Bulle envole-toi! (or Bubbles Bubbles Everywhere!)

Bubble Bubble to wash your body, and face, and hands, and feet, and behind your ears! I love bubbles and I'm on the soap bandwagon! A friend, Tania B, tried to get me interested in soapmaking a couple of years ago, and I was interested, but the thought of lye scared me to death, and I just didn't have much time, but I did manage to rebatch some soap (thanks to Tania), and made these items for Krafty Lady with my soap, I also made a recipe with soap flakes (the white ones)... and made some shaving soap for DH...

Recently my friend Ann G told me that she was going to make some Melt and Pour projects, and other things, and I thought, heck, that sounds like fun, and got some MP stuff...

Well, you can see the results on my Krafty Lady DT page for "Miscellaneous Items", or on my Flickr.


Here's one of my Krafty Lady soaps, to give you an idea: And here is my Tiramisu (Olive) soap. I call it so as I find it sort of smells like that!

BUT, that's not all, I've also started making Cold Process soap, that's when you do it the "old fashioned" way, but I'm not using any animal fats (though if I lived on a farm it might be different, I'm not at that point yet in my soap experience)...
My first one was a very simple supermarket recipe from Lisa's site, I think this will yield a soft-ish soap, which will lather beautifully:

Then I had to try Tania's Salt Bars these are quite hard, and apparently yield a soap that's gentle enough to use on the face. When I first heard "salt bar" I thought "heel exfoliation" or something of the type, but apparently not. These will also be cured in 4 weeks, but are apparently much better a couple months later.

Now that went pretty well, though I won't know how well until at least 4 weeks from now, because soap has to do it's thing until you can use it... that is turn fats and caustic soda into soap... 4 weeks... it's a long wait!!

But then, like any soaper will tell you, you're looking for the NEXT recipe, well, for me, it had to be this one, Turkish Mocha from AussieSoapSupplies with a bit of added chocolateness. It is curing at the moment and smells just wonderful!!! Below you can see a few slices and the chocolate on top (and there's some cocoa in the soap too, and some ground coffee for a gentle exfoliation -- and as the AussieSoapSupplies site mentions, coffee in soap is great to remove smells, like onion or garlic, from hands.




and a single slice: Yum, it's really tempting, like a rich fudge!!


I'm currently planning my next recipe... it's hard work! LOL! What's hard is trying to find WHICH one to make....

Julie VO also makes soap (she's also one of the temptresses of my new found passion).

oh, I've also made a calming stick for a friend who loves Lavender, a headache stick for myself, some lip balm, and a new shaving soap for hubby!!

Hope you enjoyed your trip here today!

Oh Heck, I'm going to do a giveaway... why not, seems to be the thing to do these days, only problem is you'll have to wait a month to get your prize, but on the UP side, this will give more people time to enter, and me time to get organised. This is open to any country where I can send soap! :) I'm going to give away a 100 gram (that's roughly 3 1/4 oz) Turkish Mocha Soap Bar... To be fair I will find a fair way of deciding the winner... It's either going to be a Random Generated number picker that's online, or I'm going to put all the names in a hat and get a third party to pick one, blindfolded, with their left hand, or maybe their right, haven't decided yet :) If you really hate coffee (some people do, believe it or not) we can negotiate a different bar. I also reserve the right to change my mind on which soap I find (but I'll let you know before I mail it, in case this mocha bar goes all wrong in the next 4 weeks!) - Cool, my first giveaway! :) I'll draw the winner in the first week of January. Ciao!

this giveaway is closed - winner announced 30 January 2009

Flus and Colds and Sniffles, Oh My!!!

Doing a bit of research online to figure out how to stop one of our two little ones from coughing incessantly -- though, at the moment Robitussin seems to be doing the trick, I always prefer natural or homeopathic medicines whenever possible...
So while looking around for Aconite (this is indeed the name of a homeopathic medicine, don't go and eat the plant!! Thanks Danielle for your comment which made me think not everyone would think of homeopathy reading this!), as suggested to me by my very cool pharmacist (who seems to believe in natural/homeopathic therapies) I found these two sites which I wish I'd found earlier.
http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/ offers all sorts of tips and recipes for cleaning your home, using homeopathy and essential oils, amongst other things.

http://www.andreacandee.com/
She has a small but very interesting Ask Andrea section, found new things to do with bananas and cayenne pepper of all things! She also has interesting articles.

