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Monday, December 31, 2007

Multi-tasking used to be easy...







Back when I had "real" jobs...I was an excellent employee. I could answer phones, ship, receive, take special orders, buy, balance the books, train employees, make schedules, meet deadlines, do repairs, etc. I rarely called in sick. I never left a job undone. My desk was very clean. I took notes, I learned.

Now, since I've become a full-time artist...I can only focus on a few things at a time. I'm easily distracted. I'm a bit irresponsible now.

My husband wants me to make more money...and rightly so. He wants me to go out and find a "real" job. The reason that I quit my last job, was that I was bored. I wanted more. I needed to be creative.

So, now here I am, at the beginning of a new year. I've decided that the only way to bring in income and continue doing what I love is to teach others about polymer clay. I hope I'm good at it...

Can I really do this teaching gig? I'm starting small by teaching here at home. Probably only about 5 students or so until I get comfortable.

I suppose it would be a good start to get my "studio" aka dining room cleaned and organized. I'm not sure why I enjoy showing you what a slob I am! But, I have barely been in there in the past two months. What with Rudy's eye problems and surgeries (detached retina and cataract) and the boyz home for Christmas and New Year's, I haven't been able to get much done.

But, I've made a definite resolution to make 2008 my year to dive into all of these things I've been only thinking about for so long...and make this a "real" job! :o)

Happy New Year!!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Happy Holidays




Here is a sweet picture of my little niece, Angela from a few years ago...trying on all of her new edible makeup ;o)



Wishing you all a J0yful, Peaceful and a Beautiful Holiday full of Love and Hope...

Saturday, December 22, 2007

St. Nicholas Ornament


Just found this on etsy this morning. I may get it, if none of you beat me to it :o)
Hope you all have a Merry one!

Friday, November 30, 2007

Ullabenulla and the Castle


Do any of you ever visit Ulabenulla's blog? Here she talks about a very cool studio/shop in Berkley, CA. The Castle in the Air is probably the coolest website I have ever seen :o)

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Carol Simmons and Cynthia Tinapple


Here is a pic of two good friends that make a yearly trek to Santa Fe. They eat New Mexican food, visit Santa Fe galleries (where they saw work of Ford/Forlano and Cynthia Toops) and clay together. What could be better?

Carol Simmons was featured on Cynthia's blog Polymer Clay Daily showing her beautiful canework and how she morphs one cane into a multitude of designs. Her pieces are just lovely...look at the cool pendant on her neck. But, she needs a website so that we can partake of more of her incredible work...so get with it Carol!

I was so lucky to be able to meet up with these incredible artists and lovely women. You can see the pic of all of us including the oh so talented Dayle Doroshow, on my flickr site.

Friday, November 23, 2007

oooh, this looks like a great book :o)


on Amazon. I think I'll put it on my wish list :o)

One of the reviews that I read:

Not even 25 pages in and I had to stop reading and make notes on ideas I had for art pieces. This book has some kind of voo doo spell that gets your art mojo flowing like crazy. What I love about this book is that there are no "instructions to make your own identical artwork" but plenty of art talk that sets your mind on fire with ideas for your own art. I'm having the best time with it. I should also add that the paper, colors, even fonts are gorgeous and the highest quality. A real pleasure to pick up.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Speaking of recycling...and the Holidays.

I've been recycling Christmas cards for about 5 years now.


Save all of the cards that you receive this year and cut off the fronts of them...you can use those neat scissors to get a deckeled edge if you want. Now, get your handy-dandy whole punch and some thin ribbon. I think you can figure out the rest.



Today, I hung one, and only one lone Christmas decoration.


I do this every year before Thanksgiving...then on Black Friday when every one else is shopping, I'm usually at home seeing what other decorations can come out and play. But I will have lots and lots of Floral Ribbon Chokers up on my site for Cyber Monday.

Hope you are thankful for all that you have. I know I am. Have a great Turkey day :o)

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Monday, November 12, 2007

New photo box...not so new pieces...


I'm trying out my new photo box and lights in hopes that the pictures will be good enough for Maggie and Lindly's color book. I think they're pretty good. There are a few more on my flickr site.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Amy Butler fabric and rubarb on etsy...


Well, I've gone and done it...I've joined etsy. It's going to take some time to get some things listed in my shop, but I'm there at least...and I can see I'll be spending alot of time there. While surfing on etsy, I found a beautiful bags and purses in a fabric that I am totally in love with...Amy Butler.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Master's Workshop in Seattle


My friend Bobbi has been buying beads from me for a long time also, like ShaLayne (who I'm a bit worried about because she lives in Poway, CA and I've not heard from her since the fires).

Bobbi sells beautiful jewelry, and this morning I saw a number of my pieces in her ebay store if you're interested in gifts or pieces for your collection. She even has a necklace starting at just 99 cents!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Donna beads...split pods

More pod designs from Donna Kato

ShaLayne's bracelet


This is the first bracelet that I've seen with my beads used. ShaLayne has been buying from me since the beginning...she does beautiful work! She also has an etsy shop. Jael blogged about the bracelet here...thanks Jael :o)

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Albaquirquie

Albaquirquie
Albaquirquie,
originally uploaded by MikeJonesPhoto.
Here is what it looked like this morning over the city...hopefully the weather will be this nice when Jana is here next week...

