Cindys Rants

Ornaments

2010-10-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

At the gallery demo last weekend I took an order for some tree ornaments, and I kicked myself for not thinking of that before, duh! They were to be red wire and star like. I did a couple trials before I settled on one, and the test ones make great holiday pendants! The first one looks like a poinsetta flower:

The second one is half the size and makes a nice little star pendant for those less into chunky jewelry:

But I finally came up with adjusting another pattern to come up with this 6 pointed star pattern:

She wanted a set of 6, so I was busy making them this week, and because I have orders to fill this is when I started baby sitting a teething 1 yr old. LOL never a dull moment around here I tell ya!

I think they turned out rather well myself. And I found another ideas for holly leaves with red bead berries. But before I tackle ornaments I need to play with the lovely sterling silver wire I got from The Ring Lord: http://theringlord.com/ They are based in Saskatoon, and have loads of different wire. I'll still need to order my coloured stuff from the States tho, sigh.

Anyway I need to make something really amazing with the silver and see if I can get it into the winter amateur display at the art gallery next month. I think I have done what I'd like shown with my can tabs, so just need to go nuts with nice wire and semiprecious beads. Wish me luck!

Art Gallery demo/new display colours

2010-10-04T09:08:00.000-07:00

Sun Oct 3 I did a wire crochet demo at the art gallery. And got to test the new colour scheme for my display. In mini display form. I like the way that the colour turned out, everything stands out better than the black.

There weren't many people who came to look, but I sold earrings and a ring. and a well known local artist was interested in one of my older sets that I have always wondered why hadn't sold. However she didn't have her wallet along, sigh.

At the time I was demoing there was a stained glass class happening, and the instructor ordered a set of tree ornaments based on a pendant I had crocheted. which lead to Laurie (education director) to suggest I join a few other artists in Nov to teach various ornament making. 5 people who came indicated that I should teach wire crochet. So, I am going to try to teach a class in 2011 sometime. EEK!! So much new stuff to try and do, and all of it at the same time, why can't new happen slowly? I don't like too much change... Taurus I suppose. Anyway it was a rather interesting day.

Studio Tour

2010-09-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I took the afternoon to to a semi-local studio tour of 9 artists.

Luckily the weather co-operated and it was a nice day out. (Sitting in the tour van and getting up and out all the time was torture, for me though. I managed to injure my tailbone slipping on the step and bouncing on my tail down to the concrete pad.)

The first stop was a charming pottery/painting studio. The artist uses her painting skills to decorate her pottery work. lovely fruit and floral themes on all amnner of pottery creations.

The next artist raises alpaca and uses their wool to create luxuriously soft knits, and amazingly soft stuffed animals. Here is an alpaca mom and her baby.

Some of the alpaca items, hats, scarves, mitts, sweaters, stuffies ect..

Elaine was part of the tour as well with her polymer clay work, but alas, there were too many admirers at her display to get a good photo.

Here we have a fibre artist, she mostly does various dye and dye techniques, but she also does amazing quilting work, which wasn't displayed. as well as photography of local wildlife which she uses in her cards and prints.

Another artist has her studio on her farm in a nice sized building, huge windows and wall to wall paintings and artworks. She does acryllic and water color painting, felting, all sorts of different needle works, everything really.

The same artist as above. I had to show this dragon, all needleworked in gold thread, beads and sequins, the details are amazing. It took her 2 weeks of 10-12 hr days to stitch this gorgeous and priceless work. I drool, seriously.

This pottery artist is very different from the first one, the patterns in her work are more textural, though there were a few painted pieces. She also does amusing little faces, and "mosquitoe house" garden decorations.

The last 2 artists are a husband and wife team who have thier studios in the basement of an old old schoolhouse they have renovated. The live in the upper floor.

She does plaster casting impressions of nature scenes, animal tracks, feathers, different plantlife ect.

This one is a huge casting of a busy gopher area, full of rodent tracks.

Her husband does black and white classic photography using a bellows style camera, which my photo didn't turn out of, sadly. lots of nature scenes, and he does images in a totally darkroom, slowexposure where he runs a flashlite around the subject and ends up with a wild light outlining the photo subject.

It was a really fun and busy day seeing all the different local artisans, and their equally different studio areas. So much talent, and so much inspiration. I hope they do a tour next year too!

Swift Current Fall Gift & Craft Sale

2010-09-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

Alrighty My good pal Elaine the entirely too talented polymer clay artist otherwise known as Tooaquarius http://www.tooaquarius.com/ and I have decided to host our own gift & craft sale Dec 4th!!

We are renting the entrepreneurial center in town and so it'll be smaller about 30 tables, but very exciting as neither of us has planned an event like this. However we've done enough shows that we know what sucks and what's a nice touch.

Lotta details, busy busy for awhile getting it advertised and such. Very excited to see what happens with this.
to book in e-mail craftsale@tooaquarius.com

Cindy

Kittys

2010-09-02T09:02:00.000-07:00

My half grown kitten Blaze is a tech cat... he can turn on the computers, and what he searches for is amazing : grreeabdf for instance.
and of course when I am on here he needs to nap on me.

He also thinks empty cat food bags are the bestest toys...

Last night my BF Jackie was telling e that her eldest daughter found a tiny kitten on her boyfriends farm, and for a day and a half no momma cat. The tiny thing hadn't opened his eyes yet. So they got kitten formula from the vet and took him home. However the next day daughter went off to collage. Mon Jackie could get home at noon to feed, and his eyes opened, but 1 might be blind. Tues was ok for feedings too. Yesterday didn't work so smoothly. So I am kitty sitting during the day. It's name is Teddy Bear. And he's the size of my hand. You can see the slight film on the left eye, might be a baby thing and he'll be ok, might be a bad eye.

he/she's had a bottle

and then was tired and fell asleep:

I moved Teddy to the pet kennel Jackie brought and he's happily napping. Blaze however has his fuzzy nose outta joint, so baby is in the office/studio with me with the door shut. My kids never took a bottle. I have bottle fed lambs on the farm, and took a turn with a calf. kittens are very different, so this will be a learning experience. A cute and fuzzy one, awwww! Might not get a whole lot accomplished today, darn. (hehehehe, snuggle)

I did make a few things yesterday, and am still finishing up another, so once I finish I'll photo and post.

Clay and new Kitty

2010-08-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Monday was a busy day. The morning was about cleaning a bit, The afternoon I went to my first polymer clay bead making class. And this is what I made:

I have made several swirled beads before, so that wasn't new, but making the canes for the flowers was new, and simpler, yet more time consuming to prep for than I thought. I was not expecting to come home with useable goodies, so that is/was an awesome thing. My flower cane is pretty good, but if I continue with it I'll need a lot of practice with the formed flowers (bottom of photo).

After class, since we have no kids until this evening my husband and I went for supper, and once we got home the people who are giving us their kitten decided to drop him off earlier than planned as he likes to escape when the doors are open to move boxes out.

So, here is our new kitten Lionblaze, or Blaze for short. Formerly known as Alvin.

As you can see he immediately helped Rick with the class he is taking...

And was curious about the camera.

And then napped on the crochet thread for my current project, and the project.

Lionblaze seems to have missed the "be aloof" part of the program and was eagsrly climbing all over us purring as only a kitten can. Unfortunately our 2 yr old crippled cat Licorice would be happier if the new kid would just go away and stop trying to be friends, it's not gonna happen.

Well when my 3 get home tonight from Grandmas I think a certain furball will be enthusiastically loved. Dunno if I should feel sorry for him or not!

Birthdays

2010-08-15T21:21:00.000-07:00

Today my daughter turned 9. so for the next month I have a 12 yr old, tow 9 yr olds and two 7 yr olds, none of them twins. My daughter and step son are exactly 11 months apart to the day, so for 1 month a year they are the same age. And my son and step daughter are just under 5 months apart, so they are the same age for 7 months a year.

I always make a special cake for the kids birthdays, and for todays I did a cute gummy bears at the beach scene/theme.

I cut out a section of the top cake layer and filled it with a mix of blue and green jello, and added gummy sharks. The floaty tubes are gummy peach rings and of course gummy bears. I used marzipan for the beach blankets, ball, sand pails and scoops. The sun shade is a small truffle paper on a toothpick with gummy pieces securing the cup. I used a tooth pick broken off to make the footprints in the sand. It was pretty fun to make, and the kids liked it too, jello AND cake!!

