busy...

the last few days have been spent reluctantly spring cleaning and fervently crafting (while watching the ENTIRE season one of Fraggle Rock, which totally does rock), sewing and bead making.

Reluctant cleaning...blech...nothing interesting or fun here. Moving on...

Fervent crafting:

My friend, Dawn, introduced me to a tag maker back in January. At the mere mention of it I knew I had to have one too. Anyhoo, I searched high and low for one here with no luck so Dawn picked one up for me and mailed it to me. I hadn't taken much time to really play with it until a few days ago. Here is a smattering of different tags I made:


click here to see more pictures of tags: flickr

Amid all of the Fraggle Rock watching and tag making I did sit down to the torch several times too. Katie and Nic pilfered almost all of my decent beads the weekend before last so this is all I have to show for now. I do have a handful of beads that need to be cleaned...if only I could find my bead reamer. (Caleb has been eyeing the bead reamer for weeks now and I think he finally managed to abscond with it on Saturday.)

As for the sewing, after I made a bunch of the little winged hearts last week my little-sewing-machine-that-could kept whispering my name, begging me to sit back down and sew something, anything, just sew already!! I have a list a mile long of things I want to sew, but where to start...then a friend called needing something fun for her niece's birthday and there it was. My reason to sit down at the sewing machine.

A little backstory...about five years ago I bought a ton of oil cloth and some new fangled textile they called chalk cloth from Mendel's. I didn't touch the chalk cloth until about three years ago. I made Logan a little foldable chalkboard to stuff in the diaper bag (for those times when Mommy needed a little sanity helper and she forgot her hipflask at the house). The idea was good, the execution was terrible. I used oil cloth to back and frame the chalk cloth. The oil cloth would have worked fine if I'd owned a teflon foot for my sewing machine, but I didn't (and still don't, for that matter) so the oil cloth puckered here and there and just looked crappy. Luckily, little eyes see past the imperfections.

Anyway, from that sad moment in mommy crafting history on I've been thinking of different ways to use that freaking chalk cloth up without destroying another inch of oil cloth or my dignity. Finally, not too long ago, I happened across the chalk cloth and a giant roll of Therm-O-Web sitting right next to each other...it was almost as if they were conspiring really...and then I glanced up at the WALL-O-FABRIC and it all came together. Can you hear the seraphim and cherubim singing? The trumpets blaring? Can you imagine the fluffy Crisco clouds parting and golden beams of light shining through? Kidding! But I am really pleased with the way these turned out: SHARP, if I do say so myself.



They roll up, tie shut and are stored in coordinating drawstring bags with little chalk storage pockets inside. Logan informs me they would be MUCH better if they were robots or monster trucks instead of cowboys and girlie dots, oh and also, he and Caleb both need new squishy chalk boards.

carved stamp swap numero dos...

Moki is hosting another carved stamp swap. Get on over to her blog for all the details. It's a little different from last time...little being the key word! Hurry, there's only room for fifty and the deadline is midnight February the 28th.

four...

or should it be "FORE!"? Theresa tagged me and I'm happy to oblige.

Four Jobs I’ve Had:

Clerk/Fabric Cutter/Question Answerer at Cloth World. Loved it, discounts on all my fabric and notions, free patterns and remnants and such at inventory time.

Secretary/Client Liason for a State Farm agent (who also happened to be my then boyfriend/now husband's mother). I can honestly say I liked that job too. All except for having to empty the garbage cans. I don't like to do that now either so I guess some things never change.

Accounts Payable/Receivable Rep at car dealership. I liked this job. I did NOT like our boss. She was a thief and a bitch. The woman who replaced her was great.

Finance & Insurance Manager at a couple car dealerships. I did this for almost five years. I loved it. It was long hours and lots of work, but it paid really well and I worked with some really great people. Once I was pregnant with Logan, however, the job completely lost its appeal. That brings me to my current job, the best job I've ever had.

