Sunday, August 28, 2011

GOODBYE IRENE - HERE COMES THE NETTING AND JADE

I have two friends on the east coast and I sent them emails last night to find out if they were ok and both are doing just fine.

One of them is Linda of http://lindasartbarn.blogspot.com/.  She's in Vermont, but if you read her blog and see her beautiful picture, she'll tell you about what she's did to prepare for Irene.  I've always wanted to go to Vermont.  Probably because of the maple syrup and now I can go see Linda.

The other one is Lynda of SC Diva Designs.  Lynda is is one of the most talented woman I know when it comes to polymer clay.  I've purchased many of her tutorials from Etsy and the latest is her Faux Jade Tutorial http://www.etsy.com/listing/68710253/faux-jade-tutorial-6-with-16-color  just click on the link and it will take you right there.  This is one of the most complete tutorials I've ever seen.  Her instructions on finishing are worth the price of tutorial.  Not only that, she gives you  recipes for 16 different colors of jade.  This Friday I woke up with another one of my killer migraines but I decided I wasn't going to let it get me down and I was going to make some faux jade.  After I was done, I realized I had done one of the steps backwards from the way Lynda does it but I like the way these turned out.  I used a different kind of clay than Lynda suggests in her tutorial and I got plaquing but I like it and Lynda did too.

I added more translucent to the 3 on the right because the green lady was kind of mushy when I was working on her.   The bottom one I hand carved the other 3 I used stamps.  You can click on them to see them up close.  I spent a lot of time sanding and buffing them.

WEDDING JEWELRY

The wedding is 3 weeks from yesterday.  I got my shoes in the mail yesterday.  Patent leather sandals with 3 inch heels.
I left the picture small because I have big feet and it wouldn't look so bad.  Anyway, I have to practise walking in these.  I haven't had a 3 inch heel on in 20 years.  Wish me luck.  I have to take the gifts to the altar in the church.  Hope there is a Wayne Crane there to pick me up when I fall.  They really are comfortable, at least they were while I was sitting down :0).  If you have any suggestions about how to walk in heels, now is the time to come forward.

Anyway, I finished the netted necklace and now Mr. Fashionista says it isn't fufu enough for the wedding outfit.  So, I'll wear it for the rehearsal dinner.

Needs a bracelet and earrings to match.  If this headache ever goes away I'll start one.  If anyone has a remedy for migraines, please let me know.  I'm doing a polymer clay class tomorrow with a lady that does energy healing.  She is going to show my husband the pressure points so he can help with my headaches.  I told him that and he gave me one of those funny looks and then poked me in the forehead and said "how's that?).  He still doesn't get it :0).



Wednesday, August 24, 2011

BIRTHDAY SURPRISE

I've been celebrating my birthday for over a week now even though it was Monday.  I wasn't going to tell anyone how old I was but all my classmates from high school sent birthday wishes and "Welcome to Medicare" wishes.  I wanted to cry.

Today my 3 BFF's took me on a surprise outing for my birthday.  They picked me up at 9 a.m. and we ended up in Sedona.
This was the view from the restaurant.  It's Red Rock country and it's beautiful.

This was brought to me after lunch.  I have no will power.  It's a hot brownie with ice cream and whipped cream.  Glad my friends helped me with that.  Good thing this birthday is almost over :0).



This is a mini bag that I got from Judy.  It comes apart.  You buy the inside.
The inside is on the left and the pretty purple part fits around it.  You can buy all different outer covers for it.  It's called a Miche bag.  It's going to be perfect for the wedding and I saw a gold cover for it that I might have to get.

These are some polymer clay tools I got from Evelyn along with a cat shirt and a pair of capris and a little cat holder.


This is a pair of heat resistant tongs I got from Rose to take my polymer clay out of the oven and she also gave me a gift certificate to the local bead store which I will definitely use.

It was only 96 in Sedona, it was 118 on the car when we pulled into my driveway.  This has to end soon.

My husband bought a pair of tennis shoes at Wal-Mart two weeks ago and the bottom melted on the side walk.

I had a wonderful day today and thank you BFF's.


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

BEING AWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS

Yesterday I put up a post about how to determine if a mirror is a mirror or a two way mirror.  I posted it because I wanted women to be aware there are bad people out there and some women just aren't aware of their surroundings.

Two years ago my husband and I took a class about gun safety.  When I was younger I belonged to a trap shooting team.  I loaded my own shells and cleaned my own 12 gauge shotgun.  In those days, there were no classes, we depended on the guys that ran the range or the ones who taught us how to shoot a gun and never thought about our surroundings or the places we shopped or visited.   I thought being able to shoot a gun made me invincible.

Now days, the right to own a gun comes with a lot of responsibility including MENTAL PREPAREDNESS.  Well, every time you walk out the door, you need to be mentally prepared and be aware of your surroundings.  There are 4 mental states that people are in, WHITE - relaxed, unaware (you are likely to become a victim).  YELLOW - relaxed but aware (you are suspicious and are in a heightened state of awareness).   ORANGE - potential threat in the area you are in (time to withdraw from the situation you are in, a place where you aren't sure of the mirror, if you aren't sure, LEAVE).  RED - this is your last resort, there's trouble and now you probably need to run or fight.

