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