Bill volunteered for post office duty today. It is as fun to give and send as it is to receive! Enjoy your packages everybody! One more day to get those parcels for Christmas out but then there is always the feast day of Epiphany the first week in January...! Hope you are all taking time to slow down for moments here and there to enjoy the season.

The elves are still at it here and will be through the weekend. We will have some new things up over the weekend. We ship USPS Priority mail (3 business days) so the last day for us  to ship and reasonably expect it to arrive by Christmas Eve would be Tuesday, Dec. 18. We can also send out on the 19th, but the possibility of something not arriving in time to get under the tree is high. The store will be closed Dec. 20 through Jan 3 so we can enjoy the holidays with our family and friends.  I've attached a picture here of our gift boxes and gift bags. We have gotten so many lovely comments on our work and the packaging. We thank you for your comments and of course, your business!

It's a sunny 42 degrees in Northern Virginia but I'm already dreaming of summer and my favorite pastime of outdoor arts and crafts festivals. Pictured here is our friend Lisa at the Puyallup, WA,  farmer's market this summer in her booth XS Baggage & Co. She makes great handbags, computer covers, key fobs and a  lot more. I have one of the cross body shoulder bags and I love it. If you like Vera Bradley, you will love these. Lisa's workmanship is top notch and her sense of color and choice of fabric is fantastic. It's not too late to check out her Etsy site in time for a Christmas delivery- http://www.etsy.com/shop/XSBaggageandCo.

We are slowly developing plans for home and garden accessories we hope to launch this summer. An auction we are donating some items for spurred us on to develop some wine glass glass charms we have been meaning to get to. The recycled bottle glass beads seem to be appropriate for the wine theme gift baskets we are contributing to. We will have these and other variations up on the web site soon. Cheers! 

Bill and I went to a most inspiring artist talk last night at Weisser Glass Studio & Gallery in Maryland. If you devour art magazines like we do, you may know about Maryland hot glass artists Eric Markow & Thom Norris and their amazing and somewhat mystifying ability to weave hot glass into sculptural forms like a series of kimonos that they say take about 6 months to make. These guys have taken years to perfect their techniques that they aren't ready to totally share yet.  But they did share how they make their own glass colors in the kiln from sheet glass and frit, pull long hot rods of glass from a kiln mounted in their studio ceiling to weave into amazing sculptures like the kimonos, a cactus, cherry blossom branches, and more. Now at the top of their game, it took them years of false starts and broken pieces, but they stuck with it. They are such likeable fellows and were so encouraging to an audience of glass artists to keep at it in pursuing your art and don't give up. Check out their website www.wovenglass.com. If you are looking for a great place to buy glass, kilns or take interesting classes for every skill level, check out Weisser Glass Studio & Gallery www.weisserglass.com. We love going there.