Bountiful Harvest!

While I was going through radiation treatments, I was blessed with fresh plums and peaches from neighbor & friend's trees, then a couple of weeks later, my peach tree was full of ripe peaches. So, for about 3 weeks I spent the hot afternoons inside making jelly, jam, freezing peaches, and making cobblers. I am really tired of peaches right now, but I know this winter my hard work will pay off! It is a blessing to have such a bountiful harvest when so much of the world is starving. Next time you see a jar of homemade jam or jelly, think about all the work that went into it, that's why it tastes so good!

New Bear

This bear was made from a commercial pattern and I used some faded shaggy felt for the bear's body. I've been wanting to make this bear for awhile, but somehow never found the time. It was a quick, fun project and an attempt to make something in the "primitive" or "country" styles that are popular decorating trends. In order to even out the bear's color, I sprayed an antiquing ink all over the body.

Artfire Certified Handmade Artisan

My Artfire.com studio has been awarded the Certified Handmade Artisan Badge - that means everything in my studio was handmade by ME! I already know that, looking at broken fingernails, sore muscles, unfinished projects (aka UFOs) but now the world can see (haha). Thanks to everybody for their support! Check it out - www.artfire.com/users/joyceweaver

I am Featured Artisan this week!

I'm the featured artisan for the next couple of days at www.artfire.com - check it out!

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!