Four Movies I Can See Over And Over:

"The Princess Bride"

"A Knight's Tale"

Anything Tim Burton, currently "A Corpse Bride"

"Tombstone"

Four Places I’ve Lived:

Victoria, Texas

San Angelo, Texas

Wilton Manors, Florida

Coconut Creek, Florida

Four TV Shows I Love:

Law and Order (the original, SVU and CI)

CSI

Project Runway

Divine Design

Four Places I’ve Vacationed:

Key West, Florida

Orlando, Florida

Various Colorado locations

San Antonio, Texas

Four Of My Favorite Dishes:

My husband's spaghetti

French onion soup with LOADS of Gruyère

steak and chicken teppanyaki style to share with Logan

Julio's chips and salsa with ranch dressing from the Loophole

Four Sites I Visit Almost Daily:
It's way more than four, but these are my first four. (I added my dailies to del.icio.us today if you want to see.)

weather.com to see if it will be 80 or 20 for the day...and also to see how my family's weather will be around the state.

haloscan.com to see if I had any chatty overnight visitors.

Flickr

StumbleUpon

Four Places I’d Rather Be Now:

In my studio making something.

Someplace sunny and warm...enough with the fog already.

In bed asleep in an empty, silent house.

Interviewing maids so I that I wouldn't have to do housework...ha, not likely to happen anytime soon, but a girl can dream.

Four Bloggers I’m Tagging:

I don't want to re-tag anyone who's already been tagged so instead, if you have done it, post a link to it in the comments and and if you haven't, well do it and post a link in the comments section!

i'm alive...

Aunt Doot arrived on the sixteenth and is headed back to North Carolina as I type. We've been BUSY having Girls' Night Out, Beer and Bead Making Night (where she and our brother, Nic, snatched beads left and right from my stash.), Sit On The Couch and Veg Out To Olympic Curling Day, Veg Out to Project Runway Marathon Day (she doesn't have Bravo in NC so we HAD to watch all of them. Even the ones we already saw a few nights before. It just wouldn't have been right otherwise.), etc.



Nic took this picture during one of his coffin nail breaks on Beer and Bead Making Night. My camera is super crappy and doesn't take nice far away photos, but you get the idea. The clouds looked like giant scoops of fluffy ice cream. Honestly, the first thing I thought of when I saw them was Crisco...how gross is that? And moreover, why on earth did fluffy clouds make me think of Crisco? Weird.

We also had a Beer and Rummikub Night. Holy crap, if you haven't played Rummikub yet, get thee to the nearest Walmart/Target and buy it today. It is as fun as it is addicting. Oh, and what is this!? A Rummikub word game...I'm on the hunt now.

Somewhere in between all the beer and vegging out I managed to make a couple of these little guys and complete the pattern instructions for them too:



This particular one is for a friend of mine, but the first one of these I ever made (over three years ago) is featured in my article in Country Marketplace (hits newstands next Tuesday!)

Okay, it's become too quiet as I've been in my typing frenzy here...must go investigate. More later...I've been tagged, I have pictures of stuff, etc.

vaccinations...

Last week we received a note from the school nurse telling us that due to a new law, Logan would have to be vaccinated for Hep A and as well as get a pneumococcal shot before the start of the new school year.

Aside from those lovely shots he also needed his MMR (ugh, the worst!) and DTap boosters too. The nurse gave me all the notification papers and release forms to read and sign when we arrived at the doctor's office. I didn't bother re-reading the MMR and DTap papers since they've both already had one or more of each. I did, however, read the information on the Hep A and pneumococcal shot. The pneumococcal shot information sheet was totally benign...no alarming statements made...no scary side effects to look out for. The Hepatitis A info sheet? Slightly alarming in my opinion. Click here to read the Hep A info and just so you know, my copy did NOT have the bullet that reads, "Children or adolescents who live in states or communities where routine vaccination has been recommended." It did, however, have the bullet that reads, "Hepatitis A vaccine might be recommended for children or adolescents in communties where outbreaks of hepatitis A are occurring." I asked the nurse about it and she said there were no outbreaks that she knew of but that Denton county recently decided that all school aged children must be vaccinated for it. Oh my freaking gawd, people. How about some updated paperwork!?

