Wrapped Up In Wire

I'm so hooked it's not funny & there is so much inspiration on Etsy that there are times when I spend more time looking than making! That, of course, is going to have to stop. The looking that is!! I'm shaping, pounding, and wrapping as often as I can and the ideas are flowing. I'm still doing lampwork too and trying to make some things that I can incorporate into my wire obsession.

The kids will be on Spring Break in a couple more weeks. Although I've never understood why our school district never has it right after Easter. I hope the weather warms up a bit more before then. We had a nice spread of some Spring like sun, but it seems we have reverted back to the cold rain and frost in the morning.

Easter was nice, we didn't do anything except watch movies (I worked on jewelry) all day. I highly recommend Tin Man. I think it was a Sci-Fi channel original mini-series. It's out on DVD now and is about 6 hours (3 parts). A very cool version of The Wizard Of OZ. Perfect for the fantasy lovers out there. I Am Legend is also really good! An edge of your seat thriller, especially if you like Will Smith. Enough of my movie reviews. I've got a hot kiln waiting for me.

Have a wonderful afternoon!

Some New Work

I've been wire working mostly but am able to squeeze in some lampworking too. I love doing both but the glass requires a little more prep work and takes away attention from my 5 year old, which he doesn't appreciate. The wire work I can do while he's sitting with me. I'll be registering him for school within the next couple of weeks. I can hardly believe it!!!

I'm now a proud member of the Wire Artisans Guild! What a thrill! Here's a link to the blog http://www.thewireartisansguild.blogspot.com take a peek when you can. You get to see a fantastic array of work from a bunch of talented artists! The theme for this week is Magic, picked by me. The moon earrings were my entry for last weeks Nocturnal theme. I missed the week before that. Just too much going on.

Our truck was broken into today in the Fred Meyers parking lot. What a shock and total bummer. We were in the store for 20-30 minutes and according to the police this is now a common occurance in our area with all of the growth going on. We lost some tools and a few other things........man did it suck!!!

The kids don't have school tomorrow due to a teacher in service day so it will be a nice day with the boys.

Off to tuck them in. Have a wonderful evening!

Breathing Easier....

I accomplished quite a few things this last week, but not all of what I would have liked. Between taxes, broken automobiles, sick kids (big & small alike) & internet problems, I have finally gotten everything back to a semi-smooth running basis. I didn't get my Challenge project done :( but I'm working on quite a few new things and the next Challenge is "Nocturnal". I have 2 ideas for this one and will be sketching them out when I'm done posting.

There's still quite a few of my lampwork items to be listed sometime this week and a request I need to work on it that area too. It should be a lot of fun to see how it turns out.

Everyone, in general, seems to be in a pretty good mood. Spring is in the air and I think we are all looking forward to it. I'm sooooo in the mood to create. Have I mentioned that my 5 year old is a total crafter. The only problem is that he wants to do all of the things he's not quite coordinated enough to do. We are working on that and Michael's is have a sort of craft open house next Saturday. I'm going to take him and see if any of the other boys are interested. It should be fun. You can check it out, I guess all of the stores are supposed to be doing it www.michaels.com/theknack. It looks like a lot of fun.

Time for me to run and sketch these designs before I forget them.

Sleep tight!

Yes!!!

I have been busy, busy, busy!! I'm finally starting to accomplish some things I've been wanting to do for awhile and it feels, sooooo gooooood!!!

The first picture is of my Challenge item for the Tree theme at Etsy. It was fun to make and really got me thinking/creating even more things (in my head). I can hardly wait for the next Challenge. I'm back to doing glass too, though not as regularly as I would like but at least it's a start. I've been keeping a note book with all of the ideas that keep popping into my head and wonder how I will ever complete them all. The wire ideas have been going on for a long time, it was just finding the time and motivation to get started. The only bad thing now is that I have wire, cutters, pliers, ball peen hammers, and the like laying all over the house so I can work anytime I have a minute or three.

I hope you enjoy the new stuff check back often for more frequent updates. I promise to try harder!! ; )

Do You Believe??

