MY FAVORITE SHARP SHOOTER

A good friend of mine spent a lot of time in the Navy and while there, she ended up being a sharp shooter.  She still shoots and is very good at it.  And then there's me.  My husband wanted me to get my Concealed Carry license and thought I should be able to shoot a gun.  He bought me a gun and we went out to the range.  Talk about being scared.  HOLY MOLY.  The first 10 shots hit the dirt and it didn't get much better after that.  So we took the class and I don't know why I thought they were going to teach me how to shoot.  Well, I was the only one in the class that didn't pass.  There was an 85 year old guy in the class using a revolver, even he passed.  I cried all day.   Now you have to understand, the biggest trophy I have is for trap shooting.  I use to work for Snap-On Tools and they had a woman's trap shooting team.  I had my own 12 gauge, cleaned it myself and loaded my own shells.  So, 30 years later, what's with the little gun thing????  I think getting older has a lot to do with being able to do a lot of things.  Now in Arizona you don't need a license to carry.  The only thing I want to carry is my purse and coupons for Michaels and Joann's.  LOL  Anyway, I found some little gun charms because I wanted to make her some earrings.  They are in the mail now.

I ordered an ornament mold from After Midnight.  My plans were to make a bunch and put them on my tree but life got in the way again.  Tile guys, carpet, dry wall, etc.  At least I got one made and put it on my friend Evelyn's Christmas gift.

 

OK, I had to publish this blog and then go back and do an edit in order to add another picture.

Is anyone else having that problem?  This is driving me nuts.  I'm going to go over to another web page and try to post again and see what happens.

 

One good thing about the flood we had is that I have cleaned every closet and cabinet in the house.  Made some critical decisions about getting rid of things I haven't used in a year and got rid of them.  It feels so good to go to a closet and find things now.  I have two more storage areas and the garage to do and then I'm done. 

 

Hope you have a wonderful and healthy New Year.  I hope to be able to more polymer clay and beading now that I have the closets cleaned.  LOL

I DON'T GET IT

I tried up-down loading this picture yesterday and it wouldn't take.

 

This is my sweet Buster waiting in his carrier while the carpet guys were going in and out of the house and had to have the doors open.  He stayed in there for 4 hours and then he started rolling around so I knew it was time.  Today is a special day for him and John and I.  It was 2 years ago today that I brought him home from the shelter.  He was so tiny but had really big feet.  Every day has been a fun day with him around here.  He even has a following on facebook.

 

I just tried to put up another picture of him and it won't let me.

 

Are we restricted to one picture per blog now?

 

OK, I just went back and there were 3 blogs that never went to post from draft.  I'm sure that was operator error.  LOL  So I did an edit on this one and it let me add another picture.  I'm confused.

 

Anyway, this was Buster 3 days after I brought him home.  He was either climbing up the screens or dive bombing into garbage cans.

 

I just tried to put up another picture and it won't let me.

 

I give up.

 

 

I don't understand this.  I went back and did an edit on this post and it let me add another picture.  I've looked at all the options on the blog and it doesn't say anything about only being able to do one picture at a time.

Isn't he cute?  We still haven't found that collar.  We took it off him the second day he was home.  I think he buried it in the cat liter and it's gone.  When I got him his name was Leroy and that's what his tag said.  He definitely is a Buster.

 

 

HOPE THIS WORKS

I've tried putting pictures on this blog 6 different times now and they don't work.  One will and the next one won't.  I'm going to try one more time.

I've been MIA for a couple weeks.  We had the flood, then the tile guy came and then the carpet guys now we need painting but I'm taking a month break till I have to take all the clothes out of the closets again.  I finally got my tree up but it only has 5 ornaments on it.

I finished the frames for my sister, niece and nephew and wife for Christmas.

OK, this one worked.  They all love Turner the dog so I made dog frames for all of them.  My sister tried to kiss him and he pulled away.  I think she thinks it's her grandson.  LOL

 

I just tried to put a picture of Buster up here and it won't take.  I'm getting frustrated.

