Pendant

I keep finding cute pendants like this on Etsy. And as any artist can attest to I will look at something and refuse to buy it because I think "I can totally make that." Most of the time I don't ever follow through and then I'll just wish I had gotten it in the first place. But this time I actually did follow through! I seriously can't believe how easy these are to make. But again, for any jewelry project, having the right tools makes a huge difference. The right tools aren't cheap either. So I made this little pendant with my daughters names on it and put it on a chain I had from another necklace. Voila! Instant jewelry...that I will actually wear.

I've already had requests from others to make one for them too. Just another thing that makes me think I really need to sell art online!

Ratio, Proportion and Variation

 I've been working on several projects and none of them are quite finished yet. Here's a preview of a new encaustic I started a few weeks ago. I've been working on it slowly as I am really unsure where to go with it. This one is big 18"x24 which I think is part of the problem. I started by attatching a bunch of used passes from students coming to class late. That's what all of the vague rectangles are. Then I painted over them with acrylics and started layering on the book pages and muslin with wax.

One of my students donated a really old math book after he saw the old page I used in my other encaustic. Anyone who knows me knows how laughable it is that I have a page from a math book in my artwork. I am terrible at math! I know enough to figure out how to make proportional grid drawings, glaze calculations and other art related math. But maybe that is the reason I'm having trouble figuring out where to go with this painting....well maybe not. It is a work in progress! I'm going to an encaustic workshop this saturday and I'm hoping that I'll be chock full of ideas afterwards!

Valentines Day

 My daughter May wanted to make her valentines herself, of course! So I found this great polymer clay valentine tutorial on Poppytalk.

 We improvised a little as we didn't have the letter stamps but I think they turned out really cute! She accidently got glitter on them before we baked them and I was worried that it would burn in the oven. But it didn't! So now we know you can safely put glitter on your Fimo before you bake it so it will stick.

 We strung some red embroidery thread on them as the finishing touch. We're not really sure what they can be used for but I'm sure the kids will find a way!

My husband and I really don't celebrate Valentine's day with gifts and candy and such but I have to admit that I do have fun with all the girly pinks, reds, and hearts.

  ♥ Happy Valentine's Day ♥

Knit Not!

 So it's been a while since I've done any knitting, and I don't really like following a pattern. I like customing things and making them my own.

 I found this pretty blue cotton baby yarn and really wanted to make one of those cute baby hats like I see on etsy with the really long tail.

 It looks pretty good in the photos and I really couldn't tell anything was wrong until it was completely finished. I even looked up a video on you tube to learn how to properly sew it together instead of just guessing like I had done previously.

 As you can see that didn't turn out very well. But it wasn't until my husband started snickering and said isn't that just a little big? I, of course, got defensive. There was no way I could have miscalculated my stitches that badly, right?

So if you know anyone who has a baby with an unfortunately large head let me know! I have a perfect gift for you to give them!

Snow Day

 

 Well you could say we got a little bit of snow! I took a couple of before and after shots which really don't look too bad. But it's all a matter of perspective. The photos on the left were taken after it had already been snowing most of the day. We had about 3-4 inches during the day but the real blizzard was just beginning. By the time I took the photos on the right this morning we had about 18 inches of snow. Notice that the bird bath has been buried!

And here's the front steps on my front porch. The was incredibly windy and it created huge snow drifts. So for those of you unfamiliar with snow the blowing wind will pile it up into drifts many feet high and leave it almost bare in other areas.

 I took a few pictures before I went to bed last night. I couldn't believe the awesome shape left on the windows.

 Perfect snowy circles peering out into the night!

 And what a night it was!

 Blowing snow and wind whistling very loudly outside.

 Here are the windows in the morning. I still think they look like eyes!

 I can't believe how huge the drifts were on our front porch.

This is a picture of the biggest drift on the south side of the house.You can see the windows peeking over the top of the drift.

 Here comes the first snow plow of the day. We were just glad that it came by before we shoveled the end of our driveway. 

 Of course the best thing about a snow day is no school! I think the sled hills and snow forts hold a very close second though.

We have been told that there is another snow day tomorrow too!

Happy Snow Day :)