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Thursday, December 25, 2014

Merry Christmas!

I want to take a moment and thank you, my family & friends,
 for supporting me this past year,
whether it be online or in person.
I feel so very blessed to be doing what I love, and sometimes wonder if one day I'll wake up and see that it was all just a beautiful dream.

The year has flown by faster than I can possibly believe,
and in just a very short week,
I will once again be running thru a new year.
So, with that said, I wish you (and I) a bit slower year
and
thought I'd share our funny face New Year's photo with you too....
just for fun!
I have BIG plans and many classes in the works for 2015,
and hope to share ALL the details with you very soon here,
and on my website,
So, thank you, thank you....so very much for sticking with me here.
Lord willing,
I'll see you next year!
~ diane
xo

Thursday, October 09, 2014

My New Website and a Giveaway

How do you like my new logo?
It is now part of my new website
 
I have to tell you my friends,
it's been a busy 2014!
I have been traveling both east and west,
and everywhere in between.
My first teaching gig was in Tucson, Arizona
for 
What a great group of students,
along with shopping the TUCSON GEM SHOW,
which is held during the same time of the retreat,
was hands down one of my past year's
most fun TIMES!!
 
 
 
Then, my bestie, Deryn Mentock and I
boot scooted up to Virginia,
to teach at Boots & Bliss. 
 
In May I made a stop in
Paducah, Kentucky
 
 
July brought me to Santa Ana, California
and
And, finally a stop in Phoenix, Arizona
at

 
With all that said, I've caught my breath,
and completed my new 
website
I've been working on my new "go to site" for the past couple of weeks!
With this EXCITING reveal,
I'm offering a giveaway...
a choice of one of two DVDs currently offered
the wonderful online art retreat I am a part of
each summer!
or
 
 
 
Here's what you can do to win:
Leave a comment here regarding which of the two DVDs you'd like to win,
AND
WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT MY NEW SITE!
With this little request, I'll toss your name into a BIG TEXAS cowboy hat!!
 
If you share it online via Facebook, Instagram or your blog, (and let me know),
you get another toss into the hat.
I hope you join me on my new website
and if you sign up for my newsletter,
YES...another time in the hat!!
The drawing will end on Wednesday, October 15th!
Watch for my posts on Wednesday for the winner,
along with more information regarding my new site and logo...
AND
I have more plans ahead, along with more giveaways!
 
 

Friday, April 25, 2014

Fly

 I'm not sure I can say anything more than this...
 
diane
xo


Wednesday, April 09, 2014

The Treasure Hunt

Hey Guys...there's an

going on!
This year we are having a treasure hunt at Artful Gathering, 
and it is really simple to play along. 
This is the second week of the clues, 
which if you look just below, 
you will find the full description on how to find them.
Here's how you do it...
simply find the secret Big Red Square somewhere on my blog 
to get your second secret word! 
The word you're looking for is up at the top of the box, 
in quotation marks!
LOOK for a red block, on my side bar, it has a crown in it!
(If you missed last week's clue, just hop on over to my friend 
Riki Schumacher's blog for the answer!)
You can find out all you want to know


Be sure to go to:  
to read all about the rules and prizes.



There's some really great prizes that include:   
one full paid class of your choice, plus the corresponding class DVD.  
Along with some very cool runner-up prizes, 
that aren't so shabby either...
Jewelry, Vintage Goodies, Class Kits, Artists' Books 
and more!


My donation is a bit of vintage goodies, brass wing stampings, 
and a baby bundle of recycled sari silk.
 And, just in case you haven't seen what I'll be teaching this year,
you can see both class details 
in the Workshop Catalogue
here.
In Session One, I will be teaching a beautiful necklace 
called
Romantic Wrapped.
 It is for 6 weeks, beginning June 6-July 17th!
And,
in the Second Session, 
I will be teaching my cuff class called,
On a Wing.
It will also be for 6 weeks,
beginning July 16-August 26th!
If, you haven't pre-registered, you might want to go on over and do so now,
(which will also give you the ability to flip thru that wonderful class catalogue)!
as on May 1st the doors open for full registration.
That means you will be able to register for any of the instructor's classes,
offered in both Sessions One & Two.
Also, at that time, you will have access to our Etsy store links,
where most will be offering a limited number of class kits.
Here's wishing the best to you on your treasure hunting fun,
and
hope to see you in the classroom...very SOON!

