We got it done!

Past Polymer Images


The carpet that is! Spent Saturday re-carpeting the living room and I'm still putting it back together. We may also be doing a bedroom next weekend (or the one after) since my daughter is moving out. She's going to be rooming in a house with several other people and has decided that it's more feasible than living at home since the rent is cheaper. Yes, I charge my daughter rent. It's a long story but has a lot to do with financial responsibility and accountability. I love her dearly but it's time (at the age of almost 20) for her to try it on her own.

I'm back into working with polymer but still have tons of stuff to photograph and post. Yesterday I ended up having to run to the school when my littlest (Connor) threw up on the bus. He was fine, just a little car sick but I had to take him a change of clothes, the poor little guy! He's loving school and the teacher is really appealing to his crafty side (she said he asks everyday if they are doing a craft) by incorporating crafts and learning together. Both he and Duncan (my middle boy) have teachers that are the perfect fit this year.

I'm finding that my 3 hours of "Art" time is usually not so artistic and more catch up time than anything else, though I'm trying to be insistent (with myself) to spend at least 2 of those days lampworking. Oh well, life is moving along as it should no matter what I have planned.

At the top I've posted some of my past polymer projects (1-2 years). If I remember right the mask took 2nd or 3rd in a group contest on Ebay. This gives you a bit of an idea of what my style is. I should have at least 2 ornaments up on Etsy by the end of the week.

Have a great day!

The Mornings Fly.....

New Dragonfly Bangle Bracelet
Butterfly Branch Bead
Fall Pumpkin

by.......Not that the rest of the day doesn't do the same, but the mornings seem to be the quickest. Here is a sample of what my weekday morning is like:

5:30 AM get first boy up, make lunch for him while signing into email.

6:15 first boy leaves for school. I now have about 20-30 minutes to look through and answer or open said email. Emails usually end up with me being on another artistic site. There are several that I like to check daily (gotta stop doing that).

6:45 second boy is up, packing another lunch, visit with him for a bit before he leaves for school (first boy isn't as friendly in the morning).

7:35 second boy leaves for school. Now I continue with email, listing, creating, photographing and whatever else seems to be pertinent at the moment. Sometimes it seems like I spend so much time bouncing from one thing to the next that I haven't really accomplished anything.

My last boy gets up, usually, between 8-9 and then we continue with breakfast, some play time, a quick post maybe, and the like until we leave here at 11:15 to walk up to the bus stop.

Most mornings it seems like I blink, and that's it, the afternoon has arrived and my first boy is home.

Somehow I had bigger visions for my 3 hours of free time in the afternoon, which I usually end up torching with. Sometimes it's wire or polymer clay but the torch is the one thing that needs my full attention, preferably, without distractions. Can you imagine how fast 3 hours goes when you are trying to accomplish something??

Anyway, I really have no complaints about how my days go, I just need to be a little more organized when it comes to my work, and as for the internet. I need to pick one day a week to do my "surfing" on, like say Sunday.

A quick note, I have begun working on ornaments. I should start listing them on Etsy next week sometime. A couple of Halloween theme ones and some florals. Keep your eye out!

Enjoy the rest of the week!

On The Verge Of Fall

Fall Garden
Shells for Pandora, Troll or Biagi Chains
Bird Nest Ring


The weather has finally taken a turn to the cooler side. It looks like Fall is here. I've begun to work on ornaments along with a new jewelry idea that I'm really excited about. Unfortunately it takes a couple of days to prepare the materials properly before I'm able to work with them.

This weekend we are going to be laying some carpet, Jimmy brought home from work, that's new (used) from a remodel he's doing. It still has that that new carpet smell. Cocoa being sick, was kind of the last straw for our current living room carpet.

I'm still missing Cocoa a lot. Especially when the kids are at school. We'll wait and see what furry family member comes our way in the near future.

Enjoy your Friday!

New Creations

I've got some new glass and jewelry up! Finally, things are starting to get back to somewhat of a routine :) I'm trying to squeeze some lampwork in, about 4 days a week, even if I only play around with making a couple of beads. I've been making a lot of viking knit chains to incorporate into some of my jewelry. It's a great thing to do (like regular knitting) when you have to wait on something (pictures loading for example).

Jimmy got our shop cleaned up so I'm going to start working on some wood ideas I have for jewelry. We may even collaborate on some things, who knows. He's going to set up an area in there just for me. I would move my lampwork down there but sawdust and flames DO NOT mix. So I'll stay put on that. Plus I enjoy the work space I have, though I need to de-clutter it too!

The weather is unseasonably warm right now, upper 70's, low 80's. It looks like it's supposed to start cooling down in the next couple of days. I've been enjoying it after our early Fall preview a couple of weeks ago and know this isn't going to last too long before we'll be forced to turn on the heater or light a fire. In the meantime it's nice!

Halloween is fast approaching and the kids are thrilled. I don't know why but I'm kind of looking forward to it myself and while we live in a rural area that doesn't get Trick-or-Treaters I'm thinking we'll be putting up some scary decorations just for the fun of it. Check out this cool site for scary paper crafts http://ravensblight.com/papertoys.html The kids will love it!!

We Are Healing

It's been a couple of days and we still have that hole. Which will be for quite a while. We made a trip to the local animal shelter today. The boys loved seeing all the dogs and cats. I'm finding that I lean towards the older dogs, a little under or over a year. They are much calmer and seem to have a little more sense than the puppies. I love puppies but feel like I don't have the patience for them like I used to. I found myself drifting towards the dogs who were receptive towards attention (scratches) and orders (sit!), than the little, hyper puppies.

We didn't come home with a new family member today. The kids are wanting a puppy but I have been talking to them about rescuing an older dog. I'm the one who will be spending the most time with it and while I understand and respect what the kids are feeling, I also feel that it is more worthwhile to "rescue" a dog that actually might be put down in the end. Labs seem to be favored. I noticed a couple of older labs/retriever type dogs that had been adopted right away. I REALLY lean towards Shepard mixes. Cocoa, was a mix, and the dog I had before her was a husky mix. There is something about the markings that I can't resist! Be sure that I pay attention to how they behave towards people, children, & others dogs, so....... no worries! I'm thinking it will be about a month (or more) before we get the next dog. Stay tuned!!

More art sometime next week!

In Loving Memory

In Loving Memory Of Cocoa

January 1st, 2003-September 11th, 2008

A true & loyal friend, companion, playmate & guardian.

You will be greatly missed!

Rolling Right Along.......

Cocoa is slowly improving. Very slowly. She's still not eating on her own but I keep at her & she is putting up a fight so I know she's regaining her strength. She's also able to move more easily.

So far the week it going fairly smooth. The kids and I are adjusting to the back to school routine nicely and I actually lampworked two days in a row (Woo Hoo!). It's more of a warm up but it's amazing to be able to sit in front of my torch for 2-3 hours without a single interruption. While I torch I listen to books on my mp3 player. I'm on the 3rd book of a Nora Roberts series (Born In) and have more waiting. I used to listen to music but I have found that listening to books is much more entertaining and boy does the time fly (not that it doesn't already when I'm torching). She is my current favorite. I'm waiting on some Orson Scott Card too. I listened to Ender's Game a few weeks ago and that is a long series of books. He's a great Sci-Fi writer! However there's a wait list for the second book (Speaker for the Dead) on mp3 from the library.

Hopefully I should have new stuff to show at the end of the week. Stay tuned!

A New Week

Cocoa seems to be slowly improving. She's still not eating on her own but she is much more coherent, moving around more and fighting me when it comes to force feeding her. Makes it a pain to feed her but at least she has the energy to resist, which I consider a good thing. I will have to steam clean the living room and office when this is finally over from her accidents and the like but I had been meaning to do that for awhile so, I'm glad I put it off.

There's still a lot of stress in the house but I'll work through that. The kids will be in school for their first full week this week and I'm hoping to get some serious lampworking in. Of course the weather is warming back up again, which I think is par for the course when it comes to September, but there is still a Fall nip in the air in the morning.

Right now I'm just muddling through everything right now knowing that tomorrow is a new day. The best part of all of this is that my boys are excited to be going to school.

A couple of more pictures of things I have yet to list......