All together Logan had four shots, two in each thigh. He was not happy. It was over in a second but he managed to call the nurses idiots and dummy heads and proclaim LOUDLY how much he hated them. I am just thankful he didn't choose that moment to demonstrate how closely he pays attention to his mother's foul mouth. And just so noone felt left out, Caleb had a Hep A shot too.

I do not do well on vaccination visits. I am usually on the verge of tears before it happens and when the boys were tiny I would cry right along with them. To assuage my guilt I took the boys to Target to pick out one toy each. So now that it's over and noone seems to be having allergic reactions to any of the shots, we all feel much better.

happy valentine's day...

Remember these? Cootie catchers or fortune tellers and it seems there was another name for them too (Lynn says, "yeah, dumb. I always had the worst luck with those things.") but I can't remember. Anyway, I made this one to send along to all the Valentine ATC swappers and for anyone else who wants to play! Here is another link on how to fold it and play the game. I didn't quite do it the way you're supposed to with eight different fortunes and what not...just four different little Valentine surprises. Hope you enjoy it!

For more Valentine's Day goodness:
Check out this site for a nice collection of Victorian Valentines.

Same site, different section...ouch.

mmm, cookies...

I'm running very late this year on my Valentine's Day cookie baking. Time just gets away from me sometimes, okay, a lot of the time. But anyway, I made a batch last night for Logan to take to class with him today and will make a batch tonight for the family.

I use paste (gel) food coloring to dye my icing and it is fantastic...except for the wretched stains it leaves on my fingers (and tongue and dish rags)!


katie, it's a flickr pic.

I use an old Wilton Cookie Supply recipe and a tweaked royal icing recipe from Martha Stewart (that I can't find links to anymore).

I love the sugar cookie recipe because you don't have to chill the dough. Now that I have my marble pastry slab and marble rolling pin from my Patsy Grandma, the recipe is REALLY a dream to work with.

Sugar Cookies
1 C butter (I use room temperature butter)
1 C granulated sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla (I usually double it)
2 t baking powder
3 C all-purpose flour

Pre-heat oven to 400°.

Cream butter and sugar (until light and fluffy).
Add egg and vanilla.
Add flour and baking powder (I sift mine into a bowl and incorporate it into the butter mixture a third at a time).

Divide into two balls (I divide into four...I find it easier to roll out smaller balls of dough). Roll to 1/8 inch thickness (I roll mine to 1/4 inch thickness and I use two quarter inch dowel rods to keep the dough even).

Bake 6-8 minutes or until golden brown (I bake mine anywhere from eight minutes to fifteen depending on the size of my cookies).

The recipe yield varies depending on the size of your cookie cutter. Figure it will make three dozen three inch-ish cookies or 18 five to six inch cookies. I made a dozen (plus four) five inch cookies and two and a half dozen small cookies this last batch.

Royal Icing
5 T meringue powder
3/4 C water (I use slightly less than a cup of lemon juice instead)
juice of one lemon
4 C powdered sugar (I sift it)

Divide and add food coloring as desired.

The recipe yields a TON of icing. Definitely enough to decorate at least two batches of cookies, possibly three.



Once you're done decorating your cookies and they've had sufficient time to harden (over night is best), throw a handful into a cellophane bag, slap a cute tag on some ribbon and tie it up. Viola, now you have a very cute, very tasty valentine treat!

belated...

Happy belated birthday blog mention to Aunt Doot, AKA my sister, Katie. I completely forgot to post it. As far as that goes, I forgot to post one for my sister-in-law, Jana, too. Bad crafty-momma-blogger, bad, bad.

I will certainly make it up to both in the near future. Perhaps with some lung-crushingly cute farewell to the chili bowl hair cut pictures? We shall see.

nanny mcphee...

is FANTASTIC! Lynn and I went to see it this afternoon and loved, loved, LOVED it. Emma Thompson has really out done herself on this movie, acting wise and screenplay writing wise too. I am in love with the super saturated colors of the costumes and sets. The characters are all so charming. Definitely a must see in my book. As far as children going to see it: the only reason we aren't thinking of taking Logan to see it is all the rotten little ideas he sure to pick up from the children in the movie! (As my dad put it, "he doesn't need any help, I'm sure. None of you kids needed any help.")

tooting my own horn...