Tomorrow I take my first official polymer clay bead making class. Which is being taught by my RL friend Elaine of http://www.tooaquarius.com/ She has wanted to teach me for a few years, so this should be fun. Later in the week my 2 eldest daughters are taking classes from her as well on making critters. I may post about it tomorrow, IF I remember my camera. I am awful for forgetting it and wishing I had it. I'll try to remember to put it in my back pack for tomorrow.
C'ya!

Bowl full O fun!

2010-08-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

Last Month at a family reunion I went to the local farmers market. There I found a couple of women spinning wool yarn at their display. I spotted this gorgeous purple wool, and brought it home. I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to make with it, it was just to gorgeous to leave there! After a couple weeks I decided to make a bowl with pulltabs, and expand my catalog of items I make with tabs. Perfect thing for the wool! So here is my first can tab bowl! I like how the verigation comes through in each row like I switched yarns. I think I might make a few more bowls, maybe slightly larger.

The second item I am chatting up is this fun pull tab purse. It's a custom order and each row is a different shade of green. I actually have over 16 different greens in my horde! Some shades are pretty similar, but side by side are different. I tried making a button loop closure for under the flap, and I think it turned out pretty well ( small pic). I had my daughter model the bag for me, and you can see my messy studio in the background!

Anyway I am now making a blue bag in multiple shades, and after that I have a project to represent my hometown for a juried in art show this fall. I haven't done an "art" show before so this should be interesting to try! More pics and progress when I complete them.

makin' stuff

2010-08-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

I am still trying to create a little free-er, and more art inspired. This bracelet uses several fillet crocheted triangles in different sizes and metal colour, copper, gold, silver. Originally they were layered together as a pendant and earrings. I decided to attach them all together for this asymertical but geometric designed bracelet, after ripping apart a few older pieces that have been in my stock for a few years unsold. I kinda like this new design it's fun and funky and I hope this new direction will sell, time will tell right?

This is what the triangles pendant and earrings looked like before. yeah my photography has improved a lot in that time too LOL!!

some of my new work is still similar but showing more of the crochet work, less simple chaining.

I am rather liking the lacy disks behind the beads look right now.

Currently I am working on a pull tab bowl using hand spun and dyed wool I got at a farmers market. I'll be sure to show that one off when I am done!

trying new things

2010-07-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

I am planning to push my creative boundaries a little. I did my first freeform wire crochet last week while at my Tuesday Makers meeting. I must admit it was a bit daunting, having no idea what stitch was going in next or in what direction I should work. But it is a pretty artsy piece, I decided to add a chain and make it a bib necklace. Wearable art, I am sure someone out there will appreciate it, but I know it's not everyones taste. I might keep it too, but being me I'll have to make earrings too LOL!!

I was at the local art galleries summer salon show this Sat. And it occured to me that I really need to get myself into the fall/winter one. Wondering if I should just do my usual or make more artsy stuff for that. Maybe a bit of both. Hoping I get the time to make a new purse design I've been pondering too.

Well right now I need to concentrate on getting Adaira ready for diabetes camp and prepping for my parents 40th anniversary surprize party this weekend. Should be a crazy week as usual!!

Family stuff

2010-06-13T22:01:00.000-07:00

I have been rather busy with the family lately. My middle daughter Kaylens birthday is in Aug, so if she wants any friends to come to the party we have it in June. I always make the kids special home made cakes, and she wanted a flower garden with her name in roses and gummy worms all over. I have very little skill with icing technique. So I used skills learned from polymer clay sculpting that my friend Elaine of Tooaquarius taught me and used marzipan to which rose extract and red food colour was added. The girls liked it.

The same weekend there was a big annual Picnic in the Park, a family fun day, with games, food and live entertainment. My eldest daughter was a volunteer face painter and got to paint her littlest brothers face.

And the museum put on a mock trial and used volunteers from the audience.... yeah they picked me. I was told to improv my lines if I wanted, so I hammed it a bit. It was fun, and a nice end to the day.

Alyia, our youngest daughter had her friend birthday party this past weekend, she asked for a unicorn cake, which is much easier than the rose garden was!

And I leave you with the PS2 family airband, Kaylen is in the back on drums, Alyia is our lead singer, Braydon and Geran are our guitarists, Adaira isn't in the photo, I guess she must be the manager, LOL!! Note the rockin' PJs onstage!

I been blogged!

2010-06-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

I just got a message that I have been blogged about! How cool is that? She has an awesome blog going, and amusingly chose a lot of the pieces I have done with Elaines beads. I had no idea she was planning anything, so there's no interview, she just pulled info from my shop. Very nice surprize. I wonder if I should try to do a few artist interviews on here when I can't think of anything of interest to report. Ok here's a link for you to check it out:
http://vabeachquilter.blogspot.com/

Tab mania

2010-06-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

I have been working on some interesting orders in the last few weeks. The first is a large, large bag, about twice as long/deep as my usual bags, and it has a divider in the middle and 1 large pocket in each side. I used about 620 can tabs. My daughter at 5 ft 2 is my model.

The other project which is for the same customer is a tank top made of 744 can tabs. She wanted it unlined to wear over any other top. Luckily my daughter the model is the same size a ladies small. The top is a first for me, as far as can tab creations go. And humble as I sometimes am... I think it turned out really well!

The next item is a necklace I made for the creative challenge thread on artfire, the theme is/was wind. I used thicker wire to crochet the sodalite and blue lace agate into a bar, and then made a cute, whimsical red kite

to float into the sky. I may donate it to the kite festival this month.

So my next order is another black purse, I love the orders, but could wish they wanted some colour! after that I'm doing a green purse with all different shades of green, a nice change!

WET

2010-05-25T09:23:00.000-07:00

I am sure Saskatchewan is listed as semi-desert region, with a low preciptation rate, and warm springs. However, it has been the wettest, rainiest, coldest spring I can remember. And it's darn windy even for us. the few hours the sky takes a break the kids all rush out to the park or pounce and bounce on the trampoline. The lilac bushes are starting to bloom, and the dandelions are running rampant, during the rare sunny day it looks like spring here. Oh well complaints won't get me anywhere, at least it smells nice when it rains. The long stroll to the Tues meeting today might not be pleasant or even happen, which sucks. Off to teach two boys I babysit (age 4 and 6) how to speak and use manners. wish me luck, pray for patience.

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation walk

2010-05-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

Today the whole family, all 7 of us ventured out for a 1.5 mile walk in the pouring rain. Why on Earth would we do that? A very imporatant cause, the 1st annual Juvenile Diabetes research Foundation walk. Our family named ourselves Adairas Strange Striders. Our goal was $1000.00. Let me just say our family and friends ROCK OUT LOUD!! We raised $3075.00!!! oh yeah, that was 1/6 of the total brought in. Huge thanks to Erik The Viking (ETV) who donated a huge huge amount that almost made me cry, Ricks office matched all the donations made by Ricks co-workers, which proves that Stark and Marsh chartered accounting is the best accounting firm ever, just so you know.

They had bounce houses set up inside the rec center for all the kids, which was great. And a barbeque lunch before the walk. After the walk there was a brief space and then another barbeque supper and an information meeting for parents and type 1 adults. Seems like everyone is going for the insulin pumps, we might have to talk to Adaira about that.

On the diabetes and Adaira subject... We met in Saskatoon last fri with Dr. Best, the pediatric endocrinologist, and after 2 years of hell, he thinks maybe she's getting too much insulin, so he reduced it drastically and this week she's been pretty good save the morning she was so tired she forgot to take any insulin. (we later discovered midnight DSI play to blame for the tiredness)

In other news I finished the shell of the mega tab purse, and the necklace orederd from the home party, and the million bead custom order necklace as well. My challenge theme was Earth on artfire this time and

Here is my bracelet:

So that's how it's been. I'll try to blog more often, honest!!

BUSY week, orders illness, dentists oh my!

2010-05-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

Wow has it been busy around here! Lets begin with the bad news shall we?:

1)Adaira is STILL sick, missed all last week of school, and is still home today, Tues. Sadly we found juice boxes downstairs as the culprit this time. How does one convince someone else not to self-destruct? And she isn't a teen yet, OMG what will the future look like if this is 12!!
2)The rain hasn't stopped and today it is also snowing, changing between the 2 off and on all day. The weather is nice for all the farmers, but it is a bit wearing on the mood around here.
3)Took Kaylen to the dentist this morning, and her teeth are excellent, ecept one must have cracked at some point and was rotten, her molars have deep, deep crinkles, naturally and needed caps. So I was thinking maybe it'll be a week or more. Nope thay had a cancelation in an hour, so we had lunch and were reading a magazine when they called us in a little over 1/2 an hour later. she got the caps on and had the tooth pulled. But then we couldn't get ahold of our ride home!! Luckily/sadly my teacher friend Jackie had the day off due to a bomb threat.

