New School Mathematics

I sent the kiddos to a new school to "shadow" for the day....

Here's a math question for you:

Take one themed beach day for 3rd graders

(+) add one exuberant school secretary

_____________________________

that equals a goldfish for every classmate

also equals very happy class

with < /> or = chance of surprised parents.

So let me introduce you to Speedy, Robert's first fish, our family's first pet (please don't die).

So here is another math question:

Take one free goldfish

(+) add one household with absolutely no fish basics

______________________________________

that equals a $14.90 trip to the pet store.

Let me say Mr. Robert had a great day and he thinks this school rocks..because he got a fish!

Angie

ASOM day to learn to enameling

One of my personal goals this year was to take more classes and workshops, to try new things and learn from those who really know what they're doing.

This weekend the Altered States of Mind group met with my friend Joanna of the Bellevue Beadery to learn how to enamel on copper. Joanna is so giving with her knowledge, she spent 6 hours showing us the ropes and answering all of our questions. While at the Thompson Enameling studio we had access to the equipment, the colors, the kilns, and a great selection of copper pieces.

This was a my favorite design of the day... a matte white enameled oval with cobalt blue stenciled on top.

I learned enamel can be fickle..my first piece of the day was the circle (below). It started out as mocha brown but when I fired it the second time to add the orange the brown turned a shade of grey. The heart was also fired twice, once to bake the blue background and then glass stringers to create the colored lines.
We learned about transparent enamels (on the left) and my personal favorite- opaque enamels (right).
All of Thompson's enamels are lead-free so I am completely comfortable turning these pieces into jewelry.

There area number of safety lessons to learn since you are dealing with glass powders and a 1475 degree kiln, but the whole process of choosing the copper, picking the colors, and varieties of enamel is very rewarding.

Angie

Do you 'hockey'?

We love our hockey here in Cincinnati and tonight we got to see the local boys bring home another ECHL Championship Kelly Cup.

Go Cyclones!!!!

Sorry Idaho Steelheads....you have to go home empty handed, that cup is ours..all ours...

Angie

I 'heart' butterfly

While out on Etsy this evening I noticed the hearts on one of my butterfly pendants was over 650 views...wowza...what could be going on?

This is when I want to hug and kiss the dear folks at Craft cult because this site can tell you if you're in a treasury or featured anywhere on Etsy. My little guy was featured in today's Storque blog post...Etsy Finds...garden inspired items...wow!

Click the link...and off I go to read the article...

A little way down the page I find it, my happy little butterfly...

Isn't that sweet!

Angie

Steampunk Charm Exchange

I signed myself up for this charm swap and you can too just go out to Christine's blog to read more!

Here is Christine's description:

Steampunk jewelry combines "hardware" based found objects with Victorian-influenced romanticism. Think nut, bolts, washers, and coils combined with filigree, charms, chain, and beads to create one-of-a-kind pieces. Antiqued metals, like brass and copper, are usually the metals of choice. Gears, arrows, keys, watch pieces, compasses, anything that suggest mechanical and movement make great embellishments.

All the swap info is on Christine's blog- I Poked A Badger With A Spoon (isn't that a fabulous name) the swap is limited to 12 artists and pieces are due by June 22nd. Make 12 pieces get 12 pieces and you have a very original charm bracelet (well one of 12 anyway)

Angie

It's a start

I am now listing the pieces I made for the Duveneck Art show on Etsy, here's a small sample.

Remember these???

How about these????

And finally... this?

Etsy is a bit of a struggle for me...I completely forget how long it takes to shoot the pictures then edit and then list. I spent most of my morning on this little project and there are still more to do. I have the Alice in Wonderland necklaces still on my work table but I'm calling it quits for today.

Thanks for stopping by.

Angie

2 weeks in one day

Let me explain, it has been a wild two weeks

Lets start here at Maria's 1st Communion (two Sundays ago). It was a gloomy rainy day but no one seemed to mind being in the house. I was so excited that Maria's Godmother Stephanie was able to come up from Indiana for a few hours.

Steph made the most amazing sugar cookies, it was hard to decide between eating the her cookies or my cupcakes. (Both won)

Then came the dreaded computer virus/spybot that crippled my computer the following day. It took Bob a few days to eradicate it completely so I stayed offline to avoid infecting anything else. Finally Wednesday I felt brave enough to hop back on, just to find that our Internet provider suspended our account for sending out spam. After contacting them and informing them that we were now virus free, they let us back into cyber land but not before informing me that the pesky spybot had sent out 13,700 emails that Monday!

The next week was double duty: first stocking the shelves full of Mother's Day cards for 'da people' to buy, second was preparing for the Duveneck Art Show in historic Covington Kentucky. Carla shared her booth space with me and even though I had plenty of advanced notice I was still woefully unprepared.

I did burn the midnight oil to complete a dozen necklaces and carded my polymer beads for sale as well.

It was a really nice show, the weather was chilly but the crowd was constant. I made a sale which I was really pleased with considering I didn't have much to offer.

Now I'm at the beginning of another crazy busy card week changing over from Mother's Day to Father's Day but I'm looking forward to getting back in the workroom to take pictures of all my pieces and getting them listed on Etsy. Stay tuned...

Last, but not least, if you enjoy swaps or exchanges you might be interested in Christine's SteamPunk Charm exchange. I finally feel like I have some "me" time coming up in the next few weeks so I jumped on board.

Angie