I hope everyone's having a fantastic holiday season!!
I know I am - so far mine's been filled with:

• beautiful decorations and lights - everywhere I look there's something sparkling or twinkling!
  
• fun times with friends - I learned a new card game; has anyone else ever played Liverpool Rummy?
• tasty food - Apple pie, from scratch, has got to be one of the best inventions ever! Yum.
• and thoughtful gifts - including jewelry! Though I obviously adore it, I very rarely receive jewelry as a gift. I think the idea of giving jewelry to a jeweler intimidates folks or something. Do any of the rest of you guys get that?
  

And now New Year's is almost upon us, can you believe it?? Maybe that means that spring will sneak up on us quickly too. Not too quickly, I hope - I'm actually pretty fond of winter. (Living in Wisconsin, I guess I'd better be, right?)

 In the spirit of the holidays and this generous time of year I wanted to draw your attention to a great program that Rio Grande has started. They're collecting jeweler's sweeps (that's floor, bench, or polishing dust that's swept up), to benefit the Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF).

If you aren't already familiar, we've talked about CERF before. They're a wonderful organization that helps craft artists in need.

Why are sweeps valuable? Rio's Web site explains:

"Both sweeps and buffing material contain various amounts of precious metals that can be reclaimed. The value of what is reclaimed from your sweeps and buffing material will be donated directly to CERF."

So if you have some extra sweeps that you were just going to throw out anyway, maybe think about donating them to assist fellow artisans. Every little bit helps.

Happy Holidays!

~Addie~

Thanks to The Daily Jewel blog for the heads up.