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.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER

As I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago, Cindy Lietz at  http://www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/  did a tutorial on making bird house beads.  A week later there was a nest across the street of baby wrens.  Every morning there are two doves that wake me up at 5:30 (who needs a rooster)?  Tuesday on the golf course there was a quail family, mom, dad and four little hair balls with feet all running all over the place.
I live in Arizona and right now every bird in the U.S. is visiting here (except most of the snowbirds have gone home).  The snowbirds from the mid-west I call "snow-blowers".  Not all of them think that's funny but it's ok for them to call me a Cheesehead since I originally came from Wisconsin.  Is that fair????  NOT

Anyway, back to my bird house story ( I tend to wander or is it wonder).  I had some little pieces of left over clay and a new leaf cane and made a couple of bird houses.  Next thing I know I'm making more bird houses.  Some ladies at beading saw them and wanted them so I have to make more.  This is really off the beaten path for me.  It's more like sculpting.  I'm more of a "Roll A Bead" girl.  The more I do, the more I want to do.  Sort of sounds like my shopping problem with beads and clay.  Anyway, here they are.

Those spotted feathers came from a little bird that was sitting in my window yelling at me.  Pulled them right out of his back side.  Just kidding, I bought those.

Click on picture to see them up close.  Some have Swarovski flat back crystals in the door hole.

I think these would be great for the kids at Beads of Courage.  I'll make a bunch and donate them.

TWEET TWEET

Miss you my beloved Booboo

DRUNKEN BUTTERFLYS - SUTTON SLICES - CRAFT FAIR

My friend Judy's husband is on a long job in Chicago and she's really been getting into clay and beading.  She came over Friday so we could see if we could make the Cindy Lietz http://www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/ butterfly wing cane.  The canes we made were pretty big compared to Cindy's, the colors changed after we baked them and our butterfly's look like they had been in the Jack Daniels.  Judy's is cute, mine will never be seen by the public.

Since I took this picture, Judy added a Swarovski necklace to her and she looks much better.  LOL  She also sanded and buffed it.  Cindy, we are going to try again.  Judy keeps watching the video to see what we did wrong.  Join Cindy Lietz's Friday video group.  It's great.  You will never find another polymer clay tutor that offers so much for such a reasonable rate.  Click on the website above and check out all the fabulous tutorials that Cindy teaches.

SUTTON SLICE TECHNIQUE

These are two sheets of Sutton slice that I did Friday.  Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet.

This is one of Judy's Sutton slices done with Fimo glitter clay on black.

This is Judy's other Sutton slice done with left over pieces from her butterfly cane.  I can't wait to see what she does with them.

SUN CITY WEST CRAFT FAIR

Yesterday was the Sun City West Craft Fair.  Everyone worked really hard but it sure is obvious there is a problem with the economy.  People were looking for inexpensive items for holiday gifts.  Our beading club had the most beautiful displays and gorgeous items.  We didn't do as well this year as we did last year.  People loved all the polymer clay jewelry that Rose, Judy and Evelyn made but they didn't buy a lot.  It sure is hard to tell what's going to sell now. 

Last but not least.  Met this guy last week at a sports fair.  Just as they put him out and he was surrounded by people, he turned his back on everyone and peed all over the floor.  I just thought that was pretty funny.  LOL

A DAY AT THE BEACH WITH MY BEADS

Yesterday I was looking for some clay to condition for our clay guild meeting this weekend and I found a package of colored sand that had never been opened.  SURPRISE.  I look for one thing and find others and never find the things I'm looking for and Evelyn isn't here for me to blame.  LOL.

I found the sand and I found a pile of translucent clay and decided I would dust and iron some other time.

I have about 8 colors of this Scenic Sand and it says it's color safe and doesn't bleed and yadda, yadda, yadda.  They didn't lie.  I made little piles of sand filled translucent clay, I spilled some of the red sand in Booboo's bed so I had to stop and clean that up.  I made some beads, baked them, put them in the tumbler for 4 hours and buffed each and every one of those little suckers.  Here is what I made and I have to say, I think this would be perfect for a day at the beach in Jupiter, Florida.

The beads on the earrings don't match but most days I don't even know if I'm wearing shoes that match so this works for me.

CINDY LIETZ NECKLACE

Cindy Lietz http://www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/ does wonderful tutorials every week.  I had some clay leftover so I incorporated two of her tutorials.  One is the Leopard Cane and the other one is The Rocker Bead.  Please go to Cindy's website and join all of us Cindy followers so you can see the amazing videos that she does every Friday.  The cost is really minimal and whether you are an experienced clayer or a newbie, her tutorials will teach you the art of polymer clay.  There is no where else on the web that you can get this amount of information and be able to see someone actually do these things.  She is the inspiration for the necklace I made tonight.

I have more of the Leopard Cane beads in the rock tumbler that I will be buffing and trying to decide what to do with them.   I love these beads, they are so unique and I can't wait to try the Leopard Cane with different colors.

Thanks for visiting.  Time to take the cat and go to bed.  Big day at the Arizona Clay Guild tomorrow.  Next week is 4 days of claying in Prescott.  Besides spending time with one of my favorite friends Judy, 24 other clayers will be there.  This year we have a man so we all have to be on our best behavior.  Wonder if he understands "HOT FLASHES"?

NAUGHTY TUMBLER

It's late and I'm tired and my tumbler let me down.  I made more black and white Zebra flower beads.  I put 3 in the tumbler and moved it to the guest bathroom where it was cooler.  The beads came out yellow again.  I have to sand them.  I'm glad I didn't put the whole bunch in there.  So now the question is "do I want to sand all these little beads by hand and buff them or do I want to put Diamond Varathane on them"?  Doesn't seem like a big decision does it.  Let me know what you think?


NEW FLOWER CANE

Had some left over clay that I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with.  Made another flower cane.

Had some ends left that I made a spiral bead from.  It isn't baked yet but I like the colors.

Maybe tomorrow night we will have some beads made from the cane or some more canes.  I have about 20 pounds of odds and ends pieces of clay and I'm trying to use them up before I open more packages.

I made a Miter Cane today from the Cindy Lietz Friday tutorial.  It turned out great but I didn't like the colors so it went in the scrap pile.  It was the orange and green that is the center of the flower.  It was yucky so now it's the middle of an odd colored flower cane.  Ha ha ha.