Wednesday, July 14, 2010

GRATITUDE, AMERICAN FLAG, SISTER'S JEWELRY, FINAL NECKLACE


I mentioned in a previous blog that I had won the bracelet that Cat Kerr was giving away on her blog which is "In The Light Of The Moon".  I received it this week and it is very appropriate right now.  It say "Gratitude" on the metal piece in the front.  Cat did a beautiful job and I am grateful to have this beautiful bracelet.  Please visit her gorgeous blog at http://inthelightofthemoon.blogspot.com/  and you can go to her Etsy sight to buy some of her handmade items http://www.etsy.com/shop/catcreations92 .  Thanks again Cat.





I guess this really has been my lucky week.  Today in the mail I received this beautiful key chain from Iris Mishly http://www.polypediaonline.com/.  Iris is from Israel and she had a give away a couple weeks ago. The key chain has a charm with the American Flag, two hearts in red, white and blue and a flower made with one her special canes.  It also has a baseball hat and a leaf charm hanging from it.  Her computerized slot machine picked my name (good machine).  Iris does great tutorials and I'm happy to say I have quite a few of them.  She has an Etsy shop where she sells her tutorials and she also has a page where she does free tutorials.  Her Etsy shop is http://irismishly.etsy.com/ .  One of her free tutorials is an American Flag Cane.  To my surprise,  there was a little canister in the envelope with a piece of her American Flag Cane.  You can see it in the picture on the right of the key chain.  The amazing thing about this is, in big, bold letters on the front of the package it said "Please do not expose to heat/sun".  Well, it was 114 degrees here today and the mailman put this envelope in our outside mailbox.  I'm glad I came home early from my beading club and checked the mail.  The envelope was very hot and so was the cane but I hope I got it in time to use it on something.  Thank you Iris, this was a fabulous gift, I'm very grateful and inspired.




This is a beaded bracelet that I finally finished.  It's made with raspberry hex beads, delicas and bicones.  I was making it as a gift but it fits me so we'll see if it comes home with me or not.  Click on this picture to see a close up.


I belong to a wonderful beading club here in Sun City West and a bunch of us got together today to learn a new pattern.  I'm making these for my sister who bought a purple dress when she was out visiting.  She got it at Ross for $12.99.  It's a gorgeous dress and it looks great on her.  I told her not to tell anyone how much she paid for it.  Fat chance of that.  Anyway, the circle going to be a pendant and the little one will be part of an earring set.




When I posted this a couple of days ago I asked for ideas on what to do about making a necklace to go with this.  I got some wonderful ideas but decided to do a twisted herringbone (Ndebele) rope.  I like doing herringbone and I'm very happy with this.  My problem is my eyes start crossing after a couple hours of doing it.  I'll be wearing this a lot since these are all my colors, now I just need some earrings to match.

Not sure when I'll be posting again.  I'm off to Wisconsin and Illinois for 3 weeks to visit with friends and relatives.  I was really looking forward to getting out of the heat but I just heard it's going to be in the 90's there next week and the humidity will probably be 95.  Three shower days.


When I get back my friends and I are going to celebrate.  Our friend Rose found out the nodules on her throat aren't cancer.  We are so happy for her and her family.  It's been a rough go for the past couple weeks and waiting for the results to come back made this week really rough.  Another thing to be grateful for.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

NEW FRIEND, NEW CABOCHON, GIFTS FOR THE TRIP


I'm going to start with the cabochon.  This was a piece from the Shimmering Batik that I did but I added some glitter to this batch.  I cut out some pieces and wasn't sure what I was going to do with them.  I decided I wanted this piece to be a beaded cabochon.  I just finished it and my eyes are about done for.  This is only my 3rd beaded cab.  I love doing it and I wish my camera would break so I could get a new one and take better pictures.  Maybe if I accidentally drop it on the floor.  LOL.  I need help.  I can't decide what to put it on.  I had it on wire, didn't like that, had it on satin, didn't like that, someone please tell me what this would look good on.  The beads are actually a brass color.  Maybe tomorrow I'll take a picture of it outside where it is now 114 degrees.


NEW FRIEND

I made a new friend who is just starting into polymer clay.  Her name is Lorrie and she does beautiful glasswork.  We had that in common as I used to do glass engraving until polymer clay and beading took over my life.  Anyway, Lorrie just set up a blog and she has pictures of her beautiful glass on her blog.  I have her blog on my list of blogs I follow so you can go to her blog from there but I wanted you to see some of her glass work. http://lorriesglassart.blogspot.com/ so just click on here.  I was going to post a picture of her glass but I can't get a good copy.

POLYMER CLAY FUN

I finally finished some pieces that I did.  Have about 1000 more sitting here waiting to be something.



Swirly lentil bead earrings made with the black and white flower cane and some leftover yellow clay.


Left over clay from one of the Shimmering Batik pieces.  I love making swirly lentil beads.  I go to Barb Farjardo's blog quite often just to look at her beautiful beads and she has a great tutorial there too.



This is a Natasha bead made with the leftover clay that was on my work table before I put it all away to start beading that cabochon.  This looks to me like a Santa Claus with a yellow beard.  There are cats eye on the back of it.

I've sanded and buffed this bead till I'm blue in the face and now I don't know what I want to do with it.  It's about 3 inches long and weighs about 20 pounds.

GIFTS FOR MY TRIP

I won't be blogging for 3 weeks after next Saturday.  I'm leaving for a week in Wisconsin and 2 weeks in Illinois to visit my sister and mother.  We are going to Branson for a week and then to the beautiful lakes in Wisconsin again.  Hope the mosquitoes are gone before I get there.  Anyway, I started beading some bracelets to give as gifts to my friends at home.  I should of had 10 done by now but I'm a little behind.  Here are the first two.


The picture on the right is the back of the second picture.  Guess they can be worn either way.

I am going to throw that camera on the floor.  It used to take good pictures but now it has a mind of it's own.  I'm sure it couldn't be operator error could it????????????????????????




Wednesday, July 7, 2010

COTTONWOOD CAT AND I'VE BEEN BLESSED


Is this not one of the cutest polymer clay cats you've ever seen?  I call it the Cottonwood Cat because it was sent to me by Anita Brandon http://melobeau.blogspot.com/ from Cottonwood, Arizona. I'm sure Anita made it just for me because she knows it looks like Booboo.  Check out Anita's blog and see the beautiful work she does.  She's been published in Polymer Cafe at least two times that I know of. 

 Anita's husband has written a book called "LIFE IS A HAMMOCK "MEWSINGS" OF A TRAVELING CAT".

I was one of the lucky ones to preview the pre-publication copy.  The story is told by Stormy the cat.  He has a captivating sense of humor and tells an amazing story.  I won't give away any more of the book.  You have to read it to appreciate it.  This book is going to be used as a fund raiser for libraries and humane socities.  I guess Sy and Anita thought I would make a good pre-viewer since I've had 4 cats that all came from the humane society.  My buddy Booboo is going to be 19 on October 31st this year.  Molly lived to be 20, Yoyo died at 14 and Pico died at 17.  I haven't been catless for 35 years and it's been a blessing.

I want to thank Anita for her beautiful cat which I understand is a prototype and will be in her Etsy store someday.


I'VE BEEN BLESSED THIS WEEK

Monday morning I opened my blog and there in big letters was Iris Mishly's blog http://polymerionline.blogspot.com/  saying I had won one of her American Flag key chains in her drawing.  I'll post a picture when I get it.  I took my husband away for 2 days for his birthday and when I got home Tuesday night there was another email saying I had won the bracelet from "In The Light of The Moon" by Cat Kerr http://inthelightofthemoon.blogspot.com/.    It's the one on the previous blog that says "GRATITUDE" on it.  I'll take a picture and post that when I receive it also.

Thanks Iris and Cat, I love presents and both of you do such wonderful work.  You can't tell but I'm excited.


Friday, July 2, 2010

LIVING LIFE UNZIPPED - THANK YOU MARIE AND MORE TOYS


I've always felt I lived my life "UNZIPPED".  I'm a Leo and I think most Leo's that I've met could be categorized as being "UNZIPPED".  Most Leo's are very open with their lives and their thoughts and their everything.  I saw this piece that Marie Segal www.mariesegal.blogspot.com/  did about a week ago and I fought with myself about buying it.  I love steampunk, I've been following Marie's work for years and when I saw the open zipper, the nails, screws, locks and keys,  I knew I had to have it.  I got it in the mail today and it's so much cuter in person.  She's a great artist and a genuine lady.


CROCHETED BEAD ROPE

I finally finished my second crocheted bead piece.  It's a long rope.  Took me a long time too but I'm done.


It's slinky.


MORE TOYS

Today my friends Judy and Evelyn came over for a clay day.  Judy ordered some miniature cutters for us from England.  They are adorable.  I can see a lot of earrings being made with these.


Now I just need a teeny tiny case to keep them in. :0)



SHIMMERING GOLD MOKUME GANE

I mentioned before I was doing the Barbara McGuire Mokume Gane.  I have quite a few pieces done but wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them (I want to keep them all myself).  Anyway, I bought some cord necklaces at a bead show not too long ago and I like the necklace but not the cord used to attach pendants so I took that off and added chain.  What do you think?


This also has Magic Glos on it.


GIRLFRIEND'S GONE WILD

Not talking about the trashy ones on TV.  I'm referring to Rose, Judy and Evelyn.  All three have been busy with clay and Viking Knit.  Here are some of the latest pieces from them.


This is Rose's bracelet she did with a French Knitter.  Her first one.  Came out awesome I think.


This is Evelyn's disc necklace.  The disc's were made with 2 canes and the litle balls were made with scrap clay that she rolled over some spongy thing.  It's really light and very pretty.



This is Judy's bracelet.  Since we took the Debbie Anderson class, Judy has made at least 6 of these bracelets and they are gorgeous.  Too bad my little Sony camera doesn't want to take good pictures today.



ANOTHER TINA HOLDEN MASTERPIECE

I'm really excited.  I just purchased one of Tina Holdens new tutorials.  It's called "STEAMPUNK TILE BRACELET"




You can get this at Tina's Artfire shop at http://beadcomber.artfire.com/ or on her Etsy shot at http://beadcomber.etsy.com/ .  I hope to get to this tomorrow since it's 112 here and a good time to play with clay.


I know this has been a long blog today but I think I got my brain UNZIPPED.

Anyway, one thing I really want to do is:




Wish everyone a safe and Happy 4th of July.
Don't drink and drive.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA