SHALL I BEAD OR SHOULD I DO CLAY???????? HMMMMM

Yesterday I taught my friend Judy how to do Peyote Stitch.  She loves it.  I thought we would just practice a piece first BUT NO, she just wanted to jump right in.  I started her with the Bumps in the Road pattern and decided to do it with her so it would be easier for her to see.  Of course I couldn't let it sit there, I had to finish it.  This is the one I made, Judy's will be done soon and I'll post it.

In the meantime, I have all this new Premo clay calling my name.   The colors are incredible.  So, do I bead tonight or do I do clay or iron clothes?  I think I'll hide the ironing so that will be one less decision to make.

I bought some necklaces from a guy at a fair not too long ago.  They were all Chinese crystals.  He was selling them so cheap I had to buy a bunch.  Took them apart and put them on this bracelet.  I almost made a golf stroke counter out of these beads, glad I didn't.

The polymer beads were done with a Kaleidoscope Cane, all the spacer beads are the ones I bought and I can't even tell you how many I have.  Obsessive Compulsive when it comes to beads and clay.

Today my friend Judy and I went to Prescott and had a nice lunch.  I visited their snow and left it there.  We stopped at a little art shop that had wonderful things.  I have a bunch of these Colorbox Molding Mats but he had some I've never seen so those came home with me.

The top one is called Houndstooth Check and the bottom one is called Starry Swirls.  I'm going to have to build a room just for all my texture sheets and texture tools.

Another thing he carried in this store were these awesome clay shapers.  The black tipped one is huge and is a little harder than the gray tipped one.  He had every shape and every size.  I use my tiny ones all the time, I'm guessing these are going to be in the container marked "MY FAVORITE TOOLS" along with Christi Freisen's tools which I really love.  I put the golf ball there so you could see how big the shapers are not because I played golf at Torrey Pines.  I went there and bought two golf balls and a golf ball marker.  I'm not the Torrey Pines kind of golfer.  I'm the "oops, I think I hit another ball in the water" kind of golfer.  LOL

Back to work, found a 3 pound bag of beads in the back of the closet that I forgot I had.  Need to find a home for them.  I spilled about 2000 and some went in Booboo's bed so he's not a happy cat.

NEED MORE HANDS

Our craft fair is in March and I have to have all my stuff in by next Monday.  I need to make 35 wedding favors, at least 18 or 20 pens for the pen exchange in April, get some stuff done for Etsy and Artfire and here I sit watching NCIS.  HELP ME.

I finally finished this and it went out in the mail today.  My friend Debbie has three grand kids who are adorable and she doesn't know this is coming.  Hope she likes it.

NEW BOOK

I got Grant Diffendaffer's new book in the mail today.  It's called "Polymer Clay Beads".

The ones on the front cover are in 3-D.  The rest are awesome too and he has very good pictures and instructions on the inside.  I just got all my new Premo clay colors from Boston Clay Works.  I just need time to play.

15,000 GIVEAWAY WINNERS

This morning I wrote the names of everyone who left me a message on my blog about what they wanted for Valentines Day.  I put them in a bag and had "My Sweetheart" pick two names out of the bag.  The first name he picked was Rose and the second name he picked was Desert Rubble.


Rose, you are the winner of the first set of items:

Desert Rubble, this is yours:

  Please send me an email with your address and I will get them in the mail on Tuesday when the post office opens.

Thanks everyone.  I'll probably do this again at 20 or 25, 000.

POLYMER CAFE - DRAGONS AND FRAME

POLYMER CAFE

I'M SO EXCITED.

In the new issue of Polymer Cafe there is an article and pictures on page 42 about some cute little flower pots.  The pots were done by my good friend Judy Kelly.  I'm so happy for her and so proud of her.  She did a great job writing the article.  Judy's been doing clay for about 2 years now and she's an inspiration to me the way she puts things together like these little pots.

  She wasn't sure when it was going to be published so we were all surprised when it came out this month.  Now that the magazine is out I can put pictures of some of her little flower pots on my blog.

Click on the picture to enlarge it for details.  It was made with a Black and White flower cane and some scrap canes.  The lady bugs were a gift from Anita Brandon.

Judy wanted me to put this picture in with the mouse.

This is another one of Judy's tiny pots that she flattened the back on and added a pin so it could be used as a pendant.

This is another one that was turned into a pin and all the pots were made with canes and scrap clay.

Judy says she has a black thumb when it comes to live plants and she wanted something in her craft room window that she didn't have to water and fuss with and that's when the little pots appeared.

CONGRATULATIONS MY DEAR FRIEND.

Desert Rubble in Polymer Cafe

You should also notice there is an article in there about Lynn Reno more commonly known as Desert Rubble.  Lynn does beautiful work and is really deserving of this great article.  Check out Lynn's pieces on Artfire http://www.artfire.com/users/DesertRubble.

EVELYN'S DRAGON

As you know my friends and I took Christi Freisen classes in Tucson last week. Evelyn just finished her dragon. We are so proud of her too. She has Macular Degeneration and her eyesight is really bad so she struggles with detail. She decided she wanted scales on her dragon.

