Gift from TANZANIA and NEW projects

Isn't this bracelet gorgeous? My friend, Terry Ross, just got back from Tanzania, and she sent me this bracelet. There are ceramic beads, bone beads and glass beads....and you know, I LOVE BEADS! Thank you SOOO MUCH, Terry!
This morning I turned on the shower and THIS came out of the drain. This doesn't happen very often, but our bathtub, bathroom sink, kitchen sink and washer all drain outside as grey water.
This is a small one, about 3 inches....silly me didn't turn the light on, and I was so excited to take the picture that I took a pretty bad one....but here he is:

...and being the macabre person that I am, I ran outside and got my large canister of alcohol and my hemostats and I picked him up and dropped him in. In less than a minute he was a goner.......but for some reason his legs and antennae turned blue! I thought of coating him with silver clay slip - but I knew all the details would be lost....so......I RESINED HIM!
Into a bracelet mold! HAHA! Gross, huh? It is not done yet...it needs more resin and maybe some river rocks or glass balls or something.....I'll post again when it is done.......
...and here are the beginnings of doll heads.....works in progress

this one is polymer clay covered with paper

this one is paper clay....when it is dry it will get covered with cloth and then painted..

and this one needs to be sanded and then painted....
i have also been working on a steampunk goth cross necklace...this is what goes in the center of the cross that is made from 3 bullet casings.

...and below are the sides of the cross ...they go under the wings....

These above casings are actually from used bullet blanks (that I picked up off the set of Jericho ages ago), which is why the edges are flared....


PLEASE be sure you leave me your EMAIL ADDRESS ...otherwise I can't thank you for visiting my blog!

Other bloggers GREAT Blog Candy!

here are some cool sites with GREAT blog candy! check them out!
Priscillastyles

or look at this one! it's from junesartyretreat, it is a HUGE giveaway!...

...or how about this big box of stickers from bonniebleax?
...or you could win this great bundle....from artisticstamper

PLEASE be sure and leave me your EMAIL ADDRESS ...otherwise I can't thank you for visiting my blog!

Diary Project Pages

These are the two pages I did for the Diary Project, 2010.
If you would like to do a page, there are still a few days available! Click HERE.
You can click on my pages themselves to see them bigger. The diary will be printed in 2 sizes, or available downloadable so you can have it printed yourself in any size you would like.....

OCTOBER 31st

MAY 15th

"Buried Treasure" - a blast from the past.....

Seth, of The Altered Page, recently challenged bloggers to post a "Buried Treasure"..that is, a favorite post(s) unearthed from the past. You can visit his site on July 23rd to see a list with links to all of the bloggers who are participating in the challenge. I am posting today, because of the time zone differences......
So here is mine, it is from January, 08 and at the time I was posting about things I was grateful for, each day.....

Thursday, January 10, 2008
Gratitude Day 3

I woke up this morning while it was still dark and immediately my thoughts went to gratitude. yeah! Maybe it will become a habit. I started coming up with all kinds of things...but I'll just list one for today...
Today i am very very grateful for ....my childhood.
I truly had an idyllic, blissful childhood. Some of my sisters would disagree (for themselves), but for me it was a childhood made in heaven. I was allowed to be a child for a long long time - I still played with babydolls until I was 13 and I never had a barbie - just not my thing. I've written about this topic before, so this time I thought I'd post part of a round robin book I worked in ages ago. The theme was "childhood" and I wrote and illustrated about my own....
"The House on Bird Avenue"

The closed pages. Each word opens a window with a photograph and explanation...

