I haven't tried my hand at it yet, but here's a photo of TitancIA's (my daughter) first attempt at resin. All of her forms turned out, some better than others but all successful. Personally, I'm THRILLED with my new Oz necklaces. She used confetti pieces of the cowardly lion, scarecrow, Dorothy and Toto (wearing it right now) with a little glitter and they worked great!

The purpose of the photo (besides it being a bit of bragging on my part) is so you can see how the chain is attached. She drilled a hole at the top with the drill from Michael's, then CloverGrace (my other daughter) did the wire-work for the chain because Titancia said she doesn't do as good a job as her sister with that sort of thing.



SunflowerSmiles: I recommend you get a dremel because you can do a bunch of neat stuff with it, very handy!

Now that my partner and I have both received, I thought I'd share a photo of the stash I took before sending. I posted a link to the photos, but I was told it's more fun if I post the actual photos. But I don't want to take up unnecessary bandwidth so I'll just post a shot of the whole deal with a link to the close-ups.




All ready for shipping:


Link to my Flickr page: http://flickr.com/photos/iamdawt/sets/72157605437403759/


Our favorite out of the whole deal is the vintage teal tray, been keepin' my eye out for more of the same since discovering that one. I found a cream-colored one just like it at the same thrift store, but it's all cracked and crummy-lookin', not even salvageable. (pout) Patience, my dear, another will come to thee... 

(Apologies for posting so late, but I had a family emergency and was gone until late this evening.)

*doin' the button dance!* UPS finally delivered my package of buttony goodness from Mamaphunk! She really did it up fabulously and I'm so excited to be able to share my stash with you. Thank you SO MUCH, Julie, you spoiled me rotten!





I finally got the package in my hot little hands and torn it open to find a note telling me, well, I'll share that with you a little further down the line:




First thing I pulled out was the DARLING zippered pouch with a sweet little flowery dangle and a special matching surprise inside! I immediately had to hide the necklace from one of my daughters cause she wanted it so badly...those vintage plastic findings are the bomb and they will explode only on my neck, thank you very much:




Then I discovered the jar of luscious buttons and three more bombs, for the bath! This is where the note comes in, she told me to go relax in the tub and enjoy myself with the bombs of fragrance...they're HUGE!




I went to dump out the buttons and found that Mamaphunk had organized, strung and labeled each bundle of joy with an estimated date, wow! I could hardly contain myself because of all the vintage-y buttons! I'm leaving them attached to the cards because it's so neat to have an actual history on them. All of my buttons have been collected through the years with no clue as to where they came from other than thrift shops and yard sales. Excellent idea, Julie, thanks!


Here are some close-ups...I, of course love each and every one of them, but my favorites are the sparkly rhinestone ones on the left, you wouldn't believe how they catch the light!







This was my very first swap ever and I could not have asked for a better partner. Thank you, Mamaphunk, for making my virgin swap an experience I'll never forget! (pun intended)

Here's one for Mamaphunk...your goodies are on the way!

I've been working on my swap and having THE best time of it!

Here's a favorite button can of mine, I think it's just darling. Funny thing is the can is empty and I didn't even know it, but it won't be empty for long!

I had a great day of sorting through my buttons yesterday to see what
my swap partner might like. I thought I'd share a couple of pics of
just how sick I am when it comes to collecting/hoarding them.

Big ol' cabinet out in my craft room (aka crap room cause I have
so much craft-crap)




The gallon-sized ziplock bags on the top shelf reach all the way to the back
of the cabinet. The jars and tins are stuffed as well, more buttons than any
one person should claim!

Okie dokie, Pokie, here's the pics I promised. This is the type of work I'd like to do more of, but I need to learn the firing process so I can do it at home.









I love how the fire licked the surface and left its mark. Even though they're not glazed I'm amazed at the shine they retained from the burnishing process.

Oops! Modified to add that these are slab pots, formed by using a slab of clay and 'manipulated' into shape. This was a required project made in the same ceramics class I did the butterfly pot.

I took a ceramics class at our local junior college because I missed putting my hands in clay. This is one of my favorite things I've ever made, a coil pot I worked on for several weeks.








I found the process quite relaxing, especially applying the rolled coils to the layer beneath it, smoothing out the lumps and bumps, trying to make it look as though it was thrown on the wheel (although a little haphazardly, I admit). Since there were hundreds of items being fired at the school, it was a bit of a circus act to get this pot fired without losing any of the butterflies but it came through just fine. While it was drying, though, someone bumped their piece up against mine and one of the wings broke off. The instructor suggested I use vinegar to repair it and it worked beautifully, even I can't tell which one it is.

I also made 3 itty-bitty slab pots that were fired in a trash can overnight. They were burnished, not glazed, but the burnishing process gave them a shine so they didn't need it. When they came out of the fire they were the neatest 'color' of black and natural clay. I loved, loved, loved the burnishing process, it was calming and didn't take any real thought. I would like to pursue this at home and learn to fire them in the same way. Maybe I'll take pictures of the 2 I have left (I gave one to one of my brothers) and post them as well.

Thanks for looking!

I've never posted, only lurked, so here goes... My daughter told me I should post a picture of the chocolate cake I made for my husband's 53rd birthday, which was in December. Poor guy, having a birthday close to Christmas is no fun, so I try to make it extra special because of that. I hadn't decorated a cake in years and had forgotten how fun it could be! Here 'tis:

Teal is because he likes the San Jose Sharks. My daughter printed out 'Happy Birthday' because I didn't want to ruin the cake with my cruddy handwriting:


I have an unsteady hand, so I used uncooked spaghetti for the strings:


I used mints for the tuning keys, chocolate-covered graham crackers for the square pieces and a chocolate-covered Oreo cookie for the center hole. I love anything that sparkles, but I especially like red (love those ruby-red slippers from the 'Wizard of Oz' movie!), so I used red icing that shimmers: