Another generation of talent

When I first started this blog, I was talking about the talent in the family. The photo is of a nativity my nephew DragonBen made a couple of weeks ago.

He was sitting on Grandma's lap while she looked through one of the vendor's catalogs that carry nativities. (We like to get some new and different ones for the store each year.) He then hopped down and said he was going to make a nativity.

I will have to get a better photo taken so the details show better. He started with a BLANK piece of paper and a pair of scissors. He then cut out the shapes. Finally he drew in the details.

The stable is difficult to see well in the photo, but it has a star standing up at the front and it has a hole in the roof so the light can shine in on the baby Jesus. The baby is sucking his thumb and is seperate from the manger. The shepherd has his crook and the 3 kings are kneeling together.

This child will be 9 in January! His talents are incredible. But so are those of his cousins and the rest of the family. You can see some of my youngest sister's munchkin's talents here.

Friday, he made a South Carolina flag on a piece of blue paper with the palmetto tree cut out of white paper, as well as the crescent moon (photo to be placed on the store's blog). Then, he added a crab that resembles our Happy the Crafting Crab, up in the fronds of the palmetto tree.

phew!

What a busy few days it has been...

Sunday, I was working on my porcelain production area and we had the monthly meeting of the Hole in the Bead Gang Bead Club.

Monday I had a big bead order to process.

All day Tuesday we prepared for a short show at the Anderson YMCA for National Women's Health Day. I was folding brochures and pulling together all of the display paraphanalia. Terri made several sets of greeting cards and Mom helped gather assorted other merchandise for the show.

We hurridly set up for the show yesterday morning and had a wonderful time there. We met a lot of fantastic people and had a delicious lunch donated by Chick-fil-A. Then it was back to the store to unpack.

We also had the Crafty Crew Rubber Stamp Club monthly gathering at the store last night. Our customer/friend BP had a wonderful project (photo to come...) for us all to make and M & CD brought delicious goodies for us to munch on afterward. Those brownies were so delectable! We had the company of a group of fun and creative people. This month we had 4 guests joining us and we hope they will come back again.

This morning we have a class for 12 through Osher Lifelong Learning Institute through Clemson University.

I have had so much going on, I have not had the energy at the end of the day to finish pulling together a disc of photos for sister Regina (for the store's web page) or the cards won by Ruth.

I WILL get both of those things out in the mail the first part of next week! And I WILL get some new photos for here and a new post for the store's blog.

Keep those creative juices flowing!

thoughts

I don't have any photos to share at the moment, they are all on the other computer. And that computer has a fried modem from a t-storm about a month ago. (I am still on dial-up here at home and I had a surge protector for the power cord, but not for the phone line... I do now!)

This past Friday my sister Sue and two of her friends came up from Aiken, SC to visit and to view the quilt show in Seneca, SC. (I'll find the link later...) We went to the Arts Company and viewed a show there, one at The Artist's Loft and the main show at the Shaver Center.

I love quilts and truely admire the work that goes into them. I have difficulties with sewing, so quilting is not my thing. But with the other creative outlets I have, I don't know where quilting would fit into my routines. So to all of you quilters, thank you. Thank you for creating such wonderful pieces. Some day I hope to finish, or should I say, start the small quilted Heron wall hanging I have the pattern and fabric for (I bought it 8 or 9 years ago at this same guild's show...)

Thanks to the Lake and Mountain Quilter's Guild and the other groups who displayed elsewhere, the Fringe Sisters, Thread Heads and others I cannot recall at the moment.

And the winner is...

A drum roll please....... The winner is my long-time pen-pal Ruth.

The names were all put in a hat and hers was the lucky one drawn.

I will consult with Mom and have her help me with the secondary contest as to who had the best reason (it is a tough decision, the reasons are all wonderful!). I still have not decided what that prize will be. I should just leave it as a surprise until the winner receives it.

Ruth and I became pen-pals when I was in 6th grade. Although I used to be really good at writing, I have gotten lax. But we do still keep in touch. She sends me photos of her adorable little girl and when I actually get around to sending them, I send her Christmas cards and the occasional real email (as well as the normal fwd.).

We have never met, and only spoken on the phone once that I recall. But we have kept up with teen-aged romances, jobs, marriages, the birth of her daughter and other life-changing events. I feel guilty that I don't write as I used to (I would to send multi page letters chronicling my daily life). Please don't feel bad, Ruth, I don't write much to anyone.
Her name being the winner gives me a chance to send her something once again through snail-mail!

And Ruth, I hope you don't mind that I snitched your photo from your comment to post here... : )

I also want to thank everyone who entered the contest - it was fun to read your comments and cross comments.

This is fun...

No photo today, still sorting through all of them.

I am having a great time with the comments from people who want to win the cards... Colleen is the only one I do not know. But I did live in Syracuse for a few years (what seems like a lifetime ago...), so I know her hometown...

I have decided that I will come up with a prize for the most interesting comment as to why you should win my cards. That will be a tough choice, they are all great!

At this point, for the original give-away, I am going to just place all the names into a 'hat' and pick one. How much more random can you get?

Card Give Away

I know, I have not posted for over a month. It has been a busy month for me.

I am going to give away a selection of 8 hand made greeting cards, made by me, of course. They will include some holiday cards and at least one using the washi paper quilting technique shown in this photo.

The give-away contest starts now and ends on Saturday, September 20. I will randomly pick the winner Sunday morning 9/21. When I contact you, I'll need delivery information to ship your cards.

Just for kicks, let me know why you feel you should win the cards.

After the holiday season is over, I will do another give-away featuring a piece of my porcelain pottery. Right now I need everything for the show and sales I have on the schedule.