snowmen seeds

cloth paper scissors magazine caught my eye this month....the cover adorned some amazing snowmen, made by sue pelletier, she gave wonderful instructions, and the inspiration was born. every christmas i gather my wonderful girlfriends, and some choice relatives and have a christmas craft party. i ran to cub broads and gathered every little ditty i could find, i gathered old pearls, wings, snow, glitter, crowns, ......i found their creators and the magic you will see....merry christmas to all....

our first snowperson was born

donna completed the first ...... fa la la la

yvonnes's family

the king is quite noble....his crown....eyes made of watch parts, a nose made of a pearl.....the baby is such a baby, so so cute, and the large standing angel is la la joy.....designer shirt "J O Y".....do you see the soft lips of pearl? and the halo was adorned with gold hair you can't see. a fancy family you would agree.....

fa la la, la la la

marva's minnie

marva our resident comedian, singer, teacher, who always is fretting about her project made this magical snow person with wonderful insides. i loved the intestines.....candy canes sitting just so, pearls, and little colored beads....her candy cane nose, and oh those eyes......there were many screams as we created these little snow people, as marva said, if only our husbands knew what little things delighted us so.......later that night my son connor, asked why were screaming while we were crafting, he asked if we were all crazy....and i said yes we are.....crazy with joy ... p.s. marva named her "minnie"

fa la la la....la la la...............

donnas snow peeps

donna is the ebay queen that found these amazing bottles, that made our bodies for the snowpeople. she donated them for this christmas crafting party and we all thank her dearly, as they are magical. her large snowlady bottle actually had the cap....she of course turned that into the tin hat with a large rhinestone. the man on the right was chewing on a candy cane, and had quite a crown hat on. momma snowlady, had her designer t-shirt (fa-la-la), a one of a kind, and baby had many cute things on that designer necklace.

a very fancy bronner....

irene made an enchanting fancy snowlady.... there were all her favorite colors (turquoise),some very fancy old pure heart pearls, even an old palm tree stamp to adorn her neck....her hat was topped off with italian murano glass, she has lovely happy smile and is ready for many christmas festivities...and do you see her designer t-shirt, J O Y?

gaby's snowpets

magic was made from an old bubble bath bottle, the bear on the left.....the eyes are Lamar, the lips shaped of wire head pins, and lip gloss adorns the cheeks the ears are pearls..... the kitty, oh my goodness....those eyes, the wire whiskers, and the pink lips.....old vintage ribbon from artfest makes their lovely scarves......... all my made by my favorite cousin

gaby's snowpets

leave it to my favorite cousin to make the cutiest pets ever.....

the heggie family

Cameron, left.....daddy, mommy, and fancy short friend.....(who eventually turned into a monkey).

Maggies snow people

The large girl is Maggie when she was a little girl, she loved riding roller skates, can you see the roller skate key around her neck? Do you see the red ear muffs around on her head? Her little friend beside her must have been a best friend.

cameron's snowpeople

cameron, made 2 delightful snow people...the one on the left reminded us all of a doorman from the 1920's....he had a wonderful bright red nose, and many treasures inside....the snow person on the right underwent some hat changes.

cameron's snowman

Cameron's snowmen were on my top favorite, he is 9 years old.....and only a child can make without a worry in the world.....p.s. also my nephew..... he was the first to try unexpected material... like the glass heart for his hat, the copper tape for this neck, and the lovely red bow.

maggie and cameron

Proud mother of creation with her Nigthmare Before Christmas snowman. the heart shaped brown vintage bottle was adorned with a bronze Martha Stewart glitter . the eyes are Italian murano blown glass, pearl heart shaped necklace, and a glorious crown. her son Cameron admires in the sidelines.

the nightmare before christmas......

and we end our glorious night with Maggie's nightmare before Christmas snowman.... thank you all for all coming and being kids again....and i hope you can share with amazing project with your family......and thanks to craft paper scissors contributor sue pelletier, with instructions and inspiration for these magical snow people. Merry Christmas to all

sunny seattle

view from my freeway drive into downtown seattle............

mt rainer

headed towards Seattle.................................. after finishing my busiest jewelry show of the year on Sunday nite, i rushed home and packed for a 5 day art retreat with susan lenart kazmer, i had a 7 am flight, and 3 hour flt from l.a. to Seattle, and when i arrived i rented the car set my gps to downtown Seattle, arrived and found my way to the class in the middle of pikes market....what a day it was....

view from our class room with susan lenart kazmer

seattle's pike market

the artreat with susan was held directly at pikes market....right by the pig, upstairs overlooking the harbor. the marketplace is so cool because it is a real old original market place probably over 100 years old. fish throwing, amazing flowers....and the nicest people ever. everyone is smiling and nice in seattle despite the cold raining weather. it rained off and on all week, but when the sun was shinning everyone lit up even more.

susan lenart kazmer art retreat in seattle

5 days with Susan in Seattle's pike market, learning cold connections. i had watched Susan at artfest for 4 years, always blown away with her museum jewelry pieces. i thought i was never near the level to take her classes, and last year at artfest i was finally ready, and searched for whatever classes i could find with Susan. and i found the retreat in Seattle for 5 days. you opened a new world , and i am very thankful.

two laughing buddas

there was much laughter, and many funny stories exchanged along with our hard work, we are laughing buddas here.

linda larsen

linda is susan's partner in portland. she runs the online store, www.objectandelements.com which has every tool you would need, including their special product ice resin, a non toxic resin, which i hope to be selling and promoting because it is so much fun. linda encouraged me to take the class, even though i was not at the master level...i owe you linda....

