Friday, March 25, 2011

DON'T LET THE ?@$%t^&^&**() GET YOU DOWN

I know that is a peculiar title but that's what a friend said to me today after an incredible experience. 

Last Saturday our city had it's spring craft fair.  I did really well and I was all excited.  I received some notes from the people that were working the fair and one is that a lady had bought my golf stroke counters and wanted more, would I please call her.  I got the message Wednesday morning and called in the afternoon.  She said they were going back to their summer home and wanted some of my golf stroke counters to take back with her as gifts.  I told her I had a few and that I would make some more and bring them over to her on Friday (today).  I make my own beads out of polymer clay for my golf stroke counters so it's not like I just put a bunch of beads together.  I worked fuiously Wednesday night, all day Thursday and even got up at 5 this morning to finish more so she would have something to pick from.  She made it sound like she wanted quite a few for her friends in the golf league.  I had 6 available and made 8 more.  Went to her house and she looked at my counters and showed me one she bought her friend.  She asked if she could exchange it because she liked one that I had in the tray better so I said sure.  Her husband walked in and she introduced us and the first thing he said was "you don't need to buy another one of those".  She told him what she was planning on doing and why I was there but she asked him to go out in the garage and find the one she bought for herself to show me.  She went out with him and they were gone 5 minutes or more.  When she came back in there was no mention of buying any counters but she wanted my card so her friends could contact me if they wanted one when they saw the one she had.  I believe they had some words while out in the garage.  I packed up my stuff and left.  I've never had that happen before.  I was pretty upset.  My husband wanted to go over and punch them and I had another friend who said she wished she would have been  with.  She would have wresteled them to the floor till they bought both trays.  What would you have done?

These are some of the counters I made in the last two days.  Guess I'll put them on Artfire or Etsy and see if I can find them a good home.





 


I did have an order for another frame that I also finished this week.  It's for a lady that has 2 golden labs "Charlie and Louie".  She wanted everything in purple.  They wear purple collars and I guess it means they are special and in their hearts forever.  Not sure if I have that right.


You can click on the picture to see the frame close up.  It has dog bones and feet and dogs on it.


SOMETHING SPECIAL

Today I got an email from Penni Jo Couch who is the owner of Best Flexible Molds.  I have purchased many of her molds and I love them.  I use them constantly to make beads for The Beads of Courage.  So far this year I've handed in 100 little bears and dogs and they were made with Penni's molds.  Anyway, she sent me an email saying she was making me a special bear mold.  I'm so excited.  See, there are nice people in the world.  If you do clay, you have to have her molds.  She is an absolute peach to deal with.  http://www.bestflexiblemolds.com/ her cabochon molds are great too.
These are some of the latest ones that I did.  The little heart with the cat in it is one of Penni's molds also.
Thanks Penni, you are a dear and the kids love these beads.


OK, back to the pens for the guild swap and sister's wedding shower table presents and putting the counters on Artfire and oh I better play with the cat, he hasn't had much attention in the last two days.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

NEW BAG - BEADS OF COURAGE - CUTE DOGS

About 30 years ago I bought my first Coach bag.  It was the brown leather with the long strap and it weighed about 20 pounds with nothing in it.  I carried it all the time.  Finally one day my shoulder started hurting and the doctor told me I might as well carry a bowling ball on my shoulder.  He couldn't believe how heavy that purse was.  I put it in the closet and looked at it for 5 years and finally gave it away.

Well, my friend Judy's husband travels a lot and is gone for 5 or 6 weeks at a time.  Every time he goes away he sends her a Coach bag.  It's just something he does which I think is awesome.  My husband buys me Good and Plenty for special occasions.  Anyway, I was teasing Gary that I thought he should get me a Coach bag since I "BABYSIT" for Judy while he's gone.  Easiest babysitting job I've ever had.  Yesterday Judy came over to pick me up and gave me a bag from Gary.  I was speechless (that doesn't happen often).



This is my new Coach bag.  I usually go to Ross and buy a knockoff so this is going to be my "GOING OUT SPECIAL BAG".  Thank you Gary.

BEADS OF COURAGE

 As you know our clay guild is working with The Beads of Courage people down in Tucson.  We collect beads every month and send them to Tucson to be used for the kids and their families.  These are kids going through major illinesses.   They get a chain or necklace and every time they go through a procedure such as chemo, radiation, giving blood, surgery or what ever, they get to choose a bead to put on their necklace.  There are many glass bead makers and polymer clay artists who have been donating to this cause.  In January I did 50 beads which were bears and dogs and animals.  This month I am working on more animals and some special hearts.    I just finished these.


If you are interested in donating, please contact me and I will let you know where to send them.  They like large, bright items and must have at least a 3mm hole.


BIRTHDAY FRAME

A friend asked me to make a frame for her friend for her birthday.  She has three really cute dogs so I made the frame and put all the dog's names on it.  She just sent me a picture with the dogs in the frame.  They are so cute.




