Spring on the Wishing Tree

Remember how stark the Wishing Tree was...

Well, it's not anymore.

Happy Spring!

So Long Overdue and a few Thank Yous!

Wow, I can't Imagine it's been a whole month since my last post. I'd like say I've been furiously busy with all sorts of "fun" stuff to share with all of you, or keeping up with all the wonderful new growth on our Wishing tree, but unfortunately that's not exactly been the case. My Mom was very sick and needed care after spending over a week in the hospital, I had huge commitments at school, and life just seemed to plow on. Thankfully my Mom is healing now, my commitments at school lessened and creativity abounds once again! Can't believe Glitterfest is next week! My little studio area has crept over a good portion of my living room floor but my family is patient and loves me. Here's what I mean...Quite a while ago I got a beautiful "Random Act of Kindness" in the mail from the lovely and generous Sherry from Got Art. I kept wanting to do a post just for her because her package came at a time when I really needed it. Blessings are like that. :) Thank you so much Sherry. Your beautiful Tree collage has a special place on my wall right next to our front door so I see it last,whenever I leave or first when I return home. The colors and textures are so perfect, but my photos certainly do not do the piece justice. Such a thing of sweet beauty and kindness sent to me completely out of the blue! How sweet is that Sherry.

And of the Pasta Maker...it arrived! Thank you, thank you Cheryl! I'm so excited. The quality looks great and I see ravioli in our near future :)When I finally get back to cooking for fun, I'll post a yummy pic. But for now, I better get my Glitter on!

Ciao for now!

I WON a Pasta Maker!!!

I know that sounds funny. It's just that dorky me didn't even know I had entered a giveaway. But I did and I won! Here's what happened. A few weeks ago, I was reading the blog of one of my new blogging friends Cheryl. She has a wonderful blog called Healing Woman and had sent me the beautiful Dreamcatcher for the Wishing tree I wrote about, in my last post. Well, she wrote this very detailed, yummy recipe post about this fantastic lasagna. Homemade noodles, roasted tomatoes, she even had the recipe for making the ricotta, the whole nine yards! Now I know that for those of you that don't know me in my "real" everyday life you may not know that I cook. But I do and so does my creative husband Ernie.

Here's a few Eats we've made...

My Lemon Cake
(pretty easy, just used one those fancy flower pans)

Potato Cheese Empanadas & Chimichurri

Ernie makes a killer flaky dough!

Mango Berry Mosaic
Another flashy,but pretty yummy ice-cream, sorbet treat,
perfect for serving in the ODLS!

Ernie's Red Velvet Cupcakes my Lenten
(oops I mean, Easter favorite)

Seafood Paella

You get the idea. But my point is we love to cook and of course eat. With that said, you can understand how entranced I was at the sight of Cheryl's inspiring food post. So I commented. I had to! Well if you commented you were automatically entered in this amazing giveaway for this beautiful pasta maker. And I WON!
Ernie & I have been wanting to do the homemade pasta thing for quite some time now, but never seem to get around to it. I think having this fun gadget to assist us might be just the thing!I'll let you know when it arrives!

Thanks again Cheryl !

I hope to make you proud :)

Things for Spring and the Wishing Tree

I am blessed, thankful, encouraged and inspired by all the wonderful people that stopped by my little space this past weekend in Brea. It was wonderful to see so many loyal customers and friends. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for supporting and encouraging me to continue to do something I love.

Here's a few pics of some pieces I took to the show, some have gone on to their new homes, some I'll try to get on Etsy, or take to The Little Dress Shop. Or maybe you'll see them at Glitterfest. I've played with the idea of another show for April, we'll see. I'll let you know...

As always after a show, I was completely exhausted, but the one thing I couldn't wait to do with my family on this particular Saturday was hang this beautiful new piece I received from Roanoke, VA for the Wishing Tree.