As for Art... well, given the above, there hasn't been much time for it lately, although I did manage to update the Krafty Lady Gallery this weekend!!
Your best bet is to go to this page: Design Team Section - Latest Additions
and this one: Customer Gallery - Latest Additions where I had the pleasure of adding three pieces by talented local artist (and friend) Carmel Trigwell.

Sorry, no eye candy from me this time, but if you want some, I suggest this wonderful site, where you can read all about an amazing adventure by two young Australians: The 1000 Hour Day, an expedition in the North of Canada done during the Northern Hemisphere's Summer, I'm only halfway reading it as I became aware of this when it was on its last days. You can also see more eye candy by viewing pictures from Chris Bray. Chris and Clark were the two guys in the expedition, and no I don't know them but I just love the writing, the pictures and the adventure! Nice to see young kids with good brains! :)

Fun(d)Raiser

I'm selling four items in my Etsy shop, as a means of raising funds for OrientalStampArt's new website. OrientalStampArt is a Yahoo!Groups community for Rubber Stampers who love the Asian/Oriental style of images. The group has been around for many years and has some of the most enthusiastic members around!

Affiliated with the group is a fabulous website, I invite you to have a look: http://www.orientalstampart.com/

That website is so jam-packed with information and artwork that our current server cannot handle the sheer amount of goodness we have to offer, and it has to be upgraded. This costs money.

Selling these items I made is my contribution to the cause.

All proceeds of this sale will be going DIRECTLY to the website upgrade.

Postage on this item is FREE to the buyer.



For more information on OSA see this glorious review by fellow Australian Carole Meisenhelter



Here are the items up for grabs:






That's all I have for today.
Yesterday I celebrated 10 years of landing in Australia for a "new" life.
Tomorrow, we'll see what tomorrow brings :)

The Maneki Neko necklace has been sold already as has the magnet with the Geisha holding an umbrella.

Faux wood, rice pudding, and a preview

I've been having another faux wood/scrimshaw attack... months after I actually made my turtle necklace (see previous posts). A technique can be very addictive when you enjoy it, I try to use it as much as I can!!!
But first, I'll point you towards Julz's Blog as she tried this technique and her results are wonderful. I've yet to bring myself to actually texturise the wood...

Oh, and you MUST SEE Kim Cavender's wood cuff, oh and this one too, they are absolutely gorgeous... When I grow up I want to clay like that!! Have a look at the rest of the cuffs while you're there (and the rest of her work. If you're not familiar with Kim's work, you should be!!).

And these are my latest "faux wood/ivory/scrimshaw" efforts:

I've also done some colourful playing, assembling some casts I'd made a little while ago. I used some oval jump rings for this. I'd probably need to hammer them to make them stronger! I'll get to that eventually. I even made the little clasp but it didn't fit in the picture.

I just love this mould. It's called AM019 Med Etruscan Shield and you can see pricing on this page near the bottom. This is the mould used in the top pendant too. The round pendant was made with AM332 X5Lge 7 UP (prices available on bottom of this page). You can order these moulds through various people depending where you live. If I get myself organised, I plan on bringing a few pendants to the next craft meeting, we're having a pre-loved sale, and a "bazaar" of things we make ourselves, if nothing else, it'll be great eye candy for everyone to see what everyone else has been up to :)

Here's something else I made with the Etruscan Shield:

And with two products I've been wanting to try for a while, some Sheer Heaven Vellum, and Tim Holtz's Adirondack Alcohol Inks!!! I've been using Pinatas, and quite like them (bought them before the T.H.A.A.I. were available) but, like many, I am a sucker for the colours in the Adirondack range! Specially Terra Cotta and Butterscotch!!! *grin* That stamp is one from The Stampsmith, which I hadn't used in a looooong time!!! I think I stamped it in Russet, from the Archival range (also from Ranger).

I'm also hoping to be shown the ropes of Felting, by Kylie Mell who has been playing with felt a bit. I saw her do ONE DOT and saw a gorgeous little calico bag she'd made. It's contagious! I've used the back of one of my calico bags to experiment on, so far, added 3 felt hearts (cut out from Spotlight felt) and even made a freelance flower with a stem, with fibres I felted myself. It's not perfect, but it's satisfying somehow... yup, all I need is another craft! Though, anything that is quick and yields good results is what I prefer these days as my time is limited and evenings are usually spent preparing something for the next day's lunches. My two are a bit ... how can I put it, particular about what they like and don't like, and I can't make anything with peanut butter, due to allergies (I respect that, but it does make my life a bit difficult as pb, but... I'd really hate to be the parent who sent a pb sandwich to school and killed a child!!!)

