Gourd clock photos

I finally got a few photos taken *actually my hubbie did it* of two of my mini gourd clocks. We had a busy weekend with our oldest daughter home, with her two little girls. They are one and three years old and both of them are happy, joyous toddlers. We LOVE having them here!

Today I'm continuing my cartooning unit with my art kids. We learned about Charles Schulz and Roy Lichtenstein the previous two weeks. Today our artist is Keith Haring. After learning about an artist we are sketching in note books. Each student will have a collection of cartoons by the end of our unit. They will then pick and choose features that they like and put together their own, unique cartoon character. Hopefully, they will use the character in a short 3 or 4 panel comic strip. It has been really fun for me to learn about cartooning and some of the artists who are famous because of the cartoon or comic strip look of their work.

I hope to get the mini-gourd clocks listed on etsy after the Valentine Art Show on Thursday.

Gourd clocks, Valentine's Day Sweetheart Show and Sale

I've finished almost all the mini-gourd clocks...just haven't had time to photograph them. I'm generally really pleased with how they turned out. The one I like best, I just finished. I took the thin skin that usually holds the seeds inside the gourd out, stained it with some thin oil paint and let it dry.

Then I attached a gourd piece to the back of a small round gourd and paper mach'ed the outside of the gourd with the skin. I'm in the process of coating it with poly-acrylic, satin. It is cool, if I may say so myself! I need a few more of the mini-clocks, though. Our only outlet doesn't have any in stock (and hasn't for several weeks). I ordered 15 from Klockit, but should've ordered 20.

I'm helping organize an Art Show and Sale especially for people to shop for their Valentines. A local jewelry store is hosting - we'll serve some wine and snacks from 4-7pm and be there to mingle about. Eight artists are involved and a couple of other retails spots are going to be especially for the event, too. Hopefully, it'll be fun and a rousing success!

Gourds are next on my agenda

Wow, it seems like I've been gone for a long time. I visited our daughter's family in Minnesota, helped her in her classroom with an art project (she teaches 3rd grade - we did plaster masks on our faces) and came home sick. Then it was Christmas with my parents and a couple siblings and off to Mexico for a family vacation, beach-side. How fun to ditch the winter gear, wear sandals and soak up the warm Mazatlan sun!

Now back to teaching, trying to get my online shop up and running and sewing doll clothes for our grand daughter. I finished that project this afternoon(without a pattern or measurements - I wonder how good my memory will be?), and called her to tell her the clothes are on the way to her house. She was so engrossed in telling me something or other about Cinderella and her cousins, that I don't think she ever caught on that I sent a present her way. She is three and cute as can be!

I am excited about creating a new 'batch' of gourd mini-clocks. I ordered the clock inserts tonight and hope to start cleaning the gourds and leveling the bottoms a bit so they stand without going bottoms up! I can't decide whether to stain or paint them, maybe I'll do some of each. I'm going to add some naturals, like long pine needles, twine, copper and leather lacing to some of them. I love gourds; I think they are beautiful little sculptures. I'll post some photos when I get one finished up.

I hope the new year is off to a wonderful start for you and yours!

Contest Winner

Michelle is the winner of my wine charm giveaway. Congratulations, Michelle. I'll send the set of six your way as soon as I have a mailing address (unless we are gone, in which case I'll sent it when I get home again.)

We are spending some time over the holidays in Mazatlan with our daughters, son in law and one of our grand daughters. The other set of grand parents will babysit Haley, one year old. Her parents decided they would have more fun without her! Imagine that!

Merry Christmas!

Oops! Disaster slops all over!

Oh, my gosh! My ice cube ornament completely fell apart! I left it outside overnight - it was minus 18 degrees (F) and brought it in the next day to take it out of the container and marvel at its beauty. The whole thing burst water out every where! Only the very outside shell was frozen and the inner part was cold water. What a mess...funny, though!

Hopefully, my kids today will have better luck as they will get a warning! I sold a felted landscape today so that was fun...sales are fun and certainly day-brighteners. Hoping you are having a bright and sunny day, whatever your weather!

I'm slowly getting more and more etsy listings...check it out. And slowly my shopping cart on my website is coming into being...maybe in another week or so. Santa, if you are listening, it would be an awesome early Christmas present!

Tree Ornaments

Have any of you tried making tree ornaments that birds will appreciate next spring? I'm giving it a whirl with my art kids on Monday. We'll be stringing nuts (my husband was kind enough to drill holes in all of them- he's a peach!), cranberries, raisins, grapes and other edible things.

We'll tie those strings to a dogwood branch and stick the branch in the bottom of a milk carton. We'll tie the other end of the strings to another dogwood branch and set that on the top of the carton. Then we'll add water and little pieces of string and different colors of yarn as we fill up the carton. We'll set the whole business outside (it's been -18 degrees here - yikes!) until it freezes solid.

After it is a solid, pretty ice cube we'll tie some jute to the top branch and hang it in one of our bare trees. Hopefully, it'll be a pretty ornament to glisten through our long winter. The birds will start coming back after it has started melting and they can enjoy our little treats, and the strings will come in handy for their nest building.

I'll take a photo and post it - so you know if it works, or not!

PS What is your pet peeve during the holiday season? Mine is people who don't understand the concept of waiting in line, or else understand it and don't think it should apply to them!

May God bless your Saturday!

It's Holiday CONTEST time!

Good morning!

I'm having my first blog contest! It's an easy one, too...

1. Just become a "follower" of my blog by clicking "follow this blog" in the "followers" section. This enters you in the random drawing. If you are a current follower, thank you, and I'll enter your name, too.

2. Tell your blogosphere friends about this. (Thanks!)

3. Check back on Monday, December 22 to see who wins!

What's the prize you wonder? A set of 'wordy' wine charms, each charm is a different color or pattern or has a different word. There are 6 different charms in the set with random words like hot, LOL, wino, and others! A "WINO" set is photographed here.

Join me in the followers fun! Thanks!