4) as we waited for Jackie, my phone rang. My son Geran is throwing up at school. So my afternoon has 2 sick kids and 1 with a sore mouth. I have a small pharmacy of meds here.

5)This is the second week I have missed my makers meetings!!

Ok and now the GOOD news:

1)I start babysitting tomorrow for $! friend Jaime has had me booked to sit for when she found a job, and she starts tomorrow. I only get the kids in the morning, and a bit of late afternoon as they go to pre school and kindergarten in the afternoons.

2)Tax season is over!! I get my husband back, and am no longer a "tax widow", ahh a 2 parent home.

3)The lady I re-made the bracelet for a few weeks ago wants a matching necklace. And is happy to wait until I go to the city next week where I can find the right bead mix I used.

4 and 5) I did my first home show at my husbands friends place this weekend, and did rather well, I had a lot of stuff on the sale rack, but people still bought a fair amount of new stuff, including some of the flower sets I made with Elaines beautiful beads. One lady bought a lot and custom ordered a can tab purse, a necklace , and a can tab tank top. The top I have never made, the possibility came up in conversation.

6) Another friend ordered a purse from me. No rush as she has to save up for it.

7) I think I can be ready for the bellydance performance in June after all.

8)I finished a new style purse in a gorgeous coloured verigated aqua green cotton.

So I have a lot of orders to fill, and a job.This calls for chocolate!!

Update

2010-05-01T21:24:00.000-07:00

An update:
It has been raining or snowing every day this week and:
Adaira was in hospital from mon to Wed. we think this time was due to an infected scrape on her foot. Diabetes sucks.
Thurs April 29 My 37th birthday . mom and dad came in and we went for supper. Adaira got sick again, but not hospitalized. Kaylen and Geran complained about everything at the restaurant, it was chinese food, what's not to like?! Finally we went back home for cake. Mom made me a strawberry shortcake. Then they left and we put kids to bed. Jackie and her DD Schelby came over for a bit, then I noticed I lost one of the earrings I juat made with Elaines amazing flower beads. finally bedtime. YES I felt older by days end.
Fri April 30 I was supposed to do a flea market sale, and planned to put my old stock up on clearance prices. cancelled to be home with Adaira. Ends up it was a sucky sale anyway. I did make a bunch of jewelry with the rest of Elaines flower beads.
Sat May 1 the first day after tax season and I got my husband back. His 2 kids were supposed to come over, they are both sick and vommiting. So they couldn't come over for fear Adaira would become ill again. We are babysitting for a friend until 11 tonight. Trying to get ready for tomorrow, I volunteered to help with childrens church and in the evening I have my very first home show. I have no idea what I am doing for that, but we shall see tomorrow I guess. Hope it starts a better week, because I am exhausted.

Is That A Challenge!?

2010-04-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

I have created a couple things for challenges recently.

The first one my friend Elaine (aka Tooaquarius, check her blog link <--) wanted to see how different each of our styles of jewelry making would look with the same beads. So she gave me a few and she kept some of a batch of her beads and we decided bronze/copper pearls and turquoise to go with. and here is my set:

And this week I started a thread on Artfire as a 2 week challenge: http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=forums&page_no=1&op=view_topic&tid=5051 The theme is what inspired you to your current medium. For me that is a simply chained out 5 strand copper wire necklace with a bunch of brown and amber beads. The original was all glass, but I used some pearls, and semi precious stone as well.

My Artfire thread I am planning to continue as an every 2 weeks challenge, if anyone else is interested in continuing with me. As a basic shop I can't join any guilds there so this will get me some regular people to get to know as well as get the creativity going for a bunch of us. Now what will the next challenge theme be, hmm....... any suggestions?

swirlies and the re-do bracelet

2010-04-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

Elaine of Tooaquarius is an excellent polymer clay artist and a good friend of mine. As such I use a lot of her work in my own. Anyway she showed me how to properly make swirly lentils, so one afternoon the kid and I were playing with clay, they make pokemon figurines and I did a few swirlies.

The other thing this week was a customer from a fall show bought a braclet she absolutely adored, (tells me it's her fav and that she gets compliments everytime she wears it.) But she caught it on something sharp and wanted it repaired. She mailed it in a plain evelope no insurance, and the post office machines ate it. All i got was a half shredded envelope and a part of a note. Luckily the note had her work phone number so I could call her. She asked me to remake it and said she'd pay. The first time i made it took days and days, so I wasn't thrilled but what do you do? I made the original 3 years ago, I have gotten a lot faster and completed it in a day!! what a great measuring stick for my growth as a crocheter!

So now back to the orange purse which had better turn out well after all these interruptions in makeing it!!

Easter 2010

2010-04-06T09:09:00.000-07:00

Easter has come and gone for another year, PHEW!! My family and their extensions always get together good friday and rent the hall in Eastend to colour eggs together while the men play poker. 40 dozen eggs folks... and I think 16 or so kids.

wouldn't be fun without greenish blue digits after either!

Before the eggstravavganza we had supper with my folks and my brothers family. we got all 7 of the grandkids on the couch for an adorable photo moment.

Ok so aside from Easter the first United Church had a weekly rummage sale. I haven't gone for awhile. but the past one my pal jaime went to and called saying there was a bunch of yarn I might like. She picked me up and I got all this for $6. Sweet!

Speaking of whom I also just finished her purse order for her mom, zipper and all!

I also did a custom pair of earrings for a lady who is in my knitting and crochet group and recently our Tuesday makers meeting.

So that's what I have been busy at the last week!

Ricks B-day

2010-03-31T07:54:00.000-07:00

Monday was my husband Ricks 34th Birthday. As an accountant it is tax time so he only comes home in time to read mail and go to bed, even on his birthday and usually weekends.
I had to get groceries in the morning and forgot about Easter. How I could forget it I dunno. So I got more than I could carry which means no bus. I usually manage not being able to drive pretty well. So damn I am stuck, now what, can't call Rick, have NO $ for a cab. Jamie! Right she said she'd help if I got stuck. So she came and rescued me. I told her it was the mans B-day and she got an odd look, but I dismissed it as a "how did I forget that?" look. An hour later she texts saying she had a cake mix and is baking hima cake and plans to deliver it to the office. naturally I plan to tag along. She called the receptionists and told them, so they sent a message around and several people came to watch. just as we got in the door we saw him leaving the front, and thought he was gonna see us. nope, phew so we get ready and they called him down and ta-da! we embarrased him pretty well, had to sing "happy Birthday" and all that, and I wore his least fav shade of my brownigh lipstick, and smooched his forehead.
Later that night he said it was the highlight of his day. Apparently the files he had for the day were all difficult, and poorly organized. People, please organize your papers before they get to the accountant, it costs more the longer it takes to do.
Today I have hot meal day at the school with Kaylen and Geran and then off for a massage. Rick won a radio contest and got the massage but it expires before the end of tax season, so I get it, yay!!

craft sales

2010-03-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

On the 20th Elaine and I did a craft sale in the small community of Herbert, half an hours drive from Swift Current. It was a very well planned and advertised event, however there were too many things going on, and VERY few people showed up for it:(
I booked 2 tables and didn't make enough to cover even one table fee, which was cheap.

Then this past weekend (27th and 28th) we did the local Gun and Hobby show.Yeah it doesn't sound too good a place for crafters, but it's usually a really good show for me, lots of hunters wives and lady gun enthusiasts go. Day one was busier than i have ever seen this show! Tons of people. Didn't do the best I ever have but did well enough. Elizabeth from my Tuesday crafters group also had a table with her bags and antiques. actually all but 1 person from the group came to look about. A lot of the people I know came at some point. Day 2 not so much, still a lot of people came after the worlds womens curling closed ceremony, but not many shoppers. But I did hand out a lot of cards and there was one interested in hosting a home show. And funny enough even though I do this show and the fall one every year and have for the last 4 years there were peoiple who had never seen crocheted wire. Elaine had a wonderful show and got several people interested in taking her polymer clay class in April at the art gallery.