at work with susan lenart kazmer

everyday we had multiple ventures we learned....this was a masters class and all the students except myself had previous jewelry experience with cold connection.....but i was lucky to be accepted, and worked very hard to keep up with the class...i made several rings, did enameling, and made molds, and poured resin designs....i learned how to use the torch, and anneal medal. i learned how to use tools to rivet, drill, shape, mold. but i mostly learned not to fear any of the tools, and how to make them an extension of myself. Susan is an awesome teacher, her energy is pure, and there was never a moment that she was not present and giving. i am always astounded that artists like Susan give so much of themselves to others. it was a small class, and we had special one on one attention, with alot of room to work. Susan and her partner Linda brought every tool possible to share with us, from torches, punches, every hammer size, molds, resin, and they brought vintage finding from their recent trip to France.....so not only did we get 5 days of amazing classes, we got the pleasure of swifting our fingers thru old letters, medals, vintage, ribbons, bottles, and special things i have never seen. i am very thankful for the doors you opened.

susan demoing enamel

besides learning how to use Susan's ice resin, learning how to do enameling on metal was one of my favorite things we did.... i made 3 rings putting enamel on my copper pieces. it was magical to watch the torching process and having a wonderful piece with brillant colors... i know i will be doing more of this.... our entire class went enamel crazy.

my dolly

resin dolly

one of the many amazing things we learned from susan was how to use your new product called ice resin. it is non-toxic product with lead time of 30 minutes using it. although this is not the best picture of my dolly, she is cast from a rubber mold we made from a german glass doll. the head is seperate from the body. susan helped me make a bezel staple to attach her head, and her body is hanging with a trapeze swinging attachment. i love my dolly and i loved casting with resin. i might take the ice product on the road and do demos to sell it. i know this will be the next wave in art world.

so cute

ok i don't normally go for these dogs, but this one was cute.....she was some rare breed, she had a sweat jacket on with pearl necklace, and a pokadot shirt.......she had to put her muzzle on to leave the boat, ....in the very cute catagory....

so

my favorite pier

i love the pier in catalina, of course if you know me, you know i love turquoise, and it reminds me of my favorite town in italy burano....the place where every house is a different color, and ultimately i came home and painted my house the very same color as this pier....i just realized this....

santa catalina

3 weeks ago leaving catalina island after the artshow there.

venice beach, california

this vintage cottage store has some wonderful pieces, and hidden along side the building are a set of live chickens...

sharon blows out candles in l.a.

sharon was on a birthday journey and stopped by to see me for a few days....not only did we have the best fun in venice shopping at abbot kinney, we got to design some fun jewelry one nite...it is always fun to get new ideas and inspirations from friends, sharon came back to help at my largest show of the year in manhattan beach... i think we had so much fun she may come back and help with next years show. i made her a piece for her birthday and it was stunning on her, she must have sold at least 10 of them by just they way it looked so good on her. we laughed alot....thank you sharon

catherine witherall

these following posts were inspired by catherine. her blog www.happydayart.typepad.com had a challenge about walking into someones house for 15 minutes and learning many things about them. although i have never been to her house, i was fortunate to take a pmc clay class with catherine at artfest. there was not a detail catherine left out for us to make our class a pure delight, she brought several special ovens, had wonderful kits for us, and much inspiration and lots of laughter. she made us feel at home and we were extremely productive in that short little time. i also had the great pleasure of having her at my house, and got to give back to her my special etching techiques. we had a special hungarian breakfast out on the deck, and busily etched many pieces.....i did not photograph our special time, but catherine posted our etchings on her blog www.happydayart.typepad.com (dont know how to fancy click it.) she is a very fun girl and gets crazy excited over learning something new just like i do. at those excitable momemts we decided we were old hungarian friends in our past lives. we traded jewels, she gave me a special silver heart, and i gave her one of my rosary necklaces with a bird etching.... thanks catherine..... so below are corners of my house..... what do you know?

while ashley was in europe going to college, she had a silk screen project....she did 4 hugh screens, one of her, one of bush, and howard stern, and one of the beheaded journalist. a commentary of the times..... we of course kept the one of ashley, and it fits beautifully in our bedroom with the tall ceilings.

a small tiny paris bathroom, named after my husband st james.....he toiled setting those tiny black tiles at angle to make me happy. he deserved a street named after him....wee wee

one our last areas we remodeled....now i love our bedroom, it is very peaceful.

art studio

when Ashley moved out, this became my art studio, it houses an incredible collection of rubber stamps, that has been revisited with my metal etching...but it also home of many small treasures, like my dollies, and my special Madonnas from Sharon, one of which has holy healing water from Lourdes.

heart rocks

i began collecting heart rocks several years ago, inspired by my friend irene. we spent many camping trips at Leo Corilla beach every year searching out these rocks. my hubby took a special liking to finding heart rocks, and now my house is filled with his rocks of love...especially around our water fountain. i have since found many friends collecting these messages of love from nature....

musem of treasures

our family treasures and memories live in this house....the cook books, journals, old vintage books, artwork, trinkets, all tiny mirrors of our family.

coconut of memories

this small vignette is a small memory of our Hawaiian trip. the dolphin was made my ashley in clay class many years ago, and the hand painted coconut of a beach we loved.

jane goodall

when my son was in the 4th grade was in special program that Jane Goodall sponsored. they did many wonderful things with animals. one of the projects was some artwork that connor did, and his artwork was chosen by Jane Goodall for thank you cards....of one which she wrote Connor and thanked him. it was ironic, or maybe not that Connor should would have a deep love of animals, become a vegetarian, and commit himself to ecology for his future.

tropical paintings

i finally decided on a Hawaiian theme for my living room, and was tired of the blank walls, i found 2 flowers i loved and a wonderful painting teacher that helped me paint these flowers. i would love to paint again, of course it would not be to create art for my wall, i would love to explore so many things now.