SUNSET IN ARIZONA

Last night we had a gorgeous sunset.  It's been in the 80's here this week which is great golf weather.  I went out and took a picture of the sunset and the colors make me want to do clay.  But, everything makes me want to do clay.  I'm obsessed.


HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY


Wednesday, March 9, 2011

BOOBOO UPDATE

Booboo spent 30 minutes at the vets screaming at the top of his lungs.  If you have never heard a cat scream, you don't know what you are missing.  It makes the hair on your arms stand up and a lot of people look at you like you were sitting there in the nude.  There was a French Bulldog in the vets waiting room when Boo started screaming and I thought it was going to have a heart attack.  Not pretty.  It ran under a chair and all I could see was it's butt and it was shaking.  Picture that.

Anyway, my dear Boo has an abscess and it's infected.  They gave him a shot of antibiotics and when he looked at me I knew, I was in trouble.  Nothing like the wrath of an angry cat.  The doctor put me through the routine about how Boo is getting older and his kidney's are weakening and yadda, yadda, yadda.  He's not ready and neither am I.


SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE TODAY

Every day I like to learn something new especially about polymer clay or jewelry making or techniques.  About a year ago I bought a knotting tool:

and I bought some silk thread that has the needle already attached:


so I got them out today and taught myself how to hand knot a necklace.  Took it apart after the first 8 beads because I had nasty knot so I started over.  Then I realized the bead holes were really too big for this thread but I finished it anyway.  Going to have to research the hole sizes for the thread.  I also used French wire for the first time.  That's kind of interesting:

It's very fine and has a hole through it.  You cut a small piece, put it on your thread and then your toggle and it protects the thread from wear and tear from the toggle and it really gives it a nice finished look.  I might try this with some of my beading stuff or my wire stuff.  Anyway, it was really fun, didn't take long and I think I'm hooked.

This is the necklace on a black background.

This is the necklace on a white background so you can see the beads a little better.  Now it just needs a polymer clay pendant.

Now I have to finish my pens for the clay guild swap, the 30 guest gifts for the wedding shower, the donations I promised for the Orlando Clay Guilds Fandango and the animals for Beads of Courage. 

I know, I know I should be working instead of blogging but this is like having a BFF sitting on my desk.  The cat is deaf and the husband has seletive hearing so here I am again.

Say Goodnight Gracie

HERE FISHIE, FISHIE

My friend Lynn Reno of Desert Rubble http://www.artfire.com/users/DesertRubble has been making the cutest polymer fishes.  I had to have one and was so happy when it came in the mail.  She does such neat STUFF and she's a very sharing person.  I hope you go check out her Artfire store.

I feed him every day and now he's a happy guy and has a good home.

MORE BLUE BEADS

I still have some cane left from the Hawaiian Snow Tire beads that I made so I made some beads and put them in the tumbler.  They had a little green and yellow coloring when they came out.  I usually do everything pretty symetrical and I decided to change my ways.


It reminds me of my sister.  Maybe I'll send it to her.


Finished two more golf stroke counters for our village store.

Taking Booboo to the vet this morning.  He's not doing very good.  Keep your fingers crossed.  He has a tumor on his side and I'm hoping this is what's causing him to not eat.
He's my best buddy.

Monday, March 7, 2011

HAWAIIAN SNOW TIRES????????????

Remember that big Pandora bead I made?  Well, I wasn't sure what to do with it but since I'm into chains now (nothing kinky :0) I wanted to incorporate more metal because the center of the bead has the two metal eyelets.  I played with different textures of chains and ended up with what I call "A Hawaiian Snow Tire". 


I put these in my Artfire shop.  I love making these beads but I can't wear all the things I want to.

 




Sunday, March 6, 2011

DON'T BUG ME ELEPHANT

A few weeks ago I took 4 classes from Christi Freisen when she was in Tucson.  One of the classes was an elephant class.  She made the cutest elephant in 5 minutes.  This is Christi's pirate elephant.




Well, I finally had some time and decided I wanted an elephant.  I finished my elephant and showed him to my husband before I baked him.  As I was just about to tell him it was an elephant, he said "WOW, that's a scary looking bug".  When I told him it was suppose to be an elephant, all he said was "REALLY".  So this is going to be my "Don't Bug Me Elephant".  Now as I look at him, he needs longer floppier ears and his nose should be smaller.  But, I'm the one who took the Dog Lying Down sculpting class and my husband thought it was Darth Vader.


I put a bar on the back of his head in case someone plans to ride him they have something to hold on to.  Now he just needs bails and a necklace and we will be going out looking for peanuts.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

BIG HONKING PANDORA BEADS

Yesterday we had our monthly clay day here.  Rose could only stay for a short time because she had to play grandma.  So the three of us decided to make "polymer clay Pandora beads".  Judy bought us some big eyelets and we proceded to experiment by trying to do it different ways.  I looked at Pandora beads on the internet and they are different sizes but I think we did what I call "Big Honking Beads".

