My wish for you....

I want to wish all of you a Happy and Healthy New Year! 

2009 was a wonderful year for me it flew by with lots of love, family, fun, creativity, traveling, excitement and all the good stuff!  I'm a VERY lucky lady, I know!  Lets hope that 2010 will be even better for everyone! 

My New Year's resolution is to start exercising regularly again, me and a million other people I bet but I'm really gonna do it I've been on a exercise break for a little while now so I really need to get back on track.  My start date is Jan.5th wish me luck!   Do you have any New Year resolutions? 

I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday!

We had a wonderful holiday here at our house!  With a winter snow storm outside we wanted to play it safe so our house turned into a B&B on Christmas Eve nine of our family members slept over.  It was a blast, fun times with games, stories, present opening and good cheer and yummy food.  We missed some of our loved ones though, our daughter and son in law, neices and nephews, parents and siblings across the country, they were all in our thoughts the entire time we were wishing they were here with us.  We will have more family get togethers spread out for a week now that I look forward to very much!  I just LOVE the holidays, since family time is truly my FAVORITE thing!  Hope all of you had great family times too! 
 I'm wishing you a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Almost ready for Christmas!

The presents are wrapped!  I am almost ready for Christmas just a few more stocking stuffers to find and grocery shopping to do.

Finished making up this order for a wallet, I love the way it turned out hope the lucky person getting it loves it too!

There's only 4 days left till Christmas day, wishing that you are all on schedule too!  We'll have a white Christmas here like most of the U.S. it seems.  We have family members traveling by car from New Hampshire this week so I hope they have safe travels and good roads.  I hope for the same for all of you that may be traveling by plane, trains or automobiles to spend the holidays with your families.  Take care and Happy Holidays!

It's looking a lot like Christmas in our home!

It's looking a lot more like Christmas in our house now, finally!  I decorated the Christmas tree today and I put up a few decorations.  I LOVE how the tree turned out this year and it smells SO good and fresh.  Thanks Brad you picked out a beauty!  I have a lot more to do around here until I can say I'm ready for Christmas but at least I've started.  I'm not finished Christmas shopping and not to mention wrapping the presents or mailing them out to family out of state!  I'm still busy finishing up some orders for special customers! 

I got myself a new digital camera this weekend so WOW it's always so hard to figure out the picture loading process and a new picture file program.  Hopefully this camera will take nicer pictures for me, I got a Kodak easy share M340.  Not sure if I like it yet or not. 

Well I gotta go for now, hope your week is going good so far!

Two new dollies!

I just finished up these two new dollies!  They are two sided, on one side Annie is sad and the other side she is happy.  The top Christmas Annie has a tag on the sad side that says "Santa I can explain" then the other side she is smiling because she got a present.  The next Birthday Annie has a tag that says "Turn that frown around"  and the other side she is smiling because she has a present.  I got a special request order to make one of these at my last show so I thought I would make a few extra.  I think they turned out really cute, what do you think?

 Winter has started here in MN it's been brrrrrrrrrr cold the last few days and sounds like some snow is on it's way for the middle of the week.  That should put people in the mood to buy recycled wool mittens on Thursday, I've made 5 new pairs to sell. 

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Wow how the year flew by!

Wow, I can't believe how fast 2009 has gone by, it's already December 1st, WHAT!!!  It snuck up on me!  This picture is of some of the lights Gordy and I put up on Saturday afternoon in the shrubs in front of our house.  I just LOVE the way white lights twinkle in trees and shrubs!  We buy a real Christmas tree every year, mostly at a local farm that you cut your own.  Last year my son Brad got us one at the place he works, it was so pretty that we asked him to PLEASE get us another one this year.  We will wait a week or so before we get it though since it is a  real one we don't want to have it up for too long or it will dry out too much an be a fire hazard.  A lot of my family and friends have artifical trees but we still prefer the real ones, awe the smell, love it!  I read the other day in O magazine that it takes 20 years of using an artifical tree before it becomes a lower carbon footprint than a real tree.  What do you prefer real or artificial?

