Do what you want, you're a rebel...

Do you remember when Pee Wee said, "I'm a loner, Dottie, a rebel"...well, it's really funny because like Pee Wee, that's the last thing you would think of when you look at me. But in my own way I am rebellious, if that means doing things in a way that isn't usually considered normal or traditional. Now I can rock a button down collar with the best of the professional women, and I can still stay upright in a nice pair of 3" heels, but for me it's just more natural to sew beads and handmade buttons on that shirt and to paint the shoes gold.

Which brings me to this. I was momentarily feeling a bit boring and dull and just didn't know what to post today. I had made several things this week, which is surprising when you let your work space look like this...

I made a trinket for a friend, but can't show that because it's already been packaged for delivery, then I remembered that I made this using one of the canes that I built this week. ..

I like the combination of purple and gold. I have lots of purple beads in my stash and after several false starts, I decide to make links from my good gold wire. I placed an aurora borealis faceted bead between two fairly large, textured tear drop glass beads. The links looked really good and I finished off with links of just the aurora borealis beads.

After picking out the purple shirt that I'm wearing out today, I realized that it was wrinkled. So instead of getting out the iron and board, I tossed the blouse in the dryer with a dampened hand towel. While waiting for the dryer to do it's magic, I sat down to tighten one of the links on the necklace. That, of course, led to more. I decided I just wasn't completely happy with the necklace so then I got out the trusty 18K gold leafing pen and added some highlights to the polymer clay focal piece. Still missing something. So I did what you don't usually do. I still had the gold leafing pen in my hand and before I knew it, I painted onto those really nice glass beads. I am sure someone is gasping out there, but they just needed something and after all it's my necklace and I can do what I want, because...you guessed it, "I'm a rebel, Dottie".

So here is a closer view of the beads. I like them much better. The gold leaf paint toned down the glassiness of the beads which goes better with the matte finish on the focal bead.


So, take the plunge. Be a rebel. Dot some paint onto a pre-made bead. There's really no law against it and you have put even more of yourself into the design of the piece you are working on.

We usually have no fear about adding paint to found objects and broken jewelry, but don't limit yourself. You just might have a strand of beads that would look really special with a splatter of paint on them, or a pair of shoes that you haven't worn for years, but you don't know why. Come on, go for it. Paint them. They just might end up looking really cool and no one else will be wearing anything exactly like them. All I'm saying is take the plunge, the shoes aren't doing you any good in the closet, anyway... find a way to be just a bit of a rebel. Even if no one else knows, you will.

Well, that's it for today. I will be cleaning up that table because I must finish the dragon that I'm making for a birthday present. I can't have any distractions on the table. I have to complete this project. Birthday is first week of July and it needs to ship to the West Coast. Wish me luck. I'll post some pictures of the dragon soon.

Take care, and have a great weekend.

p.s. remember you can always click on my pictures for a larger view.

What We Did and What We're Doing

I played with canes this weekend. We had plans to go to some of the local festivals, but it was rainy off and on and I just love an excuse to stay inside. In between watching reruns of The Match Game and other family friendly shows, I organized a bit in my art area (I still can't say studio). I have had this really nice container for several years, but when I tried to take the label off the top it came off in shredded pieces. I was so disgusted with this that I put the container away. I don't know about you, but I could not use it like that. It drove me crazy. Finally I got a piece of scrapbook paper and affixed it to the lid. Then I made a piece of "fabric" using scrap cane slices and cut out the letters to spell CANES. I glued these to the paper and here you have it. Now, it's usable.

I haven't made many canes, but I have a few in my stash...

Canes can be used in many ways, you can slice them thinly and cover a multitude of items with them. When you cover another piece of clay with slices it is called "fabric". You can even cut the clay fabric into shapes and make silly things like this.


You can slice them a bit thicker, pierce them and have very unique beads. You can use the ends to make the magic Natasha beds that I demonstrated here..

Well, enough already about canes. The holiday is over and we all have to get back in the groove. This requires doing mundane chores such as recycling all our ginger ale bottles, plastic containers and newspapers that my hubby has been holding onto for a while. One was from June 2005.

