AND THE WINNER IS...........................

Today was the drawing for the cat pendant and the winner is ColtPixy.  You can thank John, he picked your name out of the box.

Congratulations.  Please email me your address and I will put it in the mail Tuesday since Monday is a postal holiday.  I know this little guy is going to a good home. 

Happy New Year Colt Pixy and everyone that left a comment on my blog.  I'm sure you are all going to have a wonderful 2012.

Happy New Year to all my blog friends and family.  My New Year is going to be more interesting because of this:

This is Buster.  We were going to call him Teddy but he's not a Teddy.  We have been laughing for 5 days.  He's such a joy.  He loves to eat, play, sleep and poop........

He's given us so much love and millions of laughs.  He crawls under the covers at night and sleeps right next to me.  His purring helps me fall asleep.

If you can adopt an animal from a shelter near you, I promise you won't regret it.  This is the 5th cat that I've gotten from a shelter and they keep getting better.

I guess that cat pendant is pretty appropriate right now.

Happy New Year

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ME

You all know I lost my 20 year old Booboo in May.  It's been kind of lonely since he went to Rainbow Bridge.

My husband didn't want me to get another cat because of the bad migraines.  We wanted to see if we could figure out what was causing them.

On Christmas, he came home with a box of kitty liter bags, a kitty liter box, a little bed and a cat carrier and rubber balls.  I was so excited.

Yesterday I went to the shelters looking for a gold tiger cat.  I've always had gold tiger cats.  The Sun Valley Shelter had 15 kittens up for adoption and no gold tiger cats.  When I went in the room many of the kittens came over by me and wanted to play.  On the floor looking up at me was the smallest kitten in the room and he just looked like he needed to be held.  I picked him up and he instantly took my necklace in his mouth and held on for dear life.  He started purring right away.  The other kittens were kind of indifferent but this guy wouldn't let go.

He's a tuxedo cat with great markings.  He only weighs 2.3 pounds and I'm not sure he weighs that much.  He hasn't stopped eating since I brought him home.

His new name is Teddy which means "Divine Gift".  Here he is with our neighbors little rat terrier Scooter.  You can see how little he is.

He has to be on my desk whenever I am.  He loves the arrow going around on the screen.  He's very inquisitive and likes sitting on the keyboard.

Last night I waited to see where he wanted to sleep.  He got in bed with me and snuggled right next to me.  He got up once to get a drink of water and came back to bed, got on the pillow and felt around to see if I was there.  Then he got in the little hole he made next to me and went to sleep again.  When I got up this morning he didn't move.  He wanted to stay and sleep but he saw John so he knew it was time to get up.

I really got lucky with this guy.  He's really smart and never leaves me out of his sight.  I don't think he's going to be a big cat.  He's all white on the bottom but has a black mark on his right leg.  He won't sit still for pictures so these are the best I could do so far.

Love my new "Furever Friend".  There are a lot more babies there that need forever homes.  Take a chance.  IT' A WONDERFUL LIFE with an animal.  Unconditional love.

Lorelei's Blog Give Away

Check out this blog, great give away.

http://lorelei1141.blogspot.com/

Dec 27, 2011

Lark Books Giveaway

Woooooweeee! Look what I have for you!!

Lark Books have sent me an extra set of the Lark Studio Series for a blog giveaway! These 5 x 5 inch hardcover gallery books would be a great gift, or you could keep them for your own collection. Each one, 200 pages of the most innovative, and exciting new work made by artists today! There are 8 books in the series. The winner will receive all 8 books.

 

 

 

 

TINA HOLDEN'S CHRISMAS GIVEAWAY

Check out Tina Holden's blog.  She's doing a giveaway of 3 beautiful pieces.  Don't get your hopes up too high though, one of these beauty's is going to mine, mine, mine :0).

I'll share.

http://beadcomber.blogspot.com/

Go to her blog and leave a message for an opportunity to win.  Leave one by my green cat necklace so you can win that too.

Merry Christmas

30,000 HITS GIVEAWAY

I mentioned in a post last week that my blog was close to getting it's 30,000 th hit.  I also mentioned that I was going to do a giveaway to celebrate this momentous occasion.

