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".