No other shows on the radar this spring, so I can chill and fill purse orders. I like doing shows/sales, but it's nice when they are over too. It does go by faster with a friend in the next booth though!

Makers

2010-03-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

Ok so recently i joined a local group of knitters and crocheters who meet twice a month at the library. I am the only crocheter so far and I crochet odd stuff, but it's a great group!
And I joined a weekly crafters group meeting on Tuesdays called Tuesdays with Laurie: Meet other makers http://swiftcurrentmakers.blogspot.com/ at the art gallery, which is in the same building as the library. We have met 3 times and on 2 of them there was a film crew for the local TV stations. It's a lot of fun and although new there's a variety of crafters including Elaine of Tooaquarius http://www.tooaquarius.com/. Laurie Wagner whi is the education co-ordinator of the gallery is the head of the group, and she does amazing work needle felting, there are 2 collage/asemblage artists, a painter, and several people who have stopped it to look and say hi but don't stay and craft with us.
Now my church has a group of crafters who want to meet on Fridays, so I will be a busy lady with 3 different crafting groups. Should be fun as they are all quite different.
Well I do have a 2 day show this weekend I suppose I should get off the 'puter and do something today... although a good soak and a book is tempting too...

Featured!

2010-03-22T12:19:00.000-07:00

This is my week to be featured on NatureManipulateds blog:
http://naturemanipulated.blogspot.com/
You could win a cutom made wallet in your choice of colours

or this earring and bracelet set:

Details on how are in her blog feature!
I am pretty excited by this. I wonder who will win, where are they from, how did they know about the contest/give away?
Well I will find out at weeks end I guess. Meanwhile I am learning a lot from the comments :)

The Demo

2010-03-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we did the usual go to church, and I sold a strawberry shortcake to a family who gets me to bake cakes for them at least once a month. Got a message this morning apparently their cousins who were at the party the cake was for wanted them to pass on their compliments. How nice is that? Makes a good start to the day I tell ya!
So after church we had a quick lunch and off I went to the art gallery to set up for my display and demo of wire crochet for a couple hours. It went really well, I had quite a few people come to look and ooh and ahh. Always flattering, even had a request for teaching a class! There was a pottery class in the next room, one of the students came out to get something saw my diplay and was quite impressed, a few minutes later the rest of the class all came out at her insistance to see the crocheted wire jewelry. The one lady wanted to buy a set but didn't have $ with her so I gave her a card and told her I'd be at the gun and hobby show the 27th and 28th. Laurie the amazing gallery education co-ordinator bought a set too, it suits her really well. She's the lady in the wine coloured shirt with the purple and green fluorite set.

And a set of ladies came in and bought some of my rings. I really wasn't thinking sales, so all this was an unexpected bonus, plus I get $50 for the demo. Elaine was there for a while and took a few pictures for me. She rocks, and her demo is next Sun so I'll have to return the favour and shoot a few pics. Crafty friends are the best aren't they?

Eureka

2010-03-10T11:47:00.001-08:00

Yeah, I likely spelled the title wrong, you'll all live I am sure.
You know how many pop tabs I go through? Well it takes over 80 for a wallet and about 400 for a purse. Right, so a lot. Cleaning them before use has been a nightmare. However I discovered that a mesh bag originally intended for washing delicates (lingerie) works great, I can put almost an ice cream pails worth in at a time and run it through the washing machine with a splash of bleach. Yay!

Also on the topic of cleaning the pop tabs, several people collect them for me, and they rock. Sometimes I wonder about them though. In the last batch there were 5 pieces of uncooked maccaroni, a few barley pearls, and some fresh barley heads complete with chaff, a pink plastic bead, a maple leaf lapel pin in really bad condition, a very worn penny, a dime, and a couple green plastic pellets, and the usual bits of lint. Do they look at what else is in their pockets? Or just "I know I have a couple tabs for Cindy in this pocket" and dump them out without looking? Me I always look when emptying my pockets, you never know what might pop outta there, esp in jackets. My kids think I am their storage box when we leave the house even though they usually have pockets too.

Maker meeting

2010-03-09T17:06:00.000-08:00

Well today the local art gallery hosted the first "maker" meeting. Basically anyone who creates anything is welcome to come in for 3 hours and we can work on our projects have a coffee, chat, and network. Already we have a few ideas to work on together how cool is that? There were about 6 of us and a few people just popped in to say hi. Quite a few people said they'd try to come in Sunday for my wire crochet demo, so that's awesome :) Elaine, aka Tooaquarius was there, the gallery curator Laurie I bellydance with, The others I don't know, yet. Laurie just started doing needle felting and has an increadibly detailed felt doll in the works. It looks to me like an ambitious project for a beginner, but she rocks at it, this doll has dimples, joints that look correct, and even individual teeth showing in the mouth! 2 of the other ladies do collage one had a sort of steam punk look to a few of hers, which was fun. I had a few people interested in my art, which is great, but I didn't think to bring a finished project to display, silly me. But next week I'll bring something. Looks like my afternoons on Tuesdays are now booked. 15 blocks there and back is good exercise too.

zombie blog

2010-03-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

I keep forgetting to post every day or week, and months later I am sitting here going "well lets revive this puppy" My poor dead blog must be a zombie all the times it's died.
So I have had a lot of interest in my work recently.
I am being featured in a blog on the 22nd and doing a give away from there:
http://naturemanipulated.blogspot.com/
There is a local shop called Eden's Apple and the owner saw me out with my pop tab purse and wants to make a whole sale purchase for her shop. I LOVE this shop it's full of funky cool stuff.
There is now a local crochet and knitters club in town, yay!!
the local art gallery is having me do a wire crochet demo this Sunday! Totally pumped there!
There is a local crafters club starting tomorrow and I volunteered to do a demo for the members once we get established enoguh to do them.
I have 2 craft sales this month as well.
Whew all of a sudden there's a lot on my creative plate!

Kaylen my 8 yr old went on air with her school for a major provincial fundraiser, so yesterday every TV station in the province showed the telethon. They even got to sing with original Sesame Streets Bob. Too bad none of the kids had a clue how cool all of us parents thought that was LOL.
I was so proud of her! She is NOT happy being on stage at all and this was a huge event. She did tell me that she will never perform again but wants to sing with the choir for practices only. This is odd to me as she is normally the wild and crazy extrovert. But maybe it's different at home... which is a good thing, wild and crazy at school can cause problems.
Anyway This should count as a revival, ad I am off to make biscuits to go with the ham and lentil with wildrice soup for supper.

I'm Back

2009-11-26T11:40:00.000-08:00

Ok I am back now!
No pictures for this post as my computer in in the tech hospital while Dr Lloyd fixes him. and all my pictures were there and all my favourite sites ect.

So the renovation is STILL not done! we were supposed to be able to be living in the new space in August, or so the contractor said. Will NEVER use him again. We were going to do all the drywall ourselves, however hubby over did it and has carpal tunnel in BOTH wrists! And I have weak wrists from a previous injury and while i could do a bit at a time it would take months. so we hired a guy who is doing fabulous work, a wizard with mudding compound. If luck holds I'll be able to paint this weekend. The 4 kids with new rooms or new walls (1 had horrid panelling before) all want sky blue. 3 want clouds painted on the walls and the 4th wants a blue winter tree pattern. luckily the 5th kid is fine with her wall colour for now. So I googled how to paint clouds on walls and the 5 sites i hit all had the same instructions so that's reassuring. So as far as the reno goes all I need to panic about is getting the cat to stop "going" in there instead of the litter box.

crafting news
I am selling a bunch of the poptab purses just from people seeing mine and asking. I don't have any in my etsy shop, and at shows people ooh and ahh at the ones displayed but no buyers. But I have had enough buyers to make me think that after Christmas I should list them. i am starting to make tab book marks and my 12 yr old DD wants me to attempt a tank top. we shall see after all the painting in my near future is done. jewelry sales have been a dissapointment. I lost a lot of money trying to do big city shows. And even my usual big sale show in Eastend was lower than usual, no loss but maybe made 1/3 of my usual. So next year I will go back to the tiny rural shows and maybe even put one on with a friend who has been tossing the idea around with me.