This necklace has one of my favorite cats on it.  The polymer clay pendant is covered in resin and is attatched to 4 pieces of heavy gold chain.  The chains are attached to matching green cords and has a gold lobster claw with a heart on it.  The crystals and beads on the bottom add a little and they don't match on purpose.

If you would like to win this, leave me a comment and tell me one of your New Years resolutions.

On Saturday, December 31st, I am going to take all the names and have my sweetheart pick a name.  He likes doing that.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and get those comments in.

Merry Christmas Booboo, this ones for you.

POLYMER CAFE SURPRISE FOR TWO

Today I got my February issue of Polymer Cafe and on page 54 I was surprised to see two pictures.  The first one is a necklace made by my dear friend Judy Kelly (who is a on cruise coming back from Spain).  Not sure why my name is on the necklace too and that I live in Prescott, AZ.   I didn't know that either but that would be great for the summer when it's 118 degrees here.  Under Judy's picture is a mask made by another dear friend of mine, Lupe Meter (the very talented Lupe Meter might I add).

I just wanted to congratulate both of them for their great pieces.  Judy never wore jewelry until she started doing clay a couple of years ago and now she makes incredible pieces (waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out of the box).  As you can see by Lupe's mask, she does very beautiful, precise work.  I wish I had her patience.

GIVEAWAY

I noticed I have almost 30,000 visitors to my blog.  When it hits the 30,000 mark, I'm going to do a giveaway.  Haven't decided what it's going to be yet.  Maybe I'll give away a migraine or a pain in the back.  I have a lot of extra ones of those.  Keep checking back to see what it's going to be and how to win it.

Pinterest

I finally put up a Pinterest board.  It doesn't have much there yet but I'm working on it.  Come follow me if you want, I'm the one with all the pictures of the polymer clay and animals.

CHRISTMAS IN ARIZONA

A few years ago I organized a party for 60 women and wrote this poem to put on their plates.

CHRISTMAS IN ARIZONA

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the town,

No noses were frozen no snow fluttered down.

No children in flannels were tucked into bed,

They all wore their shorty pajamas instead.

To find pretty cactus was not very hard,

For cactus plants sprouted right in the back yard.

In front of the houses were daddies and moms,

Admiring the bushes and the all the royal palms.

The slumbering kiddies were dreaming in glee,

And hoped they'd find IPads under the tree.

They all knew that Santa was well on his way,

In a Mercedes Benz instead of a sleigh.

And soon he arrived and started to work,

He hadn't a second to linger or shirk.

He whizzed over highways and zoomed up the roads,

In a shiny new sports car delivering his loads.

The desert moon gave the city a glow,

And lighted the way for Santa below.

As he jumped from the auto, he gave a wee chuckle,

He was dressed in his shorts with a "Go Phoenix" buckle.

There weren't any chimneys but that caused no gloom,

Santa came in through the Arizona room.

He stopped at each house but stayed only a minute,

And emptied his sack of the stuff that was in it.

Before he departed he treated himself,

To a big margarita that was left on the shelf.

Then he turned with a jerk and bounced back to his car,

Remembering he still had to go very far.

He shifted the gears and stepped on the gas,

And away up I-10 he went with a flash.

And I heard him exclaim as he went on his way,

Merry Christmas Arizona, I wish I could stay.

This is Booboo last year.  His last Christmas.  This is the first Christmas in 30 years that I haven't had a cat helping me put up the tree and wrapping presents. Booboo liked chewing on the branches of the tree and batting at the balls on the tree.  I always put a couple plastic ones on the bottom just for him.

Merry Christmas, Booboo, Pico, Molly and Yoyo, hope you get lots of catnip.
Guess you can tell I'm having a Christmas Cat Day.

POLYMER CLAY IN PARADISE

It's 75 degrees here in Arizona and the sun is shining.  It's a polymer clay in paradise day.  Listening to Christmas music with the windows open and doing clay.  And no, I don't miss the snow.  Drove to work in that for 31 years.  I'm done with shoveling and boots and long underwear.

I've been trying to get some Christmas presents done this week but I had a migraine Wednesday, Thursday and today.  The pills I have make me feel drunk and hung over so it's hard to accomplish anything.  Lori from Pretty Things is having the same problem.  Must be that time of year.

