HELLO NATASHA

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.  I got a new refrigerator for Christmas but it needs some food in it.  Guess I better go shopping.

On Monday, I decided to clean up my polymer clay area before we left for the day.  I had a pile of pearl, black and some end pieces of a face cane that I made in a Barbara Maguire class over a year ago.  So, I thought I would just chop all the pieces up and make a Natasha pendant.  I chopped the clay and then rolled it out and twisted it like I do before I make the pendants.  When I cut it in half, I was stunned.

 

There in the middle was a face looking up at me.  Looks a little like a cat but I think it's a ghost from Christmas past.  I put it in one of Penni Jo Couches molds http://www.bestflexiblemolds.com/ and the clay came out like a rock with different pieces of rock types in it so I left it like that.  Sanded and buffed it and it kept looking more like a rock formation as I buffed it.  I think it needs a Kumhimo necklace to go with it.  I don't understand how that face survived after all the manipulating I did.

 

 

I made this cross for a friend for Christmas.  It has 4 layers of Magic Glos on it.  I don't normally have problems with Magic Glos but I think it was so cold in my office that the Magic Glos pulled in on itself faster than I could put it on.  Arizona is a little cool right now but at least we don't have any snow to shovel.

 

My friend who has the 3 kittens (King, the one that got out and is now back in and loving his new sister) didn't have an afghan.  I told her all kittens need a lap with an afghan on it to rest on.  I started this a week ago last Monday and finally finished it Sunday.  My elbow was crying from all the crocheting.  She loved it and I'm sure the kitten's will too. I'm 5'6" so you know how big this thing is.   Buster loves snuggling in an afghan.  That's my new refrigerator in the back.  It's got French doors and the freezer is on the bottom.  When you get water out of the door it tells you how many ounces it has dispensed.

 

POLYMER CLAY TEST 

 

I made a Santa Claus head out of one of Penni Jo's molds.  I didn't get it finished before Christmas but I wanted to try something.  I made it out of white and pearl clay and before I baked it, I painted the hat with ink and the beard and tassle with white Lumiere paint.  I baked it at 265 for an hour and the ink and the paint baked with no problems.  I'm antiquing it now and will spray it when it's done.  I'll post a picture.  But now I know I can use inks and Lumiere to paint on raw clay with no baking problems.

 

If I don't get a chance to post before next week, hope you have a wonderful, safe and healthy New Year.  Keep on Claying.

 

 

 

 

 

THE KING HAS COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

You probably think I'm going to start talking religion.  I don't do that, my politics, religion and family are pretty private.

When I said the King came home for Christmas I'm talking about one of the most beautiful and regal kittens I've ever seen.  A very dear friend of mine rescued two kittens from the shelter about 6 weeks ago.  The boy's name is King and the girl's name was Peep.  He is regal and she peeps (the reason for the names).  No one wanted to adopt King because he had been abused and was very skittish.  He had been in a home with a small child who was not taught how to treat an animal.  He was put in a container with Peep and the two of them bonded so my friend took them both.  No two animals have ever had more love (except maybe Buster).  Anyway, someone came over and King ran outside.  She tried everything to get him back in.  He spent the days roaming some where and the nights on her patio talking to Peep through the screen.  She gave him water and food but as soon as she would move, he ran away.  He was outside for at least 8 days.  Sunday night I went over and we spent an hour with a bowl of food and being as still as we could but kept moving the food closer and closer to the house.  We got the bowl in the house and he came in to eat and we got the door closed just in time.  In the mean time, my friend adopted another kitten named Queen.  We found King and Queen in the closet snuggling together on my friends jeans.  We both cried.

 

THE KING HAS COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.  He used the kitty liter and sat in the cat condo so all is good.

 

I'M NOT READY FOR CHRISTMAS

Every year I make jewelry for my sister, nieces and nephew's wife.  I'm late this year.  They love Shambala bracelets so I'm making a bunch for them to wear.

