Cards For Heroes Christmas Challenge. Yes you heard me right!!! Christmas challenge...

"I was raised with passive patriotism. Stand up for the national anthem. Say the Pledge of Allegiance every day in school. Barbecue on the Fourth of July. Put a troop-support bumper sticker on your car, and be grateful for heroes, at least from a distance."

So begins an article found in The Federal Way Mirror,a newspaper serving the residents of the city of Federal Way, Washington. http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/south_king/fwm/opinion/letters/51040622.html

This article was written by Sandy Allnock the founder of Cards for Heroes, and in the article she describes her journey, starting from one funky box sent to a deployed soldier, then finding that 2 short years later, she has started something that is turning into a major outreach type of link for Americans who are waking up to the fact that freedom comes with a price, and we want to thank those who are paying that price.

Click that link and read her story, she is just an awesome lady.


Cards for Heroes is just my cup of tea. I find myself in good company, I love to hang with an artsy crowd, and even though my cards are those of a rank amateur I was embraced and even applauded at our last blogathon. I garnerned 127 comments, I blush. but that just goes to show you what a great group of carders this is. I once again am blessed to participate with them again.


Which brings me to my point...shameful and long winded aren't I...

It's time to saddle up again...
saddle up those reindeer, get ready to ride!!!

Time to suit up...red suit that is, the one with the floppy hat and the white fluffy ball at the end.

The challenge has been issued and with it comes rewards...hmmmm...sounds suspiciously like the Christmas legend, the challenge: be good...the reward: presents under the tree from that fat jolly old elf.

Well our challenge is to make some Christmas cards and send them to Cards for Heroes. Here's the link: http://cardsforheroes.org/challenges/ We are also having a mini blog hop which makes me so excited, I can't wait to see everybody's cards that they have made. It is such a huge amount of creativity-so much fun. And let me not forget, there is a reward!! Submit some cards and your name will be entered into a drawing for a craft box loaded with carding stuff.

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

So I have posted my humble creations in this post and want to invite you to make a snow angel or two, and have a cup of virtual hot chocolate with me as you make your own blessings to be sent to a soldier. Merry Christmas everybody!!

Gypsies and Bohemianism

I found a wonderful blog with a gazillion beautious gypsy images, and a lot of lovely information. All the images in this post are from there. Of course I want to share, it's found:http://scrapologie.blogs.com/scrapologie_creating_art_/vintage-images---gypsies/


She says, "Gypsy "Roma" peoples have long had a history of persecution and misunderstanding, it's something I have always wanted to do - to celebrate Gypsy culture. My book celebrates the penchant Gypsies have for finding treasure old and new and creating art. It celebrates the adventurous Gypsy spirit."

You must take a quick trip over and check it out, It's a beautiful place.

Wikipedia says, "The term bohemian, of French origin, was first used in the English language in the nineteenth century[1] to describe the untraditional lifestyles of marginalised and impoverished artists, writers, musicians, and actors in major European cities.

Bohemians were associated with unorthodox or antiestablishment political or social viewpoints, which were often expressed through free love, frugality, and/or voluntary poverty. The term emerged in France in the early 19th century when artists and creators began to concentrate in the lower-rent, lower class gypsy neighbourhoods.



The term bohémien was a common term for the Romani people of France, who had reached Western Europe via Bohemia.




Literary Bohemians were associated in the French imagination with roving Gypsies (called bohemians because they were believed to have arrived from Bohemia), outsiders apart from conventional society and untroubled by its disapproval.

The term carries a connotation of arcane enlightenment ('let me tell your future'), but may also carry a pejorative connotation of carelessness about personal hygiene and marital fidelity.

The term 'Bohemian' has come to be very commonly accepted in our day as the description of a certain kind of literary gypsy, no matter in what language he speaks, or what city he inhabits .... A Bohemian is simply an artist or littérateur who, consciously or unconsciously, secedes from conventionality in life and in art.

