What are your beading goals for 2010?

I was asked this question and decided to answer it here on my blog
First off, my goal is to learn new techniques I do not know yet.  To push myself in my creativity.  I am also going to create more jewelry for my Etsy shop, to have more of a variety for people to choose from, from extrememly simple to more intracate.  I have the time to do so now, so I am going to put it to good use.  I want to improve my bead embroidery, and I want to learn loom beading.  I have had a couple small looms for several years now but no time to sit down and try them out.  I want to create more intricate polymer clay beads to sell and use in my jewelry I create.  I have loads of books to learn new techniques both in beading and making beads.  Now I have the time to try them all out.  I plan on 2010 being a big year for me in my beading.

I'm back and Use the Muse Contest

I am sorry I have been gone so long.  We are no longer working as caretakers on the farm, and hve moved into a trailer up the road.  I still go and feed the animals, but that is all I do.  I am acrually happy about this as the job was really hurting me physically.  I am still hurtig where the Billy Goat slammed me up against the stall, and cracked my collar bone.  That was about 5 months ago.  I do not sleep well because of the pain.
Anyway, I was asked the queston = What is your favorite part about the Use The Muse Contest? 
My favorite part of the contest is that it pushed me beyond my limits as a bead artist.  I had to think of a unique way to use the Muse in my piece.  I hope it was unique enough.  I created something I always thought was beyond my capabilities.  They will be revealing the Muse and the winners in two days.    Go to http://www.thebeadersmuse.com/  to check out past contest winners, and in two days to see the winners of this contest.  I am so excited.  I have been on the edge of my seat for weeks now waiting.  It is almost torture to wait another two days.
Once the Muse and winners have been revealed, I will be putting pictures of my piece here in my blog, and it will be going up for sale in my Etsy store.  Check out my Etsy store for some grat gifts for your family and friends for Christmas.

AWESOME GIVEAWAY ON PUMPKIN PATCH PRIMITIVES
This is a great on folks  Hurry to join in, it ends on October 31



PUMPKIN PATCH PRIMITIVE IS GIVING AWAY A WONDERFUL FABRIC STASH!!


 HURRY! HOP ON YOUR BROOM and ZIP over to http://www.pumpkinpatchprimitivequiltshoppe.blogspot.com/2009/10/its-happy-halloween-giveaway.html

Follow her directions to enter in this UNBELIEVABLE HALLOWEEN GIVEAWAY!!!

Gifts for your Cats

I have just put a couple of my most popular sellers at shows onto my Etsy site.  My "The Best Little Catnip Ball Ever" & "The Best Little Catnip Mouse Ever" are my biggest sellers at shows.  I always sell out.  I have repeat customers that come back to buy more for their cats or for friend's cats. 
These balls and mice are layered with catnip all throughout and cats just go bonkers over them.  They are firmly felted.  They do get fuzzy with play but cats seem to enjoy this. 
My cats have been playing with their catnip balls for over three years now, and the catnip mouse for a year, since I have only been making the mice that long.
Check out my Etsy shop at
http://www.sacredcat.etsy.com/  to get your cat a wonderful toy that they will love.
  I will always have these on my store.  When the ones on there sell out, I will put up more.  So if you go there and do not see any, please come back in a day or two. 
They are cat tested and cat approved by Isis and Kodo.

Halloween and more

I cannot believe it has been so long since I posted anything. Boy does time fly and get away from me. Halloween is coming soon and it is one of my favorite holidays. It is the only holiday I decorate for. Speaking of decorations, check out these awesome jack=o=lantern quilts by Becky
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29033346
And her prices are very reasonable also. Wouldn't one of these look great hanging on your door.
I also now have an Etsy store and there are a coupe felted jack=o=lanterns with ghosts there. Please check out my store at http://www.sacredcat.etsy.com I also have some adorable animal felties, and some polymer clay beads and pendants. Remember Alfred, my needle felted Doll that won third place (see previous blogs), well he is there also. I haven't had a lot of time to work on crafts, lately.

We lost our mama goat, Annie. I found her dead one morning. And Ebby the mare lost her foal before it was born. She has been coughing and I think it caused her to lose the baby. The vet says her lungs are clear. Drummer, the stallion has had four asthma attacks. This is called Heaves in horses. This last bout lasted over a week. We will be selling the two fillies this weekend. I so wanted to be able to buy Goldie, but it was not meant to be. I am going to miss them. There will be a lot less animals to take care of now. The baby goats are doing great, growing and chubby.

We have some new babies on the farm. Here is one of six kittens, now 8 weeks old. This is Tommy.


This is Precious. She was my favorite. A beautiful little dilute totise shell. Unfortunately, something killed and ate most of her. I was heart broken. We had 7 kittens until this happened.