Adaira
As you know my now 12 yr old has been having major issues with her diabetes which is the major reason I haven't been posting. her health declined rapidly going from once a month hospitalization to every other week to every week. her specialist still insisted it was our fault and hinted we didn't know how to count carbs or that she was rebelling and not taking her insulin. so we ignored him and went hunting for a pediatrition who would listen and care. (I know i ask a lot in the "don't care" health system) finally we found Dr. Addai. at first he was the same as her specialist, but after a few weeks he realized that I was right, something was wrong. and then he noticed that the insulin type at home is not the same as the stuff given in hospital. so we switched insulins and poof her numbers are good. Ends up she DID have a resistance to the insulin she had been on. Even though it is very rare to have happen. He actually appologised for the way he treated us (like we were not taking care of her right) when do Drs EVER do that?!
During all this there were a few visits to hospital where she should have been in a coma. she was in ICU enough for the nurses to notice when she had growth spurts. I know some of the peds nurses birthdays, stories about their families, and things you really shouldn't be able to recall about the peds nurses.

So thank-you to everyone who prayed for and supported us through this struggle!! it looks like we have it figured out! There will be a few weeks of tweeking her new doses, but her blood sugar is still a lot better.

DIY jewelry displays

2009-08-02T20:22:00.000-07:00

I know I know it's been a very very long time since I last posted!

We are finally started on the addition for the house. We are adding a dining room and a small studio for me up stairs and 3 bedrooms to the basement. so the kids do not have a backyard this summer.

In some fabulous news.... I have 2 shops who want to carry my jewelry on consignment! I did have some in a small shop in Eastend, but the shop is closing this month, it was only open seasonally, and during odd hours. But a new place in Eastend is going to start this month, and I get a large portion of a room to display as i like. It's a antique and gift shop one one side and a snadwich shop on the other, so she gets both local folk and tourists, open year round. MUCH better!

The other spot is in a small community called Manitou Beach. My Daughter goes there every summer fot diabetes camp, and this time we went and looked into some of the local gift shops after dropping her off. well the woman running Blueskys and Dragonflies has a hand made gift shop, and her jewelry person is done this year and off to college. So she was looking for someone and wanted unique. I think my crocheted stuff fits unique :) She is only open 5 months of the year, May to Sept, BUT I get a 4 foot by 4 foot spot, and she charges $25 rent, and then 7% commission... hello doesn't get much better. So I have several months to get stocked for her.

Now with 2 shops and a whack load of craft shows comming up soon I need displays,( and a ton of stock) so i went to the local 2nd hand shops and the garage to get supplies to DIY it:

I might use these small shed antlers for rings. cost was a hike done previously, and serious washing. Oh and the rings shown were all done yesterday, that's right, I the silly, made 65 rings in a day. But at shows they sell faster than anything esp to little girls with a $5 bill to spend.

This is actually a coaster holder, but it works perfectly for cell phone charm display! ( good idea Elaine!) and so costly.... .25 cents

And this old CD rack is perfect as an earring rack, with 3 sides it can hold over 40 pair.I also bought a spice rack and used the spinner on the bottom of the earring rack. the spice rack was $1 and the CD rack $2. Now I just need to make earring cards..... later.

And this Earring rack is/was a lovely wire mesh garbage can I got at the dollar store for a dollar. I used a lazy susan I bought for $2 and sewed a burgundy liner to the top (bottom) so the earrings aren't lost in the mesh pattern.

And the rest of the spice rack? yeah well I took the uprights off, glued 2 together, and screwed them into the top of the old spice rack, then I cut a mop handle to size, and used more wood glue and 2 screws to secure them in the spice holes. Voila' bracelet rack. I am still looking for a base for the other 2 spice rack bits to attach to. I also picked up a half circle spoon rack that will make a lovely necklace rack and 2 vineish candelabra, the spoon rack was .50 cents and the candelabra were 10 cents each. I will need a can of spray paint to finish them. yup big spender I am! all this for under $10.
Tomorrow I MIGHT get the paint. And now for the dishes I neglected while assembling all this...

1 year

2009-07-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

Wow yesterday was our first anniversary! Rick had won a gift certificate for a night in a jaccuzi suite and supper out. So we used it Sat night, and it was a blast! His kids are with their birth mother for the week and my kids are at grandma and grandpas farm for a few days. I am child less until Thurs. So what did we do for the big day? Well we went to church from the hotel. Cleaned out the camper, did several loads of laundry, cleared out the little girls room for the big renovation ( adding 300 square feet to the house) went out for supper, cleaned out the porch which was a ruin. yup perfectly romantic, that's us LOL! hard to believe it's been a year, sometimes it's "already!" and sometimes, "Only 1 year?" last year we just got the porch addition done in time for the wedding, this year we are barely begun another renovation... are we nuts? probably. is this the last renovation we plan? No. after this we are turning the boys room into a walk-in closet/storage room into our room. SIGH. Well with 5 kids and never ending renos we will never be bored! Happy Anniversary.

I have a new Niece!! And a frustrating daughter :(

2009-05-20T20:49:00.000-07:00

May 18 2009 my brothers wife had to have a C-section delivery to bring ino this world my adorable neice! Ilainna Lee at a weight of 9 lbs 3 oz ( did you read about the C-section?) and 22 inches long with a mop of dark glossy hair! I am so excited, I have 4 nephews and now finally a girl!! I totally love being an auntie, and Ilainnas big brother Logan is a totally sweetie at age 3 you never can be sure what he might say next! On my husbands side we have twins 4 yr old Izak and Aiden and their little brother Keane age 1, who are in another province, and so I am missing out on seeing them very often.

So that's the happy for the week. Now for the frustrating.

As you know my 11 yr old (Seen with new cousin) is having a terrible time with her diabetes. When we went to see Ilainna, Adaira was also getting a blood test done, and the results were bad. Very bad. So this fri I am taking back up to the city hospital for a weekend of observation and monitoring. And likely a bunch of people who will not be thinking that I know what or how to handle her diabetes. Last time when they tested this knowledge Adaira left them speachless with how adept she is at it. In addition this weekend my other kids are supposed to go to scout camp, and my husband is the leader and in charge of the whole thing. so lots of figuring out was done tonight on how to manage this. And i must say juggling scedules with your X-in laws is never fun, interesting, but not so much in the good times department. But her good friend lives in said city so maybe it won't be as boring this time, being a weekend when they might be able to come in to see her. Lucky for me my craft is very portable so i will be working on more tab purse orders, and a wire necklace idea. I can't keep my hands still, for long without them twitching for a hook :)

Anyway that's my world for this week! With all these ups and downs I hope i don't get motion sick!

For the love of poptabs

2009-05-15T11:42:00.000-07:00

So I made a purse a few months ago crocheting poptabs together (takes 110) . Well lately everytime I leave the house I am getting comments on it, (yay) So I am passing out tons of business cards! I have orders for 2 of them on the go and 2 other people collecting tabs and deciding on colour. Who knew this would be the most popular item of all the wonderful things I have crocheted! I'd have thought wire crochet would be more interesting than a purse, what do I know. Once done the orders, I will be making a bunch of mini purses and or wallets for craft shows. I can take orders on them from there. A full purse takes me almost a week to complete, so making some in colours that might not sell isn't the best plan, in my oh so humble opinion anyway :) I can always just display my purse and show pics of the completed ones, for purse orders.

This week I made a cat collar with poptabs too, I wonder if it will also be popular? I can hope they will be, but will hold off on making more until I know thay are popular. Maybe putting the jewelry aside for a bit will help the creative juices flow better? I guess I will have to wait and see. Licorice was a gracious model here.

The week from Hell

2009-04-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

Sun March 22 began the week from Hell.
Adaira had been at her friends down the street. At noon her blood sugar was pretty good 9. 2 hours later she was ill and vomiting. Her blood sugar spiked to a reading of just "HI" on the monitor, and her urine showed high high keytones. So off to the hospital we go. Expecting that she would be in for a night or 2 as usual. instead she was put in the ICU with 2 Ivs each one taking about 6 tries to get into her tiny veins. Over night her blood pressure became a concern and she was put on a heart monitor and oxygen. Monday morning she could barely stay awake long enough to know i was there, it was decided to airlift her to a larger city hospital where her endocrinologist is. I think I may have sprained my tearducts crying, and praying. A woman from my church came to pray with me as we waited for the plane, and My best friend Jackie came to stay with me until we left. The weather was not co-operating, it was so icy there were a lot of accidents, so everything was delayed. Finally the plane arrived and we loaded her and I into the ambulance, drove over the worst road in Saskatchewan to the airport. *Side note* Wouldn't you think the road from hospital to airport would be at least paved? Really ill people shouldn't be jostled about! The flight was about 30 min. Her first flight and she was really to ill to notice. another ambulance from that airport to the hospital. Remember the icy roads i mentioned? There were so many accidnets that our ambulance couldn't park in the ambulance bay we parked outside and wheeled the stretcher bed in. once in i had to sign papera and then i turned around and she was gone!! OMG where is my child in this mess!! I was directed down a series of hallways to the pediatric emergency area. we sat there for a few hours... Finally an intern came and when we told him how long we had been waiting and that we had been airlifted he was surprized. Yeah they forgot us! Nice touch. 10 min later we were on the peds floor in the observation room. more IV fun, 2 interns and a nurse, gave up after 6 tries and called in a nurse from the NICU to get a line in. then another heart minitor, more oxygen, and another IV in her foot. They took blood every 4 hours, had more fun finding veins for it too. She wasn't allowed food or much water for 2 days. Rick and I stayed in the Ronald McDonald house across the street. WONDERFUL place for families with sick children, and 10 bucks a night, full kitchen, some food available space for your own groceries ect.Tues night she was allowed to eat. The Dr wanted us to count the carbs in her meals. this would have been easier if the nutrition labels were available to us or if the food wasn't all packaged. I told them that i didn't have the info i needed for the carbs. shrugged shoulders and then they report to the dr that we don't know how to count carbs!! She's been diabetic for almost 5 years I certainly know how to count carbs!! I was so mad I had to leave the room, twice before i started to knock heads together!
Wed she was doing much better and was off the IVs, YAY! That afternoon she made a friend and they watched the Twilight movie before bed. Thursday afternoon she was finally released! But because we were reported as not being able to carb count we were send to the dietician... When we and Adaira were able to answere all the questions and then explained what had happened she was a bit upset with the lack of respect we were given.
So.. Dr figures she needed a little change in her usual routine, meaning she now needs a shot of insulin at bedtime too, making 5 shots a day. and Mostly it's puberty, wreaking havoc with her. insulin is a hormone and so anytime the body starts producing more of the other hormones it affects the way the insulin is absorbed. lucky Adaira.
So the weekend was spent getting things in order, and I had a bellydance performance Mon night, Tues was appointments and scouts, today I went to the banks, and plan to do laundry. Tomorrow is eye appointments for my 3 kids, Fri is set up for a craft sale and the sale is Sat and Sun. I am already tired. But Adairas blood sugar is Ok now, so hopefully the extra insulin will keep her out of the hospital!!

Creative Spree

2009-03-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

Last week and the week previous I was on a creative spree, everyday I had another idea to play with. It's kinda petered out now, which is good, now I have loads of stuff to list :) I did 7 wire wrap rings, which is new to me and kinda fun. 2 bracelets, 5 pairs of earrings, 3 - 3part sets(earrings, necklace and bracelet), and 7 yes 7 - 2 part sets (earrings and either bracelet or necklace) I also made my very best and all time favourite set ever!! Not bad for a run. My creativity does seem to ebb and flo this way, I'll have bunch of ideas and a compulsion to make them and then it kinda dies off. Because I know this, as soon as the creativity poops out I take all the photos in bunches as well, and then I have a couple weeks worth of listings before I get another creative spurt. I dunno if other crafty/creative folks work this way or if I am just an oddity, and it works for me. Here's a few samples of this spree:

My Little Holiday

2009-02-23T08:34:00.000-08:00

Ahhh! Yup, that was nice, mostly.

Last week my hubby and I went to the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. http://www.templegardens.sk.ca/ It was great, day 1 we did shopping, some in Regina (1/2hr drive) some in Moose Jaw, luckily hubby is an enthusiastic shopper. He went to the hard ware shops and such. I went to Micheals and got some swarovski crystal for family pride bracelets i wanted to make and they were on sale, yay( see photo of mine) and , I bought jeans that were 1 size smaller than usual ON SALE!! then just to amaze myself I found the brown heels I have been looking for. For me shoe shopping is a nightmare, I have wide feet and VERY high arches, but i got shoes, and... they were on sale too!! OH WOW!! Good times folks, can't tell ya the high. I found stuff and everything i bought was on sale, how amazing was that? Then we had supper with a couple he is friends with, and she ordered a set of jewelry based on the bracelet i made for my hubby, score! Then a dip in the pool before bed.

Day 2 I bumped into a friend, and we had lunch. ends up she wanted to order a custom set of my antler jewelry for her moms B-day! double score. Then it was off for massages, and the guy working on my husband was from my home town and had been a client of mine when i was doing massage work, cool. went for a swim. Then the yummiest meal ever at the best place to eat I have ever been too. Hopkins dining parlour is a restored old mansion with all sorts of antiques. And apparently it's haunted by the orginal owners wife, Millie Hopkins But nothing creepy has ever happened and I have been there several times and have NEVER had anything that wasn't amazingly tasty. http://www.2020website.net/p-hopkins.html Then the pool. the pool is a fed from a natural mineral spring and is as warm as some hot tubs, it is also partially outdoors. when we went into the outdoor part the steamy mist was fairly thick making it seem more private than it is. also my hair actually froze! And there was a family with a couple toddlers and the kids were wearing touques! Ha, only in Saskatchewan do you need a touque to swim! Too funny!

Then we got a call from the guy taking care of our pets... the darn cats tipped over the filter in the fish tank and flooded the flooring and leaked downstairs all over the carpeting. he happens to have a wet vac so he got the carpet for us. but the lamanent(sp?) floor upstairs... will need to be replaced, not immediately, but it is somewhat damaged.

Ok so next morning we are having breakfast and my mom calls, my daughter who happens to be diabetic is having stomach aches and her blood sugar is very high. Si I give the sick day info and call back in a couple hours, she feels better, sugar still a bit high, managed to eat a few crackers. Now i am a knot of worry, so call back around noon, and she was OK. So then we went on a tour of the tunnels under Moose Jaw, some were used as Al Capponnes hide out, and some were used by the Chinese immigrants. very educational. then another dip in the pool, supper and off for home. It was a good few days, but the floor is a downer. Oh well we had a good time.

The Weeknd of Company

2009-02-16T13:35:00.000-08:00

Phew!! What a busy couple of days!!

My good friend and fellow etsy artist Elaine (tooaquarius.etsy.com) and her daughter were down for a visit. As it was her B-day and her daughter is a good friend of my eldest daughtetrs we had Chloe over for a 2 night sleepover Fri and Sat. At the same time my in-laws were down to visit and they haven't seen the kids since before Christmas!!

So Sat afternoon (Valentines) we took all 6 kids to the hotel where the in-laws were staying and went swimming, and then we went out for burgers. That evening the kids played and the adults played a board game and chatted.

Sun we took the kids and In-laws to church, and then out for a brunch smorg, and good thing because I don't think I have ever seen the kids so hungry!! The 5 yr old ate way more than I did!! That evening we had a pork roast supper, and then I brought out the birthday cake, a white chocolate cheesecake with whipped cream and strawberries. Elaine must have liked it because I got several thank-you s and tiny little thing that she is had 2 helpings ( gotta tease ya, sorry) That night Adaira slept over with Chloe at E's hunnys house , who happens to be my hubbies best friend (cool no?) Today (mon) is Family day, Adaira was dropped off at 1:00 ish and Elaine and Chloe headed for home. I am a bit tired and wish we could have visited (crafted with) with Elaine more, but oh well maybe next time won't be so busy.

Happy Birthday!!

Baking with kids

2009-02-11T07:14:00.000-08:00

MMMM cake!!

This week I have a few baking projects to do. I have a cake for a church function happening today, cupcakes for my sons kindergarten class Valentines party, and a B-day cake for my friend and fellow etsy artist Elaine aka Tooaquarius.

Last night I started making the cake for the church, angelfood cake hollowed out and filled with chocolate mousse. My daughter age 7 wanted to help sooo badly. I made the cake and she made the mousse, measuring out and adding all the ingrediants, and using my hand mixer like a pro. Actually her mousse was as good or better than mine! And the best part for herwas licking the beaters off! For me the best part was cooking with my daughter, like my mom used to bake with me. Oh the memories, and lessons learned, baking is a fun way to begin teaching the kids to cook, and they are so proud of themselves! At moms hip was where I began my passion for cooking, and I think my middle child here has it too. One of my goals as a mom is to ensure all 5 of them can cook. At least enough to feed themselves before they leave home. Mac n cheese are all well and good on occasion but I don't want them to have to live off of it. Here is the final result--> She did a great job!

