THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

I have a very dear friend that I am really grateful for.  Actually, I have a lot of friends I'm really grateful for.  Evelyn is a special friend.  She's sweet, kind, talented and losing her eyesight.  She has macular degeneration and her eyesight is deteriorating.  I love spending time with her and she loves shopping.  Wish I could keep up with her.  She has a twin sister who lives in Hay's, Kansas and a younger sister who lives there also.  I heard when they are together they shop for at least 10 hours a day.  Evelyn takes care of Buster when we go on trips.  She loves him and he's crazy about her.  She tells everyone she's his God mother.  I wanted to make something for her that was special.  Our clay guild was doing an ornament exchange so while I was doing that one, I got an idea for hers.

This is the front of the one I made for the clay guild.  Click on it to see it up close.

This is the back of the clay guild ornament.

This is the one I made for Evelyn.  This is the front.

This is the back.  I should have put some red shoes with crystals on them.  I just read an article that Judy Garland wore 4 pair of red shoes in the movie "The Wizard of Oz".  They were all done with Swarovski crystals and one pair of the shoes was recently sold for $660,000.  Wish my shoes were worth that much.

The map on the ornament has Magic Glos on it.  I used an original map from Kansas and scanned it which worked great because I got a clear picture of the Hays area and a good picture when it was printed.  I sprayed the front and back with PYMII.  I used Kato liquid clay on the back of the map piece before I put it on the raw clay to bake.  The PYMII protected it when I put the Magic Glos on it.  If you want to make something special for someone who is away from home, this worked great.  She loved it.  You could also cut it out and put it in a bezel and make a necklace or pendant.  Just make sure it is fully covered with either PYMII or a lot of Mod Podge or paper sealer.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and cherish the ones you love.  I lost a friend last week that I've known since I was 5.  She was 100 years old.  Her name was Jane and I miss her terribly.  We talked on the phone every week sometimes for an hour.  Her funeral is today and I won't be there because I live in Arizona and she is in Wisconsin.  She made me promise I wouldn't come back for her funeral.  She knows I love her and that's what's important.

This is Jane and a blouse that I bought her one time when I went to visit her.  She asked to be buried in it because she loved it.

Heaven is getting another Angel today and I hope they have a lot of vodka up there.  She had a martini every night.  She called it her "Holy Water".

CHEERS JANIE