I finally finished 8 golf stroke counters that are going in my Etsy and Artfire stores.

This is one.  It has Swarovski crystals on the wood beads to give it a little glam.  I have a lady who buys them just to hang on her purse.  My purse is heavy enough.

I've said before how much I like doing beaded Kumihimo instead of beaded crochet.  Well, I finished this Christmas necklace and put one of my snowmen on it.  I was going to give it as a gift but I think it's going in my Artfire store.  If it doesn't sell, it will be a gift next year.

Back to the icepack and hot tea.

Oh by the way, the new "From Polymer To Art" magazine has a wonderful tutorial written by Lynda Moseley "SC DIVA".  It's a Faux Lavender Necklace and it's beautiful.  The instructions are really great.  I've had a few times when I've had to ask Lynda for help and she loves to share.  You can find Lynda at www.scdiva.etsy.com and www.scdiva.blogspot.com.

I didn't tell Lynda but the only reason I bought the book was because she was in it.  :0)

Actually, there is another very talented lady in the book this time.  Her name is Cara Jane Hayman and she has an article about the curing experiments she did.  You saw what happened to mine, I almost burned the garage down.  Cara is from England and does a lot of beautiful polymer clay work.  You can find Cara at www.carajane.co.uk.

I have a disease.  I think now that I got this in the mail I have every polymer clay book and magazine ever written.  Someday I'm going to read them instead of just looking at the pretty pictures.

CAT IN THE HAT AND EARRING IN THE EAR

I saw this picture of a Cat in the Hat and have been trying to find one.  I wonder if someone wore this to the Royal Wedding???????????  I sure would like one but I want a gold tiger cat in mine.

EARRING IN AND BEHIND THE EAR

I'm still making earrings for my 96 year old friend in the nursing home in Wisconsin.  She requested a two part earring with snow flakes.  I used Penny Jo Couch's mold with the snow flake and put glitter on this one.  The snow flake is glued to a post and the earring backing has beads on it.  I have to make some for myself, I really like them.

I'll post more when I get them done.  I think these would look great with the Cat in the Hat hat. 

JUDY'S FACE PENDANT

This is what Judy Kelly made from her face cane from the Barbara Maguire face cane class.  I love the hair.

I think she's cute.

I'm off to another computer class.  I'm over whelmed.

VELVEETA CHEESE FUDGE

I've had a lot of great emails and so has Lynda Moseley about the fudge.  Most people are still questioning the use of Velveeta Cheese in making fudge.  Trust me, once you make it, you won't make it any other way.  I had an ice cream fudge recipe that I thought was the best but it took it's place.

I have to tell you a little story about the fudge.

My neighbor across the street would not allow me to leave my fudge at her house because she was always dieting and her husband was a diabetic.  He started wearing a Santa hat all the time and she could never figure out what that was all about.  Every day when she was in the shower he would come across the street to beg for fudge.  He kept a little plastic bag inside his Santa hat.  He would put the fudge in there and wear it home and then hide the little bag of fudge in the pocket in the side of his recliner.  This was a guy who could hardly walk and didn't have much lung capacity.  She finally caught him because there was chocolate all over the seat of his recliner.  We both got yelled at but it seemed pretty funny at the time.

That's how good this fudge is.

About 20 years ago a friend gave me his wife's recipe for Velveeta Cheese Fudge.  I wouldn't have taken the recipe except that he brought some fudge with it and I had never tasted anything like it.

Every Christmas I make this fudge and a few years ago we were watching the cooking channel and Paula Dean was making it.  I tell everyone that she got the recipe from me. :0)

My friend Lynda Moseley published my recipe on her blog today and people can't believe you really make fudge with Velveeta Cheese.  This is Lynda's blog http://scdiva.blogspot.com/.  Check out her tutorials on Etsy and Artfire.  They are awesome.

So, I thought I better publish the recipe too.  It's addicting.  Keep it refrigerated after you make it.  This recipe makes about 6 pounds of fudge so you can cut it in half.  Make some with nuts and some without.

