LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW

An amazing thing happened here in Sun City West, Arizona today.  It SNOWED.  It lasted about 30 seconds but it snowed.  I've been here 8 years and I've seen hail but not snow.  I'm from Wisconsin so this was kind of fun.  It's colder here than it is in the midwest right now.  This is the cloud that dropped those 2000 pieces :0) of snow on us.

I love it especially after the 4 months of over 110 degrees this summer.  We were going to run out and buy a shovel but changed our minds.  I just played golf 2 days ago.  This is strange.

BEADS OF COURAGE BEARS

I decided that I'm not going to make any resolutions this year.  Every year it's the same old thing, lose weight, spend more time working out, eat less sugar and blah, blah, blah.

This year our Arizona Polymer Clay Guild is going to get more active with the organization called "Beads of Courage".  Please go to the website to read the entire story http://www.beadsofcourage.org/.  Children suffering with cancer and other serious diseases tell their story through their milestones with beads.  Every time they get an injection, have chemo, have a test, come back to the hospital, what ever the task is, they get a bead to make a necklace or chain of beads.  The last one we were shown was over 6 feet long.  I just can't imagine a child having to go through that.

Our guild has been donating polymer clay beads to this organization for many years.  This year we decided to make an even bigger effort to find out what they need and this is where my resolution or lack there of comes in.   We were told the kids love brightly colored beads, animal beads, girl beads, boy beads but pretty good size beads.  The beads have to have at least a 2 or 3 mm hole to fit on the cord or necklaces that they have.  Two years ago I donated 50 purple hearts.  I was told that when a child is done with their program, they were given a purple heart.  I don't know if that's still true but makes sense.  Anyway, I decided I was going to make 100 bears by the middle of January.  I started yesterday and I have 17 done.  I have a beautiful bear mold that I'm using and I'm putting Swarovski crystal flat backs in the eyes and I'm using powders and glitter to spruce them up.  I have 5 boxes of clay leftovers and wasn't sure what I was going to use them for, now I know.

These little guys are being coated to protect their glitter and powder.  The first orange bear got his nose crushed in and I didn't notice till after I baked him.  I'll just tell them he had Botox that went bad.  I've had a couple glitter explosions (and it's only the first day).  I ordered some new bear molds and some baseball bats, hat and ball molds for the boys.

Will let you know when I get the 100th one done.

Hope you have a Happy New Year and a Healthy 2011.

CHRISTMAS DOGS

OK, I had to put up the picture of Angel dressed for Christmas.  She is the little Yorkie that was roaming in the desert full of cactus and burrs and was brought to my friends.  SHE MUST BE THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL.

CHECK OUT THE RED NAIL POLISH.

This is the frame I made for my friends Joe and Dee.  This is Scooter.  They rescued him before he was about to be euthanized.  He is a great dog.  Well behaved and he smiles.

This was the polymer clay frame from hell.  It started out black and white and after baking it came out black and beige so I antiqued it.  I usually finish my frames by spraying them with PYMII but it rained here for 2 days and I couldn't do it outside so I had to cover this with Diamond Varathane.  Took forever to dry because it was so damp here.  We aren't use to that in Arizona.  About a month ago I bought the Walnut Hollow stamp set at Michaels.  I really like the way it works on clay.  As you can see by the frames I made, it makes printing in clay really clean.  Now if they would make more in different text sizes and fonts, it would be great.  Think I'll send them an email and find out if they can.

Hope you had a nice Christmas.  We sure did but I still have too much food left and my pants are getting tighter.  Must be that closet with the little shrinking elves in it. :0)

MERRY CAT CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The last 35 years we have shared our Christmas holiday's with at least one cat, sometimes two and this year is no different.  Last night my husband and I opened our fun gifts to each other and there was lots of paper.

He looks so mean but he's such a happy cat.  For those of you who don't follow the Booboo antics, he was 19 on Halloween.  I was unwrapping presents and I heard the noise and there he was.  He's in pretty good shape for 19.  He still plays with balls when he's not sleeping.  He sits outside the shower and waits for me and yells at me when I've been gone too long.  He doesn't like dogs and chased my friend Brenda's dog Otis under the bed last week.  He's never done that before.  Poor Otis was shaking when we finally got him out.  So, I had to make a gift for Brenda and Otis.  I really like doing these frames with polymer clay but I don't like painting and the wood on these frames is peculiar.

Another mean picture of Booboo. :0)

Tonight we are having 9 friends over for dinner, we are doing something out of the ordinary.  We are having shrimp, crab and pizza.  We bought three big pizza's from Papa Murphy's yesterday and that's what we are having for dinner along with the 10 kringles my husband's brothers sent us for Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and would someone please buy me some bigger pants?

NEW KID ARRIVED FOR CHRISTMAS - CHRISTMAS COWBOY FOR GRANDMA

As many of you know my friends lost a very lovable little dog by the name of Annie.  They got her last December and she died in April.  She was a little Yorkie.  She stole everyone's heart.  It took a long time for all of us to stop crying after she died.  She left a big hole in everyone's heart.

In July they adopted another dog by the name of Honey:

Honey is on the right, Beau her brother is in the front, he's 7.  Their friend Scooter is in the back.

Honey doesn't like tall men.  She bites my husband in the back of the ankle every time he turns his back on her.  She is getting better, now she just barks at him.

Last Saturday I got a call saying their groomer showed up at the house with a little gift that she found wondering around the desert.

They were sent an Angel.

Her eyes were all gunky and she was full of burrs and cactus.  Isn't she adorable?  She is so sweet and can run like crazy.  I can't imagine anyone throwing a baby like this out in the desert but it's happening a lot.  They think she's about 7 months old.  She sure has added a spark to everyone's life.  I'm going to steal her, hope the cat likes her.  They appropriately named her Angel.

GIFT EXCHANGE AT THE CLAY GUILD

Today the Arizona Polymer Clay Guild had it's Christmas party.  We had a great raffle and we exchanged gifts.  I made a picture frame and thought it would be a great idea to put a picture of a good looking guy in it.  I never dreamed that our oldest (83) member would get my gift.  I thought perhaps one of our funnier members would get it.

I was a little worried about what she would think but her daughter said she was going to give her a pair of thongs (not shoes) for Christmas.  I don't even want to think about that picture.  I told Grandma Dorothy this cowboy would be at her house at 6 o'clock tonight.  She yelled "woohoo".  I didn't expect that.

I think I'll keep the cowboy and let her have the frame.  LOL

NEW BOX, NEW PIN - MEASURE TWICE CUT ONCE

My friend Evelyn is a shopper and I'm glad she is.  For Christmas this year she made me a pin and wait till you see what it came in.

This box is so beautiful, I'm going to keep all my treasures in it.  The top is inlaid wood and is gorgeous.

This is my pin, she kind of looks like me but my hair isn't curly anymore.

She's really cute.

MEASURE TWICE CUT ONCE

If I hear one more man tell me that I'm going to cry.  Evelyn and I are doing frames for our families and friends for Christmas.  The frames don't come with glass.  It says on the frame paper that they are 4 X 6.  The first ones I did I bought some $3 dollar frames from Wal-Mart and took the glass out and used it.  Then I bought some frames from the 99 cent store but the glass was crappy.  We called around and found a guy at True Value that said he would cut 40 pieces of 4 x 6 glass for us for 60 cents a piece.  We were so excited.  Evelyn picked up the glass, I went over and got my half, took it home and it didn't fit.  Quarter inch on both sides.  I almost cried.  I called Evelyn, picked up her glass went back to True Value and this nice guy said he would recut it.  Two hours later I was back at True Value picking up the glass.  Two guys in the store over heard our conversation and said "Measure Twice, Cut Once".  Last night at dinner I was telling our friends about it, guess what the guys said??????  I could myself burning.  Did any of them offer to measure or see what we needed?  NO

The only one that didn't say anything about measuring twice was the nice guy at True Value.  I gave him a good tip and went on my way.

By the way, the True Value stores are selling these cool necklaces.

They are battery powered and they blink fast or slow or stay on permanently.  The little yellow pin blinks too.

