Finally an update!

Okay, finally got some time to blog about what I have been doing for Create Every Day! Thursday came with not much time to squeeze in any real creating, but did stop and pick up a few items that I needed for some orders, so I figured that counted some. Friday and Saturday, I was able to bead another snowman pin. He is still laying there waiting for me to finish him, but that is a good start. Sunday was devoted to house cleaning. Not my favorite thing to do, but it is necessary some times! While doing this, I found my dining room table! I had been using it for working on the Gourdgeous Girlfriends instead of doing that upstairs in my room. Well, I took it all upstairs and put it in little sets of girls to be worked on. Again, not really creating, but a step int he right direction! Today was totally play day!! I worked on my swaps today. I have signed up for an Inchie swap and another ArtCharm swap. I found a wonderful tutorial for a snowflake cane at 2 Good Claymates. It came out okay and I think it will work. If I do it again, and I probably will, I think I will make the white a little thicker so it would show better when I reduced it, but I am pretty happy with them. I added a Swarovski Crystal to the center of each snowflake for a little sparkle!

Just a quick update today. I have a meeting tonight, so have been busy getting ready for that along with a few household chores. I did squeeze in getting all the "girls" wrapped and ready to go and I made some cards. I made three birthday cards and two get well/thinking of you cards. So I did it! I made a little time to create! I need to start thinking of the swaps I am in, so that will have me creating for a few days at least!!

The snowman from day one now has arms and some wonderful polymer clay boots. The boots were hand made by my sister, Lisa. Aren't they cute? And they swing when you wear him as a pin! Thanks Lisa!! Also, I was asked why I don't have any yellow Gourdgeous Girlfriends. Yellow is the club color for the car club that my hubby and I belong to. Well, I made three yellow girls today. I had base coated them yesterday, so today I added the rest and a little personality. I did a new thing on one of them~I put some earrings on one of them that swing! Adds a little movement and they are kind of cute!

I have joined with some wonderful, creative gals in my ArtCharms swap group and we have committed to Create every day for the month of November! I love the idea of creating something, anything every day. And I am going to try and blog about it too! Well, I did it! I worked on some Gourdgeous Girlfriends. I base painted 7, finished the backs on 5, and spent the evening beading a snowman. Let me backtrack on the Gourdgeous Girlfriends. A friend of mine, Mary, and I were at the Gourd Festival in Casa Grande in February and came up with these lovely little pins using small jewelry gourds. Each pin has a unique personality. They each have different hair and different charms and we have started doing special orders! The snowmen seem to be a big hit. Well, I have to find some time today to finish the snowman and maybe start another. This is a photo of what he looks like today. I will post a photo of the finished pin later! Thanks Peggy for the challenge!!

Okay, I am really bad at this "blog" stuff, but am going to try and do better. I have Art Unraveled next week and have been busy working on charms for a charm swap and extras for trading. I will post some photos when I get them done. I have also been doing some more with gourds. Not much, but some. I did another doll. This one I worked with a couple of gourds and covered it with polymer clay. I also did an ornament with clay for a "Christmas in July" swap at the patch meeting this month. I need to get the camera out and get some photos posted, so keep checking back and hopefully you will be able to see some of my projects!

Found a little time this afternoon!

Well, I found a little time this afternoon so that I could get my April challenge done before the Patch meeting on Wednesday evening. At the March meeting we exchanged brown paper bags with a variety of items in them. If you brought a bag, you got to pick a bag. Well, my items from the bag I picked are in the left photo. Right away I saw an Indian maiden. I used a small banana gourd for her body and a jewelry gourd for her head. My brother had some hair extensions that I swapped some stuff for and by sewing some of it on a ribbon and attaching that to the "head" gourd, I got a beautiful head of hair that I braided. To use the beaded strand, I had to take some apart and retie. That worked out very well for her necklace and around the back of her leather robe. I cut out a space in the front of the body to fit over her moccasins. I did not use the heart with feather. It just seemed to big. I made a drum from the bottom piece of the banana gourd that I cut off and attached it all to a slice of rock that I had in the cabinet from the days when we used to go to the Tucson Gem Shows. All in all, for my first gourd doll, I am quite happy with the results.

Could I get a few more hours, please?

There just are not enough hours in the day, is there? I went to my first gourd festival in Casa Grande on Friday and there are just so many things I want to try. I can combine gourds with polymer clay (yeah!) as well as beading and other things I already do. I loved the jewelry some of the artist made using gourds. I took a wood burning class a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed that. I burned a humming bird and then painted the design. So by painting in that class, I had an idea of what kind of paint I wanted to buy while at the festival. I also picked up a couple of wood burning pens. I also found a book of designs and one for beading on gourds, so now I need to find the time! Happy crafting!