I notice when taking this picture, that there are some things that should be recycled that are not...

Just kidding, Sweetie, I'm glad you take these work shoes off in the garage. The hubs has always worn white high tops to work in. He says you can see immediately where you are placing your feet. When he was working high atop houses under construction, I was grateful for every safety measure that he took.

While he recycles, I'm taking back books to the library. I usually just read "how to" books and mysteries, but I love those little old books about the South and our culture and funny ways.



This last batch included books by my favorite celebrity author, Fanny Flagg. I remember Fanny from my childhood when she did tongue in cheek record albums about the First Family. (for those of you too young to know what record albums are, let me know and I'll bring you up to speed) I still see her on the aforementioned Match Game reruns. The movie Fried Green Tomatoes was based on one of her books. I didn't like the movie as much as the book, but that's just me. The only draw back to her books is that they make me cry. Sometimes through the entire book. She's the best in my opinion. I would love to meet her.

Here is a "how to" craft book that I like so much, I'm going to purchase. I've already sent DH on an eBay search for it. It's one of those books that never gets old.

There are so many fun things in this book. Some are really simplistic, but the designs and some of the techniques can be made as complex as you choose.

Well, DH just called and said he got caught in a torrential downpour and to be careful. It hasn't even rained here yet, so I best get my tennies on and get moving. I think a trip to the thrift store is in order also. If I find any goodies, I'll let you know. Take care and enjoy your week.

Get ready for a long weekend...

I think for many people Memorial Day weekend begins on Friday. That makes for a nice long break and many areas have festivals and art shows and other fun things to do. I hope you are among those with local events.

I, like a lot of others, don't post daily. We all have so many fun blogs to catch up on and leave comments, that it can get a bit daunting. But this time I'll veer away from this custom, as I wanted to let you know that I decided to call the restaurant mentioned in Thursday's post. I spoke to the person that answered the phone, because the managers were unable to break away. I explained the situation and she was very apologetic and assured me that all the proper measures would be made to correct the situation. Well, that was step one. We will see what happens. Thanks for your input.

Since lunch yesterday wasn't up to par, I felt like a special treat was in order for us. You may know that I avoid all sugar and flours, but that didn't keep these crepes from being absolutely delish!
I use arrowroot (cornstarch) in the recipe instead of refined flour and for a light filling, I spread on an all fruit spread (no added sugar), folded the crepes into quarters and topped with fresh sliced strawberries. This crepe recipe is found in Dr. Gott's No Flour, No Sugar Diet book. There are lots of other delicious recipes.

Since there are so many things going on this weekend, I just might take a bit of a break and enjoy the sunshine and shows and such. So just in case you're wondering, that's where I'll be. Now if something really fun pops up, I just might have to tell you about it. In in any event, we'll talk soon, so enjoy your weekend and have fun and be creative.

A bit of a dilemma...

Well, I seem to have a bit of a dilemma. The hubs and I have this favorite little hometown restaurant and have been going there for about five years. We have gotten friendly with the waitresses and periodically the cook will come out to the table and check on things. Our dilemma is that we have noticed recently that the dining room doesn't see to be very clean. The salt and pepper shakers, as well as the ketchup and sauce bottles seem sticky. At first, we tried to rationalized this and attributed it to the nature of plastic, how sometimes it does feel a bit gummy.

Today we asked to have a fresh pot of coffee made, which the waitress gladly did. The coffee tasted ok, but a bit strong for my taste. After several sips, we realized the inside of the coffee cups looked really yucky. You know how a coffee cup gets stained? I thought that this was the case, but the hubs wet his napkin and rubbed lightly on the inside of the cup and the "stain" came right off. Needless to say we didn't finish the coffee and had we not been done with our meal, we would probably could not have finished eating, it was that bad.

What do I do? Should I call and speak to the manager and have them re-evaluate the dish washing procedures? Do I call the health department and have them do an inspection? If the things that are our in the open are this dirty, I can only imagine what the kitchen area must look like.

I certainly am hesitant to return to this little eatery, and it was one of the last food places that I felt was safe. We don't do fast food joints at all for many reasons, but mostly being concerned about what happens out of sight.