VELVEETA CHEESE FUDGE

1-POUND BUTTER

1-POUND VELVEETA CHEESE

1-CUP COCOA

4 POUNDS POWDERED SUGAR

1-TEASPOON VANILLA

NUTS OPTIONAL

MELT BUTTER AND CHEESE TOGETHER IN A REALLY BIG PAN OVER LOW

SIFT COCOA AND SUGAR TOGETHER AND PUT IN PAN WITH BUTTER AND CHEESE.

KEEP STIRRING TILL REALLY WELL MIXED AND THEN ADD THE VANILLA. STIR TILL SMOOTH. I SPRAYED A 9 BY 13 GLASS PAN WITH PAM AND POURED THE FUDGE IN IT.

THEN REFRIGERATE FOR A COUPLE HOURS. TAKE IT OUT AND LET IT SIT FOR ABOUT 20 MINUTES BEFORE CUTTING.

OK, you want something really good for Thanksgiving or Christmas?  How about some GULLIVER'S CORN?

1-Pound Corn Frozen

8 ounces whipping cream ( yes, whipping cream)

1 and ½ Tablespoons Butter

1 and ½ Tablespoons Flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons Sugar

3 Tablespoons Parmesan

Put corn and whipping cream in pan and bring to a low boil.

Simmer 5 minutes and season with salt and sugar.

Make paste with butter and flour and add to corn and simmer 2 more minutes.

Put corn in a casserole dish and add Parmesan cheese.  Dot and butter and broil.

 Or put all the ingredients in a pan and cook on the stove.  I also put in a little pepper because I like pepper.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the fudge.

STROPPEL - MAGUIRE PENDANT

One of the hottest new techniques in polymer clay is The Stroppel Cane.  It was developed by Alice Stroppel and she was kind enough to do a youtube video on how to make it.  You can see it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y07zXuLZe20 .  Thank you Alice for sharing this.  It's an incredible way to use up old canes.

As I mentioned in a couple previous blogs, I was fortunate to be able to take a Barbara Maguire Face Cane class last weekend.  I decided I wanted to use some of my Stroppel cane on something other than beads.  My Stroppel cane has a lot of translucent in it.  I found that when a cane has translucent in it, after sanding, it buffs up beautiful and shinier than if it has no translucent.

This picture doesn't reflect the beautiful shine on the piece.  I'm having camera problems again and we had awnings put on the house so I lost a lot of the light that I was using for taking pictures.   If you click on the picture, you will see the shine a little better.  She's about 3 inches long and I haven't decided what to do with her yet.  Suggestions????????

I pieced the Stroppel cane around her face, I'm going to try doing one where the cane is laid out so it matches and add the face last.

PLEASE DON'T LEAF ME

My husband said I need to change my medication because he thinks I'm getting a little wild.

Since I took that face cane class from Barbara Maguire last weekend, I haven't been the same.  I told him it was the shots in the back that did it but he doesn't believe me.

Today I decided to play with my face cane again.

It's not my fault I had an old leaf cane sitting on my desk.  It just jumped on there.  I put some walnut embossing powder on her hair to make it look like hairy hair but I only baked her at 250 so the embossing powder didn't melt.  I sanded her a lot and got most of the embossing powder off.  She buffed up really well.  This obsession could get worse but I doubt it.

Yesterday my friend Evelyn came over so I could help her put her face cane together.  She also took Barbara's class and I give her a ton of credit.  She has macular degeneration and doesn't see very well.  She really hung in there.  She's an artist, a real artist.  She taught art for 30 years.  The fact that her eyesight is leaving her is so sad.  She loves polymer clay and it's great therapy for her.  Anyway, she didn't like her face cane because she thought the lips were too big but I think it's wonderful.

She needs a little more forehead and then I think her lips will be fine.  We did a pound of translucent clay and we still didn't have enough.

I was just told by Mr. Wonderful (he is) that I should make a face cane and put little hearts around her head and  call her "LOVE MY HAIR".  I told him he should stick to being an Engineer.  He didn't get it. :0)

FACE CANES - FIRST PENDANT

Today I took a piece of my face cane that had the gun shot wound in it and tried to manipulate it.  I put it on some white clay and used the left over eyelash cane to make hair.  Baked it for an hour at 265 and the face tone turned darker than I thought it would.

