Begining again…..

Almost three years… wow.    In that time span I did a full year of self-examination as an artist and decided that it would be best for me to not touch any polymer clay or any art medium at all.   I needed to figure out what the reason was behind my art…. it was beginning to be about cold hard cash and praise instead of the love and passion of creating.  It was a LONG year!!  but well worth the effort to slowly begin into the process of loving to create for the “loving to create” process…. and learning to know that this is a God-given talent and He expects and wants me to use it…. this is pleasing and Honors Him if done in the right way.  I have put my selfish wants aside and have trusted God in the process of when His timing would be right.   I am not saying that I have it all figured out, but I can say that my hands are itching and I have pulled out my clay and I am creating again!  :0)  and it has brought back a huge amount of joy into my life and oh, how I have missed it!

She’s just lacking a back drop/ground… don’t know what I am doing with it yet:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14939649@N08/8535892843/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Ride for Hope

New Lisbon’s 5th anual Ride for Hope is coming up soon…   I was able to make up  a few items for them to auction off…

Yellow and Pink Budded earrings with matching necklace:

Hope, Faith, Love, Cure Beaded – a pair of earrings and 3 necklaces and 2 bracelets:

 

and a Pair of Black Budded Earrings:

thanks Christy for asking me to be a part of this again this year….  hope you all raise lots of $ !!  :0)

What an Honor!

God’s Blessings continue to fall all around!!  :0)

I had the extreme honor for having two of the photos of my art work to be published in a book!!  A fellow artist gathered photos from multi talented polymer clay artist and published them in a book – it is an extreme honor to have been chosen!!  Tejea  has worked hard on getting the book ready, and we all have been on pins and needles to know what one of our photos were selected, or even if more then one photo was selected!!  

You can take a look at the book and purchase it here:

 

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1248012

and again, thank you Tejea for all your hard work and devotion to the book and again, what an honor to be selected to be placed in a book along with such wonderful talent!!  Wow!  What a wonderful Blessing!

Inspired by Nature….

Spring has sprung!!  Yeah!  the spring bulbs are starting to pop out of the ground and it’s just making me itch to create pretty little flowers!  :0)

Here are a few that I have started:

they are up on my flicker site, you can veiw them big there…. Here is the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14939649@N08/

I have a few other things in the works too…  Ride for Hope is coming up in May, they again asked me to donate some goodies for them, so have been working on a few items for that also….hope to get more beads photographed soon….

Inspiration continues!! :0)

Inspiration is still a gift that I cherish, God Blesses us with those “Wow” moments, we can either chose to credit him for the gifts, or we can chose to ignore them and shrug our shoulders and go on with our lives.

I think that most of us do the later, it’s easier, it’s a lot more fun taking the credit and thinking that our gifts are our own, little things that we are just able to do.  I for one have done just that for a long, long time…  shrug my shoulders and say “thanks” and act like it’s not that big of a deal.  Fully believing that each and every one of us could do what I do, fully thinking that it really isn’t such a gift, just a talent that I honed in on and took ownership of………  I have been sadly mistaken…..  That was just the pride in me speaking.

To take credit for it was so terribly wrong…. it’s God!!  God has given me this wonderful gift, this amazing talent, this way of forming the clay that is a blob into something… Each creation is God’s work, his way of showing us what He is capable of doing when we allow him to work with in us…. even when we are so full of pride and want to claim it as ours, it’s not us, it’s fully him!  I am just thrilled to have the inspiration back, to see his work, the ability to choose the colors so easily, the ability to have a vision, a gift form in my mind and giving the tools to put it into motion….  it just makes my heart sing!   My heart sings with ” thank you Lord for this wonderful gift, thank you for showing me how much easier it is when you are the #1 in my life, thank you for giving me this inspiration, thank you for the wonderful colors that form…… on and on my heart just sings with praises, it’s quite humbling to know how the Lord has Blessed me with this talent to share….  I have struggled with giving him the Glory, and allowing others to see how truly I love him and thank him for all that he’s given me!  I am learning to just be, and let him speak through me…..   it’s not easy letting go, but my heart rejoices when I do!

Here are some of the goodies that my Lord created while using my hands: 

I love creating little fairies on the boxes that I send my beads out in, so I have tried to get the “right” design down for Fairy beads, I just smiled when the colors came together as well as they did, as did the little Fairy!  :0)  Just makes my heart sing!!

Here are the other attempts:

Attempt #1:

Attempt #2:

Attempt #3 (my favorite!):

  (this is just a cane slice, not a finished bead)

Blessed with Inspiration

A few weeks back I was praying for a way to bring Honor to God in my creating process – how?  I still can’t figure that out yet! LOL!!  But in the mist of prayer, I asked God to use me as a tool, and to bring me inspiration  – for I was in a slump and had no mojo and couldn’t seek it anywhere. 