So what do you think I should do? What would you do?

Hello out there

Well, everyone here has "recovered" from the earthquake. As far as I can tell there was no real damage, but lots of people felt it. Virginia has had earthquakes in the past, but usually no one is aware of them. Does that even count? My sister, who lives in Cali now, says you don't feel the smaller ones if you are up and about, usually only if you are sleeping. Guess what? Last night she felt the one that was about two hours away, in L.A. She said it was quite noticeable.

But it's time to talk art, so whenever I need inspiration, I get out my book by Linda Peterson, How To Make Beads from Polymer Clay. I have been working on some of her carnival type beads. This post was going to be about making canes, but I got involved in something else, which is just as interesting.

Here is a shot of my version of what Linda calls carnival beads, which use canes and other techniques.

They are bright and cheerful and will make a cute necklace as is, but I also love the look of encased beads. I have done lampworking (with glass rods and a flame) in the past, but not to worry, you can duplicate that look using UTEE. If you dip your bead into Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel that has been melted in a electric glue pot, it gives a similar look. I have been using this technique for several years and I never tire of it. This shot shows what some of the beads looked like after I dipped them in the melted UTEE.



Dipping beads in UTEE is not an exact science, you have to develop your own style. The process can be a bit time consuming, holding the bead on a tooth pick and dipping it and slowly twirling the tooth pick. One of the advantages is that if you aren't happy with the result, you just hold your bead on a toothpick and remelt the UTEE with your embossing gun and try again. When the beads cool (in about 30 seconds) they are ready to use.

Here is a shot of both types. Which do you like better?


It's amazing that the same kind of beads can look so different. Here is a close up of two of the beads...



If you are interested in seeing a video using a similar technique, check this out.

Well, that's it for today. Who knows what I'll be up to in the next few days. We'll just have to see what inspires me. Take care and be creative!

My First Earthquake

4:08 a.m....

Sonic Boom followed by the house vibrating? Man, that felt like an earthquake. Susie turns over and goes back to sleep. Forgot about it until DH mentions at 8:00 a.m. that he got up around 4:00 because he felt something. I remembered then and I asked if he thought it was an earthquake. He said he thought so but couldn't find anything online or on news. It was confirmed later. Here is a link.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/205002

Typical, huh, he feels it and gets up trying to find out what has happened. Me, I wonder for a split second and turn over and go back to sleep. It sounded like a sonic boom and then the house vibrated-like a huge tree had fallen over right next to it. It was unlike anything I have experienced. Interesting, though. Apparently we were far enough away that things didn't fall off of tables or walls. If I had been up when I felt it, I may have been more alarmed.

Well that's the news from home.

Enjoy your day!

Can you guess???

Can you guess what we did last night?


DH, Me and Brother Kenny went to see Star Trek. Hubby provided the shirts (vintage, circa 1992) and Kenny and I provided the geekieness. While both the Hubs and Kenny are rockers, Hubs has a bit of trepidation when it comes to embracing his geek side. Not so Kenny, he lead us in Spock salutations and Vulcan salutes.

It was fun acting silly and wearing shirts to the movie, but the real fun began as soon as the movie started. Kenny has already seen the movie and said it was great and worthy of seeing again. I agree completely. It is a prequel and introduces you to the crew of the Starship Enterprise as youngsters. If you aren't familiar with the original television show you may not get some of the references, but the story line is great and the special effects are the best I've seen in a while. The music was fantastic and it's definitely a movie to see more than once.

Well, I'm off to the studio to see what fun I can have. While at Michael's, I purchased a jump ring maker and some memory glass slides, so I see jewelry in my future. Wish me luck and be sure to let me know if you were a Trekie. Inquiring minds want to know!

Thoroughly Modern Cameo

Well, I mentioned last week that I was craving bright colors and something funky. As we know, when all else fails...Michael's! I had a bit of money that was burning a hole in my pocket (actually from an art pillow that I sold) and I headed for the local craft store.

I get all my t-shirts from there. They have the best colors and often they are 2 for $5.00. Some folks decorate them with fabric paints and iron ons, but I usually just flash dance the neck and wear them like that. I always cut the crew neck from t-shirts because I can't stand for it to touch my neck. I feel like I'm choking.

