Week 13 of 52

TGIM......That's right it's Monday!  How crazy is it.....I was more than half way finish with my posting and it totally disappeared....soooo here we go again!  I'm sorry it was much funnier the 1st time around!

Opps here I found it … it was hiding in the drafts…….this was how things started……

TGIM...that's right it's Monday...hip hip hooray....it's a new week...a chance to do something special!
Whew...what a weekend...it was Bead Fest ....it was my first!
Still mixed feelings about it....I took an enameling class.....met and fell in love with Steven James...he was a hoot!  Now for the class, it was mine boggling to say the least.....way tooo much info for me to process in three hours...we were rushed and didn't even get ONE sample completed.....guess my expectation were expecting something more!  Now that's not to say I didn't learn a lot...some things totally opposite of what I was taught before...hard to process

****  Here's where I got shut down and everything disappeared……sooo here I started over and some I was able to recreate….bare with me some will be a repeat……..*****

It was an interesting weekend .... full of fun and learning....some absolutely a blast.   Being with friends is always the best part of  any time.....this weekend was Bead Fest, my first!  I got to visit with old friends and meet new ones...and then a zillion and a half new ideas for jewelry making....fun fun fun!

I also took two classes, one in enameling and one in PMC .... First I met and fell in love with Steven James...he was such a hoot....I loved him...not so much the enameling  workshop!  It was mine boggling ... I'm afraid my expectations might have been expecting too much......there was soooo much info in such a short period of time and a good deal of it was in total conflict to what I had learned before...now that was hard for me to process in a short three hour class!  That's not to say I didn't learn things....just didn't even finish one sample...geez!  No handouts, no finished samples...just disappointing... that's all I can say!
Would I take another class from Steven James....absolutely .... I'd just want it to be longer than 3 hours!

Now that was Saturday and if it was not as expected....Sunday was a total disaster ....not anything like what I expected and was very disappointed in the results!  It may have been a bad batch or bad mixture of a new clay idea……regardless it was not successful!  Several of the rings broke, including mine!!
Here is a photo of my organic ring in the works……….

It was looking okay before firing….what I was most excited about is that it FINALLY stayed on the mandrel AND believe me that was a feet to say the least!!  Our clay dried out then we would wet it…..so then it was toooo wet!  Back and forth back and forth…..just NOT fun!

We ALL had problems with this project even Donna Lewis the teacher……geez sooo frustrating  THEN after it was all done…..fired and all…..it was toooo small….can you believe that??

What we think happened…..those two ladies that didn't have to keep reworking their clay…their rings were to large …… those of us who had to REALLY work the clay our rings were toooo small…….soo go figure!  Again would this keep me from taking another class with DL….NO…she was just as upset as the rest of us …… wish I was a fly on the wall when she gets home and calls the company to tell them of the results…..there will be some burning ears that's for sure!!

Donna Lewis is a class act…..she took home out broken rings and will repair them and mail them back to us!  I do hope she lets us know what happened with the company and I hope they in turn send her new product and she in turns sends us some new clay to work with!!  It was WAY to expensive not to have SOMETHING to show for it…..especially since this was my Bday present from GB….grrrrr

This is the back of the ring so I could id it after it was fired……you can just imagine what it would look like with all of us trying to remember what our ring looked like, heehee!

Have I been turned off of PMC…..no…just not as excited as I was about it!

I did meet some ladies at lunch that are here in the Dallas area sooo will probably hook up with them for something else!

Not all was lost during the weekend……..a new friend from our Jewelry Junkie group can and stayed with us……had such a good time with her…..GB showed off his bar tending skills with some GT's on Saturday night with my home made chicken enchiladas……we were laughing on Sunday that we sure NEEDED those GT's…the PMC was driving us to drink!!

Well kids I am about to fall asleep here at the computer so I need to say goodnight!

Good night one and all!

I'll post an inspiration for you all later in the week……I've written down several!!

Nighty night…..sweet dreams of ART!

Week 12 of 52

TGIM……...It's my Birthday……hip hip hooray !!
I had an incredible weekend with my boys and their sweeties and of course my sweetie!!
We were in Austin for the weekend……..had a wonderful BBQ at Z & A's house…..A did some fabulous ribs……braised in pickle juice then grilled…..Yum!
On Saturday AM they treated me to a massage, mani & pedi……I was totally pampered!
Then we did a Mom's happy hour…..A's Mom, her Aunt J and Me……she had the most Mom's……how about that!!  Dinner was at Eddie V's and I have to tell you, I had the best steak that I've ever had at a restaurant….and from what I could tell everyone had a really great meal, from soul, grouper to flounder and TX red fish……just the best!  T had a great time teasing the waiter, but think he got him back when T asked for chop sticks and the guy pulled out a pair……can you believe it???