I'm working on making happy/sad Annie dolls right now.  They're gonna be so cute!  I am making one for a customer which was a special request so I thought I would make extra to sell on Etsy or my shows.  I'll post pictures of them when they're done. 

Hope you're all having a great and productive week!

Beautiful sunset!

This is the beautiful sunset we had in my backyard Thanksgiving evening, a nice colorful scene to end a wonderful day.  Hope all of you had a great day of thanks.  I am most thankful for my family and friends and their good health. 
I have put a bunch of new things in my Etsy shop so please go check it out. 
Hope you all have a terrific weekend!

New things for the Arts Fest on Saturday!

These are the new things I have finished for the North Branch Arts Fest on Saturday it's from 9 am to 4 pm at the North Branch High School.  Get there early for first choice of these cuties, hope you can be there!  Well off to work now, have a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday Luke!

Happy 26th Birthday Luke!  Time sure flies, my youngest son Luke is turning 26 years old tomorrow!  I hope being 26 is good for you Luke and that you accomplish your dream of being a Pro fishermen.  We are very proud of you and love you so much!

Piles of dollies!

I'm working now on getting some new dollies done.  There will be 2 Santa's, 5 snowgirls, and a bunch of other cuties.  I got sidetracked from my work last week because my daughter from Colorado was home for a visit.  We had a great time together!  Now I need to get back to work and get all of these done for my art fair in North Branch in 2 weeks. 
Our weather has been gorgeous here in central MN so that makes it really hard to stay inside to work.  November is usually our cloudy dreary month but it's been beautiful so far, lots of sunshine and temps in the high 50's.  I will take time out to go for a nice walk though, Zoe will make me!

I've listed some Christmas things on my Etsy page!

I listed these Christmas/Winter things in my Etsy shop go check them out if you are interested. I'm working on lots of other new things right now, snow girls, Santa's, Christmas Annie's and other dolls. I'll post pics when they are done. Hope your having a great week so far. I can't wait our daughter Rochelle is flying in from Colorado on Sunday!

Back from a trip to Florida!

My brother Al and I flew to Orlando Florida last Sunday rented a car at the airport, and then drove to High Springs Florida. The next day we rented a 17' Budget truck, loaded it with all of his furniture and two days later headed back to Minnesota. It took us 2 1/2 days to get home. We had some nice weather and then a lot of rainy weather. Beautiful scenery as you can see from this picture most of the country was a it's full fall color peak. We were VERY happy to be home safe with no problems, it went good.
Now back to work this week!

This jewel tone hat will be off to it's new home!

Thanks Chandra (my niece) for being such a cute model in this hat, she's a doll! I wish I looked this cute in hats! This recycled wool sweater hat is off to it's new home to keep some lucky lady warm. There are two more hats in my Etsy shop if you are interested, they're really cozy!
I started making a bunch of different Christmas/Winter items yesterday. The weather sure has put me in the mood. Most of the snow that we got is melted and the sun is shining brightly today so that's a pick me up. Now off to work!!!!

What happened to Fall???!!!!!

This is the wintery scene out my back window this morning! I have NO idea what happened to Fall! The leaves just started turning colorful and then it started snowing. As you can see most of the leaves are still green on the trees. VERY strange weather! I was SO hoping we would have Indian Summer yet but now I'm not sure. The forecast for the week only shows temps in the low 40's for highs. This is gonna be a long winter!
My parents have a summer place here in MN and it usually closes the 15th of October but this year with the freezing temps they shut the water off last week so they are parked in our yard while they finish packing up and then head south for the winter. Lucky them going to warmer places! This is the first time it's snowed on them here in the Fall. It's nice having them right outside close to visit. I miss them terribly when they go south.

This is putting me in the mood thought to make winter/Christmas things. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I listed some cozy recycled wool hats and a pair of mittens in my Etsy shop yesterday in honor of the weather, check them out! Have a wonderful Monday!

I put some new purses on my Etsy page!

