Whoa, what a busy few weeks it had been! Between working with my senior friends, freelancing (my day job) painting (my favorite job!), doing the kid shuffle and running a semi-sane household (debatable),  I’ve been burning the midnight oil a lot lately. This past weekend, my daughters competed in their Oireachtas (regional Irish dance championships), which was an incredible push to a fantastic finish. My littlest and I made “Good Luck” door hangers for her team mates. I loved having a helper on this one, especially because it was completed in the 11th hour!

As we crest into Thanksgiving, I can’t help but reflect on all that is good around me. I am surrounded by an incredible family and friends, we are blessed with health, we have a beautiful place to call home, and there will be food a plenty on our table on Thursday. I am also very thankful to be super busy with paintings for the holidays! I got a last minute order in for 20 thanksgiving table runners (finished with a day to spare!)

I’ve also got some very special pieces in the works for the holidays that incorporate loved one’s handwriting. Those are by far my favorite pieces to work on, because they are one of a kind and mean so much. I’ve added some of the new pieces I’ve completed in my gallery so please check them out and let me know what you think! Here’s one that I created using four of her family member’s own handwriting. She had seen something similar with the white washed background in Homegoods or the like and wanted to use her own family’s handwriting to make it their own. On the back it has their signatures too.

My “Cead Mile Failte” (Gaelic for “A hundred thousand welcomes”) pieces are among the more popular on my etsy site. I had an order come in for one in a much larger than usual size. It was a fun challenge to build and even more “fun” challenge to package to ship, but I LOVE how it came out and am tempted to make another one for little old ME as I think it would look amazing on our big old mantle.

Another piece that I recently finished was created for a dear friend of mine’s new house. She needed something to go in her mud room above her coat hooks, and wanted to incorporate her family’s names somehow. The expression is perfect, especially for this week.

I am also thankful for the likes, shares, and ideas from all of you! I wouldn’t be able to do any of this if not for you.  My hope for you, dear friends, is that your worries be light and your blessings be many this Thanksgiving!