 

 

 

 

Also made some stretch bracelets.  Love those beads from Joann's.

 

 

 

 

 

My family doesn't read my blog so that's a good thing.

 

BUSTER IN TROUBLE AGAIN

 

 

I tried to warn him he was falling off the chair but he wouldn't listen.  Sure enough he clunked his head on the chair back when he started to fall.

 

 

He keeps getting up on the computer and stepping on that little button that turns the computer off.  I lost two emails so I had to put a cardboard over it to stop him.

 

FREE EARRING TUTORIAL

 

We all know and love Penni Jo Couch and she put a free Christmas earring tutorial out.

 

http://bestflexiblemolds.com/free_tutorials/ChristmasEarringsTute.pdf

 

Send her a note and thank her if you like it.  I think it's great.

 

 

 

 

A Good Day and Some Cookie Recipes

What would Christmas be without a bling sale and some really good cookies?  BORRRRRRRRRING

 

Yesterday our beading club had a "Holiday Bling Fling".  There were 41 of us in a big square in the room where we go beading.  There was so much bling it made your eyes water.  My friend Evelyn and I shared a table.  We both do mostly polymer clay, I do a little beading, Kumihimo, wire wrapping, bead crochet and yadda, yadda, yadda.  When we saw how much bling there was we thought it was going to be a slow sale day.

 

This is my side of the table.

 

This is Evelyn and her side of the table but we actually combined some of our things.  We had a lot of fun and we both made enough money to have some fun and buy lots more clay.

 

COOKIES

 

I love baking Christmas cookies and I have a couple recipes I would like to share with you that I make every year.

 

 

 

Easy Kraft Pinwheel Cookies http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/pinwheel-sugar-cookies-138371.aspx

 

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Mix together the following:

2/3 Cup shortening

2/3 Cup butter

1 Cup sugar

1 Cup brown sugar packed

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 Cup chopped walnuts

Sift together the following:

3 Cups flour

1-teaspoon salt

2-teaspoon soda

 

Mix all of the above - add two 6-ounce packages of Chocolate Chips. Bake at 375 degrees 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.  1 cup chopped nuts optional.

 

Hope you enjoy these, we love them.

 

 

Another Addiction Why Me?

My friend Rose showed us how to make Shambala bracelets when we were at camp and I thought it was great but wasn't sure I wanted to get into another thing.  I already have my PHD in crafts. (Pile it Higher and Deeper).  Well, I watched a YouTube on how to make a Shambala bracelet and just happen to have some macrame cord and beads just sitting here (HAH).  Made one and forgot that Rose told me to use a cigarette lighter to burn the ends so I used glue and glued my fingers together trying to hold the cord.  So, Rose teaches another class and mentions the cigarette lighter (slap my head).  Sat down and made two thinking my sister MIGHT like these.  Never know with her.

 

So, here's Susie's.

 

 

Couldn't make one without making my niece one.

 

So I had to make 3 more for my other friends and for myself.

 

I've burned my fingers on every one of these.  The cat has stolen the first lighter I had.  I just bought $40 worth of cord and more beads.  Someone help me please.

 

Penni Jo's Molds

 

Last Wednesday at beading we had a clay day.  A couple of the girls wanted Evelyn to show them how to make Christmas ornaments the rest of us just played but I brought my Penni Jo molds to show them.  They were like a whirling dirvish.  Check this out.

 

This was Karen's.  I'm not sure how many she had when we finally left.

 

 

These were Jeannie's.  I can't wait to see what they do with them.  I'm guessing lots of glitter and powder.

 

 

 

This was the start of Carol's ornament.

 

Saw this on facebook, love it.  Looks like Buster.

I was trying to read our city's paper the other night and he wouldn't let me have it.  I didn't even know he could read.  He sure knows a donut box when he sees it.

 

 

 

 

Tigers, Giraffes, Leopards and Zebras My Oh My

Last week at our beading club a bunch of us got together to work on clay.  One of our ladies has been doing polymer for about a year and she's really into animal print stuff.  I talked her into doing a class on making animal print canes.  She did a wonderful job and we had so much fun.

This is a Zebra cane I made the night before the class.  I also did a tiger cane that I forgot to take a picture of.

 

These are two of the beads I made from the tiger cane and the zebra cane end pieces.

 

 

This is Karen teaching the zebra cane.

 

 

I made some Donna Greenberg beads after our friend Judy did a demo on how to do them.  They are the Sabre tooth ones.  Then I did the cross using the Penni Jo Couch mold and then did a bunch of beads.  I thought it would be heavy after putting it together but it wasn't.  Now I have to figure out what to do with the two pounds of animal print canes I have.

 

 



I VOTED AND TOOK A GREAT CLASS

Sunday was a wonderful day.  Our guild was able to take a class with Sarah Shriver.  My BFF's and I were all together all day Sunday learning and having an incredible day.  Sarah is an amazing teacher.  Her color mixing methods make doing clay and making Skinner blends a whole new experience to an old clayer I mean an experienced clayer. LOL

This is Sarah showing us different methods of setting up Skinner blends for our canes.

This is one of the canes from the class but I don't recognize the fingers so I don't know who it belongs to.

These are Natasha beads I made with the end pieces of my cane.  I was so excited.  The one on the right looks like a cat with wings and little shoes.  Everything I look at has a cat in somewhere.  LOL

If I ever get some pieces finished pieces, I'll post them.

Wanted to thank Jodie for setting up the classes and all the hard work she put into organizing them and I wanted thank Carolyn for letting us use her shop for our class.  It was the perfect place for a class.  AND, I want to thank Sarah for sharing such wonderful information with us.

Sarah has a DVD that shows her techniques with color, canes and blends called Intricate Kaleidoscope Canes and it will give you an insight to her incredible canes.

I VOTED TODAY

 

 

Walked over to vote this morning.  It was a beautiful morning till I got in the room to vote.  There were about 10 people working in there and the smell of perfume and after shave were so strong my head plugged up and I could hardly breathe which made it hard to want to stay there.  Do people think wearing perfume makes them better looking? 

 

Why doesn't someone invent a perfume that smells like CHOCOLATE OR POPCORN?

 

PENNI JO AND JOE AT THE ARIZONA POLYMER CLAY GUILD

On Saturday, October 20th our clay guild (Arizona Polymer Clay Guild) had the pleasure of having Penni Jo Couch and her husband Joe come for the day to visit and do a demo.

 

Everyone at the guild watched as she did her magic with her Penni Jo's Clay Tools.  She also showed us how to use her flexible molds http://www.bestflexiblemolds.com/.  I have a set of tools that I won when I gave them the name she uses on them and then I got lucky to win another set in a drawing.  Haven't decided what I'm going to do with the extra set yet.

 

OK, speaking of molds.  I'm obsessive compulsive when it comes to her molds.  I think I have them all

 

This is my box of Penni Jo's molds.  As you can see I use them a lot.

 

This is a picture of one of Penni Jo's pendants that she did the embroidery flowers and leafs on.  They are so beautiful and she makes the smallest Skinner Blends I've ever seen.  What a great idea.  I always make these 10 pound Skinner Blends and have enough clay to last a year. 

 

While Penni was doing her magic and wowing the clay guild, Joe sat in the back of the room with his mold and tool display and sold molds and tools to the group.  He was having a good time. 

 

She showed us a lot of TNT as she calls it.  Tips n tricks.  Sorry I can't divulge them.  You'll just have to invite her to your clay guild.

 

Thanks Penni Jo and Joe for sharing your time and talents with us.  Looking forward to having come back again next year.

 

ARIZONA TOY BREED RESCUE FUNDRAISER

 

This Friday there is a fundraiser for a lady who lives in our community and does some incredible work.  We live in a retirement community and we have our own posse.  When they find a dog or someone is taken to the hospital and there is an dog left alone they bring it to this wonderful lady who makes sure it is healthy and taken care of.  She has 12 dogs right now that she is trying to find forever homes for.