I told my husband I wanted something bright and shiny for Christmas (I was thinking diamonds) he came home from True Value the other day with this for me and he was all excited that he found something "BRIGHT AND SHINY".  I guess I'm lucky I didn't get a new vacuum cleaner.

CHRISTMAS PRESENT, MOM'S CHRISTMAS PRESENT AND SLEEPING CAT

Last week when my BFF's and I had our Christmas luncheon and exchanged gifts, Judy gave me a gorgeous necklace and I wanted to show it off  but couldn't get the right picture.  I think I finally got it.

The beads are beautiful and the colors are amazing.  She did a herringbone necklace and it has two lobster claws on each side so it can be opened on either side and things can be added if need be.  This girl designs some incredible pieces.  AND, today her Sutton slice was featured on Tonja Lenderman's blog.  You can go there and see it by clicking on Tonja's blog on the left side in my blogs that I am following.

MOM'S CHRISTMAS PRESENT

My mom is really hard to buy for.  This year she said she only wanted gift cards from McDonalds and Wendys.  She doesn't need clothes or any junk so I made her a frame out of wood and polymer clay.

I bought a bunch of frames at Joanne's and didn't know what I would do with them.  I really enjoy doing these.  The problem with these frames, they don't come with glass in them.  The first three I made I put glass in from some frames I bought at Wal-Mart and the glass was very nice.  I went to the 99 cent store and bought some frames and the glass isn't so nice.  Guess it's time to hit the garage sales.

The picture is of my great nephew.  He's my mom's first great grand child.  She thinks the sun rises and sets on him so I figured by putting his name on the frame and putting his picture in it, everyone will be happy.  LOL  I think I better make another one for his grandma and grandpa (my brother).

SLEEPING CAT

OK, I can't blog without putting up something about my 19 year old Booboo.  This week he chased a bigger dog into the back bedroom because the dog was eating his food.  The dog crawled under the bed and we had to go under and get him.  He was shaking when he came out.  Booboo doesn't have claws so this was pretty funny.

During the winter Booboo likes sleeping on my bed during the day because I put an afghan on the bed and sometimes when we take a nap I put the electric blanket on.  He likes being a warm cat.  Today he was sleeping really cute and I tried to take a picture of him without waking him up.  DIDN'T WORK.

This is what a mad cat looks like when you wake him up from a nap.

MEOW



CHRISTMAS HAND MADE GIFT EXCHANGE

My friends decided that we needed to exchange hand made gifts this year.  Since we all do polymer clay together very often, I wondered what would turn up.  I got a big surprise.  It's apparent these girls have gotten to know each other very well.  The gifts were incredible and they all fit to a tee.  Rose did Steampunk which really surprised me.  Judy did sophisticated which really surprised me, Evelyn did wild and fun (another surprise).  We got together today to do a little clay, exchange gifts and eat some wonderful home made soup.

I did something a little different this year.  I made them jewelry but I also made picture frames.  I found some great Tim Holtz keys with words on them so after I put the polymer clay on the frames I put on some bling and a key.  It was fun and I now I have to do 4 more for gifts.  Here are some of the pictures of the things that we got from each other today.

These are the frames before the beads and keychain.  Forgot to take a picture of the finished product without the pictures in it. 

This is the necklace I made Rose.

 This is the fish pendant that Evelyn made Rose.  Not done yet.  Soon to swim this way.

This is Judy's gift from Rose.  CF would be so proud.

Rose's necklace from Judy.  It is awesome.



Evelyn's necklace and earrings that I made.

My gift from Rose.

My gift from Evelyn.  Looks like me.  Nice lips.

There are more but I think this is enough for tonight.

Glad I'm not back in Wisconsin, they are going to get 10 inches of snow tomorrow night.

Look at the size of the pull tab I found in my Hershey's Kisses Mints.

Too bad I didn't win a prize for that.

HAPPY ONE YEAR BIRTHDAY TO IRIS MISHLY AND HER POLYPEDIAONLINE

Iris Mishly is doing a giveaway on her blog and it's a big one.  All you have to do is leave a couple comments about her tutorials and things you would like to see her do in the future.  Here is her website information:

http://polymerionline.blogspot.com/.  She has done some wonderful free tutorials on her website along with the ones she sells on Etsy.  She does a wonderful job.