Speaking of food made me think of this recipe which I quite like on cold Winter weekend mornings: Creamy Rice Pudding, just make a bit more rice than you need for dinner, and you have the perfect excuse to have that the next morning! I made it without the egg the other day as we were all out of eggs, and it wasn't as thick, but it was still delicious. It did have a strange-ish but pleasant taste but that's entirely my fault as I went to pour in some cinnamon (I love cinnamon, I add it and nutmeg to the recipe) and realised, only too late, that I'd put cummin in there! I scooped out as much as I could (I don't think I love cummin in the same quantities as I love cinnamon). I kidded myself that it was an Indian breakfast! I did enjoy it. The girls didn't want to touch it, and by the time DH got up, there was none left ;)

I still haven't received my copy of Altered Arts Magazine, in which a tin I made is published, so I'm giving you a sneak preview anyway:

Hmmm, well, I can't wait til the postie brings this mag home!!!

Electronic Copy of Beads Etc is available!

If you subscribe to the newsletter you can see the whole magazine for free, and have access to past issues too!
The mould is from Krafty Lady.
Although I did mention it when I sent the article to the magazine, they didn't print it (well I didn't see it when I read it quickly, must read it more in depth, but then I wonder why since I wrote it, after all!)... the idea for using only two colours to get the look, came from this faux scrimshaw tutorial. I credit the technique throughout the Krafty Lady site! So apologies to my inspiration, I did try to give you credit in the article!

A picture is worth a thousand words

Beads Etc. Coming out in July! I am so very excited!!! The turtle necklace (upper right) is mine :) made with a Krafty Lady mould. Didn't they do such a great job with the photography!!!


Below, page in June 08 of Vamp Stamp News (also very excited)


The Egyptian, Paris, Blue Kimono and Daisy pieces are mine.
Stamp credit:
Egypt: Non Sequitur
Blue Kimono, Daisy, and Paris: Inkastamps
Moulds by Krafty Lady



the necklace is mine, this was on the back of Vamp Stamp News (June 08). Beads are stamped polymer clay, stamp from About Art Accents, focal bead is from Krafty Lady.

And I also have a tin coming out in Altered Arts, also in July, but don't have the magazine yet. What a busy month... and I haven't submitted anything since so that'll be it for a while in that field!!

Frangipani

Oooh, I've been having fun!!!

With my Frangipani Mould from Krafty Lady



I made a skinner blend plug (I think it's called a plug, though it might be more of a bullseye cane, yeah, that's what it is! A bullseye cane!)



I cut a part of it which I reduced further, and cast them in the Frangipani Moulds




Yes, my skinner blend needs a bit of work, you can see rings, but it's good enough for me! Aren't they great? I'm thinking with yellow buna (if that exists) or even white or even black... (I'm not picky, I love black!) and the little frangipani either for earrings or as a toggle on the back!

Just oh-so-excited!!
For more ideas with the frangipani mould, have a looky here! And when these are baked and made into something, you'll see them there too!!!


Edited to add a nice picture of Frangipanis, found on the El Yunque National Forest site

Oriental Pendant

I just uploaded this to My Etsy, part of my efforts to destash and fundraise for our car (it needs a bit of a repair! it doesn't run at all at the moment)! *sigh* I hope to list one item a day for the next little while. It's a goal. We'll see if I can persevere.

Yes, our car died yesterday, and they announce rain all week, it's back to the "old fashioned way", gotta do the grocery shopping by bus again. Good thing I always knew this could happen and I still have my little "old lady bag on wheels" :)

On the upside, I found a friend (Hi JK!) who shares a guity passion for CSI:Miami so we're swapping episodes! Fun!

Nothing much else to report. So I'll leave it at that.

Earring Caddy

earring caddy
Originally uploaded by France : acanuckinoz

I've been wanting to make one of those for a while, and now I have!
I used to buy chicken/rat wire, and hang a large piece on my wall, and hang all my earrings from there. At the bottom, I would have S shaped hooks that you get from Ikea, to hang necklaces. My rack stayed in Canada when I moved here, and since we rent, I haven't even thought about asking permission to put in nails in the wall, but I'm working on an idea for the wall...
I have so many missing pairs of earrings, or singles, it'll be nice to have one place to put them all! Still working on a way to make the base a bit more sturdy.
I've been in touch with Stacey to see if she'll repost the instructions for the caddy, they are fairly simple anyway, you can sort of guess how just by looking at the pic.

i've made a few more things lately but since they are off to being submitted to VampStampNews, I can't show anything just now.