Do you believe that you can change anything in your life just by changing your thoughts?? It's true, whether you want to believe it or not. Your mind is the most powerful tool you have. Things have been changing a lot for me in the last month or so.

With that said......my art is really beginning to take hold for me personally. I'm enjoying creating soooo much that I can hardly leave it alone and have been spending as much free time as possible creating new things. I even joined a group of wire artists on Etsy for their Challenges, to keep me on my creative toes. In addition to that, the boys and I are hooked on making window clings. It's a kit from Klutz and we love it. I got some more supplies for it about 2 weeks ago and I now need to order more. My windows are quickly filling with wonderful designs made by everyone.

I should be back to posting pictures within the next few days. The weather is warming up and Spring is in the air. Don't forget that Daylight Savings begins next weekend.

Enjoy the rest of your evening.

Well, What Do You Know.....

I whole month got away from me before I got around to posting again. I think this is kind of the slow part of Winter for me. I've had enough of the cold and am yearning for Spring. The kids have missed a couple of days of school and the flu is going around. My honey is working out of town during the week and I'm trying to drop a pound or 2 before Summer gets here.

I'm working on expanding my jewelry making & lampworking skills and haven't had much to post these days.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday, which really doesn't make much of a difference to me one way or the other. Jim & I are both hunkered in front of the computer and the kids are playing video games. It's one of "those day" where we're all just passing time until tomorrow.

Hope your having a nice weekend.

Renewed Energy!!!

I'm feeling like I have a lot of renewed energy these days.

New Year's Eve was great! We spent it with my sister Cheron, her girlfriend Jessie my niece and her friend. The kids ended up on the Wii most of the evening. It was interesting to see my niece. She has the goth look going on right now. My oldest son, Dakota, looked totally shocked when he saw her but the Wii was a great ice breaker and they got along great. The girl has balls of brass and took the ribbing well, over her new look.

The kids eased back into school this week with only 2 days, which was nice. They are quickly approaching the middle of the year and that means I'll be registering my "baby" for kindergarten shortly.

The weather here has been wild and windy, to say the least. Thankfully there hasn't been anymore snow and even with the wind, the power has stayed on for the most part.

A new year has meant me reorganizing my time and how I spend it. This will be a great help in me getting more done (hopefully). 2008 is going to be much better in so many more ways than 2007.

On the art front I have a couple of new things on ebay. I'm redoing what and how I list things on my other ebay and actually contemplated opening a store until I saw that they double the fees in some things, so in the long run I think it evens out......anyway........no store for the moment.

I'm also going to work on increasing my exposure in all of my artistic arenas.

That's it for now.......

A Sigh Of Relief........

Our puppy made out good from Santa!

All the decorations are down (except for the cool live wreath) and things are returning to normal. Christmas was a lot of fun and the kids got to make Gingerbread cookies which was a total blast. The last minute rush is what gets to me the most and I'm so relieved when it's over.......I know, that if I didn't wait until the last minute it wouldn't be that way......next year......I will plan better.......

Zack is home from the hospital and doing much better although a complete recovery is going to take a few weeks. Having been a very active kid before the infection that is probably going to be the hardest thing for him, staying off of his feet for awhile.

I haven't had a chance to get back to the torch yet but, hope to within the next couple of days. More rings are in the works. Both glass and metal. I also got some new metal smithing toys for Christmas, and am chomping at the bit to try those out.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is looking forward to the coming New Year. We have already started our new years (life) resolutions early. We just didn't see any reason to wait until then, since it's for the better.

All done!

Prayers For Zack

My friends son has a bacterial infection that's so bad it put him in the hospital. He's going to be in for at least the rest of the week while they try and figure out which antibiotic to put him on and make sure it doesn't come back. What started as a pain in his ankle (thought it was a sprain), turned into a fever and vomiting (thought it was the flu) and then him screaming about the pain in his leg. At his second Dr. appointment they finally told the parents to take him to the ER. I took her other 2 (kids) for the day and night. She has great kids who happen to be great friends with my boys. And I think She and I are kindred spirits. She has been run through the ringer and the ringer isn't over yet. The scariest part about all of this, is that they just don't know how these kinds of infections get started. The aren't contagious and just seem to happen at random and they are serious enough to kill someone. Zack we are praying for you to get better soon!!