This is Chester at one day old. He is one of a pair a baby goats that are now two weeks old.

This is Chester's brother, Charlie. ARen't they just the cutest. I am working on getting them used to being handled. Boy, can they cry loudly. LOL!

This is Sasha at 1 week old. She is our new beefalo calf. I love her white face Now we are just waitingon the foal. And hopefully the peahen has laid eggs and we will have baby peafowl soon.

This is the great part about working on a farm. All the new arrivals. I just love bby animals. They are all so precious I cry when something happens to one of them.

New necklace

This was the simplest necklace I have ever made but I love it. I bought some Hill Tribe Silver starfish in varying sizes and a pair of earrings.

I had planned on using pearls but did not have as many as I wanted and just was not happy with the look. I went through my stash and found a hank of these beautiful pastel glass tube beads. I held them up to the starfish and loved the look. So, I attached the starfish to one strand, tied the strands together, and used Bali Silver cones to hide the knots. I then straightened the ear wires on the earrings and added two beads to each wire then bent back into place. So now the earrings match the necklace. There is a lot of silver on this necklace, but I love the simplicity of it. I call the piece Stars of the Sea.

New Alphabet Pets & I won a contest

I have completed the second and third of my Alphabet Pets. The second one, B is for Bunny goes to Tania for choosing the name I would have used if it wasn't already being used so much. Isn't she just the cutest? She is only 1 1/4 inches tall.
The third one is a leopard appaloosa horse. All those spots were so much fun.

H is for Horse is now up for auction on Ebay. Here is a link to his auction.

http://tinyurl.com/d398ax Please check it out.

And while yo are there, click on View Seller's Other Items and check out the auction for Alfred. Alfred is the winner of Third Place in an International Needle Felting contest through www.bearycheap.com. He won third after two adorable needle felted animals. I think that is great. I mean we all know how endearing cute little animals are. So, for my Alfred, just a man, to rank up there with adorable little animals is quite an accomplishment. I plan on making more Needle Felted dolls in my LIFE LIKE line, and Alfred is the first. So here is your chance to get the first in a series of needle felted collectibles and when I become famous, he will be worth lots of money. Really! Think about it. Besides, every tie you walk past him, you won't be able to help but smile back at him. So he will always make your home a happy one.

Been a while - my newest line of needle felts

I have started a new line of needle felts. I am calling them Alphabet Pets. I went to an auction and got a big box of kids blocks. I knew immediately what I wanted to do if I got them and I won the bidding. So, I came home with this idea, but couldn't think of a name. So I held a contest on my needle felting group

The name I wanted to go with was Alhapets, but when googled, there were tons of things out there with that name. So,. I went with my second choice, Alphabet Pets. The two lovely ladies whose names I chose each get an Alphabet Pet. Mary, who came up with Alphabet Pets got the one you see here. The very first one in the series. Tania, who came up with Alphapets gets the second one I am going to make.

Each one will be signed and numbered and come with a Certificate Of Authenticity. Not sure if I am going to put them on Ebay or open an Etsy store.

It isn't easy needle felting this small. Each one will be firmly felted, and glued to a block. I will be doing all sorts of animals, and will keep you posted on new ones.

Look What I Found

This morning, after doing my morning feeding, I had to work on clearing out the hay loft. I am throwing the hay bales down into the hay room and cleaning the loft to prepare for the new hay. The hay was stacked up there two deep and when I got the first row thrown down, I saw what I thought were two kittens. I picked them up to move them so the mama would take care of them, and there was two tiny raccoons in my hands. I knew the mama would not accept them now that I had handled them and the barn cats might kill them. So, I brought them home and put them in a box with a blanket. We were spending the whole day splitting wood today, and Liz, the owners daughter was coming to help. She is a wildlife rehabilitater, and Judy called and told her about my find. Liz said she would take them. I was so thrilled, because Zoomer said if she didn't, we would have to put them out in the woods and they would never survive. They are only 3 weeks old, and their eyes aren't open yet.
I got to feed them today while Liz worked on splitting wood. There is a male and a female. The male is real calm and the female screamed a lot. Liz, who has raised a lot of baby coons, said the females are always more active and louder.
I wish I could raise them. It would be so cool, even knowing they would have to be released back into the wild. She says she teaches them to wash their food in creeks and how to find food, then at six months she has to release them. She says it breaks her heart because she has to chase them off and make them afraid of her, or they would just walk up to any human. She doesn't like that part, and neither would I.
Aren't they just the cutest little darlings.

Dottee Doll Swap

I have been making some fun little dolls for a group swap They are called Dottee dolls. Dotee Dolls were created by a woman named Dotee in Australia http://dotslifeandart.blogspot.com/2008/01/dotee-doll-fervour.html. Dottee Dolls have a loop for hanging, a tail of some sort, usually beads. They normally range from 3 to 6 inches. They usually do not have arms or legs. It is a good way to use up your scrap material and other crafty items like beads, yarn, etc. They are quick and easy to make and very addictive.



