On the First Day of Christmas....

Kathy gave to me....


I've been so patient! In early November I sent off 12 parcels to the most wonderful group of artists you could imagine. I waited as one by one, and two by two, 12 gifts mailed by the group have trickled into my mailbox.







This little bear is snuggled up to Gift #1, with it's pretty black and white paper and perfect little red heart tag...








Look what I got! It's an amazing and beautiful pendant.
Kathy Strittmater, of Denver Colorado created the first gift from a used shell casing (*funny story about that to follow), silver wire, brass washers, a cool gear off something, a strip of old text, a shiny crystal faceted bead, and a lot of care and attention. It hangs from a ball chain at the perfect length.
I love it Kathy! Thank you so much!



Here is Kathy's post from the Dozen Days group. Thanks Kathy, for being willing to "take a bullet" for the group!

"The Long Lost Bullet:


Here's my story!!! A long time ago a friend of mine gave me a bag
of tarnished used bullet casings in various sizes and he said "I know
you'll figure out something to do with these". I've had them for
years and recently thought about making a pendant out of them for our
exchange. Since there were several sizes, and I'm not the least bit
knowledgeable about guns and bullets, I took the bag to work to ask
some of the men that hunt if they could tell me about the different
sizes. I started with my boss, and that was the wrong person to
ask. He promptly told me that I had violated our company policy on
bringing firearms and contraband into the workplace and he could
immediately terminate my employment. I stood there stunned and
said "are you serious – they are empty bullet casings" and he said it
didn't matter, it was a violation of our policy and I needed to get
them off property immediately. And I was not allowed to go put them
in my car as we have a vehicle search policy at any time and now that
he knows that I have them, I cannot put them in my car or they could
search it. I am still in shock and disbelief at this point because
to me it was so innocent. So, I took the plastic bag of casings
across the street from our building and put it in a ditch. I wrote
myself a note and taped it on my steering wheel so I would remember
and pick them up after work that night. I figured I was now good to
go. Well………lo and behold, I leave work at the end of the day to come
out to the parking lot and I see a street resurfacing crew tearing up
the street and they are right by the ditch where I left the bullets.
There were several pieces of heavy machinery right there moving dirt
and I knew for sure the idea of getting my bag of bullets was long
gone. They have to be buried in dirt and asphalt by this point. I
was so distraught – I was about ready to cry. I was bound and
determined to get more casings, so I looked up in the phone book to
see if there was a gun shop in this small town where I work, and I
went on my lunch hour the next day, found what I wanted, purchased
the casings, left them there to come back and pick up after work
(explained to the old man why I couldn't take them with me at that
time) and I made what you have today. The original ones were all
tarnished and I was in love with them, but hopefully the new ones
will get tarnished sometime. So, something so simple could have cost
me my job, but never my spirit. I hope you enjoy wearing the "Long
Lost Bullet".

Kathy"