The pages opened....This is what it says:
I GREW UP IN A RAMBLING 2 STORY 5,000 SQ FT SPANISH STUCCO HOUSE ON 2 ACRES. The house was located in the heart of san jose, calif at the base of the curve in the road. The house itself was set back 50 feet from the street, with a 3 ft high white 2 foot thick concrete white fence that protected the house from the street traffic. (many a night we would hear the screech of tires and the crash of glass as someone once again was driving too fast and missed the curve in the road….but they never could penetrate that fence!)
My sisters and I and our friends would spend hours on that fence playing statues...like the local traffic didn’t think we were really kids standing in awkward positions on the fence as they went by!
The front yard was lined with 100 foot redwood and pine trees. Many a Halloween my mom would string flying witches and ghosts from those trees. My brother built treehouses, 40 feet up in the pines… we also had many water balloon fights from those huge, strong trees. Mama had an extensive garden with giant colorful peonies, snowball trees, calla lilies, elephant ears and snap dragons. There were 3 other homes in the neighborhood that grew champion irises, so of course our yard had gorgeous hybrid irises of every color everywhere, compliments of our neighbors!
The front yard also had a fish pond with tadpoles and fish and lily pads…..and the front door was placed deep on a brick terrace.
This house was a child’s dream! There was always something to do! In the main backyard we had more huge pine trees for climbing and a swing set. ..and there was a great mulberry tree full of fruit every year.
My dad put in a 20” doughboy pool, and then when I was in high school, he added an addition to the house and put in a huge built-in swimming pool.
The backyard had a detached 4 car garage that my parents set up as a rec room, with a billiard table. My dad built me huge extensive breeding cages, and I raised rats and guinea pigs. I loved those animals! My mom sold them once a month, but it wasn’t until I was much older that I found out she was selling them to Stanford University for research!
Many of the rats would escape from those cages, and my mom adopted them as pets and they would run wild in the garage...(she would feed them in their own dishes everyday).
We also had lots of dogs, and rabbits and even chickens, once. But no cats. Mama hated cats!
The back yard was fenced separately. It had avocado, peach, apple, cherry, apricot, persimmon, orange, lemon, walnut, and almond trees. My mother also grew artichokes and rhubarb year round. Once a year my grandfather would come and plant corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans and potatoes. The potatoes never grew!
…and to top it all off, one half of the “2nd backyard” as we called it, was naturalized with yellow daffodils – still my favorite flower.
Our house was a kid magnet! You could bring home anyone you wanted and not have to ask permission. My mom never fed less than 20, every night…..when I was in high school I had no less that 5 different classmates move in – from 2 weeks to one year - everyone was welcome in our house. Everyday after school my mama had beans and home made tortillas and rice pudding or Italian cookies for us to munch on…wednesday was always spaghetti night...
But- we were not spoiled…..we didn’t have a lot of money and I thought my dad was the cleverest man alive, the way he built things and recycled things….and my mom sewed all of our clothes and canned our food and we sold the fruit and nuts…and she did lots of volunteer social work for the church and our community, and we did volunteer work, too! (mama would have me babysit very old and infirmed women over night so that their caretakers could take a night off – very scarry in their old houses…one old lady made me snort snuff with her – I was 12!) …40 % of any money we earned had to be given back to the household…and we all had jobs early in age….
My mom loved fires….and would pack all 8 of us kids into the old station wagon to follow the firetruck. I still remember the fireman saying to my mom – please, Mrs. Rinaldo, take your children home !
We had a crazy woman named Millie, who lived in our basement. Mom had hired her to help with the ironing., but she never did a lick of work…
mom didn’t have the heart to throw her out in the street, so she made her an apartment in the basement and Millie would bang all night on the plumbing pipes and berate the air. But she’s another story….
the house was always chaotic and noisy and wonderful. Mama made mud pies with us and sang to us, and made funny faces at us that made us laugh. She told us great stories and had an incredible imagination which she shared with all of her children…. I could go on and on with my childhood memories…I was very lucky…….
My childhood was a joy !

New Pics....

Beach day!

Good 'ol Kealia beach! water was blue blue blue, but a bit choppy...large areas were posted no swimming due to rip tides......
.....a couple of pairs of earrings made as gifts....