Isn't he cute?

ANOTHER FRAME

This is the latest frame I made for a friend to give as a birthday gift.  She has 3 dogs.  I don't put the glass or backing on to take a picture because it reflects back.  I love doing these but I hate painting them.  Getting more requests for frames, might get to be a full time job at this rate.

CONGRATULATIONS LYNN AND JUDY

VALENTINES DAY FOR ALL AGES - ELEPHANT NEEDS PEANUTS

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

Last night my great nephew Brady and his mom went to a Valentine's Day Dance at the Children's Museum in downtown Tampa.  Brady got cornered by a little girl named Olive and a news photographer took this picture of them dancing.

Olive looks like she is trying to put her hand in Brady's armpit.  LOL  He likes cats and dogs and golf so I don't think his mom has to worry too much.

JUDY'S STEAMPUNK ELEPHANT

Since we took all those Christi Freisen classes down in Tucson, my friends and I have been collecting watch parts and gears and any fun stuff we can put in clay.  Judy came over today wearing this little guy.

She thinks his trunk is too fat from eating too many peanuts but I think he's adorable.  I forgot to ask if the screw in the front of his eyes was giving him a headache or holding his brains in.

Christi made us an elephant in 5 minutes.  We brought it home and baked it and it is now being put in a protective case.  I'll take a picture and post it when it's done.

PENDANT SWAP

I finally finished my 17 pieces for our clay guilds pendant swap.  I was going to wire wrap all of them but some have lady bugs and I didn't want to cover the lady bug so I beaded a bail in those.  I'll post pictures of all the ones I get back next Saturday.

You can see them better if you click on the picture.  I wish I would of had my new Premo pearl clays and the new Pearlex powders that I bought down in Tucson.  The colors are gorgeous.  Christi had them and I couldn't resist but we did put an order in with Boston Craft Works for more of the new clay.  The new pearls are really pretty and I love the granite colors.  I actually love all of them.

15,000 GIVE AWAY

Don't forget to go to my previous blog post and leave me a message so you can win one of two prizes that are shown there.

For Valentine's Day I got a beautiful card, Twizzler Licorice and some money to take my sweetheart to the casino.  He buys beautiful cards, awwwwwwwwww.

Hope you had a chocolatey Day.

THE 15,000 VISITOR GIVEAWAY

Last weekend my blog received it's 15,000th visitor so I decided to do a giveaway to celebrate.

Since Monday is Valentine's Day, I'm giving away my heart (s).

I'm going to give away two sets of heart jewelry and some extra hearts.

All you have to do is leave a comment on my blog by this posting and tell me what you would really like for Valentine's Day.  Funny or not, I would love to know.

Next Sunday (the 20th) morning I'm going to have my sweetheart pick a number or name from the list of people who leave comments and I'll post the winners. You can leave as many posts as you want.  I'll put your name in the drawing as many times as you leave posts.

Here is the first giveaway:

The necklace and earrings were done with pearl clay on black clay using the Sutton Slice technique.  The earrings are on sterling silver ear wires and the necklace is on a slightly antiqued type of metal with my favorite toggle.  The other two hearts have no attachments so you can make what ever you want out of them.  If you click on the picture you can see them all closer.

This will be the gift for the second name drawn.  The heart is about 2 inches long and is hanging on a gold plated chain with my favorite toggle.  The small red and silver heart on the top has a bail on it and it was done using the Tina Holden Batik Shimmer method.  The other heart is silver and has a slight touch of rose to it.  It does not have a bail or any attachments.  All items in this give away have been done with Magic Glos and that's why they are so shiny.

Will be looking forward to all your comments and responses.  Thank you for visiting my blog and taking time to comment and I wish you all could win.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY



DUMBLEDORE DRAGON AND THE 15,000 GIVEAWAY

I promised I was going to do a give away and post it today but I had an emergency and didn't get a chance to take pictures so the give away will be up either tomorrow or Saturday.

This is Dumbledore Dragon.  I made him in one of the fabulous Christi Friesen classes that I took in Tucson last weekend but he needed a few more things and a good baking.  I finally finished him.  I wasn't sure what to call him.  One friend suggested "SPROCKET" and I really liked that but I think I'll save that one for a more mechanical buddy.  Another friend said I should call him Draco but I being the number one Harry Potter fan didn't like Draco Malfoy so I decided to call him Dumbledore.  My
"friend" also told me that dragons breathe fire so I shouldn't leave him in the garage and start the garage on fire again.  Every time I call their house he tells his wife "The Arsonist" is on the phone.

  I've spent 3 days trying to explain "STEAMPUNK" to my husband.  It's not working.  He does not understand why my dragon has screws and bolts.

This is a polymer clay frame I finished for my friend Bev.  She's going to give it to her doctor who's daughter's name is Riley.  I have two more orders for frames, 17 pendants to wire wrap and 30 key chains to make for my nephew's fiance's wedding shower.

Quit blogging Bonnie and get to work.