What a gift it was to come across Melanie Moertel’s photostream on Flicker.  Her Cherry pendants really spoke to me.  I kept thinking about how to make a cane with a skinner blend back ground and these hearts and dots just floating around….  how much fun it would be to use her nice bright colors and design elements…..  and to make a box that match the beads!!  I was just amazed how well the colors come together as well as the canes used – (note to ones self, please take more photos of the canes you create!)   Since I have not photos of the canes, I’ll have to show you the beads instead!

ps…. thanks again Melanie Moertel for your wonderful gift and for sharing it with us all on Flicker!

Here are Melanie’s pretty little Cherrie Pendants on her Flicker site:

and Here is my inspirational beads and their matching box:

The Lord has a funny way of leading us to where we need to be, to give us what we need, and to inspire us to seek out more…… 

if you happen to be seeking these beads out, they are for sale on ebay.

A new Year….. reflecting back

Reflecting back is a dangerous thing to do …… it sucks you back to a time where you may or may not have been so stable…..  getting sucked back into time, it’s bitter-sweet, so much has been learned in such a short period of time.

Scott, he lost his courageous battle with cancer this past November, which was roughly the time in which I lost my dad a few years ago.  To say that it’s taken a toll on me, is correct, but not in the way that it would affect most people.   Scott left a legacy for his children, something to be proud of and to take pride in knowing that he came to know that Lord before death came  – what a gift that was to witness, what a gift it has been to watch his wife give of herself so freely and not be so selfish in doing so, she lost so much during that time with Scott, but she gained so much in return…..  I personally have never, EVER, Learned as much about love as what I have this past year.  

With Valentines being right around the corner, I can’t help but be reflective of what I have learned and how it’s changed me, made me better because of it.  It’s so sad to know that our loved ones are gone, but it’s so amazing to see what has transpired through it all, how it changes people, how devoted they become, how they push harder to be “something” and how they work through the process and learning and becoming….   it makes me think of a childhood song that my aunt taught my sister and I (Cindy, she was always singing, I love that about her!!)  “He’s still working on me, to make me what I ought to be, it took him just a week to make the moon and the starts………..   there really ought to be a sign upon my heart, don’t judge me yet, there is an unfinished part……….  he’s still working on me….”        I am unfinished, I have so much to learn, so much to express, so much to seek, so much to find, but I myself, can no longer push to find it all, for when I do, I am a wondering sheep without his Shepard, I need to learn to let God lead me and show me the way.

Scott’s death was a wakeup call, a “I finally get it Lord!” moment!  My art has suffered because of it all, because I wasn’t letting the Lord move inside of me, seeking me and guiding me to where I needed to be, it became about the money, what can I make off of these, instead of about enjoying the process, and just letting the Lord work through me and show me where I needed to be and what I needed to be doing. 

I am not saying I have it figured out!! LOL!!  I am not saying that I know that when I sit down to play with the clay that it’s the Lord’s hands at work, and not me trying to take control of the situation and trying to rework it so it’s my work…. LOL!!  Trust me, that part I don’t have down yet, but I am learning to be still and listen to what is inside of my heart, to let the Lord speak through me and my art –

This – letting the Lord speak through me, and taking the credit for what he is creating – is a new process for me.  This is me learning, and the Lord teaching me, this is because the Lord has shown me, through Wednesday Night Church, studying through the book by C.J. Mahaney, called HUMILITY– I have learned that I am a selfish, prideful person, who is always self seeking, and all of this is not how Christ was for me……..   I need to give of myself and serve, let the Lord take the credit, and know that I am nothing without him….

A year of reflecting back is not always so good to do, but seeking out what the Lord has in store for us today and the next, now that is something worth seeking as is giving the Lord Credit when credit is very much Due!!

Life is a journey

Life is truly a journey…. it has it’s smooth roads and it has it’s sharp turns, wrong ways, rough gravel roads,  and it’s smooth fast paced high ways….  you just never really know what your journey will have in store for you until you hit the road!!  :0)  and no matter what you try to do, it takes you where you need to be! LOL!!  We are just along for the ride….. 

Last July my husband’s cousin was diagnosed with a Glioblastoma Multiform Brain Tumor.  You can read his heroic story here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/scotthembree/mystory  To say that watching and reading their story has changed my life is an understatement.  The magical part of it all is the impact they have had on those they never have met….  the influence of loosing your loved one at any moment and knowing that in an instant you life can be for ever changed, and sometimes not in a positive way is humbling…. scary…. heartbreaking…. enlighting… 

It’s changed the way I view everything, and that is a good thing!!  :0)  Scott and Robyn will never know the effects they have brought to me and my family, there will be never enough thank yous… or I love yous…   In the mist of all this there is such a sence of peace….  God has blessed them…. their Faith has shown them what “Living” is!

I think of all the friends and family that I have had effected by cancer:  Scott, Sherrie, Sue, Cindy, a neighbor, Mrs. Crone, Grandpa, Grandma Stephens, Carrie, (pre cancer cells – and aunt, a sister, an in law)…. the list just is never ending… it goes on and on…. 