I decided to try something different with my. I always have to be different. LOL! Instead of using color or printed material, I used lace and stuffed them with colored wool. I really like the effect. I used faces I got from SpeedieBeadie Dot in a face swap a while back. They are printed on cloth, so not real heavy. I used scrap yarn for the hair, and on the tail of the second one.

Also on the tails, I used beads that I did not have a lot of so really couldn't use them for most of my jewelry I make. The blue/green and the red one have an earring on them that I lost the mates to. The purple one has a cute button.

I am really happy with them, and will probably make more although I do not know what I will do with them. I hope whoever gets these will like them. I always worry about that whenever I do a swap. Dottee dolls are very easy and quick to make. I have seen some amazing Dottees, very unique and creative. It is amazing the different ideas people come up with for them.

Remember, if you click on the pictures, it will take you to a larger version to see them better. Thanks for visiting.

Amber and Copper

I love Amber. It is such a cool stone, not really a stone though. It is a tree resin, but it is so light that even big chunks weigh very little. I love chunky necklaces but they can be very heavy sometimes. Not with amber. It comes in different shades also. I had a couple different kinds of amber nuggets, and some amber chips. I have been wondering how amber would look with copper. I have come to really like using copper in my jewelry. So, yesterday morning, I whipped up this necklace and earrings with my amber and copper. I really like it and it is so light. I like the combination of the two colors of amber, and please don't ask what they are. I only know that one of them is Baltic amber.

My hubby, Zoomer usually only gives me an "It's okay" when I show him something I made. When I showed him this he said "That's really nice. A bit chunky, but with the right outfit, it would look reslly good." This is high praise coming from him.

In case you did not know, if you click on the pictures in a blog, it will take you to a larger version so you can see it better. I suggest it on this as it really shows the necklace up better.

I will be doing a show the last week of July. I hardly ever keep any of my jewelry. I just do not wear it that much. Especially around here. I have worn a piece of my jewelry every time we go out somewhere, but in the 9 months I have been here, not one single person has commented on anything I have worn. It seems like people here in Indiana just do not notice things like that. When I wore my jewelry in Ohio, I always got at least one comment each time, but usually more.

Beading For A Cure Project Done

Hi all, I am finally finished. I worked on this late into the night many nights. I was so excited that I was actually making this, that it was being created out of my mind with my own hands. I still find it hard to believe that I did this. I really hope it does well in the auction next year. Check out this years auctions. Go to Ebay and do a search for Beading For A Cure. They put up new auctions every Sunday.

I had a lot of fun creating this. I think it is neat the way it looks like the seahorse is holding onto the seaweed. I also tried to make waves with the bugle beads. You really cannot see it in the pictures, but there are also bubbles coming off some of the seaweed. I really like the look of the Seamoss beading for the necklace part. I also only did the loops of it for the let side as I like Assymetrical. I also like how I positioned the lampwork bead on the right side.

Of course, the fringe does not spread out like this when it is worn, I just did that for the pictures. Please let me know what you think of my first bead embroidered necklace.

Thank you to Christi Friesen for her wonderful books and tutorials. The seahorse is done in her style. Check out her website www.CFOriginals.com. She has inspired me so much in a lot of my work.

Turks Mate Violet

This is my second Fuzzbunn from Christi Friesen's online class. I used metallic white Sculpey III and brown Granitex clay. She is embellished with lavendar wool roving and beading wire, and she is holding a silk flower, a gift from Turk. He is very happy to have his mate with him now, and she looks up at him so adoringly. I am really having fun making these. I plan on making about a dozen younguns for them.

New Additions

Well, it is Spring here at the farm, or close enough anyway. I went up the hill to feed the animals Monday morning and there were two adorable little lambs. Twins born to the one ewe we have here. I quickly made a pen for them in the hay room, and picked up the two little darlings and holding them low to the ground so the mama would see them, backed into the pen with her following. I just want to hold and cuddle them, but cannot mess with them till they are a week old, according to the farm's owner.

They each have one black foreleg and one white forleg with a black heart at the knee. Just too precious. Yesterday while I was up there feeding, the youngest one was bouncing straight up and down on all four leggs like a pogo stick. I am thoroughly enjoying watching them.

I am going to try to do needle felted sculptures of them as soon as I have the time.

Progress on Beading For A Cure Project

Well, I have been working on this every chance I have. I got the main part done and the backing glued on, and started the border beading. But I was really anxious to see what it was going to look like with the necklace part I had chosen to do. So, I started on that and will finish the border later. I am really happy with it as it reminds me of seaweed which fits in with the theme perfectly.