Well enough of my Bday week…..let me show you some of the jewelry that I did……and the missing photos showed up so I'll show you those as well……how about that!!

Okay turn you head to the right……lay your ear down to your shoulder and this is the latest ring I did, heehee!

Here's the form folded leaves that I was telling you about last week…..I'm still thinking of adding some green or blue patina…..just haven't done it yet!

Here are the skull spoons after they were tumbled for a while…..they shine up really nice….now they are waiting for the scribe to do it's work….maybe later this week…..Maybe, if I get all my chores done before my next big weekend!!  I"ll tell you more in just a bit!

Okay heres the big honker ring that I made for Adrienne…but it was just a little too big for one finger and just a little to small for two other fingers…..soo it's back to the hammer and mandrel!!  The other one is one that I had made a while back….I was just comparing the two side by side to show how really big the other one is, heehee!!  Amanda loved it as well…..so it's a hit if I can ever get the sizing down right for everyone!!

Now for the big news…….I'm going to Bead Fest and I'm taking a PMC class….hope to make an organic ring or two….these will be for me or that is the plan right now!  I'll let you know how that turns out!
I had tried to get into two torch enameling workshops but hadn't decided until today AND they are both full……so am trying to get on a wait list just in case someone has to drop out!!  Keep your fingers crossed!!

WELL can you believe we're on the 12 week already??  It's hard for me to believe it myself!  I'm so excited that I'm going to tell all my Facebook friends to come and check it out!
Again I want to hear all the good, bad and wonderful…..so let me know what you are thinking, how I can improve and any suggestions you might have for me!!

I was looking for an inspirational quote to share with you but can't seem to find it right now…maybe I'll have to do two next week!! Maybe that's what I could use this magnetic board for, that I have over here by my computer……I'm looking at the board right now and I have a sign that says "YOU ROCK"

Sooo that's what I"ll say to all of you…….
                                                                      "YOU ROCK"
….now go and have a creative week and see you back here next week!!

Week 11 of 52

TGIM……Happy St. Patricks Day to one and all…hope you all had your Green on!

As you can tell it's Monday and I'm here to share what my week was like!
Well let me tell you …. it was fabulous!!
Lots of started projects and even a few finished…..well maybe …… I might like to add a few more touches, here and there heehee!

Here we go……… I worked on my up cycled spoon skulls….and I have to tell you they are getting a bit out there……I just love the way some of the mouths and eyes developed!  Spooky and funny!
I'm loving it and hope you do to……..this is how they start out………

Well I just took the latest photos of the spoons and they seem to be hiding……crazy I know!

Anyway, got 6 skulls cut out, handles cut off and in the tumbler for just a bit at school tonight!

Plan on bending over the ends to create the bail …… then Etsy store here I come!!

This week was also the Jewelry meet up group, and we made these fun and funky rings……well the others were more normal but mine was way cool….it's huge….I use a 9 gage wire, more wire from the recycling that I did……just don't know what I'll do when it's gone…..I love the stuff!!

Tracy was my super hand model…and can you believe her nail polish matched!

Thanks again Tracy!

I made this in mind for my DIL, Adrienne…..hope it fits and she likes it!  I'll be seeing her this weekend for my birthday celebrations ….. I'll let you know how it goes!

I made a few more things…….so let me go and check and see if the photos have made it into the file…….I'll be right back!

It looks like, one more photo came thru…..not the cropped one or the enhanced one….but something to show you!  This was done a while ago with strange and interesting parts that I got at this wonderful shop in AZ!  

I wore it today and got lots of interest, so think I'll be doing more of these especially since I came home with boxes of these strange little parts!

This piece is off to a boutique here in Texas….. hope they like it!

It seems that's all I have to show you or say tonight, except I'd like to share something I read this week and hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

"There is 

no such thing

 as an ORDINARY day

each moment is

EXTRAORDINARY"

Kris Carr

Now go out and have an EXTRAORDINARY week!

Til next Monday!

