Catching Up

Well, it's safe to say I've been slacking on the blog updating. Not that I haven't been creating stuff, just too busy to remember to post! I'll spare you the details of my crazy life, but here's a bunch of images of what I've been up to in the past few months:

Mom & I redid my room & put new flooring down (it use to be purple).

Inspired by something my pastor's wife does, I created my own 'Blessing Ring' - a place to keep cards and notes of encouragement.

Helped with my church's Trunk or Treat. My trunk was "The Book of Kells." And yes, I free-handed those posters you see (I'll try and post detail shots later.)

Made a bead-weaved amulet pouch to hold my candle (battery powered) for Emmaus candlelight services - so my hands are free to hug and do sign language.

Had fun capturing the local squirrels feasting on the pumpkins we left on our steps.

Made a Santa basket in basket-making class.

Lots of time playing with our new Havanese puppy, Ginny. She likes to walk on my back if I'm laying on the floor.

Caroling Cows! Made for a Facebook group I joined called 'Doodle United.' The theme was Christmas.

This is (part of) my title page for my new scrapbook project for the year, One Little Word. My word, by the way, is "go." More on that later.

Covered Bridge Festival

Woo! I'm a little behind in posting - but that's because I've been getting ready/working at the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival. It's a huge local festival here in West Central IN, that involves covered bridges (duh), LOTS of food, and various handmade/other types of goods. For the first time, mom, our friend Leslie and I had a booth! Mom sold pottery and Leslie & I sold jewelry. None of us had ever done something so huge! It was 10 days of beautiful weather, dust, friendly folks, and yummy food. Overall, a pretty good experience, though we really didn't sell as much as we thought we would.

Here's Sam (Leslie's husband), Leslie, me, & my mom in front of our booth.

Also, during one of our slow mornings - I drew a 'Covered Bridge Festival Cow.' She's ready to go with her earmuffs, thick hoodie, bag, shopping cart, and lemon shake-up. About the only thing she's missing is either a baby or a dog in a stroller. And I'm not kidding about the dog.

Silversmithing

Finally! Photos of some of my silver creations.

Art Clay is Magical

Art Clay, (a type Precious Metal Clay-PMC), is a special type of clay that once fired, turns into .999 fine silver. (There are also copper, bronze, and gold types.) This was my second time trying my hand at it, and I will admit I was a little too ambitious in my designs. And I had never tried stones or the syringe type of clay, so I ran into problems. I managed to save all the pieces (they all almost broke or did break at some point). They ended up not looking like my original design idea. Not super happy with the rings, pretty happy with the butterfly. But, art clay is pretty cool anyway, no matter what the finished piece looks like. It's clay that turns into silver after all!

Zulu Ladder Chain

Giving a brand new stitch (to me anyway) a try. Worked up pretty quickly, especially for a tubular stitch. The stitch is from the book "Zulu Inspired Beadwork" by Diane Fitzgerald. I may have to make more of these. : )

Wedding Gifts (aka Top Secret Projects Revealed!)

As I said in the previous post, I recently helped celebrate the marriage of my BFF Amanda to her husband Craig. As my wedding present to them, I made a wedding scrapbook where they could put some of the photos from their special day. It was a lot of work - and an interesting challenge (I had to scrapbook without having any of the photos!), but sooo worth it. On top of that, I made Amanda a tiara to wear in the ceremony. It came out beautifully. (and was actually a lot simpler to make than I thought it would be!) Anyway - here are some photos of both gifts:

The tiara:

A few of the scrapbook pages (there were 28 spreads total!):

What can I say, I love making things for the people I love! : )

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Healy!