Ugly day, yummie tummie

Wow, these past three days at work have been so busy.  I come home in the morning, feed the dogs, and then crash. But unfortunately, I haven't been sleeping well.  It is all my own fault.  I wanted to stop taking the Tylenol PM to help me sleep.  I have managed to not use it for 10 days, and each day my sleeping has gotten worse and worse.  So today, I had to admit to myself that if I want to have a good restful sleep I need to take the pills.  I think my legs are aching also from this lovely Ohio weather.  I'm really joking.  It has been the usual roller coaster weather temperatures jumping 20 to 40 degrees each day.  No wonder my joints ache all the time.

I'm getting things together for the class I'm teaching at 1 Stop this coming Saturday.  Just got back from Joanns where  I bought snaps.  I also got out an assortment of fabrics the students can use.  I thought that I really should have a few more fabric embellished cuffs done as samples to show what else can be done with this technique.  Not finished with the one yet, and I have a feeling I won't get that second one done.  I also desperately need to finish the instructions...almost done.  Just have to tweak and add pictures.

So instead of doing what I have to do, I've been playing with a 1/2 inch bracelet blank I picked up last time I was over at 1 Stop.  I posted it to Facebook last night & it is a winner.  I think it will be a nice little class for the Summer...and I've got people wanting to buy it off my wrist.  I might have to go into production mode & whip up about three or four of these.  Always helpful with a slushy fund especially since Bead Daze is only 22 days away.

Practicing with my iPhone.  Have I said how much I love this piece of hardware?  I do so love it & am learning more and more about it all the time.  It takes great pictures & I did a little experiment with the hand held camera/video.  Not bad for my first time.

Inside Yanni's

I have to say that nothing makes this girl happier than a dinner at her favorite Greek restaurant in Columbus Ohio.  We've been going to Yanni's forever, or at least since we moved up here 20+ years ago.  Tom the waiter even knows what we want & ask if we want the "usual".  Isn't it nice to go someplace that knows exactly what you want.  For us...we split the Greek sub with fries.  I love their lentil soup & took a picture of it, but sadly it was out of focus.  Next time I'll get that as it is delicious and so colorful with all those lentils, carrots, tomatoes, and celery.

Greek Sub at Yanni's

I've been getting into a ritual at night before I go to work.  First off is that the dogs split a hard boiled egg.  Oh they all love their eggie weggies (know what movie I got that from?) and to help with Fiona's insomnia, I now slip 1/2 a children's Benadryl in her piece of egg.  She's sleeping like a lamb now without any side effects.  She's happy...and WE are happy to get no distractions when WE want to sleep.

Getting my nightly kisses before I go to work.

MonsterMakeOver

I finally got pictures of the big huge necklace that was made from the left over pieces of the purse overlay that didn't turn out.  I cut out all these medallions from the purse overlay and using a bag of vintage lucite pieces I got from http://www.beadinpath.com/ I manage to make this necklace.  It is HUGE!  But it does not weigh that much surprisingly so.  I plan on wearing it next month when I head up to the Detroit area for Bead Daze. I'm still getting use to my new iPhone 4S.  I LOVE it.  Why didn't I get one sooner.  I was able to download a score of books so I have something to read while laying around in bed, waiting at the doctor office, or just taking a quick break from beading. 

Baby Flora

Last November, Chris & I were at the Scot's Antique show at the Franklin County Fairgrounds.  In the past, this was the beginning of our Holiday season, but since we've dramatically slowed down on collecting we only do the show occasionally.  This year, we walked up and down the aisles some times stopping for a closer look at something that attracted our attention.  We saw all kinds of things we truly loved, but didn't want to spend money on...or find a place in our home for.  One booth was selling old toys.  Most of them were very high priced Tonka trucks and extremely expensive comic books that I had probably just thrown away as a child when I was tired reading it.  On one table was a box filled with the most ugliest dolls you have ever seen.  They were plastic with atrocious faces and some of them were filthy from sitting in a garage or attic for years and years.  A few even had some deterioration to the plastic from age.  The booth owner said they were dolls given away at Fairs back in the 60's and 70s.  I could not in my imagination want something so ugly back when I was a girl going to the Fair.  But I was itching for them.  Did you ever see something and know you wanted it not because of what it was but because of your Muse crying to your subconscious?  Well, at negotiations and getting 16 ugly ugly dolls for ten dollars, we decided it was time to leave.

