Isn't this little guy here the cutest thing you ever saw? He and his little brother would love to go home with you.

We have very close friends who have a passion for these lost or homeless animals in our community. Our friends, Cindy and Matt Vandiver, volunteer to take photographs of the adoptable dogs and cats to be used on the shelter's website, hoping that all will find a home. All of their prints start out as photographs of the shelter's dogs and cats which they transform them through the use of their digital paintbrush into colorful pop art prints. Read their stories. These animals have survived, they are so full of love, just needing a family to give it to. Here are a few of their prints from their etsy shop, Paw Prints Project, tails from the pound. They also give 10% of each sale back to the shelter.
"I Want My Momma" This little kitty is saying.
Irresistible You Know You Want One
This is a lucky little guy, he was adopted.

"All I Ever Wanted Was You"

"Waiting For You"

"Only A Face A Mother Could Love"
I hope you enjoy looking at Cindy's photos as much as I do. These animals need so much love and they come with a guarantee to give you much love in return.

Have a great day!
Donna

Whispers on Etsy!

Whispers....they just seem to whisper in the wind. Can you hear them? They tell a story if you listen. These earrings are very light and made with sterling silver and Apatite faceted gemstones. I hand formed the teardrop shape then hand wired the tiny gemstones around the earrings. I then oxidized them to give them that rustic look. They have been tumbled to polish them up and give the wires strength. Whispers are 2 3/4 inches in length. The teardrop part is 1 1/4 inches in width. These are a wonderful pair of earrings. They would look good with so many outfits, from casual to dressy. It's your choice.

Hope you all had a great weekend. We went to our timeshare and did some fishing. It was great! Cold, can you say sleet and snow in May in AZ? Yep, we had strong winds, lightening, snow, sleet, hail and rain, lots of rain! And we kept right on fishing! LOL! Yep, we are fishing fools! We did catch our fish for the day and went back to our room and warmed up! Loved every minute of it. Hated to come back down the mountain to the desert.

Have a great day!

Peace,
Donna