Polymer Raku Cactus Wreath

May your day be filled with joy and love.

Folks Dressed Up Like......

Yuletide carols being sung by a choir and folks dressed up like escargots. Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!

More Bead Crochet

I finished a very long "Color Band" bead crochet I can wear with my black and white patterns. I want to make three of these, but we will see how far I get. I will post my inspiration photo over the weekend.

Patterned Bead Crochet

The patterns include Steps, Dots, Stripes, Diamond within a Diamond and single Diamond. I just finished putting three magnetic closures on them so I can wear them separately or link all three together into one continuous rope.

Thank You Polymeri Online

Yay! I'm on Polymeri Online today (click HERE). Can I just say how much fun it is to be scrolling through my blogs this morning and find me on Iris' famous blog! Iris has excellent tutorials (click HERE) in her Etsy store and a beautiful collection of her work and tutorials on her Flickr site (click HERE). She is also a teacher at Craft Edu (click HERE). Check out her blog to see all the publications her work has been in. And, last, but not least, she is the creator of PolyPedia Online (click HERE) where, according to Iris, you can expand your skills and enhance your designs! Have fun.

Polymer, Beads & Paper

My gift to trade at our Bead Club's holiday party. I set several hanks of beads on my copier and made a color copy. I used the copy as gift wrapping. I made a mold of a vintage Christmas tree pin, sculpted on it a little, baked it and used it as a gift topper on the 3x5" small box after it was wrapped. I printed a 3x5 photo on card stock, cut it out and folded it in half. I glued a 1-1/2"x2-1/4" piece of card stock inside to hold the gift card. The photo was taken at one of our meetings and the gift card was from Michael's. And, yes, the party was fabulous. The gift I received was a gift card to one of our local bead stores. Yay.

Bead Crochet String Along

Judith Bertoglio-Giffin is having another string along. This one is "Native Stripes". You can learn more about it on her blog (click HERE). I am looking forward to starting mine January 1. I have my colors picked out and am working on the beads. I have been so busy I have not had time to post every day. I'm still working on my polymer pieces, just nothing I can post yet.

Santa Claus Amulet Bag Necklace

I had this Ann Paxton Santa Claus amulet bag made for me in 2000. I wear it every Christmas and treasure it. The front has Santa's jovial face and the back says "Joy". The strap has the year on it and the saying, "He knows if you've been good or bad, so be good for goodness sake. Santa Claus is coming to town." If you're interested in making one, you can purchase the pattern separately or buy the kit from Beyond Beadery (click HERE).

No "L" and TP Scarf

Get it? No "L"? My sense of humor. What can I say? The holiday season can be hectic and stressful. It just made me laugh. I was inspired by a TP cover I saw on Ravelry (click HERE). My little TP scarf is 20 across and however long you want to knit it. The yarn is Bernat Satin "Snow". I love its softness and how pure the white is. I also used it for the Snowball scarf. Makes incredibly soft snowballs.

Pipe Cleaner Holiday Tree

My instructions for the above tree are from an old Family Circle Magazine from the 1970's. This one measures 5" at the bottom and almost 10" high. It's loaded with faux pearls and lots of tiny shells. When I cut the pipe cleaners, I made enough for two trees. Hopefully I will get to posting that one next week. I am still working on finishing a crocheted vest and another snowball scarf. If you want to give the pipe cleaner tree a try, Martha Stewart has a really nice tutorial for the tree pictured above. You can find it HERE.

Snowball Scarf

I have wanted to make a snowball scarf every since I saw one on Ravelry over a year ago. It's no longer on Ravelry, so I winged it. JoAnn's sells the Clover Pom Pom Makers in lots of sizes and YouTube has an easy to follow tutorial (click HERE). Craft Stylish blog also has a good tutorial for making a cute pom pom tree and easy to follow instructions (click HERE). It's just something fun to wear to some of the holiday parties here in our part of Arizona where there are no snowballs.