I also recently purchased some Aanraku bails and am in the process of making some very simple pendants (yeah, I keep thinking "Etsy" but I never quite get there!).

Ok, better go make dinner. And of course, the day wouldn't be complete, according to the girls, without Anzac Slices, a recipe based on Anzac Biscuits. We don't have relatives (luckily) who were in the war, or any war that I know of... but it's still a day where we have a thought for all those who lose their lives in these needless conflicts. I think it takes a very special kind of person to join the army, kudos to those who do, and thank you (I just wish the people in power wouldn't send you off to war!)

Yet more talk of Faux Ceramic and some eye candy

After scouring the web to find a "free source" for a technique similar to this tutorial I bought on ePattern Central, a few weeks ago, as a friend wanted to know the technique and I didn't feel too right sharing the paid-for-tutorial-in-a-pdf-with-a-password-even, two more posts about Faux Ceramic popped up on the blogosphere! I just had to post about THAT :) good things come in threes!! I guess.

Crafty Goat who links to Laura Griffin who credits Patricia Kimle for the original tutorial in Step by Step Beads magazine... well... Patricia Kimle is the author of the tutorial I bought on Pattern Central.com (Bright Light Beads)!!!


Today we went to Point Walter and saw up to 9 black swans at some point! Some were funny, they'd swim with one leg, having the other one sticking outside the water. The first one I saw like that, I thought had a broken leg, but then I saw three of them do it, then put their leg back in the water. Strange habit ;) I think I saw a dolphin fin too, but never saw it resurface... then again, maybe it was the Loch Ness monster *VBG* (I'm pretty sure I saw a dolphin's fin!)

It was a beautiful day with a temperature of about 26°Celcius! Just so relaxing!!!

I uploaded a few new pieces on the Krafty Lady website:




------------------
Now I don't know if any of you got alerted to many new posts by me today, I'm sorry if you did. I decided to close my other blog (Stampamajiggies) where I planned on having tutorials, and place the posts here on this blog. This blog is such a mish mash of my whims and fancies that structure is the least of my problems, and then people don't have to go to two places. I still intend on updating (well, as up to date as it was about three years ago) the magazine index, to have it here on the blog as it's on a website that I don't even know if it exists anymore.... but that is SO different than what goes on here, that it's ok to keep it separated!
So they are all moved, all nine posts (as many as the black swans!) so this should be the end of mayhem! I hope :)

Beads and moulds

I found neat tutorials for wire here and I subscribed to the newsletter.

There's the "dailies" (or would that be dailys?)...
Of course, we all know about Polymer Clay Daily, but there's also Beading Daily and I also found Polymer Clay @ Craft Gossip, they gossip about other crafts too:

CraftGossip Homepage, Knitting News, Crochet, Bath And Body, Candle Making, Jewelry Making, Scrapbooking, Recycled Crafts, Needlework News, Cross-Stitch, Indie Crafts, Felting, Stamping, Quilting, Polymer Clay, and Sewing ! Now, that ought to satisfy just about everyone!

I was particularly happy to find this post (linking to an old tutorial) because I bought a tutorial from ePatterns.com on how to achieve this effect -- it wasn't very expensive, but I didn't feel right telling the secrets as I know those authors make money from the sale of their instructions and I hadn't been able to find the same instructions for free elsewhere on the web, so I felt a bit bound by copyright issues, kwim? So now that I found a tutorial, I don't feel wrong pointing to it. I'm not giving away all the secrets of the project, but now you can achieve the glazed look... ;)

I did find however that this technique doesn't leave a rock hard finish, but rather a rubbery feeling finish... Maybe I'm doing something wrong. This was my first necklace with the technique:

I have another few WIP (work in progress) with this technique... I quite like the effect of the blue!! Looks like old porcelain or something.

Something else I liked finding at Craft Gossip was this post is about Amanda, a local Western Australia clayer! That was neat!

Ok! It's public now!!! There are new Art Moulds© on the Krafty Lady site! See here (AM332 to AM340), and here (AM341 onwards).