Remember this post? Well, here's the secret: I am being featured in the April issue of Country Marketplace! It hits newstands February 28th.



I was interviewed for the Living a Creative Life feature. I haven't seen the finished article yet, but if it's anything like the first interview in the January/February issue I will be thrilled.

beads and necklaces...

These are beads from the last couple days. Group "a" was made on a night when the fuel tank kept freezing up...hence only two sad little dots on the one bead and the overly wonky shape of the darker bead. The darker bead is actually a transparent magenta-y color. It is a reduction glass that I haven't figured out how to play with yet. Group "b" was made during the day Wednesday. The aqua colored ones are made from glass named copper green. The rod of glass is a totally different shade of green with reddish wisps here and there. While I really like the color of the beads I would LOVE to figure out how to bring some the red out in the beads...maybe it isn't possible? I have research to do. The olive/khaki green one with the ivory dots is a favorite of mine so far. The dots are very irregular in size but they are nicely lined up on the equator of the bead and the ivory glass had a nice reaction where the dots are considerably darker in the centers. I'm going to make a pendant out of this bead today. I already made a pendant out of the little aqua and pale pink dotted bead (see next photo). Bead "c" is a transparent purple with PERFECTLY EVEN DOT PLACEMENT! I tried to get a nice straight above shot with no luck, but trust me, it looks so neat! I'm going to make a pendant out of that one too.

The necklaces are simple but sweet I think. This first one features a pendant made with one of my lampwork beads, a peruvian opal, and sterling silver. The "chain" is made with Miyuki glass. I named it Robin's Egg Drop Necklace.



Robin's Egg Drop is available for purchase too. $28 plus postage and applicable tax and she can be all yours! Just click on the picture for more information.

I made this necklace for a friend of mine as a thank-you. The pendant is made from some of my stamped sterling and etched copper. I used another of my beads to make a clasp for the necklace. It actually works very well, although the bead is a little heavy in comparison to the pendant. Have to work on counterbalancing it here in a bit.

etching mini-trial...

As promised, here are my findings for my "What Resists Etching Solution Best Trials." The first test (and the only one I remembered to take pictures of, by the by) compared a Marvy Uchida paint pen in opaque white and super sticky, sort of rubbery, screen printing tape.



First of all, both did a fine job resisting the etching solution.



However, both had their drawbacks in the prep stages. The paint pen takes FOREVER to dry (notice smudges on my otherwise pristine polka dot pattern? sigh...). My solution for this is to make your plate and set it aside over night to dry. I know, I know, next to impossible to do...we can use it as an exercise in patience...ha HA. The tape leaves invisible (to the naked eye) areas of adhesive on the surface after you have cut away your design with an exacto blade. This makes for serendipitous eyeballs on critters and blobs on other things. My solution for this little problem is to carefully go over all the exposed metal with a bit of GOO GONE on a cotton swab and then with a bit of glass cleaner.

I discovered, quite by accident, that plain old black sharpie marker will act as a resist leaving a shallow cut on the surface. My next trial will be using a comination of paint pen and sharpie marker to see what sort of shading and detail can be achieved. Should be interesting. And hopefully, I will remember to take pictures of the before and after on that one!

just shipped...

I completed this special order i.d. charm bracelet yesterday.



I am loving this combination of stones and beads. And the charm? I'm just going to say it: I am digging it. I etched the copper disk using this technique found via Meggiecat (thanks, Kathy!) and stamped the sterling (with my new stamps that JUST arrived two days ago...I ordered them at the end of NOVEMBER!!).

I stamped more sterling and will be making a couple more charms/pendants tonight or tomorrow. I'm also going to play with etching some more copper too. The paint pen I used as a resist on the first go-round didn't quite "resist" like it was supposed to, BUT the outcome was a pleasant surprise. I wonder if the tape I use as a resist for glass etching might work...I think some trials are in order. Will post the results once I'm finished!

