Pearl restringing makes a great gift

Gentlemen, for most of the year I deal mostly with women.  But this time of year I deal mostly with men who realize that getting a strand of much-loved pearls, that have been sitting broken and unused in their wives' jewelry boxes, cleaned and restrung makes an excellent and thoughtful gift.  It certainly does! But your time is running out for this year.

I will not be accepting new restringing orders from Dec 10th, 2016 to Jan 1, 2017.  Any order that is already in house on Dec 10th will be completed and returned in time for Christmas.

Never fear, though.  There is still plenty of time to surprise her for Valentines Day!

Pearl restringing info

Merry Christmas !

Merry Christmas to you and yours from Sue Runyon Designs.

I wanted to show you our Nativity set.  It's a Fisher-Price one that my best friend got for my little guy on his first Christmas.  As will happen at our house, a few strange creatures have come to pay their respects to baby Jesus. And I do realize that Joseph was a carpenter and not a shepherd, but the research and development department at Fisher-Price is a little bit confused. We'll pray for them.

Blessings,
Sue

Put your orders in early

My orders from today

This year there is a lot of emphasis on buying items made in your own country, buying local and buying handmade. All of these things support your economy better than buying mass produced items from other countries.

Remember, however, to buy early. The guy at the farmers market with the local honey will probably sell out early. Your local bookstore may not have time to re-order an out of stock book if you wait too long. And artisans from all over the country are more than happy to make custom items for you, but most cannot do it at the last moment. Quality handmade items take time.

I am blessed to be able to have on-line storefronts on my own website, on Etsy.com and on Artfire.com.  I know from experience over the last few years that me and my fellow artisans with on-line shops get a spate of last minute requests that we have to turn down. If you place your custom requests now you still have time for most of them to make some very special items for you.  If you wait another week or two you may miss out on some fabulous gifts.

And if you are unsure where to start finding incredible handmade items on-line, I know dozens of wonderful artisans I can direct you to.  Just ask!

Happy Thanksiving from Sue Runyon Designs

I love Christmas cactus. Except . . . well, they always seem to bloom at Thanksgiving for me. So maybe they should be called Thanksgiving cactus. I've never been able to keep one for long as we are always moving and I end up giving them away, but we found this one at the local plant nursery this year. It was in bud and we didn't know what color it would be, but it's a lovely pale apricot color and we are enjoying it.

 Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

I Thessalonians 5:16

Sue

It's a Lego Christmas !

Since my son, Caleb, was born, we've been collecting some ornaments for his special little tree each Christmas. We try to find something that relates to his current interests or where we've been during that year.  This year his favorite thing has been Legos and a Lego Star Wars game on his Wii game system. This past weekend I gave him the "Ultimate Lego Christmas Ornament Challenge." He was up for it.

My Lego Christmas penguin with Caleb's Lego Star Wars canister

I had to give it a try too.  There may be more in the works, but this is my Lego Christmas penguin and Caleb's Lego Star Wars game "canister." Apparently the canister has some sort of function in the game that I don't understand, but which is very is important. I think my penguin has something of an Angry Birds look to it, but that's all in keeping with the year 2011 anyway. These will be glued together and a hanging string added to make permanent ornaments. I'll probably write the year on them with a permanent marker.

My Dr. Who tardis police box time machine

 We've enjoyed watching the series Dr. Who on BBC this year so above is my version of Dr. Who's police box time machine the Tardis.

Sue

How I spent my Christmas vacation

Merry Christmas !

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Sue Runyon Designs.  God Bless you and your family!

My brother lives near the Blenko glass factory. Each year he sends me something from there. This is what came this year.

Foolish Friday

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Amory!
Amory who?
Amory Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Caleb 2009

Our tree this year

White spruce that my husband and son cut at a tree farm this year. A lot of it had to be trimmed so that it wouldn't hit the ceiling at it was 14 ft when they brought it in. I like a tree with open branches. We collect trinkets from our travels around the world to use as ornaments on our tree. I thought I'd photograph a few this year.

ornaments from Peru

Ornaments from Alaska and Hawaii

Ornaments from Cambodia

Homemade ornaments, from Asia, ornaments with special meaning & Caleb with his own small tree and ornament collection

This year for Christmas

Dancing butterflies copper handcrafted necklace

This year for Christmas

candy cane and copper ornament $4.75

This year for Christmas

Hand tatted cranberry color ornament with jade bead  $5.00

TODAY'S SPECIAL - Christmas Clearance

30% off all of the following Christmas items. You will find them on both Sue Runyon Designs and in my Etsy shop. They are not marked down, but I will refund 30% (before shipping) to you for these items via your paypal account. Stock up for next year at a great price!

only one left

only two left

only two sets left

only one set left

only one set left

only two sets left

If you find items you want in both of my shops, I'll happily move them all to one shop and reserve them for you to make your checkout easy. Just contact me.

Christmas Break Activity

When you have a kid home from school for Christmas break it helps to have some activities planned. Today my eight year old son Caleb and I sat down and painted these ornaments. I had actually meant to purchase some from Dunkdesigns shop on Etsy, but she finished for the season before I got around to it.

Emperor penguin ornament I painted for my son. He's really into penguins.

Snowman and Santa ornament my son painted

Caleb's favorite animal--the tapir. Not just everyone has a tapir ornament!

snowflake ornament by Caleb

Our tree

Merry Christmas!

TODAY'S SPECIAL

This very special Swarovski crystal snowflake ornament is on SALE this week only. Made from a large Swarovski snowflake, and a hand-strung hanging loop of Swarovski crystal beads with a sterling silver bail. This will sparkle on your tree.

What a perfect gift for the person who has everything!

Was $18. This week only $14.

Find it at SueRunyonDesigns.com or in my Etsy Store along with other jewelry-quality ornaments that I have designed.

Thanks, Sue