100 AND STUPID

I love Arizona in the winter but I'm already tired of the heat.  It's been 100 AND STUPID here for over a week.  Friday it was 112, today it's going to be 103 but that's only from noon until 7 o'clock.  The rest of the time it's about 85.  No humidity but the sun is very hot.  It's too early to have this kind of weather.  I'm cranky already.

Anyway, having to stay inside, I get more stuff done.

This is a Sutton Slice pendant I did with a piece of a cane and black clay.  The black part on the top was textured with a doily.  The rim was done with a piece of lace and Pearlex powder.  Then sanded and buffed.  I'm making a black herringbone necklace for it.

Another clay back ground with watch parts and resin.

A piece of eye cane from the Barbara Maguire class I took last November.  It's getting hard, I need to use it.

I used fancy crimp covers on her.  I didn't use magic glos on this one.  I used another uv resin and had some bubble problems even though I let it sit before I put it in the light.  I dug out the one bunch of little bubbles and put another coat of resin on it and put the crimp cover in the opening where the bubbles were.  Normally I take the clay out of the bezzle and glue it back in but I couldn't get her out of the bezzle.  That's what caused the late bubbles.  The heat from the UV light caused the air to come up from under the baked clay piece.  I was in a hurry when I took the pictures and didn't wipe the dust off of them first.  That's all the little white stuff you see.

Rose's Bracelet

My friend Rose came over yesterday and she had this bracelet she made.  It was her first of this kind.  She does a ton and I mean a ton of Kumihimo.  This is a Kumihimo braid made into a bracelet.  It fit me perfect and matched what I was wearing.  She made me give it back to her.  I guess I'll have to make one for myself. LOL  The balls sit up when you put the bracelet on.  It's really cute.

I was going to put up a picture of Buster but I thought you girls would like this better.  You can sit and stare and day dream.  For those of you who don't recognize him, it's Jim Caviezel from the show "Person of Interest".  Thursday night was a big night for me.  First Jim and then The Mentalist.  I don't answer the phone from 8 to 10.  Now I'm watching reruns of both shows on Thursday night.  He whispers.  I told my husband I wish my number would come up so he would follow me around for a while.  I got that "who are you kidding you old bag" look.  And then he said, why do you need him when you have Buster following you around all the time?  They don't get it.

He is cute though.

PUFF, PUFF, PUFF AND HE LOVES TINA

Yesterday my BFF's (Evelyn, Judy and Rose) came over for a clay day.  Judy brought donuts so that started things out right.  We were trying to decide what we wanted to do.  Our friend Tish (President of the Arizona Polymer Clay Guild) was telling me about these Puff Pendants she was making and how much fun they were.  I showed Tish's pictures to the BFF's and we decided to try it.  IT WAS FUN.

These were right out of the oven.  I think we had donuts on the brain.  Hope to have a finished picture soon.

Couldn't eat just one, I mean couldn't make just one.  I made two more.  I used a Stroppel Cane and a cane that I got from our guild's cane swap.  I was too lazy to sand and buff so I used varathane on them and then buffed them.  They each had a little leafing in them so I didn't want to lose that look.

The top one on the right is not a puff pendant.  It's a swirly lentil on a texture sheet.  I'm still thinking about donuts.  This is so much fun.  You can use up scraps of clay to make these.  They are really light.  You can put a leather rope through the hole or glue a bail on the back.  I couldn't sleep last night thinking about all the possibilities and wondering if there were any donuts left.

HE LOVES TINA

Wednesday night I was looking for my Shimmering Batik Tutorial from Tina Holden.  I couldn't find it.  I just organized my office and now I can't find anything.  So, I decided to print it out again because that's what I was going to do yesterday before the donuts showed up.  LOL

Buster came flying in the office when I started printing the tutorial and he sat there watching the whole thing print.  He even tried to help some of the sheets out.  I sent this picture to Tina so she would have a good laugh too.

TINA, HE LOVES YOUR SHIMMERING BATIK, and so do I.  I probably have 4 copies somewhere.

DICHROIC, NEED A PHOTOGRAPHER AND GUESS WHO

These are filled with black clay on the bottom.  The next layer is resin with some funny little stiff stuff and then more resin.  Someday I'll figure out how to take pictures of resin filled things like Carmi does.  Her pictures are awesome.  I use Picasa to do my pictures instead of Photoshop, I don't have time to go to school to learn another computer photo thingee.  At my age, I want life to be easier.

  OK, these are the first two.  Give me some time to practice.  They really are pretty but kind of boring.

Doesn't Buster look like he's saying "Get that camera out of my face"?  He got a new carpeted cat tower and he's loving it.  It had a pillow in the top compartment and he pushed it out twice, I finally got the message.  It's strange that my camera likes him and takes such pictures but it doesn't seem to like my clay and jewelry stuff?

Thursday is going to be a fun day for me.   I'm going for a massage and then my BFF's are coming over for a clay day.  It's been a long time.

HERE COME'S BUSTER COTTON TAIL

I know, those aren't the words but my Buster does hop a lot so I changed the words.  My mom sent Buster a gift for Easter.  It's a squeaking lamb.  Mom goes to Goodwill and the thrift stores a lot so that must be why he came packaged in a tomato carton.  It's the thought that counts.

He laid in his bed and held the lamb for about a half an hour now he doesn't pay any attention to it unless I pick it up.