Week 10 of 52

Thank God it's MONDAY…….I've been chomping at the bit to tell you all that I've gotten done this past week…….you remember seeing the workstation that I finished…..well I did another one!!
AND the incredible thing was that I was able to move it around on Saturday after I had finished it and work on another project that I wanted to finish up as well…….sooo it worked as it was intended…..I wanted to be able to move these guys around to whatever needs I had for a workstation!
Here's an example of what I was able to do………

I took this stain glass light fixture that I rescued with the intention of taking it apart and reusing the glass…..now this is the 4th piece that I've done….the others were just entry way lights, much smaller to work with and to have hanging around…..NOT this one…..I kept moving it from one side of the room to another…..FINALLY I had enough space to work on it and got it torn apart in just a couple hours….reducing the space this puppy took to just a small shoe box size….hip hip hooray!
I was able to move the workstation over closer to the cutting saw…zip zap and it's done…..now I may have burnt up another Dremel….don't know yet…..it was smoking when I unplugged it but I'm hoping it cooled off and will work again….if NOT then this will be my 3rd Dremel that I've used up….not a good thing since this one was suppose to be much stronger and with it being electric I thought I wouldn't have the same issues…….soo keep your fingers crossed on that for me!
My plan for the glass is to us it for backings on some collage solder pieces I hope to start soon, especially since I now have some collage/painting space to work in AND have all my supplies close at hand!
Here's another photo…..this one is of my drafting table that I'm using for jewelry making…..all I need to do is get more of the blue tape labels replaced with the larger white ones so I'll know what's in the containers with just a glance……what do you think?  Pretty cool isn't it?  I just love this old piece of furniture …It's oak, nice and heavy…..only thing that I might change at some point is to have someone cut the top of the drafting table side and make it a flat surface…..I love the wood but things slide off if I don't watch it…..so I find myself using the little side area more!  But now that I have the other workstations I am not in any real hurry…..just something to think about if the opportunity come up, know what I mean?

I also got a chance to play with the Jewelry Junkie gals and did some form folding leaves that I plan on using some patinas on…….so I don't have any photos of them just yet!

I has been a very full and busy week…..but lots of things accomplished and I'm very please with the results!  I have touched every thing in this room, reduced several containers, combined many of the collections and even found some things that I thought were outside in the garage!

Today I went on the other side of the house and I attacked my closet…..pulled down the box of socks that I had saved, knowing I would need them in the winter….BUT I have gone to a different sock….the soul socks….and so I don't think I'll wear these other ones any more……. I got two bags….one for goodwill and the other for my granddaughter …..she seems to like funky things and might enjoy going thru the socks….if she doesn't want them I know they will pass them along…..the MAIN thing is that they are out of my closet and on to someone who can use them!!
I also pulled out all my old purses and plan on taking them to a consignment shop after I check with my girls to see if they want any of them……it felt great to get that stuff out of the closet….I now even have an empty box in there….maybe my winter clothes can go in it…..IF winter ever finally leaves us!!

Well I hope you all had as good of a week as I did and had time to play!
I'll say goodnight now and wish you a very creative week!!
Have a good one!

Week 9 of 52

TGIM……it's been such a fabulous day I have to say it again…..Thank God it's Monday!!
Whew I can't tell you what a productive week it's been……not in the normal since of art but in the since that I have created work space…..can't wait to show you my project today!!

Alright, Alright Alllright!
I see the photos on the iPad now let me check this computer….maybe that's the hitch!

Okay that seems to be the problem……I just hadn't waited to make sure they transferred over to this computer…….geez one of these days I'll get it, right?

Okay this was the project that I started today AND finished today…..hip hip hooray!!

I took a dolly from HF….it was too small for my work station……sooo today Manor and I went to Home Depot and got this wood cut…..gosh I just love those guys over at HD…..anyway got it done and came home and put it together!!

Here are some photos of the finished space!!

This is the work station sitting on top of the expanded dolly……it's almost high enough that I can stand easily or sit on a stool……now have to dig the studio stool out of the garage….but that's a project for when it's warmer!

Here's the top of this station……I'm already to solder….it's sooo exciting!!

Is that cool or what??

I even was able to get my antique desk lamp hooked up AND the bulbs still work after 7-8 years of being stored, pulled out, stored again…..then pulled out and left out til I could use it in this room!!

It may not be the best place for this lamp but after I get working I'll have to decide if it works here!!  Right now I'll be very grateful for the light!

Well that's about all I have to report on the ART room….it's still a work in progress!  I work in one area and find things that need to go over to the other side…..so then there is a pile of stuff to be put away on the paper/paint/stamp side……silly me to think I'll ever get this done…..a work in progress is the key idea here…..AND I've got work space to actually do some work in….so goal accomplished right??

We've had some real crazy weather here in North Texas….it was 80 degrees on Saturday and 12 degrees in less than 24 hours…..we had sleet coming down so that it looked like snow….just crazy!

With this cold weather I took the opportunity to do some cooking…..didn't want to get out so used up  stuff from the freezer……making a sweet potato stew with beef and pearl onions….sooo good!  Then tried the impossible coconut pie that I use to make a 100 years ago…..still as good as I remembered!

Lots of great and wonderful things this past week and some great plans for this coming week!

Hope you all have a good one yourself!

Create, Create and keep on Creating!