2nd Half 2012 Gift Wrapping Contest

Okay lets see if I can get this done today.  Heather, Amanda, Sarah and Lily are all here for a "craft day" , they are down in the basement making "things".  They were going to do it at Amanda's house but Amanda said "let's go to Grandma's, she has more stuff."

Back to the gift wrapping. Where did I leave off?.... oh yeah,  Eugene is up next.  He drew Nick"s name.  Nicholas has started collecting  old record albums,  Eugene got him several and wrapped them in a  antique Victrola style package. Pretty clever don't you think?

For a closer look click on the photos.

Nick has problems wrapping his gift for Roger.  He knew what he wanted to do but couldn't get it to work..... finally it came together.  Roger is a Batman fan so Nick wrapped his gift as a Bat signal reflector thingy.... there is a light inside and it  makes a Batman shadow image on the ceiling or wall.  When were kids. back in the olden days,  we use to use a flash light and our hands to make shadow puppets on the wall.... same principle.

Roger and Heather  made a joint gift for Benjamin and Andrea, a wine bottle chandelier .... I will show you how it was wrapped later... Which brings us to Andrea.... her gift was for Cory.   Cory is a soccer fan and also plays soccer.... so his gift has a soccer theme

Cory made a game of his wrapping for Eric.  Eric likes beer and movies and games..... in order to drink a beer he had to guess the actor and the movie..... he was good at the game, by the time he went back to Portland he managed to consume all the beer.

Heather loves all the Cartoon Christmas Specials... her favorites are anything Charlie Brown... Benjamin wrapped her gift in a Snoopy dog house with Snoopy napping on the roof.

Lily immediately confiscated Snoopy, Heather was left with the dog house.  Look at that dirty little face, she was eating cake I think.  I'm guessing poor Snoopy now has a dirty face too.

Eric put a lot of work into wrapping Brandon's gift as a Tardis from Dr Who.....  I've never understood the appeal of Dr Who,  I apparently don't grasp the plot, just seems stupid to me. ( Don't tell Dr Who fans I said that)  Brad and Brandon are both fans. Years ago I knit Brad a Dr Who scarf which he took to college with him and then lost by the side of the road when he was changing a flat tire.  I am now knitting another one and looks like I will have to knit one for Brandon too.    Eric did a good job on the tardis.

Brandon was another last minute guy... Heather and I were beside ourselves worrying he wouldn't get his done but the boy came through. He knew all along what he wanted to do, took him about an hour and I must admit I was impressed.  He went with a Harry Potter books theme for Sarah's gift.

Side view.... each book is filled with art supplies. Sarah was thrilled with the gift and the wrapping.

Drum roll please.....  This years winner in a land slide was our talented daughter Heather.   I mentioned earlier  she and Roger made a joint gift for Benjamin and Andrea.  Roger made a gorgeous wine bottle chandelier... pictured here.  That sucker is really heavy!

and Heather used a Grinch theme to wrap it up...... hey, it just occurred to me by having a joint gift that sneaky Roger managed to wriggled out of wrapping a gift..... and somehow managed to get a vote anyway.  I'm keeping an eye on him next year.

Heather used air dry clay to fashion the face, felt for the hat and shirt and tissue paper for his hands.

We forgot to take a photo of the presentation of the Santa trophy being passed from last years winner, Patty, to the new reigning "best wrapper" Heather.

So that brings to an end another fun Christmas for our family.  We are blessed with great children,  delightful grand children and wonderful in laws... all are warm hearted caring people who enjoy being together.  We are already looking forward to.... and making plans for, 2013.

Thanks for stopping by.

