A NEW DIRECTION

I have been involved in the art world in some capacity for the past 30 years. There isn't much that I haven't tried LOL! I've sold at Craft fairs and now on Ebay, where I love the fact I am in control and I only create what I enjoy.

For the past eleven years I have been a miniature teddy bear artist and even after all these years, I still enjoy it (which surprises me a little). However, the years of hand sewing are taking their tole and it's time to start looking in a new direction.

A few years ago, I stumbled across something that encompassed a lot of my interests, which include photography, old emphemera, playing with photoshop, and finding new uses for old photographs (which too often get shoved in a box) - making ornaments and jewelry. Last week, I decided to have another go at it and I haven't had this much fun in years. I hope you enjoy the pictures of my new jewelry and ornaments, as much as I enjoyed making them. I am listing them tonight on ebay, if you care to take a peek at them. My seller id is: duffyantiques . Thanks for popping by!

NIAGARA BUTTERFLY CONSERVATORY

For the past two weeks we have been on holidays. We spent time with our grandson, relished the company of very special friends and we visited some of the more regional landmarks, which is something we don't do very often. We visited the St Jacobs market, which is always a wonderful experience and also visited the Silos, which has a great variety of local crafts.

Then it was on to the Niagara region, with its fruit markets and winerys, as well as the beautiful little town, Niagara-on-the Lake, and last but not least, Niagara Falls. My husband is fascinated with the two sets of falls - he loves to watch the power of it all, as the water goes tumbling over the edge. It really is an incredible site. We stumbled across the extremely efficient bus system this time, with it's all day bus passes, which made the trip even more enjoyable and very easy to navigate from one end of the town to the other!

This was the first time we toured the Butterfly Conservatory, which was the highlight of my visit - I could have spent hours there, photographing the variety of over 2000 brilliantly coloured tropical butterflies. It was quite an experience and I would highly recommend it. The gardens at the conservatory were also lovely and there are many other gardens around town to visit.

The falls were breathtaking as always, even though we have viewed them many, many times. The amount of tourists we see each time we come, always reminds us what an amazing site we have right in our back yard. The photo with the boat is the Canadian Falls or Horseshoe Falls, the larger of the two falls. Enjoy the pictures!