Art by Debbie Saenz

So Thankful!

Is your heart thankful today? Everyday? We have so much to be thankful for...if we stop and consider the blessings that God has given us.  

Our family has a Thanksgiving tradition of going around the dinner table telling each other what we're thankful for. It helps us to keep an attitude of gratefulness. Nothing does more to restore contentment and joy than a true spirit of thankfulness. 

I have SO much to be thankful for, what about you?

I made this banner for my friend Laura Otero who I met in an online class by Kelly Rae Roberts. Laura is a marketing genius! Her blog, Strategic Online Marketing offers loads of tips and tutorials. She also has another blog, Dreamy Design Works Jewelry, where she expresses herself creatively by making beautiful jewelry. 

I'm very thankful for Laura's friendship and help. She lovingly and patiently helped me set up my FaceBook business page...and I had lots of questions!  

 I hope your hearts are thankful today and everyday!

~ ~ ~

Enter His gates with thanksgiving,

And His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him;

Bless His name.

 Psalm 100:4

~ ~ ~

Happy Thanksgiving

Love, Debbie xo

AHH! to have the right tools!

I met with the very talented, Dana Ruth, the owner of Atlanta Art Worx, a jewelry and metalsmithing studio located in the Artisan Resource Center in Atlanta, GA. Dana is a metal craft artist who designs and fabricates jewelry. I was in AWE while in her studio which was laden with all the tools to create magnificent metal art!

My reason for contacting Dana? Well, I have this ever-growing collection of vintage brooches, pins, and clip earrings. I needed to know how to correctly remove the backings to be able to incorporate my vintage findings into new pieces of jewelry.

Dana's work can be found in many stores and galleries throughout the country. Here's just a peek of Dana's work:

I love how her work has an industrial feel and look to it.  You can see more of Dana's work here on her website. 

Here are all my new tools!

Dana kindly showed me exactly what I needed and even gave me a lesson! I learned how to properly load a jewelers saw with the right size blade with just the right tension. She taught me about the different files and which ones I needed.

Now my vintage jewelry collection can be revamped into new creations! 

I'll share what I come up with as soon as I can.

Blessings xo,

Debbie

Southern Belles Georgia Bloggers Event

Last Saturday was another fun time with local blogging friends! 

 Marcy did a fabulous job of choosing the location and putting together the whole event.  We gathered at Kelly Kakes, a cute little "girly" restaurant nestled in beautiful historic Roswell, GA.

From left to right, with links to each blog: Hero Mason, Susan McDowell, Janice Young, Jo Ann Rogers, Julie Anne Cooper, Marcy Antle, Kris Hurst, Sharon Kyser, Marilyn Lowry, and me. 

The room was filled with ladies who love to create! We shared a delicious lunch over lovely conversation....chatting about our creative passions, stories, and all the while, inspiring each another with new, fresh ideas for our creative journeys. It's so much fun to get together with such creative souls. We missed those that were not able to join us this time.

We each made a special handmade gift to exchange...there were door prizes too!

Everyone loved this Georgia Blogger girl that Marilyn made!

These sweet earrings were made by Janice and Sharon made this amazing beaded bracelet. The flowers on the other side were a delicate purple. 

I was delighted to receive this angelic gift made by my special friend Susan.  A cigar box beautifully decorated with angels, sheet music, stars, and lots of glitter! 

There were lots of surprises inside the box! A sweet little cloth book to hold Christmas tags and a cloth pouch to hold my glasses. It was so perfect because earlier that morning, when I put my glasses inside my ugly pink plastic pouch, I thought, "I need to do something about this old ugly thing!". Thank you Susan, I already put it to good use!

 

This was the gift that I made to exchange. A Thanksgiving wall hanging. 

I love to use scripture whenever I can! 

Give thanks to the LORD,

for He is good,

His mercy endures forever! 1 Chronicles 16:34

...and I give thanks to the Lord for the lovely time we had together!

Some of us ended our special time together with an afternoon perusing through local antique shops and thrift stores. I think we were all overflowing with creative inspiration and ready to get home and dive right into our beads, paints, papers and fabrics. Our Creative juices were definatly flowing! 

If you love to create and are a blogger who lives in or around Atlanta Georgia, and would like to join us next time, just email me your contact information and I will let you know about our next event! We would love to have you!

Blessings xo,

Debbie

Quick-to-Make Baby Blanket Tutorial

If you own a sewing machine, or if you can borrow one from a friend, you can make a baby blanket in about an hour. Really! you can!

It would make a very special baby gift! I recently made this baby blanket to go along with a quilt I made for my new little grandson Quincey.

You will only need a few basic supplies:

• 1 yard of cotton or flannel fabric
• 1 yard of coordinating satin fabric
• matching thread
• straight pins
• iron

 1. Wash your fabric (Iron it if it's cotton). You DON'T need to wash the satin material. Cut out your fabrics so that they are they same size. I think 30" x 34" is a nice size, but it can be larger if you would prefer (Just make sure you buy more than a yard if you want it much bigger). 

2. Set your sewing machine to a zig-zag stitch. Place your fabric wrong sides together and secure with strait pins. Sew both pieces of fabric together around each edge. 

3. Use an iron to iron the edge in. First, iron 1/2 inch then turn that in again about 1 inch and iron again. There's no science here you can have the satin binding be as wide as you prefer. 

4. Once you have everything ironed, secure it with straight pins every 6 inches or so. 

5. Change the stitch setting on your machine to a straight stitch and  sew along each edge as shown.

 

6. When you come the corners, stitch straight to the end, over the folded corner* and create a stitched square then begin stitiching the next side.

*Lift the foot (with the needle still in the fabric), turn the fabric, then lower the foot to begin stitching in a different direction.

7. Snip off all loose threads and your done! Now wasn't that incredibly easy?... And I would bet that it took you under an hour to make it!

Wrap it up with some tule, put it in a gift bag with a onesie, and now you have a lovely gift to give at your next baby shower...to be treasuresd forever!

Have fun & let me know if you have any questions :)

Blessings xo,

Debbie