I did squeeze in a little time at the torch this afternoon. The boys started Winter break with a half day today but it didn't take long for them to interrupt me a half dozen times while I was torching. That cut my session short, while I looked for the duck tape (kidding). The chilly pouring rain and wind didn't help. They are getting pretty excited as we approach the home stretch of the Christmas countdown (EEEEEK!!!). I'm still not quite ready but I'm working on it.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to head out with my Mom but we haven't confirmed it yet. Maybe I'll be able to finish up...........

A couple of pictures of auctions starting tomorrow night.

Have a good one!

The Stress

Of Christms coming is really kind of funny. The kids look forward to it and most of the adults can hardly wait for it to get over (me included). This year I'm a little less stressed, even though we have less money (thanks to my ex) but I'm really excited for the kids. We bought a couple of cool things that they are really going to love, so I think getting a little less this year won't be noticed.

I braved the crowds today to get a tumbler that I've needed for quite a while. Harbor Freight has them on sale and I have to say that while it's not my favorite store to go to. It does have lots of goodies for artists of all kinds. I have 2 butterfly necklaces that I have been holding off selling for a few months because I think that they could use a little tumble to harden the silver a little and shine things up. I'm rather proud of these two pieces and entered one of the in the FMG contest but unfortunately I missed the deadline (have I mentioned that I procrastinate a bit sometimes?). They have a new contest going but I don't know if I want to try and enter is again. I'll see how I feel after a good tumble. I did, however, forget to get stainless steel shot for it so that will have to wait until later in the week.

I have 8 glass rings waiting to be cleaned. I'm really liking them. Especially the frogs. They are a lot of fun to make. The ladies are too but there's just something about those little froggies. I also tried to do a man ring too. I think he turned out pretty well, right down to his.......hmmm......jewels.

The ornaments I'm going to continue making throughout the year. The are fun and not particularly Christmas themed. I think they would work great for Spring too, because of the flowers.

The boys have a day and a half of school to go and then they are out for a 2 week winter break. I always look forward to this because is means we are almost half way through the school year. Boy is time flying!!

That's it for now.

A Note.....

I was going to start this out with a rant/note on deadbeat Dads........but I think that in the end Karma will catch up with them.........moving on.........

Rings have been a thing for me for as long as I can remember. I love rings in general but particularly unique, cool, out of the ordinary rings. I have gone back to lampworking rings and boy did I forget what fun I've been missing out on. Frogs and the female form. Maybe a flower or two. The down side is that I need to get more mandrels. I only have 4 and they range in size from 6 to 11-1/2. I'm going to have to pick up a few more after Christmas. In the meantime I try to make 4 a day which is difficult with Christmas fast on my *ss. I'm still perfecting things so of the 4 usually two are worth putting up for sale. Still I can't complain it's really a blast and I love the attention I get when I wear a frog ring.

I started Christmas shopping today. I told my Mom that I was getting a "jump" on things and she reminded me that getting a jump on things would have been a month ago.....oh well. I hope to be done before the end of next week, if not sooner.

I'm still looking forward to Christmas but, I'm trying to simplify it and not get so stressed over the whole thing (dead beat Dads do not help with this). No matter what, the kids are always happy and have a wonderful time. So I'm trying to "flow downstream" which helps a lot but is also a new learning experience. Remember the book I told you about....Ask & It Is Given (Jerry & Esther Hicks).....if you read it you'll understand. It helps a ton, in that, I don't lay awake at night worrying about everything but I still have a lot of work to do to reach the desired goal.

Anyway enough for tonight. Check out some new auctions (Rings) on Ebay and I finally got those ornaments listed.

Enjoy your night!

A Couple Of Ornaments.....

Should be up for auction later today. The one I did in white I ended up chalking and I'm not really pleased with the results. That one will end up on my tree. But I do have 2 that I think turned out quite nicely and those will be up for auction later today. I still have a few more in the works but those are my night time projects. I've been messing with the glass during the morning hours and will be listing some cool frog rings and a few more beadies either today or tomorrow.

