NinjaJenn On ArtFire

One of the really fun things about promoting other shops, is you get to see some of the fun items people do. It's interesting how one technique has turned out soooooo many different pendants. NinjaJenn does glass tile, scrabble tile, and other wood pendants. Even though this wooden heart is covered with chiyogami paper, it sort of reminds me of an art nouveau design. The paper is coated with resin to protect it, also making it water resistant.





I kind of like the fogginess of this butterfly pendant, makes it look somewhat mysterious. I almost want to get a magnifying glass out to see if there are any fairies hiding in there! Pretty cool.

Title will take you to her shop on ArtFire.

The Broom Closet on ArtFire

I'm playing catchup this am. Seems as tho my body wanted to sleep all day on Sat. So today I have 2 different shops on ArtFire for your enjoyement.

1st up is The Broom Closet. Now, you wouldn't think there would be some really cool things coming out of a broom closet normally. But, this broom closet has some pretty neat stuff. For instance, the lovely vintage brooch. Or what about those fun monkey charms! So, go check out The Broom Closet on ArtFire! She has some other cool things too!

Title will take you to The Broom Closet.

I Almost Cried On The Wings of The Butterfly

Several weeks ago while working on a project with a group of second graders and the wonderous Thursday Sweet Treat, I had started 2 different ornaments. Different but in a way the same. They both were supposed to be ornaments with butterflies all over them. I had gotten a couple of butterflies painted on one ornament, and was in the process of drawing another one, and guess I pressed too hard, and broke the ornament.

ok. So, I got another nice clean clear glass ornament, and started in again. Had about 5 butterflies painted on it, and what did I do? Yep, you guesses it - I broke it! The funny part - I don't even remember how that one got broken!

So, then I was thinking, ok, maybe I just shouldn't be doing an ornament for this. And started on a stained glass butterfly, which in the end turned into a mobile with an abstract flower under the butterfly.

Then this week's theme for Thursday Sweet Treat was "On the Wings of the Butterfly" - oh cool, I'll try another ornament. So, I got another nice clean clear glass ornament, a round one this time - the other two had been egg shaped. After spending 4 days off and on painting this one, and then adding some flowers, as the young lady in the poem said, butterflies are important for flowers - and flowers are one of my favorite things in life! First, I thought about doing different flowers, but then I thought Forget Me Nots - as in remember the butterflies, and all they do for us, and in a since a message to take care of our earth!

This particular ornament took more time than usual, as there are a lot of small parts to it, and then little lines to do. I hadn't gotten the antenae on the butterflies yet, but pictures needed to be done. It was cloudy out, but not too bad.

Within minutes, that all changed! It became dark, started raining, thundering, blowing - ok - guess I'm not going to do pictures.

Then yesterday (thursday) I was hanging 2 new butterfly stained glass pieces in my window and hit the vase that the ornament was hanging out on - I put dowels in it, and the ornaments get put on dowels to dry.

CRASH - not only did the butterfly ornament go down, but two other ones that I had been working on.

None of the 3 survived the crash. The other 2 didn't bother me too much, they didn't have much on them.................................but the butterfly one, well as the title says: I almost cried!

Chantilly Lace on ArtFire

Ok, so I'm going to try really hard to get back on a regular schedule of featuring other ArtFire artisans.

Today we have ChantillyLace of ArtFire, who claims to be a romatic at heart and lives in Edmondton, Alberta, Canada.

I just love this bracelet. I think this a really intriquing design. Even though it looks pretty delicate, it is actually fairly sturdy. I know, because I've tried this pattern based on a short piece by my ex-mil. But this one with it's pink pearls, purple and opal Swarovski crystals and sterling silver wire, is quite stunning don't you think so?

Lots of pretty romantic creations in this shop. Be sure to check it out for some quality handmade items.

TITLE LINKS TO HER SHOP

An Afternoon Stroll

I was wondering around the other day, needing to just get out for a bit in the bright warm sun. After a while I was somewhat startled by the sounds near my feet, wondering what it was, I looked down to find this creature with a such a sweet disposition and a kind of smile on it's face.

I wasn't so sure what to make of this interesting creature, but gave it a pet and went on my way.

With wonderment at this odd looking being in my mind, I was thinking about sitting down and letting the shade cool me down a bit. As I sat down, I turned around and saw this very large animal like I had never seen before. He was very large - more than 9ft long and so tall - much taller than me. He didn't seem scarey - just very large, in fact he almost didn't seem to notice me -
I sat there for a bit and watched this large being with his horns and odd shape, and realized he had no tail! This very large being with his long sharp horns seemed to be intently watching something off in the distance that I could not see.
Wondering what was over there, I got up and wandered off.


Now, as I got closer to where the large creature with horns was looking at, I realized what he had been so intently watching and was so still. I stopped dead in my tracks too when I saw what he had seen.
Now, I knew these 2 creatures I'd seen were sort of different than our animals, this one made me think I'd slipped into some twilight zone, and he didn't seem like he was very friendly at all. I wasn't too sure tho, so I walked so very softly a little closer and saw that he had very colorful scales and very large sharp teeth. I stood almost frozen before I was able to come to my senses and back very very slowly away, hoping he had not noticed me.

Wait, a moment, I know I had only gone out for a walk, to enjoy the sun for a bit. But there in the sky was what I thought looked like a fish. Now fish don't belong in the sky, they belong in the water, right. I slowly walked a little closer to get a better look, what a bright shiney fish this was swimming through the sky.

While looking up this wonderous being, I almost bumped right into what I thought must be Medusa come to life! Her hair streaming out behind her she seemed to be riding some magical waves that I could not see. Along beside her was a sort of seahorse dragon looking creature, and now I knew I had to be in some far off land.

This Medusa looking being went on by and I wondered where did I wander too. Maybe the sun was getting to me and I was seeing things, I know I hadn't gone that far.

I must sit and rest for a minute and get my wits about me, these beings are so different, so strange and yet so wonderous.

After a minute I looked down beside me to find these beautiful orange flowers with the sweetest scent. These gorgeous flowers were surrounded by long skinny sharp needles, as if to say "do not touch"! They seemed to bring me back from this other world where I had been. Resting there for a bit, I wondered on home.

Hours later, I woke up and thought, what a strange dream indeed.

Until I looked at the pictures in my camera, and yes there they were - pictures of these wonderous beings I had seen.

Note: not quite what I wanted - but written rather quickly -

These wonderful sculptures are just a few that grace a shopping area here in Albuquerque. They are done by a group of artists (not me) and are for sale. I have more pictures that I will be putting on flickr in the next day or so.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisianblue/

Janelson Arts on ArtFire

I wasn't hungry, but now I think I'm craving cupcakes!!!!! And these by Janelson Arts on ArtFire almost look good enough to eat! I saw the strawberry ones first, and then while snooping through this delightful shop, I found these! Happy Birthday cupcakes! I don't know, I think they would be great for a graduation too - say from kindergarten to 1st grade, or maybe even into mid school. But wouldn't they make a great bracelet or necklace for some special little girl to commemorate a special day!

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=ViewListing&product_id=190191

And then these strawberry cupcakes - mmmmmm aren't they yummy looking? Wow - this gets even better - $12.00 for the 3 handmade strawberry cupcake beads, and that includes shipping! YAY! That's a pretty good deal!

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=ViewListing&product_id=191172

These really almost make want to go out and get a bead making kit and try my hand at it! It's actually something I've been wanting to try for some time. Seeing these cute beads, really makes me want to try it even more! Meanwhile, I may just have to get some awesome beads from this shop!

She has lots of really neat handmade glass beads - check it out! blog title links to shop.

Have a great day!