Last weekend our polymer clay guild brought in Donna Kato for a workshop. I got to host Donna & she is such a generous and gracious person and guest. My dog, Zeke was crazy about Donna & even "presented" her with his bone toy outside her door Saturday morning.

I can't believe how much teaching & learning Donna packs into one of her workshops. Our group choose to have her teach her Subtractive Bangle Bracelets and Hollow Leaf Pods. She also demonstrated another project that was done with some of the canes from the first pieces (sorry I didn't catch the name of this piece, I was dealing with an oven disaster at the time). Here are the pieces I created at/from Donna's workshop.



I know I speak for everyone who was able to attend Donna's workshop (and many who weren't able), that we cannot wait to bring her back again for another workshop.

Our guild had our first Bottle of Hope competion this year, with all the entries being donated to Gilda's House in Dallas. We had three categories, Hope, Nature and Texas. I entered a bottle in each category. The winners were chosen by guild member votes. The creator was not revealed until after the voting. I got first place for Mr. Mushroom representing Nature, first for the Texas Armadillo and second for my entry in the Hope section with Cow Jumped Over the Moon.

I'm a member of Dawn Schiller's group, Fairly Odd Fae. Dawn has been sharing some of her latest Odd Fae, Finding Fae which are done in brooches & jewelry pieces. You can see Dawn's creations on her site, Odd Fae. I had a couple of really old brooch backs in my stash & thought I would try my hand at creating faces in them. Here is one of my pieces.

This one is for Vicki

My dear friend Vicki is my partner in crime at the bead shows & functions. While we were at the last bead convention, I spotted these lampwork beads that were labeled as ophans and being sold very cheap. Vicki & I make things for each other - there is no telling when one of us might present the other with a beaded piece we have made (usually in the locker room at the gym where we work out together). Anyway, I told her if she would pick out & buy the beads, I would make her another necklace. You see, she wears the necklace I made for her birthday almost nonstop - a girl has to have some variety, don't you know?

This was a very fun piece to do. When we bought the beads, they were shiny, however both of us prefer a matte finish, so I used Etch-all on the beads. It changed the color quite drastically. While the beads had been more of a green, the areas that were green were now a navy blue. The background became more of an ochre color. When I went to my stash to choose beads for the necklace, the woods, ceramics and nuts spoke most to me.

Vicki had a rough week this week and I was really glad to be able to give her this necklace yesterday evening to at least end her week on a much brighter note. Everyone should have a friend like Vicki - I'm really lucky.

Bracelets

Vicki & I didn't get to take the tennis bracelet class that Colette taught, but we were able to get the directions for it, which are really simple. The directions were for a single strand, but after doing several singles, we figured out how to do double strand. The nice thing is this work up very quickly, so it is easy to make lots of them & they make great gifts. They look good worn in multiples on the wrist, too. I made most of these, with the lime green & hematite ones made by Vicki for me.

The next image is bracelets Vicki made for me - the top two were for my birthday and the bottom one was a new design that she found online and made for both of us.

The cubes and chain bracelet was an image I saw online and figured out how to do it by looking at the image. I'm sure I didn't so it exactly as the one I saw, but I do like how it turned out. I have the beads and the new chains at Michaels in the Bead Landing Meadow Grove collection will be perfect for this design.

Cool Spirals

While at the Texas Beaders Retreat, I was inspired by the bracelets Colette was doing with a marvelous combination of freeform with open spirals. I used lampwork beads in this teal green bracelet.

I also reworked two of the first freeform peyote pieces I did, a black bracelet and a purple necklace with this style.

It's been a while since I've taken the time to update my blog. I know I always have good intentions of doing so, but given free time, it seems as if there are always so many other things to do. Many times it comes down to the choice of creating or blogging. Creating always seems to win out. The good thing is when I do get around to blogging about what I've created, it looks like I have been very productive. Of course you must remember that these are done over several months.

The first piece is the necklace I made for my dear friend, Vicki, for her birthday which was in January. It is a freeform peyote with lampwork beads from my two favorite sources, Back Room Beads and Debbie Givens.

Vicki and I had the opportunity to attend the 10th annual Texas Beaders Retreat in January in Temple, Texas. While there I finished the black freeform necklace for myself, as I wear lots of black at work. This piece has both semi precious and lampwork beads.

Deci Worland is the lucky winner of the green man pin. She's already contacted me with her address, so he will be off to her shortly.
Thanks to everyone who participated and viewed my blog. I'll definately participate again next year.

I've decided to join the hundreds of blogs participating in the One World One Heart blog giveaway.

Please leave a comment and I will draw a name on February 12 to win the polymer clay Green Man Face Pin pictured here. Please make sure I'll be able to contact you if you win.

My friend Vicki gives me with Linda Ravencroft Fairy Calendars, which I hang in my studio every year. As an artist & hoarder (aren't they the same thing?), I always save my calendars - in fact I have a dozen or so in a bookcase. I decided that I wouldn't do that to the fairy calendar. I really like the images and don't think they should be relegated to a bookshelf. I have a big box that I've had for years (from the same company as the oval boxes that I did on Jan. 2) that I've kept waiting for the "perfect" idea. Throughout the years I've had one idea or another, but have never followed through with any of them. It came to me that I could use my favorite images from the calendar to decoupage on the box - which is what I did. First I based the box with a mixture of glazing medium, pearlescent, white & a touch of gold paint. Next I stenciled a background design in a light beige shade. I used Golden's fluid acrylics to sponge a background to coordinate with the prints. The cut-out images were decoupaged on the box. To ground the whole thing & tie it together, I used a two-step crackle to create eggshell cracks on the box and antiqued it with a transparent raw umber paint. As this box is very large, 12 x 12 x 12, it will be great storage and the calendar images can be enjoyed for years to come.