 

 

I just tried to upload 15 different pictures and it won't let me.

 

Can someone help me please?

 

 

 

 

KEEP MY SENSE OF HUMOR PLEASE???????????????

Last night I went to get ready for bed and the entry way to my walk in closet in the master bedroom was flooded.  It is carpeted so needless to say, I have a mess.  It has been raining here for 3 days but we don't know if that had anything to do with it.  So at 11:00 p.m. we were moving my big dresser out of the closet and moving as much stuff as we could.  We are waiting for the plumber to call back to let us know what time he can get here.  Sure am glad we have two bathrooms, I guess I should feel very lucky.  We had to buy a shop vac this morning to get the water up.

Although this didn't come at a good time since I have an order for 30 pairs of earrings and I'm trying to get my Christmas presents done, I'm dealing with it.  The good thing is, now I get new carpet in both bedrooms, the closet and I can finally get rid of the carpet in the dining room that gets used every two years.

My friend Lupe was doing something interesting when we went to camp in September.  She was putting rub ons over the resin she put on polymer clay pieces.  So, I ordered a ton of them.  Some are too big for the smaller pieces but the rest work really well.

I made my sister in law a cross for her birthday from the Penni Jo Couch molds at Best Flexible Molds http://www.bestflexiblemolds.com/.  As a matter of fact, they are doing free shipping until December 1st.  Check it out.

This is the cross I made using pearl clay and impressing it with a texture plate.  It has a coat of resin the rub ons and two more coats of resin.  This is a picture I took before the last coat of resin.  You can see the line on the bottom.  I forgot to take a picture of the finished one before I mailed it.  But, I wanted to tell you, it's been cold here and the Magic Glos pulled in on itself much faster than normal so I put it in the UV light before I put the last coat on and it seemed to stay better.   It's a purse bling.  The beads were done using Kumihimo with Magatamas and white pearl seed beads.

My computer  is hiccuping.  Will have to try again later.

MISSING IN ACTION

It's been a while since I posted my last blog.  For 3 weeks I felt like my world was on a roller coaster and I couldn't get off.  The roller coaster is still going but not quite as fast.

You all know I'm an animal lover and can't say no when someone asks me to help or donate to an animal organization or a charitable fund for animals.

Two weeks ago there was a benefit to raise money for a lady who rescues small animals.  I told her I would donate some of my handmade items for her silent auction.  I had a deadline and almost didn't make it because of these dam migraines that I get.  I finished the 12 items 2 days before the benefit and the night of the benefit I found out that I was the only one that donated anything.  The whole benefit was not organized very well and I think I've been had but I guess I just learned another lesson.  I also bought $100 worth of tickets and gave them to friends so there would be more people there.  I was told there would be 200 people there and I think there were 50.  I was also told they would be serving wine and beer and told all my friends.  There was none.  My neighbor and I each made 125 cupcakes for the event.  I was going to take the leftovers to a class I was going to the next day and when I went up to get them, they had been packed away by other people who said they were going to be selling them at a luncheon the next day.
So what would you have done?  I just stood there with my mouth open.

Anyway, here are some of the pieces that I donated and I'm glad my neighbors and friends got most of them.

This is a black and white polymer clay cross with a Kumihimo beaded key chain.

Black and white polymer clay cat pendant.

Polymer Clay bead on blue and green turquoise.

Pink and clear crystal stretch bracelet.

Polymer clay cat on silver chain with Swarovski eyes.

Puppy pendant on ribbon.

Polymer clay pendant with an angel cat and a Kumihimo necklace.

These are just a few of the things I donated and I know the person that the benefit was for has done an incredible job of rescuing small animals and I applaud her for the work she's done but next time I will check with the organizers before I spend two weeks going crazy.  

The next day I took a polymer clay class with Sarah Shriver and had to have all my clay conditioned so that was another thing riding the roller coaster with me.  This was a very good class.

Sarah is a wonderful teacher, now I have to spend time putting my canes together.

