We had a swap called Beadazzled for one of the Yahoo groups I belong to. I made this cell phone fob for my swap partner. The fob design was from a pattern I did by Laura McCabe. I like these so much that I have made several of them for friends as gifts.

I also took a class with Laurie Mika which I really enjoyed. She does such beautiful work. Here is a sample of what I did in the class although it isn't finished yet. I have the main piece constructed (in the middle) and a few of the tiles done. I used black polymer clay with blue, pink, and gold mica powders. Before I applied any of the mica powders I coated the pieces in Golden Copper Fluid Acrylic. After all the colors were applied, we baked the tiles for 20 minutes in a polymer clay oven. The baked tiles that came out had a faux raku look. The colored tile above the dragonfly wings was a white polymer clay tile that was baked then colored with mica powders and copper paint. Laurie brought the white polymer clay already baked.

I took a class with Karen O'Brien and I must say it was the messiest most fun class I have taken in a LONG time. This is the book cover. I'll be posting the rest of the pages (although they pretty much like this one) eventually. She is really organized and I highly recommend taking a class with her if you have the opportunity.

Here is a cell phone fob that I did from a kit by Laura McCabe. It worked up very fast and was a lot of fun to do. I made one for a friend that she uses as a pendant to wear around her neck. They are addictive so I had to move onto other things. I wish I could design like she does. I use components of hers for some of my own jewelry. If you are interested in her work, she does have a book out and is featured frequently in Bead and Button in addition to Beadwork magazine.

This is a copper Byzantine bracelet which we make to sell.

This is an image from a fat book techniques swap I was in. I used the technique of Emboss Resist from Bernie Berlin's book The ATC Workshop. For the swap, I had to make 120 of these 4x4 cards for the participants. I got my box of the 120 techniques cards and I must say that all were beautiful and inspiring. I can't wait to try some of these techniques.

This is the card from an Inkjet Image Transfer Swap that I was in. I used Lazertran's Waterslide for Inkjet printers to produce my transferred image. I was impressed by how crisp and clear the waterslide image was. I had tried using gel transfers but the image just kept washing away. I tried this several times but finally gave up. I prefer using images printed from a laserjet or copier for my gel transfers and tape transfers. The image I used was Molly, the Duchess of Nona by Frank Cadogan Cowper. Cowper was considered the last of the Pre-Raphaelites. Don't you just love her clothes and the expression on her face? I also included a little Cupid on the front of the card since the Pre-Raphaelites were also into mythology.

Well, I finally finished my canvas. This was the 4th one I created (I discarded the other 3) and I liked the way it turned out. I sent it off to England today for my swap partner.

I had fun making these. I started with a basic shape and just went where the object told me to go. I ended up with 2 scissor fobs. One scissor fob started with a crystal ball element (the green one) while the other started with a rosebud flower which I learned to do in a class I took with Laura McCabe.

This is for a bandanalabel swap in one of my yahoo groups. I am not quite finished yet...not sure if I will make this into a card or the cover of a book. I'll post the results after I decide.

This is a necklace I made for a craft fair on Saturday. The pendant was a design by Laura McCabe in one of my beading magazines. The spiral necklace was my doing. I had to sub some stuff for the pendant as I didn't have everything that was required. I used a different size rivoli and pearls instead of crystals. I really like the way this piece turned out. I included a close up of the pendant that I made for this necklace.

This piece is one I forgot about. I received it in the mail today and thought I would post the image. I created this in 2007. Lots of stuff going on in this artwork. I used molding paste for part of the background to give it texture. Then imprinted a piece of drywall tape into the molding paste making an interesting square pattern. I then painted using lumiere and some background images. Oh well, one of the first pieces I did on my own. I used Illuminated manuscripts as the inspiration for this piece.

Here is a picture of my finished ATC card. I need to make 3 more which I am in the process of doing. For the background I used: tissue paper, acrylic glazes, and angelina fibers. I made the beaded flower (bead weaving) and attached it with a die cut leaf. We were challenged to use 3 techniques to create the ATC plus it had to contain a beaded element. I will mail these off in a couple of days.

These are the tags that I sent as part of the Bandana Tag swap with the Creating Chaos Swap group. I also posted a picture of the back so you could see how I hinged both tags together. I used Adirondack dye ink pads (Butterscotch, Wild Plum, Stream) for the background. I stamped the dragonfly on the front first and followed with a stamp that had butterflies. I then outlined with a white inkssentials and Sharpie white pen. I just signed up for another bandana swap so I will post them as soon as they are ready. I am currently working on an ATC swap with Fall beads as the theme. We had to use three different techniques and I chose: tissue, glazing, and angelina fibers along with a bead on the card. As soon as they are done I will post a picture.

I have finally caught up with the rest of the group and finished the last step of page 2 for the board book project. I decided to create a theme throughout the book of butterflies. This will tie all the pages together despite the fact that they all look so different.

These are the first two pages of the board book and they are now finished. I have moved onto the next two pages which will be done shortly. I am almost caught up to the rest of the group as I started a bit late. This is for one of my yahoo groups Next Generation Stampers.

I decided to do some tags using alcohol inks. I took glossy paper and ran it through my Wishblade to create tags. I then did the background using Adirondack dye inks (Stream, Wild Plum, Butterscotch). After the background was dry, I stamped on it using Staz-On Jet Black ink. After making sure that was dry, I used the Inkssentials gel pen (white opaque) to highlight around the card. I noticed that on the glossy cardstock that the white pen showed up much more than on the previous tags that I had done. I am going to keep trying other backgrounds so keep checking back.

I did another set of bandana tags today and here they are. What I find so much fun about them is how different each set turns out. This time for the background I used Colorbox Chalks, Inkssentials Opaque White Pen, and a Sharpie White (Extra Fine).

One of the yahoo groups I belong to decided to do a book board project. This is my first step in the process. I am a little behind because it took me forever to find my board book. I will post each step as we do them.

I did a second set of tags which were a little smaller than the first set. This time for coloring I used Memories Cherry Red, Blue, and Mango. I stamped the images using Memories Black ink. Then I used the white Sharpie Pen to highlight places around the image.

Here are my first bandana tags. I used Stazon inks (Teal Blue, Pumpkin, Mustard, and Royal Purple), Adirondack Wild Plum ink, Brilliance graphite black, and a white sharpie pen. Had a great deal of fun with this project. I chose the middle stamp because it reminded me of the artwork of Maria Sibylla Marian. I fell in love with her artwork when it was on exhibit at the Getty Museum.

I am in a techniques swap with one of my Yahoo Groups. The total number of 4x4 cards I need to product using my technique is 120. I am doing am emboss resist technique which requires four steps. I am about 1/2 the way done and I do a little each day so that the deadline won't sneak up on me. I have attached photos of step 1 and 2.

This is a small piece of clear tar gel that I made into a skin. I put it on freezer paper which didn't want to release it once it was dried. Thus the reason I started using Parchment Paper. I used a palette knife to spread it onto the freezer paper. The tar gel goes on cloudy but clears as it dries leaving you with little doubt that it is ready to be peeled off. However, I let it dry for 24 hours just to be on the safe side.