Merry Christmas

Hello friends!

I want to wish everyone a Very, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I have a special Christmas message to share with you all. One of the designers at the studio, Stephanie, gives a children's sermon at her church every Sunday. This Sunday she spoke about Christmas gifts - it is a sweet and powerful message for all ages!

Nature Scrapbook on HSN!

Our studio was so excited to be featured on HSN's craft day!

Check out this video clip for some scrapbook page ideas and other crafts to make from our K & Company Nature program -

This package of stickers, borders, and papers can be purchased online from HSN

Atlanta Gift Show!

Last week I returned from yet another wonderful weekend at the Atlanta Gift Show! As always, it was a great few days of visiting with old friends, meeting new friends, and best of all - getting a sneak peak at some of our new products!

Here are some photos of our new designs with Magnet Works and Ne'qwa ~

Our first night in Atlanta, we had the treat of going to a baseball game with

some of our friends from Leanin' Tree. Go Braves!!

Every year at the gift show I also have the great pleasure of meeting design enthusiasts from all over the country. This year I met Susan L riding in an elevator! She owns a gift store called

Mothers & Daughters in Denham Springs, LA - if you are ever in the area, be sure to check it out!

101 Uses for Scrapbooking Papers!

Stephanie, a Winget Art designer and creative super mom, recently revamped her children's toy cabinet with our K and Company Nature Scrapbooking papers. Check it out!
Before...

And After...

Beautiful job, Stephanie! This got me thinking about all of the other creative ways to use scrapbooking papers. The K and Company papers are high-quality, thick-stock papers. They could be used for homemade greeting cards and origami. What about placemats for a theme dinner party? They could be used as mat paper when framing photos, or framed by themselves as wall artwork. Check out the creative ways blogger Jackie Anderson used our Nature papers. I'm sure together we could come up with 101 uses for scrapbooking papers - do you have any ideas to share??

Scrapbooking with Blue Moon!

One of my friends found a video by Blue Moon Scrapbooking reviewing our K and Company Nature collection! Thank you to Blue Moon for all of your compliments and for carrying my collection at your online store!

Farmer's Market - New at Cracker Barrel!

Our studio went to lunch at Cracker Barrel today and like always, it was delicious! We also saw our latest Cracker Barrel collection "Farmer's Market" in the Old Country Store. This collection embraces one of my favorite summertime activities... going to the farmer's market to find wonderful, fresh fruits and vegetables. Visit your nearest Cracker Barrel to see more!

Carole King & James Taylor

Last night was a late night - and it was absolutely wonderful! Al and I went to the Carole King and James Taylor Troubadour Reunion concert. They were great together. The music was fabulous, the stories were great, and Carole looked amazing. We had a great time singing along! Here are some photos my friend took of the concert.

Nesting on the Farm

Not long ago, Al and I discovered a killdeer nest on the farm. Killdeer are a very interesting bird. They get their name from their distinctive call, have you ever heard "kill-deer!" being screeched from above? They also play a wonderful trick on their predators. If they see an animal coming for their nest, they will move away from the nest, stick one wing up in the air, and flounder around like they are injured. Then the predator will go after them, thinking they are an easy target, instead of going after the nest. Clever birds!!

There isn't very much "nesting" to their nests, either. They like to lay their eggs on gravel - with a very thin lining of grass. So, the gravel path outside of our barn, with grass sprouts and hay, made a perfect spot for them. With all of the daily activity around our barn, we've had to be really careful not to disturb the eggs!

I'll keep you updated on the baby killdeer - they should be hatching soon!

Mother's Day Quilt

As many of you know, my daughter Erin moved to Michigan this year to work for The World Race. She and her friends found a woman to take sewing lessons from and she completed her first quilt not long ago. She did an amazing job and it is beautiful!

Last weekend, Erin came home to North Carolina and gave her first quilt to me as a Mother's Day gift! I will cherish it always as a precious gift of the heart.

Susan Winget's Mother's Day Quilt 2010 from susan winget on Vimeo.

Smell the Roses!

Earlier this week, our studio took a field trip to McGill Rose Garden - located right here in Charlotte, NC. The garden was gorgeous and the scent of roses filled the air. They have hundreds of varieties of roses - definitely a "must-visit" destination for rose lovers! Below are some photos of our visit and a video of our tour. Watch the video to hear the beautiful history of McGill Rose Garden.