I got the idea from a book called Netted Beadwork by Diane Fitzgerald. The technique is called Sea Moss. I love it, and I was able to incorporate the beautiful lampwork bead into it.

There was a mishap that has upset me and I now have repair work to do. Several of the spines broke off of the seahorse. I was so careful with this and so upset when it happened. Rather then glue the spines back on, I am going to sand down the areas and re varnish it and just leave the three spines that are there. I will not sell a glued piece, so I will not do a glued piece for the auction.

I hope you all like what I have done so far. I need to finish the other half of the necklace, and do the fringe, but I am very happy with my first bead embroidered necklace.

Beading For A Cure Project.

I first heard about the Layne's Legacy: Beading For a Cure from someone on one of my beading groups I found out the kits would be available just days later, so as soon as they were available to new people, I purchased one. They send you a kit of beads, you have no idea what colors or kinds of beads until you get your kit. You then have to make a project using at least one of each bead. You can add one type/color of bead of your choice, and findings/metal type spacers, fibers, pendants, or a set of art beads that are not counted as your single added bead. I already knew, no matter what beads I got, that I wanted to attempt a bead embroidered necklace. I have always wanted to do these.
Here is the set of beads that we got this year. I am very pleased with the colors. I had a cabochon that went perfect with them.

These are the beads I chose to use with the kit beads. They are glass, with a finish on one side and black on the other. I never knew what to do with them until now.

Here is what I am working on. I am using a cabochon made by an Ohio Beader. I cannot remember who made it, so if you see it, and you made it, please let me know so I can give you credit. I also added a polymer clay seahorse pendant I made in the style of Christi Friesen. (You should check out her website, www.CFOriginals.com ) Since I added the seahorse, I decided to do a somewhat ocean theme. I am going to call the piece Jewels of the Sea. I am very pleased with it. I never thought I could do this type of beading, and I am surprising myself. The projects made this year will go up for auction next year.

They are auctioning last years projects on ebay right now. Just do a search for Beading For A Cure.

Meet Turk

I just made my first Fuzzbunn, a polymer clay bunny sculpture from an online class with Christi Friesen. I think he is cute. I made him from a mix of metallic white Fimo Soft and Turquoise Granitex. He has turquoise wool on his tail and head. I am going to make more. After all, you know how prolific bunnies are. I really like his facial expression, and his long whiskers and big ears. I love Christi Friesen's style and do a lot of work based on her style. You should check out her website http://www.cforiginals.com/

Meet Alfred

This is Alfred. He is my latest needle felt project. I took Kay Petal's online course from http://www.feltalive.com/ and he is the result. It took a while to do his Hawaiian shirt and I was beginning to wish I had never started it, but I am pleased with the results. I did not have any particular person in mind when I started him. He created his self as I went along. I really enjoyed doing this and hope to do a new doll soon.

Right now I am working on a beading project for Beading For A Cure. You purchase a kit of beads, and you do not know what they are until you get them. Then you make a project from them. You have to use at least one of each bead, and you are allowed to add one bead of your own, as many as you want , but only the one kind and color. You can add all the metal spacers and findings you want, and cabochons and pendants. I will post here when it is finished.

Hope you enjoyed your visit with Alfred.

It's about time

HELLO EVERYONE,

I'm Cat. I am really bad about remembering to post to my blogs. I am going to try real hard to remember to keep up on this one. I am an artist/crafter. I do One-of-a-Kind needle felted wool sculpts, jewelry, and polymer clay beads, pendants and sculpts. I am planning on opening up an Etsy store as soon as I have enough inventory.

I work as a caretaker on a 175 acre farm in southern Indiana. It is also a camp for handicap kids and adults in June and July. I have a lot to do here to keep the farm running, so my crafting time is limited.

A little about me, I am 51, married to a wonderful man, Zoomer. I am into motorcycles, arts/crafts, SciFi/Fantasy, Reiki, Herbology (studying to become certified), Permaculture (just learning about), Nature and simple living. It is our dream to own our own land or find an Intentional Community we will fit into, and build a strawbale house and live off the land in a way that causes the least damage to our Mother Earth. I hope to one day raise Alpacas. We are owned by two cats, Isis and Kodo, and temporarily by a dog, Shasta. She belongs to the farm, but chose to live with us. I am going to use this blog to talk about my arts and crafts, with a little about what is gong on in my everyday life. I hope it will be interesting enough that you will want to read along.

Here is a photo of a necklace I just made which will go on my Etsy store as soon as I open it.

It is made with a polymer clay pendant that I got off of a wonerful artist on Etsy. I used Picture Jasper which I think set off the pendant nicely, and Moukite Jasper for accenting. The Moukite Jasper is a really pretty maroon color.