Congratulations Iris, Happy Birthday.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND MICA SHIFT

Tomorrow is ANOTHER Christmas luncheon.  Our golf league is going to an "assisted living" place for our golf lunch.  Now that may sound peculiar and last year when I went I was anticipating a really bad lunch in a crummy place with a bunch of elderly people.  Well let me tell you what a surprise I had.  It was like walking into a "Winter Wonderland".  The place was decorated like the Ritz Carlton and we had the restaurant all to ourselves.  I was trying to find a picture of the place that I took without people in it but I didn't have one.  I'll take some tomorrow and post them.  Anyway, the food was incredible.  It was like eating in a 5 star restaurant.  The chef came out to make sure our meals were ok and to see if we needed anything.  I've never been to a luncheon where the food and service was that great.  I'm looking forward to lunch tomorrow.

I offered to make something as a door prize.  I had a pendant that I decided to make a necklace for and after I got the necklace made, I decided I didn't like the pendant so I hustled and made another pendant.

The necklace is done in Herringbone with silver size 11 seed beads.  Every inch I added some auora borealis Czech beads and some size 11 red seed beads.  The original pendant had a little red in it.  This pendant was done in silver metalic and has 2 layers of UV resin on.  In person you can see the mica shift in it but it didn't show up as well in the picture.  I'm sure who ever wins it will love it, I'm having a hard time parting with it.

NEW POLYMER CLAY BOOK

I received a new book from Amazon yesterday.  It's called "Making Jewlery from Polymer Clay" by Sophie Arzalier.  I saw it on the International Polymer Clay Guild's letter and it looked interesting when I checked it out at Amazon.  I'm really impressed.  The photograhs and directions are really great.  She covers basic techniques, effects using textures, canes, Mokume Gane, etc.  I would definitely recommend this book to new clayers and advanced clayers.  I collect books, especially polymer clay and beading books.  Since I started teaching polymer clay, I spend at least 2 hours a day reading and researching information about polymer clay (actually I'm just obsessed).  Sometimes it's more than 2 hours.  I thought I had seen or read about almost all techniques and different ways of doing clay.  This book has a few things I haven't seen before.  I think I'm going to order a few more copies and give them as gifts.

This is her website: http://cristalline.blogspot.com/

PARTY, PARTY, PARTY

This Friday is our BFF party here.  We are going to do clay and have a nice lunch and exchange handmade gifts.  Booboo loves it when the girls come over.  They pay a lot of attention to him and he gets petted a lot.

Who wouldn't love this adorable little yarn holder? LOL



CHRISTMAS IN ARIZONA

It's been a while since I've posted on my blog.  I've been really busy making Christmas presents for friends and family.  My friends decided we were going to exchange hand made gifts this year.  It's been a challenge but I think I finally figured out something they can't live without. LOL   Can't post the pictures until after they get their presents though.


A couple years ago I put together a Christmas luncheon for 50 women for a club that I belonged to.  I made 52 polymer clay Santa Claus face pins.  As soon as I find mine I'll take a picture and put it up here.  After the 15th one I said to myself "What were you thinking"?  I got my good friend and neighbor to dress like Santa Claus and come to the luncheon.  We had a gift exchange so he gave out the gifts and I took everyone's picture with him.  I learned later that one of the elderly ladies in the group grabbed his butt while I was taking their picture.  He has a good sense of humor so he just laughed it off.  Anyway, I re-wrote an old poem and passed it out and since tomorrow is December 1st I thought this would be a good time to let everyone know about:

CHRISTMAS IN ARIZONA

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the town

No noses were frozen no snow fluttered down.

No children in flannels were tucked into bed

They all wore their shorty pajamas instead.

To find pretty cactus was not very hard

For cactus plants sprouted right in the back yard.

In front of the houses were daddies and moms

Admiring the cactus and the Royal Palms.

The slumbering kiddies were dreaming in glee

And hoped they'd find Play Stations under the tree.

