It's Friday....

Yes, it's Friday!

Here in Canada it's a long week-end too, not that the self-employed really end up taking days off! Anyway it's Victoria Day on Monday in the rest of Canada, or la fête de Dollard (des Ormeaux) here in la belle province.

It'll be busy, with taiko performances both tomorrow and Sunday; hope the weather is nice on Sunday since we're supposed to play outside. Tomorrow should be interesting too - I'll blog about it next week.

Finally got around to taking some new photos and listed a few things in my Etsy shop. Not sure about the white background though. What do you think?

Denim Dahlias chiyogami earrings

California roll sushi charm

Floating Sakura chiyogami pendant

Friday Cat Blogging:
And it IS Friday, so it's gotta be a little about the cats, right? As you may know, our cats, Chibi and Ebi have not gotten along since... well, forever. It IS much better now than it was at first. I got really excited last week when this happened.

Ebi (black cat) now sits in the window in my workspace, a spot that used to be only Chibi's. She doesn't seem to mind too much, and for some reason this time, I don't think she saw him already sitting up there (don't know how you can miss him!), and jumped up... Neither of them freaked out which was good, no slapping at each other like they usually do, but I grabbed the camera just in time to see Chibi turning around to escape. This was as physically close as they've ever been!

There's hope yet.

Lampwork bead giveaway, oh my!!!

A few posts down, I confessed to my new lampwork bead obsession - I ogle, peruse, dream about all the things I could do with the handmade glass, but it takes me forever to choose and decide on the beads to buy! Blue Heeler Glass on Etsy (username, bluhealer) has some gorgeous beads in their shop and I've been eyeing these for some time now. I love the cheery colours and the lightly etched finish - I do tend to gravitate towards the more matte lampwork stuff.

If you'd like a chance to win them, just leave a comment on Fab Fibers blog post, and post the info on your blog to share with your readers! Good luck to you (and to me too!)!

Featured in an online magazine...

Hey look, one of my pendants and one of my cards is in the May issue of VivaLaModa Handmade online magazine! Here I am on this page, and on this page too!

I've got them up in my Etsy shop too. Here's the Pensive Bunny...


And the Positivity or Happy Thoughts card...

My Vulcan roots...

When I was little, my Dad insisted we all have short hair - my sisters and brothers and I, so I often looked like a boy. Here's a perfect example.

My mom would cut our hair, so it was the classic "bowl-on-the-head" look for the girls (up to a certain age), the boys got crew cuts. Sometimes my mom would cut mine really short and trace around my ears with the scissors, for a very... attractive... look... like this.

(* this was the Christmas wreath I had just made in kindergarten and my brother was trying to take a picture of me with it, but I was wiggling around so much because I was too excited to show it to my parents - all that to explain why I'm blurry and the wreath is in focus)

Because of this "hairstyle", combined with the fact the tips of my ears are a little on the pointy side, my siblings would sometimes call me "Spock" - lovingly, of course. I would later shake off my nickname, by growing my hair just a little, and I thought I had entirely escaped my Vulcan past, when...

... Enter http://www.trekyourself.com/, and I now have an updated Spock look.

I don't think I've ever cackled so loudly as while seeing and doing these last night - my husband started us all off - his is the best - perfect proportions, except for the uncharacteric (of a Vulcan) smile. Mine just looks like I got a bit of a bad haircut.

These are just the jpeg versions, but it's actually pretty darn hilarious when you do it yourself, since you can make the head, eyes and mouth move. There are different characters to choose, but of course everyone wants to be Spock. And of course, we had to do the cats as well.

My Vulcan Chibi who looks like some kind of anime character...

my Vulcan Ebi, who looks a little cranky and sininster.

When you go to http://www.trekyourself.com/, Spending my time doing this kind of stuff is why there are not enough hours in a day.

Lampwork beads

I've recently become a little obsessed with lampwork beads (I guess "a little" and "obsessed" don't quite go together). I check out what's been newly listed every day on Etsy - yes, EVERY day - and imagine what I could make if I had the money to buy the beads. I bought some beads awhile ago, from a few sellers and just ogled the beads, laid them out, touched them, and well, that's about it. I think I was afraid to commit to making something and then that would be it, I couldn't just admire the beads anymore. Silly, I know.

Anway, here's what I finally made for myself, and I am quite thrilled with it. I love the colours and the way the beads feel. Focal bead by Amber Van Meter, additional lampwork by Jennifer Jennings and Keitha Osterhaus.

I'll have to take a lampworking class one day!

More making... while Friday Cat Blogging!

Although I've been working with polymer clay for around 7 years now, I haven't experimented with a lot of canes. I have, however, made my share of makizushi or sushi rolls though. I guess I could make a really humungous one so that I don't have to make another one for some time, but this one will take me through the summer anyway.

Here it is assembled, filled with spinach, carrot, egg, gourd strips (kanpyo) and pollack / fake crab stick. The rice is thin noodles of transluscent clay wrapped with white.

And for the Friday Cat Blogging... You know I love my cats, they make me smile when no one else or nothing else can. Impossible to look at this face and NOT smile.

This is Chibi a couple days ago, trying to ignore me and the camera. I don't know what it is about the camera, but she hates it. As soon as she hears it being switched on, or sees me point it at her, she's off in the other direction. She is truly the world's sweetest kitty.