Day of the Dead

Day of the dead is drawing near!!  

Those of you unfamiliar with this wonderful tradition, here is a brief description.

 

Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de los Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico and around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it is a national holiday, and all banks are closed. The celebration takes place on November 1, in connection with the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day and All Souls Day (November 2). Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed and visiting graves with these as gifts. They also leave possessions of the deceased.

Come celebrate this amazing tradition!  

These are three Day of the Dead items in my shop.

And stay tuned...more to come!

Weekly Challenge: Roses

This week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue

is all about roses.

Create anything that has to do with roses.

Well, the first thing (or person, really!!) that I think of that has to do with flowers 

of any kind is

Frida Kahlo.

This hanging jewelry box was already made, but I thought it would be a perfect selection for the challenge.
Click on the pics to view them larger and in more detail :)

You can find it here.

 

Full of Grace

Mother Mary Full of Grace.

This could be one of very favorite pieces.  

It was amazing to work on, and I think it turned out amazingly.

I could hardly wait to let a stage dry before I could work on it next!

I would wake up at night,

and I would want to go look at it or work on it.

Now it's done, and I can't stop looking at it.

Really I'm not bragging;

I just love making art!!

I hope you like it too.

Here are more photos of the other sides and angles

of this beautiful bottle.
(You can click on the images to make them larger.)

You will definitely see more of these in my Etsy shop

Can you imagine having a collection of beautiful bottles

in a special place in your home?

I can.

Fall is in the air!!

  I can see it, hear it, feel it and smell it!

And I'm excited because fall is my very favorite time of the year.

Little signs are popping up here and there in our wonderful New Mexico way.  

The chamisa is in bloom,
the green chile is roasting on the street corners,
fresh red chile ristras hanging from homes and buildings,
little bits of golden yellow leaves on the trees,

and there's a little crisp in the air.

Most people think of the New Year and spring as a times of a new beginning, 

but my friend Laura and I see fall that way.

It's especially that way this year for me.

One of our favorite places to eat in the fall is

El Pinto.

Yes, it has good mexican food and margaritas,

but you should see the sprawling outdoor patio and garden!

The colors, plants and flowers in the front

should give you a little hint of what

I'm talking about.   

Tomorrow, I'm going to make a big pot of green chile stew.

Now what's more 'fall' than that?

Weekly Challenge

I belong to an Etsy team called Inspiration Avenue.  Each week they have a challenge.  This week it's to create something using wheels or circles!

Well.....I LOVE circles!

And I'm into decorating candles right now, so....

It's made with vintage dictionary pages, tissue paper (cut into circles!), hand-dyed rich purple silk ribbon, a vintage key, and a charm bead.  The candle is unscented and it's available here!  When lit, the text AND the images on the tissue paper are illuminated.  Exquisite!

I had fun with this challenge, for sure :)

It's a Blog Party!

Come join us

on September 23rd

Fairies' Tea

Blog Hop and

Tea Party at 

Inspiration Avenue!

Click HERE for info on 

SIGNING UP,

FREEBIES,

AND

GIVEAWAYS!!

See you there!

New old earrings

What a beautiful pair of antique sterling silver earrings.

From the 1950's.

Who wore them and where did she wear them?

When I see or find antique items, I always wonder about their story and their people.  

I have my idea about these.

What's yours?

(Available in my Etsy shop.)