 Hope  –  Faith  –  Love  – Cure  

Words that carry a lot of meaning behind them!

 

I did get those pretty pink beads done just in time…. October is about over!! LOL!! (the canes are from the previous post)

set 1:

set 2:

 

set 3:

Now working on an idea with sea shells…… hummmm…… and maybe a mermaid and fairies!!  :0)  Yeah, dreaming about the ocean and winter isn’t even here yet….. it will be a LONG winter for me, now wont it!

Keep tugging along

I keep tugging along…. hoping and waiting for sales.  Don’t get me wrong, I am selling some, but not like  it was…. to remember the good ol days! LOL!!  Yeah, yeah, yeah….  Now days, I am content with what I have and what I do sell, I know that each sale that I do make is a little glimpse of hope and a HUGE Blessing!  most of the sales have been WAY under priced, but, as an artist, I am sure that we all take HUGE cuts in our art…. one way or another it is a sacrifice that we all make from time to time.  And shoot, I just make beads…. no one is spending big bucks on foo foo stuff right now, so no one is purchasing goodies to make foo foo things. 

 

I came up with some pretty little canes last week:

just click on the pic to see larger……   as you can tell I LOVE working my canes small….  I hate having a lot of scrap,  and this helps to ensure that each set is truly one of a kind!!  :0) 

Here is a peak of some of the beads I made using the canes:

 

I’ll get better pics later, but thus far I am loving the way they look!

The new puppy is still crazy!!  we had her trimmed the other day and she looks just darling…. see:

Who would ever guess that such a crazy little dog could make us laugh so much!  She’ll run around the house going so fast that when she jumps up on the couch she actually has to jump off the back of the couch to make a landing on to the seat of the couch…. she does the same thing in bed, but uses the head board…. it’s like she’s doing some kind of “sick trick” that a skate boarder would do….. it is just the funniest thing ever!

any how…. back to clay!  I had a chace to sit down and make up more flowers:

These are the Christmas Flowers that will be going up on ebay TODAY….. I am so pleased with them!  The cane that I made for these turned out to just be perfect for the petals…. love all the shading it added to them. and the touch of gold on the ends seem to just high light it just enough.

…… had this post ready for last week, but we had a scare with the little baby I sit for…. Elysah had a reaction to the antibodies (nothing new, she’d had before so there was no need to worry, so we thought)  A real long, scary story cut down short, she had life lined by helicopter to Riley, we almost lost her!  I would strongly advise everyone to learn CPR, though I did not have to use it, I very well may have, and feel that the training that I did have helped me stay calm enough to know what to do and what to look for….  and because of God’s Grace, my husband’s fast thinking, and the training we had, and the quick response to the ENT’s and the local Volunteers here in our area, Elsyah is still here.  I can not tell you how Blessed I feel right now!

Elysah is doing well considering, still weak and still having some  wheezing, but all and all, what a wonderful amazing little miracle she is……  Thank you Lord for watching over such a sweet little baby!

 

This pic of Elysah …. (before)

good to be back!

I have been missing again…. I know, bad me….  I actually have had a pretty good reason for the most part.  Being sick and tired of being sick and tired, but now that I am on the mend, somewhat, I feel a little less tired, and the sickness is gone!  Woo hooo!!  I really didn’t know how bad my ear was, or how much it effected my over all health.  Though the whole process of healing has taken a lot longer then what I thought, I for the most part am feeling better and more like myself then what I have felt in a long – long time!

 

I just praise God for leading me to the doctors over and over again – my bad ears and the persistent infections actually led to a cyst to grow up in my ear….a cyst that had grown big enough to erode 2 of the bones in my ear drum and wore through the skull and was right at the brain.  The Good Lord was watching over me and wouldn’t let me over look the persistent ear infection!  THANK YOU LORD!!  I can not even imagine how that could have effected me, but I am sure that it would not have been good.  Thanks to Dr. House and his good handy work I have cyst free, and hope to regain some of the hearing that was lost.  (find that out in a six (+) weeks.

The sweet baby  I sit for has helped a great deal with overcoming the blah’s  – just look at her sweet face, how can a person not just feel 100% better when she flashes her sweet smile in your direction!

  she is so rotten, she just makes my day!!  :0)  She’s truly a little gift from God to all those who meet her!

 

I have been busy with sorting beads and listing some.  I had a few request for some Halloween beads and have been working on getting them finished up and listed.

I also have some cute little critters in the works!!  they turned out so good… can’t wait to show them off…

here is a peek at the Halloween beads:

  don’t you just love the crazy eyes! LOL!

 I just love this cane work and fun colors!

and EVERYTHING Halloween!

Black with BRIGHTS flowers

make sure you check my ebay page to find all the goodies that will be going up for sale – most will be starting out at .99 – I have to clear out a lot of beads!!

Hope you all had a wonderful summer, a summer full of color and inspiration!  I know that I did!! :0)