I was hoping life would calm down a little but it hasn't.  I still walk my friends dogs every morning, I bowl twice a week, golf twice a week, teach beading and Kumihimo and now I'm getting shots to see if they will help with the migraines.  I had two yesterday.  Maybe I should drink more wine. LOL

This is Honey, Beau and Champ on the bottom.  These three have kept me sane, moving and feeling better.  I am now the #1 dog pooper scooper in the neighborhood and wouldn't trade it for a $1,000,000.

Can't forget Buster.  This is the look he gave me when I tried to put his Halloween neck piece on.

OK, I'M DONE WHINING.  

Next time you volunteer for something, check it out big time to make sure there's more than one person organizing and planning an event.

I forgot to mention that at the same time, my sister's mother in law was turning 100 and they were having a big birthday party for her.  She lost the bracelet I had made her 3 years ago and was all upset so I had to make two more and get them in the mail in time for her party.

I guess I wasn't done whining.

TELL ME WHY

Two nights ago the bulb in my Ott light died.  It was a 13W special bulb just for Ott lights.  So yesterday I went to Joann's to get a new bulb and they were $35.95 just for one bulb and that didn't include tax.  Around the corner from the bulbs were the Ott lights and the one I have was $59.95??????????  So the replacement bulb costs about 67 percent of what a whole new lamp would cost.  Well, right next to that lamp was a bigger one with an 18W bulb, bigger and sturdier base and the head on it was higher.  I had a 40% off coupon and my 10% discount card so I bought that lamp for 50% off and paid $58.00 for it.  I love this new lamp, takes a little more room on the table but sheds lots more light and the head doesn't get in the way.  I looked on Amazon when I got home and I can get the same bulb for $10.35 without shipping because I'm a prime member or the shipping would be $6.00.  So why does Joann's charge $35.95 for a bulb?  But, I got a new and bigger lamp so I'm a happy girl.

 

Did you ever make something that you didn't like?  A friend gave me her clay and all her stuff because her hands are bad.  She had some canes she made in a class that she took from someone else and asked me if I could make something for her since she wouldn't take money for the clay and tools.  She asked me to make a pendant.  The cane was just not to my liking but she likes it so I didn't change it.  The colors were uneven and the clay was mushy, she said it was Premo but I'm not sure.  She had another cane in there that I made a Natasha bead out of and didn't like those colors.  She made a giraffe cane in another class that she took but didn't realize she was using Fimo yellow translucent instead of ecru.  I used that cane to make a swirly lentil bead.  Anyway, here are the things I made for her with the clay things she had in the box.  I'm going to bring them to her today.  The purple and blue cane had big spots of blue in it and I had to cover them so I added a little bling.

I hope she likes these even though I'm not too crazy about them.

I'm going to start making my own Christmas ornaments because I'm getting a new Christmas tree. I only have 69 days so I better get to work.

MORE CAMP STUFF

This is the puff bead I made in the demo.  It was a cane done with silver pink and peacock pearl Premo clay.   I sanded and buffed it but I might do it again.  I made the cane because everyone at camp made a cane and we gave them to Amy who is our most fantastic clay person.  She took all the canes and put them together in a huge Kaleidoscope cane and gave each one of us a piece.

This was the final cane.  Lots of colors and combos.  

I had a lot of strange pieces of clay laying on my desk so I decided to make a flower cane.  I found one in Yonat Dasclu's book that I really liked.  As you can see, I turned the first piece the wrong way that's why I have two different petal colors but I kind of like it.  I am also having trouble cutting it without getting lines from my blade on it.  I've tried 3 different blades so far and still get those lines.  I'm going to take out a new blade and see what happens.

This is a swirly lentil bead that I made from the cane.  Needs more sanding and buffing.

This is a closeup of the braided cane I made on the side that I cut with a wavy blade.  It was three Skinner blends and they were all different colors.

This is the other side of the cane.  One of the Skinner blends was done with Alizarin Crimson and ecru and I put a snake of silver in the middle before I rolled it up.  You can cut these from any side and get something completely different every time you cut it.