Also shipped today were the "My ___ Valentine" ATC cards. They're on their way so keep an eye out and do let me know when they arrive! I mailed mine and the boys' out with everyone elses so I would have some sort of gauge for the mail time. Plus I know the boys will be thrilled to get their own mail. There are still a handful of sets out in postal limbo and once they arrive I will divvy them up and mail them back out as well.

on the bead front...

I've been sneaking a bead in here and there, just practicing really. Here are a few from Friday night:



The one with the arrow pointing to it is actually a really nice transparent red. This picture doesn't do the color justice at all, but you get the idea.



The bead just to the left of the green and white dotted one is actually squarish. I would have taken a better picture of it, but it was placed in the Logan Lyons Glass Bead Museum before I could get to it.



These are the same beads plus a new aqua one from Saturday afternoon. How 'bout those similarly sized bumps? And what about those similarly sized, still crappy, but not AS crappy placed dots on the green bead? It's coming to me. Practice, practice, practice.

Oh, I can't forget this little guy:



I had a request for a green bead with purple bumps. A simple request, right? Well the bumps were placed weird again so I turned it into a turtle thinking my client would be tickled to have a turtle bead. Well, I was wrong. Thankfully, though, my client's little brother thought it was the best thing since Buzz Lightyear Pull-Ups. Naturally, my client's opinion was almost instaneously swayed.

After Logan decided the turtle was not the devil reincarnated in glass alright, he requested my glass bead making book so he could show me which beads he wants me to make next. I think I might need to sign myself up for a sculptural bead making class in the near future.

i heart the new sharpie colors...

Five new colors: slate grey, ocean blue, spruce green, dandelion & brick red.


Taking pictures in a cubby painted blue is a terrible idea.

pictures are up...

I set up a Flickr group for the atc swap and uploaded all the cards I've received so far. I think I sent invitations to everyone on the swap list. But if I forgot you or you want to join the group just email me.

Go take a peek! Leave comments! They are all fabulous. Thanks to everyone who participated.

mmmm, beads...

No lampwork beads were made last night...a particularly unruly little two year old made sure of that. But that is okay, because today made up for it by way of new gemstone and mineral beads!

My friend, Cathy, made a trip to her bead guy in Ponchatoula, LA the same weekend I was in New Braunfels. She acted as my buyer (how hoity-toity a jewelry designer does that make me? I have a "buyer!") and did such a fab job. Here's what she purchased for me:



Last night I told Lynn I was going to have to make a trip down to Dallas to pick up some more pink stone beads for a special order. This morning he got online and found a wholesaler that I didn't know about until today. Oh my word, I was in heaven. I didn't go hogwild like I wanted to because I knew Cathy's package would be at the house when we made it home. That is not to say I didn't splurge a little though. Here's my haul:



Now I have no excuse but to spend Super Bowl Sunday making jewelry. Can't wait to get started!

okay people...

making glass beads is the new black tar heroin here at the Lyons' Den. I bought a new torch, more mandrels, some new tools and more glass. Crack, I tell you. I made six beads yesterday during Caleb's naptime and seven beads last night after the boys went to bed. I would show pictures of all of them, but "the good ones" were absconded with as soon as they were off the mandrel and cleaned. Keep in mind, the judge of the good ones is a four and a half year old.


The four on the left are from last night and the three on the right are from naptime.

Logan requested some bumpy ones so I made him some bumpy ones at naptime. They were, however, not bumpy enough for his fingers. I needed to "make them MORE bumpier" for his fingers. So the bedtime beads were an exercise in "more bumpier." At the moment I'm having trouble with the bumps melting into the surface more than I would like them to...hence alot of hearts and just plain dotted ones. Another problem I'm having is maintaining similarly sized dots. I won't even begin to tell you about trying to lay down an even trail of glass around the bead...UGH.



