New Year’s Eve

Hello dear friends,

Wishing all of you a safe and joyful New Year’s Eve.  Laugh heartily and enjoy family and friends!

Ta~ta for now,

Marianne

 

 

clip art from http://vintagefeedsacks.blogspot.com/

New Year Giveaway WINNER!!

Thank you ALL for participating in Leisure Lane’s New Year Giveaway…Your New Year wishes warmed my heart, and I prayed over them that each of you will accomplish your dream.

Now for the winner….drum roll please….and the winner is…

LAUREN!!

Congratulations Lauren!   Enjoy your scarf, and my hope is that whenever you see it or wear it you will be encouraged to succeed in your endeavor…and won’t your friends and family be delighted to receive their very own Happy New Year wish from you on these unique Knittington Fairy note cards.  I will email you to get your information.

This is the first of many more giveaways to come, so stay ‘tuned in’ because I don’t want any of you to miss them.

Thank you all, again, for making this a fun and successful giveaway.

Until next time, may happy days abound.

Marianne

(I’d love to hear from you, so don’t forget to leave a comment)

Drummer boy art from clip art public domain

New Year Giveaway

Hello Friends,

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  And guess what ~ it’s not over yet.  Oh, Santa may be taking a long winter’s nap, but his little knitting fairies are still working (yes, they know Santa very well), so there are a few more surprises in his famous bag.

December 27^th – 29^th Leisure Lane is having its very first giveaway, and you are all invited to participate.  To enter just leave a comment on this post of one thing you wish to accomplish for the New Year.  All the names will be put into Santa’s bag.

Giveaway items are this beautiful hand-knitted scarf measuring 1.75” x 65”,  made with white glistening fun-fur yarn (pin not included); perfect for parties, work, or anytime you want to add a little sparkle and fun to your wardrobe….AND …this set of 5 “Happy New Year” Knittington Fairy note cards to wish some very special people a very special happy new year with your own personal note inside.

The winner will be announced here at Leisure Lane on December 30^th.   Good luck to all!

Many Blessings to you, and until next time, may happy days abound.

Marianne

Merry Christmas

Dear Friends,

To all I wish a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays full of good cheer!  Eat heartily, laugh joyously, and travel safely.  I thank God for all of you.

Until next time, may happy days abound!

Marianne

The Empty, Little Stocking

Hello Friends,

Christmas is almost here, and I would like to share with you a short Christmas story I wrote four years ago.  It’s my Christmas gift to all of you for helping me put Leisure Lane on the map.  I hope you enjoy it.   A timeless story for “children” of all ages.

 

MY APPOLOGIES

The story has been removed for future publication

Sitting on the Edge

I sat down on the edge of the bed to quickly flip through a book, when I suddenly became aware I was sitting on the edge.  It was soft and cushy, but a bit precarious.  I remembered being in the library a while back, sitting on the edge of a not so comfortable chair (certainly not cushy like the bed), planning, changing course, but with purpose.

As I sat on the bed I realized that sometimes I feel like I’m sitting on the edge of life; not in the middle, cramped and short sighted, but on the edge.  On the edge can be a bit risky whether it’s cushy or uncomfortable, but there’s plenty of leg room, and what a view ~ panoramic and glorious!  I can see as far as my imagination can stretch, and that gave me a completely different perspective.

So if you sometimes tend to feel like you’re on the edge of life, don’t dismay ~ rather see the advantage of it, and stretch your legs!

Thank you for stopping by, and until next time, may happy days abound,

Marianne

The above painting is “Patience”

(I’d love to hear from you, so don’t forget to leave a comment)

My Journey With Art

Hello dear friends,

I’d like to share with you a little bit about my journey with art.  I’ve always loved anything that had to do with creating from the time I could hold a pencil in my hand.  My earliest memories, I suppose, are from about 4 or 5 years old.  I enjoyed Captain Kangaroo, and the little shoe box containing crayons, pencils, erasers, glue, string, paper, etc. he so happily employed in his show, I duplicated for myself.  It was more of a treasure box for me….for me it might as well have contained rubies, amethysts, and sapphires.

