Today's tutorial - DIY pendant using "barbed" cane

Sorry I'm posting so late. I was very busy, and now I'm getting ready to go to my dr. appointment.

I finished taping the tutorial, but I'll edit and upload after I get back.

Here's the video and some close-ups of everything

Sunday

Well, Sunday has come and is almost gone. I did have an amazing day. I barely started to feel a little tired in the past 15 minutes or so.

Woke up a little after 5 am. Ingested the required insane amount of coffee so I can function - this is no joke. I am one of those rare people who have LOW blood pressure as a norm. Even at 56, I still have low blood pressure. MY normal is anywhere from 100 to 110 systolic and 68 to 76 diastolic. When I wake up it's in the 90s so I do require a large quantity of caffeine and liquids before I can walk and move around without getting dizzy.

After which I was actually able to put together 3 of the pieces that were laying around waiting. Took photos. Only got one of them uploaded in the store for now but getting ready to upload the other two as well. I do think that I will make a video though because on these specific pieces it's hard to get a good photo. And I'm not talking about a photo that would do them justice and show all the nice 3d effects, but a good photo - exactly because of the 3d effects and layers the photos look like if they're blurry! Take a look

You know these from the "3d ripple blade effect" tutorial

This is the "Key to my heart" necklace. It's got a purple cat's eye opal bead and this heart key charm - take a look in the store to see it better!

See what I mean?

Anyway. Also did some varnishing on some focals and beads that needed it. Worked on the new piece with the "barbed" cane and did the last two beads on one of the assymmetrical necklaces. Sanded everything I worked on today (well except for two).

Had the live event - which was a lot of fun. And it looked like everybody was enjoying themselves. The piece I worked on came up cute as a button, but I will not finish it today. In my mind (crazy artist mind) it requires a combo of chain with very large links and smaller (medium) links of various shapes and patterns, to do justice and keep the whole spirit of the piece as it came out. For me always pieces are like they are waiting to come into existence, and I'm there just like some kind of tool who helps them get born. It is true that about half the time I do plan my pieces, about 90% of the time I start with something in mind. But the truth is that about 90% of the time what I had in my mind/planned is not what comes out.

So, here's a glimpse of my work today

From top left going right - 2 beads that just got out of the oven, part of an asymmetrical necklace; beads that got varnished, part of a summerish necklace. New ear rings. A mokume gane abstract pendant; part of another asymmetrical necklace

Beads from today's live even (doodle canes - a symphony in black and white) and beads of the new piece I am making with the "barbed cane" of yesterday's tutorial/ I just finished sanding all of them

A closeup of that long bead. I thought you might want to see it better

Top: set of bracelet, pendant and ear rings that got first coat of varnish, need to apply second coat. Bottom: focal of the new piece. I think I'll call it "undersea lair" haha

As you can see, busy busy. I think I will call it a day though, because of being on the chair at the work space too long, I started to get really bad painful cramps in my back muscles (that area where they took out the largest muscle and the remaining ones can't compensate for the lack of that one). So I learned in the past years to not push it, because if I do, I will need at least 2 days to recover.

There's always a tomorrow, isn't it?

I will probably do the little "top hat caterpillar" tomorrow. I don't have a lot of time, I have the appointment with the orthopedist at noon, and that means that by the time I'll get back home I'll be pooped. Also, if they give me tomorrow the shots in the hands, probably won't be able to do anything anyway.

Tuesday and Wednesday at this point are inter-changeable. It will all depend how I feel Tuesday.

Yes, I will make another piece with the "barbed cane". I always do make a piece with a technique I just made a tutorial of, don't I? *smile*

I will also do the low-temp enamel test and review next week. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll get the ok to post it from the manufacturer. 

Don't forget, Saturday morning CDT (probably 9:30 or so) I will have a live event. I decided to do the "monthly wrap-up and plans for next month) live, so I can answer not just the questions I got in emails and messages, but also live questions. No worries, the Sunday Clay with me is still on.

You all have a great end of the week-end!!!

Tutorial today - versatile jelly roll cane

Well, I did manage to finish the tutorial. As tomorrow I probably won't have time due to the live event, I thought that you might enjoy something new over the week-end.

Tile bracelet tutorial finished

Ok sorry for that. Apparently the blogger app is just for reading and publishing, not for editing.

Anyway. Just a short note.

The tile bracelet tutorial is ready. I will make a short presentation video about it on youtube. This is a paid tutorial, otherwise you have to be one of my sponsors or Patreon patrons to have access to it. It will be available soon in my online store as a paid tutorial. It is made with two different pearlescent canes, with a pattern that continues from one tile to the other, all around the bracelet.

On a different note, I am now starting a public tutorial on a very versatile jelly roll cane.

Here the tile bracelet photos. I tried to take photos of the whole pattern wrapping around the bracelet.

Full day but no free tutorial today

I managed to finish the entire tutorial for sponsors/Patreon patrons. Divided in 7 parts, so facebook wouldn't hiccup, but it still did at part 6 which was longer than 5 minutes. Well, quite a bit longer.

What is the most irritating is that I started uploading it, no message of "'ello this is no good", but after an hour and a half, upload stops and I get the message that the codec is wrong. I said "ok" and started re-working the codec, but then I looked and saw  that it had the same encoding as the other 5 parts.

So it's the length. Uhhh. Re-editing the last 2 parts to make them into 3 parts. Hopefully it will go smooth.

And hopefully I won't fall asleep. I did manage to not fall asleep all day! and it's past 5:30 pm! This is a small victory for me.

I guess I might have to make a charm tutorial. Gayle Thompson did a few charms a little while ago - if I'm not mistaken, a ladybug, a bee and a green caterpillar. They are all cute, but I kept thinking that the caterpillar would look awesome in a tall hat. I kept pestering her about making it with a tall hat and today she said that I should do it.

Right. It's about sculpting. Like I needed any kind of challenge for that! haha. So I might make a small tutorial with a "Hat on the cat(erpillar)".

I also thought of including the varnishing technique Elizabeth asked me about in the bracelet tutorial but then I realized that 1. it would make it way too long. and 2. this is actually a tutorial that should be by itself. 

Ok. Back to editing those videos before I fall asleep.

Here's two photos (as good as I could get them with my crappy phone) of tiles that are part of the bracelet.

Mica shift necklace tutorial

It's at the final bake. Needs varnishing then putting together.  So I expect in about an hour and a half I'll start editing and should be up around noon-ish.

Also, I got a box of samples from a cold-enamel manufacturer, that I am supposed to test and review for use on polymer clay. Really excited about that. Hopefully within a week I should be able to post it. Got to run it by the people first.  But I'm really excited. I've seen Russian artists working with cold enamel and was hoping to find someone around here to make that. Guess I did.