The beautiful actual photos of gypsy families were found at the commons. http://www.flickr.com/commons?phpsessid=ea7b4da468f5935f24b65f41dbfc356f

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade MerrysMix.etsy.com

Dreamin Bohemian

I have been thinking about the gypsies of Bohemia in olden times, who traveled by caravan late at night from one town to the next town, to set up camp and eek out a living, I am having a hard time in actually getting a clear definition of just what Bohemian Style is. I feel like a townsperson, I think I see the picture, but then poof...I see the back of the wagon just breaking the horizon in the distance.

http://tinyhouseblog.com/tiny-house/gypsy-wagon-workshop/

bohemian - 5 dictionary results

(1.)
Bo⋅he⋅mi⋅an  /boʊˈhimiən/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [boh-hee-mee-uhn]
–noun 1. a native or inhabitant of Bohemia.
2. (usually lowercase) a person, as an artist or writer, who lives and acts free of regard for conventional rules and practices.
3. the Czech language, esp. as spoken in Bohemia.
4. a Gypsy.
–adjective 5. of or pertaining to Bohemia, its people, or their language.
6. (usually lowercase) pertaining to or characteristic of the unconventional life of a bohemian.
7. living a wandering or vagabond life, as a Gypsy.
Origin:
1570–80; Bohemi(a) + -an
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.


(2.)
bo·he·mi·an (bō-hē'mē-ən)
n. A person with artistic or literary interests who disregards conventional standards of behavior.
[French bohémien, from Bohême, Bohemia (from the unconventional lifestyle of Gypsies, erroneously supposed to have come from there).]
bo·he'mi·an adj., bo·he'mi·an·ism n.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.




(3.)
A Gypsy.
An itinerant person; a vagabond.
[Sense 3, translation of French bohémien; see bohemian.]
bo·he·mi·an (bō-hē'mē-ən)
n. A person with artistic or literary interests who disregards conventional standards of behavior.
~[French bohémien, from Bohême, Bohemia (from the unconventional lifestyle of Gypsies, erroneously supposed to have come from there).]
bo·he'mi·an adj., bo·he'mi·an·ism n.

Bo·he·mi·an (bō-hē'mē-ən)
n. A native or inhabitant of Bohemia.
The Czech dialects of Bohemia.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

(4.)
bohemian
A descriptive term for a stereotypical way of life for artists and intellectuals. According to the stereotype, bohemians live in material poverty because they prefer their art or their learning to lesser goods; they are also unconventional in habits and dress, and sometimes in morals.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

(5.)
bohemian
"a gypsy of society," 1848, from Fr. bohemién (1559), from the country name, from M.Fr. Boheme "Bohemia," from L. Boiohaemum (Tacitus), from Boii, the Celtic people who settled in what is now Bohemia (and were driven from it by the Gmc. Marcomans early 1c.). The modern sense is perhaps from the use of this country name since 15c. in Fr. for "gypsy" (they were believed falsely to have come from there, though their first appearance in W.Europe may have been from there), or from association with Bohemian heretics. It was popularized by Henri Murger's 1845 story collection "Scenes de la Vie de Boheme," the basis of Puccini's "La Bohème." Used in Eng. 1848 in Thackary's "Vanity Fair."

"The term 'Bohemian' has come to be very commonly accepted in our day as the description of a certain kind of literary gipsey, no matter in what language he speaks, or what city he inhabits .... A Bohemian is simply an artist or littérateur who, consciously or unconsciously, secedes from conventionality in life and in art." ["Westminster Review," 1862]
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bohemian


That was a lot of information, all well and good! But I am talking Bohemian Style. Boho.
I have a certain preconceived idea in my mind, but then I try to research it a little I get a different picture depending on which source I am using. I really do love how people put it together in their homes as a decorating style, and that is what I am searching for.

I myself am looking for a fresh update. It seems to be a lovely melange of color. The above pictures are a very modest and moderate interpretation of color when it comes to decorating with a boho style, the norm is to apply the glorious color to the walls, and incorporate massive dark wood furniture and accessories are eclectic and personal but not shy either. Bold. I am still in my research stage, but I love what I see so far.

It has a very 60's 70's feel, I think this will be a fun exploration. More to follow.