I get a lot of emails like the one I posted yesterday and I pass them on to my friends and people I care about.  I received some emails saying that a certain internet site says the mirror test isn't totally accurate.  I took the post down but not because some internet sight said it isn't real, but because the people I care about read it and are now aware.  I will probably get more emails about how old people are being used to get women to help them in parking lots and then they are abducted, or how someone puts a baby carriage on the side of the road and women stop to check it out and they get attacked, abducted or killed or you should never park next to a van in a parking lot or stop to smell perfume that someone is selling in a parking lot and don't forget to look in the back seat of your car before you get in.  I plan to pass those emails on forever.  If it means I made someone aware of their surroundings then my email worked.

Since I took that gun awareness class I have heightened my mental state about my surroundings.  At night I lock the door between the house and the garage, I'm careful where I park at malls and grocery stores and I watch people a lot.  My friends joke about how much I notice but I think they also appreciate it.

I have a friend who doesn't do email.  Last week she went to the grocery store and an older lady asked her if she would get into her car and watch her dog while she went to the UPS store.  It was 110 here and the woman said she should sit in the air conditioned car with the dog.  She was very lucky.  The woman was real and gave her $10 for watching the dog.  Every time I get an email like the one about the mirrors I have to tell her about it.  She's sweet and kind and in the WHITE zone all the time.  It's the sweet and kind and trusting people who are always the victims. 

If someone sends me an email to remind me to be aware of my surroundings and I pass it on, I'm not going to worry if an internet site has checked it out or not.  It put me in the "Mentally Aware of My Surroudings Zone".

Don't be a victim, make sure you are always in your YELLOW MENTAL PREPAREDNESS ZONE, BE RELAXED BUT AWARE, and tell your friends.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

WEDDNG'S GETTING CLOSER, NECKLACE IS GETTING LONGER

This is taking a long time but it's starting to get longer.  Had to order more Preciosa beads.  Didn't realize how many beads this would take.  Ordered 1200 so now I have enough for a bracelet and earrings too.
Netting is great.  It makes the beads slinky and soft feeling where Herringbone would have made this necklace stiffer.  Click to see it bigger.

NURSING HOME EARRINGS

I just made my 100th pair of earrings for my friend at the nursing home.  She's a great sales lady.  She also asked for a bracelet and earrings to match.

This is the 10th pair of magenta I did.  They are polymer clay with wire wrapping and chains.


More requests for long and chunky turquoise.


The large beads are polymer clay made from a cane I did a while ago.  Wish I could remember what colors I used in it.  She requested a stretch bracelet with lots of silver.  I would not normally do it with stretch cord with that much silver but I used a 1mm size cord so it should be ok. 

25,000 GIVE AWAY

I will soon have the 25,000th visitor to my blog.

When that happens I am going to do a give away.  I'll be leaving for Chicago in two weeks for the wedding so I'm not sure when this give away will be or what I'm going to give away.  Leave me some comments and let me know what you would like (but not the netted necklace).  I'll be in a nursing home before I get another one of those done.  I need some ideas.  Earrings, bracelets, polymer clay pendants.  I'll keep thinking about it though.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I hope someone bought me red licorice.  That's what I usually get.  Or, a box of Good and Plenty.  Have to fit in the wedding outfit so I better go ride my bike.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

WHAT'S ON MY BEADING TABLE? ANOTHER ONE???????

I started another necklace that I hope will go with the top that I'm wearing to my nephew's wedding.  Husband (he answers to that) said the first one wasn't glitzy enough so I'm doing a netted one with black aurora borealis 4 mm beads and size 15 and 11 antique gold seed beads.  It looks big but it's really slinky.  It's taking a lot of beads but I really like it.

Click on the picture a couple times to see it up close.  Problem is, I have to make a bracelet and earrings to match.  I just ordered 1200 more black beads. :0)  Hope that's enough.  If and when I finish this, I'll post the pictures.

POLYMER CLAY MOKUME GANE

I had an order for earrings made of purple and tuquoise Mokume Gane.  I had some clay left so I used my tiny cutters to make hearts and did a Kumihimo necklace to match and a pair of earrings.  Going to put these in my Artfire store.





I have a bucket list, actually it's a polymer clay/beading/resin list of all the things I want to do or make.  I ordered some Pipettes to do resin with and I thought I ordered 100 but I got 500.  Husband was in shock.  How do you explain 500 pipettes?  He asked me if I was going to rent a warehouse for all my stuff.  He still doesn't get it.  The girl with the most toys wins.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

BEAD CROCHET OR KUMIHIMO

I spent a couple weeks teaching myself to bead crochet.  It was very cumbersome at first but I got the hang of it.  This was my first necklace and I've done 3 more since then but lost interest.

