They have scampered out of the kiln, stacked themselves neatly and are awaiting to be glazed. You lovely cat people out there, the finished ceramic cat buttons are coming in a couple of days, waiting to be used in all of your creative endeavors. Thank you for your patience. michele
Well the girls are busy at the quilt show in Long Beach so I’ll just post a view of the ceramic buttons on the bottom of the kiln that I still have yet to unload. Hearts and flying witches oh my…
Bubba
Well it’s Michele’s brother “Bubba” that’s not my real name but it sounds cool. Michele got stung by a wasp then fell and hurt her arm and hand and tried to bust her ribs all within one hour. Doc says she is fine just a little sore. All that just to get out of driving cross country for the quilt festival in California. I kid, I kid…. Anyway here is a photo of the kiln opening this morning. This is the first firing, they will be glazed next and fired again hopefully she won’t be too sore tomorrow.
Bubba
Playing around with a new post gallery feature and used some new sets posted this week in our online store. Visit the store to see these and more ceramic buttons and embellishment cards.
Newly made puppy buttons, getting their first firing at about 1987 degrees Fahrenheit. They will take 8.5 hours to fire, and one full day after that to cool down. Then they will be glazed in white and black glazes, and be shiny and beautiful, awaiting exciting applications on joyful creations. 
In the same kiln load are red clay buttons. Textured hearts and apples shown on the right. Red clay is rare for me;it is gorgeous but brittle and delicate, dries so quickly it warps easily. But they are so pretty.
The plan is to get them glazed in time to get some sets in the on-line store, and to take many with us to Long Beach IQ
F.
Click on images to see a larger photo. They will look much different when they have been glazed and fired again. I’ll attempt to do side by side comparisons to post in a couple days.
A little time left for one more By the Sea themed card for Mixed Media Monday. How I miss the ocean.
Blue dolphin ceramic button with little fish and ”In the beginning” ceramic embellishment, sewn onto recycled cardboard, with miscellaneous fabric scraps, paper and eyelash yarn. Size: 7.75” x 4.25”.
Do you play? Having been introduced to Mixed Media Monday, I’m rediscovering the winning combination of play time and thinking outside my narrow focus.
I encourage everyone to give it a try. Whether you post your creations or not, you’re a winner for playing. You might even make new friends.
The mixed media collage cards with ceramic buttons are now available for purchase right here, right now 
(well, not entirely now - I have more to get listed, but my goal is to get a sampling of all categories in first, then add more selections daily). Thus far there is a lovely selection of butterflies, martinis, and the beginnings of goddesses. Halloween and cowboys/cowgirls are next. Tune in tomorrow, to see if the stagecoach falls off the cliff…
We have fabulous opportunities here in the Denver, Colorado area. Organized by Nancy Smith and Betsy T. through our favorite fabric shop Great American Quilt Factory, we have a monthly group play date. Betsy graciously imparts exciting artistic techniques and we learn them. We meet, play, share, learn, experiment, and go home with the cool beginnings of a new project. Those prolific at finishing projects (not me although I made this bead on the heart) often bring in the finished result the following month for Ooh and Aah show-and-tell. The best part is how everybody’s projects are very different in look and style. It makes sharing a two-fold bonus. How lucky are we?
I LOVE Betsy! Not just because she is my very first online sale, but because she is generous with her wisdom, she is inspiring with her willingness to jump into new endeavors, and she is unselfish with her time and tools. If you are in the area and are interested in Betsy’s Embellishment classes, check out Great American Quilt Factory.
TOO much to say about this one, and of course everyone knows the importance of making time for themselves, or for creating. Here is how I negotiate with myself: I wish to spend hours painting papers, or sewing painted fabrics with no particular finished project in mind. I have housekeeping to do. Simple, for every 20 minutes of crafting, do a house-project: put laundry away, then more fun: put clean dishes away, then more fun: vacuum one area, then one martini, you get the idea. Put on great music and get to work. It’s not so bad.
I notice I quantified my play time with “no particular finished project”. I believe if you are finishing a project, for ANY reason, then you are off the hook and need no justification, so there. So have fun, it is the weekend after all. love (and UFO’s)
you know why I didn’t post yesterday? I slept all day! HA! take that List Of Things To Do!
Already a month behind, trying to get ready for Long Beach IQF. So it’s time to make lots of new, shiny, pretties. We are fulfilling the requests to have many single buttons, and we will still have the finished “button-cards” available. Also, we are presenting a mixed mosaic class for the Make It University. If our proposal is accepted, 25 students will have a colorful art piece to take home, ready to hang up, or give as a gift. As the examples come together, we will be posting them here.
Apologies about the online shopping. Honest we are working on it and have given ourselves a deadline of May 23rd. Thank you for your patience. love (and colors)
Leap! Kickin’ it to California. We decided out of the blue to commit to vending at IQF in Long Beach, July, 2008. Since Chicago’s IQF, we’ve been sluggish and morose, (apologies to anyone reading my posts, it might have been obvious how blah I’ve been) now we’re hyped and creating anew. WhahHoo!
More upbeat news: Bubba’s working on purchase availability right though this site. And an awesome alternative to the photo albums that I am crazy about. Hope to have them up this week. (evil ploy, hee hee)
I’ve mentioned Lynn in a past post and just added her to my new Favorite Links on side bar. She is witty and entertaining and a blog of fresh air. Her blog has introduced me to Skulladay which I love, and she admits to a tote bag collection; I have yet to own up to my bag adiction. Lynn has inspired me to attempt more finished projects with our buttons, because hers are beautiful and have a calming effect on me. But trying to flesh out a thought process from my head is anything but calming to my nerves and maturity level.
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. I’m really good at starting projects, not so good at finishing them. However, by posting the process, perhaps guilt will push me. This panel is an embellishment card that has been adhered to an old filing card that TT painted to coordinate. It is one simple solution of how to incorporate the button cards into finished work. I will begin working on another project to show more options with fabrics, so please check back and help me stick to my commitment. thanks, myc
Many of us work 2 jobs in addition to care-taking, housekeeping, and creating or working on our craft. Why not hang up a little affirmation to allow yourself a wee luxury? Take your coffee back to bed. Soak in the bathtub till the water cools. Splurge on take-out. Sit and sip that hard earned martini without doing chores. You deserve it.
Well the girls are back and I did not have any new photos of finished cards so I made a little compilation photo of buttons ready for more embellishment cards when they get back in studio tomorrow. You can however see hundreds of cards on the gallery page.
Click here to see tons of whimsical cards albums on gallery page
Sloan