Anyway, those colors were bright and kept me from doing laundry one more day, but I still needed funky. I am still working with polymer clay, so I got into the bright clay box and pulled out neon orange and lime green and bright purple. I'm a bit of a romantic at heart so I got a face mold and created a cameo... using neon orange. I carefully unmolded it and placed it on a lime green piece and then added little "flowers" and leaves around the face. I popped it in the oven to cure it and after it was cool, I got out the acrylic paints and painted it since an orange face was too "out there" even for me.

The orange clay did give me a warm base for my flesh toned paint and I painted her eyes and lips with a needle. After highlighting with gold paint, I added a purchased bail from Fire Mountain Gems and added a black cord. I'm into pendants in a big way, and this is a big pendant, measuring 2"x2.5", but it fits me perfectly. I don't know how or why everything I create looks like me. This looks like the me from 20 years ago.

I wanted to say thanks for all the sweet comments regarding my post about my Mom. I hope I was able to show what an unusual person she was, while giving you a hint of the hilarious things she did (sometimes unintentional). Imagine coming home from school and all your stuff is in the front yard because she warned us that if we didn't clean our rooms...

Anyway, that's it for today. We'll talk soon, I'm sure.

Things I Learned From My Mom

I've been tagged by my sweet friend, Lesley (The Funky Art Queen) for a list of things you learned from your Mom.

No one will ever know how much I miss my Mom. My mom was my best friend, but unfortunately, due to several sad things in her life, sometimes she was a bit cynical. Her beloved father drowned when she was 12 years old and tragically her first child died when he was 6 years old.

Some of the things I learned from her were not things that she taught me to do, but things that I wanted to make sure I never did. One thing is sure, she did the best that she could. She was extremely smart, well read and had an incredible vocabulary. She wanted to be a nurse, but couldn't stand sickness. She wanted to retire in Florida, but never made it.

She loved all of us kids and tried to be supportive, but never seemed inclined to encourage us, as some parents might, to do our best. She wasn't a people person, she much preferred to work puzzles than to socialize. I inadvertently hurt her feelings badly several times as a teenager, but we always worked it out. Since my siblings don't read this blog, I can confess...she always liked me the best of us three kids. She kept a paper soda cup of mine on her shelf because it reminded her of me. She always laughed when I offered to give her a picture of me for that shelf.

When she felt bad, she refused to tell anyone. Probably because she hated hospitals so much, due to her son's lengthy illness. If I have any regrets, it is not understanding the pain that she felt from losing that son. No one ever tried to explain to us how much she missed him. So my list may not be what one might expect, but here it is...

Twenty Things I Learned From My Mom

1. Never ride a bike down a steep hill if you don't know where the brakes are.
2. Right Guard sprayed in your hair doesn't have much hold
3. If you forget & boil water long enough in an aluminum pan, the pan will catch fire and melt.
4. When you drop an entire pot of cooked green beans in the floor, scoop them up & serve them anyway
5. If the cake comes out inedible, toss the whole thing out into the yard
6. Try not to have your feelings hurt by children that can't possibly understand
7. Don't rock the boat
8. Don't always believe it when co-workers say they will back you up, they might not
9. Always read your Bible and say your prayers
10. Slippers and crossword puzzle books always make great gifts
11. Reading out loud is a talent
12. Shaking a tambourine and insisting on money being thrown in it is always funny
13. Suffering in silence isn't always the best thing
14. Toasted cheese sandwiches are comfort food
15. You and your favorite daughter can drywall the kitchen with a butcher knife
16. If you don't want something thrown away, be sure to tell people
17. When all else fails, try to be funny
18. A secret is taken to the grave
19. Don't do as I do, do as I say
20. 79 is too young to die.

I love you Mom, I miss you and I am so happy that you come to me in my dreams. I will never forget you and I know that I am just like you in so many ways....and that's a good thing.

Technique vs. Talent

I used to work with a girl that I felt was a snob when it came to art. I mentioned how much I liked Bob Ross and how I thought it was so neat that so many people were learning to paint. She harrumphed and told me emphatically that there was quite a difference between technique and talent. I always thought that was such a snobby thing to say and I never found out why she was so adamant about this point of view.