Multimedia Boxes

Nothing like bringing in the new year with art, such a great start to the year. My friend, Tricia came over for an art play day on January 2. We both worked on mixed media pieces and had a great, productive time. I created three boxes. I had made the polymer clay faces previously, so I had them on hand. I painted the boxes, then the fun began, determining how to incorporate all the items. First I wire wrapped the faces, as I knew I wanted to add other metal accents. I ran craft metal sheets, metal mesh and screen through a Cuttlebug machine with embossing folders to add texture and interest to it. The lid surfaces seemed too plain, so I added decorative papers to the blue & turquoise one and rusted pattern tissue to the brown/green one. I cut the metal to shape, used heat to patina it and glued it all down. An old earring was the perfect accent for the blue box, while circles cut from craft foil attached to cardstock worked for the brown/green box.

I must have put the word out very well that I needed jewelry to wear with black & lucky me, I got several beautiful pieces. From my friend, Vicki, I got two gorgeous ones - one peyote stitch & one accented with drop beads. I know I'll get lots of wear from these (as I've already worn them several times).

Another friend, Nancy (Draped In Jewelry), drew my name in our group's Christmas mingle. She made a lovely bracelet & earring set using crystals & chain. Unfortunately I can't tolerate earrings anymore, but I hated to just have them sit in the drawer somewhere. I do wear necklaces and originally considered contacting Nancy to see if she would convert the earrings for me. The bracelet she made is pictured at the right. The earrings were dangles and I decided to see if I could incorporate them into a crystal criss-cross necklace, as the center dangle - it worked! I made the necklace New Year's eve while watching "chic flick" movies. Now I have a necklace & matching bracelet to wear. The necklace is a choker style and the earring parts made a great accent - perfect!

Christmas 2008 found us at Lisa's house for a delightful collaboration brunch. This year I created puppets for the gals for their presents. Well, they started out to be puppets, but then evolved into dolls that could be sat or hung from a loop on their backs. I personalized each doll by their interests. Here is the gang this year:

More fun at Lisa's - Ellen showing off her puppet and the bracelet that Vicki made. Lisa with her dog, Roxy & her puppet.

I guess before I post about Christmas 2008, I should show Christmas 2007 first. A group of four of my artist friends and myself make gifts each year for each other and get together for a brunch during the holidays to exchange them. We started doing this in 2006, but unfortunately I don't have pictures from our first year, where we got together at Tricia's house.

Last year we met at a restaurant in McKinney for our brunch exchange. I did each of them a Jester-in-a-Box. I sculpted the faces, hats and neck ruffs from polymer clay. The boxes were gift boxed from Michaels that I covered with handmade papers. I added each person's initials using chipboard letters. They were a big hit.

This year I also created more art dolls. While the majority of them were collaboration efforts, this one that I created for my friend Tricia for her birthday was not. Tricia loves Native American style and she doesn't care for necklaces unless they are long pendants, so a freeform necklace was out for her birthday. I decided to sculpt an Indian for her. This art doll is a stump-type doll, using an aluminum foil base covered with nylon hose. The Indian is dressed in ostrich skin and rabbit fur. The headdress is axis deer skin and the feathers are wild turkey. The adornments are sea urchin spines and carved bone beads. Needless to say, Tricia was thrilled with her birthday present this year.

Wow, where has the year gone? it seems like each year flies by faster than the last one. I've had good intentions of keeping my blog more up-to-date, however when given the choice between blogging or being in my studio creating, obviously creating has won out. I've narrowed my focus artistically to two mediums recently - art dolls (sculpting) and beading.

I was able to take several art related trips this year. The first, with Vicki in January to the Texas Beader's Retreat. In July, Lisa & I attended the Enchanted Doll Artist Conference in Albequerque, NM, after which Vicki & I went to the Shreveport Beader's Retreat. October found Lisa, Vicki & I journeying to Houston to the Quilt Show. It has been a fun year, art-wise.

I recently saw an article on bead/jewelry trends that "statement" necklaces are going to be the latest "thing". I guess I'll be all set, as my freeform necklaces definately fit the statement style. Most of these I've created within the last couple of years - the except being this first one - which features raku face beads I bought at a bead convention 3 - 4 years ago.


The frog bracelet & necklace set and the mermaid necklace were both inspired by imported handcarved beads that I found a a bead convention 3 years ago.











Since I also love sculpting (mainly with polymer clay), my next necklace featured a polymer clay dragon that I sculpted and more beads that I found to inspire me. The coordinating bracelet has pewter dragon charms.

Those necklaces evolved into this year's creations using my lampwork stash of beads. The first one had turquoise, green and brown tones and is a very versatile necklace. I wear it with many outfits. This is the necklace that my friend Lisa says is hers when I die (assuming I die first).







The blue jean necklace was created from lampwork and blue coral beads. I had made a simple strung necklace out of them several years ago when I found the coral, but I took apart that necklace to make this one that coordinated perfectly with denium.







It became such a joke between Lisa & I about "her" necklace (the one that would be hers when I died), that I thought I should create her one of her very own to enjoy while I'm still alive, so I made this one for her for her birthday. The lampwork beads have grey, brown, copper and black, so this necklace will coordinate beautifully with many of Lisa's outfits. The surprise and joy on her face when I gave the necklace to her, made the time I spent on it very worthwhile.