What do you get ...

When you put together a tube of Hubba Bubba's blue raspberry sour goop candy, a new rental game for the wii and a whole afternoon of 1 on 1 attention?







A superhero mom.
Yep, that's me. The new SHM.

Creating Polymer Clay Bezels

At 27.7 mb, I am finding it difficult to send to the average users email but a wonderful customer let me in on a little secret (okay, maybe not a secret, just unbeknown to me).

Lisa of thecreativeplace.com, has told me that if you go to www.yousendit.com, you can use their service to send really large files. Yes, this means I do not have to condense and revise! Or keep offering to send disc's free of charge.

I am constantly amazed at the people I have come into contact with online. Giving, passionate, kind. I know some people are cynical about online friendships, but being part of the world wide web has enabled me to 'meet' and connect with people I would never had the opportunity to learn from in the"real world".

Thank you to all of you who have taken minutes out of your busy schedules to give advise, encourage, teach, explain and placate me. You have allowed me to further a dream.

Now back to thecreativeplace.com, I have had a group (herd, tribe, clan) of art dolls on my work desk. Sculpted, but not to my satisfaction. They tend to take a Elvin/masculine character after the eyes are put into place. Which is fine. But I want to sculpt more whimsical, sad eyed girls.
Thecreativeplace.com offers online classes by the amazingly talented Marilyn Radzat.
And several others I admire and hope to be able to learn from.

I love to create art dolls because they encompass so many different media's - polymer/paper clay sculpting, fiber, fabric, sewing, paper, collage, assemblage, and of course beads.
They also offer the opportunity to create fantastical worlds that help me escape from reality.
I like to go back in time and see how the early dolls were assembled and take inspiration from those techniques. I believe I could create something unique by using today's modern supplies.
You've heard there is nothing new under the sun, right? Well, I believe that to a certain extent, but with new inventions and materials being created in this day and age, it is my opinion we live in a very exciting time, we can truly come up with original works.
I hope to work towards a day where I can utilize all of the modern supplies, experimenting with out worry of cost!

Some fickle things ...

Pinky's beaded bracelet. I love the mix of colors and textures, orange with red and white striped, pink and purple, green! I would have never thought to put these together. Aren't kids wonderfully inspiring? Rex even put together some earrings! I'll have to show you those, too.

I found a tutorial online for singeing silk. Then I proceeded to play with fire. heehee. I've made over 20 of them. I love the vintage look of them and so I named mine Tattered Blooms.
Perfect for a steam punk look. I've got red for Christmas, too!



I collaged this a few nights ago. She is available in my etsy shop now as an art print.
A woman with a sword. Cool.
She actually is an opera singer but I am afraid I have misplaced her name!


And finally... I was thrilled to find that some vintage silver filigree oxidized beautifully.
With the golden, gray, blue and green colors that I love from liver of sulpher, I paired them with some faceted lime Chalcedony briolettes.
I think I just might have to keep a pair of these.

Can you believe it's the middle of August already? Are you getting ready for back to school?
Rex has decided to be home schooled again, I can focus a little better now that business is not so extreme and have decided to try again (I am preparing ahead of time for a busy Christmas season).
But Pinky is missing her school so much I am hoping we are able to enroll her in her K4 class she was looking forward to attending. Until then I will have to put my nose to the grindstone to come up with learning activities that will keep her occupied and stimulated.
I like this site.
And this book.
Those should help until October at least.

9 years

I do not have words for this kind of love.

My kiddos

When I am trying to complete a large order the kids either occupy themselves or join me.
These are the results of Rex's polymer pendants;



He's asking $25 a piece for them. heehee.

Pinky is my new beading buddy. She asks "Wanna bead?" and has her own special container of (mostly pink) beads. I'll take some close-ups of what she has created so far, too cute.
I created this lay out for her;



Mike and I watched 'Lars and the Real Girl' last night. Funny and sweet, I really liked it. It was thought provoking. And I could relate to Lars.