I have always felt that you could be extremely talented, but if you were unaware of certain techniques, that you could be stifling the creative process. It drives me crazy to spend hours trying to figure out how to achieve the look I am going for. Does it make someone less creative if they use an established method in their art? I think not.

All that being said, there are definite techniques used in making flowers using Clay Craft air dry clay by Deco. I'm not saying that this company invented these techniques at all, I'm just mentioning them because the book I am using (Clay Art for All Seasons) is so very useful and has introduced me to techniques that I know I will use over and over again.

So with no further chatter, here are my flowers...


This is a bud vase with roses that I made using the book mentioned above.

Here is a calla lily. All of these flowers dry to a very lightweight papery/velvety, almost foam finish. They seem to be reasonably durable and I am sure I will continue to make more in the near future.

If this clay is something you want to experiment with, but don't want the expense of the actual Clay Craft product, try Delight modeling compound by Paperclay. It is, as far as I can tell, almost identical to the Clay Craft compound, except it only comes in white. The Clay Craft compound is really nice and performs beautifully, but it is a bit pricey.

Since I've been learning technique and making flowers for an entire week, I need to move on to something else. I need bright colors and I need to make jewelry and I need to make something funky. So with all that in mind, I'm off to the studio to be creative. Hopefully I will be able to combine technique with talent and come up with something fun.

It's almost the weekend, so tie up all those loose ends and prepare to have fun. Take care and don't forget that there is an artist in each one of us. Embrace that artist within.

Dragon the Line

I know that's a silly pun, but Draggin' the Line by Tommy James and the Shondells used to be one of my favorite songs, and today's project reminded me of it. The first verse goes like this...

Making a living the old, hard way,

Taking and giving my day by day.
I dig the snow and the rain and the bright sunshine.
I'm draggin' the line (draggin' the line)

Recently I asked my sister what I could make for her best friend's birthday in July. She reminded me that she collects dragons and although I'm not into dragons myself, I put on my thinking cap and jumped in with both feet. I am going to make several and send them all to her. I have a large one in the works, using an armature covered with paper clay, but just as a lark, I took a piece of Glow-in-the Dark Fimo and fashioned a small dragon.


It is done a style similar to Christi Friesen, that marvelous polymer clay artist and author. I actually used a picture of one of her dragons from an old Polymer Cafe Magazine. Christi has a fabulous website, so be sure and check it out.

I used a clear green glass nugget in the design and painted and antiqued and highlighted (as I am prone to doing) with acrylic paints. I was concerned that I had painted it too much for it to still glow, but it does...


So that's my project for this weekend. I did get my new air dry clay and have been practicing making flowers. This clay is completely different than polymer clay and it takes a bit of getting used to, but the flowers are so realistic you will be stunned. After I get a few more flowers completed, I'll post them. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your weekend and enjoy the snow, the rain and the bright sunshine.

Just Claying Around

Wahh, Wahh, I'm sore. I have "weed eater arms". I try to pace myself, I really do, but I always end up getting sore. Our yard looks good though. I really didn't weed eat that much, just some in the front yard and around several trees, oh and down the bank some. Hmm, maybe I didn't pace myself so well. Anyway...

While waiting for my new clay to arrive, I have been practicing making flowers with polymer clay. Icing roses using a piping tube are a lot easier, I can tell you. Practice helps though. (You notice I didn't say perfect)


Then I messed around with Sculpey Ultra Light and made some bangle bracelets. I used craft wire for the base and covered it with the ultralight clay. After baking, I painted and added some eyes and dots.



And last, but not least, my scrap clay project. He looks a bit like a sea creature. You decide.


That's it for today. I hope everyone is feeling well and staying out of germ ladened areas. Take care and stay healthy.

Until then...

Monday, Monday

I hope this Monday is being good to you. I wanted to say thanks for all my birthday greetings. It was so hot here, that I opted to stay at home and enjoy the day with my hubby. He had already taken me out to eat earlier in the week and chauffeured me around to buy birthday goodies, courtesy of my sister.

