Angels Among Us....

First,  I have to give a huge HOLLA BACK to Julliana  at Juls Beads 

for the BEST lampwork beads ever!!! 

If you like what you see here go check out her blog and etsy shop.

This is the treasure that she made me when I purchased 

her special half-day of lampwork deal to help her with her little sick doggie. 

You know you want it, you know you like it....Neener neener...!!  

Not only am I amazed at how much she got done in a half day 

but I let her choose what to make and I never 

could have dreamed up such a fantastic assortment of colors and styles

Oooh Aaaah I can't stop touching them and admiring them, 

so lovely, so precious!! 

She will notice that there are some missing above!!

That's because I made a set yesterday with the other focal and matching beads.

Is this bead not the most gorgeous thing you have ever seen?

I am naming it Angel's Heart because it looks to me like

a loving aura that most certainly has wings and can fly! 

You really put your best into your beads Juls!

Thank you again for your beautiful creations.

Speaking of ANGELS...

I have been wanting to create my own wings

so I finally conditioned a ton of polymer clay;

white, translucent and pearl mixed together.

I did my best to shape two wings and baked them for just 15 minutes.

Then I carved away at them with clay tools until they looked like this.

Thanks to my dear Doll Making Friend Fran ( you can convo her on etsy)

I have a two part mold making mix that is incredibly fast setting 

and remains flexible so that I could get all the fine details.

And Voila!! 

Now with a little pearlX powder the wings are ready for my Worry Dolls 

that are graduating to Angels.

The lovely head is made in steps.

1. The thumb pressed ball of clay gets stuck with a toothpick.

(Yes, like childbirth the process is a little painful)

2. Bake

3. Press clay into face mold and adhere to bald head.

(plastic surgery is needed to keep the face from distorting too much)

4. Cover the toothpick with clay, 

angels must have beautiful smooth necks that fit into their body snuggly.

5. Extrude clay for hair and create hairdo.

(This is a day at the spa for the angels)

6. Dust with pearlx powders to give the skin a fine glow.

7. Bake 

(My pictures end here but the process continues, 

I just need a good night's sleep before I continue)

8. Make-up: apply a modest amount of colored chalk, xtra fine tip eyeliners 

and lumiere paints for the eyes and spray with archival spray to make them permanent.

 For the Body 

1.  Texturize a sheet of clay and wrap it around

(this is quite humiliating for angels) 

folded and rolled toilet paper.

This supports the walls of the body while it bakes so that it becomes a hollow vessel.

A dusting of pearlx powder will make her feel better 

2. Before baking line the neck opening with some extra clay so that it is very sturdy

and be sure that the covered toothpick will fit in the neck hole firmly

(unless you want your angel to be a bobble-head)

3. Bake

4. Surgically cleanse the body after baking to remove the toilet paper by pouring water 

into the body and pulling out the softening and dissolving paper with tweezers.

I call this the esophoscopy!! 

5. Make arms and legs, poke holes for hanging and dust with pearlx powder.

6. Bake

7. Drill all holes for connecting body parts.

8. Assemble body parts with jewelry wire, 

beads may be added to give your angel some extra bling. 

PS I haven't quite figured out how I will attach the wings to this doll yet.

As soon as I do I will let you know. 

I love making these dolls. 

Each one seems to have it's own personality and they whisper their names to me.

Have you been visited by angels lately? 

A Squirrel gathers her nuts...

Beaders gather their beads sometimes not knowing what they may become.  

I picked up this beautiful wood tree pendant at (head dipped in shame because I missed Lorelei' Challenge- I was out of town and not reading blogs for a couple weeks) Michaels. 

I just love it and when I came across these spiral carved nuts at my local bead shop 

I knew I had a fine duet in the making. 

These components are not expensive and 

I love how they look together and to me they represent Fall in all it's glory. 

The beads are extremely light weight and so comfortable to wear.  

The necklace and earring set will be listed today in my Etsy Shop!! 

I just have to share photos of my Purple Passion Vine.

It went crazy this year and I have had hundreds of blossoms to ooh and ah over.

I just can't get over how intricate and strange the stamen and pistols are.

While I am waxing "Purple" 

a close up of the illusive dragonfly on 

my art quilt titled: "On Purple Pond" ( also listed in my etsy shop)

This is my artistic parody of the movie "On Golden Pond "

where like me and my family 

Life is seen through violet colored glasses 

and never ceases to be unique and inspirational. 

The center is a beautiful leaf print I did with geranium leaves and Lumiere metallic paints.

They glow on the black cotton.

 I am continually inspired to create aquatic creatures.

More later about my first artist's gallery reception!! 

It has been in the 80's all week and cooler at night here in Las Vegas.

We walk around our neighborhood at night and look at the stars and moon.

I LOVE this time of year!! 

Enjoy your weekend. 

Waiting.....

Finally home, my little bird under wing

waiting was so hard I couldn't even sing

her broken heart I fiercely defend

and gently sooth until the pain ends

what ugly beast would do such harm

to my little bird now home and warm

A bag for your worries

 a bag for your cares

a bag for your tarot

a bag for your wares

a bag full of colors

and textures to feel

a bag for your magic 

with which you can heal. 

New item in my etsy shop- 

click HERE to see more. 

Out of Town.

Hello my friends, I am out of town and away from my computer from Wednesday, Sept 29th through Friday Oct 8th.  I will get back with you hopefully that weekend and catch up on all my email ect.
I have important family business to attend to. Hope you all have a wonderful time while I am away.

What have I been doing.... creating and more creating...

All this week I have been slaving over my McElligut's Pool quilt 

to prepare for entering it in the Road to California Quilt Show.  

The deadline is looming and I decided to take the binding apart and redo it. 

Lots of stitch pulling and trimming and hopefully the binding over all the curved edges 

will lay smoothly. 

I cannot post pictures of it until after the show so I am sorry you can't see it.  

It will be worth the wait, I promise.

Earlier this month I finally made it to my Polymer Clay Guild Meeting

 and my wonderful teacher, mentor and friend Karin 

gave a demo on how to make Worry Dolls.  

This doll idea is thought to have originated in Mayan culture. 

Click here to read the story of their creation and magic. 

I have some of the little cloth dolls that are still made in Guatemala in my stash

but Karin taught us how to make hollow bodied dolls from clay. 

The reason they are hollow and the head can be removed

 is so that you can write down your worries and put them inside. 

The magic your worries are gone!  

Here is my first attempt.

Her 50"s hairdo makes me laugh, more good medicine for worriers. 

Her head is formed on a  toothpick which is completely covered with clay 

and inserts into the open neck.

I am planning on making a lot of these for the Holidays.  

My first batch will have wings.  "Worry Angels".

I am working in my head on designs 

so that they can be worn as jewelry 

or hung on the wall or even a Christmas tree. 

Come back for more about these in October. 

In the meantime I have more Tarot Bags and they will be in my Etsy Shop this weekend.  

The name Tarot because the first one I made I use to carry my Tarot Deck and book in. 
Of course you can use them for any purpose.

These are so fun and relaxing for me to make.  

I love just playing with the different colors and textures of the yarns. 

I am completely spontaneous when creating them 

so each one has it's own shape, size, fringe and color combination. 

 I have added beads and my handmade polymer clay pieces to many of the bags.

Here is a little indian summer piece. 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

  

Autumn is almost here in Las Vegas...

Fall in Las Vegas is a breath of fresh air.  

We have just finished enduring anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks of triple digits 

and although the occasional 103 or 4 may be reached the night time cools everything down.  Unfortunately the pool cools too and our blood is so thin now 

that 69 degrees feels like the glacier waterfalls we would jump into 

up in Washington State because we were young and crazy. 

I love when we can open the windows at night and feel the cool fresh air.  

So 

 I am switching my color palette to those warm autumn hues. 

This art quilt, "Autumn Dreams"  has been in my Etsy shop for awhile

but I just redid the pictures and it looks so much better photographed outside. 

 

I love all the texture I was able to achieve with the yo-yos, halloween burn out fabric, free-motion quilting

and silk leaves and flowers. 

The gold and variegated threads really show up in sunlight and the angle makes a difference.

  I took a Tarot class a few years back and still use my two decks. 

I have been making Tarot bags like my own with fall colors. 

 I have a very dear friend who has a September birthday who received one 

and here is another with lighter shades added. 

Football season has commenced and so my husband, 

a avid Patriots Fan watches all the shows 

so I  have been pretending to watch while I stitch up 

lots of crocheted fingerless gloves 

(in my "Tom Brady Shirt" for good luck).  

They will be ready for 

The Mt. Charleston Fair #2 

on November 21st from 10-4 pm 

for my local friends. 

Hope to see you all there we might even have a little snow!!

I handmade the buttons from polymer clay and used alcohol inks to make them look like ceramic buttons.

I added my own twist to a very fun and feminine version 

of a pattern from Crochet Magazine Sept 09 issue.

There is a lot more I have been doing but I am going to save some for my next post!  

Have a wonderful weekend everyone! 

On the wings of an angel....

Just wanted to share a giveaway my partner, Emanda, 

from Bead Soup is having over at her Blog.

Her are the goodies- go sign up- Wings

Don't be a fool!! They are gorgeous! 

On the other hand if you don't 

I have a better chance of winning some wings.

I've always wanted to fly!!