BUSY AND DISAPPOINTED

I gave my  mail lady a Shambala bracelet.  I told her it means good luck.  So she had some friends call me and order a bunch of them.  I'm still working on them.

I like the one on the bottom right with spikes.  I should send it to Abbie on NCIS.

PACKERS vs. BEARS

I have a friend at home who's from Wisconsin but lives in Illinois and has some friends who are Packer fans and some who are Bears fans.  She asked me to make pens for all her football friends.

The bottom one was my gift to her.  These all have the magnets on them so they will stick to the refrigerator or a metal cabinet.

 

 

My doctor is having a baby boy and I made this blanket for her.  This is a great pattern.  If you crochet and want the pattern, let me know.

 

 

WHY I'M DISAPPOINTED

 

I belong to a polymer clay swap group.  This time we did a bead soup swap.  I sent mine out 4 weeks early.  The cut off date was April 12th and I still haven't received anything back from my swap partner.  I haven't heard from the person that was my swap partner either.  If you commit to do a swap, make sure you make that a priority.  I worked hard on the things that I sent out and the other pieces and findings that I sent weren't cheap.  I even sent it flat rate priority mail to make sure it got there.  When I make something for a swap I try to put the best energy and creative ability that I have into it.  If you are sick or had a death in the family or at least have a reasonable excuse it's understandable.  But not to even contact the person at all is totally unacceptable.

GOOD LUCK MY DEAR FRIEND

Not all people are lucky enough to have the same mail person deliver their mail every day but for some reason the lady that delivers my mail has been on this route for a long time and we've gotten to be really good friends.  She is always here at almost the same time every day which is great for me.  When she's on vacation sometimes the mail comes at 8 in the morning or 5 in the afternoon.  Anyway, she told me the other day that she's retiring the end of April.  I gave her one of my pens 2 weeks ago and since then she's ordered 6 more.  Yesterday she asked if I could make a masculine one for her husband.  Talk about a challenge.  Most of my pens have pretty, sparkly beads on them.  Well, I found some fish beads last night and I really like this.  I think I'll make one and send it to my brother since he goes fishing almost every day.

On the tail of the fish is a heavy duty magnet so he can put it in his work shop or on the refrigerator.  I thought this was pretty masculine.

 

Dee (my mail lady) is very glitzy and carries a very big purse that is copper, gold and silver so I made her a purse bling as a retirement present.

The heart is polymer clay and I used the Randee Ketzel tutorial "Crazy Hearts".  There is Magic Glos on top.  The beads are done using Kumihimo and I attached a heart shaped lobster claw and a heart shaped split ring.  I love Randee's tutorial because you never know how it's going to turn out.

 

 

Four weeks till foot surgery, hope I can hobble into my studio to play with clay.

 

NEW STROPPEL CANE

In February, Alice Stroppel came up with another new way to use up old canes and it's really great.  If you want to see how she does it, watch this tutorial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwSolMWyo3k

Of course I had to try it.  My first one came out really interesting.  I thought I took a picture but I can't find it.

The Orlando Clay Guild is having a big Clay Fandango and asked if I would donate something so I made a pendant using the new Stroppel cane and used one of Penni Jo Couch's molds.  It's my favorite one actually.  So this is going in the mail today.

Wish I was going to Florida to be with all those fun girls and do clay.

GOLF IS IN THE AIR

At least it's in the air for people who don't live in Arizona and Florida who can golf all winter long.  I usually quit golfing in May when it starts to get in the 90's here in Arizona.
For a long time I made golf stroke counters and put them in my Etsy and Artfire stores and then I got lazy.  It takes a long time to make the polymer clay beads, bake them, varnish them, bake them again and drill the holes in them because I did it by hand.  I now have a new Dremel that my husband bought me so that's one step that is easier now.  Last year I sold 27 golf stroke counters which I thought was pretty good since they were just a side line for when I got bored.  I just sold another one and have requests for more so here I am making beads again.  I go back and forth from the golf stroke counters to the Kumihimo pens.

A lot of people buy these for purse blings and walking counters too.  I have to get busy and make a lot more.  I have a guy in Connecticut who ordered 5 for his wife and her friends.  Got the feeling he thinks they need to keep better track of their golf strokes.

This is the Green Bay Packers pen I made.  It has bling on the top with a great magnet so it can be put on the refrigerator or a metal lamp on a desk.  I sent my friend one in the nursing home and she has it on her wheel chair because she does crossword puzzles.  I've made about 20 so far and I think it's Kumihimo that gave me the tendonitis in my rotator cuff.  Oh well, lots of Biofreeze and Advil.

Have a good week, I have to go walk the dogs.

I love it when the 3 of them walk together.  The little one on the right gets pushed over some times but he still holds his own.  I'm getting to be a Master Pooper Scooper.