Come see us in St. George!!!

It's officially the Christmas season! I can play Christmas music without causing major groans and complaints, the phone is ringing constantly, and I snagged the Black Friday bargains that I wanted online so I didn't have to risk physical harm and frostbite.

For those in the St. George area who are out and about picking up a gift or two, we are currently set up at
SANTA'S WORKSHOP at the Dixie center today and tomorrow (Saturday the 29th). Stop in at our booth and say hi and ask for your free sticker!
Next week we'll still be in St. George, still at the Dixie Center for
THE DICKEN'S FESTIVAL, Wednesday thru Saturday. Dec. 3-6.
Come see us and be sure to ask for your freebie there too!

Love this one too...

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
-- Thornton Wilder

Love this quote....

Sometimes I just need to jot something down.

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was "thank you", that would suffice.
Meister Eckhart

A little bit of this, a little bit of that...

Friday was my birthday.
It was crazy busy, but I still managed to be able to sneak off an hour early for dinner and a movie with my Sis and her daughter. We had yummy Italian food - everything was delicious, but we waited and waited and waited for someone to take our order, then waited some more for the food to arrive. Finally, we had to complain that we were going to miss our movie if the waiter didn't get his act together. We debated about having them make the entre to go, because we could bring food into the theater with us. We didn't have to do that, but did have the waiter bring to-go boxes along with our plates.
We went to see Bolt in 3D. It's a great little movie and I loved wearing the dorky 3D glasses.

Yesterday was fun filled. I lounged around the house for a few hours in the morning and then bopped over the hill to the big city to get wood and ribbon and a whole bunch of other stuff.
We stopped at the cheese plant to feed the need for squeeky cheese, then off to Sam's club where they had lots of tasty samples. As usual, I ran into someone who wanted to know if his signs were ready... jeez! can't go anywhere! (yes, they're done)
The dudes at Home Depot were extremely helpful and saved me about an hour of work by cutting my 1 x 4 boards into 24" lengths for me. Yay! now I just have to router them, which I like to do.

Now I'm doing a little laundry and catching up on some email and then I'll be at the shop for the rest of the day.

I have great big Christmas balls sitting on my worktable. I'm waiting to be inspired. Should I put words on them? Stars? Snowflakes? All of the above? Hmmmm....

Actually, I don't have time this morning to do anything with them. So much to do.

We're getting stocked up for Santa's Workshop next week and the Dicken's Festival the following week. With those shows coming up and orders coming in, it's a little hectic around here.

Maybe I should play some Christmas music to calm things down a bit. Yeah.... Some Christmas M&Ms will help too. After all, chocolate is my drug of choice.

The very best kind of help

Busy Monday today. It's crazy getting everything stuffed into a box and ready for the UPS truck at 4:00 and then running to the Post Office at 4:30. I feel like I've made the big touchdown and I want to spike the ball (or box) and do a little victory dance every time I make it to the Post Office before they lock the doors. The ladies there have assured me that if I were to place my sad little nose against the glass and squeeze out a tear or two that they'd let me in anyway. I'd prefer not to put that to the test.

I had a helper this afternoon. My niece Dani came with Grampa 'cuz it was her turn. She's five years old and very smart and loves her Aunt Becky - told you she's very smart. After we got tired of drawing monkeys, she went through my desk drawer looking for treasures. Found a couple of quarters and a guitar pick, a paperclip, an envelope, a q-tip and some sticky-notes. Then she sat on a stool next to my work table so that we could "talk", and informed me that when she grows up she wants to be a Pop Star.
At first I thought she said Poptart, but I was corrected very quickly. She's going to be a Pop Star and wear cute boots and ride in a limousine. She would also like to go to Disneyland. And ride a horse a lot. Oh yeah - she's gonna wear a long pink wig too. Grampa is going to drive the limo.
When I told Grampa of her plans for him, I was reprimanded because I wasn't supposed to tell him. She was a little upset because he laughed. How do you relay to a child that sometimes they say funny things? I explained that some of the things she says are funny because she's so smart. That got me a big smile and everything was okay again.
Then we sang the alphabet song and counted to 29... that's as high as I can go.

Jr. Mints and a Peaceful Afternoon

It's Saturday and I'm in the shop doing some catch-up and trying to crank out a huge order to ship on Monday.
It's quiet, and being the weekend there are no interruptions. I'm munching on the FABULOUS special Jr. Mints that are out this year. I can't seem to get enough of 'em. I've propped the laptop up on the work table so I can watch movies while I pick vinyl. It's not a bad life.

I've been working on some NEW DESIGNS today too. So many have asked me for smaller block-sized stuff for neighbor gifts and I think that's a wonderful idea. I'll be putting them out on the site in the next day or so. The price will be low so that those who have a list as long as their arm will be able to afford something special for the someone special(s) on their big long list. They're so cute, I think I'll make some for me!

Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-laaaaaaaaaaaaa

We are well into the swing of the Christmas thing.
I love love LOVE Christmas time, but it gets here way too quickly and by the time it does, I really need a nap.
This year, as in the past few years, our glass block designs are a big hit. We've added new printed designs, and of course, still offer the old prints and the custom vinyl stuff as well.
My happy find of the month was at Lowe's. While on an excavation to buy glass blocks, I discovered that the store in my area has been enlightened and pulled in a few cases of PRE-DRILLED glass blocks. That's right! they already have the hole - a nice big one - drilled in the side. Pretty reasonable price too.
While we offer the drilled blocks for sale, the cost of shipping is fairly prohibitive so I usually advise folks to try to find them in their own neck of the woods.
Just in case your local hardware store has not seen the light - or the lighted blocks - and you want to drill your own, I'm happy to sell you the perfect drill bit ($20.) and instruct you in how to drill the blocks without losing your sanity or the sanity of a loved one.

Linking to the Website

I started this blog a long time ago with the intention of giving my customers and friends a way to communicate ideas and to give us a way to know each other a little better.

As is evident by the dates on the first few posts.... it took a little longer than I expected. I could have simply deleted those posts, but in reading through, I like them and think they should stay.

I'm a blog junky. Love to read what others are doing and what they think about things... what they had for lunch on Tuesday. The whole point of this particular blog is to share some of the new ideas that come into my world all of the time... mostly from my fabulous customers. So yeah... please share!!!