...pearl crosses, fine silver wire, sterling silver and garnet earwires....

polymer clay, patinaed brass leaf, fine silver wire, amethysts and sterling silver earwires....

...some more pics from the fairy bamboo forest....

...and a few more beach photos....

PLEASE leave me your EMAIL ADDRESS ...otherwise I can't thank you for visiting my blog!

Detour - Kauai Style

Yesterday i went into town to take care of some needed shopping, etc. I was just leaving Walmart, when Lance called me to tell me he needed some simple green. It was 11 am. So, I circled around and went back to Walmart. 20 minutes later, on my way home, I turned onto the main Highway (actually, the ONLY road that goes back to the north side of the island to where i live )...and found it to be bumper to bumper traffic. The local radio station said that a 2 car collision was up ahead that had happened at 11:06....and that both sides of the highway had been shut down. So me and a zillion other locals and tourists just sat...and sat...and sat. There is only ONE road out of the main city of Lihue and it snakes following the ocean all the way to where there are no more roads - Haena. I had the Garden News with me, so I read that....police cars raced by one way, ambulances the other...about 1/2 hour later, cars started to slowly move....until we got to the golf course next to the highway...then we were diverted onto a paved and/or dirt maintenance road through the golf course, and around the accident and then back onto the highway. Unfortunately I didn't remember to pull out my camera at first, so there are no shots of the puzzled golfers we drove through.....but just look at that blue sky!







PLEASE leave me your EMAIL ADDRESS if you comment....otherwise I can't thank you for visiting my blog!

A GIFT! ...plus.....Power Tools in Reorganized Shop, New Project

Recently I posted on one of my groups about my love of using old broken rosary pieces in my jewelry. My friend Kathy McElroy asked me if I would like some old rosary pieces that had belonged to her father. Of course i said yes.....now previously, Kathy had inquired about my bird beads. So - we decided to do a swap. I sent my Kathy some bird beads and a few other small arty things and Kathy sent me the rosary parts....and lots and lots of wonderful rusty metal.....and some vintage dominoes, vintage buttons, tart plate, silver beads, tie tac, belt buckles, lock parts, coins, and on and on!..I mean just LOOK at what she sent me!
I am overwhelmed!.......I, obviously, got the better end of this deal!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU,KATHY!
and then, kathy also sent me one of her gorgeous Jewelry Hangers, made from a door knob, crystal and escutcheon(?).

Isn't it lovely? It is about 9 inches or so.....and has a clear crystal door knob as well as a large hanging cut crystal......
Here is a picture of some of the brass Winchester shotgun shell brass bezels, fresh out of the tumbler. Some of the centers have slipped out, but they pop right back in!

Today I went into town to get some grocery shopping done, and when I got home and went into the shop I saw that lance had mounted some of my power tools for me, for a surprise!

To the left is the polisher/grinder ( I have never used it...soon, i promise!), in the center is my NEW mitre/chop saw- that I have had for almost 2 years and was too intimidated to use..., and on the right is the drill press. I LOVE my drill press. Underneath is the tumbler....

Here's a closer view of the chop saw. Now i don't have to spend forever cutting tubes with a tube cutter...this cuts through metal tubing AND solid bar stock (with a different blade it cuts wood)....and it's EASY PEASY! WHO KNEW?

This is my glass work station - glass grinder, glass saw.....

and this is the heat press, my torch, and my little kiln

...this shows you the 3 work stations that are actually in one small area...
...and BELOW, shows you the rest of my reorganized shop area.

...above, the bead station

This is my craft/painting/general purpose table. My printers and computer are here too.
I keep everything covered because we get a lot of moist salt air...and BUGS!
...please note the junk stacked up in the left corner ready to be sorted...later. For now it will be put in a rubbermaid container....
...and below is looking back the other way.....


Lots more shelves to still clean out, junk to get rid of....but at least i can walk through it and i can see the counter tops!
I am SO SPOILED....and blessed!