 

The little girl on the right is Sweetie.  She is being fostered by my neighbors.

 

This Friday there is a chili dinner fundraiser to help raise money so this lady can pay her vet bills.  There is going to be a silent auction so I donated some polymer clay items, an afghan and a scarf.

 

This is the afghan.

 

This is the scarf.

This is one of the bracelets.  I have some business cards that have cat pictures on them so of course I had to put one in.  I'll let you know what I buy in the silent auction.  I hope a lot of people show up and I heard the chili they are serving is suppose to be really good.

Our city's craft fair is this Saturday and I'm taking a class from Sarah Shriver on Sunday which I'm really excited about.  Going to be a full weekend.


Happy Halloween.

Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat.

 

 

 

DID I DO THAT????????????????

Yesterday I went to get my Ipod and my Sony ear buds so I could go for a walk and boy did I have a surprise.  Both sets of ear buds had the rubber coating chewed off and the wire was bent and chewed also.

I don't remember letting Buster watch Steve Urkel but I think he's related to him.  Now I have to go buy new ear buds and have to remember to hide them from this crazy cat.  I never had to put my beading away or hide the dental floss with any of the other cats but I always had to hide the yarn.  This cat doesn't care about the yarn but he keeps stealing the Fireline and anything that has thread including the dental floss and the knitting needles and the crochet hooks.  Last night at midnight he was rolling the knitting needles around the tile floor.  So I had to get up and search for them and put them away.

IT'S A PURSE, NO IT'S A HAT

A friend of mine bought her grand daughters some little purses while she was in Kansas.  When I saw them, I had a few ideas on how to change them.  They can also be used as hats so I did a few adjustments and added some beads and changed the straps. 

 

  These are really little girl hats so my little friend modeled the one I made for her granddaughter.  It's too little for her head but will fit the little one just fine.

 

SPECIAL GUEST

 

Tomorrow is our clay guild meeting and I'm really excited.  Penni Jo Couch from Best Flexible Molds http://www.bestflexiblemolds.com/ is coming to our meeting and she's going to do a demo.  I think I have everyone of her molds.  I buy them to give as gifts to clay people and also to put in bags when we do our exchange up at camp and at Christmas.

 

Time to get something done so I can go play.

 

 

TIME IS RUNNING OUT

I have one week to get all my jewelry ready for the craft fair and I'm starting to stress.  I finished this yesterday and am trying to decide if it needs earrings.

I wish Buster knew how to bead.  I would put him to work.  He likes eating the Fireline so he wouldn't get much done.

NATIONAL BUSTER DAY

Today is National Buster Day.

 

Yesterday I took one of my best friends to her plastic surgeon.  On August 15 she had both breasts removed because of cancer.  She is now going through the process of having injections into the temporary expanders that they put in.  She had no pain yesterday when they did it so we celebrated by going out to lunch and shopping at all the craft stores we could find.  Like I needed more STUFF.  I'm so happy for her and so grateful for her recovery because she is one very special lady.

 

All my friends know that I am a cat person and I worship the little gift I got for Christmas last year.  When I got Buster from the shelter his name was Leroy.  He's not a Leroy but he is a Buster Leroy.  I kept his middle name because that's Jethro Leroy Gibb's middle name.  He's Mark Harmon on NCIS.  That says it all.

 

Buster keeps us laughing all day long when he's not sleeping and he's been pretty funny today so it's going to National Buster Day at our house.  I'll show you why.

 

I was mopping the floor and he watched every move of the mop.  Never took his eyes off me.  The towel on the chair is because he uses the chair as a launching pad.

 

 

 

Yesterday I found this Halloween cat collar.  He's so funny.  Let's me dress him up like a doll.  Doesn't last long but he lets me take his picture.  He has thrown this collar on the floor at least a dozen times.  Wait till he sees what we are going to do for Christmas.

 

He has a fan club on facebook.