Lots to do today. Have a good one & stay warm!!!

And More Snow.......

We are being hit again with the white stuff. It's just a light dusting right now & looks to be slowing down. I'm hoping that will be it for the day. With only a little over a week until Winter Break I'm hoping we don't get enough to keep them out of school. Alternate bus routes also keep them home but those days they don't have to make up at the end of the year. Since we are on a hill it's not possible for me to drive them to the alternate stop when the roads are snowy/icy.

I've been working a little here and there on lampwork, ornaments & jewelry. Yesterday I worked mostly on getting a spot cleared for the Christmas Tree. The boys can hardly wait! They picked out the tree yesterday and it's now waiting on our deck for it's esteemed spot in the house and to be decorated.

Christmas is quickly sneaking up, with only a couple of more weeks to go. You can feel the tension/excitement in the kids mounting by the day. I still have a bit of shopping to do, but have lists to work off of, which helps a lot.

Do you like the sampling of ornaments?

Enjoy your Sunday!

Hibiscus & A Ring

My flower bloomed. Isn't it pretty! I love hibiscus and have a couple of ornaments made with a hibiscus theme. I also finished another ring. This one with peruvian opal and lavender pearls. I really like the copper but I do have some sterling around and might try a couple in that, maybe with some bone faces.

Tonight is book club. The book we read is The Skeeter Daddle Diaries~Reflections of a South End Nettle Farmer. A funny book with bits and pieces of one of the local (Camano Island) artist. This is a hard to find book if you decide to look for it. The author is Jack Archibald. A good read and my copy is autographed, Thanks Auntie!!!

Today I started making room for a Christmas Tree. We are going to be getting one this weekend. This is probably the last year we will buy a real tree. I'm ready to go with a "fakie" for convience, time, $$ and the hoard of pine needles that don't shed all over the floor. We will be checking those clearance sales after the 25th.

I'm really looking forward to the end of the week. It seemed to be a long one.......

Stormy Weather.......And More

Stormy weather. So far, so good, we haven't lost power & things seem to be calming down a little but I hear another round is coming. School was normal so the kids were bummed, plus the snow was, pretty much, completely gone since it was 54 degrees this morning and actually stayed pretty mild all day.

Happy Birthday to Brandy today. She's 19. I can hardly believe it!

A couple of Tassel Ladies up on Ebay too. I didn't have a chance to list anything else yet but hopefully I won't have any running around to do tomorrow, outside of the house that is.

I hope you're all having a great Monday!!

See ya tomorrow!

Snow!!!

What a way to start December. We got about 6 inches of snow!! It's a slushy mess now but the kids thought it was fun while it lasted. They are now hoping that they will have a delayed school day tomorrow but I told them not to get their hopes up because it looks like the snow will be mostly gone by tomorrow and then a wind storm is moving in, happy day (not). I would almost prefer the snow over the wind but I'm happy if the power doesn't go out for a long period of time. I really am a modern day girl who prefers electricity to darkness. We do have a wonderful wood stove for heat though so that makes things much nicer in the Winter.

I'm chalking my ornament and am really pleased with the results. I now have to figure out how to seal it and not get the sealer on the glass. I'm working on some more for Ebay & Etsy. I don't know what it is about Hibiscus but I really love them. Since I don't live in a tropical area but I would love to, if the opportunity ever comes along. I keep a plant in my bedroom and it does wonderfully because of all the light. I'll take a picture of the next flower that blooms, which should be in a day or two.

I also have some of my Tassel Babes ready to go up for auction. I don't know what people will think but I love them!!! I haven't seen anything quite like them and it's always cool to think that I might have come up with a totally original design.

Time for bed. Have a relaxing Sunday evening.

Hibiscus Ornament

Clay is cool!!! No special equipment required. Just your hands and your imagination. I still haven't decided what to use as far as color goes but I'm going to start experimenting tomorrow. More polymer ornaments to come.

