Happy New Year!

I just realized this morning that today is the last day of the year... Can you believe it? I could not. Honestly, I was sure there were a couple of days left!

This year has flown so fast that I feel like I need at least a month to catch up on the wonderful things that happened to me this year.

I have a wonderful Family, I am healthy and strong, I saw my daughter on her first day of School, I have met rounds of interesting people thanks to my blog, I have been able to continue making art and doing what I like... I was on the cover of a magazine not only once but twice!

And for all, I am deeply grateful. Thanks a lot for being with me trough the year, for your kind emails and your support when I've been down, it means a lot to me. I Hope 2009 was as full of surprises for you as it was for me, and I wish for your 2010 to be even better... I know it will be GREAT!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!!!!! (Now go hug someone you love!)

Hello. My name is Danita....

and I'm a workaholic....

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas To One And To All!

Hello!!!

As Christmas eve is upon us and Santa is delivering toys to our inner
child I wanted to wish you the best on this night and the coming new
year.

I am very grateful for your support and the many things that came with
them, my Christmas wish is that your generosity and good wishes come
back to you in a thousanfold.

Enjoy this very special night with your loved ones... And no peeking
your gifts until it's Cristmas time!!!!!

Danita.

Happy Holidays to all of you!

I remember when I was a kid and the days before Christmas were so slow... the clock seemed to slow down and I dreamed about December 24... the dinner, the gifts, the people! Now that I'm an adult everything seems to go so fast and sometimes so stressful. It's like time is taking back the extra minutes I had as a child. But then I see my daughter, her first real Christmas (I'm not counting the others because she wasn't really aware of what was happening). She's been counting the days in the Advent calendar since the 1st of December. She can't get enough of Rudolph and the Christmas songs. She's been excited helping me wrap the gifts and putting re-decorating them (She removed some of the bows they have and put some more "cheerful" ones). She's been making cards and getting angry at me because we don't have a chimney and Santa won't be able to deliver her gifts. She just can't wait anymore and it reminds me how the Holidays were for me as a child. It brings me great memories and makes me forget a little about the other stuff (the one that involves the stress). It makes me forget so much that I just realized it's the 22nd and I haven't purchase the turkey!....(Gotta go!)


I hope you have a wonderful, blessed and peaceful Christmas. My best for you and your family. I hope you enjoy it as much as a happy child does.

Danita

The doll invasion

The gang is finally here, along with 2 new angel paintings full of texture and details...

The dolls were created with vintage wood spools of thread and wooden heads, embellished with old bottle caps and vintage buttons. Each one is one of a kind and they're available at my shop right now!

And I was the feature artist this month in the PFATT Marketplace and I'm offering this beautiful angel available exclusively here.


Have a great day!

I'm not a good swap blogger...

I apologize for not updating all the wonderful things that I got after the 7th day of Christmas. Really. I wish I had given each of you a day to appreciate all the beautiful ornaments that I got. I hope I don't get kicked out of the group :P (pleaaaaseeeee keeep meeeee... I'll be good next yeaaaar!!!)

But I have a good excuse...el amor! ... My youngest sister just got engaged! And we went to the engagement party so I had so little time to blog or update my facebook. It was a very special and emotive moment... snif snif... she's the little one! I wish you the best!!!! I love you both!!!


Anyway, enough of excuses, here they are now, I love them all now and I'm so happy I finally have them!

Day 8th, Sally Turlington's ornament. I didn't want to open this one! The package was so beautiful, and the paper... oh the paper! I just found out she has a tutorial on how to make it, I think I'm going to try it... so beautiful!


But I had to open it... and the inside was as beautiful as the inside of the package! Take a look at this nativity ornament! Thank you so much Sally!

On the 9th day... A beauty from JoAnna Pierotti from Moss Hill Studio. I love everything JoAnna makes, and this wasn't the exception!

A beautiful dress... just in time for the Holidays! How did you know that I didn't have anything to wear? You can see better pictures of this beautiful dress in her blog. Thanks JoAnna!!!
On the 10th day of Christmas I got my ornament from Kelly Snelling. She works in so many mediums that you never expect what she's going to do next... so I couldn't imagine what was inside the package.

But there he was, the cutest bunny I've seen. I love serious faces in cute animals (I do it a lot in my own art) and this grumpy bunny was just perfect. It may seem simple, but it's not. Actually there's a looooot of work involved in making one, as you can see in her blog. I appreciate every detail in this bunny. Thanks so much Kelly! (this one won't make it to the tree... this one goes directly to the studio).

On the 11th day of Christmas Deryn gave to me (besides the invitation to be part of the group)... this extremely detailed package... other I didn't want to open afraid to ruin the outside... but when I opened my mouth almost fell...

I think my pictures don't make justice to this beauty. I think you should go to her blog and take a look for yourself of all the details of this piece, very worth the reading.


Here's a close-up. It has glass and was very difficult to snap a good photo but I hope you get the idea. Thank you so much Deryn for this treasure.

On the 12th day of Christmas was the turn of Lou McCulloch. She gave us a preview of what was inside and we didn't have a clue. She cleverly package her ornament in a way that the ribbon to hang it was also the ribbon to decorate the little box.

Her ornament is very beautiful too, I'm thinking I can even wear it as a necklace... Thanks so much Lou! I love it!

And ... as a plus, on the 13th day of Christmas I got an ornament from Lorraine.

This one surprised me because of the materials she used, it's so delicate and so layered and so beautiful!


I'm so happy with all my ornaments. Thank you, once more, for all the fun and all the treasures. I'm looking forward for next year's!

On the 5th, 6th and 7th day of Christmas...

Today let me share with you 3 more ornaments from the Christmas swap. I feel so lucky to be part of this! Every time I open a gift it's like Christmas to me!

