Earrings

 

Beetle wing earrings and baroque pearls.

I found these wings on ebay and have been trying to decide how to use them. I decided earrings were a good start. I just used a small piercing tool to make the hole. Be careful not to apply too much pressure if you do this, the wing will crack if you try to force it.

 

As for the pearls, again a random ebay find. They are baroque which basically means they are off shaped. I used EC600 glue with some bead caps, it will glue anything together. Even glass. So don’t let it drip on your work bench between the finding or you will have a bead and pearl attached to your desk.

Coloring glass

This took several coats, but the color is finally looking nice. I took a thing of elmers glue, added about a dozen drops of blue food coloring, then painted it on in thin layers. It goes on opaque, but it dries to look like it is dyed.

You need to clear coat when it is totally dry.

Gallery Opening next month!

I'm putting together some jewlery and projects for the Brazen Arts gallery opening.  My friend Katinka and her partner Tim are having the grand opening on December 8th; for local people who want to come see link below. "Join us for live music, refreshments, a kids craft table and more."

I'm one of several local artists who will have my work there. These are a couple pendants I finished today. :) I'll take pictures of other stuff as I finish.

http://brazenarts.artspan.com/home

https://www.facebook.com/BrazenArts

Best news I've heard all day! Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/11/raul-ruiz-defeats-mary-bono-mack.html

Let me start by saying I didn’t die. I’ve just been swamped lately and haven’t taken pictures of anything I’ve been doing, go figure. Our little family has been crazy busy the last month or so and I am looking forward to a much needed vacation later this month. In any case, I had to share this amazing and happy bright spot in my morning.

 

Bono-Mack was my mom’s representative. During all the problems with my mother’s house, her office actually backed the bank and went so far as to call the city council and police on the Occupy protest we had at my mothers in an effort to stop it from happening. Apparently she missed the part about Americans having the right to peaceably assemble. Her office was made aware of the event when we invited her to speak there.

 

*In case anyone missed my posts on that last year, the police were actually very supportive and friendly, so apparently that backfired. They all came in to offer words of support to my mom and tell us that they hoped it worked out in our favor.

So, this was some of the best news I heard all day and it has been a day of good news to begin with. Hopefully this new person is more concerned with his constituents than his predecessor. Dare I dream….

New car!

Rosemary has been retired. Well, she's been passed on to the Toad who gets his permit in December.  I've named her Dinah and she is beautiful and fabulous and I love her. :)

Pumpkin patch time

We went with Jess and her kids.... didn't buy pumpkins, but I nearly adopted a goat. Eh... soon. Soon.

 

 

 

Beignets!

Ingredients:

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

1/2 cupwhite sugar

1 teaspoonsalt

2 eggs

1 cupevaporated milk

7 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cupshortening

1 quart vegetable oil for frying

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar


Directions

1.In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar, salt, eggs, evaporated milk, and blend well. Mix in 4 cups of the flour and beat until smooth. Add the shortening, and then the remaining 3 cups of flour. Cover and chill for up to 24 hours.
2.Roll out dough 1/8 inch thick. Cut into 2 1/2 inch squares. Fry in 360 degree F (180 degrees C) hot oil. If beignets do not pop up, oil is not hot enough. Drain onto paper towels.
3.Shake confectioners' sugar on hot beignets. Serve warm.

Watching oil temp to make sure they pop

All fluffy

Sugar added

As always, Toad tested and approved. In fact he ate half of them. :)

Apricot Cream Cheese Danish

 Step one: Pre heat oven to 375. Take one package of seamless pastry, roll it flat. Use a piece of parchment paper between the pastry and the cookie sheet.

Step two: Cut cream cheese and lay it out across the middle of the pastry.

Step three: (Optional) Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar

Step four: Put preserves on top of cream cheese. 

Step five: Fold into thirds over topping, pinch ends together and flip over onto seam side.

Step six: Brush top with beaten egg to make it golden.

Step seven: Cut slits in top, put in oven.

Step eight: Yummy!

First attempt at Collage Couture

I need to work on designs, but for a first try it didn't come out too bad. I need paint pens for the shoes and hair though.

Note, use double sided paper or be more aware of which direction the patterns are when cutting out. I accidentally cut the first couple backwards, because I traced my pattern onto the back of the paper, I had turned the pattern piece upside down. Not a huge deal, but sort of a pain when I went to start putting it together. So, label your pattern pieces to avoid having to re cut anything.

Pretty bobbie pins

 

When you have curly hair, you go through bobbie pins like crazy. I like mine pretty and thought I would pass along how I make them so.

Piece of cardstock and some nail polish, once they are dry you are all done. :)

Demon book (WIP)

Steps three and four: Black paint, then a rub of blond bronze. The drying time is what kills me. I am way too impatient to wait for paint to dry.

Dia de los Muertos skulls

Work in progress.... I took a dollar store skull and have begun painting it.

Demon book (WIP)

Just getting started on a demon book. I love halloween.

Step one: Glue parts down to book.

 

 

 

Step two: cover with tissue

VIKINGS!!!!

 

I didn't take many pictures, but we had a blast at the festival today...

 

http://vikingfestivalvista.com/

Circus freak, finally finished

He officially has a home. I kept putting him off to the side and not working on him... But at last, he has a place. :)

Circus freak

Took forever, but finally started to make a housing for him.... not nearly done yet, but hopefully in the next few days.

Monster eye pendants

I decided to make some monster pendants. These are all 'eyes'. I'm in a halloween mood in case you couldn't tell.

I used casting resin for these and just matched up the mold size with the bezels. I could only fill it part way as the base of the mold was larger than the bezel, but luckily I didn’t waste any resin finding that out. The eyes were downloaded online, you can Google several types if you do an image search.

The toad thinks the yellow one looks like the eye of Sauron. Daddy and I are so proud, he’s a little movie nerd like us. :)

More necklaces

I aged the papers, then burned them to make this little book necklace.

A present for the Toad's boyfriend Jack, he liked the one I made for the Toad so I made him his own.

And the back of his necklace

My first maternity shoot

I shot my sisters best friend, she is about to pop. :) There were some really cute shots, but she is fairly shy so I am only posting these two.

Shana Tovah everyone!

Happy Rosh Hashanah!

The new year is starting. I'm looking forward to new things and reflecting on the last year. Love to all. Kris.

Art deco style necklace

 

I love antiques, and I especially love antique jewelry. In any case, I saw this adorable necklace and decided to make myself something like it. I don't have a picture of the original sadly. but this is my version.

Halloween mini's

Made molds of tiny tombstones/skulls, poured the resin

Resin skulls

Resin tombstones

All painted!

All painted (another angle)

ATC's

These are a work in progress. I'm playing with water colors, pastels, new stamps and a couple new punches. I'm an art supply hoarder. :)