Photo Trip--summer lake

Focus? What's that?

I've got itchy fingers to do something different creatively, yet not homing in on one thing, and i'm getting frustrated with myself.

I'm experimenting with how to make paper look antique, so I've got tea-stained paper in various stages, drying all over the kitchen. Some are crinkled pre-stain and i'm now wondering if i can even run crinkled paper through my printer or if the ink will do wierd things when it hits a little crease.

I've been researching public domain laws to see if i'm going to be free to use the comix images i've got my heart set on.

I'm regretting not getting more seed beads (ask any bead geek: we always need more) and some micro fibre cloth when i was in the city the other day.

I've got a ton of flower photos from the last month or so that i wish i could think of something to do with.

And i want something real to show for all my thinking by the end of the day! lol

I made a half dozen soft toys while driving between Canada and New Mexico a few weeks ago. (We have a good system: hubby drives and i craft and read. I love a road trip!) Some of them are ready to find new homes but i'm torn between keeping them, or giving them to my two young nieces (who naturally have tons of dollies and toys already) and selling them on etsy.

Related to that thought, i have scolded myself in the past for giving away or selling all the good things i make. (i've made and sold some nice gourdshell tatting shuttles, nice beaded bracelets, tatted doilies n such.) That's a toughie, cuz i want to help support the family financially, but as i get older i start to think about the legacy i leave for my children (and grandchildren eventually?). Chances are, something i've made with my own hands will have more meaning for my family than to the person who paid $14 for it.

I dunno. Some days i just feel like i have hair in my brain and i don't know what i should be doing. This is Geddie. He was concieved and birthed on 28 July 2009 between Valentine, Nebraska and Garden City, Kansas. He has 8 hairs coming out of his brain. He may or may not show up in my etsy shop.

Through Glass Lenses

Coming across the work of etsy seller bayly (click on photos to go directly to her shop) has inspired me to explore a new craft and i'm really having fun with it. I doubt whether anything i make will get into my etsy shop, but I'm thinking Christmas gifts for my loved ones! (Ooops. shhhhhhh...)

If you've never crafted with these glass lenses, it's really incredible how they magnify what's underneath it--almost seem to add a sense of 3D--and they seem to draw whatever ambient light there is and focus it on your image. They're just remarkable.

bayly makes these lovely pieces of jewelry using glass lenses, bits of patterned paper and illustrations, and upcycled hardware. Bezels she makes using strung seed beads and such, backings are cut from soft fabric, and most of her links and clasps are also of her own handcrafted devising. That's what appeals to me so much about her work: it seems very low on expense and very high on artistic sensibility and crafting talent!

Spotlight on Timone

I met a cat on a farm in Manitoba this summer. He stole my heart and, because this is my blog, i get to post his picture and introduce him to my friends (readers).

Timone, a.k.a. Tim, met my SIL and the kids while they were walking a country road with their big Golden Retriever, Poe. Tim greeted the people and happily tolerated Poe's snuffling. And then he followed them all home, the way a young cat sometimes will. His host family proceeded to advertise the "found cat" around their area, and meanwhile Tim made himself very at home with his new pal, Poe. Within a few days a woman showed up and claimed the cat, explaining that it was pretty much dumped on her since she was known to have a number of barn cats, and everyone knows that if you have a lot of cats already, you naturally will take one more... (My own family has acquired 6 stray cats so far, so i know how that goes, heheh.) And so the lady took Tim away.

A little time passed, but the next time the family was walking down that country road, Poe made a sudden side trip and ran up a drive, only to return with Tim running along with him. When they got home my SIL contacted the lady and apologized for Poe's kidnapping her cat again. The woman said that if Poe really liked him so much he could keep him.

So now Tim lives with Poe (and Poe's humans) and when Poe is lounging around the porch or farmyard, Tim is almost always at his side. I have a soft spot for orange cats, but this one has such a strong, winning character, he's impossible to resist.

Bug Pins on Etsy

I don't have to search long and hard to find an inspiring etsy artisan. And when i find one, i want to share them!

Seller jfarrisfromtheheart caught my imagination with her little polymer clay bug pins. (Click on images to go directly to her etsy shop.) She makes richly patterned clay components and combines them cleverly with wire to make her pleasingly proportioned bugs. There is enough fine detail to them to keep them from looking too cartoony. And the incorporation of the clockworks in one is just brilliant. You are encouraged to check them out.

New Beads to Start Off August

I've got 4 new sets of beads to put in the etsy shop, as well as six new fish beads. But here is a preview of a couple of things. I'm loving the new bones, "Sunset Bones". The color looks awesome on sun tanned skin and there's more than enough length here to make a bracelet. They will be available tomorrow.

She's a Beaut

What a terrific visit we had over the last month with our kin in Canada! I collected some fun animal stories for the blog, too. : -)

So the etsy shop is open for business and i'm back in the workshop creating pretty glass beads. Stop on by and see what's new.

I'm an entomologist in one of my personas, and here's a picture of a cool critter that we collected last night in our New Mexico neighborhood. Littleknown fact: beetles are the dominant form of life on earth. One of every five living species is a beetle, and one fourth of all animals in a beetle. The Order Coleoptera (beetles) is the largest order in the Animal Kingdom, containing a third of all insect species.

This particular beetle is called the Palo Verde Borer (Derobrachus geminatus). Some sources site this species as reaching 6-8 inches, but i'll have to see that to believe it. This female is therefore a wheenie at 3.5 inches but it's the largest i've seen. Around here it is a pest of elm trees. The larvae, which must get enormous, feed on the roots of the tree for a couple of years and then dig a tunnel up to the surface and emerge to mate in late July.