AHHH-CHOO BUTTONS AND BEADS

I made myself a promise that I would have 100 animal beads done for The Beads of Courage program.  I wanted to turn them in this Saturday to our rep at our clay guild meeting so she could send them in.  Well, Sunday night I got a nasty cold truck hit me and have been on the couch for 3 days.  It's been couch, cat, hot tea and Law and Order for 3 days.  I do have 50 animals done so I'm half way there.

Before that nasty cold truck hit me I was experimenting with some little buttons.  Thanks to Marie Segal, she told me I could bake the buttons as long as they were Jesse James.  Once again she was right.  Here's a little cat with a mouse on him and a little dog with a bone on him.  They baked just fine.  Thanks Marie.

I took them on a trip to the Grand Canyon :0).

MAKING MOLDS

A couple of my molds (old ones) cracked (not my new ones from Penni Jo Couch, her's are great).   I decided to try some new mold making material from Terry Morris at http://epoxyjewelry.com/2-part-supplies.html.  It's called Simple Silicone and comes in 2 parts.  On his website, he has a video tutorial on how to use the product.  I've made 3 molds with it so far and it works great.  You can find his ad on Polymer Clay Daily, click on the box and it will take you right there.  They can be used for polymer clay, resin, chocolate, candy, wax, soap, etc.

BEADS

This is a bracelet that I finished Sunday before I got the bug.  It's going to a friend of a friend who has breast cancer.

Hope this brightens her life a little.



MIGRAINE CAT - HERE MOUSY MOUSY - ROSE'S BIRTHDAY

My husband said I should make a mouse to go with the glow in dark cat earrings and I thought that was pretty silly.  Next thing I know I'm looking in a Christi Friesen book to see if there were any mice in there because I for one don't like mice and don't care what they look like.  Well, I made some glow in the dark clay and put some black embossing powder in it and the next thing I knew I had a mouse.  I showed it to Booboo and he pulled it out of my hand and started batting it around the floor.  I set the mouse on the chair and he kept moving trying to get the mouse.

I made 2 more and gave them to my friends Judy, Evelyn and Rose today just for a laugh.  I have to make more now because they wouldn't give them back.

I glued their leather tails in with liquid Sculpey before I baked them.  They do glow in the dark.  I hope the girls remember that before they put them on their night table.  Ha ha ha.  The one on the left got a bigger nose than the rest.  He must have a sinus infection.

MIGRAINE CAT

Yesterday I woke up with a migraine and spent a lot of time on the couch with an icepack on my head.  The one I have has long strings on it.  Every time I laid on the couch, Booboo would come up and lay on me.  I put the strings on him and he didn't care. He knew I didn't feel good.  He's a soother.  If anyone knows any good ways to relieve a migraine please let me know.  I have drugs but they don't help much.

ROSE'S BIRTHDAY

Today we celebrated Rose's birthday.  It was actually in September but this was the first time we could all get together.  We had a wonderful day.  We went to a big bead store in Tempe, AZ and then to a cute little restaurant for lunch and then to another shopping center and then to Joann's for some serious craft shopping.

I wanted to give her something hand made and I saw a flexible mold from Penny Couch that had roses in it.  Not sure what she's going to use this for but I guess she could put it on her beading bag or her tool bag.

BAD NEWS

My new camera that I've only had for 3 weeks is broke.  Tried to take some flash pictures and it didn't work.  Sent it back and hope to get a replacement soon so I'm back to using my little Sony.

By the way, I got a box of Good & Plenty from my husband for our anniversary yesterday.  He did take me out for a nice dinner though.



BIRTHDAY LUNCH - LUCKY ME AND POLYMER PIECES

BIRTHDAY LUNCH

Even though it was a 109 today my friends Rose, Evelyn and Judy took me out for lunch for my birthday. It isn't till Sunday but this was the only day we could all get together.  We went to a wonderful restaurant called "Vogue Bistro".  That was my first time there and I loved it.  They have the best sweet potato fries I've ever had.  We had a great lunch and the waiter brought us a beautiful birthday desert.  I should have taken a picture of it.  It was four compartments and had chocolate coated macaroons, white chocolate coated dried fruit with macadamia nuts, white chocolate coated passion fruit and chocolate coated French wafers.  I don't want to eat again for a while.

I got some wonderful gifts (this is all leading to polymer clay) Evelyn gave me shoes to go walking in the water ( I guess she wants me to go to the pool again), a shirt with 2 cats on it, a container for my polymer clay and beading stuff and beads, Judy gave some special chalks to use on the new Tina Holden Honeycomb Tutorial http://beadcomber.blogspot.com/ that you can get the information for at her blog, Judy also made me one of her special bracelets out of canes that she has made and I'll post a picture of it when I get it back.  It needed one more bead.  Rose gave me a kitty stamp and a beautiful necklace.  She got the pendant from our friend Lupe at http://miramecreations.blogspot.com/ .  Lupe will be telling you all about it on her blog but Rose made the necklace part and put it together:

They all know I love cats and this necklace is gorgeous.  I think Rose and Lupe should team up and make jewelry although both of them make gorgeous pieces.

POLYMER CLAY AT LAST

I was gone 3 weeks and didn't get to do any polymer clay.  It's like not eating ice cream for a year.  Phooey, won't do that again.

I spent 3 days beading around a cabochon that I had done using the Barbara Maguire Mokume Gane technique.  I think it gave me a headache but it's done and I love it.

I made a short Herringbone necklace for it.  My camera still isn't taking good pictures but I should probably be taking pictures in the daytime.  I'll try again tomorrow and see if I can get a good one.

Next pieces are some Mica Shift that I was playing around with.  I actually bought the mica shift tutorial from Lynda Moseley http://www.scdiva.blogspot.com/ who does some incredible mica shift pieces.  As you can see I like to support the artists.  Here are my pieces.

I added a little of my own technique to the bottom ones.  Lynda does her with sanding and buffing.  I did sand these but then I put Magic Glos on them.

I had some leftover purple clay and some inks and other texture sheets.  As you can see I love those oval cutters and my new heart cutters with the tipped tail.

FLEXIBLE MOLDS

I've had a box full of flexible molds that I didn't do a lot with.  Last night I saw someone doing clay with flexible molds but not the way I had done it in the past.  I thought I would get them out and try the new way.  Looked interesting.  I have a Celtic cross mold and I know Evelyn likes those.  I made one and decided to make two more.  Now I know I was going about it all wrong and last night I finally did it right.

These came out beautiful even if I have to say so myself.  I used Magic glos on the middle part of the cross.  I used two coats, which I normally do.  I did the bails using the Cindy Lietz method http://www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/ which you can find in her tutorials.  It worked wonderful.  Check out her website.  She sends tutorials every Friday and she is remarkable.  It's a really small fee to receive these tutorials but the learning experience from them is priceless.

These three crosses are now with Judy, Rose and Evelyn.  They got birthday presents from me.

Thanks girls for a wonderful lunch, great presents and a fun day.  I love you all.