A Little Messy

Today I decided to take a class vs. teach a class, so it was soapstone carving. I've been wanting to try for quite a while but didn't know where to start. A friend has been carving little wizard figures out of soapstone and he agreed to teach so this was my opportunity. As you can see from the pictures we started with a triangle shaped piece of stone and did a little sketching with a pencil on the stone and then just started carving and filing. After about 3 hours it still isn't finished but I'll finish it up here at home. It is supposed to look like a wizard but I'm not sure if mine does....maybe a gnome or an old fashioned Santa...? I'll post a picture when I'm finished.

If you follow my posts here on my blog then you may remember me talking about an upcoming jewelry party where I was going to donate 30% of the proceeds to a local charity. Well the show was last Wednesday and it was a success. We raised over $200 for the Westgate Orthopedic Guild to benefit Mary Bridge Children's Hospital. I'm so pleased that I'll be able to present them with a check at their May meeting.

If you are interested in hosting a jewelry party with some of the proceeds donated to charity, please contact me at djames50 at gmail (dot) com.

One of the other things I had been working on the finally came to a close was these Victorian folding fans. Here is a picture of the complete table setting with them as the centerpiece with the flowers. The whole table looked wonderful and my friend Glenda did a great job organizing everything...oh and the Bunco and lunch were good also.

Here is a close up.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. We had the kids over for dinner today so after carving stone and cooking, I'm tuckered out and ready for an early night.

Have a great one.

Giving Back

I titled this post giving back as I'm getting ready for a jewelry show for a Guild I belong to and will be donating 30% of the proceeds a local non-profit organization that supports Mary Bridge Children's Hospital. I've been hard at work getting some new items made, making jewelry bags, designing new labels and just sorting through all the jewelry I have available. I'm excited about this show as it does give back to the community and helps pay my bills which are all good things especially if you ask my hubby. I might even be able to buy a few more beads or heaven forbid some silver....I think the price of silver is another story especially when the price of silver closed at $37.72..Yuk.

I would show you a picture of my craft room but shudder to think of what you might think. Oh my, it is such a mess right now, sewing stuff, jewelry stuff, paper crafts and various other items crowd the table in there. Yea I know, it's that way all the time. I thought I was the messiest crafter around until my Art Charm group I belong to had a Where you "Work" contest. We all posted pictures of our crafting space...and guess what, I'm not the messiest. My husband couldn't believe it until I showed him some photos. It was fun seeing everyones work area and how some of them organize all their stuff. Lots of great ideas for containing things. One of them is a hanging shoe organizer that you put on the back of a door. All those little pockets can hold all types of goodies.

With the mess in the craft room we continue to live with the mess in the living room until our office is finished. We are now waiting on the cabinet maker to install the custom cabinets and the Murphy bed. It was supposed to be completed today but they were running behind and the cabinets aren't finished yet. I just want to get all the mess cleaned up before we have to pack it up again to refinish the hardwood floors in the living room. Will we ever be finished?

I think with everything going on I'm just tired, oh and to top it off I'm teaching a class tomorrow at Shipwreck Beads in Lacey, WA. So, if you are in the area, come join us. Here is the link to the class info. http://www.shipwreckbeads.com/catalog/Classes/Wire-Working-Classes//orderBy/sku/itemsPerPage/20/page/1/item/14CS0411 I'll be teaching my Standard Gem Tree design.

I'll try to remember to take photos of the class and jewelry party to share with you later in the week but until then I'll leave you with this photo I took of some art charms for a swap I'm participating in called Adopt-an-Ancestor. I made these using Tim Holtz Fragments which are thick pieces of plastic that I just glued the image to the back and then sealed. These photos are of my husbands family and are from the 1920-40's.