Although I did have a few lessons here and there, and managed to attain a BA in art, I consider myself self-taught in the field of art.  Oils were my preference for  painting since I was 12 years old,  and Rembrandt was my real teacher and mentor for many years.  Then, as my work progressed and my subject matter evolved I became influenced by John Waterhouse and William Bouguereau.

In 1996 I began a spiritual journey I will not soon forget, and my paintings reflected its results.  Perhaps some of you can relate to that place of ‘going in’ where one finds yourself (who you are, what you are about)…Sue Monk Kidd so poignantly calls it cocooning…and in finding yourself, you find God; a glimpse of the Divine and your connection to It.  I think the birth of my son in 1989 began this remarkable connection to the creation of God, but that’s another story.

Many beautiful works came out of this search and Self-awareness.  They are like way stations along my life’s journey, and I learned many things from them – patience, perseverance, endurance.  But they were serious pieces expressing much emotion, passion, and expression, filled with illumination not only for myself, but for anyone who could find themselves within them.

By 2004 my journey’s path began to clear, and by 2007 I found myself yearning to express myself in a lighter way.  So I picked up the brush once again, but this time my chosen medium was also “lighter” – watercolors.   I began making fun, little pictures that I gave to friends, or used on hand made cards.  They were brighter, more whimsical, and soon led to the Knittington Fairies series, as well as the Garden Sprites series (I haven’t posted these yet, but hopefully by summer they will emerge).

I am in the process of expressing another side of myself; the whimsical, playful side. (Don’t you find that you have so many different sides to you, like the many facets on a beautifully cut diamond?)  And I must say that I am having fun with it.

Well, now you know a little more about how I got to Leisure Lane – a place I hope to showcase my work with the success that will enable me to create more, because that’s when I’m truly happy.  And the more I create, the more inspiration can flow through me and out to others.  It allows me to feel like I am using my gifts in the way in which they were intended to be used…giving joy, inspiration, and illumination to others.

Thank you for visiting.  I enjoy hearing from you, so feel free to leave a comment.   Until next time, may happy days abound.

Marianne

The above paintings  listed in order of appearance:

Into The Light, Patience II, With the Within, Love’s Strength, The Magic Mirror

PayPal Ready

Good day, dear friends,

Finally! PayPal is up and running on the Knittington Fairies’ page. Even with my computer expert helping it took a lot of finagling.  It should now be a lot easier to order.

Whew! Now that that’s done I can move forward with the next step…like getting the Valentine design ready to put into print.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Until next time, may happy days abound,

Marianne

The Wignuts

Hello Friends,

Saturday, on my way to work, I decided to stop by and see what was going on at the book-signing…you know, what kind of book it was, the author, etc.  I am glad I did.. Deborah Cocos, the author, is a delightfully charming woman, and she has woven an equally delightfully charming story.

Tale One of the Wignuts…The Golden Sprigget of Fritzwitz  features a group of little people who live in trees and have a language quite different from our own.  They believe in fun and laughter, and their hearts let them know when they’ve done a good deed.  I couldn’t wait to go home that evening, curl up with a cup of tea and read it.

The illustrations are wonderful and express the character of the Wignuts very well.  All in all, meeting Deborah Cocos, her sister, Sandy, and The Wignuts, made my work day more fun.

You can find this book  at Barnes & Nobles, Borders, and Amazon.com  or go to:

Get this book

Tate Publishing

Amazon.com

Books-A-Million

Have a wonderful day, and until next time, may happy days abound,

Marianne

When One Door Closes…

Good day, friends,

Well, today is the book-signing at a local shop.  I was prepared to bring the note cards and some other goodies I had available for sale.  However, I found out last weekend that my request for the day off was denied.  Though disappointment was my very first reaction (more like “hunh?” ), I made up my mind that instant to stay positive.  I decided that it was okay, and if that option was not available to me at this time another would present itself.  And because God is ever faithful,  the cards have been selling despite what initially seemed to be a setback.

Trust and faith are so important…but where one’s trust and faith are is more important.  So today I just finished putting the final touches on another two orders of the Christmas cards, and later I’ll be on my way to work, knowing in my heart that this is only for a season; a season which is coming to an end.  And a new, wonderful, extraordinary season is budding even as I speak.  Oh, what beautiful fruit, what glorious, kingdom fruit this season shall produce!

Enjoy the day, and until next time, may happy days abound.

Marianne