1st Half 2012 Christmas Gift Wrapping Contest

Sorry for the delay, I'm a little late this year. I have a head cold,  my nose is drippy, my eyes are itchy,   and all I want to do is sleep.  Plus our cable service was spotty for the last couple weeks and finally went out completely for 3 days.... let me tell ya, being without the internet and television for 3 days was traumatic... what was the problem? you ask... Squirrels.  Yip thats right, squirrels.  Every couple years they chew though the cable outside.  This is like the 3rd or 4th time the squirrels have snacked on our cable line. You'd think by now the folks at Charter would take my word for it when I say it's squirrels but no, they do not.  We have televisions on all three floors of the house, practically one in every room ... not really but it feels like it when the "technician" on the phone has us running up and down the stairs, my hubby with the phone in one hand and a flashlight in the other, me trailing behind swearing under my breath and grumbling about  "damn squirrels"... checking numbers on the cable boxes, plugging an unplugging, sorting out miles of cable and wires... we were both getting a wee bit cranky, not to mention worn to a frazzle before they finally admit the cable is definitely out and agree to send a "technician" to the house. The first available appointment....not for 2 days, Now that I think of it, it's probably a good thing I had this cold.... the sleeping and cd's of two seasons of "Justified"  kept me sane.  I also had NPR on the radio and games on my iPad....  I tried claying a couple times but I'm not very creative when I'm sneezing and snorting.

Okay enough complaining.... Here goes, I'm ready to show you the gift wrapping. We had our family gathering on the 28th. As some of you know several years ago our family decided to draw names for Christmas and to make it more fun we came up with the "gift wrapping" contest.  Much to my surprise the family, including most of the guys really got into it....the gift wrapping has become much more important than the actual gifts.. we have a couple whiners.... well really just one this year...the two usual grumps did a terrific job.... the lone complainer had plans to do something so disgustingly gross we would ban him from the contest for life.... fortunately the womenfolk got wind of his plan and cut him off at the pass.

First up was the gift Brad wrapped for his dad.  Lynn is a big fan of science fiction or anything to do with space. Part of the gift is the head phones the robot is wearing, there is toy ray gun on his side, the rest of the gifts, all space related are inside his tummy.  There is a light on top of his head and another inside to make his eyes glow.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Lynn's gift was for Patty.  Last year Heather and I pretty much wrapped the gift Lynn gave Eugene...this year I told him he HAD to wrap the present by himself.  He put if off to the very last minute.... and I do mean the last minute. We were suppose to be at Patty's by 6:00PM... at 4 he ran over to Walmart  and this is his "New Years" themed present.  Not bad considering he was threatening to wrap it in a torn Dr Pepper box.

Okay I must admit I was a litte skeptical of  Lynn's gift wrapping abilities so I wrapped a back up gift..... just in case.   Good to know I won't have to worry about it next year....

I did  a "Little Drummer Boy" theme  for the "just in case" gift.  I'm happy I saved all those old hat boxes.... they came in handy this year.

Now this next gift needs some explaining.  Patty's gift is for Brad.  When Brad was 9 Lynn took him and the girls to see the movie "Alien".  Scared the beejesus out of all of them but it terrified Brad and the girls used it to torment him for years to come.   All they had to do to send him screaming from the room was utter the words "In space... no one can hear you scream"  and do the "face hugger" thing with fingers spread over their faces.  There were times when having two older sisters was a bit of a trial for Brad.

 Patty wrapped his gift as the "egg"  in Alien.  She used pipe cleaners to fashioned a "face hugger"  then put it on a spring so it would jump out when he opened the top of the egg or pod.

Next up is this fantastic paper mache tree made for me by my beautiful granddaughter Sarah.  The lovely wall art owl at the bottom is part of my gift and the rest are inside the tree trunk. Click on the photo to take a closer look.... I love it.

My gift for granddaughter Amanda was wrapped as a Fireplace decorated for Christmas.  The little stockings have the names of their two dogs as well as ones for Amanda and Cory.  As you can see it has a blazing fire, nothing like a toasty fire in the fireplace.  I ordered LED lights from Think Geek to make the embers glow but the lights didn't arrive in time.  Amanda and Cory were married in April.... Amanda refused to change her last name.... said "Smith" is to boring. Being from the old school of traditions  I  put a little "Smith" wreath above the mantle.

Zachery loves lizards and skateboarding.  His gift from Amanda is a lamp made from a skateboard all wrapped up  in a lizard designed box.  The lizard has a really neat tail but none of us managed to get a good photo of his rear so you'll just have to take my word for it.  I love the scales, don't you?

Zachary wrapped his gift for his music loving father  as a musical note.  I like it.  Take a look.

That is it for today.... more to come.... I will show the rest as well as the big winner tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.

Wishing You a Merry Chrsitmas

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy Peaceful New Year.

I got my cookies baked... here is a sample.  Rolo Chocolate cookies, Mocha Butter cookies, Peanut butter cookies, Raspberry and Peach Thumbprints, Pecan sandies and red and green sugar cookies in the center.