Tonight I make the cupcakes and I will be getting my boy to help me with them as well, at 4 he could flip pancakes, so mixing up cupcakes should be no problem! Now, who to help with Elaines cheesecake...

blog block

2009-01-29T12:00:00.001-08:00

Right, so i have been meaning to blog all week, and I still have no idea what to say this week. What do you do when you know you should but dunno what to blog about really? So here is what I am up to lately.

Currently I am working on a series of projects based on colour, all in shades of whatever colour, like this one: --> Which I call "Midnight Sky" last night I did the brown and right now I am working on white, and will likely go through the rainbow. Some will be necklace and earring sets some bracelets. MIGHT do 3 part sets for a few, I dunno yet.

Hubby and I are trying to plan a few days away from the kids during Feb. break. However just as we made that decision all sorts of $ drains showed up, the energy bills practically doubled, needed some bulk basics, ect. So the "go to the spa" idea might not happen. We still need to go away and relax though, he is an accountant and tax season is about to kick in and he's stressed before it starts, NOT a good thing.

The kids are amusing and frustrating all at once. The youngest girl is left handed and keeps wanting to write backwards, the middle girl is ambidextrous (sp?) and will occasionally write the letters backwards. The eldest is old enough to be going to school dances and some of her friends have boyfriends!!! Isn't 11 a bit young, sigh! The eldest boy had a fit over an assignment that was to find a compliment for everyone in class, I mean crying pouting "it's too hard!!" fit. I don't get it. The youngest boy seems to be doing alright, but he keeps talking himself up, and I think he could be a bully magnet if he doesn't tone it down.

And on Monday I finally made an appointment to see my Dr for a physical and to look into my depression and cycle concerns. However I can't get in until Feb 23! Good thing I'm not sick or anything. Also I want to do something different with my hair, but it's so short I don't know what I can do that is easy to do in the morning. I don't have time for curling irons and detailly things. Maybe I'll shave it all except the bangs and dye them purple....

Wordless Wednesday

2009-01-21T12:05:00.001-08:00

Scalloped potatoes

2009-01-19T10:20:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been trying to get the perfect scalloped potatoe recipe figured out. Last night I think I got it... even the 2 pickiest eaters in the family thought it was very good!! This never happens, those 2 would live on bread, cheese, apples and crackers If I`d let them. so without anymore blathering here is what I came up with:

Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

5-6 med potatoes thinly sliced
half an onion thinly sliced
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
2 Tbsp flour
half a cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 can cream of celery soup
milk to fill the emptied soup can
salt and pepper to taste

Toss the potatoes and onion together in a casserole dish. In a medium sauce pan melt the butter, add the flour, salt and pepper,stir and cook 1 or 2 minutes. add the soup and milk, whisk smooth, and heat until it begins to simmer. Add the cheese and remove from heat, stir until cheese is JUST melted. pour over the potatoes, toss to coat. bake covered at 350 for about 1 hour.

serves about 6.
1 Cup is about 40 carbs

Enjoy, there won`t be much, if any for leftovers!

featured!!

2009-01-12T09:53:00.000-08:00

Holy cow Andrea Baker blogged about me this week. she shares a B-day with my son so i sent her a gift, and this is how she returned the favour. See it DOES pay to be kind. Check it out:
http://www.andreabakerdesigns.com/?p=702

Gerans B-day was great, I took an extra 6 5yr olds tobogganing. only 1 crash. I had the smarts to bring along my 11 yr old and her friend to help haul the sleds back up the hill while I organized the top of the hill. Hubby couldn't go due to a back injury so he baked off the pizzas I had make earlier. Tiring, but a blast!

The purse

2009-01-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

Several weeks (months?) ago I saw a purse made from pop can tabs, naturally I needed to try it. So first I gathered up all the pop tabs I could find and got my ever patient and amused husband to collect them from his office too. This took a good while, as we aren't huge pop drinkers. Finally I thought I should have enough to start. Being me I used purple cotton DMC thread, and also being me I crocheted them all together, designing it as I made it. After about week of work I got it done.

But it needed a liner with all those holes. Luckily my parents got me a sewing machine for Christmas, so it's maiden use was to make the liner. I had some mystery fabric in lavendar and decided to use it. I think it turned out pretty cool if I do say so myself! Now I don't think I'll be selling any on my etsy shop, partially because they are a lot of work. and partially because I don't want to copy anyone and start up another round of bashing in the forums. Can't wait to go somewhere and use ( show off) it!

The new year

2009-01-02T13:45:00.000-08:00

So, today we were planning to go out tobogganing, and the temperature plummeted and it began to get windier and windier, sigh. And the weekend is supposed to be -42 with the wind chill, so tobogganing this Christmas break is not gonna happen.

Here are current photos out the back (sheds) and front doors.

Licorice the half-grown kitten decided to nap behind the couch on the window sill and watch the snow fall.

I am crocheting and chatting with friends. I SHOULD be cleaning all the packaging off the back deck, but.... well I am not, so be it.

As for resolutions, I resolve not to make any and thereby avoid the guilt of not achieving them.

having said this, I need to lose some serious weight, and brave a visit to the Dr to see if I need depression meds.

My kids are so silly

2008-12-16T19:51:00.001-08:00

So, I have noticed lately that my kids all have different, but very silly humour. In the top we see my son who asked me if we could play kangaroo and baby, so being an intriging idea I found my stretchiest pants (I used to use them as maternity) and tucked my joey in my pouch.
Here we see my 3 biological kids stacked up with the middle child (age 7) on the bottom, eldest in the middle (11) and the youngest on top (5) Now this is especially amusing as the 7 yr olds teacher last year tols us she had very little upper body strength... she really looks weak here doesn't she?
Now this is what happens when you put a cap of bubblebath in the jet tub, so my 11 yr old discovered. Looks like a lotta fun actually. Yeah my kids keep me busy and highly amused. You just never know what will come out of their mouths or what you'll see them doing next. I love my job. Well except for the laundry.

Shopping

2008-12-04T12:37:00.000-08:00

I am officially done Christmas shopping!! Yay, woo-hoo!! and before the stores get insane too :)
This year I'm not giving near as many hand made items as I wanted to, I just didn't see anything at shows that I thought family would like, and anything good on etsy was big and too heavy to ship otr for me to afford to ship, which is even sadder. And the relates that I have given my jewelry to don't really wear it, so I dunno if it just isn't to their taste or if i missed what their style is somehow. Either way not this year, maybe next year I'll crochet up something for them, or birthday gifts.
So now i can concentrate on making a baby blanket for my new neice or nephew to come. I really hope my brother decided to give me a niece, I have 4 nephews, (1 from him and 3 on hubbies side.) but no nieces as yet.
Maybe I should catch up on laundry too..... sigh, it never ends with 5 kids.

Birthday Party

2008-11-24T11:51:00.000-08:00

I'm ba-ack!

This weekend was BUSY!! I had parent teacher interview with my eldests teachers, and it wasn't good. She's very behind in her math, and her math binder is so disorganized that she's done 2 of the assignments twice. So we got the binder organized, and got her down to business and all caught up, phew!! The interviews with my step kids were much better, both are doing well, and Alyia is adjusting to kindergarten very well, even if she can't remember most of the kids names LOL!

Sat Adaira had her 11th B-day party which was a sleep-over, or rather a no sleep over. The girls were up allnight chatting and giggling as only a gaggle of pre-teen girls can. I always make a fun cake for the kids and this year I did a switch a roo for the 11th, the main course wasa 2 layer meatloaf which i frosted with mashed potatoes and filled with cheese. I even wrote happy birthday on top in ketchup and told the girls that we were having cake first since 11 is the same forwards and back. They were pretty impressed with this turn of events and then were amused when it ended up being meatloaf. The dessert I made was a 3 layer cke made to look like a hamburger, the middle layer was left un frosted as the patty and the filling was coloured icing as the cheese, relish and mayo and strawberry jam as ketchup, I used almond slices as the sesanme seeds on the top "bun" too.

Last night we did a bit of shopping and then i decided to try playing with polymer clay again. I made a couple warped faces and an eye cane that I rolled a bit wrong and the iris is not really round. I dunno how long it took Elaine to figure this all out, but I know it won't come quickly either.