I have to go get carrots for my dog. Yes, you read right. Carrots are his favorite snack.

About 13-14 years ago (can't remember exactly but definitely more than 11 years because one of the dogs I'm talking about died in 2006) I had the most extraordinary couple of dogs: a yorkiepoo female, Betsy, and a Newfoundland/Great Date mix, Thor. The most unusual pair, a huge dog and a tiny dog. They were inseparable. Well, they were seniors too. At the time, there was a huge scandal with tainted dog treats from (where else?) China. So I trained my dogs to eat carrots as treats. They didn't mind. Then the latest addition to the pack, a Greyhound mix, Maya, learned to like carrots too. Later, in 2007, after both Betsy (close to 20 years old) and Thor (at 16 1/2 years old) had died, Maya was getting bored while I was at work. So I adopted my present dog, Whisper, from a local sanctuary. Whisper learned from Maya to like carrots as treats. Now if he doesn't get carrots one day, he throws tantrums. I'm out of carrots.

So I need to go get carrots for my dog.

Also, we're expecting some storms this afternoon. I hope it won't knock out the power. I should be done with the rest of  my tutorials by then anyway.

Getting distracted - the bane of my life

See, I was doing so well. Got pretty much caught up tutorial wise (still working on one but I'm getting there) and then suddenly I get an idea about some really awesome looking circle ear rings.

Now I know I won't have rest until I make them.

On the other hand, I think I figured out one of my sleep triggers. Eating. I did just fine (and wasn't hungry) til around 3:30. When I got hungry and ate. Been fighting sleep since.

Now, look at this tutorial:

It has something similar to a tutorial I will be posting soon - as in August soon.  It's also based on translucent, inks and gold leaf. But looks a tad different, especially due to the approach to mica-containing polymer clays. Again, as I said in today's tutorial, it will be part of a future tutorial.

Also, I said a while ago - and said it again later - I am not much into flowers. I mean, polymer clay flower jewelry. There are few exceptions.

One of the exceptions are flowers that are made to really look like flowers, and manage to reproduce the delicate ephemerity of flowers. Like what this Russian artist does, it's absolutely fabulous:

Also there is the other approach, when the jewelry doesn't actually try to imitate the flower per se, of course, it still looks like flower but the approach is different. Like in this (again a Russian artist) work, that I think is absolutely amazing:

Evghenia Alexandrova

Oh yes, I've said it before and I'll say it again - the Russian artists are miles ahead of the artists in the West.

Could I do something like this? Probably. No, not probably, definitely. It's just not on my list of priorities right now.

Right now I decided to experiment for a while in three directions, and get some more in-depth refinement of techniques:

1. Mica clays. There's a lot to discover there still
2. Mokume gane
3. A few more gemstone imitations. Now, don't get me wrong, I know that the whole gemstone imitation technique is rather futile and that there aren't many who do that, just a few enthusiasts, and people like mostly to watch it done. It's still fun. And a challenge.

I still have some things unfinished for July - and yes, some of them will get shifted to August - like the Tuareg jewelry, due to not being able to make a realistic carnelian yet.

 I will attempt to do the malachite this week. Hopefully. I do have everything I need but there is so much still I need to do. Oh well, that means I don't have time to get bored, now, doesn't it?

Fell asleep again and got behind

So yeah, yesterday I fell asleep again around 6 pm. Slept relatively soundly - with a few bathroom breaks - til 5 am. Woke up in pain but fairly refreshed. So if it's like this, that means that if I do that, I only waste half a day sleeping instead of 2/3 of it.

Anyway, yesterday I managed to get TWO public tutorials done, not just one. One got published, the other one is scheduled for 12:30 CDT. It's on the mica shift technique.

Still working on the sponsor tutorial. I want it to be PERFECT lol. I hope to upload the first part today. I might have gotten a little bit too complicated as I am trying to make two bracelets at the same time. One is using the beautiful spiral cane, with matching ear rings, the other one a different pattern.

Also trying to wrap up a few pieces I want to show in my "June retrospective" video. I decided - I said so in my last video about this - to make a video at the end of each month about what I did and what i'm planning to do.

So. Back to work. I really need to finish stuff before 2-3 pm when it's getting real hot again. They say that Friday we'll see a little bit of cooling off. I sure hope so.

Heh multitasking

I feel so much better now with the house looking tidier. Well it's not completely, I still have to finish pieces and put them away, but the rest looks good. I managed to sleep til close to 6 am, that's a record for me, and even if right when I woke up I was still tired, about half an hour and 2 cups of coffee later I felt so much better.

I've already been working on both tutorials - the public one and the one for my sponsors and patrons. If all goes well I should be able to post both towards early afternoon. I wanted to do this early, because, again, we're having a scorcher. Tomorrow too. So I wanted to get things out of the way before it gets too hot.

The public tutorial is a pretty necklace, with an amber effect obtained with alcohol inks and gold foil, and some delicate flowers on top. I hope you'll like it, it's not that hard to make.

For the sponsors tutorial, it's the bracelet base. It's got a few tricks, if you want to get it right, and not get the tiles mismatched. Nothing worse than do all the things and then realize that the tiles don't align properly, eh?

Last evening though I realized how addicted to claying I am. The idea was for me to get things finished and put them away, right? Right. Well late afternoon, I was checking the small folder with pieces of scraps - just a small organizer I have where I put bits and remnants of colors from various pieces - I found about a dozen small pieces of various colors, and I felt sorry about putting them in the smusher to make mud clay. So I went ahead and made a mokume gane, then with the metallic remnants all mashed together a mica shift. then I've put them together and made a full set, pendant, ear rings and cuff. Just one more thing to finish. Grrr. Addicted, I'm telling you.

They did come up nice, though. I only need to put a back on them and findings.

Pretty, aren't they?

Unfortunately I had a bad surprise too. I had made a long fat bead for one of the asymmetrical necklaces. It looked fine Sunday evening when I got it out of the oven all cooled off. This morning, when I was putting to the side things I have to sand, I noticed it was cracked. The only thing I can think of is that probably I should have left it longer in the oven to cool. Or maybe dunk it in ice water? I've never had a bead crack like this before. The truth is that the mud clay I used for the base was a very old sticky one. Maybe that was the culprit. I'm sorry for the bead, it was a very pretty bead, all with mica shift and appliques of leaves. I still have the leaves cane and it's not hard to make it again, but still...

Look at it

Oh well. Back to work. I heard the oven ding.