CHRISTI FRIESEN - TUCSON - BFF'S - NECKLACE FROM 2GOOD CLAYMATES

This past weekend my 3 BFF's and I went to Tucson for the big gem show and to take some classes from the amazing Christi Friesen.

This is us with Christi.  She's the one on the right who doesn't look like she stayed up all night.

We did 4 classes.  Steampunk shark, Steampunk butterfly, Steampunk dragon (he's in the oven) and an Amber heart (needs finishing).  You'll see it soon.  LOL

She is the most incredible teacher.  We had advanced polymer clay people and some who had never done it before and she was able to get us all going, working, laughing and creating.  She is the most up person I've ever met.

She's also the funniest.....  She had us laughing for 3 days and she lets you eat in class.  LOL

She has a new book out called Woodland Creatures which was waiting for me when I got home.  Isn't that squirrel adorable?  You can get this book and all her other ones at http://store.cforiginals.net/.  She has an awesome set of tools for polymer clay also.  They are called "You can't live without them tools".  She also has some free tutorials on her website that are wonderful.  One of the greatest things about Christi Friesen is, she is the most sharing and giving (that's two) teacher.  We were talking about how we can't wait till next year to take more of her classes.  I better stop before she has to pay me for saying so many nice things about her.  OH, I forgot, she got us hooked on Steampunk.

TRIP TO TUCSON

We had a great time in Tucson.  We watched the Packers win the Super Bowl.  Evelyn and I were happy, Rose and Judy not so much.  The guy in the room next to me on Sunday night couldn't hold his liquor.  LOL

We had a wonderful breakfast on Monday morning at the Bread and Butter Cafe in Tucson, there were a couple real cowboy's in there (very nice).  We got to see a lot of Tucson thanks to Judy's GPS.  It took us to some places we really didn't want to see.  YIKES

Good to get home with Booboo and hubby.  Booboo is doing much better.  He was singing at 5 this morning so I know he's feeling better.

More Christi Friesen and Steampunk to come.

When I got home yesterday there was another package in the mail for me from Dave and Carolyn Good.  Last week I was the lucky winner of their drawing for this beautiful necklace.  It's so much prettier in person.  You can see all the beautiful things they do at http://2goodclaymates.blogspot.com/.  They have some wonderful free tutorials on their website also.

Thanks again Dave and Carolyn.

While I was gone to Tucson, my blog hit the 15,000 visitor mark.  Since this is a milestone for me, I am going to do a giveaway.  Come back Thursday to see what it is.  TEE HEE HEE.

TUCSON GEM SHOW - PENDANTS - SPRING BEADS - PAINTED BEADS

As you all know the big gem show is going on down in Tucson.  Yesterday 14,000 people were without gas so they lost their heat and some people had burst water pipes because it's been so cold here in Arizona that people are using more gas and they ran out of gas in Tucson.

Well, my friends and I are headed to Tucson tomorrow for 3 days.  We are signed up to take classes from Christi Friesen for 3 days.  We are really excited.  I have all of her books except one and I'm expecting the new one any day now.  I'm dragging them with hoping she will sign them for me.

 When we heard about the gas problem we called the hotels we are staying at and they said they didn't have a problem.  Thank goodness because it's impossible to get a room down there now.

PENDANTS FOR GUILD SWAP

I started making pendants for our guild swap which is on the 19th of February.  The first set I finished.  Sanded and buffed and then decided I didn't like them.  Made another set and I'm going to wire wrap them.  I like these a lot.  Much lighter and colors are better.  The first ones reminded me of Easter.

I will probably use the 5 on the left and the green lady bug on top.  Not sure about the others.  I made 14 more.  With the wire wrapping bail they should look better.  These must be ready to hang when we turn them in.

SPRING BEADS - PAINTED BEADS

Last Wednesday we did clay at bead club.  We did a project that we found in a couple books.  You use white clay and translucent clay and chop it up into pieces.  Then you coat it with paint.  Everyone else used black.  Let the pieces sit until they are dry and then squish them back together in a cane.  Cut slices off the cane and put them on light clay that's been rolled into a bead.  I didn't use white clay I used pearl and translucent and I painted mine with purple paint.  While the paint was drying I took some left over clay and made a cane:

Was one of those quicky things you do to waste time.  Well, I came home and made beads from both the painted clay technique and the cane.  I love the bright colors of the beads from the cane but not sure I like the other ones.  Might be better after they are tumbled and buffed.

If you click on the picture you can see the colors better.

STRESSFUL THURSDAY - yesterday morning Booboo was very sick.

I thought for sure it was his time because I've never seen him that sick.  My friend Judy came over and took us to the vet.  They gave him an injection so he would stop throwing up and gave him fluids.  They did blood work and couldn't find anything wrong.  $251 later the vet said Booboo was having "A BAD CAT DAY".

I brought him home and he slept all day.  Today he is eating and drinking and carrying his ball around but he's not moving very fast.  He's going to be 20 in October and we've had some wonderful years together.  He was born on Halloween and I got him 3 weeks later.  We've been together ever since.

I was thinking yesterday that I've changed the cat liter 2080 times since I got him. 

Boy is that love or what???????????