New Year's Resolutions

I can't believe that 2009 is close to the end. When I was younger, time stood still--at least that's how I tought it was. Now that I'm older, the days and weeks just seem to fly by and before I know it a year is gone.

Here are some of my New Year's Resolutions for 2010:
*Take excellent photos in my new light box.
*Promote on Etsy via the forums and chat at least 30 minutes a day.
*Blog 2-3 times a week.
*Feature a new shop on my blog once a month.
*Make one new treasury once a month.
*Offer giveaways more frequently.
*Set sales goals.

What are your New Year's Resolutions?

Merry Christmas

We all experienced our share of the economic downturn this year...

Merry Christmas from the Hills!

...but after a few phone calls to our stock brokers,

things started looking better!

Igloo Building Day

An igloo (Inuit language: iglu, Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᒡᓗ, "house", plural: iglooit or igluit, but in English commonly igloos), or snowhouse, is a type of shelter built out of snow, originally built by the Inuit. Iglu is the Inuit word for a house or home built out of any material,[1] and is not restricted exclusively to snowhouses but includes traditional tents, sod houses, homes constructed of driftwood and modern buildings.[2][3]When referring to a snowhouse, igloos are shelters constructed from blocks of snow, generally in the form of a dome. Although igloos are usually associated with all Inuit, they were predominantly constructed by people of Canada's Central Arctic and Greenland's Thule area.(Information courtesy of Wikipedia)

The Gale family made a successful igloo with the 12" of snow that fell in NC yesterday. We spent about 6 hours total shoveling snow, patting and forming the shape. As it got bigger and more like a dome, we had to drop out and leave fewer workers on the inside. Here are some pictures of our effort. The last picture was taken on the inside. Enjoy!

SNOW, SNOW AND MORE SNOW!

YEEHAW...IT's snowing to beat the band!!Five O'clock and it's still coming down. My wish was granted and there was no school. I have made put finishing touches on gifts, wrapped them and mailed some Christmas Cards.

Facts about snow:

Snowflakes start as ice crystals that are the size of a speck of dust. When the crystals fall they join up with other crystals to form a snowflake. The size of the snowflake depends on how many crystals hook together. Snowflakes usually have six sides. Here are the different kinds of snowflake shapes.
For it to snow the tops of the clouds must be below 0 degrees Celsius, or 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Snow can come from any cloud that is layered.

Sometimes the snow can be feet deep in one place while it is bare in another because the wind has blown all the snow off that spot.

As snow falls snowflakes connect to make bigger snowflakes.

Snow at the North and South Pole reflect heat into space!! That happens because the ice acts like a mirror with the heat of the sun, and the heat bounces off the ice and into space.

Three More Days of School

Here I sit wanting it to snow real deep so that I don't have to go to school tomorrow. I would love to stay home and do more wrapping of presents, printing Christmas cards and mailing them out. I'll just have to see how the weather goes tonight.

Whimsical Wine Stoppers

I have just had a blast creating these wine/bottle stoppers for my presents of kahlua for family and friends!! Teaching elementary art allows me to experiment with all art forms and I was fooling around with clay. As I was winding up my firing of the kiln at school, I came upon this idea of animal heads for the tops of corks. I made ten heads and then glazed.

What do you think?

Online Shopping!!

I just completed some online shopping for Christmas gifts. I wanted to share with you the wonderful stores where I went shopping.

First, I bought some wonderful soaps from aBreathofFrenchair. Her soaps are small gorgeous artworks. Take a look--

Next, I found the perfect soap for the men--Beer Soap. There are different flavors if you will, made from different brands of beer. The beersoapcompany has many styles of manly soaps to choose from and I suggest you go and visit them.

Next, I found more soap with a peppermint flavor. I think this is perfect for the holiday spirit.

The LostRiverRags has many, many soaps with a wide variety of scents. And the whole store is having a sale!! Definitely check them out!!

Finally, I needed to give a nice soap dish with all these exquisite soaps so I found crochetgal and bought this set of dishes from this fine store.

There are many more wonderful stores with handmade items. Check them out and shop the handmade way!!

Ho Ho Green Christmas!!

Here is a great blog with youtube video about leaving a carbon footprint and how to make your Christmas green. Check it out. Help this blog out by following and learning green tips during the holidays.!