Update:

Here's the tutorial for today:

Grrrr facebook

Ok, I did quite a bit today. My house starts looking normal again. I didn't escape the nap bug but I only napped for about an hour and a half then was able to get back up and do more things.

Unfortunately I wasted all the late afternoon with facebook. Because I discovered - due to someone messaging me - that actually the shop on facebook... wasn't working. I went ahead and asked a few friends to test, and it was the same to all. I even got a few screen shots from them.

So after unsuccessfully tweaking and testing and pulling my hair, I gave up on selling on facebook. I re-opened the online store. Good thing I had only de-activated the products I had uploaded there, and didn't uninstall the website. Now I have to upload all that was loaded on facebook. So much time wasted.

Facebook is getting worse and worse as it's getting bigger and bigger. Not sure if I've ever wrote about this, but about 3 years ago, it started showing me as posting from Toledo, OH. I had to go to every post and change the location. I checked my profile, checked my settings, everything was ok and showing Oklahoma City, OK. I sent them a ticket. Got the automated reply "thank you we'll work on it". Three years and over a dozen tickets later, they're still "working on it". And I can't even see local events, because when I click on events it takes me to ... events in Toledo, OH.

So, yeah, so much time wasted. At least I caught up a little and the damage was fixed. Not for the past though.

Day off

I really had to take a day off.

Let me explain. With my bouts of fatigue lately, it's a nightmare to function. I get tired very fast, then I keep dozing on and off for hours. It's not restful sleep though. When I wake up I'm even more tired than when I started dozing off. The more I sleep/don't sleep the more tired I am. They re-scheduled my dr. appointment about that from the 4th of August to the 25th of August, so... nothing I can do about it.

To give  you an example of how my usual day goes by.

I wake up anywhere between 4 and 5 am. Tired. That is when I don't wake up at 3 am. I need sometimes up to 2 hours and a pot of coffee before I can function.

I do a little bit of kitchen clean-up then start working on a tutorial or a piece of jewelry or some test I'm doing. About 2-3 hours pass. It's around 11 am now. I am tired. If I happen to sit, that's it. I fall asleep. If I don't sit, I'll still fall asleep around 1 pm at the latest.

The rest of the afternoon goes by with me trying to do something - anything - between bouts of unrestful sleep. If there is bad weather nearby, the sleep is even more unrestful as I will wake up every half an hour due to pain, I'll shift around then narcolepsy again.

I might, in between so called naps, finish a piece, or finish editing a tutorial. What you have to think is that for about 20-30 minutes of tutorial I usually work for at least 4 hours. What you see is the final product. You don't see the real time work, the waiting between sessions of baking, the sanding and buffing and varnishing I do off camera. You don't see the hours spent editing and writing the subtitles.

And eat something. I got to the point that I don't cook. My menu usually consists of some fruit (usually mango or watermelon), whole-wheat bread dipped in olive oil with cheese or hummus. I do drink 2 glasses of protein powder a day, take supplements, and all that, so no, my diet isn't deficient.  That got run by my dr. after my vit D levels came back abysmally low, even if I take 5,000 UI a day. So yes, they don't know what is wrong with me. It is possible that after a dozen more tests and imaging they might figure it out. Maybe. I'm telling you, life-time effects of chemo and, generally, cancer treatment can be a bitch.

Now, because of that, there are pieces of jewelry all over the place. Some are finished, but I didn't get to package them ready for shipping. Some (about 2/3 of it) are not - they need stringing, or resin, or one more piece to complete a necklace, etc.  The fact that I had two episodes of extreme fatigue in the past three months, one lasting about 10 days the other 1 week, didn't help, it put me behind horribly.

On top of that, I have a mild OCD about cleanliness. So when the house is not tidy, it stressed me out real bad.

No, this didn't start once I started making tutorials. It actually got better. Having a focus really helped. After my health deteriorated too much for me to be able to do any more gardening, life was getting really boring. I mean, one can only watch so many documentaries, especially when one sleeps during 9 out of 10 of those documentaries.

Starting again on the path of creating things helped me tremendously fight off the fatigue and be able to have a more normal and busy life.

Today I woke  up at 5. I didn't do any tutorials, or any jewelry work yet, but I managed to clean my workspace, rearrange the polymer clay in a huge folder with file protectors. Got laundry done, cleaned about half of the kitchen, organized about half the pieces laying around. I had several bags of various items I had purchased in the last week that were laying around, took care of those. Did laundry. I packaged a dozen pieces ready to ship. Now I'm fixing to vacuum. Then hopefully I still will have some energy left to finish a few pieces and package others. Hopefully once the house looks nice and tidy again and I catch up on stuff. And be able to have a restful sleep.

So I will stop writing now, as I sat too long and I start feeling like dozing off. I need to finish cleaning. I might update later.

But if you don't see any tutorials anywhere today, that's why. I'm trying to catch up.

Sorry couldn't help it

I was just looking for a specific butterfly on google images, and... doh because I have so much polymer clay in my browser memory - I get a "monarch butterfly cane" from Fire Mountain Gems.
Now don't get me wrong, they have cool stuff that may even be priced decently from time to time, and they put out free tutorials that are decent from time to time too.
But this... just couldn't help myself. Yes, I am a meme maker too haha

In other news, the live event was excellent and if you want to see the piece finished, the video is up.

Sunday - live event and more

Well, I guess I spent most of the time yesterday afternoon/evening napping. After I straightened a little the house, I just couldn't help myself and just kept dozing off for a couple hours at a time, until I would wake up either due to pain or due to certain spoiled brats who managed to "cuddle" (read: box me in between themselves) until I couldn't move. I woke up shortly around 2 am but was able to get back to sleep.

I decided though that until the time comes for the live event, I will not do any tutorials or anything, I really do need to work on cleaning up, and that means finishing some pieces of jewelry, taking photos for uploading, packing them, because being a mild OCD person when it comes to tidyness it started stressing me out the way there's so much stuff everywhere.

As a forewarning, I will do a destash soon. Will make a short video about it and then make a new category in the facebook store. I have loads of pendants and beads all over the place that were made during all kinds of experiments. They look really great and pretty but there are too many of them for me to start setting up with cords and all that. I'd rather focus on making more concept jewelry, and I am sure there are many out there who would enjoy wearing them or - in case they're venue vendors - having something extra to sell, or just keep them to put them together for gifting purposes.

I have about 5 necklaces that all lack one piece in order to be put together. A few pieces that need resining. A few that need varnish. A few pieces that need just that - be put together.

I did start working on the "color theory" tutorial though. It will be mostly photos and narration (of course with making sure the CC is correct).