They all knew that Santa was well on his way

In a Mercedes Benz instead of a sleigh.

And soon he arrived and started to work

He hadn't a second to linger or shirk.

He whizzed over highways and zoomed up the roads

In a shiny new sports car delivering his loads.

The desert moon gave the city a glow

And lighted the way for Santa below.

As he jumped from the auto, he gave a wee chuckle

He was dressed in bermudas with an Ivy League buckle.

There weren't many chimneys but that caused no gloom

Santa came in through the Arizona room.

He stopped at each house but stayed only a minute

And emptied his sack of the stuff that was in it.

Before he departed he treated himself

To a big margarita that was left on the shelf.

Then he turned with a jerk and bounced back to his car

Remembering he still had to go very far.

He shifted the gears and stepped on the gas

And away up the highway he went with a flash.

And I heard him exclaim as he went on his way

Merry Christmas Arizona, I wish I could stay.

MY FAVORITE SANTA

This was one of the most beautiful Santa Claus costumes I had ever seen except it didn't look like it had been cleaned for a while.  We borrowed it from a lady who's husband played Santa to a children's hospital every year but he died.  She offered the suit to us to use for $25.  When I called her and told her I was going to get it cleaned and bring it back she told me she had her own special cleaner and it was going to cost me $75. I told her the suit wasn't cleaned when we got it and I thought $75 was a little high for cleaning.  Needless to say, we never borrowed the suit again.  That was a good lesson.  Ask about cleaning first.

Gotta get back to work.  November is over.  Boy did that go fast.

BEAD ROLLER BEADS AND DEMO - BREAST CANCER GOLF OUTING

This has been a busy week.  Wednesday at our beading club I did a demo on bead rollers.  I have some new people who are getting into polymer clay and they all bought bead rollers but were having problems with them.  When my husband had his new heart valve put in and his by pass surgery, I sat for 2 weeks and played with the bead rollers. Couldn't make much noise and couldn't leave the house.   I love using the bead rollers because I never know what the pattern on the bead will look like.  I made some beads and sanded and buffed them to show them what they could do with bead rollers.

Most of these were made with leftovers or cane ends.

The one on the right is one of my favorites.  It was made with two pieces of a flower cane  that I made a couple weeks ago.   The one on the left is made with black and white flower cane ends and strips of silver clay.

KUMIHIMO BRAIDING

Some of the girls at our beading club have been making their own neck cords on a disk using the Japanese art of Kumihimo Braiding.  Rose, Judy, Evelyn and I decided we wanted to try it.  Some of the girls bought their disks at the Tucson Bead show and paid $80 for them.  We found a place in Texas that sells a kit.  The kit comes with the disk, 8 plastic bobbins and some satin thread all for $22.  We got our kits Wednesday and I just finished one braid and I think Judy has done two and Rose is doing one and we still have to show Evelyn how to do it.  It's really fun and not hard.

This is my disk and my finished braid.  I used some size 2 nylon cord that I got at Hobby Lobby.  I bought some larger cord also and will try that next.  If you are interested in ordering this kit, leave me a comment and I'll give you the name of the place that we got our kits from.  I don't know them well enough to publish their website on my blog.  I think this is going to be a great way to make matching cords for my polymer clay pendants.

BREAST CANCER GOLF OUTING

I told you this has been a busy week.  Today I golfed in a breast cancer golf outing.  I bought raffle tickets and won a $20 gift certificate to The Corner Bakery (just what I need).  They had a silent auction and had some beautiful items that people donated.  They had a basket full of Mary Kay products and I bid on it and won.  It has enough things in it for me to use as gifts for Christmas for at least 3 people.

The weather was gorgeous, we had hot dogs before we teed off and the Texas Road House gave out ribs on one of the holes.  Hard to hit a ball with a rib in one hand and a club in the other.

MY WISH IS THAT THEY FIND A CURE FOR BREAST CANCER OR A PILL THAT A WOMAN CAN TAKE SO SHE DOESN'T GET BREAST CANCER. 