What A Week It's Been

The kids are back to school but still not quite in the swing of things. Dakota's eye is back to good and he has a follow up appointment tomorrow. Duncan is loving his new teacher, who happens to be a man, and is the first male teacher any of my kids have had in elementary school. Connor can hardly wait to get to kindergarten each day and is absolutely loving it! I met him at school on the first day and I have to admit that my heart made a little pang over seeing him finally there, but he was just fine with me leaving and has no problems with getting on the bus and heading off to school. This is a totally new adventure for him.

On a difficult note. Cocoa is REALLY sick and right now it's touch and go. I took her to the vet yesterday morning, first thing, after getting the older kids off to school. It looks like she's got a serious infection and they have her on a powerful (and expensive) antibiotic. I didn't think she was going to make it through the night last night and my daughter was beside herself (the boys were asleep). This morning she was still breathing, much to my relief, and seemed a bit better this afternoon. I have to force feed her both yesterday and today and she seems to understand that we are trying to help her. I'm holding my breath tonight and hoping she will show more visible improvement tomorrow, after being on the medicine for a couple of days. At this point I'm exhausted but not giving up the battle. She is a wonderful dog and we are hoping and praying that she will pull out of it SOON.

I've done very little creating lately. Lampworking is out of the question at this point and I've been really busy with everything else that by the time evening comes along all I want to do is rest. My mind is barely functioning for wire work but I'm trying to create a little something every night.

This evening I'm working on getting a couple of things listed. I added some things from a couple of weeks ago to my Just Beads and am hoping to get a couple more goodies up on Ebay.......we'll see where I'm at when the kids are in bed.

In the meantime I'll post a couple pictures to give you an idea of what I was, and will be working on.

Enjoy your evening.

Sick Kids....

2 out of 4 of my kids are sick.....ok, so one of those sick kids is fluffy. That's ok, cause it's just like one of your regular kids. The furry one (Cocoa) has seem to come down with some kind of flu. As of tonight she is doing better. I gauge my animals like children and she is drinking water and peeing (as long as we follow her out) like the kids. She has no desire to be alone, that was my first clue that she was sick. We'll see what the morning brings.

The other is Dakota (my 13 yo) got himself hit in the eye with the barrel of an air soft gun. Had he been wearing eye gear like he was supposed to.....this would have never happened! As that goes he has a bruised eyeball and retina. That could change at any time. If the retina proves to be more than a bruise they will have to do surgery. We will be keeping a close eye (no pun intended) on him for the next week.

In general my kids have been really healthy for the last 8 years with the exceptions of shots. I have now been into the Dr.'s more time in the last 4 months than I have been in the last 8 years. Infections, injuries and the like.......geeze......could this be a boy thing? I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.

First day of school is next Wednesday! I have some new lampwork that is being cleaned and ready to go! It's different from my past work so I'm going to give it a little lag time. The Goddesses are the coolest yet!! I love them!!

I also have an Owl named Coral (A necklace) that is ready to go, but I haven't gotten her photographed yet. She is a fun piece! There may be some more wood pieces in the future.....we'll seee!

Messing With My Page....

So I had to post.

I'm getting back into the swing of things for Fall. The weather even has a Fall feel to it. The last few days have been down in the 60's with a mix of rain, sun and some thunder.

Got up early both yesterday & this morning and will be hitting the torch again today. I'm trying to motivate for torching in the afternoon, though I'm doing my thing in the morning. My energy level seems to take a dive right around 2-3PM. I'll have to see if I can work around that.

I'll be taking the boys out Friday to get there school shopping done. They are all excited to be going back, or starting. Connor used the worked psyched, yesterday to describe his feelings about starting school. Funny!!

It's always amazing when Summer comes to a close because it seems like you just blinked and that's it, it's done, the kids are another grade older & bigger. Dakota passed me up in height this Summer too. I knew that was going to happen because the kid has probably grown no less than 6" this last year. Every time I walk by him I wonder what happened and how the heck did he get so big, all of a sudden??

I'm adding a picture of who will be my daily companion now, when the kids are away. Cocoa is my constant companion most days, when she's in the house, anyway, and tends to be at my feet or back depending on what I'm doing. She's a great dog!!

Enjoy your day!

The Count Down Begins......

