Handcrafted Christmas Gifts- some for me!!

Spoiler alert: Some of you out there will be opening these presents.
I found these at a show we did in September at LaSalle Academy.
All pieces are from the same artist. I asked her for her card, she didn't have one to give. I asked her if she had a website -'uh... no'. She told me her name and of course, I promptly forgot it. Let me tell you, it takes a lot to tear me away from my stand when I'm at a show. I have to keep fussing and moving soap around. I saw her stuff and just levitated toward her table. The weird thing is she didn't have a crowd around her. Can't explain that.
The necklace is welded glass with a vintage photo and scraps added. The cufflet is layered ribbons and scrap fabric, with pearl accents.

This Christmas doll angel is the sweetest little strange-ling. She has a little letter attached to her hand introducing her as 'Rocket.' She has real hair which is sort of off-putting at first, but perfect when you consider the tramp art mode.
I subscribe to a doll catalog and many dolls like this run in the hundreds of dollars. I paid less than a hundred, much less.
Rocket is currently gracing my mantle in the living room; up high, safe from the puppy.
The 'Unknown Artist' came over to my booth and picked up my Nag Champa soap and her eyes rolled back in her head. I love that reaction. Anyone who has a visceral response is OK in my book. She didn't buy it and afterward I thought I should have just given it to her as an homage.
Maybe I'll run into her again at a show. Maybe, she'll have been 'discovered' and I'll have to take out the checkbook to collect her stuff. I hope that happens for her- she's deserving of recognition.

It's Cold Outside

Getting ready for Pennsylvania winter is something I learned from experience is best done on beautiful fall afternoons. I was such a grasshopper in my younger days and ended up shivering in the cold trying to get plastic to stick to the windows, while sleet and wind played with the lawn furniture. Of course, there's always something left to do.
This morning I realized I put the ice protector upside down in the pond. The pond needs to have a hole in the ice so gases can escape that would harm the fish, while they are spending the winter in a hibernation mode. As I tried to get close enough to tug in the line, Layla pranced across the ice. It held her up exactly two seconds. She went down in the icy depths... In my drama-prone mind, I thought I should wisk her into the house and give her warm broth. I started running her up the hill, but she delightedly scampered around the snow, biting it and frisking around. The steam was coming up from her body. She is part Lab, after all. I just had to snap a photo.


Beautiful Calendula is one of my favorite herbs. It is so easy to grow, it's cheerful, most species are loaded with carotenes (vitamin A) which is great for rashes and itchy skin. Here it is finally sucumbing to the freeze on December 8.