Get ready for Christmas!

It's time to start thinking about Christmas and avoid the rush & stress of the season (unless you like that particular way of celebrating Christmas). I would recommend buying handmade this season - you can find wonderful, one of a kind gifts at good prices online - try etsy.com and artfire.com. Both of these sites cater to handmade items & the listings are by the artists themselves. My store is joyceweaver.etsy.com and artfire.com/users/joyceweaver. We are actually experiencing some weather changes here in South Central Texas - it's down to around 90 degrees and we've had a nice amount of rain (we could use more though). That will be the extent of our fall season - here we only have 2 seasons, the beginning of summer & the end of it. That just means we can swim longer and start sooner each year & I like that!

It's been a long, hot & sad summer

My 85 year old dad passed away July 21st and as much as we miss him, I know he's in a better place, he's not suffering from bone cancer any more and my mother can get on with her life now. My dad was a member of the 300th combat engineers in WWII and celebrated his 20th birthday right after the Allied troops landed in Normandy France. He built every house we lived in, retired from Brown & Root at the age of 55 & was a rancher in Giddings, Texas until he died. All 3 of us kids went to college, married and are now professionals, my mother stayed on the farm and will continue to run it as long as she can. I'm proud of my family, they instilled in us old fashioned values, the importance of attending church and being a Christian, a work ethic and responsibility, for example, our animals got fed & cared for before we did and family is always more important than money. He had a wonderful send off, the entire town and most of the preachers attended, food was everywhere and so many flowers & plants we couldn't find Mom in her house after we had all the flowers brought home.

American Girl Doll Store in Dallas

I was able to visit the American Girl doll store in Dallas, Texas recently & met a friend & her daughter for lunch at the bistro. That place is amazing, dolls & accessories everywhere and lunch was more than substantial - maybe because it was Dallas! I would recommend a trip for a girl of any age whether you're into American Girl dolls or not.

I have a New Store on Artfire

I have a few listings on www.artfire.com/users/joyceweaver. Check it out! Also my Etsy store - www.joyceweaver.etsy.com. I'll be adding stuff all the time and if you are looking for a special artist bear, art doll, tote bag, watercolor cards or the newest fine art trend - Artist Trading Cards (ATC), also called Artist Card Edition Original (ACEO). These tiny paintings are 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" and are great for trading, inexpensive to purchase and easy to frame. Plug in ATC or ACEO on any ebay, etsy, or artfire search & see what comes up.

Here I am blogging!

This is such a new deal for me but it looks like this is something I can easily accomplish. I think the commercials showing the 4 year old taking pictures & sending them to her grandmother should be done the other way around and the grandmother should be the one showing how easy that camera & computer is to operate. I'm not as impressed with a 4 year old as I am with someone my age or older performing the same operation right?