Don't forget to pre-register here now:
(P.S.....if you leave a comment here
and/or share on Facebook and/or Twitter
I am having an EXTRA little drawing for a prize
on
Tuesday evening at 9pm CST!)

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Gratitude


I am not one to make New Year's resolutions.  
I don't wait that long.  If I need a change, 
or am due to begin something new....I just do it!
Mind you, I have not always been that way.
At the beginning of the year, 
I began to once again think of all the significant people that have been a part of my life;
ones I have met (or been born to) in my life.
Those who have changed me...for the better.  I don't think of, or remember any, 
who might have changed me in any other direction other than for "good".
But, that is just me.  I look for good.
I believe I search it out.
I will begin by giving due credit to my parents for that.
Both, actually, but I do think my mother a bit more so.
My mother came from a very poor family,
and her father, though he loved all 13 of his children,
drank. A lot.
 It had to be hard to be a child of an alcoholic.
Not only was my mother in constant mental turmoil,  
I know she felt deep humiliation for not having (her very own) shoes,
clothes and sometimes enough food to eat.  
What she did have was a loving mother who did what she had to do
to take care of her children, 
caring for them in a way that stuck with them thru thick & thin....
and made them feel rich, even though they were dirt poor.
Thankfully she also had older sisters & brothers who helped out the family~for most of my mother's younger life,
and for those siblings even before and most after her, 
in the birth order.
My mother never talked much about her childhood, and if she did, it was never in an ungrateful way.
How can that be?  Today, at the age of 56, 
I stand amazed by that, 
and HER.
My father came from somewhat of a different background.
He only had 2 brothers and 1 sister, and his family was one of the (somewhat) "well-off" ones in the small town that they both grew up in...as far as I can tell.
They had plenty of food, and owned a large parcel of land,
which my grandmother had inherited.
My grandfather was a farmer, and raised sweet potatoes on that land.  
My grandmother was a seamstress.
 My dad isn't even in this picture of his brothers & sisters above.
He came about 13 years after this was taken...
thus making him the REAL baby of the family.  
Perhaps, that is also why he became the mischief one.
A prankster of sorts.
He could really tell a good joke.  I kinda believe I get my quick wit from him.  
Can't tell a joke like he did, that's my oldest sister's talent, 
but I sure have a funny streak show up quite often....
and have known to be a bit mischievous myself.
(When I was much younger, of course...lol).

***********

For some wonderful reason, way beyond my control,
I believe that this year will be a good one.
Don't ask me how or why...I just know it.
And,
I say this with all humility,
as I truly have no idea what 2014 will bring.
I have several venues scheduled ahead, for teaching.
Some new, and some I've been to before...
with much delight!
Beginning in just a couple of weeks, I will be in Tucson, 
at
Art Retreat in the Desert
and then, I will travel along with my friend,
Deryn Mentock,
for a short teaching gig in the DC area, 
called
Boots & Bliss!
Yeeehawww, to that!
In the meantime, 
I am diligently working on my two online classes that I'll be a part of,
for the third year...
Artful Gathering 2014.
For the first time, I am traveling to Kentucky, to teach at
Ephemera Paducah 
in May! 
AND...
I will be in Phoenix, this summer,
to teach, once again, 
at Art Unraveled.

***********


So, for just one moment today, won't you consider who has made a difference in your life?
Say, if you possibly can,
a huge thank you for all that you have been given.
For those, both good and bad.
You (as I) have no earthly idea why you might have been given the life you are living,
and the hand you've been dealt.
I do believe it is by a design we will someday come to see.
Maybe that will be...
in 2014.


***********
 In the mean time, I hope to see you this year,
either in person, or on-line.
More specific details about my gigs can be found above,
under the Classes & On-line Classes tabs!
 
(I'll be sharing more persons who have influenced me along my way,
when I return from Tucson, so stay tuned!)

***********


Gratitude, thankfulness, gratefulness, or appreciation is a feeling or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.