Go check out my Etsy page to see these new purses I just listed. Etsy shop I have a new model for them my niece Chandra she did such a good job.

SNOW here today YUCK!!!! I am not liking it, way too early! Hope your all enjoying your weekend.

Two more items going to there new home.

They are off to there new home in Saskatchewan Canada! I hope JoAnn LOVES them, she purchased them on my Etsy page! That was my first experience with international shipping. If any of you out there have some helpful hints for me in mailing international I would love it!

I'm going to have a busy weekend with my sister and brother in law flying in tomorrow night and 3 family birthdays to celebrate. Fun times ahead! Hope you all enjoy your weekend too!

My Zoe!

This is my Zoe! She is a 6 years old Australian Shepherd. Zoe is VERY active and still thinks she's a puppy, her energy level never slows down. She loves people, food, toys in that order. Having her with us brightens our lives. What a sweetie she is!!! I wish everyone could have a dog in there lives the world would be a happier place!

Join the party!

Join the party go to http://www.katillacshack.com/ on Sept 30th to watch the parade or:
HOW TO JOIN THE PARTY:
-Post anything POSITIVE about pets: pics, decor, ideas-- on your blog. We need your links right away! Email links to: jhanson@kc.rr.com or leave here in the comments by Monday Sept. 28th 9 p.m. Central time. UPDATE: We have dozens of links -don't be left out!
-The party will feature the World Premier Video on what internet friends & bloggers did to help animals in need.
-You may embed the INSPIRING video and e-mail to friends.
-You can Twitter about it and post on Facebook.
-You can take the button and post it.
-Remember each link earns $3.00 from Design Gives Back and each comment $1.00 from us to help needy pets. All you have to do is COMMENT!

These two dolls were adopted on Etsy!

Stella Ann went to her new home in Minnesota.

Avery Ann is off to Hawaii, lucky her, I'm sure she will be happy there!
I have been VERY busy all week but only some of my time has been spent on creating. Fall seems to always be such a busy time for me. After the summer sped by so fast because I was so busy working it's hard to get focused again. I hope to be working in my art studio all weekend since the weather doesn't seem to look like it will be nice, we are supposed to get some much needed rain. I really want to get started on some holiday things since the time will be here before I know it, YUCK, winter there's no way to stop it, lol!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Jacqueline Annie

Jacqueline Annie was just sitting outside reading her little book in the sunshine today enjoying our beautiful summery weather! I'll be listing her on my Etsy page and I already listed a bunch of other things the last few days so please go check it out Etsy shop Jacqueline has the right idea don't ya think! I may need to do that myself! We are in store for a gorgeous weather this weekend too. It's in the 80's here, can you believe it! By next week it is supposed to turn fall like, be cool and rainy. So if you live in MN get out while you can and enjoy it.
I have a bunch of new ideas floating around in my head to start making now, I just have to get busy! I plan to make a bunch of winter/Christmas things to get ready for my next show in North Branch in November, since I haven't made any of that stuff yet.
Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

Little Falls Arts Fair was a "Big" success!

These are the pictures I took after putting out my merchandise on Saturday morning and then again on Sunday morning. Sorry about some of the pics being not so good I took them with my cell phone on Sunday morning. It's so nice to have my biggest show of the year behind me and it turned out to be a "Big" success! Since it is outside you never know what to expect with the weather. On Friday night when we went to set up our display it poured while we were driving there the whole way to Little Falls, it's a 40 min. drive, but then it slowed down to a light rain just in time for us to get our canopy's up then it rained harder while we were under it putting up the display. It turned out to be not a big deal but the first time in 15 years that it rained during the set up. Saturday and Sunday were rain free, beautiful temps until around 1 or 2 then a little hot but I'll take that over rain any day! The crowd on Saturday was bigger than it has been for years which was so great to see! I could not have done it without help from my AWESOME family, thank you SO much!!!! Thanks also to all of you faithful old customers and all of your new ones for making it such a great success! Thanks for all the wonderful positive comments about our booth, that's what makes it all worth it! I'll take a few days to recover then back to work again!