Starting to get my life back

I know that some of you have wondered where I've been and why I have not been diligent in my swaps. Well here it is in a nut shell. With one daughter getting married, one in college, another one starting college in Aug. and another one starting in 2 years I found myself in the unfortunate position of giving up my days and finding a real job....with a paycheck.
We celebrated my daughters wedding on Oct. 9th and I started the new job on the 11th. I know, no rest for the weary. A couple week later my husband had a severe allergic reaction to some dye given him for a CT scan. Buyer Beware this could be Hazardous to you Health. He looked like someone had dipped him in a vat of acid. After 3 weeks of pain, sleepless night, and eventually his whole body peeling he returned to work. That was the week before Thanksgiving. I prepared our wonderful feast here because he still could not travel. We where thankful to have him on the road to recovery. Then Christmas came upon us. I'm not complaining but boy does this job put a cramp in my style. I had no gifts made or bought. I leave the house at 5:30 am and return at 5:30 pm with hungry children, husband, and dog waiting for the much anticipated evening meal to appear. Needless to say my art room was very lonely without me. Every time I had to go in there for something I could hear the walls saying "Come back to us, we need to inspire you to create something." Now that this year has come to an end, I'm looking forward to finding some time to do the things that make my soul sing. I'm dedicating every Sunday to church and art. So if I have flaked on you in a swap I am in deed very sorry. I hope you will understand and accept my sincere apology. If you have been following me and I've given you nothing new to see, I apologize, stay tuned for some wonderful things in January. I hope everyone has a wonderful Happy New Year. If you're going out please drive safely, if you can't drive safely stay where you are. Remember you are loved.

Beach Babes

I found this great shadowbox at Goodwill and couldn't wait to do something with it. Not bad for 97cents. You can get the best stuff at Goodwill and their prices can't be beat. I always buy costume jewelry there to break up for componants. I picked up the shells on the outer banks of North Carolina and the paper came from Graphic 45. If you like vintage stuff you should check them out. If you like this see my etsy store, it's kneadtobead.

Clay and Stone Focal Bead

I was experimenting with some sculptural elements and a piece of jasper (I think) If anyone knows what this stone really is please tell me. I knew when I purchased it but I've forgotten. Even though it was labor intensive I had fun with it. I'd like to try another when I find the time.

Halloween ATC

With fall in the air and Halloween just around the corner I wanted to make something a little scary for an ATC swap that I just did. I like making ATC from polymer clay cuz they're very sturdy and last forever. They also ship very well. We all know how gently the postal service handles our beloved art projects...not. So I hope you find some inspiration from my scary skull ATC.

Folded polymer beads

I was playing with some clay and trying some new techniques with ranger ink and mica powders. I thought I would share some of the beads I made. They have a lot of visual texture but the beads are as smooth as glass.

Textured Skinny

I recently joined a swap called "It's all about texture". This was one of my favorite swaps. My daughter saw me working on it and wanted to help. It gave me a great opportunity to teach her how to make fabric beads from muslin. She had a blast, and I loved watching her. I think we'll always remember the night we made fabric beads together. I stamped the glossy cardstock with resist ink then sectioned it off and blotted each section with different colors. I wrapped a pipe cleaner with fibers and glued that down. I used the beads my daughter and I made. There was paper towel under the fabric when we dyed it and the paper towel looked so cool I used some of that too. I also used some clear microbeads and the face in the upper corner is polymer clay. This is one that I almost don't want to give away. I just hope the receiver likes it.

How to make a hollow structure from an egg shell

Today I'm sharing a polymer clay technique using an eggshell and good old fashion vinegar. You can make a beautiful lattice structure to embellish on the outside or leave an opening to decorate the inside of you structure. I'll run through the steps with the visual following.
1. Blow out the inside of the egg. This works better if you stick a skewer inside the eggshell and scramble the egg a little before blowing it out the other end.
2. Decorate the egg shell with conditioned polymer clay. Leave enough open space to achieve a nice open look. Make sure you create a base for your structure to stand.
3. Bake at the manufacturers recommended time and temp. You can cushion your structure on polyester fiber fill or stand it on its base.
4. If you want to add more embellishment to the outside of your structure you can do it at this time, then rebake.
5. Gently tap a few holes in the shell of your egg and completely submerge your egg in apple cider vinegar. Old butter containers work great for this. You don't want to seal the lid but you do want to put a little bit of weight on the top to hold the egg shell under.
6. Let the structure stay submerged for about 3 days. When you take it out a lot of the eggshell will be dissolved. It will look rather gross. Rinse you structure and chip any remaining shell off with an x-acto blade.
You now have a wonderful open structure to embellish however you want.

Citra Solve and National Geographic... A match made in heaven

I recently tried a technique of painting citra solve on national geographic pages causing the ink to bleed. I came up with some really cool backgrounds for ATCs. Check this out.

Fairie Necklace

I spent the week end in Boston with a group of music students. Although it was an enjoyable trip I missed my beads and my paper so today I played with beads all day. This is a pewter charm with crystals. These purple crystals are some of the prettiest I've seen. I've loved spending the day in my art room but alas the kids are due home any minute and then it's back to the mom thing.

Playing with collage

I've spent the last couple days getting my hands dirty with collage. I've been doing a lot of straight forward stuff lately so it was really fun to let loose a little bit. Here are two of the ATC's that came out of last nights fun and games.

This one's for you Andrew

When I woke up this morning I didn't even want to move. Somehow a nasty cold snuck up on me through the night and caught me completely unaware. I had been looking forward to wirefest all week and the mind was so ready but the body was weak, literally. The longer I laid on the couch the will to move took over, and I forced myself into the shower. I knew if I could keep moving I'd find myself at wirefest....and I was right. To make a long story short I met a charming young man named Andrew. We had a lovely conversation, I bought some beautiful pendents, and he gave me an ATC. Just that meeting was enough of a reason to get up today, so thank you Andrew. My gift to you is this wonderful Korean Salmon recipe. I hope you find it as delicious as I do.


2 lb salmon fillet
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp oriental sesame oil
1 tsp. vegetable oil
1 quarter-size slice fresh ginger, peeled and finely minced
2 green onions, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
1 Tbsp. sugar

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over both sides of fish and let marinate in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Cook on grill until done, about 5 min on each side. Enjoy

Paint Sample ATC

Hey it's been awhile since I posted anything so here is a new ATC using a paint sample card from home depot. It was fun to use it for something totally different than a sample card.

Gwenivere

This is one of my favorite ATC's so far. It's very simple but the componants came together so well. I just love it.

Some Valentines Cards to Warm Your Heart