hark! the herald angels sing....

Glory to the Newborn King!!

 "Song of the Heart" by J Kirk Richards

I found this artwork on Pinterest....fell in love with it and wanted to share it with you. It makes me think of the angels singing at the moment Jesus was born. The joy and celebration that rang out in Heaven and on earth.

Hoping you all had a very Merry CHRISTmas

and wishing you a blessed 2013!

drumroll please......

Congratulations Tammy Brandstetter! You are the lucky winner of the November give away! I will send your 8x10 "Angel's Bouquet" print right out in the mail as soon as you contact me with your address.

Thank you to everyone for entering the drawing! I had the most names ever to draw from! The next give away will be announced some time after the new year.

Well said.....

Where Was God? Mike Huckabee's Incredible Response to the Newtown Shooting Tragedy from anberlin_fan on GodTube.

I was so moved by this video that I just had to share it. I don't want to get into any political "he said", "she said" issues. This, for me, has nothing to do with being a democrat or republican. Let's be real and look at the truth.......as a society, God has been pushed aside and only called upon in times of crisis. God needs to be in our lives EVERYDAY....we need Him in our homes, schools, and offices. Without God, we allow evil to step in and cause pain, suffering and hopelessness. God is love.....He can be nothing else. God also gave us free will. We decide for ourselves whether or not we want a relationship with Him. I choose God.

the new chicks.....

Never in a million years did I think we would one day have chickens! It's a rather long story but a funny one indeed. My brother-in-law has a bunch of chickens and once in a while, Kevin, my husband, would bring home fresh eggs after visiting with his brother. Not only are the eggs delicious but they come from free-range, no hormone, no antibiotic chickens! I have a growing concern about our food supply but that story will have to wait until another time.

We've tossed the idea around about getting our own chickens so we, too, would have fresh, healthy eggs. But this idea remained just that....an idea. Where would we put them? Would Daisy kill them? How would we keep them in our yard? Do we really need something else to take care of? Where would we find the time? The questions seemed to outweigh the answers so it remained an idea for many months. UNTIL.....

Kevin works with an investor that had a house on a land contract. The people living in the house defaulted on the contract and had to leave. They left alright.....they left cat and dogs in the house, they left trash all over the yard and left four chicken roaming the property. Unbelievable! The dogs and cats were rescued but what about the chickens? Well, a few days later, we decided it was now or never but before putting in a lot of time fixing them a coop, Kevin wanted to make sure they were still at the house. 

After church one Sunday, Kevin, Ryan and I stopped by the house to check on the chickens and there they were huddled under some bushes. My hubby and son decided, heck, we are here, there is a cage to put them in, we might as well try to catch them and take them home now. Here's the funny part....... the chickens had come out from under the bushes and were now huddled behind a grill up against the house. Kevin took an old towel and Ryan had an old blanket........one on the left side of the grill and one on the other side.....they moved in slowly and when they got close enough to try to catch them the chickens panicked and started squawking and flying. Ryan (not realizing chickens can fly and to be honest, I didn't think of it either) jumped back and let out quite a yell! Then they went chasing the chickens around the yard! It was quite a sight. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Needless to say, the chickens didn't come home with us that day.

After a couple of other attempts to "catch" the chickens, Kevin decided instead to go over to the house after they had roosted at dusk and shut them inside the coop and then go back over in the morning to put them in the cage since they were confined inside the coop. Kevin had converted our kid's old playhouse into quite a nice little chicken coop so we were ready to bring them home.

Now, the first night that the chickens were here, Kevin tried to get them in the coop for the night. Since they were new to their surroundings, we didn't think they would know to go into their new coop. In his attempt to get them inside the coop he spooked them and they flew into a nearby tree and slept there the first night. The second night, the same thing happened but this time, Kevin climbed the tree and got them down! (impressive huh?) I told him not to do any of these things without me watching as I needed some good laughs!! A few days later someone told Kevin that he should have let them out of the cage in the coop and kept them confined inside for a day or two so they knew that was their new home. Live and learn, right?!?

Anyway, all is well. The chickens now go to roost at dusk all by themselves. They stay in the yard and Daisy has gotten use to them and best of all, we have delicious healthy eggs every day!

hard to believe

A Prayer Tribute to the Victims of The Newtown School Shooting from sharethemessage on GodTube.

Hard to believe in one day I am sharing with you my excitement about the future and later in the day question the future.....the future of our society. It is unfathomable to think a young man at the age of 20 could gun down 18 innocent children ages 5 to 10 years old. My heart aches for the all victims and their families. Not only the entire community of Newtown CT is affected but it has touched us all. We are grieving with them.

He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.

Psalm 147:3

we're getting closer.......

I just received an email from Coynes & Co. with the new 2013 catalog attached! Here are the pages from their catalog that feature my angel products. I am in the process of setting up an account with them and will be placing my order as soon as I am approved. I will be putting these items for sale on my website before January but they will not be shipping until February. I am so excited, I can hardly contain  myself!!!

Ya know, when I first started painting these angels a couple of years ago, I was met with a little bit of skepticism that "angels won't sell". But as an artist, I didn't care about that. I had an internal passion that just had to come out! I told myself, whether they sell or not is not my concern, I will continue to paint them anyway. Sometimes, we just have to do what is in our heart.......and most of the time that is our best work.

So far, the feedback has been very positive. The angel art is licensing well but time will tell if the consumer is ready for such products. I can tell you that when I am at retail shows, people gravitate to the angel art and I have a collector of my original paintings that said to me via email, "Your paintings give me such peace, and I smile every time I see one of them. This gives me many reasons to smile as I must have enough for every room of the house by now!" -  Eileen, Traverse City, Michigan

That is a dream come true......that my art....my God-given gift,

brings comfort, peace and smiles to those who see it.

whew

"Guardian Angel"

©Teresa Kogut, all rights reserved

Wow! I can't believe I haven't posted since Thanksgiving! I have had shows every weekend since then so the weeks were filled with preparing for the shows. However, this past weekend was the last show of 2012. A BIG thank you to all that came out to see me! You helped make these shows a success and I love connecting with you :)

I would love to share photos of all the wonderful shows I was lucky enough to attend but my camera is "out of order" so I only have my phone camera. Guess what I want for Christmas this year????

photo taken at Handcrafters in Northville MI, Dec 8th

Now that I am back in the studio, I have BIG plans! First of all.....I am antsy to get painting again, so I will be posting new art as I get them finished.  Secondly, I am diving into designing cross stitch patterns for the TNNA market in March. At the request of my customers, this is a must and I am so excited! And last but most importantly, I have been working diligently on plans for 2013. It is going to be an amazing year with lots of exciting new ways to stay connected with YOU! 

Blessings for a wonderful Monday!