She was sanded and buffed.  She sure doesn't look like the beautiful women that Barbara Maguire does with her face canes but I like her.  I used Photoscape to edit the picture since I have a new computer.  I have a lot to learn about this new computer and tonight I'm over whelmed.  Had to reinstall my media over drive to download books from the library to my IPAD and now I can't find the book.  HELP ME.

This is Judy's face cane.  Can't wait to see what she makes with it.

Evelyn and I will be working on her face cane Thursday.  I'll post that when we get it done.

I'm getting too old for all this technology.  Pretty soon kids won't know what pens and pencils and paper are.

BARBARA MAGUIRE FACE CANE CLASS

This past weekend our clay guild sponsored a class with Barbara Maguire on how to do a face cane.  Little did I know how involved and hard it is to build a face cane.  She is a remarkable teacher and I have pictures to prove it.  We started out by making a pound of translucent clay into a color that we wanted for our flesh color.  Then we made the eye.  I swear, I never thought what I was doing was going to look like this.

This was my eye.

This is my eye cut in half.  I was so happy I was ready to quit right then and there.  I thought I would just make a bunch of beads with eyeballs.  Would make for great golf stroke counters.

You guessed it.  Now I have the lips.

The nose.  Doesn't look like much does it?

This was Barbara's final face cane.

This is my final face cane after lots of reduction and beating her on the table to get the clay to move.

I apparently didn't pack her forehead very well and it looks like she got shot with a 45 caliber.  She'll be fine once I slice her and move her lips back and give her some hair.  She looks like she is trying to tell me something like "FIX THOSE GUN SHOT WOUNDS IN MY FOREHEAD".

It was really fun and we had it had a great place, nice and close.

I'm finally on my new computer.  The shots in the back haven't quite stopped hurting yet but I hope in another week I'll be back to normal what ever that is.

THREE IS A CHARM ------- I HOPE AND BARBARA MAGUIRE CLASS

My husband needed a new computer because he is a day trader and it's important to have all this geek stuff in good condition.  He decided I could have his old computer.  He spent 4 days transferring my stuff to his old computer and kept asking me why I made quadruplicates of all my pictures?????  I never did that.  Then he wanted to know why I had all these folders full of PDF tutorials on my email.  Well, duh.  That's where they came from so that's where I kept them.  OK, now I'm getting stressed.  I had some tutorials in files on my desktop that I used a lot and he wanted to know why.  Do you other non-geek people have this problem?  Anyway, 5 days later he finds out that my computer had 12 non-death-threatening viruses.  He fixed those, transferred my stuff and the computer died.  OK, first trip was to Best Buy.  Got a computer, started again and the CD burner didn't work.  Back to Best Buy.  Went to Costco got another computer, started setting it up and the thing was so loud we couldn't hear each other talk.  Back to Costco to take the computer back.  Off to Fry's Electronics to get one just like he got two weeks ago.  I have not been able to download any new pictures and I have items I want to put in my Etsy and Artfire stores.

While this was going on I had to go for a cortisone shot in my back yesterday and when we got there he gave me shots in both sides which I didn't know was going to happen.  The doctor blamed my husband for taking me on the cross country road trip in the car to my nephews wedding.  It wasn't his idea but I didn't say anything.  This guy was no Marcus Welby.  They lied about it not hurting but today my back feels pretty good and hope it stays that way because I'm taking a two day class today and tomorrow with Barbara Maguire.

BARBARA MAGUIRE FACE CANE CLASS

http://www.barbaramcguire.com/.  This necklace was featured in a collection on Artfire today called "Elegantly Yours" http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=collections&op=details&cid=29840 you can see it here.  There are some beautiful things in this collection including some beading tutorials.

If my new computer works soon, I'll download pictures from the class.  I'm really excited about meeting Barbara and taking a class from her.  I have all her books and DVDs.

This is a necklace I made with Barbara Maguire's tutorial on Mokume Gane which you buy on her website.

 http://www.barbaramcguire.com/

11 - 11 -11 VETERANS DAY

This is a picture of The Honor Guard from Luke Air Force Base which is only a couple miles from my house.  I feel very privileged to be able to see the jets circle the sky above us and to hear their noise even though it shakes the house sometimes.  I would never complain about the noise because I know they are training to fly those big birds in order to keep America safe.  I love the idea that I can go in a store around this area and see men and women in their fatigues and uniforms.  They are all so young and so proud.  I've been in restaurants where older veterans have picked up the tab for someone there in uniform.  I even bought an ice cream cone for a guy in uniform once, made me feel great.  He didn't want me to but I convinced him it was my right to do it.  The guy at the ice cream place gave me a card for a free cone after the soldier left which I thought was really nice.  Now the place is closed so I guess I didn't need the cone anyway.

