EARRING GIVEAWAY...St. Patrick's

To celebrate my new blog I made a pair of green, St. Patrick themed earrings to give away. The scan isn't the best, and in the photo they look bigger than they really are. I had a hard time getting a good picture. Anyway, the earrings have silvertone  and green beads.
I'm not Irish, but isn't everyone Irish on St. Patrick's Day. :-)
Leave a comment why you think you should win the earrings. I will pick a winner, Saturday, March 6th. Make sure you leave an email or blog address so I can contact you. Good Luck!

Bluebird Sighting

Tom and I went out to breakfast this morning, and when we got back home I noticed a flock of bluebirds sitting on the telephone wires and on a tree in a neighbors yard. I was so excited to see them. I have had bluebird houses in our yard since we moved into our house 37 years ago. One spring bluebirds landed in the yard, checked out my bluebird houses, and drank from the birdbath, but they never stayed. So I am hoping this will be the year that they decide to nest in the yard. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Bluebirds do winter in our area, and can be found around the cranberry bogs, rivers and streams. Robins also winter in our area, and every year more and more seem to stay. I often wonder how all these birds survive with all the snow and ice.

Breast cancer card, bracelet and earrings

Breast cancer has probably touched someone that you know. I made some greeting cards from a rubber stamp with the following beautiful saying..
What cancer cannot do.
Cancer is so limited-
It cannot cripple love,
It cannot shatter hope,
It cannot corrode faith,
It cannot destroy peace,
 It cannot kill friendship,
It cannot suppress memories,
It cannot silence courage,
It cannot invade the soul,
It cannot steal eternal life,
It cannot conquer the spirit.
The background of the card had Radiant Pearls brushed on the cardstock. I found the breast cancer beads at a little bead store in Plymouth, MA...Not simply Beads.

Earring and Bracelet sets

It's been a few days since I last posted to my blog. I have been going thru boxes looking for my Las Vegas and England trip pictures to scrapbook. I finally found the Las Vegas pictures, but I still haven't found where I stashed my England photos yet.
I have been jumping all over the place in what I have created lately. The past few days I made some earrings and bracelet sets.
 These are two of the sets I created. Mauve pink beads with a overglaze of gold, and the other beads are champagne in color and have a bumpy finish. I used crystals on both pair of earrings. This photo doesn't really show how pretty the beads are.
I hadn't done much beading since I participated in a craft show last November.

I used Dr Ph Martin's Irridescent Accents on the background, and it very difficult to see in a photo.

Signs of Spring

The ground is still covered in snow, but today the temperature is suppose to reach the low 40's. My Tete a Tete daffodils are really starting to sprout from the soil. The area near the kitchen steps gets lots of sun. The first day of spring is a month away tomorrow.
Another sign of spring is all the Easter candy that has been in the stores, and my favorite...Marshmallow PEEPS. The yellow chicks or white bunnies. Oh, and they have to be stale and hard as a rock.
PEEPS has a wonderful, fun filled website. http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com/

Kraft paper booklet

This booklet with pockets for tucking ephemera, photos, or whatever is made up of 8 kraft paper envelopes.

Bird Necklace

Digging around in a craft drawer I came across the glass and frame. I had a bird charm on my table so I created this pendant.

Polymer Clay Queen card

Another yucky, snowy, sleety day when I got up this morning. I didn't want to go out so I decided that I would get out my toaster oven, pasta machine, polymer clay, and tools to do a clay project. It has been ages since I used clay.

The queen and wings for my card were stamped in clay. All the images I used are from Stampers Anonymous except the wings. I can't remember who made that image as the wings are unmounted. I also used Pearl Ex, and Rub n Buff, and small jewels.

Dog Fur Fiber

Our beautiful, Golden Retriever, Bear

Two and half years ago while in Maine with my sister in law and cousins we went to a small fiber shop in Bridgeton. On display was a beautiful scarf that the owner of the shop had spun from a English Sheep dogs shed thick, undercoat fur. The owner told me golden retriever fur spun into lovely fiber.

My golden retriever, Bear shed excessively year round, and so when I got back home I started saving his fur from brushings. Everyone told me I was crazy to want to have a scarf made from dog fur. The next fall when we went back to Maine I brought up with me the plastic grocery bag filled with Bears shed dog fur to be spun from the owner of Down Home & Company.

