New bodies to Bead

Last week I got the new bodies from Monica Magness girlgonethreadwild. They are awesome as all of her work is. She kindly included 3 faces for me. I am always looking for dime sized polymer clay faces. If any of my readers make these, please contact me.

I picked the red one to start first. The materials are so wonderful that I am only going to use bead embroidery on most of them, leaving some of the fabric to show through.


My absolutely adorable grandson spent most of last week with us. He is growing so fast and I hate being away because you miss so much, even in just ten days. One of his favourite meals is spaghetti. Just had to take a picture of course. He went home on Friday and we really missed him over the weekend. It will be two weekends before he comes to stay again. I get to see him during the week though. Grandkids are wonderful!!!!


My wonderful son Serge was also down on Saturday with his significant other. I got to cook a big meal and clean up after the meal. LOL. Aren't Mom's wonderful too! Isn't he just the cutest guy in the world?? Of course I may be a touch prejudiced.


Anyhoohoo... I am off to do dishes and get ready to go and finally get my mop cut. I hate having hair that requires work. If I had a nice looking head I'd just go with a bean shave. Unfortunately I have an ugly head and can't do that so I'll go with the short shaggy look. Just wash, fluff and wear. My kinda hair.

I leave you today with a quote from Forrest Gump: My Mama always said, 'Life was like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get.'"

A Little More

I embellished Autumn last night. I think he looks much better and is ready to be sold. I'm having trouble deciding on auctions at ebay or just in my Etsy Shop. Decisions, Decisions.

He looks very nice now. Everytime I held him I thought he was missing something and I was right. Now he is complete.

Once upon a time on an older blog I had I used to add the odd recipe that I really liked. Here is a tried and true banana bread in two versions sort of. LOL

Canadian Nut Bread

2 cups sour milk
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup white flour
2 cups whole wheat or graham flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
Mix all well and place in well greased and floured loaf pan(s) and bake 350F until tested done.

NOTES:
Now when I made this I didn't have any sour milk so I used regular milk and I used peanuts instead of walnuts and added a 1/2 cup of raisins and a generous pinch of both ginger and cinnamon. It was great.

The quote for today:
"I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know that just to be alive is a grand thing."--Agatha Christie

A New Day

It's a new day and a new doll. Started a red doll last night. She was supposed to be a Valentine's project but I got side tracked. I'm hoping to do some St. Paddy's green Ug Bugs and I'll start ahead of time. I haven't decided on a face for this one yet. Usually I start beading and then something will strike me. Her personality hasn't spoken to me yet.

I also want to put some finishing touches on Autumn. He really needs embellishment. His picture is near the bottom of the page.

It's a cold day in Chesterville. The wind is raw and biting and it is rather overcast. A couple of weeks ago I woke up to the most beautiful frost over everything. This is a picture of the Spirea bush beside the front porch. It was awesome and twinkled like it was loaded with diamonds in the morning sun. Unfortunately it didn't last too long.



I leave you with a verse from one of my favorite songs. A Pirate Looks at Forty by Jimmy Buffett.

Mother, mother ocean, after all these years I've found
My occupational hazard being, my occupation's
just not around.
I feel like I've drowned,
Gonna head uptown.

This is one of my problems. My occupation is just not around either.

Finished at Last!!!

Well, Gretchen the Sea Urchin is done. I spent two hours last night finishing the beading and another two putting embellishments on her. She turned out beautifully and these photos do not do her justice at all.





Gretchen ended up being quite heavy for a little girl. She is 8 inches tall and about 2.5 inches at her midsection. I used Czech glass beads in varying blues, gold, white AB and clear. Her face was purchased and I can't remember where. She is embellished with crystals, little gold bells, gold streaked blue acrylic flowers and millefiori hearts in white and cobalt. She is very lovely and I'm quite proud of her. Now to decide where to sell her, Etsy or Ebay. Choices, choices, I'm so very bad at choices and no matter witch one I pick it will, of course, be the wrong one.

Today's quote is from Allan K. Chalmers: The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

Almost Done!!

I am having the darndest time finishing the Sea Urchin. Just can't seem to settle down to work these days. The car thingy has me upset I guess. Anyway, here is what is done now. All I have left is the tip of her tail and the embellishments. There are thousands of beads in her now and she is quite heavy.

Hopefully the finished Urchin will be shown here soon.

My quote today is about, of all things, procrastination:



Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy. - Wayne Gretsky

More doll stuff

I have been beading on the Sea Urchin. Not too much left to do on the body beading. Then it's just the embellishments and all the fun stuff to bead on. That is the part I like the best.


This is a little UgBug that I just finished. He is on a chiffon cord or he can be worn as a brooch. His face is shabby gold and his body has butterflies on it.




This isn't the greatest picture but it is of Autumn a tall and rather thin beaded art doll. The colours are rust, pale gold, white and a nice green. His face is black polymer clay.

I opened an Etsy shop and will be putting the dolls up there as soon as I'm sure they are finished. I keep adding stuff and they end up weighing a ton.

I'm going back to work on the Sea Urchin. I hope all my readers are having an awesome day.

We are presently in the deep freeze and it is snowing and blowing fiercely outside. I'm staying in with the cats.

Here are six of my eight cats enjoying their second or third nap of the morning on our beds. Only cats can manage to look so comfortable no matter where they are. In the foreground we have Murphy, the big boy. He is twenty pounds of solid muscle. The cat with the bright shining eyes is Mr. Whiskers. He only has three legs because he insisted on sleeping in the middle of the road. Now he stays clear of the road. Sleeping upside down next to him is Max the psycho. So called because he takes off in all directions at top speed for no apparent reason and you never know whether he is going to love you or take a chunk out. On the big green pillow, the other orange cat is Sam. He is the old boy and my personal body guard. Where ever I am, there he is. He is sleeping comfortably with Vegas named after JD Fortune's song Pretty Vegas. At the back is Pumpkin... I know, she isn't orange but my daughter called her Pumpkin anyway. She is totally blind and tears through the house like she can see everything. Missing are Maggie, the little lady, and Cleo the princess.

I leave you with a quote from Terry Teachout: "Life with a cat is in certain ways a one-sided proposition. Cats are not educable; humans are. Moreover, cats know this. If you're not willing to humour them, you might as well stick to dogs."

The New Year is for Art

For the past few years I have been doing very little artwork. Something else always seemed to take precedent over it and there is, after all, only so many hours in a day. I did dabble a bit here and there but not seriously.

This year is going to be my year. A positive attitude and a definitive decision. My Year. Mine, mine, mine.

One thing I have always wanted to start was an art journal. I have a couple I sort of started but didn't keep up. Perhaps an online journal will be easier to maintain.

Presently I am beading dolls and Ug Bugs, bracelets and watches. My goal is to finish at least one a month. Pray for me because it is going to be tough. I am the worlds greatest procrastinator.

This is a little purple Ug Bug. They are small dolls that can be worn as a brooch or on a rope or chain. The first year I started making them I sold 10 in just 2 weeks. Good Lord willing I will, perhaps, have the same good fortune this time. I have one on the go at present.