If you get a chance, find a way to help the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.  We could be saving your best friend, your sister or your daughter by just giving towards research to help find a cure for this terrible disease.  Don't forget to get your mammogram.

Some time in the very near future I will posting a pink ribbon bracelet as a give away.  Watch this blog.

DRUNKEN BUTTERFLYS - SUTTON SLICES - CRAFT FAIR

My friend Judy's husband is on a long job in Chicago and she's really been getting into clay and beading.  She came over Friday so we could see if we could make the Cindy Lietz http://www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/ butterfly wing cane.  The canes we made were pretty big compared to Cindy's, the colors changed after we baked them and our butterfly's look like they had been in the Jack Daniels.  Judy's is cute, mine will never be seen by the public.

Since I took this picture, Judy added a Swarovski necklace to her and she looks much better.  LOL  She also sanded and buffed it.  Cindy, we are going to try again.  Judy keeps watching the video to see what we did wrong.  Join Cindy Lietz's Friday video group.  It's great.  You will never find another polymer clay tutor that offers so much for such a reasonable rate.  Click on the website above and check out all the fabulous tutorials that Cindy teaches.

SUTTON SLICE TECHNIQUE

These are two sheets of Sutton slice that I did Friday.  Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet.

This is one of Judy's Sutton slices done with Fimo glitter clay on black.

This is Judy's other Sutton slice done with left over pieces from her butterfly cane.  I can't wait to see what she does with them.

SUN CITY WEST CRAFT FAIR

Yesterday was the Sun City West Craft Fair.  Everyone worked really hard but it sure is obvious there is a problem with the economy.  People were looking for inexpensive items for holiday gifts.  Our beading club had the most beautiful displays and gorgeous items.  We didn't do as well this year as we did last year.  People loved all the polymer clay jewelry that Rose, Judy and Evelyn made but they didn't buy a lot.  It sure is hard to tell what's going to sell now. 

Last but not least.  Met this guy last week at a sports fair.  Just as they put him out and he was surrounded by people, he turned his back on everyone and peed all over the floor.  I just thought that was pretty funny.  LOL

CLAY CLASS - MY OH MY NECKLACE - NEW BEADS

CLAY CLASS

Last Wednesday I did a beginner's clay class with 7 students.  I usually do the Mokume Gane technique because students are awe struck when they take that first slice off the top of the stack.  The last class I taught I gave them the clay to teach them how to condition it and we had problems with a couple of the clays.  They were really hard and the students were getting frustrated so this time, I spent all day Tuesday conditioning clay and making the stacks ahead of time.  At the class I showed them how I did it in order to save time but I let them make all the indentations in the clay.  I had them slice pieces out of the clay stacks and we made pendants and earrings with cutters.  We did get them baked but not finished. Today only two people were able to bring their pieces back to finish.  I showed them how to sand and put the holes in their pieces and then we took them outside and sprayed them with Preserve Your Memories II.  We really didn't have time to do a class on buffing and they wanted their pieces to make jewelry with.

Linda's beads look like hot air balloons.

Next week I'm going to do a demo on bead rollers.  I love bead rollers.  I make all kinds of shapes with them.  When I got my first bead roller I made over 100 beads.  I couldn't stop.

MY OH MY NECKLACE

Last week when I was doing the stacks of clay, my other friend Judy came over and was watching me.  I cut some end pieces off of one the stacks and gave them to her because she liked the colors.  I showed her a couple different shaped beads that could be made with the clay.  Today she showed up with this incredible necklace.  I know I'll never get to wear it but at least I got to touch it.  LOL

I really need a picture of it hanging.  It's gorgeous.

The clasp is rhinestones and has a magnet.  I guess I'll just sit and make beads and give them to Judy, Rose and Evelyn and let them make jewelry.

NEW BEADS

Last week at clay day we made some Natasha beads using Iris Mishly's method of making them.  I had a lot of canes left so I made a bunch of beads.  I sanded them all and I was going to buff them but I bought some new gloss and thought I would try it.  Big mistake.  Will be resanding these and buffing them.  I never did like using gloss or Future or glaze of any king except Magic Glos.  That taught me a lesson.  I was trying to save time.  Some got spots and parts didn't dry clear.  These beads are too pretty to leave them like that.  Made more work for myself.  DUH.