These are Judy's beads after baking but before polishing.  She has a wild imagination and so she makes pretty, colorful, wild beads.



These are Evelyn's Pandora beads.  The ones on the left she made with an old can I gave her the red, yellow, green (etc.) ones on the right were made with a cane she got from one of our guild members.


I made this cane yesterday.  It's called a Lynne cane.

Here are my "Big Honking Pandora Beads" that I made from the cane.  These were in the rock tumbler and then I buffed them.





These I made when the girls were here with a magenta and white cane and I polished these with Fimo gloss.


Here you can see there are 4 beads and 2 bobbins that I filled with clay and put the same cane in.  The beads have little balls on them and that took longer than the beads.

This was fun and I'm going to experiment some more with translucent clay and more canes.

Now I just need a jump rope to hang them on.  LOL

They really aren't that big.  TEE HEE HEE

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Ready Or Not Here Come The Bags AND CLAY DAY

Two weeks from Saturday is our craft fair here in Sun City West.  Our beading club will have a booth and we are each allowed 20 items.  The items have to be tagged with our 3 letter code, the number and the cost.  Then we have to write out an inventory list with each item and the item has to go in a bag with our code and list number on it.  I've been stressing about it all week because mine has to be in by Monday.  I've been trying to finish things to put in the fair.  I like making things but I don't like finishing them.  I have 18 pieces done so I have till Monday to do two more.  I'm stressed but here's my stash.

You are asking yourself "How come she's blogging instead of working?"  I wondered that too.   Here are some of the pieces I finished in the last couple days.  Some I want to keep for ME.

This is one of my favorite bracelets.  I love this cane.  It was left over from the necklace I made Rose for Christmas.


These beads were made from a butterfly cane that Judy and I tried one day.  Didn't care for it but I like the beads now.


Not a good picture of the cat but he's really cute.  Covered in Magic Glos.  I made the necklace with pieces of chain that I bought.  Chain, chain, chain, chain of fools.  LOL

This is a golf stroke counter with the butterfly beads, Swarovski flat backs and a cute lady bug sitting on one of the beads.


CLAY DAY

Tomorrow the girls are coming over for clay day.  We are going to try and make Pandora Beads.  There are about 20 other things we wanted to do but may not get to.  As Rose says "If your claying your playing".

If you get a chance, check Desert Rubble's blog.  She has the cutest fish on there.  I want a bunch.
http://lynnsdesertrubble.blogspot.com/  Lynn does the most incredible stuff with clay and powders.  Check out the latest Polymer Cafe to see her tutorial in there.
Here fishy, fishy.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

Angel was buried today and is now with Annie.  If you ever need help or understanding about an animal, check out Rainbows Bridge http://rainbowsbridge.com/.  Take some Puffs with you.  You can send a person who has lost a pet an e-card from there.  It's a virtual memorial home for your pet.

I didn't mean to end on a sad note but animals are part of my life and that's mostly what this blog is for.  Sometimes I think the cats and dogs in my life understand everything I say and some of the people don't.
MEOW

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

FEATURING JUDY

As you know, my friend Judy has just been published in Polymer Cafe with her little pots.  Judy has only been doing clay for a couple years.  Prior to this, she never wore jewelry and now she carries about 8 pounds around with her. LOL

Last month our clay guild had a pendant swap and Judy made beads out of clay that she made by doing the Sutton Slice.  She had some left over clay and used it to make this incredible necklace.


For someone who never wore jewlery or made jewelry, her pieces are incredible.  She really thinks outside the box.  I have quite a few pieces that Judy made me and I'm still in awe of her use of wire and metal. 



POLYMER CLAY SMOOSHERS

I was really surprised this week.  Last month I was accepted to join the Polymer Clay Smooshers of Artfire.  They are a very talented group of polymer clay artists.  I felt very privileged to have my Artfire store added to their list.  On February 28th they published an article on their blog about me.  It's a really nice article.  You can read it here http://polymerclaysmooshers.blogspot.com/.


GOD LOVE YOU ANGEL

Yesterday I went to say goodbye to Angel.  Sweet little thing was taken on Sunday night.  Shine down on us Angel and tell Annie we said hello.

Bless all you furry little creatures out there who have given us unconditional love. Thank you all.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

A VERY VERY SAD DAY

Last December I blogged about a little dog that was found in the desert and brought to my friends who already had two dogs.  They named her Angel and she truly was.  She was 5 pounds of dynamite and love.  She actually stole the hearts of everyone she met.

Sunday she managed to get out without anyone seeing her.  She wasn't gone long when they discovered her missing.  They watched her constantly because she was so spunky and liked to run.  Unfortunately, the search for Angel ended badly.  Her body was found early Monday morning.

Now Angel is with Annie in heaven and there will be another bright star shining down to watch over us.


Goodbye Angel, we all loved you.  You brought a lot of smiles and laughs to our lives the short time you were here.  Rest in peace sweet little girl.