So it looks like my youngest is going to be in afternoon kindergarten. I have to say that I'm a bit bummed about it since morning is my best creative time when it comes to glass. I have 2 weeks to re-think my thinking. Morning will have to be jewelry & wire, with my boy, and afternoons will be devoted to lampwork. If I had given it any thought I would have realized that all the kids were in afternoon kindy due to the bus route we're on but, of course, thinking is not one of my top priorities these days.

I haven't been able to get near my torch for the last couple of weeks with the count down on but maybe I'll be able to squeeze some time in before school starts.

I'm back to sorting through "stuff" and have listed some patterns on both Etsy (Your Creative Side) and my Other Ebay. You wouldn't have believed the huge amount that I ended up having to trash. Boy, was that hard to do! The rest with a few tucked away for........something, I haven't figured out yet, have gone up for auction or sale. All of these are in "uncut" condition. I think at some point I had a serious addiction to patterns........ohhh WAIT!! That would be in combination with the "she who dies with the most fabric wins" addiction. Hopefully I'll get to listing fabric within the next few months....ackkkk!

The only real creativity I've been tied up in lately has been wire. No pictures to show for my efforts but I have been keeping a creative log of my designs so I don't forget them. Bracelets & rings seem to hold my fascination at the moment but tomorrow it could be pendants & earrings.

That's it for now. I will do my best to starting posting more consistently. I know, you've heard that before!!

Enjoy your evening!

Computer Issues....

kept me off the computer yesterday. Today I have loads of things that I have to get to. Will try to post more later.

Enjoy your day!

I'm just too boring.....

Ok......so I've been watching to see who comes to visit and it looks like, maybe........, I need to add a little more to my life. Daily would be great but I need to get into the swing of things.......Probably should be that I update first thing in the morning but sometimes my brain is just too foggy to get going. Got to have my green tea, then Earl Gray! Then I will try to post! In the mean time , check out my latest profile. This will give you a more up-to-date profile.

A Lot Has Been Going On....

With school just around the corner. Things have been busy to say the least. My brother's wedding was wonderful. Probably the coolest wedding I've been too. I didn't get to see the brides ring but my brother had the coolest stainless steel ring I had seen yet.

People, if you are going to get married, DO NOT, feed the diamond industry, instead go for something other than gold and diamonds. If you haven't realized it yet the gold & diamond industry is what has been dictating the industry for the last 20 years or so. Go with something DIFFERENT!! My personal favorites are sterling and emeralds along with amethyst and garnets (do you see my children in there somewhere??). Diamonds are my least favorite on the list unless they are black (colored) or otherwise.

I don't have any good pictures of the wedding, sorry! Maybe I can get someone to forward some cool ones to me.

This has been a great Summer for the boys and Jimmy took them out for one last weekend before he heads off on a hike with his cousin. I would have to say that this has been one of the best Summers as far as the kids go!!

Visiting with his cousins wife, last weekend, left me with a few more things to do. Since she has one of the best bead stores right around the corner from where they live. More on that to come in the future!

I hope you're enjoying one of the last weekends of Summer!!
Take care!!

The Shirt Looks Like This.....

I actually finished the shirt on Monday (score 1 for the anti-procrastination department) under normal (previous) circumstances I would still be working on this shirt I didn't make anything for me and decided to go with a black (lined) halter top and some denim shorts. Biker (casual) weddings really make dressing easy when you consider that jeans and a t-shirt work just fine.

I love the shirt JImmy is wearing but that's cause I made it and am a little prejudice. If you want to know where I got both the pattern a fabric, check out your local Walmart.

I haven't had even the slightest chance to work on any glass this week. Next week it will be much more back to normal. I have realized that being a driver (my fill in job for my sis) is probably not up my alley as a line of work. I like it, OK, but for the most part I miss being at home with my beasties (kids)! Although filling in anytime is always an option!

Saturday we are visiting Jimmy's cousin and his wife (my buddy) from the family reunion. I'm really looking forward to our visit.

I have ton of glass ideas going but it looks like Sunday (probably Monday) will be the soonest I have to "play".

Friday my 2 youngest boys will get the last of their shots for the new school year. Yeah, they will be all caught up for the coming school year. Another score for my anti-procrastination side!