My candy is all made ...two kind of divinity, fudge and almond butter crunch. 

and my tree is decorated.  My new blue lights are really blue!!  

MY family will be here soon..... well part of it anyway.... we will have our big family get together....... with the gift wrapping contest on the 28th.  I will take lots of photos and  share them with you.  I have warned Cory to behave himself.... between him and Sarah we never know what will happen.  

Have a Merry and a Happy. 

See you next year!! 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Tutorials

Holy cow did you guys know it is just a week until Christmas?..... yikes!! I thought I had at least another couple weeks.   Panic time!! I thought I was doing really good, we put some decorations up yesterday and I have most of my shopping done (mostly on line, those packages better start getting here soon!! ) I was lolly gagging around like I had all the time in the world..... well this is not good....I don't have the tree up and I need to make Christmas cookies and candy.   First I have to go to the store and buy the ingredients to make the cookies and candy.  Every year I make divinity for my aunt..... yes even old people have aunts... I have to get it in the mail..... so why am I sitting here.... beats me, but I am.


My friend Penni Jo has a free tutorial on her website to make these cute Christmas Tree Earrings.  She has more free tutes on her website Best Flexible Molds by Penni Jo ..... and if you need molds hers really are "the best".

I have a "tutes" board on my Pinterest, I  have many tutorial there and never get around to trying them... so for some unknown reason... instead of baking cookies like I should be doing.... I decided this was a perfect time to try a tute.  

As a "Senior citizen" I do a lot of things for unknown reasons..... like why it took me an hour to go to the bathroom.... which almost ended in a disaster... I went upstairs to tinkle... our main floor bathroom is also the laundry room. As I entered the room the dryer shut off,  Being easily distracted from the task at hand... I had to take the clothes out of the dryer before they wrinkled.... I do not like to iron....  it was important to fold or hang the clothes.  Once the dryer was empty I needed to move the next load from the washer to the dryer.  I then had to take the folded and hanging clothes and put them away.  I put the tops and underwear in the drawers and put the shirts on hangers in the closet.  I needed more room in the closet so decided to move some of the summer clothes to the upstairs closet.  While upstairs I saw a couple shirts that I hadn't worn for quite some time.... I've been weeding out old clothes, taking them to the Goodwill.. so I decided to try them on. I did, they looked pretty good, so I headed back down stairs with shirts in hand..... when I reached the first floor I heard the mailman putting mail in the mailbox... so I laid the shirts down and went to check the mail.... when I opened the door the cold air hit me... yikes!!  Uh oh...at that moment it hit me....I had forgotten to tinkle..... so locking my knees together and muttering an apology... along with "please, please, please"  to my bladder  I headed down the hallway doing the "please don't let me wet my pants dance".   Fortunately,  I'm sure you are relived to know..I  made it in time.  

Okay, back to the original thought...  the tute I tried. (Click on the link for the entire tutorial)

She did hers in black and white... I decided to make mine in color. It started out being peach and pink... not sure what happened to the pink.  

Canes from the above.... after reducing.

                                              These two are my favorites.

I made this pin/pendant but I'm not sure I like the white on the border.  I also made a neat mirror image totem bead.... I will show you later.

I also played with metallic clay a bit.  I mixed blue with gold to get the green, added a dark orange to gold for the amber and the third color is mostly gold with just a touch of orange.  I used a couple texture sheets to make the designs.

My favorites always come from the scraps.   After I cut out the usual shapes I used the leftovers to make these.  Now all I have to do is add some beads and join them together.

I like the tropical jungle look of the oval pendant.

That's it for today.  Hope you check out the tutes and give them a try..  I'd love to see what you make.
there are many more I want to try..... right after I bake those cookies and put up the tree...

Thanks for stopping by.

Polymer Clay Fairy Door

Here is the Fairy Door I made for my swap partner, Alenka.  It finally made it to Slovenia, took about 2 weeks, that isn't bad.

I used the door as a display for a matching necklace and earring set.

Here is how the door looks without the jewelry.  The wire loops on top of the door frame are to keep the earrings in place and the holes are for the necklace chain.  I will tweak this a bit next time.

Close up of the necklace and earrings.

This was an experiment.... I plan to make a couple more with matching jewelry and see if they will sell on Etsy.