After the live event, I will bee baking and finishing the piece in a small update video, as usual.

Have a great Sunday, everyone, and see you in a few hours at the live event!

Watercolor/torn paper tutorial

Finally done and uploading.

I need to clean and package some stuff, after which I will be going out with my BFF - and another stop at Hobby Lobby to get more clay (using that 40% off coupon on 8 oz bars so we can use two coupons).

After I'm back, and rest a bit, if I feel good enough and I'm not too fatigued I will do the base pieces for the tiled bracelet for the private group. If I am too fatigued then I'll do it first thing in the morning tomorrow. I want to be able to finish the tutorial on applying the special cane on it and post it in the group by the latest Tuesday.

Will update later as usual.

video is up

I finally got home. I think I will take a short nap and then see if it's too hot to work in clay or not. If it is. I'll probably work on the narrated part of the "color choosing' tutorial.

Ain't that awesome when you got choices?

I'll also write more after the nap. Got stuff to say. Probably new post

Hot Friday

I got the tiled bracelet pattern posted for my Patreon patrons. Later today or tomorrow I will be starting to actually make the bracelet base. That will be the first part of the tutorial.

In about an hour I will be heading to Hobby Lobby to get some black clay (thank you, Elizabeth!) and I will be posting later today the first part of the watercolor/torn paper technique public tutorial, presenting different variants depending on the media used. Also with a bonus, how to create faux mosaic starting from the "torn paper" technique.

I will update this as the day goes by.

Update 10:00 am.

Got back from errands. Just in time. It's starting to get hot. I stopped to check Wednesday's new sales at Aldi's on my way home from Hobby Lobby - I did take the black clay with me inside, just to be on the safe side, didn't leave it in the car to get hot) and that was a good idea. They had the mangoes for 33 cents a piece. Huge, beautiful, ripe mangoes. I love mangoes. Got 10 of them so 3 days of mango eating. Of course I had to help 3 more people pick them. It always happens with mangoes and avocadoes. People see me feeling the fruit and picking some and putting some aside and they're "do you know how to pick these? Can you please show me?" Of course I do. Oh yes it also happens with watermelons and cantaloupes/honeydews.
But, anyway. Got the black clay. Took my pain pill - right on time as by the time I got home my shoulderblades and hands were starting to kill me - so within about 10-15 minutes I should be able to start on the tutorial and hopefully by noon have it uploading. Most likely there will be two parts.

Update 5:20. I'm still working at it. Everything went well with the first part, made the 4 (well 4 1/2 variants) alright, cut the pieces and made the beads for the final necklace, but by the time they were all baked and everything the heat got to top. I've been in a "clay for 5 minutes, put the clay in the fridge for 20" rut for the last 3 hours. The temperature in the house climbed to 78F and has stayed there. I work with the clay for a few minutes then it starts sticking to my fingers. Yes, I tried the finger cots. It's too soft.

So honestly at this point I am not entirely sure if I will be able to finish taping the tutorial until much later tonight. And honestly at that time I do not know how tired I will be or not.

I will take some pics though once the pieces are done and post them tonight even if the tutorial won't be up til tomorrow. Considering my wake-up time is usually between 4 and 5 am, I should have plenty of time to finish everything and have it uploaded (hopefully before noon).

Whimsical feather cane

As the carnelian isn't going the way I was hoping it would, it got moved in the queue and the part 2 of the feather canes was posted today.

I need to get more red pigmented clay and also try other media. I am sure I can find something that will tint the translucent without rendering it opaque.

On the other hand, I wish I could find Cernit. I heard only good words about their new translucents. Maybe this winter I will be able to order some online.

Back to work. I have to put up the necessary to be done for Sunday, and working on other things too. It's horribly hot out, and tomorrow will be even hotter.

In other breaking news someone messaged me that woman with the voice of an old alcoholic is at copying me again. Now she tried to copy two at once, my "window frame" round pendant and my Angelina film tutorial.You know, honestly I do not have a problem with that, tutorials are out there for people to learn and spread the knowledge, but for goodness' sakes, give the source, don't act like you invented something that you just stole! It's beyond dishonest, it's despicable.

Here's the tutorial

Carnelian today

I first must weed-whack the dog run, otherwise Whisper soon won't be able to get past the tall grass to go do his business. I need to do it now, because we are facing a streak of extreme heat, as in 101F forecasted for Friday. Not sure how this will affect the whole polymer clay thing. Considering the fact that usually the A/C is not able to go more than 25 degrees below the temperature outside, it is possible that it will be too warm in the house to work on the polymer clay without having to put it in the freezer every 10 minutes.

I am planning on the carnelian tutorial today. I didn't do it as soon as I woke up because I can't see the proper colors in artificial light.

The watercolor/torn paper tutorial is on halt right now because of the fact that I ran out of black polymer clay. So anything involving black polymer clay will have to wait until the 1st - unless you feel generous enough for a few bucks donation :)

After the carnelian, it all depends on how warm is in the house. I can do easily the color choosing tutorial, and I also have in plan a short one with a few more trips and tricks (including how to pack your jewelry for shipping) and another one that deals with fashion trends and the creation of polymer clay jewelry.

Will update this in a little bit.

12:44/
Carnelian is finally in the oven. I will be cleaning the alcohol ink stains from my fingers and then start editing. But those pieces will need a bunch of sanding that's for sure. I doubt the Pardo will come up ok. I know Premo will, but Pardo seems to have issues with the red pigments.

Update 2:25.
Got to take the whole process from the start. Doesn't look right.

Feather cane part 1 - realistic feather - owl feather imitation

Almost finished taping. Just waiting for the sample piece to be baked. This is a "natural" or "realistic" (however you want to call it) feather cane.
Part 2 will be with decorative jewelry-style whimsical feather cane.

Will update in a bit with the teaser photo and then with the video link after it will be uploaded.

Got to do a short errands trip first though. But it's early enough for me to be able to get everything done in less than an hour and that will still leave me enough time to upload before noon.

Update 2 pm

Sorry. I had to redo the whole thing. I messed up. I don't want to talk about it lol.

Anyway, here it is

Today's tutorial - DIY transparent delicate ear rings

What a Monday

So first Youtube gets all wonked up. They fixed it.

Then as soon as I was fixing to hit the "record" button on today's tutorial, my whole day gets turned upside down. See, the local power company does free weatherization on houses with low-income owners. They were supposed to come tomorrow. So I had planned on shooting two tutorials today, clean house, mow the dog run, and be ready for a day of no working on anything tomorrow.

Instead now everything is upside down, I won't be able to shoot or post for quite some hours, and I have no idea if I won't be too tired by the time the people leave.