This is one of those stretch bracelets that a bunch of us did.  This is Tisha's.  She is really talented.  I think she made 5 more before the weekend was over.

One of the other wonderful things we did was a pendant challenge.  I thought I had a picture of the winner but I'll have to get it from Lupe.  She made a beautiful cross with Mokume Gane and she won.  We all made pendants and they were suppose to be inspirational.  They are going to be donated to a battered women's shelter.  They were all beautiful but Lupe's was especially gorgeous.

SPEAKING OF LUPE

Most of you know Lupe Meter.  She is one of the most talented woman I've ever met.  Not only that, she's really sweet.  I guess you can tell I belong to the Lupe Meter fan club.

Lupe was in charge of the goody bags for camp.  She has been working on them for 6 months and I must say they were incredible.  I should have taken everything out and took a picture of it but no, I had to take everything out and play with it and then find a place for it.  I digress, every bag had a name tag on it.  Not your ordinary every day run of the mill name tag.

This is what Lupe made for everyone.  26 of these.  We were all standing there amazed when we saw these.  I know you are all jealous and you should be. LOL  Thank you Lupe for the beautiful name tag and the wonderful job you did on the goody bags.  I'm so glad you won the inspirational challenge because you are an inspiration to me.

CLAY CAMP

Last week I was lucky enough to spend 4 days with a bunch of very talented ladies in Prescott, Arizona at a youth camp doing clay from 8 in the morning till 10 at night.  Now I know that sounds like a lot of fun but at my age there were a few drawbacks.  I just made a couple early New Years resolutions.  I'm never going to stay at a place where I have to bring my own bedding and never want to sleep in a bunk bed again.  I have bumps on my head where I hit the side of the bed bending over to get my clothes and bumps on my head from getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and forgetting there was a wooden plank hanging down on the bed because there was another bed over my head.  The camp we stayed at had awesome food but I'm just not a bunk bed girl.  At least I didn't have to get on the top.

I did a couple demos while we were there.  One of them that I did was the braided cane.

This was done with 3 Skinner Blends covered in black.  Then you braid the canes and flatten them and fold the clay back and forth.  Cut it with a wavy blade and there you have it.  I was so excited.  I got one of those things that go around that you can put tools in.  See it up in the left hand corner.  It's empty.  Not anymore.

The next thing I did a demo on was making boxes.  I've bought about 300 pounds of paper to make boxes and so far I've made 5.  Guess I better get to work.

This is one of the boxes I made.  I put batting on the inside just like the real box makers put cotton in theirs but mine are cuter.  LOL

Then I did a demo on how to make puffy beads.

If I can figure out where the finished bead is I'll take a picture and post it.  It took me 3 days to unpack.  I don't get it.  How do you come home with more than you left with?  So that's what I did for 4 days except for eating snacks which was really fun.

We sure have some talented people in our clay guild.  We had 6 people who had never been at camp before and they sure were busy and having a good time.  A bunch of us made Halloween bracelets.

This is my bracelet. I kind of over did it but I'm a cat person.  The other girls made gorgeous bracelets and I'll post some pictures when I get them.  Mine is kind of wonky but I was tired from bumping my head on the bunk beds.

This is my friend Carol's.  She's really talented and I haven't seen it finished yet but I can't wait.

I'm really upset, I'm watching The Millers and she has my flannel pajamas on and she's eating ice cream while she's walking on the tread mill.  Oh my goodness, it's me.  No more bunk beds.

POLYMER CLAY EXTRUDERS

How many extruders do you have?  If you do a lot of polymer like I do, I love doing things with an extruder.  I originally bought that little silver thing that almost broke my fingers trying to push clay through it.