Alenka said she sat the little door on her desk and it occurred to  me that next time I could make matching pens and use the little pots as pen holders.  I like for things to have a practical use.  What do you think?

Short but sweet today.  I have a few things in the works but I have a head cold, between the coughing and sneezing I nap a  lot.... I should have more to show you in a few days.

Thanks for stopping by.

Completed Jewelry

Happy dancing here.... I almost have my Christmas shopping done!!  I haven't been able to do much claying but I did assemble a few pieces for Heather to add to my Etsy shop.

I sanded and buffed the bead then added coiled wire and seed beads to make this asymmetrical necklace.   To see more views check my shop....Knightwork Studio

I strung this pendant on waxed cord. I used the Skinner blend cane to make matching beads and secured them on the cord with Chinese button knots.

Matching earrings can be worn with the above necklace.... or the one in the next photo.

I strung this pendant on complimentary green faux suede cord and used amber colored wire for the bail and cord ends.

I used a soft peachy tinted faux suede cord to sting this pendant.  I like faux suede cord, I have it in several colors, it is soft, light weight and comfortable to wear..... and it looks good too.

I made a long coiled wire bail to string this raven pendant.  I used silver glass cube beads to even the sides and strung it on a silver color ball chain.

For this necklace I backed the lacy links with variegated polymer clay then joined them with links made with copper beads and amber wire and finished with a antiqued copper chain.....

and then I used one of my flower canes to jazz up the backs..... making it reversible.  I like the front side the best.... Heather likes to back.

All the above jewelry is now listed in my  Etsy shop.... Knightwork Studio

 I used Memory wire, glass beads, matching seed beads and lacy bead caps to make this delicate looking necklace and matching earrings.

 Sheez, can you see the difference in the photos.... Heather took all of the previous photos.... I took these.... even used the same camera, she does a much better job.

Close up of earrings.

Last is pair of cupid earrings. I used cupid charms backed with polymer clay tiles  to make these.

back of earrings

Thats it for today....thanks for stopping by.

Monochromatic Beads and More

I wish I could show you my Fairy Door,  I love how it turned out.... I finished it and sent it on it way last friday.  I will show it to you as soon as I hear from Alenka.  I have no idea how soon that will be,  this is the first time I've mailed a package to Solvenia, but I'm guessing a week to 10 days. We shall see.

I had left over fairy door clay so I made  a few beads and used them to make this necklace....  this  gives you an idea of the color I used

The theme for this months PCAGOE challenge is "Monochromatic" .  I was piddling around with my Fairy Door for so long I got a late start on my entry..... I don't work well under pressure.  I decided to make green my color....

Here's my entry,  I scrambled to get it in on time.....  for some reason the pendant looks more blue in this photo.... the next photo is a truer color..... at least on my computer.  Some really great entries this month.... please take a look and vote for the ones you like best.....PCAGOE Challenge  .....don't forget...you could win a prize!

Once the pressure was off I made other monochromatic things.....

If I'd had it done in time I would have entered the Raven pendant.... it's a combination of textures and mica shift.

More beads and tiles in  green

I think I will use the hearts for earrings..... Heather tells me I need to make more earrings.

I used more of the green  for the background on these,  shades of amber for the center .... I always save the end pieces from Skinner blend canes, I love their organic look. I used russet PearlEx to add a little sparkle then I finished with amber wire.

Of couse now I have to make a matching chain..... or maybe I will use waxed cord..... it looks pretty  with this pendant.

Oh, before I forget..... Heather has opened a marvelous new shop on Etsy  called The Midnight Raven

Heather is a very talented artist, she works in many mediums and does well in all of them.  She has been giving new life to broken and damaged item for many years.....

Here are a few samples of what you will find in her shop.....

Necklace from vintage button and jewelry pieces.

Earrings handcrafted from a vintage tin

This gorgeous choker is made from vintage ribbon, old lace, a vintage tin and antique jewelry pieces.

sold separately..... matching earrings.....

To see more  of her one of a kind creations visit her shop... The Midnight Raven ...... and tell your friends.

That's it for today..... I need to go for my walk before it gets hot..... yip I said hot, it's suppose to be in the 80's today..... where did winter go?  My poor flowers are so confused....  the snapdragons and foxgloves are covered in buds..... and my lawn needs to be mowed.  

Thanks for stopping by.