Grrrr. And I have in plan some absolutely gorgeous ear rings. With a play on translucent and pearlescents and stuff. Double grrrr.

Update 10:30 am.
They only did the assessment today. Yay. Back to making the earrings.

Youtube issues

Well, it seems that Youtube has serious issues this morning.

I had the surprise, when I landed on my Youtube page, to see a "an error occurred. Please try again" message. Didn't think much of it and clicked Reload. Well, this is when I started freaking out. I checked my other channels, the same thing. It shows all over board "0 subscribers".

Then I realized I can't access any of the channels I subscribed to either.

Then I tried on another browser. Same thing

Started scouring the net.

It seems it's a worldwide serious mess-up. Everybody is freaking out. Especially the people with millions of subscribers because, well, that's their livelihood. Every hour of youtube being down is money lost for them.

This happened about 30 minutes ago. I sure hope they fix it soon.

I will be taping whatever I have to tape and clean house. Will update later and hopefully they'll solve this issue soon.

How to clean your pasta machine video

Well, that's for today. And of course, the live event that will be recorded and posted.

I have again a ton to work on. I have to remake the necklace for the lady as they failed to give me proper measurements and it hits somehting on her port. So you'll be able to purchase the one I posted yesterday on the blog.

I started also working yesterday on a piece that does NOT involve resin (ha!) that I had dreamed about the night before last. Calling it "Serengeti", here it is

So, I will be doing a little work then start conditioning my clay and get ready for the live event. See you all later!

Colors...

I am almost done with editing the tutorial  for today - well to be honest, I taped stuff for three tutorials at the same time - but I will have to leave the house soon for my weekly foray with my best friend. I will also stop at Hobby Lobby to get clay - it's the week with discounts on it, and with both me and my BFF having the 40% coupon, I intend to get a texture and a silk screen as well.

I am sorry I didn't do stuff earlier. For one, last evening I narcolepsied again. Woke up around midnight but I felt like a zombie, so I pretty much dozed on and off until close to 5 am.

Then I worked on the tutorials but also I have a few commissions to finish. One of them I am quite proud of. It was ordered by someone for a lady who has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is starting chemo soon, and it's supposed to cover the port she has. The idea is that it's supposed to be something "empowering". So I thought of this. I usually don't use molds, but I had this mold of the Goddess Athena, so I thought, what better "empowerment" than the warrior goddess? Then I used the "extruder stripes" to make the necklace look like waves of power radiating from the central figure.

So first in line for uploading today is a short tutorial on making a pair of ear rings from the spiral jelly roll mokume gane. No, not the same cane, I actually made a new one with a blue/green color swatch, because the original one I have it earmarked for a tutorial for my Patreon patrons. Also, I wanted to deform the cane for the ear rings as I wanted them in a long triangle. I don't fully finish them because they need resined, and no UV resin. So it would have been hard to resin them up if they were already with the findings on.

But they came up pretty. I made a necklace to go with them too, used as filling some left-over veneer from that busted bangle I made when I made the brocade effect tutorial. I also wanted to show one of the combinations of colors I was talking about during the tutorial.

Should I make a "how to choose colors" tutorial? There have been a few comments about how to choose colors on several of my tutorials, so I wonder if I should make a tutorial about that?

"Clay with me Sunday" live July 16 2017 - let's make a Maori amulet!

For "Clay with me Sunday" live on July 16 2017

Let's make a mother-of-pearl Maori amulet!

The fish hook amulet (hei matau) is for prosperity, fertility and safe passage over water. We will make it out of faux mother of pearl, so please have ready some translucent clay, and either pearlescent clay or mica powders pink, blue, gold, green and purple. If you don't have any of that, you can prepare some faux jade clay as shown in my faux jade tutorial.

Today - something fun

As I am working at more "heavy" stuff - well not really more heavy but I decided to make a few frawings (no worry, these are computer graphics not me and my notebook and marker) that would emphasize what I am trying to explain - I think today I will just make one of those quick DIY things. People seem to love earrings. So I'll make a pair of earrings then I'll keep working on my other tutorials.
I did some short errands - I really needed a couple more small glass tiles and some Loctite, so I went to Lowe's real quick. And got some Pepsi Diet.

I know, soda is bad for you. But, let me explain. Before my cancer diagnosis, I drank soda maybe once a year and that only if I was in a "I'm hot and dehydrated and there is literally nothing else to drink" situation. So definitely soda was not one of the cancer risk factors for me. Tbh I have no idea what the risk factor was, as all my life I was on a semi-vegetarian diet (close to what is known now as the Mediterranean Diet) with almost no meat (just for the holidays, yanno, hey, there's no holidays without meat) but with eggs and dairy (mostly goat and sheep as I have a weird allergy to cow dairy) and very rarely fish, so mostly raw fruits and vegetables, with some whole-grain bread sometimes usually dipped in seasoned virgin olive oil. I used to be an athlete in my youth (gymnastics) and was always active. No family history. When they ran my "cancermath" *that's a software that calculates your risk of getting cancer* it came back .... 0.02% risk of getting breast cancer in this lifetime. And yet, I got it.

So, anyway - to make this long story shorter - after one of the 6 surgeries I had in 2 1/2 years, I had this huge craving for... Pepsi. My boyfriend at the time ran to the hospital cafeteria and brought me one in the recovery room. I chugged it down, then promptly puked it all out (doh, post-anesthesia). But since, I did drink a Pepsi once in a while, the diet one (not the aspartame one) as I don't eat sugar. Then I noticed that Diet Pepsi for some reason enhances the pain-relief properties of my pain medicine, and that allows me to take less than my prescribed dose. So, I would drink about one of those 2 liter bottles in a month.

So, back to the polymer clay. I really have some very pretty ideas about some ear-rings, but they involve resining. I do not have yet the means to get UV resin (the UV lamp I probably can do without, this is Oklahoma, we got plenty of sunshine here) so that would mean that I can't show the finished product at the end of the video, or, I'd have to shoot the video, resin the things, then wait for 2 days to be able to finish it. This is my only choice for now. I might go for it. Well, not for today's tutorial, of course.

Will update later, but probably with a new post. I made this one long enough.

Until then, here's Conor and Whisper chilling on the couch.

Update 5:30. Sorry. Things happened that required my attention around the house. Will finish editing the tutorial and upload it in the morning

1,000 subscribers contest giveaway winners

Pretty mokume gane tutorial for you today and more

So, I was up early and was ready to do it relatively fast. Well, it didn't involve any baking either so...

That more than a week of me being in one of my fatigue episodes really put me behind even more than I thought. On the other hand, I do not dare to push myself out of fear of pushing myself straight into another fatigue episode.