About 4 months ago I decided to teach myself how to do Kumihimo (thank goodness for YOUTUBE and the internet).  First I tried just doing cords on Kumihimo and I really liked that.  They make wonderful places to hang polymer clay pendants.  I bought a couple Kumihimo books and they used beads to make beautiful necklaces.  Well, I'm hooked.  I just finished my first full beaded Kumihimo necklace and decided to embellish it with daggers.  This goes much faster than crocheting and I'm a really fast crocheter (with yarn).  This is going to be the necklace I'm wearing to my nephew's wedding next month in Chicago.  I need to make earrings and a bracelet to match.

  This is a view with the magnetic crystal toggle that I put on it.


There is a pattern for daggers that I'm going to try also and I'll post that if and when I finish it.  I finished the necklace itself in one night and added the daggers the next day so it didn't take long.

POLYMER CLAY BEAD GOLF STROKE COUNTERS

I found a big bag of polymer clay beads that I had made so I put together some golf stroke counters that I'm putting in my Artfire and Etsy shops.  They can be used for purse blings or to count how many times you walk around the block.
The beads slide up and down the cord so you can count how many times you hit the ball or how many times you walked around the mall.  I had a lady buy 4 of them and I thought she was giving them to friends for golfing but she said she was buying them to put on her purse as a purse bling.

I was going to do clay and Kumihimo this weekend and all I've done is watch golf.  DUH.  Will be glad when it cools off in Arizona so we can go golfing again.

FRIEND AT THE WINDOW

Friday I was getting out of the shower and I heard a strange noise in the kitchen.  Husband wasn't home so I was a little nervous.  I tiptoed around the corner to see where the noise was coming from and there was a mama quail pecking at our kitchen glass door.  She had 7 babies out there with her.  I think she was looking to come in and get a margarita.  I would want one if I had seven babies.  She was back again yesterday pecking at the window.  I don't know what to do for her.  I feel so bad.  I bet those kids are driving her nuts.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

WHERE ARE YOU PUTTING SUGAR?????????????????

About a month ago I signed up for Groupon.  Last week I got an email offering a Sugar Body Scrub.  It said it would get rid of all the old, dry skin.  I jumped on that thing.  At my age, old, dry skin is my best friend.   I called and made an appointment at this spa for today.  At 10 o'clock today I was taken into my own special little world.  I met the lady that runs the spa.  She not only does sugar scrubs, she does massages, nails, pedicures and teeth whitening.  When she said "take off ALL your clothes" I got a little nervous but I did what she told me to do.  It was wonderful.  After you get rubbed down with wet sugar, you get hot towels and then you get oiled up.  She put warm hand bags and feet bags on me, she said it improves circulation.  Glad there were no hidden cameras!!!!  I had sugar put on some unusual places but I'm guessing those places are looking good right now.  I bought 4 more sugar scrubs so that by Christmas I'll not only be soft, I should be very sweet with all the sugar on me. :0)

The lady that did the spa treatment was 43 years old and had slice wounds all over her arms, hands and chest.  I asked her about them and she told me the story.  For the last 5 years she has been donating numerous amounts of time and money to Domestic Abuse Foundations here in Arizona.  Last year her husband of 23 years lost his job and took it out on her.  While her four children watched, he brutally stabbed her.  She was in the hospital for 5 months because her lungs were punctured.  Her EX husband only got 17 years of prison time.  She said the attorneys told her the only way he could have gotten more was if he had succeeded in killing her.  Her and her children are going for counseling and she seems to be doing good.  She is supporting the children and working two jobs.

 
She is putting on a fashion show here in Phoenix to support Domestic Abuse and I promised to donate some of my polymer clay jewelry pieces for their auction.

If you are reading this and you know someone who is in an abusive relationship but isn't strong enough to help them selves, help them.  Not only women, men and children but animals too.  Don't keep it to yourself and think that you can't help.  Report them to the police before it's too late.  I saw scars today that made me shiver.  I've stopped young kids from abusing animals, I've reported a man for abusing his step children.  I'm not the strongest person in the world or even Arizona but no one or animal deserves to be abused.  Support your local thrift stores that support Domestic Abuse and animal charities.  Check the internet for ways you can help.  Let the abused know that there is hope for them.  This lady taught me a lot today about strength and courage and putting sugar in places I didn't know it should be.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

POLYMER CLAY EARRINGS

As you know from previous posts I've been making earrings to send to my 96 year old friend in Wisconsin.  So far she's sold about 100 pair of earrings.  I sent her a pair of earrings made with polymer clay.  She had 3 people that wanted to buy them but didn't want the beads on them.  She finally found someone that wanted them with the beads but she called and asked me to make more without the beads.  I made those a year ago and didn't keep any of the clay.  I did two Mokume Ganes to try and replace the original.  One with Premo 18kt gold and gold leafing and one with silver leafing.  They turned out really good.  I hope her customers like them.







I think these are kind of boring without beads but that's what she wanted.

It's 115 here today.  My friend calls it "100 and STUPID".  UV resin sure hardens up fast but 5 minutes out in the sun causes headaches.  I'm still trying to figure out who talked me into moving to Arizona.
BUT IT'S A DRY HEAT