Baby bracelet... wedding drums...

I'll start with my weather snippet. Woke up to the clatter of ice pellets hitting the window. And usually with freezing rain like this, it's pretty mild temperature wise. Not today. I opened the balcony door to take a photo of the ice on the snow, but shut it right away since it's so windy and all the ice was blowing in. Freezing out there! What is with this weather!?

I had a really good week-end in online sales, yay! I'm having a sale in my shop this week-end, so I'm prepping, hoping for more good sales!

More custom orders:
Last week, I had the neatest assignment to work on. I was asked to make a bracelet incorporating beads that had been used on a hospital baby bracelet; Franca was born in a smaller city just north of Montreal and apparently at the hospital, newborns all wore these on their wrists instead of the standard plastic nametag. I cannot see today's overworked nurses stringing beaded bracelets for all the babies in their ward. The funny thing is they totally misspelled the family name (not too many Italian families in smaller-town Quebec 50 years ago), and the letters aren't anywhere in the right order on the original bracelet! Isn't this a great keepsake?



She's kept the bracelet for over 50 years, and always wanted to use the beads in another piece she could wear. She was great to work with - it's always nice when a client knows exactly what they want and don't want :) I am so touched that she entrusted me with the honours and I am thrilled to say that she was happy with the finished result.

The result is a simple design that works well in not overwhelming the precious original beads. Franca's sister also dug her baby bracelet out and she would now like a new bracelet too ☺

My friend Yukari, who is a potter (you can see her work here), came over to select all the beads and the pendant for her new choker - she's the only one who I keep the memory wire necklaces in stock for since she has a small neck and likes the close fit of the chokers. We came up with this bright summery look.

Again with the "taiko" ?
Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post, regarding my taiko mishap. It's hard to describe the place taiko has in our lives; I guess "big" would be the best word.

We even played at our wedding; to my mom's horror one of my taiko friends made a sling around my neck with the train of my dress hiked up with a piece chunk of material that I think he tore off a tablecloth; you can kind of see it well in the second shot below.

It was great though, because then I could hop around all I wanted. My mom wasn't so horrified really, as you can see her playing with us later. That's JF's mom on the left.

You know where I'm off to - coffee and work!

"Your babies are in the mail"

I just mailed out these 60 little babies this morning! Here they are all bundled up, ready to be packaged and sent off to North Carolina.

I created this little bundled baby card, as a way to congratulate new parents on a new addition to the family, but a lovely customer of mine, Michelle, wanted to announce the arrival of her son at the end of March with these cards. What a great idea! And I'm so flattered that she chose my cards for such a momentous occasion ☺Inside the folded blanket will be a little print-out with all the info about the new baby boy. Thanks Michelle, I enjoyed making this order for you!

Teaching an old dog new tricks... My Microsoft photo editting and imaging software went all wonky on me yesterday and asking it to do something for me resulted in my computer shutting down - not good. This was the so-called updated version of the same program I've been using for the past 6 years, called PictureIt. It's always given me and my computer and my husband - bless his patience! - problems, but I was so comfortable with it that I've stuck it out. Well, now even the newer version has been discontinued, so I guess Microsoft realized it was a dud. So I'm now learning to get around Picasa, which I've heard so much about - excited to learn how it all works, although I mourn the loss of my friend, MS PictureIt (can you hear the leetle violins playing?).

Ok, gotta go. Time to make the donuts...

Etsy favourite and a fat cat

Another ETSY favourite : Cavendishsoapworks lipbalm

I told you last week about my favourite soap on Etsy. Well, THIS is definitely my favourite lipbalm. In my experience, a good lipbalm has been difficult to find - some are too waxy which ends up drying out my lips (strange, but true), some have just been too soft and globby, and some have been too thin which just makes me feel greasy. I'm a bit of a lipbalm nut, so I've tried many! This is the first time I'm going back to the same shop for more ☺

This lipbalm, created by Kathleen in Prince Edward Island (fellow Canuck!), is firm and smooth, not waxy or thick, and the formula doesn't wear off. The flavours are subtle and lovely, and the tubes look great too. She also makes great soap and candles; go on, have another look in her Etsy shop and try some - you will not be sorry!

Much better today, looking forward to a good work day.

More custom orders! I have an order of mini taiko drums to make that will then be made into cell phone charms, so that will keep me busy through the end of the week and likely into the week-end.

Will also work on a taiko brooch/pin, since I've had a request from a couple of students in our taiko class. This is something I've been meaning to design for some time but never got around to.

Also am working with an expectant mom, a return customer (yay for return customers!), to make birth announcements for her second child.

Look! I made a pendant with my avatar, the Pudgy Waiting Cat, inspired by the late great Jerzy who died at the age of 19 in 2006. The original stamp is larger than this, so I scanned the image, made it pendant size and did the whole image transfer thing.

♪♫ Ta-daaa ♪♫ I think I'll put that up in my shop. Still working on other pendant designs that are taking a little longer...

I guess this means I've really got to get to work now.

I think I need a nap, but I have lots to say.

