FAUX JADE, EARRING BEADS AND BEAD CROCHET

FAUX JADE

Didn't feel like blogging much since Annie died but I saw a bright star tonight and knew that was her shining down on us to tell us she is ok and that we should keep doing what we love to do and that she is ok now.  My grandma always told me when pets die, they always go to heaven and when they get there, they turn into stars.  I believed everything my grandma told me.

A couple weeks ago Cindy Lietz "The Polymer Clay Tutor" http://www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/ did a video on Faux Jade.  I decided to play around with a couple batches.  I need to make 16 pair of earring beads for our clay guild's May swap.  I've done a couple things and haven't decided which ones I'm going to use yet but here are some things I did with the batches of Faux Jade.

There are 3 different colors.  The top two are a little darker, the bottom right is my favorite, the large one on the left is really pretty but it has little specs of gold in it.  A friend of mine just came back from a two week cruise and went to Costa Rica which I didn't know was the jade capital of the world.  She went to a lecture about jade and her son bought her a purple jade bracelet.  So you know I'm going to be giving that a go.  If only she would let me touch it.  Anyway, I'm liking this faux jade thing.

CLAY GUILD EARRING BEAD SWAP

As I said, our guild is having an earring swap.  I did a few different things just to experiment.  We are making the beads but not finishing them into earrings.  We are going to let each person decide how they want to use the beads.  Some don't wear earrings, some don't wear pierced earrings, etc. so we decided to made sets of beads and the person can decide what they want to do with them and where they want to put the holes in them. 

These are a few of the ones I've been playing with.  Top left are my mouse in the cheddar cheese earrings, the shiny ones shaped like ginko leaves were done with Tina Holden Shimmering Batik tutorial and then covered with Magic Glos, the elephants on the bottom left were done with a mold I made from earrings my mother gave me 20 years ago that were suppose to bring me luck.  The middle ones are part of the faux jade that haven't been buffed yet.  Caught my tee shirt sleeve in the buffer tonight.  Don't do that, it scares the cat.

BEAD CROCHETING

Many years ago a friend taught me how to bead crochet.  I have been crocheting with yarn since I was 5.  I can make a normal size afghan in a week.  This bead crocheting and I didn't get along.  I gave it up.  About 3 weeks ago I saw a necklace I fell in love with and the lady said it was bead crochet.  So I went on youtube and found a lady teaching "BEAD CROCHET".  She was great.  I also ordered a DVD and decided I was going to conquer this.  I strung my beads and was ripping right along until I realized I shorted myself one bead in the sequence so I crushed all the beads till I came to the place where the next set of colors came up correctly.  It was then I realized the cording I was using tore when I crushed the beads.  I've got it back together and am hoping that the place where I fixed it won't show.  I can always sew some beads on there to cover it.  I'm going to keep doing this till I get it right.  LOL.

I'll post a picture of the finished piece, don't hold your breath.

ANNIE

Annie lost her three week battle with the uterine infection and kidney failure.  She died yesterday and was buried today.  I have not stopped crying since I found out.  My heart is broken not only for Annie but for Beau and Bev and Rex.  She stole their hearts in the 4 short months she was with them.  I feel helpless.  She was so little and so mighty.  I'm so glad she had those wonderful people to love her even if it was for a small part of her life.  I thought maybe blogging about this would help the pain but it's only making it worse.

GOOD NIGHT DEAR ANNIE, WE LOVED YOU MORE THAN YOU WILL KNOW.

SWEET DREAMS

If you have an animal, please take care of it.  Have them neutered and spayed because it could save their lives.  An animal will give you unconditional love for as long as they live, never take you for granted, won't try to make you feel guilty for something stupid and will never let you go to the bathroom alone.

NEED PRAYERS FOR ANNIE

Little Annie isn't doing well.  She's not eating and hardly drinking.  It's been a tearful day because she's not responding to the antibiotics they gave her and she can't keep food down.  Please say prayers for Annie.   She's brought joy to the hearts of a lot of people since she showed up last Christmas.  She's only 6 and needs to be loved for a lot more years than that.  Please say a prayer that she makes it through the night and the vet can help her tomorrow.

I love you Annie and I'm praying you will be ok.

Aunt Bonnie

SOMEONE STOP ME

Well, you'll never guess what I've been doing in my studio?  SHIMMERING BATIK AND MORE SHIMMERING BATIK.  I'M OBSESSED.  SOMEONE STOP ME.

