Etsy Blog Carnival is....

We had a choice between choosing between a December tradition from around the world or your favorite holiday recipe.  I've decided I'd try to learn of something new and look to see what kinds of traditions are celebrated around the world in December.  Wow, was I surprised of how many there really are besides the usual ones like Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and of course Christmas.

I found one I thought was interesting, St. Lucia Day.  This particular celebration takes place in Sweden, it's one of the biggest celebrations on December 13th.  The celebration comes from stories that were told my Monks who first brought Christianity to Sweden.

St. Lucia was a young Christian girl who was martyred, killed for her faith, in 304AD.  The most common story told about St. Lucia is that she would secretly bring food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who lived in hiding in the catacombs under the city.  It was told she would wear candles on her head so she had both her hand free to carry things. 

December 13th was also the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, and a pagan festival of lights in Sweden was turned into St. Lucia's Day.

It's now celebrated by girls dressing in a white dress with a red sash around her waist and a crown of candles on her head.  The crown is made of Lingonberry branches which are evergreen and symbolizes her new life in winter.

In homes often the eldest girl plays St Lucia for her family, bringing them "lussekatts", St Lucia's day buns flavored with saffron and dotted with raising which are eaten for breakfast.

St Lucia's Day first became widely celebrated in Sweden in the late 1700's.  St. Lucia's day is also celebrated in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Bosnia and Croatia.  In Denmark it is more of a children's day and in some parts of Italy, children are told the St Lucy brings them presents.

Happy Holidays which ever one you celebrate!

EtsyBlogger's Blog Carnival - Aug. 14th

The two choices we have this time are great and very hard to choose which one to write about....so I'm going to write a little about both.

First, Carrie and I have been working hard building up our inventory in hopes to have a booth at "The Renaissance Festival" this year. Also we've been revamping our shop Ametista to have the look and feel we've truly wanted. Here are a few of the items we've been working on...

The GriM ReaPer MoNsTeR bOx

Night's Grace Artisit Apothecary Bottle

Also a few hand painted and designed photo frames with polymer clay accents...

The Pumpkin King

We've posted before how we were asked to be a part of a "Celebrity Basket" and how we came to own a few WWII French Apothecary bottles and decided to create an apothecary bottles for Helena Bonham Carter and Christina Ricci....and still have more of those bottles we are creating with...busy...busy....

There are so many other items that are still in the works and we will post about them as the progress of each come about.

Second, have you been having fun this summer...gone on vacation? Well yes in between working/creating my family and I went to San Diego, CA. We decided this time we would relax more than go sightseeing since we have been there before. So we spent most of our time at the beach.

My son riding the wave in on his boogie board.
Kids having fun....I mean Luke and Charlie..LOL...

We did do one activity other than being lazy on the beach. We took a tour of the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier. It was awesome and amazing how those guys live when they are out to sea.

Sleeping quarters....

Time to eat.....

It was so huge, we were there for at least 3 hours and still didn't see the whole thing. My son really wanted to get back to the beach...ha ha...He stilled enjoyed looking at everything and the planes.

Go Navy!....LOL!

So now it's time to get in the groove of getting the kids up and ready for school...Hummm...I have mixed feelings about that..LOL.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer and busy crafting...creating...selling...and buying.

Bright Blessings!

I snagged a Treasury....."A Mask Ball"

Here are just a few of our favorite items.....

Blog Carnival for Etsybloggers Team

This week we had a choice to choose between quite a few different items. It seems that March is a month of: * Irish American Month, * Music in Our Schools Month, * National Craft Month, * National Frozen Food Month, * National Irish American Heritage Month- designated by Congress in 1995, * National Nutrition Month, * National Peanut Month, * National Women's History Month, * Poetry Month, * Red Cross Month and * Social Workers Month.

WOW! I never knew. I've decided to touch a little bit on a few of them that mean a something to me, not that they aren't all worthy to blog about.

First, "Music in Our Schools", it's such a shame that our schools do not see or feel the need to make this a bigger priority. It's been proven that "music" helps with academics. I for one was in the band and played the clarinet. Prior to that, I will admit, I was a terrible student. But after joining in band, my grades improved and some of my concentration during class improved too. It might not be what everyone uses in their lives forever, but it does make a huge different! So here's to keeping "MUSIC" a priority in our schools!

Second, "National Women's History Month", there is so much to say on this one, but I'm going to keep it short. I'd just like to thank ALL the women whom came before me, that paved the way for me, that made voting a right, respect for working women and all the women who fought for civil rights!

Thank you....Thank you...and to all the women who are still fighting for equal pay, more funding for women health issues and so much more!

Finally, "National Craft Month", yeah on a lighter note! I've always had a love of crafts. I wish I was so talented to paint paintings like my dear friend "Laura Zollar" www.laurazollar.com. But I did inherit a little bit of craftiness...lol from my mother.

I'm currently work with polymer clay creating all kinds of things.



I still enjoy scrapbooking, drawing and one of my greatest loves is "photography".

Kudos to all the rest!