I was really in need of kitchen supplies, as after a while you just need to replace stuff. He pushed the buggy at Target's (the best place for kitchen goodies) and I started filling it up. Here is what I ended up with...


DH got me the greatest pair of sandals, flip flop type with a wonderful arch support. We got them from Zappos which is the best online shoe site ever.

I ordered a new awesome art clay, called Clay Craft, made by Decoclay. It is an air dry type, used to make bridal arrangements and such. Can't wait to try this.

Now all that aside, I did have time to make some jewelry. I had a chance to finish my pearly dangle bracelet, which is so comfortable to wear, I just love it.

I also made two pair of dangle earrings, fairly large so you can see them now that my hair is longer. They are made from sculpey ultralight, which is white, so I painted them with acrylic paints.


Pretty funky, huh?





You can't go wrong with dots, ever!

Well, that's it for today. Take care and enjoy your week.

Satuday's Child

Mondays child is fair of face,
Tuesdays child is full of grace,
Wednesdays child is full of woe,
Thursdays child has far to go,
Fridays child is loving and giving,
Saturdays child works hard for his living,
And the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

Yep, I was born on a Saturday, April 25...not that long ago. Enjoy me with a little celebration of life. I am so blessed and so grateful to be able to arise every morning and enjoy the day.

So please stop by and say hi and stay awhile. I love it when you visit.

Take care.

Sneak Peek

Ok kids, here is a sneak peek of my current project...

I have been longing to work with wire again and decided to do something different this time. Well, different for me anyway. I usually like to do things that work up quickly and wire wrapping 60 beads does not fall into that category. It's not a difficult technique, but it is time consuming. You make a wrapped eye pin (the wire with the circle on top) from 24 gauge wire, thread the bead onto the wire close to that circle, then take the opposite end of the wire, bring it up over the bead and wrap it over the already wrapped end. This is fairly thin wire, so it isn't as bulky as it sounds, and makes for a very nice component. Since I'm a bit out of practice, my fingers and wrists will probably get sore, so I am taking it slow. I may have the finished product by the end of the week.

In the last post I mentioned that I had cleared my work area so I could sew. This was an ongoing project, that actually took several months to complete. I had a pair of jeans that I got on sale at Ann Taylor Loft. They were way too long and the color was way too dark, but it was really a great deal, price wise. To get rid of that dark indigo blue, I filled the sink up with hot water, added one cup of good old fashioned bleach and crumpled the jeans up in the bleach water and left them for about one hour. I actually did this two separate times. They eventually came out looking like a reversed tie dye. Very cool. Then they were washed several times and dried to just the right softness.

Well, by this time I have lost a tiny bit of weight and they are too big. Since they were light weight, I was able to take them apart fairly easily. I laid them out flat, then I placed my favorite jeans on top of them and cut them down to that size. I sewed the seams back, zig-zagged the edges and re-fitted the waist band and hemmed the legs. I hope I'm not making this sound too easy, as it took me several hours to get them just right, but now they fit like custom made jeans.

So that's it for today. It's supposed to be warm here tomorrow, so I think I'll pick up sticks in the woods. That is an ongoing process, but it's fun to be outside. Take care and enjoy your week.

TTFN

I Challenge You...

You may already know this, but one of the things I do regularly is challenge myself. I like to make something with all the scrappy things left on my work table when I'm ready to clean it to do another project.

I needed to clean the area to prepare for sewing, so as I gathered up bits and pieces of fluff and googlies, I came across a wad of silver colored Premo clay. I squished it around a bit and decided that it looked like a pea pod. So I ran with this idea. After forming and baking it, I aged it a bit and foiled it a bit and added a piece of sterling silver wire as a bail.


Not wanting to rat my dear hubby out, I won't give an exact quote, I will just say that this is not his favorite pendant. He tends to like more traditional designs and thought this was...less than cute. But sometimes it's not how beautiful a piece is, sometimes it's just about the creative process.

So here's my challenge to you, the next time you need to move onto another project and have tiny bits of fabric and left over clay and pieces of "junque", make something from them. Put on your thinking cap. Think about unusual shapes, color combos that you don't usually use, and then put your scrap art piece together. Maybe you have been wanting to try Steampunk, or do cutesie, instead of funky. Whatever it is, push yourself a bit outside the box if you want. They are scraps after all, and can be discarded if you want to. You don't have to post a picture of it, you just have to do it.

So there you go Scrappy Doo, make something different. You just might like it.

Breathe

For long you live and high you fly,

for smiles you give and tears you cry,
for all you touch and all you see
is all your life will ever be.

Breathe by Pink Floyd
Dark Side of the Moon
1973

Funny thing, here I am with another post about a line from a song. I am not sure why I was never introduced to Pink Floyd. This is such a marvelous lyric. It says pretty much all that needs to be said, so when I saw this really cool bronze pendant at Artbeads.com, I had to have it.

I like to think about a piece before I plan my design, but I don't want to over think. The more I read this quote and the more I thought about the time period, the more I got into a breezy, gentle mood. I thought about what kind of jewelry I would have made if I had been listening to the Floyd in my room. I walked around with this bronze pendant in my hand (I tend to pace while thinking) and noticed how it took on a pink glow. I knew without looking, that I didn't have any beads in my stash of hundreds (could it be thousands?) that would really do this piece justice.

I just knew that this pendant needed vintage...that it needed natural...that it needed metal... that's when I knew that I was going to have to disassemble a vintage piece to get what this was needed.

So I went to my closet and got several gemstone necklaces that had colored stones and an '80's necklace that had metal pieces. I looked at these necklaces for quite a while. DH is playing electric guitar in the background and I'm thinking about colors and metal and just digging on life.

So this is what I came up with.



This particular piece was just begging for simplicity. Think about it, if you were a little hippie chick, you would not have worried about needles or findings. You would have instinctively known to use a piece of leather cord, thread the beads on and tie a knot in each end, leaving plenty of cord to tie in the back.

With all that being said, this is my first order from Artbeads.com and I am quite happy. The quality of the pendant is excellent, a good thing for my first bronze piece. The shipping was fast and securely packaged with the bead bagged and carefully wrapped in purple tissue paper. It was a nice enough experience to have me wanting more. So...

I'm thinking of going sparklie with my next piece, and maybe using some crystals. This is an area new to me. Have any of you used any of the flat back type rhinestones? I could use some help deciding.

That's it for today, enjoy the day and remember to listen to the music.

By the way, there were other bronze pendants to choose from so check them out also.

It's a new day...

This is a line from one of the songs from the 60's movie, Wild in the Streets, and it is stuck in my head. Last week my DH played it several times and you know how you just can't get rid of a song that you heard? Yeah, it's stuck there so I thought I would just go with it and let today be a new day.

I worked with polymer clay all last week and not all of my efforts were successful, but I did make this piece that I am happy with...



DH was diligent with the camera and finally got a picture that shows the layers of this piece. I made the disc out of black clay, distressed it and aged it with red, green and yellow acrylic paint. I then coated it with Kato liquid clay and used the heat gun to bring it to a shine and then I applied metallic foil film (3 different foils) to the warm clay and gave a quick pull on the film, for the metallic effects you see here. The center piece of silver colored polymer clay was done using the foil also. The stone in the middle is actually a dark green glass nugget from my mosaic supplies. I attached a purchased silver bail and leather strip and there you have it.

So, it's a new day. A day to do whatever you have been postponing. A day to break a bad habit. A day to do art. A day to love.

Even if you don't use it "wisely", it is still a new day and guess what??? You get it every day. There's no wonder I love life.

Happy Easter

Just some things that remind me of Easter...


A white wicker basket full of friends,

A pink glass bunny...


A springtime evening sky reflected in an imaginary lake...


Praying hands...

Happy Easter

Pillow Talk

Just a quick post, to show you the birthday pillow I made for my sister. She loves big cat cubs. Tigers and lions and such. She even was asked to help pick the names for the cubs that were born at the Wild Animal Park several years ago.

It's done strictly with water color pencils . No bold outlines, no Inktense pencils and somewhat different from my usual style.

That's it for now. See ya' soon.