 

I knew I could not use any of these ugly dolls in the condition they presently were in.  They were sticky from age and neglect...oh and they were so ugly.  Now let's jump to Dick Blick's here in Columbus.  We had a 40% off coupon burning our hands while we walked down the aisles looking for something new to try working with.  We stopped and looked at each other and decided to buy the mold maker kit.  Came home with our prize, and then it dawned on us...those ulgy dolls!  Chris cut the head off of one with the least obnoxious face and following the directions, we were able to make a mold.  Then we poured the plastic resin into the mold not knowing what to expect and were pleasantly surprised to see a charming face.  But it was still plastic and white, white white.  I did see that you can add coloring to the plastic resin, but I didn't want to do that.  I'd taken several classes where we'd done cloth over a clay face, so I decided to try that with the white plastic head.  After an hour of working diligently, I stepped away and was happy with the results. Then I got out my gel pins and chalks and colored in the face.  How amazing it turned out.  From something so ugly to something adorable. 

 

I tried my hand at making a doll body to match the head.  It turned out with a few flaws that I need to tweak to get corrected.  I wanted to turn this doll into a toddler in her pajamas wanting to go to bed with her stuffed bunny.  I tried different ways to do hair, but then I flashed on a picture I'd once seen of a little girl wearing her bunny hat and it came together.  When I finished, I was very happy with her.  I decided to name her Flora.  I still have a way to go to get the pattern perfected so that maybe someday in the future I can teach it.  Plus I have to work on the stuffed animal pattern as this one is a moderated pattern from Leslie Molen.  If I want to teach this, I definitely have to have everything original! 

So here is Flora.  There are others waiting to be molded and worked on.  Hopefully, this can be my year project to get all the kinks worked out and either teach or sell some adorable toddler dolls. 

Sneak peak of Flora

Flora

Here is the first of a new series of baby dolls I'm making. This one is called Flora.  More pictures coming later.

Another New Year

Wow, I can't believe the month is already half over.  Happy New Year to my followers.  May 2012 be a better year for all of us. 

 I've been busy the past two weeks mainly trying to stay on track with things.  I've been creating new dolls but need to tweak them a little bit more before I can show you what I've been doing.  I also finished up the necklace which originally was going to be a purse, but the neck strap isn't to my liking yet so that too needs to be worked on before I can show you.

The biggest thing I have to say is that as of yesterday the results for the Land of Odds Illustrative Bead Tapestry was announced, and my entry (Black Notice) won first place.  I didn't even know it as I was working second shift yesterday.  I got a text message congratulating me...I didn't know what for. Then it hit me that I might have won the LOD challenge/contest.  I gave a quick call to my friend in Washington who confirmed that I did win.  I quickly went online and saw "winner" beside my name.  I was shocked, happy, and so proud.  I want to take this moment to thank everyone who took time from their busy schedules to evaluate and vote for me.  I'm still too excited.   Now I have to figure out what I want as I won a $1000.00 shopping spree from Land of Odds.

Winner of Land of Odds Illustrative Tapestry 2012

Another thing that happened these past two weeks is that I finally decided to enter the 21st Century by buying a Smart Phone and getting my own Verizon account.  What did I get?  Since we are all MacIntosh/Apple in this house, I got the iPhone 4S.  I have to say there is a big learning curve especially since this gal didn't even know how to text, but using Macs most of it is pretty self evident to figure out.  I'm loving it as I can now listen to music at work using the Pandora Radio, and on my break I can check out Facebook.  I can TEXT!  And I figured out how to download books so I have something to read all the time.  Now to learn how to use the camera and video functions.  Did I also say that it has GPS and SIRI?  And I did manage the voice to text very nicely.  I'm sure there is still so much for me to learn.

My new iPhone is white

One other thing I want to mention and will post on Facebook more is that I'm going to be teaching a bead embellished fabric cuff on February 4th at 1 Stop Bead Shop.  If you are in the area and would love to learn the basics of bead embroidery while making a unique and personal fabric cuff then join me on Saturday Feb the 4th.  This will be my first time teaching an official class at the bead store.  It has been a long time since I've been the teacher and and so looking forward to it.

The dogs are all doing fine.  Arwen is adjusting to her new medication for the bladder cancer.  Fiona still has insomnia and wakes us all up around 6 am every single morning to eat.  Frodo is just a lazy slug dog.