I have to say that in the aftermath of the monster. I think my niece will make a fine recovery. The adults, however, may suffer for the rest of their lives. Sometimes we forget how resilient children are and that, for the most part, they tend to just want to move ahead. She will need counseling and lots of understanding but she is a bright and precocious girl and I'm pretty sure that because of how young she is she will make a full recovery. To my sister who is dealing with it.....WE ARE THERE FOR YOU!!!!

Art is a wonderful stress reliever (wine too, but not necessarily for the better). Art is my preferred. I'm loving the glass too these days, and have a hard time not jumping from one to the other. I do sometimes consider that maybe, I should go and get help to focus (could I be a victim of ADD?) but for the most part I think that with 4 kids (3, kinda since the oldest is almost 19) my attention gets spread pretty thin so jumping around feels "normal". Next year, when my youngest starts school, I will get to see if I can actually get to focus for more than an hour at a time. Until then I'll take what I can get and go with the flow.

All my boys are home this weekend and I'm happy about that!!! I haven't heard from my ex on taking my other 2 (boys) out and if I don't hear from him I don't go (too many let downs in the past) . They are happy to be home too, because the forecast is calling for snow, (I won't believe it until I see it) and we have some nice hills for sledding.

Hope you're having a relaxing Friday. Take care!!!

Brrrrrrr!! Snow Talk??

Seems a little early but they are talking snow already. The kids are hoping. If it does they are saying it will be Saturday, at least I won't have to go out.

I made a really cool ornament today out of polymer clay. I just haven't decided how I'm going to color it since it's made out of white clay.

We'll probably start decorating this weekend. Saturday is the 1st and I have a thing about waiting until December to put up decorations. The kids can hardly wait!!

I'm off to bed. I hope you all had a good day. Yeah, for TGIF tomorrow!!!

Sweet Dreams zzzzzzzzz

Monsters Are Alive & Well

More about the Monster at the end of this post.....

My son Dakota, is an artist in his own right. The picture here is his Pipe Cleaner Band. Including both a piano, drums and 3 electric guitars. These are all his ideas & creations. I was floored when I saw the piano and drums plus the little guys playing them. He's been asking me to teach him to lampworking. Maybe this Spring, when I'm sure his grades are going to hold out for the rest of the year.

The Christmas rush is on. I'm already looking forward to December 26th. It's like the tension builds until Christmas and then we all explode in relief/happiness when it's over for another year.

I'm now thoroughly engrossed in a mix of wire, glass and polymer clay. I don't have any particular favorites at the moment. They are all equally FUN!! I'm really thinking about trying my hand at tutorials but have been so wrapped up with the creative part that they are on the backburner for now. My inspiration is Eni Oken and another artist on Etsy, I can't recall her name but she's fabulous too.

Unfortunately the Monster he was a member of our family (by marriage). A sick individual who has changed a child's life forever and we are hoping will suffer the worse consequence possible. In this day though they are usually put back on the street within a matter of years, months, sometimes even weeks and told to "register". My opinion is that they can NEVER be rehabilitated and should be put to death immediately after conviction. It would save the taxpayers and future victims so much money, time, trouble & pain............moving on now......

We Spent Thanksgiving Doing......

Home repair. It started with a leak under the kitchen sink and ended up being, that leak, plus one under the house....arrrrrrgh!! Since then I have been without cold water in the kitchen. All of the hardware stores were closed on Thanksgiving and Jimmy had to work yesterday and today too. So we won't be able to complete the repairs until tonight/tomorrow. The biggest issue is that we are in an older mobile home and all the pipes are different from regular houses which makes tracking down the right size a little tougher.

I also got hooked on an older Zelda game (Windwalker). I really don't spend much time playing video games (I'm sure I mentioned that before). It can, literally, eat up hours/days/weeks of time and I really don't need to be doing that right now.

It has been freezing here too which keeps the beasties/kids in doors which can be a little distracting.

The elephant picture at the top is of some polymer beads I made several years ago. I'm still itching to dig into the clay and have lots to work with. The other two glass items are my most recent glass work.

I'm really trying hard to post regularly so check back when you can for updates.

Hope your having a great "leftover" Saturday!