Want to feel good?  Go out and buy a soldier or a sailor or one of our vets a meal. 

Give some love to these kids.  Let them know how much we appreciate them.

WATER FOR THE STEAMPUNK ELEPHANTS

Last February I took 4 classes from Christi Friesen at the Tucson Bead Show.  When we came home I made myself a steampunk elephant necklace and I get more compliments on that than on anything else I wear.  Well, my elephant is worn out and missing some pieces, I don't think water would do him any good.  I did listen to that book "Water For The Elephants" and then it came out as a movie.  To me, it was a very sad and depressing book so I never went to see the movie.  The other day I decided to wear my elephant for one last time.  A lady came through our beading club and asked if I would make one for her daughter.  I finished it today.

He's all silver and black with Groucho Marx eye brows, a monocle and lots of steampunk parts.  Hope she likes him.

WOODEN NEEDLE CASE

A couple months ago I bought some wooden needle cases.  I thought they would be great to carry my beading needles in and to store them.  I forgot I had them.  I made another Stroppel cane and decided it would look great on one of these cases.

I guess I could have beaded around it but this is more fun and less time.

This is a resin-steampunk piece I did with a Kumihimo rope necklace.  It has clay in the bottom and two layers of resin on top.  Someday I'll take my time and get rid of the shadows in my pictures.  I set up my picture box but the lights still aren't right.  This was taken outside.  I need to do more resin.  This was UV resin.  I'm going to try the two part resin some day along with a bunch of other things.  LOL  No more room for stuff.



STROPPEL CANE NECKLACE

As you know the latest rage in polymer clay is the Stroppel Cane by Alice Stroppel.  This sweet lady even has a video on her website http://polymerclayetc.com/ showing you how to do it.  Alice shares a lot of wonderful tips about polymer clay, hop over to her Etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/AliceStroppel and check out her cute girl friend items.

This past weekend I found a box that had some left over and end cane pieces.  I decided to try the Stroppel Cane but made my black sheets a little thicker.  I love doing this cane it's amazing what comes out of it.

The focal pendant has Magic Glos on it.  Let me tell you about the beads.  Someone told me they were using Future on raw clay.  They were making beads and rubbing the Future on them to smooth them out and get the finger prints off of them.  I made my beads, did the Future thing, let it dry, baked the beads at 265 degrees and they came out brown and had bubbles on them.  So, I put them in the tumbler for 8 hours and most of the Future came off but they had a funny white film on them.  I hand sanded them all.  I don't like Future on my beads or pendants, I like sanding and buffing but was running out of time.  I put 6 coats of Future on these and then put them back in the oven at 200 degrees for 20 minutes to set the Future, this gave them a glass like finish.   You can click on the picture to see it closer.  Thanks Alice, this is fun and a great way to use up old cane pieces.  I'm putting this in the craft fair this weekend.  If it doesn't sell, you will see me wearing it a lot.  I still have cane left so I'll have to make a bracelet and earrings to match.

WELL BEHAVED WOMEN RARELY MAKE HISTORY

That is one of my favorite sayings.  I thought I would share it with you so you have an excuse to not behave.

Unfortunately, I've been too well behaved lately.  I've been working on my items for the craft fair and making snow people.  I should be out golfing and bowling and riding my bike but a lower back problem has been holding me back from doing all those things.  Hope to see a back doctor this week so I can get out of the studio and do something fun.  The weather here is Arizona is getting beautiful now.  I feel bad for the people on the east coast with all that snow.  I remember driving to work in snow and seeing cars sliding all over the road and in ditches.  I swore when I retired I never wanted to see snow again.  That's why we are in Arizona.  No more snow for me.  I do miss it on Christmas day though.  OK, enough of the boring stuff.