I'll get better with more practice, and now that i am done with craft show season I might concentrate more this winter on learning the how to's.

Eastend

2008-11-18T10:28:00.001-08:00

Well craft show season is done for me this year. luckily I managed to end on a good note this time :) Just before we left for it got an etsy sale from someone who was grateful to me for a small bit of advice I gave in the forums about her headaches. Kindness matters folks.
So where was my last and best show? The tiny village of Eastend. Yup, I did better in the first 4 hours there than I did in any of the cities i went to this year. Last year I did phenomenally well there and this year it was still very good, but not as good as last year. So I was happy. The local woman who makes wonderful soaps was there, but she's not focusing as much on the soap anymore, I did get 1 though. I was kept busy enough that I only managed to make 1 item and a custom pair of tiny earrings. I will certainly be back next year. While I was selling my jewelry, the kids were with my mom on the farm, and had a lot of fun too. That night we had supper and cake for my eldests 11th B-day. And my 2 yr old nephew finally knows me, and now thinks i might be kinda fun to play with, YAY!!! I love being an Auntie.
About my daughter... I am so not ready for her to be so grown up yet! The week before she out grew all her pants/jeans save 1 pair, so we had to go shopping, it was our first shopping trip in ladies wear stores and not childrens. Wow, even with only buying sale items it was pricy. and again last night was reminded that she isn't so little anymore. She is in scouts and the group went swimming, according to the leaders wh are chummy with my husband she and a certain boy were prfectl content to be off on their own chatting, rather than with the group. O_O oh no!! NOT BOYS!! I realize I am likely panicking ridiculously, and such, but I don't want her to be growing up! I'm not old enough to have a daughter almst as tall as my mom with a budding chest... OK damn it, I guess I am, but I don't have to like it. Darn kids.

Stuff I have made with Elaines beads lately

2008-11-14T07:44:00.000-08:00

As promised earlier in the week I have photos of the jewelry I made with Tooaquarius' beads at the craft show in Calgary.

I think I could work with her beads exclusively for a long time and still be inspired and happy with them. With all the texture, colours and shapes she does in her beads, making jewelry with them is a breeze, they need very, very simple accompanying beads. I am amazed that there's no paint involved. 12 years of skill and practice really show through.

I might be keeping the ice blossom set seen below. and am considering keeping the Coffee Break set to the left if it doesn't sell before Christmas.

My new addiction. Somehow, I don't even feel guilty :)

Calgary

2008-11-10T12:44:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I made the journey to Calgary (5 hr drive) To do a craft sale with Elaine of Tooaquarius. Sadly the show was poorly managed and co-ordinated. The information I got on the show was to expect thousands of people, 2 fireplaces would be lit, a Canadian idol singer would perform at some point and so on.
Ok there were VERY few people there at all. I always bring my beads, wire and hooks, and a good thing or i would have collapsed of boredom. I actually left with MORE inventory than what I arrived with. So i don't have to make anything for next weeks show in Eastend. Elaines beads are an awesome distraction for any jewelry maker, and i made some lovelies with my time. Will post pics later, honest!!
The show manager forgot 2 of the vendors, and so the fireplaces were blocked to make room forthe overbooked show. which also meant we were crowded in . The singer never arrived either. Also glad I brought lighting, it was rather dim in the room we were in.

So show wise it stank. But I got to have a good visit with a friend, our daughters who are also good friends got to spend 2 days, and 1 night together. (my hubby watched them at his brothers house during the day and the girls had a sleepover at E's.) And I got to play with a bunch of fabulous beads. I'll be postings pictures later. And we got to eat at some wonderful places. If you are ever in Calgary and want a fab breakfast go to Coras! OMG the crepes are HUGE and are the most yummy crepes i have ever had! So there is was the good the bad and the yummy.

Moose Jaw

2008-10-26T13:59:00.001-07:00

Yet another craft show has come and gone. And once again I take a loss, the other repeat vendors of this show say it's the worst they've ever seen it, attendance is low. Lotta people very interested in my craft and comments od "oh, really? Wow I've never heard of crocheting wire. I can barely crochet yarn, wow!" and then they look/ inspect half the table, call friends over to look, ooh and aahs and then they walk off. All of this is not making me confidant that i can make a go of a big show in Calgary coming up.
So, spendmore money I don't earn to buy another table, lighting, and such and plan to get fabric and props to up the ooh and aah value of my displays... am I crazed? likely. How long will Icontinue to pour money I don't have into this? can't say for sure. R says to keep trying next year as well. we shall see. I'm too stubborn to to just quit. plus what else am I gonna do with all this wire and beads?
But I did manage to do some great trades for Christmas gifts, including an autographed print from Glen Scrimshaw. It was a very warm and happy atmosphere, just no-one is feeling Christmasy yet coupled with the economy doesn't lend to a great selling show I guess.

So the next 2 weeks will be busy making stuff to fill the new tables and refiningmy displays!

Saskatoon Craft Show

2008-10-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

Well I am back from the weekend show. I took a loss, which is sad, my first big show and all. However I am told by the other sellers who have done it before that this year had the worst attendance they've ever seen. I am told that usually it's so busy you don't get to sit down. I got to make a few things. I got great comments from the people who did come, pretty much no-one had ever heard of crocheting wire. A lot of, "hey whomever, you gotta come see this, this woman crochetes WIRE!" If i hadn't needed the sitter and travel expense, I would have barely made my expenses. But I only brought in enough to cover the booth fee and sitter. oh well let's hope the other shows work out better for me. I did have an interesting visitor, a very drunken woman who knocked my scarves over, grabbed at my bracelet display and generally scared me. She then went to the booth behind me and my neighbor and nearly fell through the curtain upsetting said neighbors display. Where was security? The other intersting note was that the other neighbors were from my home town, and her little brother was a rather nice boy I crushed on a little. You never know who you'll meet at these sales!
Got a few pics of my display here, note that I crocheted my sign too!

AHHH!!

2008-10-14T16:02:00.000-07:00

I am feeling slightly frustrated just now and decided to drop everything and chill for a minute.

My first BIG craft show is in 3 days, so I am very busy trying to get ready. Hubby has called me 6 times today, "can U do this?, That? and don't forget to other thing" Kids had today off school, so it's been " M-O-O-om, can I do this, ot that, I'm hungry, why can't i eat a school snack now? I'm bored, and I need this that and some other stuff!" AHH, no, you are grounded again remember, then you should have eaten lunch, because I said so, you have an entire basement full of toys go play with them!

So it is now 5:00 I made 2 necklaces and matching earrings all day. Go me, I quit, not worth the effort. Now i get to find the step-kids stuff they need for tomorrow, and make sure all kids have clothes for the week, do the dishes, call the sitter, mend the sign that the kittens climbed (NOT happy) and TRY to get the damned sewing machine to hem my table cloth so I can iron it. make up a things I need to bring to the craft show list, and start packing said list up.

Why doesn't the laundry fairy visit my house?

Not the blog I wanted to post for the week, but there it is the life of a SAHM crafting addict.

Yahoo!!

2008-10-10T12:58:00.000-07:00

Busy day today, go here, go there do this. my etsy shop just sold over $300.00 US, which is about 340 Canadian I think, (have to check the Paypal. ) So i am thrilled, did the happy dance and everything. The buyer is Canadian which is even better and a return shopper which is even more great! I will have a lot more crocheting to do now to prep for Craft shows coming up.

I will be in Saskatoon on the 17th and 18th of this month, and in Moose Jaw on the 24-25th. then i make a big journey to Calgary(AB) for the 7th and 8th of Nov and the 15th I'll be in little old Eastend. Phew!

looking out the window i am seeing a lot of snow. SNOW!! veryone knows it isn't supposed to snow until halloween night!! Sheesh, silly weather.

In the begining....

2008-10-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I decided to make the move and become a blogger. Decisions decisions, domains, friends, creditcard useage, websites, fees, GoDaddy, blah blah blah! Makes my head spin. So I am going to try it here again. I had one almost a year ago and poof, after a couple weeks, it suddenly refused to recognise me. I waited a few days thinking it was a system thing, nope. And I can't use the name I had for it either, so it must still exist somewhere out there all alone and unreachable. So sad.

I don't have time for a really thoughtful entry today, kids, creations to create, supper, laundry, bedtime ect tomorrow, maybe. Tweek my settings and all that boring techy crap.