We sat at the dining room table, unwrapped the package and I read the note aloud. We were silent. My daughter was the first to speak. "We need to pray for her" she said. After it was up in the tree, we took a few minutes to gaze up at all our wishes so far. I am so honored and peaceful about what we've been entrusted with. The lovely dreamcatcher was crafted by the very talented and inspiring Cheryl Dolby and her daughter Kelli just for our tree. Thank you Cheryl and Kelli. Thank you both, for participating and know how honored we are to have added your intention to our prayers. :)
Love, peace and gratitude,

Bridgette

Oh! I almost forgot. Look what else popped up on the tree while I was away...

I believe.

Just a few new Goodies for Spring!

Here's a few little works in progress...

I'm working on a watch case dioramas again. I've done some cool custom orders as well.

This sweet little Querido Charlotte piece was sent far away to Annie, but lots of her friends will be at my next show this Saturday in Brea March 21st! Stop by and see them if you get a chance! You can see the flyer on my side bar for more info.

Even though this little flower is invisable from the front of the piece, I like that the person wearing it looks down and is the only one who can see it! A secret little detail... I'm playing with the idea of adding something like this on more of my pieces. :)
That's all for now, Ciao!

New things on the Wishing Tree

My husband doesn’t really ask much of our tree. The giant old ocean rod secured with fishing line to its trunk is his main contribution as is his silent belief in its strength and power for good. He helps me care for it, gently pruning or weeding and of course is my main go-to guy when I want something hung in just that spot I can’t reach. When he asked me to make a tag for a friend of his I knew it was important. While I won’t get into why or what we are specifically praying for, if you get a chance and might feel like sending some prayers or positive energy her way, please do so for Kerry. Thank you so :)

Here are a few other new additions to our tree…

Some lovely prayer tags already a bit weathered from the rain...


And this beautiful symbol of love gifted by my sweet sister-in-law for the tree. It’s so perfect on so many levels don’t you think? Not to mention, its among the first things I see when I look out my window to the tree.
I just love it.

Oh! And if ever You’d like to add anything to the tree, just email me or leave a comment and I’ll email back with where to send your wish. I’ll post a pic of whatever you send for the tree and a link to your blog if you’d like. I’m thinking I may start a blog for just the Wishing Tree, but for now, it’s all here. :) Tomorrow I’ll post some pics of my new pieces for Etsy and some I'll be taking to my first show of the Spring! Have a peace-filled day .
Love, Bridgette

Prairie Thistle: 400th Blog Madonna and Child Reliquary Giveaway

Prairie Thistle: 400th Blog Madonna and Child Reliquary Giveaway
In celebration of her 400th post this generous artist is giving away this gorgous piece! Check out her blog and and toss your name in the hat!Have a great day!

Anna's First Blossoms

Yesterday I went out to visit the Wishing tree and Anna. I haven’t told you about Anna.

She’s our little apple tree that stands small and firm up on the back lawn. She’s almost directly behind the Wishing tree. She may have even been in the background of a few photos of the Wishing tree… anyhow her blossoms are soooo pretty now I just had to let you see.

As I was poking around I noticed a little friend doing his job… and then as I looked closer,

beneath the leaves…


the start of our first one…

3rd Grade Masters

One of the things I love doing, is volunteering to teach a bit of art once a month in my children's class through a parent volunteer based program called Art Masters. Every year we have a fundraiser at my children’s school where the kids design a piece of art that is sent in to a company that places their artwork on mugs, stationary, aprons, all sorts of stuff. The parents can purchase whatever they’d like with their child’s artwork on it and the school receives a percentage which goes back into purchasing supplies to keep our art program going. With that said, we're always trying to find beautiful, simple projects the parents would love and thus want to buy. (Which isn't as easy it sounds) :) This year with the severe budget cuts facing our California schools parent support of programs like this is all the more needed if art in our school is to survive at all next year. I’m not sure if everyone will love how they turned out, but I sure did.

For this project I used a lesson plan that came from the Crayola website which is a wonderful site if you ever need some fun kid projects for class or home and most of them are really inexpensive to produce. I just loved how this years work in 3rd came out. We used oil pastels for the image in each square and then watercolors for the background. I also did a similar lesson in my son's 6th grade. I'll let you decide which is which...