Summer Festivals come to an End

The weather was great! Thanks to all who came by and visited again this year. I always look forward to catching up with everyone that I have not seen in awhile. I also enjoyed meeting and chatting with all the people that stopped by that I did not know. I hope everyone is enjoying their jewelry purchases and looking forward to finding a great new fall wardrobe to go with them, right?!

I could not of done it this year again without the help of my friends, who always keep me company and calm during set up and take down. Thanks to Dawn, Dixie & Kathryn, and of course Olivia and Mike. You all are the BEST! Missed Sue this year who has been my right arm for many an art show.







My friend Dawn and I have collaborated on some new custom necklaces with your pictures in them (above are a few examples). If interested in hearing more on them drop me an email or conversation me through my etsy web site.
We are excited about the great gift giving possibilities that these will bring for the holidays. Pictures of your kids, grandkids, favorite vacation shots, pets, weddings, babies, etc.

Now that school is starting it is bittersweet to say good bye to summer. How fast it went again.
I look forward to fall and all that it brings: color changes, cool crisp days (sweater weather), apple picking, homecoming football games & dances, bonfires, crocks of chili, walks in the woods, halloween and so much more. So embrace the end of summer and look forward to the joys of the coming season. Life moves fast, enjoy every day!

For a feel good moment & probably a little cry, listen to this: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=vG9XfJxMY8A

Summer Art Festivals

I am busy preparing for this summers Art Festivals.

I have a lot of hand forged metals, shadowboxes and wire worked pieces that I am really excited about! I am praying for nice weather this summer with no surprise THUNDERSTORMS!

Here are the dates:

Libertyville Art Festival

Libertyville, IL

August 2 & 3

Saturday 10-6 Sunday 12-4

Long Grove Art Festival

Long Grove, IL

August 16 & 17

Saturday 10-5 Sunday 10-5

I hope to see you at one or both of the shows!

Girls Names on Mars!!!

This image, released on Memorial Day, May 26, 2008, shows the American flag and a mini-DVD on the Phoenix's deck, which is about 3 ft. above the Martian surface. The mini-DVD from the Planetary Society contains a message to future Martian explorers, science fiction stories and art inspired by the Red Planet, and the names of more than a quarter million earthlings. Grandpa put the names of all his young earthlings (grandchildren) on the DVD. So we will be expecting messages from martians any day now. How cool is that!!!

MaMa

Wear it Proudly...MaMa

Mom's, let them know how you feel!

Some fun new creations that I felt a need to make :-)

And most of all, remember:

I wear this one to remind myself and the girls daily!

Spring Break

What a Vacation...

We saw more on this vacation then we ever imagined.
Flying into LA to rent a car and drive to Las Vegas for a few days.
Airline benefits in March, during spring break...a little hard to get places!
After arriving in Las Vegas we drove to the Grand Canyon. WOW! What a beautiful site. The only thing that worried me was the fact that there were no guard rails. Can you believe it? My vertigo and watching my family walk up to the edge was enough to make me crazy! It was such a beautiful site though. We had such a wonderful day there.

After a day at the Grand Canyon and the Hoover Dam on the way, we headed back to Las Vegas.
The next day we spent touring the strip. Ceasars Palace mall and the Bellagio Fountains and the favorite stop the M&M's store :-)

Then we drove back to LA to return the rental car, what a beautiful drive. We flew to
San Francisco and spent a day and a half there. Below is a picture of Lombard Street (the crookedest street). I finally got to see San Fran. It has been a long time coming. We spent the majority of our time at Fisherman's Wharf. The food was awesome and we had a lot of fun on trolleys and walking up some really steep streets! I will have to go back some day and wander through some other neighborhoods, anyone interested?

The girls were so glad to see green grass they just had to lay in it! We were so sick of SNOW!

After that it was back to snowy, slushy Chicago. We spent a little time in San Francisco airport trying to get out, but finally did. I wanted to include this beautiful picture Kelsey took at a butterfly garden at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. What a shot!

We were happy to get back home and not have to eat out and ride public transportation anymore. I was thrilled to have a beautiful weekend this week and look forward to no more snow. The tulips are starting to come up, next our very own butterflies!

sPriNg hAs SPruNg!