Happy New Year!

As they say, Out with the Old and in with the new!

~Dawn

Christmas Highlights

There is a Dale Chihuly Glass Art Exhibit here at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. It is to die for.

You can learn more about him and his work at http://www.chihuly.com/
We went on Christmas Eve day and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

I am going back on a sunny day to snap some more pictures...

Dale Chihuly did the glass art ceiling in the lobby of the Bellagio that I so adore....

Here is one of my fave Santa's in my collection that I found a few years ago at TJ Maxx.

Here is one of my favorite gifts this year. A beautiful hand blown glass ornament like my sweet Westie, Pumpkin (the West Highland Terrier-izer) it was a gift from my dear friend Karen and I love it!

I love this girl Nutcracker I found last year. Isn't her sparkly glitter skirt, tiara, & feathers... to die for??? I added one of my own beaded necklaces to jazz her up this year. I might steal it back to wear tomorrow night though! *she winks* Behind her is my other favorite gift of the year...a contemporary mirrored Advent Calendar from Target (tar-jay) Love Love Love this. The hubs is gonna make some sweet notes and small gifties to celebrate the whole month long day by day next year. What a sweet guy and a terribly thoughtful gift!

This is my beloved Nativity Set, the detail on this set is incredible. I bought it at Costco of all places like 10 years ago and Love setting it up every year. It is the reason for the season...

Blogger is driving me crazy with the places they stick the photos !!! That is not what it looked like when I was editing!

~Dawn

It's Christmas

A Very Merry Christmas to you.... all my bloggy friends and readers. Stop by and look in the new year for more.

~Dawn

The Christmas List

1) Grocery Shopping... done (but for one blasted item)

2) Gifts Wrapped... Done!

3) Christmas Cards in the mail...whew, done! (and a handful were handmade mind you...)

4) Shopping at the Mall...you gotta be kidding me, so been there, done that!

5) Holiday Baking...done (I still want some Chocolate Amaretto Truffles, though!)

6) Understand the True Meaning of Christmas, done!

7) Christmas Music Playing 24/7 and the house is all decorated....oh yeah, done!

8) Tickets for Chihuly Exhibit @ Desert Botanical Garden http://dbg.org/ for Christmas Eve Day...done!

9) Nerves frazzled...check!

10) Did I forget anything...probably!

11) Did you know I love to speak in parentheses? (and I cannot talk without my hands moving)

12) Eat Chocolate (are you kidding me, done!)

Love,

~Dawn

Cookie Exchange, Easy Recipe, and Cowboy Ciao

My friend Lauren held a cookie exchange this week. It was fun. There was a lot of baking going on in Scottsdale this week.




In the spirit of trying to share something fun, delicious, easy and with no baking required ....





Here is my favorite treat for the Holiday.


Recipe as follows:

Dawn’s White Christmas Snack Mix

2 cups Rice Chex
2 cups Honey Nut Cheerios
2 cups broken Graham Crackers
2 cups Pretzels (as a variation, holiday shaped pretzels)
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 cup dried cranberries or “Craisins”
1 cup slivered almonds (or your favorite)
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 package of white almond bark candy coating


In a very large mixing bowl mix cereal, graham crackers, pretzels, etc; and set aside. Line a very large baking sheet or your countertop with waxed paper, and set aside. Melt white candy coating according to directions, add almond extract, and immediately toss in bowl with dry ingredients. Continue to gently mix until well coated. Then spread whole mixture out on wax paper/baking sheet. Spread with hands to make a thinner layer. Let cool at least 1-2 hours until chocolate is cool and set. Store in plastic bags.










I promise you it is addictive and delicious.






I had a fun day at Frenzy Stamper with my monthly atc group, we had our own VERY fun Christmas celebration. Then was treated to lunch by my dear friend Karen who WAY overdid the gift giving this Christmas. I seriously appreciate your friendship, my lovely gifts, and our lunch at Cowboy Ciao. But you did too much. Karen was taken with the killer chopped salad (I highly recommend it, BTW) and Karen had our waiter snap a photo with his camera phone. So I post it...












Food can be art. Cuz as artsy as my life has always been both with work and hobbies. I also adore a gourmet foodie experience. Food as art!

Merry Christmas,
~Dawn

Elf Yourself!

Oh boy!

The Christmas Cards are not done and in the mail yet. The few gifts I have on a list to shop for are not purchased yet. The jewelry I was going to make for gifts is not done, yet. The gifts going to out of state family are not wrapped, finished, or sent yet. The tree is up and decorated though! I am in the Christmas Spirit! I do know the true meaning of Christmas. I feel blessed that I do know it in my heart.

But, I got this email from Office Max at work and it said you need to "elf yourself". I thought it might be funny....

So here in all our glory are the hubs and I as elves. I was laughing so hard I had to buy it for $3.99. It was so worth it. Because at the end of the day, you need to have a little levity. It all gets done and is always perfect.

Merry Christmas to you and those you love this Holiday season!

~Dawn

Jewelry Tutorial

Hey there bloggers,

My artsy friend, Stephanie posted an easy and quick tutorial on making some earrings on her blog yesterday. Go check out her cool new space over at

http://www.creativecoup.typepad.com/

I am SO gonna steal this idea and make some fun some Christmas gifts pronto. Thanks Steph!

Hope your holidays are going well so far!

~Dawn

Blog Announcement...

We (Stephanie and Dawn) have really enjoyed blogging over the last few years. It is hard to believe we started it that long ago already. For the new year and from now on going forward we have separated our blog into 2. That way if you have been following “Altered Artists”, you get twice the blogging info! We are still very much friends, as we have known each other for over 10 years..so don’t think we had a blog fight. We both want to focus on creating our own identity and Stephanie has already opened her etsy shop to promote her awesome creations! As we both took more classes and met new people we were informed that, at times, people couldn't tell who was who. giggle. **What** As creative folk the last thing on earth you want to hear is that someone can't tell who you are, gasp!

So thanks for stopping by, we hope you continue to do so. Stephanie is now residing @ http://www.creativecoup.typepad.com/ and Dawn is staying @ http://www.alteredartists.blogspot.com/. Go check it out..Creative Coup has some books to giveaway this week on her new blog. If you have a blog and want some new fun html Blog Awards, see them below. We are trying to spread the wealth among bloggers...so you are ALL bestowed with the awards.

Love, Peace, and Creativity,
~Dawn Binyon and Stephanie Wright