I had a custom photo pendant to do for today which I had forgotten about this week so I ended up working on it last night. I generally like to make these at least a few days in advance of the deadline so that if something doesn't quite work out, I have time to try again. Well, of course something had to go wrong.

Rule #1 with custom photo pendant work: Once the photo has been scanned and adjusted, and then printed on the transfer medium, check it again against the original photo since differences in computer screens and printers can result in very different colours. I didn't do this and went through the whole process of transferring it onto liquid clay and then making it into a pendant... only to check at the end of all that and realize that the lovely little red-headed girl that I had been staring at throughout the pendant making, is actually blond. Hello.

That realization came at around 1:30am this morning, so I had to start all over again. Readjust colour, print, transfer, make the pendant, varnish. This time all seemed fine and I made a few other pendants since I was wide awake from stress. Off to bed at 4:30am.

Up at 8:30 to find an air bubble that had formed in the four short hours I was sleeping. Air bubbles are not my friends. My attempt at fixing it resulted in a disaster... and yes, I had to start over again. But the final version looks good! Moving on.

I also finished some custom bracelets that accompany these pendants I made for four little girls a few weeks back. The bracelets are for their moms who are the BEST of best friends; the mini birdies represent the moms and the hearts are for their four girls (they each have two daughters who are like sisters). The birds and textured hearts are made with Kato polyclay in my handmixed colours. You can click here to see the girls' pendants, if you like.

As for the girls' necklaces, the bracelets' message hold true: a friend is never far away.

YesterdayI didn't write yesterday. Not sure how much snow we got, but must've been close to 30cm. Friday night was terrible, with ice pellets (ouch) and lots of wind (ouch). Here is a car just outside our front door.

I really wanted molasses cookies when we got back from taiko practice yesterday afternoon. No, I shouldn't be eating such yummies all the time (last week it was these brownies), but I figure if I want something sweet, I'll go for homemade anyday. My mom was a supreme baker so we were always spoiled with freshly baked stuff at home ♥♥♥

These aren't as molasses-y as some, but they are definitely yummy. Soft and chewy on the inside with a nice sugar crunch on top. Harmony of textures.

You'd like to try them? Here you go! Really easy and reeeeealllllly yummy. There are many recipes for these on the internet, but here's my version, should you ever be in the mood ☺

Soft Molasses Cookies
Makes approx. 36 cookies , 350 degrees
1 cup Crisco shortening
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup molasses
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugars until fluffy. Beat in molasses and eggs. In another bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, cloves and cinnamon. Blend thoroughly with wire whisk. Gradually mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until dough is blended and smooth. Roll dough into balls and flatten slightly. Dip tops in granulated sugar; place around 1.5" apart on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for 11 minutes, or until puffed up. Cool on wire rack. Eat immediately for maximum comfort and enjoyment.

I think I'll go for a little snooze now.

Custom work...

I've been working on a custom order of pendants for four little girls - two pairs of sisters - whose families will be separated for a couple of years due to a job transfer. The moms are best friends, the dads are best friends, their four daughters are best friends. Needless to say, this is going to be tough on both families.

To make the separation a little easier on the girls (ages 3 to 5), one of the moms asked me to design a necklace to express the powerful bond the girls share. I immediately had a bird in mind as part of this project, to act as a messenger between the girls. My birdies turned out exactly as I had pictured them in my little brain. Colours are hand-mixed Kato polymer clay, in pearly pastels.

The rest came together pretty organically. Four amazing little girls, four lovely hearts for the top part of the pendant. Turquoise symbolizes communication, so I added a small turquoise stone dangle from the birdie's underside to keep communication open and thus, the friendship ever-growing.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. The moms seem to like them; I hope the girls will too. Children are the scariest customers since they cannot or will not lie. We will see...

Busy is good...

This is a really busy week.

So this isn't going to be a very well written entry, sorry.

Listed a few new items in my Etsy shop, like the bracelet and necklace below. Spent the entire morning yesterday adjusting all my shipping fees (I've lowered them!) ; I'm going to have a spring shopping sale starting tomorrow, and I just decided to make it for an entire week! I think people are starting to think about Mother's Day now, so hopefully they will be planning some gift purchases...
Above: Memory wire bracelet with carved black jade focal, chrysoprase, dyed purple jade, olive jade, turquoise, sterling silver, wood and copper bells.
Below: Kiku pendant, made with chiyogami paper on polymer clay.

Did I say this was a really busy week?

I have a few hours worth of stuff to do today on the community newspaper I volunteer on, plus this month is our Spring Babies issue, and I volunteered my services to do the layout for this issue. Me and my big mouth. That'll be a few more hours this week. There's also my tax receipts that need compiling, a couple of orders to work on, some supplies I have to purchase. Hmmm, when it's written down like this it doesn't seem like much, but I feel like my head is going to explode.

I am also working on a custom order for someone who saw my photo pendants at a craft show, but who wants a larger size piece to hang on the wall. This is proving to be much more challenging than I originally thought. Upon seeing my stress and how I wolfed down my dinner last night so that I could go back to work on it some more, my husband said very simply,

"Why don't you stop taking those orders?"

I think I may listen to him ...