On the upside, the dragged hearts are MUCH easier to do now. The new nails-on-the-chalkboard feeling is trying to cut into the molten glass. I really want to make little flowers (similar to these or these) for little charms on my jewelry and mixed media projects. One way of achieving the flower petals is by cutting a band of glass into petals...eesh, my teeth hurt just typing out that sentence. I think another way to do the flowers is to just smoosh big (similarly sized) dots on the sides of the bead (...sigh...similarly sized...). I know it all comes with practice.

What happens when dots are poorly placed AND droopy? I put eyeballs on it and Logan names it, thinks up a life story for it, and loves it. As far as stages go, this is my FAVORITE so far. Fun for him, fun for me, even fun for Caleb and Lynn.


Mr. Alie-Star-Face (he's a colorful alien from planet Alien Star Head).



a.) My first attempt at a flower...I ran out of fuel at the last minute and then when I tried to finish it, thermal shock killed it. b.) Second stab at a heart bead (uh, pun intended...). c.) Second attempt at a flower...petals popped off here and there. So I decided to practice my dots...similarly sized but poorly spaced. I thought about trying to turn it into a fish, alas my eyeballs were tired so I put it to bed as a "more bumpier" bead for Logan. He turned it into a monster alien with no name or home planet. "He's a sad monster alien because he has five eyeballs and two of his arms fell off."

major mail haul...

Opening my mailbox yesterday was like coming down the stairs on Christmas morning and seeing what Santa left for me. Seven sets of atcs and two more of my postcards arrived. Plus my Gypsy Headband I ordered from Bookish Quilts arrived too.

Of my ten postcards I have received seven so far. They have traveled from as far away as Australia (from Nicole and Ness) and England (from Kate) and as close as Washington (from Karen), California (from Cristina), Virginia (from Debbie) and North Carolina (from Ann). As the postcards have arrived, I've been showing Logan (and Caleb too, but he doesn't really care at the moment) from where on the map/globe the postcards were sent. Logan thinks this is the coolest wants to know when his postcards will be arriving. Ahem, Family, if you're reading this, Logan would get a HOOGANTIC kick out of postcard or two...hint, hint.

A few days ago Bertha had posted about her headband she bought from Bookish Quilts and I couldn't get over how cute it was so I had to go buy one for myself. Keri sent along a quilted note card and fabric bookmark too. Plus, she lives in Denton too. Talk about a small world!

Michelle sent me some really gorgeous Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran and instructions for knitting a pair of two needle socks. Go look at Michelle's socks, the colors she uses are wonderful. So now that I have everything to start this, I have no excuse! I'm learning to knit socks.

our atc cards...

My Furry Valentine


Caleb's cards were a multi-step process. First I gave him an 8.5 x 11 sheet of white paper and his box of crayons, told him to go to town. Once his masterpiece was complete, I handed him a pair of scissors. He cut the picture into about six different pieces that he then glued to the red cardstock we picked out earlier. Then he painstakingly placed the little Valentine kitties and puppies all over the page. Once he was satisfied (bored) with the overall piece I blocked out five areas and then cut them down to size. Viola, atcs from a two year old!

My Transformer Valentine


Logan's cards were also a multi-step process. He started his out by painting three giant transformers. Once they were dry I cut them into 4 x 4 inch squares. Then he drew more transformers onto the squares with black crayon. After the "bones" were drawn he went back over each of them with my Design® markers to "flesh" them out with eyes, ears, arms and legs. Once the xylene from my markers had evaporated (see, I'm a responsible mom) he used heart punches to show that they were "happy (not Happy) Valentine transformers." His last step was to glue the squares onto the cardstock he chose. Once he gave me the go-ahead, I cut them down to size, all the while making sure I wasn't cutting off important features. Logan helped me pick out the font for his information cards and once I printed them he wrote his name of each of the cards. The one in the pictue is his favorite because it looks like an animal face AND his name. The brain of a four and a half year old is awesome.

My Scrappy Valentine


The little people are vintage German Scrap I bought recently (found link via Kim. Thanks, Kim!); the book papers are from an old, dilapidated copy of Heidi; the green paper is torn joss papers; and once again some trusty transparency printed, this time, with a little cherub frame from one of my Dover Publishing disks.