Judy, Judy, Judy

Today I have a special blog. It's called Judy, Judy, Judy. A few months ago I brought some of my polymer clay things to a club that I belong to. It's mostly women and that's probably because we sit for hours and knit and crochet and gossip. We also do charity work. We make chemo caps for cancer patients and afghans and lap robes for the Salvation Army, Caps and baby blankets for preemies and babies born to poor families. We make afghans and caps for a school class of very poor children. Most of the women in this group are 10, 20 or 30 years older than I am and I'm no spring chicken. Let's just say I got my first Social Security check not too long ago. Anyway, a lady joined the club and I knew she was my age and she came over and sat at our table. She was kind of quiet and reserved but very sweet. She could crochet anything. She's made the most beautiful afghans I've ever seen. Well, Judy asked me one day if I would consider giving her a class in polymer clay and I said I would love to. She came over and I think we spent 3 hours together. She caught on so fast she made my head spin, she had ideas and questions and when she left I was dizzy from all the excitement. Well, Judy and I have spent at least 3 more sessions together since that first one and every time I see her she's wearing a necklace that she made of polymer clay. We did one short jewelry making class and I've created a monster but this monster is one of the most artistic and waaaayyy out there monsters. Check these necklaces in the pictures below. She's got pizazz, I've got boring, she's got wild, I've got plain, she's got "LOOK AT ME", I've got hmmmmmmm. Anyway, I am so proud of her, she's not afraid to try anything or put something together that I never would have thought to put together. Her pieces are getting better and better and better and now she's learned how to buff her beads so we have a whole new ballgame. I guess you can tell from reading this I'm a little jealous, wish I could think outside the box like Judy does. OH BOY DO I EVER? Actually, she's inspired me to do just that. You are going to be hearing and seeing a lot about Judy and her polymer clay pieces. We are going to get her on Etsy and I'm guessing people are going to start buying her things right off her neck pretty soon. Her designs are so great I'm sure she's going to get noticed and then she'll be so busy making jewelry she'll find excuses not to call or email me and her jewelry will be on the front cover of Polymer Cafe and then she'll be doing a book and I'll be in a nursing home telling every one, I KNEW HER WHEN. Judy my dear, I love you and I'm there for you, you are a sweetie. Bring me chocolate when you visit me in the nursing home.

I'm a spiral bead junkie. I love doing spiral beads. I'll never be a Laura Timmins but she does inspire me. My other inspiration is Barb Fajardo, I love her swirl beads also. Ladies you are awesome.

This is my Green Giraffe Bracelet. It's a stretch bracelet and has large pink cat's eye beads and gold spacer beads in between. This was made with Studio By Sculpey Clay so after the beads were sanded and buffed, they still didn't shine but the bracelet is very cute and would make a great gift for a teenager.

Ok, here we go again. A friend gave me a box with some rods in them and I brought the box home and put it on the floor and before I had a chance to get the rest of the stuff out of the car, he was in the box and started sneezing non-stop. My girl friend has 4 cats that were playing with the box before she brought it over. Ok, enough Booboo, back to creating.

This is Sissy. She is a Havanese from Cuba. She belongs to my good friend Pat. I love this girl. As you can see, she lets me do anything I want to her. I put rollers in her hair and she didn't care. She's the sweetest and smartest dog in the world. I want to steal her and bring her home but Booboo doesn't like her. He yells at her all the time.

Some of my friends asked me to put more pictures of Booboo on my blog so I will. I wanted to send this pciture to Office Max but never did it. Here he is with one of his 9 rubber balls that he carries around the house and sings with. I have to hide them at night or he sings all night long. Right now he is in his bed and snoring so loud I can't hear the tv.

BOOBOO'S NEW BOX BED

This is BooBoo's new box that he sleeps in and he loves the plastic paper, must keep him warm. He was sleeping in an Office Max bag but now he is always in the box.

The bracelet is one that I finished today and put on Etsy http://bleekreations.etsy.com/ The olive colored beads are made and decorated with polymer clay. It's a stretch bracelet made with Studio By Sculpey clay which has a suede feel to it. However, I decided to use my rotary tumbler to sand them (first time) it was an adventure. I put it outside and the drum kept stopping so I brought it in and put it on the kitchen floor. It worked great. I had it filled with polymer clay beads, water and pieces of sand paper, not so hot. Did some research and it said to use Bon Ami, didn't have Bon Ami so I used Bar Keepers Friend. Worked pretty good and then I buffed them. That's a lot of work but they look pretty good for wild beads. Will try that sanding thing again now that I bought 4 cans of Bon Ami. Wal-Mart didn't have it, Walgreens didn't have it but I finally found it at Ace. Will let you know how that works.

Booboo is ready for bed so I guess I better go too.

Have a good night.

Pink and Yellow Translucent Polymer Clay Necklace

This is one of my latest necklaces that I put on Etsy. It's made with Polymer Clay from a technique that I learned on the latest Donna Kato DVD. I added some leaves from a cane that I had made for Jana Roberts Benzon class.

The neck is made with velvet cord and has a beautiful magnetic clasp on it.

It has topaz square beads and copper spacers.

I haven't had a lot of time this week because I took my husband to the Grand Canyon. It was a wonderful trip but that is a really scary big hole. I have a height problem and it's really scary to me that people walk to the end of the rims and look over.

There's a new blog out here. Her name is Marlene and she does beautiful beading work, beautiful painting and some out of this world polymer clay. She's a one man show. She just had a hip replaced and is down and out for a while but I know when she gets back, it will be wild. We miss you Marlene.

I want you all to check out another websit on Etsy called "Polymer Clay for a Cause". The mother of a child with Muscular Dystrophy started this Etsy shop and I will be sending her things to sell on there. Please check it out and buy yourself a nice gift to support MD. The website is http://polymerclayforacause.etsy.com.

After you go there, go to http://bleekreations.etsy.com and check out the new things I put on there.

Miss you grandma.

This necklace is called "My Friend Rose". I make lots of beads and don't always do any thing with them except let them sit in a box. I have a very dear friend "Rose" who spends time with me in my studio and she loves going through the beads and things that I make with polymer clay. Last week she took out all these beads, put them together on a beading board, pulled out all my spacer beads and told me we were going to put this necklace together. It really is quite stunning up close. It has velvet cords on the neck piece and a magnetic clasp. I love it and will be putting it on Etsy very soon.

A few years ago my husband had open heart surgery and I was trying to be quiet while he rested. Didn't want to go any where because I wanted to make sure he was ok. I spent two weeks making beads but they were small ones. I put them in bags according to the colors and patterns and put them away. One day Rose came over and saw my box full of beads and asked what I was going to do with them. I gave them all to her and said "let me know if you have an idea for some of these". She took them home and threw them all in a pile on her bed and strung them with gold spacers in between each bead. It turned out beautiful and was long enough to wrap around her twice. I would never had thought to put all those different colors and designs together. Anyway, I was sure she was going to give me the necklace. Boy was I wrong. She wore it every day for weeks. She wore it every where she went. She brought it for "Show and Tell" at our polymer clay guild meeting. She was getting millions of compliments on this necklace. She called it the BonRo necklace. I tried touching it and she wouldn't let me. I have never even had the privilege of trying this one on. I guess I'll make some more beads and make my own necklace but I'm going to hide them from Rose. Rose if you read this you know I'm only kidding right :0). I don't even have a picture of that necklace because Rose won't let get close enough to it. I promise if Rose sends me a picture I'll post it to my blog.

In the meantime, please support Etsy and all the great and beautiful handmade items out there.

http://bleekreations.etsy.com