I have pieces that I didn't finish putting together. And if for some there is a very valid excuse - either the orders for the various parts I need (i.e. cords and fastenings) either didn't arrive yet in the mail or are waiting for the 1st of the month for me to have money to order them, for other ones there is no other excuse except me not getting around to do it yet.

The thing is, the fatigue episode has gotten me behind not just in the polymer clay area, but in everything. I'm almost caught up with laundry, Managed to mow the front lawn but still have the back yard and dog run - and unfortunately that can only be done early in the morning, due to the heat. But early in the morning is also the time when I do the tutorials the best - or work, for that matter. If I have to handle that weed-eater for an hour, my hands are pretty much busted for the day. I can't use a regular lawn-mower so I mow with the weed-eater.

I didn't yet get around to vacuum the house. I know, right? It's been almost 2 weeks. I can barely believe it myself, because I have a rather pronounced OCD when it comes to cleanliness. Which makes things, otherwise, not so bad, because you can not really notice it. Unless you sit on the carpet and get Conor hair on you. I did manage to mop the kitchen and dust around though.

What I am trying to do now though is to get a few tutorials done so I can just schedule the posting, that way for those days I can just focuseon everything else and finally catch up with stuff.

Oh yes I didn't finish packaging things for the store either. That is the main reason I didn't finish uploading. I dont' want things to get sold and then have to frantically search the house for proper packaging so it doesn't look like crap wrapping when it reaches the buyer. Meh. OCD.

Also, I posted the winners for the 1,000 subscribers contest. I'll make a separate post for it.

Extruder strings tutorial this afternoon

I am about 1/3 done taping. I went ahead and mowed the lawn while the first part of the piece was baking. Going to take a shower, then head out to buy some fruit, then finish this.

Will update later. I gotta go. Don't want to be still out and about when it's 96F in the shade.

Update 12:30 pm

Finally back home. Put almost all the groceries away - had to stop, rest and allow for my pain pill to start working. The whole trip took again about 45 minutes longer than it usually does, because of the darn road work. I might rest until PCT's live event, being stuck in traffic and having to be in the same position made my back muscles really really spasm.

Still debating which stamp to use for the central part of the piece of the tutorial. AND what technique I want to use for it - isn't that terrible? I'm torn between chalk pastels and alcohol inks. Anyway, the whole tutorial is based on the extruder-strings-ran-through-the-pasta-machine technique.

You've probably seen it already in this form:

Yea, I clay-doodled last evening. And I could have sworn I had used turquoise blue but I guess the artificial light tricked me. That will teach me to make sure I put the clay in its designated color folder.

Anyway, yes, it's based on this technique, but it's not this. You know how I like to do the "think outside the box" thing, so it's completely different. Well, no not really completely, it still uses the strings thing. Well, You'll see.

As more news, I talked to my orthopedists' office this morning and apparently my hands should have responded better to the shot, so they scheduled me for another shot. And they told me once again I will, at one point have to go get surgery.

My hands have a double-whammy, in case I didn't explain it before. My cervical spine is very messed up - two pairs of vertebrae slipped (C3-C4 and C5-C6), almost no disks left between C2 and C7, the foramens (those little openings through which the nerves come out of the spine marrow) are very narrowed - that's where my loss of function comes from - and lots of osteophytes, the spine cord is actually compressed in several spots.
On top of this, I have osteoarthritis of the base of the thumb. I know, you can't see a thing, and my hands look normal. Because I have OSTEOarthritis not rheumatoid (inflammatory) arthritis. There's no inflammation. But I have on both hands bone spurs at the base of the thumb that cut into the tendons, making movements like pinching, grasping, buttoning/unbuttoning, etc very painful.

So, even if I'm not happy about the perspective of having to have spinal fusion in my neck sometime in the future, I really can't wait until they say "ok, no more shots, time to laser out those bone spurs in your hands". Seriously. I'd have at least that pain gone.

Will update later - not sure if new post or just update this one.

Update 9:15/ Sorry I'm so late. I'm afraid I narcolepsied for a while, haha.

Anyway, here's the  tutorial

Hands feeling a tad better

So I started working on stuff.

Rough attempt at black Australian bolder opal. To be very honest, I had this planned in a long time. Just didn't have the money to get all I needed, and then, by the time I got all I needed, Ludmila Bakulina came up with her tutorial on that. I think I am overly ethical sometimes (I even manage to get irritated at myself) so I postponed my tutorial for black opal for a while

It is true that:

1. My way of doing it is not really like hers.
2. There are other tutorials out there on the same stuff
3. Goodness gracious there's so much stealing nonchalantly going on from people's ideas and tutorials it's flabbergasting. The other day (I wrote about it) in  one day only, I saw two fresh tutorials presenting the stuff I had just posted in mine, with no reference to my tutorials, presented like it was their idea. And this was on things I came up with, not common knowledge. I even commented on one of those "I am happy when I see people doing beautiful things from my tutorials". The woman just said "glad you like it". No shit. Then another one, just copied exactly (well tiny differences in the execution) one of the tutorials Gayle Thompson had just posted, same subject, same colors, same title (only in French). So  ... if I'm not even using her technique, I shouldn't even worry, right? Sigh

But.

I know there are people who would see it as some kind of challenge. I am not here to challenge anyone. Even if I am always honest and if I don't like something or I think it's done wrong I will come out and say it (well, of course, coated in honey so I wouldn't hurt people's feelings), I don't like people to feel like I'm against them or something.

After all, people make money because of the Adsense accounts, the ads on their videos. I don't. My Adsense account has been suspended about 8 years ago - long story short, Google shafted me (like they did hundreds of thousands of people, we're a whole group) when it was time to pay me and said I had invalid clicks, and because I wasn't able to tell them were all the 1,300+ internationally-spread members of the dating website I owned were accessing the website from (No, I am not kidding, that is what they wanted to know), they suspended my account. For ever.

So yea, back to our subject - I do understand they make money, and that is why they are so desperate in getting more subscribers and views. But still. I promise you, I'm a very nice person, until someone takes me for granted or thinks that they can bully me or take advantage of me or lie to me.

So... there, you know more about me. I was told I don't write enough about me and I'm too short on my blog posts. Ok, I can only promise that I'll try to write longer, and I'll try to write about myself and what's around me too.

So, now that my hands are starting to work again, let's see:

Got that black opal cooking. It's a rough attempt, just want to see how the colors would come out and if the way I thought of putting things together would work. I doubt it will look too good, but it will give me an idea.

