Finished brocade pendant

Here's what I'm sending to my swap partner.

Polymer Clay brocade

My friend Adrienne challenged some of us to a "mystery swap," the mystery being that we signed up without knowing what we were getting into. Turned out the project was "polymer clay brocade," which Adrienne has done a lovely tutorial for here

Here's a peek at what I've done. True to form, my favorites are the pendants made from pieces of scraps--I am just a grungy girl, no escaping it!

Kreativ Blogger Award

I have never received a blog award before, and my friend Rena Sawatski sent the Kreativ Blogger Award to me--thanks, Rena! I've gotten to know her through several online art groups and have several pieces of her lovely artwork. Rena lives in Canada, just one of many women around the globe I have come to call my friends through this crazy art exploration we do.

The Rules: List 7 things that you LOVE and link to the person who has tagged you. Choose 7 more bloggers to give the Kreativ Blogger Award to, then leave a comment on those 7 blogs to let the recipients know you chose them.

So here are the seven things that I love. I'm going to need to muse on 7 recipients--I think the people I would tag have already received blog awards 7 times over!

1. My husband and children, all of whom support and encourage my artwork. These days they are really cheering me on as I work towards the fall launch of an etsy.com shop. Thanks guys, you're the best!
   
2. My work. I'm lucky to have work I love, working with intelligent, fun people who care about improving our community. I'm not saying it's easy, but it's meaningful and I'm passionate about it.
   
3. Music! Live music, recorded music, local music, many genres. What did I do before my iPod? I listen to all sorts of stuff and love to sing along.
   
4. Community. This means different things to different people. For me, it really boils down to friendship. So for my friends of long acquantaince, for my Soroptimist sisters, fellow volunteers, moms, community workers, artists, etc., I'm better off for knowing you. Thank you.
   
5. The capacity for reinvention. Ten years ago I was not a visual artist. At all. Two years ago, it was a major hurdle to utter the words "I am an artist." Today, I'm embracing new identities and charting new courses. That's cool!
   
6. Art! Others' art, my own process, color, design, blogging, magazines, books, galleries. It's a really big, art-filled world out there.
   
7. Gardens. Those that grow food, those that harbor beauty. Those quiet restful places where I am drawn to a drop of water sparkling in the sunlight, or a sunny space where I can work up a good sweat amending compost into the soil.
8. My list would be much longer than 7...I haven't even mentioned books, chocolate, coffee, wine, travel, fabric, paint, dogs, cats, my parents, etc.
   

Stewart Gill acrylic backgrounds

I've been painting tonight with Stewart Gill Byzantia paints, which I've had for just a little while and love. They are super saturated, very light reflective and really fun to paint with.

This is a recycled toilet paper wrapper--a very crinkly paper wrapper, glued to heavy cardstock with soft glossy gel medium. After it dried, I painted it with the Byzantia, using a number of colors.

I'll be working a booth on artist trading cards tomorrow, so I'll take these along to play with, along with a bunch of other goodies.

Adrienne's Dilemma

This is for my friend Adrienne. I set up to make a piece using old things I had in my stash (canvas panel, paints, oil pastels, Grungeboard) and new things (Lulu word bubble stamp from The Stampsmith, grungy background stamps from I Brake for Stamps. Goofy piece I had fun making!

Copper/amber jewelry

I made these for a charity auction this week. The necklace combines modern Czech beads (glass and crystal) with some vintage amber nuggets, lampwork glass and copper. The earrings are copper & crystal.

These got snapped right up and went for more than I had priced them--yeah!

Quietly working

I've not posted in a while! I have been quietly working on jewelry lately, making many pieces that I've donated to recent charity and school auctions. My current loves are copper and silver wire and beads, crystals, and chain. Now I just need to figure out how to photograph them better.

I'm making a pledge to post at least two new photos this week! Stay tuned...