Balloon Fiesta pics on Flickr

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Floral Pendants





Here are a few that I made for the festival last weekend. Hope you like :o)

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

GoFest weekend...





had lots of entertainment (mariachis, flamenco dancers, music), many colorful people and all in all, was a great time. I'm sure I'll do the show next year, this has the potential to become a mainstay festival for downtown Albuquerque. Notice the booth in the background behind one of the mariachis.

I have more pictures on my flickr site, although not the best I have ever taken *g*

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Ready to start...



stringing...yuk :o(

I'm not good at it...I'm very indecisive, taking apart...putting back together. Thank goodness I got a good night's sleep.

Friday, September 21, 2007

Same old...


I'm just doing way too many of these, but since they sold well at the last show...I don't have much choice.

I must have ADD. I just get tired of making the same kind of thing much quicker than I ever used to. I find myself getting bored much easier. And...believe it or not, now I feel I must do some beads that need sanding. I guess I'm just wanting to feel the silkiness of hand sanded, hand buffed beads.

Have a great weekend all of you...

Friday, September 14, 2007

Didn't take me long...


to get tired of the pearly look...I'm back to more of the graphic/bold designs. I think the name Southwestern Orchids has stuck. I loved looking at Donna Kato's new work, so maybe that's what called me back to some black and white with intense color.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Loving the color...



I posted the autumn floral set already at PCC, but since I love how they turned out, thought I should get them here on my blog too. The new multi-colored set I finished last night in between watching the US open. We may go to the NM Wine Festival today, so not sure if I will be at the clay table...

Monday, August 27, 2007

Perfect pearls on Black


Made these last night...I used Perfect pearls again with my own home made textures. The copper blue center one is a little sloppy...I was tired, but wanted to finish these.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Sigh of Relief...



I made canes...thought about colors...nearly drove myself crazy. Then after working with rubbing texture to see what kind of effects I could create, I was "oh so happy" when I saw these cool drag lines on the middle floral bead. The big one in the center of the blue/black ones. See them? Anyhow, so I went merrily along...cured these and set out to make more using that same texture and making more drag lines.

Bing! Grabbed them out of the oven and was unhappy with the shiny surface...I forgot that straight Kato can make stuff very shiny. So, then I was sad again for a day, worrying about ways to get rid of the shine. I think someone along the way (Jana probably) told me to bake them in cornstarch to avoid the shine. But that just sounded like a big mess.

So, to make a long story as short as possible, instead of worrying...like I do...I worry a lot my kids tell me (*g*)...I decided to us the shine to my advantage. Which worked out soooo much better. Sparkle is supposed to be "in" anyway this fall and what better way to sparkle and shine but with perfect pearls and texture? And I can use virtually any cane that happens to be sitting on the clay table. Happy again...no worries... :o)

Monday, August 20, 2007

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Beginnings of a cross...


I love churches and crosses...and no, I'm not religious...I'm spiritual *g*

At the NM Arts and Crafts Fair, the artist next to me (Dee Sanchez who does incredible floral and scenic paintings; I spoke about her in an earlier blog entry) told me how much she likes crosses. She says artists who make them out of anything (tin, wood, ceramic) always seem to sell out. And, I want one of her paintings, so I'm hoping we can do a trade. This is the beginnings of my first cross...which will be small.

Oh, and Tejae...the texture yesterday is from a basket :o)

Monday, August 13, 2007

Texture junkie


Wow...two posts in one week. I'm on a roll...

I ran around the house and yard today looking for texture. I had no idea I would love this one so much...can you guess what it is?

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Finally back at the clay table




I spent most of the past week cleaning (sort of), organizing (again, kinda) and making blends (lots of them, but I still need more).

As soon as I clean the table off, it becomes a major mess with only about a 12 inch space to work in. That's what I do, I crowd my area with too much and then it's nearly impossible to get any work actually finished. I was going for a bigger piece but ended up playing it safe with these few floral pendants, although they're a bit bigger than the earlier ones. I think they look like crazy southwestern orchids or something.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Spanish Market in Santa Fe





Rudy and I went to Santa Fe to see Spanish Market. We hadn't been in years...I'm pretty sure it is was one of our first dates together around 20 years ago. The highlight was seeing the Miraculous Staircase.

The whole show was beautiful except for an excruciating cramp that had me on the curb in agony for 15 minutes. Rudy rubbed my foot and calf as passers-by joked if they could be next...! It was painful, funny and embarrassing. But still a fun day :o) There are more pictures on my flickr site.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Sanding paint off...







Doing this has passed my mind more than once. Finally yesterday as I was sanding and buffing a few lentils, I noticed a some lonely beads sitting there. These had been antiqued about 6 months ago. Here are what they look like with the surface slightly sanded with 1000x and then buffed. I love the look! Thought we should look at some of the same beads (in necklaces) without sanding and buffing the surface paint off. I'm looking forward to trying this with different colors of base clay and different colors of paint.

Since taking Donna's workshop and getting her book, I've purchased a heat gun, some petal point ink pads and Liquid Polyclay. I want to try some different things with the floral beads.

Oh, and this post is for Susan...who thinks I'm totally ignoring my clay ;o)