The Nutcracker Ballet

On Saturday, my friends and I went to see The Nutcracker ballet performed by the Mobile Ballet Company. It was beautiful performance with the added talents of two dancers from the New York City Ballet.

My friend Bonnie had bought a new camera and macro lenses on Black Friday and she got the chance to use it during the second half of the ballet. I asked her if I could share some of her photos on my blog! I'm so glad she said yes because she got some beautiful shots of the dancers.

This is a shot of Clara and the Nutcracker watching the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier dancing. During these scenes, Clara and the Nutcracker are given a 'tour' of the Kingdom of Sweets with each kingdom showing their native dances.

A beautiful shot of the two guest dancers as the lead characters of the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier.

A fun interpretation of the Chinese 'tea cup' dance! I love the chopsticks in the dancers' hair.

Always popular with the audience is the Russians dance scene. The height on this jump is amazing!

Clara dancing with the kingdom's flowers.

The last couple of minutes of the ballet with all the kingdoms doing a dance for the Nutcracker and Clara before Clara falls 'asleep' and awakens in her world.

Overall, it was a gorgeous ballet! I'm hoping to persuade my friends to come with me in March to see Corey's new original ballet, Snow White. You know me and my love of fairy tales!

Thank you Bonnie for allowing me to show off your photography skills!

Until next time ^______^

Yumminess That Glitters!

Lovely, soft pastel colors in an assortment of yummy cakes, cookies, and ice creams!

I'm having fun with Japanese clays this month! The texture of the clays are silky and soft and a joy to work with for sure. I'm in love with the colors and the ability to accent the charms with clay hearts, whip cream dollops, and berries and glittery rhinestones.

I've got to put some varnish on these charms later on before adding them to my Etsy shop.

Until next time ^____^

Winter Wonderland

Design: It's a Kawaii Winter Wonderland by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery
Fabric: 28ct tea Monaco by Charles Craft
Threads: DMC
Start: November 2012

This is my progress so far on the Winter Wonderland series from Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. It's definitely a work in progress, but I'm hoping to finish it this month if nothing else in terms of cross stitch!

Until next time ^____^