This little pic is just to whet your appetite, go to the site to see more!!!

Working hard for the money!

Well... busy I have been....

Work is still good, been working a lot for the past month, but still enjoying it, and managing OK with the juggling! Ya know... mum, wife, crafter, worker :) and... writer.
I have had the "get your stuff published" bug again. Submitted a few necklaces to Beads etc... and one was accepted! I had about 4 days to finalise that one, over Easter, but I'm so excited!!
I also finished the instructions for a piece which should be published soon in Altered Arts.
So that makes me happy!! You know, if you have something you think is ok for publication, you should try to submit it! I love sharing that way. I had some tutorials on my old website, btw, but yeah, free websites, free good webhosts I should say, are hard to find, so I've moved my old papercraft tutorials to this blog. Along with some experiments and links to other sites... I was going to move some part of my life on that blog, and keep some on here, but then ... things do not always go according to plan.

I've been playing with some technique, which is new to me... The Watercolor Technique, developped by Maggie Maggio, and trying a few different variations, for my own enjoyment. When all that's done, I'll be showing you more, but in the meantime, you can feast your eyes (does that not sound pedantic??) on this Easter Pen Set:

You can see a few more images from them on my Flickr.

I've also recently been made aware of ICraft.ca where I will try to sell a few items. If you list anything by the end of the month, you pay no monthly fees and no joining fees. You can list your items in Pounds, US $, Canadian Dollars, and I think Euros... can't remember that one for sure off the top of my head. Anyway, always fun to try something that doesn't cost an arm and a leg (though I do love Etsy, even if I have nothing listed there at the moment). I have to list a few more things... Oh, if you are in Australia and you want to buy something, lmk, you can have it in Aussie dollars, and postage would be a lot cheaper than what is listed!

Here's a stab binding notebook I made, following a very interesting demo by my friend Ann G.

Of course, I had to add a Krafty Lady mould on it!

Well, that's it for me for now. Have a good weekend!

my bracelet, finished!

Well, dunno what's up with me, but I've been creating and I can't seem to stop (though I will have to to do laundry and the groceries, ... eventually!!!)
I got highly inspired by this blog and decided THAT was the way this tiled bracelet needed to be put together.

I made the tiles using the Krafty Lady domino set (AM245) and just love the way they look. The translucent doesn't look great in the pictures, it's a bit better in person. I got to use all sorts of odds and ends (Julie K, if you do stop by, you may recognise those charms!). I wish this was candy, because I am sure it would taste really nice!!!
I had a heck of a time with my jump rings, sometimes I think I need to make some oval ones, rather than use store bought ones (I got lazy, took me long enough putting it together without making my own jump rings, though I did make "some" of them... but yes, sometimes odd shape rings, oval or rectangular, would probably be a lot better than trying to force a round ring through the drilled holes on the side of those tiles. I still think I need to take a course in "proper" jewellery making!!!
ciao for now.

One amphora, two amphorae

Yay! this was so much fun to make!!!! An Amphora Necklace!!

With a tutorial from Tina at beadcomber.etsy.com, scrap clay, a mould by Krafty Lady (AM330) and a whole lot of patience!!
I also used a buffing wheel made today, as per the instructions on Desiree's Site, wahoo! What a shine!!! I'm going to make a second one soon, I can just feel it!!! I did however supaglued/crazy glued the discs to each other and pierced a small hole in the middle so my mandrel could securely screw in. I saw that tip in another tutorial, but watch out to not glue your fingers!

I've also made those when I was in my Faux Bone Craze (I still am, I just ran out of the mix. Will have to make more)

I've been in a very creative mood lately and tried to make a bit of time to make stuff!!!

It feels good!

late addition: my other Faux Bone can be seen here

My Cursed Pen

This turned out to be a long post, and rather than make it three different posts, I've divided them in sections.