My sister is a school teacher and very crafty when she has time.  She makes beautiful cakes out of towels.  Unfortunately she lives in Illinois so we don't get to craft together but she sent me these pictures.

These are Easter chickens, awwwwwwwwwwwww.

Rabbits, awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

I usually get a bag of black jelly beans for Easter but I was told that isn't going to happen this year.  They are my favorite.  I would buy them for myself but I wouldn't be able to talk because my tongue would be black for about 3 days.  Too bad they don't make white jelly beans that taste like black jelly beans.

Hope you all have a great Easter.

MORE SPIRAL BEADS AND SPIDER CAT

Did you ever try to take a picture of a bead that was so shiny you couldn't even take a picture of it with no lights?  I had that problem with this one.  I have been on a roll with spiral beads lately and this one was done with the ends of a leaf cane that I did.  I showed this bead to some ladies and one of them picked it up and said "these are my colors and I want this bead".  SOLD IT.  The other spiral bead that I made with my friend's cane that I posted last week has also been sold.  A friend I worked with 20 years saw it on facebook and said she wanted that bead and I should put it on a necklace.  Got an amazing price for these beads, maybe I better start making more spiral beads.

SPIDER CAT

I told you my little Buster was a climber.  He's 6 months old now and he's always into something.  I had the door to the patio open on Saturday and I was cleaning the pantry.  I heard a noise and I turned around and there he was going up the screen door.  Yesterday he spent the day diving in and out of the waste baskets in my office trying to get the plastic strings that beads come on.

This is more fun than I can stand.  LOL

JUST COULDN'T LEAVE IT ALONE

Our clay guild is having a cane swap at our February meeting so I've been playing around with canes.  I love making flower canes with weird Skinner blend combinations but I don't know if that's what I'm going to do.  Thank goodness not all the canes have to be the same.  I'm really excited about getting canes from 12 other people after seeing this necklace on CraftEdu.

OK, I made a cane,

JUST COULDN'T LEAVE IT ALONE

I think I liked it better before but this will make great beads for my golf stroke counters.

I need to get to work now and make some canes.

HINT HINT: Read Colt Pixy's blog today http://coltpixy.com/ she talks about using Super Sculpey to clean your pasta machine.

UPDATE ON BUSTER

He's still fascinated by the computer.  Yesterday morning I poured a cup of coffee and sat down on my desk.  He jumped up on my keyboard and when I tried to move him, I hit the coffee cup and dumped it on my shirt and in my lap.  Burned my stomach and leg but not bad.  John came in and pulled the shirt away from me.  I'm just thankful little Buster didn't get burned.

POLYMER CLAY CANES AND MISTER BUSTER

Last week at our beading club a bunch of us got together and did clay.  I was teaching beginner classes there but since my back has been so bad I haven't been able to commit to anything.  My friend Rose has been getting the ladies together and doing clay and they are having a ball.  Rose is a wonderful teacher and she's a lot wilder than I am with her colors so the ladies are really enjoying it.  I was amazed at some pieces that were made by some "first time clayers".  I wish I could get out of my boring box and find my wild side again.  Anyway, I put the instructions for a cane on my Pinterest board HERE.  It's called Rita's demo but we knew it as a Lynne Cane.  This is one of my favorite canes and I had some blue and white clay out so I made one.  I put the 4 pieces of square cane together and will work on getting it smoother at the seams and then maybe cut a piece for a pendant and put a Swarovski crystal in the middle.  It's a fun cane, you can't ruin it.

MISTER BUSTER

My friends on face book are laughing about all the stories and pictures I've posted about "Mister Buster" my new kitten.  He's grown about 2 inches since I got him on December 27th.

I'm exhausted, my house is a wreck, I'm constantly on guard for falling flowers, pictures and nick knacks.  I have no idea where the pens are that were on my desk, my Chap Stick is missing and so are two of my crochet hooks.  We had to put the butter up in a cupboard.  I do not allow any animals on tables or counter tops, never have, never will and this little likes to test my patience.  I think he has a higher IQ than I do, he's faster than I am and he can hide in places I can't get my hands in.

I yelled at him the other night and he hid under my desk.  See the beads all over the floor, we had words about that.

He was hiding behind my DVD's in the printer cabinet.  If I hadn't seen the little blue can moving, I wouldn't have known he was there.

He has a fascination for beads.  I need to watch him constantly when he is in my studio.

Last night we were going to bed and I called him.  No Answer.  We looked for 25 minutes and finally found him in the closet in the wrapping paper.  Don't know how he got in there, we don't leave those doors open.

This is Buster getting a bath.  It took two of us.  He was really good for a while and then he turned around and pushed the faucet off.  I believe that will probably be the last cat bath.  Took us two days to recover.

FAUX BONE TUTORIAL

I bought the Faux Bone Tutorial from my friend Lynda Moseley from her Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/SCDiva.  It's incredible.  She has done so much work and the information and pictures in the tutorial are very professional and comprehensive.  Whether you are a seasoned polymer clay person or a new one, this tutorial gives you everything.  I have almost all Lynda's tutorials and it boggles my mind how much information she shares and how much work she has put into them.  This one is no exception.  Lynda doesn't know I'm doing this but I wanted to give her a plug because she is one of most sharing and helpful and pay it forward people I've ever dealt with.  Please visit her shop and see her beautiful work.  I want to be like Lynda when I grow up :0).