I'm still making Christmas Presents . . . YIKES!

Well . . . here it is Saturday, December 27, 2008, and I'm still making Christmas presents . . . my family and friends had liked the beading I had done, soooooooooo . . . they told me what they liked and I'm making more jewelry for them . . . here are some of the samples . . .

They also liked my two first beading projects that were featured in my blog on October 26, 2008 . . .

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beading has been my saving grace right now . . .

My beading hobby has been my saving grace right now since my dear 85 year-old MIL#2 fell four weeks ago . . . I was able to take it to the hospital with me while she was there for 10 days and then to the assisted living home to visit with her while she is recuperating from complications of the fall . .

I've also been able to spend more time with dh#2 in the family room watching TV together while I bead . . . it's time that we can spend being supportive of each other especially right now . . .

These beaded cards are projects from my beading class with Sylvia Valle at the Rancho Santa Margarita Community Center where she teaches Adult Education classes . . . the beading has been so therapeutic during the family illness . . . I am so fortunate to have found this additional hobby!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

Michi's First Two Beading Projects

I started a weekly Beading Class with my wonderful art teacher, Sylvia Valle, former instructional editor for Stampington for 11 years, who teaches at the local community center in Rancho Santa Margarita . . . some of her old (oops!!! FORMER students . . . FORMER students . . . not OLD students!!!! YIKES!!!! MY faux pas!!!!! LOL!!!!) students carpool all the way from Manhattan Beach in L.A. to take her classes . . . here are my first two projects . . . they are both bracelets using cube beads . . . but I decided to make the first one a watch . . .

The second bracelet was a lesson on increasing and decreasing rows . . . I have a feeling that this hobby could be ADDICTING!!!!! LOL!!!!!!

Mr. & Mrs. Paper Artsy & Family

Woo!!!!!!!! Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't win first place . . . but I qualified for "highly recommended" for my entry in the Paper Artsy Big Fat Competition contest for May 21, 2008 . . .

My family friend/stamping buddy, Lori Tokita, encouraged me to alter a papier mache box . . . that introduced me to 3-dimensional objects . . . I found this charming wooden bird house at Joann's for only one dollar which became my altered object for the contest . . .

I painted gesso and Liquitex Basic White acrylic paint on the birdhouse . . . the trim was painted with Joann's Magenta Craft Paint . . . inked the School Boy and Strange Little Girls in Kaleidacolor Spectrum . . . spritzed the stamp with denatured alcohol (I hope this doesn't damage my stamps!!!! YIKES!!!!! LOL!!!!) . . . let it drip until I was happy with the result . . . let it dry . . . huffed on it to re-moisten . . . stamped it on white glossy Kromekote cardstock . . . the other images were stamped with the Spectrum Kaleidacolor without spritzing . . .

The stamped cardstock was trimmed to fit and adhered with PVA Glue . . . then sprayed with Krylon Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze with plenty of ventilation . . . let dry . . .

The charms were inspired by Sharon Diskin from LuminArte . . . they are shrink plastic stamped with Staz On ink . . . beads and charms were added to embellish . . .

Whew!!! I now have a new respect for 3-dimensional artists!!!!

Cecilia Charm

Lisa Gifford, owner of Step Outside Your Box Saturdays, challenged her group with creating a charm this week . . . Mine is inspired by Sharon Diskin of LuminArte . . . the Cecilia image is by Cherry Pie and the words are by Hero Arts