 

 

Had to put my sleeping bag in a white garbage bag because someone uses the bag holder for a hiding place.

 

My husband brought me a buttermilk donut for our anniversary and I had a piece on the desk and went to get more coffee.  He stole my donut and then made believe he was sleeping when I came in the office.  He had crumbs on him.  The little devil.  Made believe he couldn't hear me.

No pictures of polymer clay or beading today.  This is my way of thanking all the people who work in shelters.  This cat has been a blessing.  I don't know how I got so lucky but I want to do the "ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE" dance.  Except for the fact that I'll have to mortgage my home to pay for his food.  He is a blessing.  Nothing like a kitten to change life and make it better.

 

 

 

 

 

WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE INVENT A SLEEPING BAG FOR OLD PEOPLE?

Last Wednesday to Sunday I was at our Arizona Polymer Clay Guild's retreat in Prescott, Arizona.  We stayed at a camp where we had 3 cabins and each cabin had 4 bedrooms and each bedroom had 4 sets of bunk beds.  I had my own room so I had my choice of bunk beds.

I made the mistake of buying a sleeping bag at Wal-Mart.  Brought it home washed it and couldn't get it back in the bag for two reasons.  I couldn't fit it back in and Buster was using the bag to hide in.

 

So I put the bed in a space bag and sucked the air out of it.  When I got to camp I took the bed with the double plastic mattress thinking it would be more comfortable.  I put the fitted sheet on and then the top sheet and unzipped the sleeping bag so if I had to get up to go to the bathroom I wouldn't get stuck in the bag.  Being that the mattress was doubled, the room between the bottom and top of the bunk was very limited.  I bumped my head getting in bed and every time I bent over to get something out of the suitcase that was on the other bed.  The sleeping bag was that slippery material and kept sliding off the bed so I took the top sheet off and just used the sleeping bag.  I wish someone would invent a sleeping bag for older people.  It would have to have lots velcro, a place to put the Alleve, heated an vibrating would be nice.  The next day I had zipper marks on my chin because I had the bag upside down and needless to say I didn't sleep well.  For four days I banged my head on the side of the bed and fought with the sleeping bag.  The showers were made for little skinny 14 year olds.  If you drop the soap, you had to slide down the side of the shower to pick it up because there was NO bending over in there.  When you get out of the shower and you bend over to dry your legs you bang your butt on the shower door so I learned to move over to dry myself and then I saw the biggest spider I've ever seen going up the wall.  I killed him with my rubber slipper.  WHACK!

 

There were some good things about camp.  It was cool, the food was good, we had a lot of laughs and I had things made the first day.  Usually I can't figure out what I want to do.  Another great thing was I won the challenge prize.  I didn't know we were having a challenge and I still don't know why I won.

 

But, this is what I won.  It was made by my good friend Lupe Meter of Gems PC Creations.  She does gorgeous work and it goes with every thing I wear.  LOL

 

My good friend Rose (a BFF) and I shared tables together.  She made me laugh for 4 days straight.  She can condition clay by hand faster than anyone can with an electric motor.  I think she made 150 beads and pendants while we were at camp.  We really had a good time.

 

 

These were some pendants I made with the help of Moe from Aloha Moe except I forgot what she told me and forgot two things that I was suppose to put in them.  This is a crappy picture but in person they are really pretty and look like granite.  I told my husband I was having camera trouble again he said I wasn't that it was operator error.  Famous last words.

 

These are some swirly lentil beads I made from cane ends.  We did a barbed wire cane and a Bettina Welker's Pixelated cane.  Those extruders were really working hard.

This is my "I AM WOMAN, DON'T PUSH YOUR LUCK" pendant.  Screws for arms and a butterfly in the crotch.  Don't ask, I can't explain it.

 

These are my wrapped smoosh beads.  These are fun and will be a great focal pendat on a Kumihimo necklace.

 

I know this is long this time but it's been a while.

 

As Rose would say "When your claying your playing".