The two on the top right were sanded and buffed, the rest have gloss on but not for long.  They look like plastic and I don't like that.

 

HEY GIRLFRIENDS, THANKS FOR YOUR HELP WITH THE CLASS LAST WEEK.  IT WAS FUN.

FLOWER CANES ON CLAY DAY

My friends have been after me to show them how to make flower canes.  We get together in my studio at least once a month for about 7 hours and do clay.  We do break for lunch.  Today was our clay day so we did flower canes all day.  I have my own way of packing a flower cane and I might write up a tutorial for it but I haven't decided yet.  They were so happy because thier canes turned out great and they loved the new packing method.  I've done some with translucent clay but found that if you don't cover what ever color is on the outside (especially black) it leaches into the translucent.  Today we covered the outer edge with white before we did translucent but I did my canes in black.  I used Premo and my clay was kind of soft.  I should have leached it between paper before using it but didn't take the time.  Here are the pictures from today's clay day.

This is my finished cane with the black packing.



This is a Natasha bead that I made with the scraps of everyone's flower cane.  Not baked, sanded or buffed yet.



Love this cane, Evelyn has a knack with colors even though her eyesight is so bad.  She has macular degeneration and is having a really bad time with it.

We try to help her as much as we can but she gets very frustrated.  I don't know what I would do if that happened to me.............................

MY FURRY FRIENDS

My friend Bev's mom died last week so her and her husband had to go back to Indiana for the funeral.  Her mom was 94 and she was a pistol.  I got to take care of their plants while they were gone and my neighbors got to take care of Beau and Honey the two dogs.  Joe and Dee have a rat terrier named Scooter.  They rescued him from the shelter the day before he was going to be put down.  They were told he was too aggresive.  Later they found out the kids were pretty mean and Scooter was just protecting himself.  Since Scooter has been with Joe and Dee and he is the most well behaved, lovable little dog you have ever met.  Anyway, the three of them together are a stitch.  Beau is an older dog and all muscle, Honey is a new dog they rescued in August and she's not totally adjusted yet but she's really pretty and is very funny.  She has a problem with men though but my friends are helping her through it.  Scooter is a well trained, very protective little dog who is sharing his mom and dad now with two really funny dogs.  Joe sent me this picture yesterday and I had to put captions on it.

I had to share this.  Now tell me you didn't laugh when you saw this.

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

The holiday's are coming and I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that I need to finish my polymer clay and beading items to submit for the craft fair.  They have to be turned in by next Wednesday.  I'm also teaching a clay class that day so I guess I better get going and get organized.

 Halloween isn't even here yet and I've seen people putting up Christmas decorations.  I just don't get it.  Why so early?  I decided to put my clay away and finish some of the things I have in my studio so I can put them in the craft fair.  I had some beads that I made at our retreat and finally had a light bulb go on about how I wanted to put them together.  Got the wire idea from my friends Judy and Rose.

These beads were made with a flower cane from left over clay that I was using.  The three hanging beads are rocker beads made using the Cindy Lietz tutorial http://www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/ from her Polymer Clay Tutor video library.

These are also rocker beads.  There are 8 beads attached with stretch cord on the bracelet.  I love making those beads.

This is one of the pendants I made with the green flower cane and spliced flower cane that I made at camp.  The bail is made using peyote stitch and the necklace was made using the herringbone stitch.

NEW TRANSLUCENT CLAY

I ordered some Fimo 00 translucent clay to try.  I was told it disappears when you use it.  I made a flower cane with it using some left over clay and then used the left over flower cane to make a kaleidoscope cane.

Not sure I like the white around the middle of the flower but it looks good on beads.  I'll post them when they are done.  The translucent is pretty easy to work with and I coated the edges with corn starch before I baked them to protect the translucent from burning.

POLYMER CAFE

An article and technique by my friend Judy has been accepted in the Polymer Cafe Magazine.  I'm so excited for her.  As soon as it's published I'll put the pictures up here. 

 Congratulations Judy.