I finished two more snow people today.  I'm still obsessed with these things.

This is Susie Snowflake.  She has long blond hair and wears too much makeup on her wrinkled face.  She reminds me of that country western song "I like my women a little on the sleazy side".

I'm having camera problems again so bear with me.

This is Michael Mistletoe.  As you can see by all the little hearts, he's a sweetheart.  He's got a little steampunk thing going on.


Tomorow would have been Booboo's 20th birthday.  I was thinking about doing a whole blog on him from the time he was little until the day he passed but I might just celebrate his birthday quietly and think about all the great times we had together and all the entertainment he gave us while he was here.

RIP my dear friend and Happy Birthday to a very special guy.  We love you.



ANOTHER OBSESSION AND IT NEVER ENDS

As my snowman and snow girl obsession continues to grow, I'm getting very little else done.  I did finish another necklace for the craft fair and I only 5 days left until I have to turn everything in.  These snow people are now getting names.  I think I need group therapy for this obsession.  Is there a polymer clay snow people group out there?  I'll bring the wine and the whine.

This is Happy Harry.  He's hanging from a woman's neck and that's why he's happy.  You can click on the picture to see him up close.

This is Sideways Sam.  He has a leaf on his head and a few berries.  The leaf looks a toupe that didn't quite sit straight when he was in a hurry to get dressed this morning.

This is Jingle John.  His ornaments match his scarf and mittens.

My sister thinks I should make a Mr. and Mrs. Snowman for everyone in the family.  If I start now, I could be done by Christmas 2012.

HALLOWEEN CLOWN GIVE AWAY

This beautiful clown necklace is being given away by Angie of Hopemore who does beautiful work.  I love this necklace.  Please visit her blog and leave a comment to have a chance to win it.  But don't get your hopes up too much.  IT'S MINE.

CINDY CREATED A MONSTER

I'm suppose to be working on my stuff for the craft fair.  I'm running out of time and I have a ton of pieces to finish.

Last Friday, Cindy Lietz  http://www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/did a tutorial on snowmen.  They were adorable but I live in Arizona and I don't think about snowmen or snow women.  Well, all day Friday and Saturday I started thinking about making snowmen.  I wanted new ornaments for my tree so I thought this would be fun and I could make a bunch.  I'm really not into cutesy but this was really bugging me.  Saturday afternoon I put all my other stuff away, watched the video again started making snow people.

I wanted them to have arms and mittens.  I showed them to my husband and he asked how you tell the boy from the girl.  Well Duh.....she's wearing a tiara and earmuffs to keep her dainty little ears warm.

I now have 3 more ready for the oven.  I'm obsessed, thanks Cindy.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, the weather outside is frightful (85) degrees but the polymer is so delightful and if you've no place to go, too bad.

ELEVEN DAYS AND COUNTING - STILL NOT CHRISTMAS

My studio/office has finally hit "DISASTER AREA" status.  Normally my 8 foot table is clean because I do beading on one side and polymer clay on the other.  I have 25 plastic, divided cases that I keep my big beads in and a 6 drawer cabinet that has my seed beads in.  Since I've been working furiously to get things done for the craft fair, I am now in total chaos.

I normally wouldn't show this picture but I thought my BFF's could use a laugh.  They usually rave about how clean and organized I am when they come over.  Wait till they see this.  I have a great rolling chair so I just roll back and forth to where ever I need to work.  I also have a CD player on this table.  I listen to books while I'm working.  Our library needs some new books.  I think I've heard them all.  I just can't remember which ones I've listened to and sometimes I bring the same ones home.


At least I finished two more pieces today.

This is a crystal, glass heart that I didn't know what I was going to do with.  I've had it a long time and it was on a cheap rope.  The heart is really beautiful.  I like it with the turquoise and silver, hope it sells.

The large bead is polymer clay that I did in the ribbon weave pattern.  The gold and black beads are vintage pieces.  A friend gave me her aunts jewelry after her aunt passed and there was a lovely necklace that I took apart and used on some other pieces.  These are two of the beads from the necklace.  Can't decide if I want to leave it this way or add another chain from the middle of the top to the two side chains.  What do you think?  The top seems kind of lonely.

I knew this fair was coming 3 months ago.  What was I thinking?