I was so excited when Makins came out with the great green extruder.  (Blog doesn't like the word extruder).  So, then Walnut Hollow came out with an extruder so I bought one of those.  Two friends quit claying and gave me their Makins extruder, now another friend quit and gave me her Walnut Hollow extruder.  So, I have 2 Walnut Hollows, 3 green Makins and wouldn't you know this website jumped up at me saying a new company from Czechoslovakia called Lucy Clay is making extruders.  They have one representative here in the U.S. that sells them and all the information sounded wonderful.

I love my green Makins extruder except that it hurts my hand when I'm holding it and trying to extrude clay.  It does make that funny noise and every time I use it and my husband asks what the noise is??????????????  He knows, he just likes to irritate me.  LOL

Well, I ordered the CZextruder.  The discs are separate but I think what drew me to the extruder is that the discs are colored, the extruder is colored and the handle comes off.  It works like a ratchet.

These are the parts.  The tube comes in 3 different colors.  There is a small white plastic piece that comes out and has to be cleaned with a baby wipe.  That is the clay pusher.  On the left is the inside part of the extruder and as you can see, there is a large bolt on the bottom that pushes the clay pusher.  The handle has a ratchet on it that fits on top.  The discs come in different colors and they are sold separately from the extruder.  You twist them out of the round place in order to get them loose and then you can file or use a cutter to take the two little tabs off.  It comes with 2 o-rings.  I have never used an o-ring while extruding.  The thing I like about this extruder is the tube.  It is very comfortable to handle.
Here is a youtube by Yonat Dascalu using the extruder with an electric hand drill.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ns8W16u9P8&feature=youtu.be

  The green Makins extruder has that hashed metal on it and sometimes it starts bothering my hand.  This extruder works really well but you have to remember "anytime you use an extruder, your clay has to be soft if you don't want cracks on the edges".  Here is a link to Kim's blog about the extruder.  http://kimisjewelryandgifts.blogspot.com/2013/09/czextruder-xxl-demo-review-and-free.html

Both extruders work hard if your clay is hard.  I use to wear an oven mitt to hold my Makins, then I bought one of those table vises for the extruders but they tend to get in the way.  The discs from both extruders fit into the cap of each other so they are interchangeable.  There is another set of discs that I didn't get.

This is my Makins extruder.  I took a piece of that rubbery stuff you use in boats and RV's to keep things from sliding.  I put a double wrap around it and put rubber bands on it.  It's very comfortable to hold now.  However, if you are looking for the best extruder in the world, I don't know if it's been made yet.  If you are using hard clay, it's still hard to twist the handle on any extruder you have.  The Makins extruder is self-cleaning the other is not.  You can buy a brush to clean the barrel.

This is the Walnut Hollow Extruder that a friend just gave me.  She has very arthritic fingers and had to give up doing clay.  I don't know how long she's had this but it turns rather hard.  I have one and don't remember it turning that hard.  I like the folding handle on the this one and I love the packaging but it is not self cleaning either, that is not a big deal but could be.

I'm going to clay camp for 4 days on the 26th and I'm going to take all these with me and let all the clayers try the new one and see what they think.

Would love to hear from the rest you about your preferences or if you have suggestions on how to make these better.

A REALLY FUN HOT DAY

Yesterday my friends Carol, Judy and Evelyn took me out to lunch for my birthday even though it was August 22nd.  I was in Chicago on my birthday and yesterday was the first day we could all get together.

It was 109 outside and very humid but we dragged ourselves to The Cheesecake Factory and had a wonderful lunch.  Before I left for Chicago, Evelyn bought me a beautiful purple suitcase that spins and expands, it is awesome.

My dear friend Carol hasn't been doing clay very long but she always did earth clay and she was an incredible sculptress (I think that's what you call a woman sculptor).  She came over one day with these pendants that she had made and you could have knocked me over with a feather.  She gave me one for my birthday and it was my favorite one.

I need to take a better picture but I have a headache and didn't feel like getting all my stuff out.  The cords slide and those are real feathers and beads and leather cord.  I'm hoping she gets them on Etsy.  Southwest stuff is really big right now and this is an amazing work of art.