Day 5 was Ruth Rae's. I love her work and I feel lucky to have 2 of her pieces. I didn't want to open this one, it was already beautiful as is... but my curiosity was stronger (besides my daughter reclaim that key as hers).

Her ornament? A beautiful work of stitches on several fabrics, embellished with stamps, ribbons and buttons. Thank you so much Ruth!! I love it!!

On the 6th day I received a gift from Maija Lepore, a wonderful artist that I not only admire for her incredible talent but also because of her victory over her weight struggle. She's been an inspiration to me in many ways ;)

Her gift was carefully wrapped with fabric and with pretty tags. But the best of it was inside... another beauty for my tree!!!

This is so gorgeous! It's like a magical doll with all those ribbons... I can picture her flying lightly in the air... and her cut paper hat it's just like the sprinkles on the cupcake. Thanks so much Maija, I love your ornament too!!

Finally, it's day 7. Crystal made my day. She makes impressive works of art with wax and I was amazed to see her ornament.

I'm afraid I'm not going to make it justice with my pictures, but really, you have to see it in person to appreciate it. It's all covered in wax and if you see it against a light it's sheer and beautiful. Thanks so much Crystal for your little piece of art. I'm in love with all my ornaments.

And as I promised yesterday, now I have available in my shop the limited edition prints on fabric of the 3 Fridas that appear in the magazine. You could get them here. And don't forget to send me pictures of what you did with them. I'd love to see it ;)

On the 6th day of Christmas Stampington gave to me...Art Quilting Studio and Sew Somerset!!!

I'm super excited today as I just received one the best Christmas gifts ever:
Art Quilting Studio...and I'm on the Cover!!!!!

A while ago I made some art quilts for the magazine but I never ever dream about being on the cover... and when I saw it in the website I couldn't believe my eyes... so I wait until I got my magazine to share the great news!

The article is basically a tutorial on how to make those art quilts using your own images, but I decided that I'll sell a limited edition run of prints on fabric in my shop in case you want to make them with the Fridas ;) And of course you'll have to get the magazine to read the full article :P

The other gift I got was Sew Somerset. I love this magazine and as you know I love to incorporate stitches into my work.

I have two articles here.

One is about free motion stitching on paper using ATC cards and fabric.

And the other is about mixing free motion stitched collages with beeswax.
So, if you want to learn more about those techniques you know what you have to do. Check out the magazines and let me know what you did with those techniques ;)


I'll post more about the Christmas swap this afternoon! I'm also going to update the shop with the prints on fabric and I'll let you know when they're ready...

I'm still jumping with joy! Wohooo!!!!

On the 4th day of Christmas... It snowed again!

Hi again! Yesterday It snowed again!! Can you believe it? Neither can I! And this time it was powder snow, not like the other day that was more like ice... I spent the morning going in and out carrying snow for my daughter to play and after many trips I decided It was time to open my 4th day of Christmas present!! (yay!)

This one was made by Melissa David. Unfortunately, no blog or website to share with you but what I can share is the beautiful ornament she made!

This swap is getting better by the day... and it's getting more difficult to pick a favorite!
Each day it's a wonderful surprise waiting to be opened!

Thank you so much Melissa for the beautiful ornament! Another treasure added to my collection!

It's too big for my little tree but I already found a very special place for it... can you find it?

Oh and if you want a chance to get a free print from my shop go to JaneSays, she's having a giveaway today!

The twelve days of Christmas (now 13!)

As I commented in my previous post, the first of December starts the most exciting part of the swap organized by super-talented jewelry genius Deryn Mentock. This year I got number 1 so the first ornament everybody opened was mine... so no opening for me the first day. Yesterday was supposed to start but my daughter got really sick and I she was in bed the whole day.. and I forgot :( I'm really sorry about it because today when I opened It really brightened my day!

Looking at the bright side.. I got to open 2 gifts today! First one from Pilar Pollock, a wonderful mixed media, fiber and digital artist who makes beautiful and meaningful things.

When I opened the package I was delighted! Read more about it in her blog where she explains what this ornament means.
I found a very special place for it already.. I loveeeeeed it!!!

Thanks so much Pilar!!!

And the ornament #3 was sent by Jackie Allison. Too sad she doesn't have a blog or website because you should see what she does... beautiful, beautiful things.

I knew it was something heavy because I'm the kind of person who moves and weights all the presents below the tree trying to guess what's inside... but so far I haven't guessed any of these!

I'm in love with my ornaments!!!! This is beautiful!!! I love china dolls and I love them even more when they're used for artful purposes!

Thank you Jackie! I love, love, love it!!!

I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what other beautiful thing will be part of my collection... meanwhile I'll have to finish some mini dolls that I left undone because of my daughter...

Who, by the way, has been busy today doing her own thing...She can't get enough of Rudolph ;)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snooooow!

It snowed today!!!! That's a huge thing here! The schools close, the city gets chaotic and the kids get really happy... it's not a common thing and we enjoy it very much! There's nothing as magical as a place covered in snow...

I wanted to take more pics... but as soon as we went out the neighbors started throwing snowballs at us and we had to get into action!

Oh and my poor plants... I hope they don't die!!! They were still flowering... recovering from the burning sun in the summer... oh well, I'll cover them with some newspaper and wish they're ok...

It was so much fun and it lasted so little.... after playing in the snow we had hot chocolate and cookies...

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas!

Oh and before I forget, today is the first day of December.. that means today the participants of the 12 Days of Christmas swap get to open their first present, and this year it was mine the first one! Can't wait until tomorrow to start opening the others!

To take a look at what I made just click on the links below and enjoy (I forgot to take pics!)

Deryn Mentock
Sally Turlington
Pilar Pollock
Kelly Snelling
Crystal Neubauer
JoAnna Pierroti