Bead Crochet Bangles

I finished these bead crochet bangles last Wednesday. They have been sitting in the "To Finish" tray for quite some time. I know I have said it before, but I really love to bead crochet. I'm planning on a big bead crochet project in January. Hope your Sunday is full of warm smiles and hot cocoa.

Brrrrrrrr, Icicle Necklace

It's a statement necklace. I won't say what statement, but it's "out there" for sure. Just playing with white polymer, translucent and sequined snow. I am still going to play with this design, curving the center and bringing in the sides. I wanted it to look like icicles formed over the ribbon. I used a very large aluminum knitting needle to fold it over for baking and it was just too wide. I think this one will end up being a pin.

Strung Out

I don't think I have any words. Stringing them didn't help. Ever work on something for several days and not have it work out? Their only redeeming quality is they make me laugh.

Worry Beads

I sliced up some of my face cane and applied them to brown clay....thinking the brown clay might take the place of hair. One friend said they looked like monkey beads. Another friend said the faces look so worried. So, maybe I'll make them my worry beads. I'm drilling the holes today and hope I get inspired to make them into something. Happy December!

Holiday Decorating and Recipes!

First, let me give you Foodgawker for yummy photos and recipes (click HERE). I got it from Simple Inspirations by Sandy (click HERE). Love it. Now, to my nostalgic decorating. Our favorite holiday decoration is a sleigh I found in a Chicago antique store about 15 years ago and a Santa doll from a store in Long Grove, Illinois, also about 15 years ago. The "helper" I've had a long time too. I have him hanging around the studio all the time. I love all the decorations and parties this season brings. LOVE it. Tomorrow I want to work on a holiday necklace. We'll see how far I get.

Oh, Tan & Bombed

The season of holiday parties has officially started! Above is a photo of a card I got from a friend many years ago when we moved to Arizona. I didn't "get it" when I read it. Then everyone began to sing "Oh Tannenbaum"! Duh! I framed it and it is the first decoration to go up each year. Hope your holiday season is off to a good start too!

Free Tutorial Wrapped Vest

I'm not even half way, but I'm having fun with this pattern. Worked side to side so who knows what it will look like. I am making mine with one side of the front on an exaggerated angle and the rest even. Probably not a good idea, but oh well, I'm having fun. I want to make a phenomenal polymer shawl pin for it too. The Seafoam Green Wrapped Vest free pattern from Michele Dupont (click HERE) of Two and Six blog. The middle photo of the gray wrapped vest pattern is from Joyce Lives Here blog (click HERE).

Free Tutorial Polymer Ornament

Coming from FaveCraftsBlog (click HERE) is Becky Meverden's free tutorial for her "Snowballs For Sale" polymer clay ornament.

Abstract Portrait

This was a quick acrylic sketch of one of our models that pose for our local art club's portrait class on Mondays. It's a strange little painting, but I really like it.

Blue Crocheted Scarf

I've been down with a toothache, but now feel better after seeing the dentist on Wednesday. I haven't been doing much clay because of the toothache. I've been sitting with my feet up and crocheting.  I worked on this scarf in a simple double crochet in an Egyptian cotton yarn. I'm happy with the color and softness.  Feeling so much better after seeing the dentist.

Face Cane Jewelry

I don't know...I just like them. Pendant and earrings of beautiful bald headed beauties. Nothing more, nothing less.

Altered Art Jewelry Display#3

Another altered art jewelry display for my booth. She will eventually have pierced ears and a tiara. I'm still working on her. The door opens to another 3 shelves and several cup hooks to display more pieces. Back to polymer tomorrow. Hope your turkey week is going well.

Altered Art Jewelry Display#2

The cutest little faces on these dolls. I just love them. They make me smile every time I see them. Yesterday's display box and this one are wired on the back to hang on my booth walls. The above photo is from yesterday's display box. I forgot to include it. I did use up some big polymer beads and quite a few of the bobbins so I was happy. The displays are very sturdy and store well in my art closet.

Altered Art Jewelry Display#1

I buy broken toys at Goodwill and use them to make altered art and mixed media pieces. When I was preparing for our local art fair, I made several Altered Art display boxes for my booth. Another one tomorrow.