I do need to work on tomorrow's tutorial. I have to get out of the house to grab some money - not a whole lot - from the store I have stuff in consignment/ And get some fresh fruit. I've been out for 3 days now. That should be around 10 am, so considering I wake up between 4 am and 5 am, and need at least an hour of coffee to get functional, I need to work on it a little bit tonight too.

Not sure yet what it will be though. Soutache? Not the carnelian for sure, I need daylight and sun coming from the East in the room. Maybe another type of stacked - well it's not a cane so I don't know how to call it really.


I finally got the gold and silver leaf in the mail. And I have 3 different techniques I have to try with those.  They are related to mokume gane and to Sutton slice.

I'll update this later after the first attempt to boulder opal is cooked and I sand and buff it.

And what about some polymer clay doodle technique? Huh? Huh?

Update 8:40 pm

Ok. Not bad. I know exactly what I need to do and I need one more ingredient and already ordered it. Honestly I'd love to have bronze (or at least copper) foil instead of gold but I think I can do that with alcohol inks (change the color of the foil that is)

Color changing powders

Ok, I know I said I will be taking a break today. But I absolutely HAD to say this. I just discovered mica powders that change colors when hit by UV light.
I know now what just moved on no. 1 on my shopping list for the 1st of the month.

July 9th 2017 live stream and piece completion

Third tutorial ready for upload and don't forget live event today

All right, I got the third tutorial that I had shot right before my fatigue episode all ready and it's uploading now. Should be up in one hour by what youtube says.

Here it is.

Don't forget the live event! Starts in about 2 1/2 hours.

On another note, after the live event - which will get recorded and published on youtube automatically - I think I will not make another tutorial until either Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. My hands are killing me, we keep having all these storms around and that is not easy on me. On Tuesday I see my spine and pain care doctor and I will get a set of my cervical spine shots that usually reduce inflammation on the arms/hands nerves that are severely pinched in my neck, and that makes my hands hurt less and be more "responsive". Depending on how fast the shot works - the next tut will be either that afternoon (I go early in the morning so I have time to rest afterwards) or Wednesday morning.

Managed to get everything resined up last evening. Finally.

Now I need to get some more pretty cardboard to pack the pieces I made that are crowded on the kitchen table.

Don't forget live event tomorrow

At 2 pm. Info both on the "discussions" in youtube and on the facebook page.

"silk brocade" effect tutorial & more

I managed to upload the second tutorial yesterday - well not yesterday because I think it was after midnight when it finished uploading.

A few words about this: it helps if your second, "line" stamp or texture is transparent so you can see where you place it in order not to cover the "background pattern" stamp motifs.
The tube... I know it looks big, but it actually is completely covered by the pendant. As I said in the video, I made it bigger because I was afraid that 4 strands of leather strap wouldn't fit through it if it were thinner. I really should get some faux suede cord, it's much softer and thinner than the real thing.

In other news, I got bonked on the head by a very aggressive room freshener thingamajig. I have one of those big ones that puffs every so many minutes, in the laundry room, because that's where both the trash can and the kitteh litter box are, and even if I keep it very clean and it never smells, you know, just in case. I also have the fridge in the laundry room, because it's a fairly sized laundry room, and it's right near the water line so can be easily connected for ice making purposes. The room freshener thingy is on top of the fridge.

We had an earthquake last night, and probably that's what moved the air freshener thingy right at the edge of the top of the fridge. I didn't notice (too early in the morning) so when I went to grab some ice-cream to put in my coffee (I'm of European origin, I love ice-cream in my coffee), I got bonked on the head as soon as I opened the freezer door. I got now a small concussion and small cut on my forehead. Goodness gracious, good thing I don't keep my exercise dumbbells on the fridge.

I've been stuck uploading videos for the "paid tutorials". Honestly I don't know what is best.
Some people love subtitled tutorials. Some don't like those but prefer the spoken ones.
On one hand, subtitled ones can be made shorter and edited til they get bloody, but then you spend 2 hours editing a 20 minutes video. But that reduces uploading time.
On the other hand, spoken (narrated) ones, mean almost no time spent editing, but then they are much longer and you waste hours uploading.

Meh. I wish we had Romania's internet speed. In case you didn't know, it's second in the world, after South Korea. And you get like 100Mbps speed for under $10 a month.

Mulling what to do next.

I did start uploading products to the facebook page store - it's up and running. Still got a bunch to upload.

Didn't put resin yet on the pieces that need resined.

Mostly because we're in a "I might rain but I might just scare you that I might" Mother Nature day. And that hurts my hands.

I think things will not really get back to normal for me with the hands until Tuesday when I get my habitual cervical spine shot. That reduces the inflammation on the nerves and I hurt so much less for a while.

Uploading.

Ok, first tutorial finished is already uploading. Now I'm wrapping up the second - need to put things together, as they're finally baked, varnished and dried - then I'll finish editing and I'll upload two more. The next two will be about "Bargello-ed canes" and "Ancient brocade effect using 'hidden magic' technique".

Also started to work on the second paid tutorial (I called it "the butterfly effect") and continue to work on the raku one.

I hate it when these episodes hold me back and make me be behind my schedule.

In other news. I got 3 new colors of pearl-ex -thrilled about that; finally managed to get a more decent texture sheet, not a big one, just the Celtic designs of Lisa Pavelka. Waiting for gold and silver sheet to arrive in the mail and also some foils. And I didn't even start on moving the store on facebook.
So much to do so little time.

Here's today tutorial. Well, hopefully just the first.

Some good and some bad

Good news is that I started feeling better and I was able to work on stuff so I'm almost done editing two tutorials.
Bad news is that I didn't finish editing them. But I started feeling tired and, considering, I didn't want to push it. So I will be calling it a night and try to rest, and if the trend goes like this, then tomorrow morning I should be able to post two tutorials and catch up.

More delays - apologies

I have three tutorials taped that just need editing. Unfortunately I am afraid I pushed myself too hard in the last 10 days or so and now I'm paying. I can hardly move my hands at all and can't move much overall. I know it will go away in a day or two, but until then I have to lay down and rest.

I am sorry. I forgot to warn you that this might happen from time to time.

Happy 4th and sorry for delays in uploading

Unfortunately due to weather I wasn't able to upload anything new yesterday. Heck, I wasn't even able to finish taping.
We had one of those storm systems that all of a sudden decided to get pissed off. So from a nice calm rain that we were expecting, we got slammed with the full extent of severe storms.

I tried. I swear, I tried. But when it got to the point that the power was flickering every minute and my desktop got restarted 4 times in a row, I decided that I'd rather have that desktop for a while and not let it get fried. Also, due to that, I wasn't able to bake either so couldn't go forward with stuff to have it at least ready for this morning.