1) My "Woe is me" story :)

I tell you, sometimes things just don't go the way you want them to!
Yesterday, I decided to have fun with Polymer Clay. It had been a while, and I had been inspired by this display and by the tutorial "Covering Pens with Polymer Clay: Bamboo Skewer" here on Youtube.
So I get some clay out, the purple and pink are right there, as is my translucent and pearl, sounds like a good mix. Looking good. Tutorial instructions are good, I'm doing great, baking goes well, nothing burns (Yay!), I take the skewer out (no problem there) and place the first "ink pen bit" inside to see what it'll feel like... ok, feels great, let's remove the "ink pen bit"... OH HORROR!!! The METAL bit of the "ink pen bit" comes out, but not the plastic bit containing THE INK!!! it is starting to come out - oh, and yeah, I'm right in the middle of making dinner at this point and have meatballs about to get a bit too cooked. Ok, don't panic, put the pen on some (hopefully) scrap paper, go and turn over the meatballs, and insert a skewer to see if the plastic bit will just get pulled out by some kind of magic, why not, my logic is wood bit inserts into plastic bit, sticks cos of the gooey ink, and it all comes out a treat. NO! IT DOES NOT! And I didn't use a crap brand, I used Paper Mate?!
what can I do, it's disgusting..... I have visions of the mess!!!
Ok, CUT a bit off the pen at the other end, and push the plastic-inky-bit out...
Get my blade out, try to do a nice straight cut so that it'll be easy to glue back.
OK, cut is made, and oozing blue ink (YUK!), push out the plastic bit, ok, put it in the bin, make sure it's in the big bin, the one lined with a plastic bag, and thankfully it's rubbish night that night!!!
Ok, check on dinner, all's well, nothing burnt, I try to rinse the pen shaft and yeah, looks like the water comes out clear. *phew*... serve dinner, eat dinner, yum yum yum...
after dinner, glue the bit I had to cut off back on, with Supa Glue... I am scared to death each time I pull out the Supa Glue! I won't want to end up looking like Edward PenFingers or anything like that! Ok, that works well. Can't think of any elastic I have on hand (nor could I find any I would have thought of) so I opt for a Buna cord to tie the lid. Good idea. Ok.
Sand, first off to sand off the ink on the OUTSIDE of the pen! Luckily it works great. Sand, Pledge One Go, one coat, two coats, yup, I'm on a roll.
Pen assembled, little eyelet glued on too, though I hesitated there because I wondered ... how long my pen would last. IT promised to be a kilowriter, i.e. to write more than 1000 words (hmmm, well, in this age of computers, it's not too bad? maybe?), oh well, it'll last as long as it'll last and I'll probably lose it before the ink runs out!
Wow, it works great, I showed it to hubby and I got a "that looks like stone or something" rather than the "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say" when I present him with strange projects like an altered bottle (I can't blame him!).
This is my pen:

Well, this morning, I take it out of my bag to make a phone call (need to take notes during this particular phone call) and, you'll never guess what, it is not writing words anymore! nope, none, nada, done, dead... AND SUPA GLUED IN THERE!!!!! *sigh*
That's pretty much the end of this story. I now have a gorgeous pen that I can't even use!

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2) My "My Megalomania Inspired Me" story


Well, you know, sometimes you're just in a funk, you can't create, you create and things like the story above happens, or you just don't have time to create, or even maybe you question why, having no time and no inspiration, you still don't want to pack everything away or put everything up on eBay. Other than the fact that 1- I'm too much of a scavenger/pack rat, and getting rid of my supplies would mean I wouldn't "have" them anymore, and putting them away in boxes would frustrate me if I ever want anything from out of one of those boxes (let me tell you my new storing method is not making me very happy, even if it has cleared up a bit of the kitchen! I always have to go to the other end of the house to look for something I've put away (seriously though, it is an improvement, but it doesn't have to always make me happy, does it? at least now we have room for our dishes in the cupboards!). Anyway, having everything packed far away would not suit me, and my other reason is that if I don't have time to create, why would I have time to put my craft stuff on eBay? And if I'm going to have time for eBay, wouldn't I be much more satisfied if I took this time to create...
Anyway...
Another angle to this story requires me explaining that I wanted a screen saver for my computer because my screen was too bright, and given the position of my computer and the position of the hallway and our bedroom, it was bothering me to see this bright screen when I have insomnia. Yes, I can turn the screen off, but those new screens can also stay on all the time... (some argue that turning off the comptuers for the night is also a good idea, but not when you have downloads trickling in!) ANYHOW... that's when I decided on my current screen saver:
I have all my scanned artwork in a folder, so I used the Microsoft "Slide Show" Screen saver option (don't quote me on its name though), and pointed it to the folder where I have my artwork. At first I thought "hmmm, isn't that a bit weird, having your own artwork up there?" and then I thought "it's the only organised enough folder to be able to do this with!".... well, seeing my artwork when I get up, or when I've not been at the computer for the amount of time it takes for my screen saver to kick in (dunno, can't remember, but it's adjustable) I get inspired, seeing old creations, recent ones, ones I'd completely forgotten about, seeing stamps I'd forgotten I'd owned, stamps I sold and was happy to have done so, background and stamping techniques I'd forgotten.

example, this piece from February 2004

or this one below from October 2003

Hmmm, I do like brown tones, I guess!