Hopefully I will have some wedding pictures for you to see in the up coming week.

Enjoy your weekend!

Soooo......

what a Summer it has been!! The kids are already complaining about being bored and I'm starting to look forward to September.

My brother's wedding will be next weekend and then we are going to visit Jimmy's cousin and his wife (my kindred spirit). Before that my sister from the East coast will be in town, for the wedding, but hopefully we'll be able to hook up sometime in between.

Things are arriving in the mail for registration and that reminds me that we need to get on the ball with school clothes shopping and supplies......boy does time fly!!

Keep any eye out on my lampwork. My style is changing and I'm looking to clearance a lot of my old things. In fact a lot is changing but it won't be pronounced until the end of August, (I think). My other artistic style may change too (a little), but my Etsy things are all over the place. Just keep in mind how much I love nature!

The coming week will be very busy. Between trying to squeeze in lampwork, finish up Jim's shirt and fill in for my sister at her work while she helps finish with the final touches of my brothers wedding, I think I probably won't be back until next week but I'll try to poke my head in before then.

Enjoy the Dogs Day Of Summer!!

All I Want To Do Is....

Another Flower Pendant
More Aromatherapy Earrings
Heart O' Flame

Create, creat, create.....It took the whole week to work around to getting back to lampworking. While I would love to continue tomorrow, I have a long standing date with my girlfriend (who's 1-1/2 hrs away) from 3rd grade to get together. This has been a long time in coming and I'm really looking forward to it but sometimes it seems like I should be creating instead, especially after taking such a long hiatus after camping.



Besides lampworking I cleared my old cutting table for Jimmy's shirt. Sewing awakens some old, not so good, feelings in me. That could be the reason that I haven't done it in so long. The last time I sewed was shortly after my divorce (and during). I'm glad I'm divorced, but it just seems to stir up some old sh*t. Once I'm done with the shirt it will all be past me, yeah!!! And I should be able to sew with a clear head again. The fact that this shirt is for my current and past 9 year soul partner will make a huge difference, plus that I'm making it for my brother's wedding will be even better!!!



The clay is calling again! Leaves & petals more then ever. I just need to start making some and incorporating them wherever I can. I haven't touched polymer in months and have been really yearning for it. I still have some silver clay hiding somewear and have some cool ring designs collecting cobwebs in my head.........too many ideas......too little time!!!!

Summer is quickly approaching the end...I know....It's only half over but if you blink the rest will be gone, like that!!!

Enjoy your weekend! The last one for July!

Back In The Swing

New Aromatherapy Earrings

Another Pendant

A Pretty Ring

Of things, is slowly but surely coming. It took a day to get most of the camping gear put away, but we still need to set up the tents and air and sweep them out. The weather has cooled off a bit and it felt down right chilly yesterday in the cloudy 70's.

Tomorrow I plan to get back to the torch. Today I need to work on business cards and at the very least get the pattern cut for Jimmy's shirt. I do NOT want to wait until the last minute and have to rush to finish it. That used to be par for the course for me, procrastination was my best friend, but as friends go, this was not a healthy relationship so I'm working on ditching this one.

I spent sometime this morning experimenting with copper wire and solder but things didn't go quite the way I'd hoped. Back to the drawing board.

Enjoy your day!

I'm learning to love.......

My Buddy

New Friends

The Pinata

Packing for home

Camping! We had a blast at the camp-out family reunion. A HUGE Thanks to my in-laws who
loaned us a tent we could stand up in, and a wonderful (queen size) fold out bed and mattress. It made things much more comfortable. We are going to look into investing into one of those solar showers for next year. In fact we are already looking forward to next years reunion. The last night, there are raffle drawings and pinatas for the kids. The site is next to a river for easy cooling off. The kids always make new friends or renew old ones. Best of all, everyone is great to be around!

That was our last big outing before the end of Summer. There might be some small weekend camping trips for Jimmy and the boys but that should do it for anything major.

Soooo, it's back to work. Today won't be much of a creative day since I've been working on unpacking and putting things away but tomorrow will be more back to normal.

It's hard to believe that Summer is half over. This really had been a very nice one even the weather finally got back to a more Summerish feel.