 

started out with a plastic grocery bag of brushed undercoat fur from my Golden Retriever, Bear

The owner told me it would take a bit of time until she could get around to spinning it, but I was willing to wait.

I am so glad that I decided to have the fur spun, as last October I had to make the painful decision to have our beloved 10 1/2 year old, Bear, euthanized, as he was full of cancer. That was such a horrible day.
Shortly after having lost Bear; I found out that his fur had been spun and was finished.

Late yesterday afternoon when I went to the mailbox there was a package from Down Home Company, and inside was the large skein of Bears fur spun into fiber, 395 yards of it. I love it and can't wait to have a scarf made from it. I got teary eyed as I handled the fiber, but I will always have a part of my beloved dog.

Recently, I started saving my fluffy, long haired cats soft fur. Who knows, if I get enough I may consider having that spun into fiber.

Our Fluff Puff kitty..long, silky, gray fur

Valentine's Day

Happy Hearts Day card.

The big heart that is mounted on the cardstock is made of masonite which I covered with decorative paper. The small heart is made of Ultra Thick Embossing Powder. A few weeks ago I made in a silicone heart shaped ice cube tray a tray of UTEE hearts. Picutres of the hearts are on my picture trail site.

Alice in Wonderland fabric

A few years back I found 3 books to alter, and I've just never got around to altering them.

The books were Wizard of OZ and Alice in Wonderland and Titanic. I have rubber stamps and other items that I've collected to use in the books. Last year I found several different Wizard of Oz fabrics, and last week I found 2 different Alice fabrics. I plan on using the fabrics in my altered books.

The Blizzard that didn't arrive

For the past two days all the weather reports predicted here in Southeastern Massachusetts, Plymouth County that we were going to get up to 14 inches of snow with high winds. Schools and some businesses were closed yesterday, because of the snow that would be heavy for the commutes home.

Yesterday morning around 7 a.m. it was spitting snow, that changed to a misty rain, and then after lunch it was snowing again. The winds were howling, and we lost power for about an hour last night. Woke up to 6 inches of snow this morning. Everything is encased in ice. The trees limbs are hanging low, pretty, but messy.

I went out to clean off the cars early this morning and snapped a picture of a hairy woodpecker on the mountain ash tree in the front of the house. It is hard to see the bird, because if I got too close he flew off. My kitty was loving the new snow.

Scallop shell beach journal

Shell journal

Over the weekend I went to Cape Cod to spend some time with my cousins. While there I went thrift shopping, visited quilt shops for fabric, and also went to Colorful Creations scrapbook store.
I bought papers, stamps and microscope and glass piece plastic covers.
For a craft project my cousin and I used 2 large scallop shells for a Shell photo journal covers. The pages were made from cardboard that was traced to the shape of the shell. Then on both sides beach themed scrapbook paper was traced and cut and glued. Holes were punched, and threaded thru the shells, tied, and charms were added. I haven't quite finished this project yet, as I have to go thru my photos to use in this journal. Next time I may just trace the shell shape onto the photos instead of using paper, and glue the photo to the cardboard. The pages also have rubber stamped areas with sayings and images. We had a fun time working on this project.
Will post pictures as soon as I finish my shell journal.

New to Blogging

Welcome!
Well, I finally decided to create a blog, as I have wanted to do this for a very long time. The idea has been on a back burner. This morning I finally decided to take the plunge and create a blog. I'm sure it will take me awhile to get the hang of all this. Before blogging, I kept my creations on my picture trail site.
A little about me: I have lived in southeastern Massachusetts all my life. I am married (42 years), have 2 grown sons, 2 step grandchildren, 3 grandchildren and expecting a new granddaughter in the spring.
I love photography, yard sales/thrift stores searching for bargains to use in my art projects. I enjoy making books, beading, altering, rubber stamping, sewing, and learning new artsy techniques.
I started rubber stamping in 1998, have taught RS classes locally and at the Stampaway convention in Ohio. I've also created samples for a few stamp companies over the years. In the past I had art that was published in the Rubber Stamper, VSN, Expressions, Gleaner Zine, Somerset and Return to Asia magazines, and RSM mentioned in an article about my picturetrail site.