These little Collections squares from the end of 2006 bring back memories

and this bright cheerful About Art Accents card from the same period was also fun to see because of its simplicity and cheerfulness:

I have found it very inspiring, and it has motivated me to try and find time to create. So yeah, sometimes a little bit of self-centered-ism can be a good thing! Although every now and then I think "ooh, poor so-and-so, I remember sending them this awful card... didn't seem awful at the time, but that was years ago" sort of thing! Keeps me modest.

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3) My work

Many of you are curious about the type of work I do. I am an Assistant Analyst (that's what the job's advert said)and I work for Mining Industry Consultants. I do a LOT of work with Excel, play with LOTS of numbers, and also I receive samples which I have to prepare to send to laboratories, most of which are Iron Ore, I see very pretty colours, though most of it is of a dark brownish red colour. I get to wear a lab coat on the days I play with the pulverised rock, and a mask (so I don't breathe too much in). I feel like I am in a hospital, or that I'm part of the CSI team! LOL! Hmmm, the original CSI probably? Dunno. TBA! hehehe!!! I don't do much analysis myself at work, but I do prepare things for analysis, and once in a while they let me read a report, it's been almost 5 months! And I'm still enjoying it. So I hope that answers your questions, dear friends :)

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As a silly segue and to show some eye candy, here's my "rock", a ring, made with polymer clay, and the small one of AM236 XXLge Oval Set from Krafty Lady. That one was made with Pearl, Translucent, and Maroon clays (Sculpey III), and some Duo Red-Blue Pearl Ex, and my trusted Pledge One Go (if only I used it on my floors! hehehe!)

The ring looks crooked but it has been glued on straight. It was just a wee bit big for my Hand Model this morning, so it sort of slid to one side.

I think I'd better press the "publish" button now!

Been busy?

A friend commented that my blog hadn't been updated since November! How is that possible? Who is in charge here? Do I need to fire anyone? well, me, probably :) So I come here to blogspot, and notice they are not in Beta anymore and I have to switch my blog (thought I'd done that already), and then I notice my template needs updating (doesn't feature some of the new features I've seen on other blogs) so I start playing around, it says it's saving my old template... but now I can't find it anywhere, I *think* it's somewhere on the 5 x 4 GIG DVD Backups DH did for me recently! Luckily they are somewhat organised, so I might be able to find the last one that worked... That's what I get for being too clever ;) but like another friend said, there's enough dumming down! So I'm proud to be clever and make mistakes :)

Though, I just realised that means I'll have to add my links all over again ... and also that there's a bug in the blog, my current post, made in Jan07, shows up as being Dec06 for some reason. ... ??? weird :)

I've been really quiet lately because I have had my energy sapped by the end of the year frenzy, and also because I have been suffering from Plantar Fasciitis, which is making me a miserable guts :) I've also noticed, now that the pain is so prominent, how long I've been having problems with my legs and feet! Anyway, I'll spare you the details, but I'm doing what I can to get rid of them... I did however get a pair of Crocs Shoes (yes, I know!!! how bloody TRENDY! hehehe!) and they are wonderful... they are very smooshy. Wish I could order an Rx pair from the USA site though, they have a pair made specially for plantar fasciitis... maybe I'll get one of my agents on the case :)

This said, I've been busy again at Krafty Lady, both in updating the galleries and the DT pages, and creating a few things... never a dull moment. Our current project is really cool and I can't wait to unveil everyone's artwork!!

Hmmmm, I guess I should give you a bit of Eye Candy... ???
I've uploaded a Faux Amber piece, at least that's what I was trying to do.

As for my template, well... time will tell... whether or not I succeed. Sorry for being so absent, and thanks if you keep coming hoping I have something to say :)

Ooooh, I uploaded the Industria ATCs from a swap I held on StampGropers/SGATC ... in November :) I quite like Picasa, though I have to figure out how to add the captions on my computer, before uploading ;) always something to learn, never a dull moment...

France