It was drizzling during our tour - but it made the roses even more beautiful, with the look of fresh dew.

The garden is also full of beautiful sculptures and community art projects by different artists, schools, and organizations.

These benches were painted by the women of UMAR - an organization that supports adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities that our studio has come to know and love over the years. How beautiful are these?!

Hay-Baling Time!

Every May, our family gets together to bale the hay on our farm. As Al says - the family that hays together, stays together! Erin and Sam both came home to help, and our friend John Hammond came to help as well! It was a long day of hard work... but, we managed to have some fun too. And of course it was a wonderful weekend having all of my children in one place again!

Here are some photos from our hay-baling adventure!

This picture is so funny to me - my daughter woke up with a hurt eye so I made her a patch. She laughed and said that this is what you get when you have a hypochondriac-artist mother! ...the patch worked and her eye was all better in no time! Click here to read more about our baling on Erin's blog!

Apple Cake!

Recently I received an email from Lori of Happy Bird's Crafting Haven. Lori found the coffeebreak page on my website and tried our recipe for Apple Cake. She was kind enough to send us a glowing review and photo of her cake - Doesn't it look delicious!?!

Check out Lori's Crafting Blog where she writes about all kinds of fun crafts, recipes, and more!

Thanks again, Lori!

JoAnn's Fabrics

I am so excited to share all of my new JoAnn Fabrics with you - now available on their website! Click Here for fabrics from my studio with floral, nature, cupcake, and safari themes - just to name a few! Their fabrics are beautiful - I hope you enjoy them as much as we have!

Also available from JoAnn is a "Quilts Galore" project using my designs - Click Here to download the PDF and get started on your next quilting project today!

Thank you, Teachers!!

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day! So, I wanted to take a moment to thank all of the teachers that are working hard everyday to make a difference in the lives of our children. Coming from a family of teachers - my mother-in-law, my husband Al, my son Mac, and my daughter-in-law Megan included - I know the sacrifices that teachers make everyday. It is truly a profession of love and I am humbled by the dedication and selflessness of the great teachers I have come to know personally. I cannot say enough about how vital teachers are to our communities - thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Stephanie, a designer at the studio, made the following video to show appreciation to her daughter Genevieve's 1st Grade teacher Mrs. Nichols. She is one of the wonderful teachers at Mt. Gallant Elementary School in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

Check it out!

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day's 40th Birthday! Genevieve, the daughter of one of my studio designers, put together this very cool video about recycling - check it out!

Happy Earth Day!! Together we can truly make a difference for our world and our children's future - what are you going to do today to make a difference??

Baby Boda!

I am happy to announce that Mary Beth is officially a Nana! Will Boda was born yesterday at 2:02 pm; weighing 7 pounds & 6 ounces! Isn't he beautiful??

Congratulations to Amanda and Billy from everyone at Winget Art!!

Scrapbooking with K And Company!!

I am so very excited to announce that our first line of scrapbooking materials with K & Company is coming out soon! I had so much fun designing the papers, stickers, and tags with our Nature's Sketchbook Art. K & Company's products are beautiful, fun, and always of the highest quality; it is a joy to be working with them!

Check out the Sneak Peak of this collection on Scrapbook.com!

Fun at Bray's!

Al and I had another wonderful retreat to Bray’s Island last weekend – here are some highlights of the trip!

Can you spot the little herron we saw on our walk?

Here are pictures of the fox hunt we attended. The Middleton Hunt comes to Bray's every January. This hunt was not hunting live foxes – only following a laid-out scent. Here are our friends Pam and Cindy right before it started!

Releasing of the hounds!

The group leaving for the hunt! The main huntsmen are in the red jackets and lead the hunt.

Bray’s Recycles! Here is Al, doing his part!

New at Cracker Barrel!

Our 2 latest Cracker Barrel programs are now available at the Old Country Stores. Go now to see our elegant new nature collection called "Blue Bliss" and the colorful new rooster collection called "Break of Dawn." As always, it was exciting to see all of the new products - and of course we stayed for lunch!

Blue Bliss!

Break of Dawn!