Since I bought this tutorial I have done nearly, and I say nearly, nothing else as far as polymer clay.  I usually make 200 to 300 beads in a week that I use to make my golf stroke counters and now I have no beads but I sure have a lot of Shimmering Batik pieces.  I sold a few before they were even finished.  I've used 2 bottles of Magic-Glos and I will need a 10 gallon drum at this rate.  Tonight I'm making beads and who knows what wonderful piece of art tomorrow will bring.

My silver experiment.

My multi-color experiment

My green and purple experiment.

My red experiment with a pair of earrings I made for myself.

My first white and gold experiment.  The toggle is gold plated and is a magnet.  Easy for people to get on and off and pretty enough to wear next to the focal bead.

This is pearl clay, with layers of cane from a Jana Roberts Benzon class that I took two years ago.  They do have Magic-Glos on them and need a couple more coats.  Not sure what I'm going to do with them.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST

The lemon meringue pie I made for Easter dessert from lemons from our tree.  It was awesome.

A girls got to eat to keep up her strength to roll beads you know.

MMMMMMMMMMMMM

SNOWBALL AND JANIE

Tonights blog is going to be short for two reasons.  I made some more Shimmering-Batik pieces and I took them over to my friends to show them to her.  I was going to take pictures of these and put them on the blog but I forgot them at her house.  It's a sign of age, I believe, but I blame her because she gave me some chocolate cupcakes that she made and I think I was more interested in the cupcakes.

"CHOCOLATE IS THE REASON SOMEONE INVENTED CONTROL TOP PANTYHOSE"

I don't know who said that but I love it.

SNOWBALL

A couple weeks ago my younger sister came out to visit and we had a really good time.  The only thing she worried about at home was Snowball her dog.  She's a Cockapoo and a smart one. This dog had my sister trained so well it was unreal.  When Susie would get on the phone, Snowball would start barking because she knew Susie would throw her treats to keep her quiet so she could talk.  How smart is that?  This dog loved popcorn.

Snowball was not allowed to go in the dining room or up the stairs, she had a bad leg. So Susie kept a gate up so the dog wouldn't climb the stairs.  When it rained or thundered, the dog pushed the gate over and went upstairs to sleep with the family.  She could do that anytime but stayed in her bed when things were calm.

  Susie and her best friend Leslie ( a veterinarian) went together and got Snowball 15 years ago when the dog was only a couple weeks old.  Leslie gave her the ok to buy the dog after she checked it out.  Leslie has been on hand all these years to help Susie every time she had a problem with Snowball.  She's a really sweet girl and has been a great help to Susie because Susie is a teacher and works a lot.  Older animals require more time and it's hard when you work.

About a year ago Snowball started having heart problems and yesterday her heart wasn't beating right and she had trouble breathing and other parts of her body started shutting down.

This morning Leslie put Snowball to sleep.

Goodnight Snowball.  Sweet Dreams

You were a good old girl.

JANIE

I have a friend back in Wisconsin who turned 95 last Tuesday.  I've known her since I was 5 years old and I'm 63 now.  The last 20 years Janie has been a big part of my life.  Since we moved to Arizona I talk to her on the phone for an hour every Saturday and "we chew the rag" as Janie would say.  I go back and spend a week with her every summer.  We go out to dinner every night and she has her martini.  We go riding during the day because her legs aren't good.  She says from the waist up she's 39 and from the waist down she's 95.  She's been living in the same house for 60 years.  Never married.  She remembers the first purse she ever bought, every boss she ever had, when she had her teeth pulled, how much she made on her first job, what it cost for a pair of shoes, etc.  I can't even remember what I had for lunch.  Wish I liked martinis, maybe that would help.

Well, the sad news is that, Janie is going to a nursing home this Wednesday.  She's fallen a couple of times and can't make her meals anymore.  She's very scared and I wish I could be there to help her.  Janie has been my sounding board for 25 years.  She's the one I call when I need an answer and when life throws me things I'm not sure how to handle.

I wish everyone could meet her, she's an inspiration.

This is Janie just last summer in a fancy shirt I bought her.  We were getting ready to step out on the town.

She has to give up the house and everything in it but a chair and a table.  She keeps saying "Life has been good and thank goodness for Smirnoff".

See you soon Janie

YOU SHOULDN'T BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY THIS IS GOING TO BE SHORT, WILL NEVER HAPPEN :O).