My friend Judy gave me this neat high heeled shoe tape dispenser.  I remember wearing high heels and then having foot surgery because I couldn't walk anymore.  I get tickled when I look at this and think about all the young girls wearing 6 inch platforms now and what their feet are going to be like when they get to be my age.  I would like to find the guy who invented high heels and make him wear them for a full day.  Then again, maybe he does.  LOL  I also got bags with gorgeous copper bails, a gizmo to stamp out a picture and automatically put an acrylic top on it and some gold stamp pads.  I made quite a haul.

This is my good buddy Champ.  I made his sister and brother blankets so I thought I better make him one.  I didn't tell his mom but before I gave him the blanket, I rubbed dogie bacon all over it.  She called and told me how much he liked it and he keeps rolling in it and rubbing his nose in it.  I had to confess what I did.  She thought that was pretty funny.

I have a new extruder that I got from a place called Lucy Clay in Czechoslovakia.   I'm hoping to try it today and I'll let you know how it works tomorrow with pictures.

AN INCREDIBLE POLYMER CLAY TUTORIAL

A few months ago a friend of mine from our Arizona Polymer Clay Guild gave me two pendants that I blogged about.

Of course it's Buster.  She did a fabulous job on these.  Her name is Michele Norine and her work is incredible.  We talked in length about the fact that she should do a tutorial on how to make these pendants and how she makes the fabulous bails that she puts on them.

The tutorial is called  "STAMP, CUT AND PASTE ON POLYMER CLAY".

The new tutorial is ready and is for sale in her Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/listing/159881980/stamp-cut-and-paste-on-polymer-clay?ref=shop_home_active.  Check out the pictures of the things she's made with this technique at her Etsy shop.

 These are the pendants I made from her tutorial.  You can do the technique with many different stamps as you will see on her Etsy page where she explains what is in the tutorial.

There is no end to the gorgeous things you can make.

The tutorial is $10 and you will get a whole lot more than $10 worth of incredible information. 

Thanks Michele, you did an awesome job.

INITIAL CANE AND A HARNESS

I'm sure that title sounds funny to you but you'll see why I put that there.

My last blog was about my friend Michele coming over and showing us how to do an initial cane.  I've decided I don't really like mine and I think it's because it was black and white.  It's too stark.  I should have gone with Evelyn and Carol's idea to do an ecru and black one.

This is a pendant I made that I really like even though the picture isn't so great.  It's a triple layer pendant and has buildings on it.  It was a new  Mayco stamp that I got.  I did some little additions to it like the cross hatch on the top.  It's been sanded 4 times.  I antiqued it with burnt umber and it didn't pop so I used gold and I like it a lot.  I made the pendant baked and sanded it.  Put the paint on it, baked and sanded it again.  And then,

I did the back with my initial cane and a bail.  See, you are saying the initial cane stinks.  Well, I should have made the initials thicker too.  I must not have been listening.  But, I baked and sanded and buffed it again.  It's solid.

This is an owl pendant that I did that I really like and it's going to get crystal eyes very soon.  Again, the initial cane is not to my liking but I was planning on keeping this for me anyway.  This one has been baked, sanded and buffed 3 times also.  The bails on these are something I learned from Michele and she is going to be putting out an incredible tutorial on Etsy.  I'll let you know when it's ready.

You know I walk my friends dogs everyday.  This is Beau.  He is 10 years old and he's an incredible dog.  We always put a harness on the two little ones when I walk them and I mentioned that I thought Beau should have one too.  I thought it would be easier on his neck.  He's had this for two days and now he struts like a king and his neck doesn't pull.  Both of us are happy campers.  You know I'm a cat person but I've been walking these 3 dogs for 8 weeks and I'm learning a lot about dogs and dog people.  If you have a dog, put a harness on them when you go walking.  Don't attach the leash right to their collar.  Isn't he handsome?

These are Kumihimo bracelets I made to take home for the family.  I'm going to Chicago for two weeks so I won't be blogging for a while.  I'm looking forward to the cool weather.  I've had enough summer.