When I made the ornaments for my co-workers, I made an elf face for myself and this was another of those body-less heads floating around the studio. I thought maybe I would try doing a cloth body for him, so I used a pattern I had which seemed to be the right size. Once I made the body, though, it reminded me of a frog. That gave me the idea to paint the body green and add spots and create a frog-elf. I added spots to his face as well.

When cleaning out this weekend, I found the silver leaf server. I think it works great as a "pad" for him to sit upon. I'll have to color it with alcohol inks to get the right color.

In February of this year, our guild had Kathleen Davis come to teach another workshop (and I had the pleasure of hosting her at my home). I had previously taken her 2-day Fairy/Gnome workshop and thoroughly enjoyed it and her teaching style, so when another workshop was offered, I jumped at the chance. This time the workshop was Dragons, Frogs & Friends. Kathy is a great instructor and we turned out some amazing pieces.

Here are the pieces I did in the workshop.

I did a couple of dragons, a couple of frogs, a couple of snails and a "creature from the blue lagoon".

The second piece I worked on while I was away is another bracelet, this one with the remaining frog beads to match the necklace I did previously. I did a peyote stitch base and added the frogs, leaves and flower beads. It isn't finished as I haven't decided what to do about a closure. The piece is rather heavy and I'm afraid a button closure will work loose with wear.

When I went to the bead show this past May, I found some marvelous carved bone beads. I loved the detail on these beads. I bought several frogs and three mermaid beads. I also bought lots of leaf beads. I made the Garden Frogs necklace first, using only two of the frog beads. I created a triangle-shaped peyote base and added leaf and flower beads over the whole area.

My husband had a day surgery procedure last month and I took the beads to do the Mermaid Reef necklace while I was waiting. I got quite a bit done while waiting and finished it up the following week while watching television.