I did the baking this morning, but unfortunately, I have to leave the house in about an hour. And I need to get ready. So there is no time for me to finish something properly. Honestly I even thought of shooting something live real quick, so I wouldn't have to bother with the editing part and it would be directly uploaded by youtube, but then I realized that 1. that would make me not be able to get ready properly for leaving the house and 2. that I would rather show you guys something pretty not done in a hurry.

Good news is that I finished the carnelian tests so I'm ready to go ahead and shoot the tutorial, hopefully today.

The one I was going to upload yesterday is about doing brocade effect using hidden magic technique. I am sure you will love it. I made a bangle as finished product but, again, due to storms, I still have one edge to put on it and bake, but that should be done while I'm editing the video about it. So hopefully that one should be posted tonight.

And I had such great hopes! I was even going to make a "4th of July" pendant, but that of course, went down the drain due to weather.

I did waste all morning yesterday because I had a memory blackout and couldn't find my pain pills for hours. By the time I got them, the storm was about an hour away.

So, have a happy 4th of July, and if you're not in the US, it doesn't matter. Just celebrate with us. It's a big world and if we all celebrate with everybody else we'll be in an eternal celebration!

A little late today

I am sorry, I had quite a rough morning pain wise. I am better now and started working on a video. It will be a little bit of a delay, because a tech is on his way to figure out how to hook my desktop through ethernet overriding the wifi so I can hopefully upload faster. But something WILL show up today on the channel, I promise.

Live event today & more

I am getting ready for the live event today.  I almost finished conditioning the clay - still have to do the white and the translucent, but I will do that after I do the once-a-week deep cleaning on the pasta machine.

Remember, this live event will be recorded and after youtube processes it, will be posted. So even if you miss it, you will be able to watch it later. Sometimes though youtube may take a day to process it though, so you might have to wait a little. 

I will do the "keep positive "video after that. Then work on the tutorials for next week. Well, until I get too tired.

I hope you all are ready for the live event. I will be "working several looms at the same time" so to speak, because I want to show at the same time how to work on various types of gemstones, so no matter which kind you have prepared to work with today, you will have the opportunity to get to see what advice I have on how to embed gemstones in your pieces without having to use glue.

See you in a little bit! I will post the link to the recording after it uploads.

Here it is

Fruitful day and then some not

Grace to the donations of some of you, for which I am exceptionally grateful, I was able to have a really nice shopping list done yesterday and today.
My clay stash is almost full - I didn't get the full amount of clay I need, just the bare necessities, because I am waiting for the sale on clay at Hobby Lobby, which should be if not next week, then the week after, and I'd rather get almost half again the amount of clay for the same money. But I got lots of clay. No worries about running out now.

I was also able to get regular resin, and order some other neat things, some silver and gold foil - so I won't have to struggle with the flakes and I will be able to show you some nice effects, then a few stamps - finally!!!!, a few extra mica powders.
One more set of Makins textures.
I found on ebay some mylar foils that are NOT Lisa Pavelka, but were like 1/4 price of hers, so we'll see how that works. I didn't get magic gloss, as I had already gotten the resin and didn't want to spend for something that has the same effect.
Besides, even if I live in Oklahoma, I'd rather use an UV lamp, so until I have that I won't get UV resin. Also, to be honest, I'd rather get some other UV resin than LP, I think that all her products are horribly expensive. The foils I have of hers - which I thought I had thrown away, but apparently I just stashed in a drawer corner - I got at Michaels ages ago, for a little bit over $1. I guess they weren't selling at all. No wonder. I honestly find them very garish. But I think I found a way to make them look less garish and get some nice effects from them. We'll see in a little bit.
It is ridiculous how stingy and picky I am about texture sheets though. I look at them, add them to the cart, then I decided they're too expensive for how ugly they look, and remove them from the cart.
To be honest, the only ones I really like are the ones from GF Art on Etsy. They're in Russia or Ukraine though.
I will also need to get some nice cutters, for polymer clay necklaces. All I have are Makins cheapo ones and some cookie cutters that I've bent out of shape.

Talking necklaces. You need to go to Walmart. I spent half an hour with my BFF looking at all kinds of boho collars with fringes with REAL LEATHER cords and strips and indian style and ... oh goodness they were tons and all pretty.

But, look at this. There were some bib necklaces and I realized that one of them is excellent to make a template of. $5. You can't find a bib necklace template for this small of an amount. You might want to do a short trip to Walmart.

see? It's a three piece

Three piece. Bonus: texture.

I still didn't find a good coral stamp. Talking coral stamp. I spent almost 2 hours on the Walmart website trying to get the most for the buck. I get to check-out.... 80% of the stuff on the list wouldn't have gotten here until after the 20th of July! Seriously? I get stuff from China faster than that. That's when I moved on eBay and ordered some from there.

But... no coral stamp. Talking coral stamp. It's so hard to find it. Try doing a search on "coral stamp". You'll get everything in crafting that is the color coral. Maybe, smothered in all those "coral embossing powder" and "coral distress ink" you might find a lost stamp. Considering how many coral stamps are compared to how many coral-colored inks, powders, pens, crayons, distress inks, stains, etc... you get the picture.

So. I will probably spend how much I have left of the evening cranking on the pasta machine. I did have to rest after I came home from shopping. The stores were absolutely packed, with it being the 1st and the 4th of July sales and all that, and it fatigued me horribly. I intended to finish a tutorial after I'd get home, but I was just too absolutely worn out. And I learned my lesson, of not trying to push it. If I get one of my fatigue bouts and I try to push on that, instead of resting, I need 2-3 days to recover after that, so it's worse than losing a few hours of work because I have to rest. It's one of the "new normal" realities I had to get used to in the "life after cancer" stage.

So there you have the truth on why sometimes I am late with the tutorials. When it's my fault. It's when I get one of those episodes of extreme fatigue. It's even hard to explain to someone "I am so tired that I am thirsty but I'm too tired to get up from the couch and go to the kitchen and get a glass of water; I'll just lay here and be thirsty". Sounds horrible, isn't it? I was killing myself over this in the beginning, I didn't want to "be lazy", then a few talks to my oncologist made me realize that no, it's not my fault and I'm not lazy, it's just that sometimes that is what chemo does to you. Ok, I'll stop whining now, lol.

So, good day! Good day indeed! Oh yes, and go to Hobby Lobby, they have some awesome sales right now for the 4th, and some of the jewelry findings are on 50% off, and the kicker is that even those that have price reduced still get the 50% off that price!

See you all tomorrow at the live event!