Thanks

Thank you to everyone who dropped by my blog and for the great comments. This has been a very eye opening event. I have learned alot.

Hope you visit again soon. I am ready to get back to the clay. You just never know where the inspiration will come from. I opened my sock drawer and saw this pair of socks I bought on sale after Christmas last year. Wonder what the beads will look like that these socks inspire?

Fall Is Not My Favorite Season

I am very cold natured so fall just reminds me that it will be winter soon. I would not survive living where there is snow on the ground for months and months. I am perfectly satisfied with seeing snow once every 10 years. While I am not fond of the weather, I love the fall and winter holidays. It will be Halloween soon and that means "PARTY" at my house.

As you can see, my family loves a party. I will be taking some time off from work next week so I will have lots of time to decorate and finish costumes. Can't say what we are going to be this year but I will post pics after the party.

I love Thanksgiving because I get to cook for everybody. Thanks to the girls, I have this new apron to wear this year. They found it while we were shopping one day and thought I should have it. I will remember that shopping day every time I wear it.

Here are a couple of easy recipes that remind me of fall.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Great served cold. Unbelievable served warm with vanilla ice cream!

Ingredients

2-8 oz. packages cream cheese (softened)

1-1/2 cups sugar, divided

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cans of crescent rolls

1 stick REAL butter (melted)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 365 degrees. Beat cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla with mixer until smooth. Spray bottom of 9x13 pan. Put one can of crescent rolls on bottom of pan. Spread cream cheese mixture over crescent rolls. Put another can of crescent rolls over mixture. Melt 1 stick real butter. Add 3/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon to melted butter and stir well. Pour over the top of crescent rolls. Bake uncovered 25-30 minutes.

Hot Cider

1 Quart Apple Cider

2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

3 Tablespoons Caramel Topping

Whip Cream

Put the cider, sugar, and topping in a large crock pot. Keep on low and top with whip cream when serving.

I hope you have enjoyed fall in my shoes. Hope your holidays are fun. Take lots of pictures.....you never know where they may end up.

Congratulations Summer

Summer is the winner of the fall leaf necklace. Thank all of you for visiting my blog and your comments.

2nd Give Away

Here is another fall inspired necklace. The oak leaf has burst of fall colors.

Good Luck!!!!!

Welcome To My Studio

Studio, what studio am I suppose to have a studio????? How about WELCOME TO MY "TABLE".

My favorite place to play with clay is on the boys game table in my den. I can play with clay and watch football with Billy at the same time. Here it is by day dressed for Halloween. The Ghost and Cat Ornaments on the vase were two of the first clay pieces I did.

And here it is by night,

with some of my favorite tools.

Some Flea Market finds and some stolen from around the house. The boys' tinker toys make perfect screed sticks so I can roll the clay to a perfect thickness. The cheese slicer cuts a slab of clay into perfect size pieces for beads. The flexible chopping mat makes sure I don't get carried away and cut the table and the clay.

With limited space and resources, everything has more than one duty. The tool caddy holds gazed beads until they are ready for the kiln. I have had lots of fun with the family thinking I am painting everything green........haha

For now I am perfectly contented with my table. Who knows what the future holds though!!!!!

WINNER OF FIRST PRIZE

Congratulations to LIZ B. She is the winner of the Pumpkin Necklace. She barely got her post in before the drawing. Way to go Liz I hope you enjoy wearing the necklace. Thanks for visiting my blog.

!st Prize

Staying witht the fall theme, I created this pumpkin necklace for my first prize. At 1 pm cst I will be posting the name of the person who was drawn from the commenters on my blog. Drop back by and see if you're a WINNER!!!!!! If not, you can purchase one in my ETSY store at 25% off until midnight tonight.

Welcome To My Blog

Welcome to "Bling Beads and Jewelry blog spot. Thanks for stopping by. Please don't forget to leave a comment so you will be entered in my drawings for some free stuff.


I have been a crafter most of my life and have a craft room full of toys to prove it. I have just recently embarked on a new adventure in clay beads. This blog has been my diary of events as I wonder thru the ups and downs of clay.


Early in my thoughts of learning to make clay beads, I found the Beads of Clay group and it has been one of my best finds. The group is always eager to help with any problem I have. The list of great vendors has saved me so much time and this open blog has made me learn so much I would never have tried without their encouragement. So a great big THANKS to all the BOC members.


My ETSY store is new. Today will be the Grand Opening. I don't have it fully stocked yet but come back often, I will be adding new items daily until Christmas. From Noon til Midnight cst everything will be 25% off. The prices listed already have the discount figured in. I am also offering free shipping to anyone in my local area. Prices will be raised back up to regular price after midnight. The link to my store is at the bottom of this blog.


Please follow the links to all the BOC Open Blog artists and don't forget to leave them a comment!!!!!

MarshaNealStudio http://www.marshanealstudioblog.blogspot.com/
MaryHardingJewlery http://www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com/
Chinook Jewelry http://chinookdesigns.blogspot.com/
Diane Hawkey http://dianehawkey.blogspot.com/
Marsha Hedrick http://porcelainart.blogspot.com/
Joan Tucker http://offcenterproductions.blogspot.com/
Indian Creek Studios http://pampots.blogspot.com/
Lisa Peters http://lisa-petersart.blogspot.com/
Kristie Roeder http://artisanclay.blogspot.com/
Tracy Isley http://tracyisley.blogspot.com/
Melanie Earthenwood Studio http://earthenwood-beads.blogspot.com/
Winchell Clay Works http://www.winchell-clayworks.com/
Summers Studio http://summersstudio.blogspot.com/
Jessica Sharrah http://jessicasharrah.blogspot.com/
Creative Impressions in Clay http://www.claybuttons.blogspot.com/
EveryHeartCrafts http://everyheartcrafts.blogspot.com/
Sharleen Newland http:// http://www.shaterraclaystudio.blogspot.com/.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I know the intent of this blog was to keep a journal of my clay adventures but I haven't been able to post new comments because I didn't think I could keep them clean enough. Talk about highs and lows......... The first bisque firing went great I was so excited. Of course no one was home but me so I was dancing around like a kid at Christmas. I spent Saturday glazing most of the pieces. Soon as some of them were dry I loaded them in the kiln. I thought I had them all placed just right. I had read horror stories about pieces fusing together that had touched so I made sure none of them were touching. About noon Sunday the kiln cooled down enough that I could take a peak.........OH NOOOOOOOOOO. Not just one piece touched but every piece. The pieces must have started swinging during the firing because they had moved a bunch after I closed the lid. Not to be out done, I got back on the horse and load it with the remaining pieces that I had painted the day before. Had to hurry couldn't let beads stop Sunday night supper.

Still to hot to open Monday morning so it was off to work to wonder all day if I had another mess or some success. First thing after walking in the door was to open the kiln, WHAT..... NOT AGAIN. Yes more fused pieces. Not all of them but way to many of them. I couldn't believe it. Still not to be beaten, I loaded some beads with some custom decals I had made on them. Fired it up and hoped to see success tomorrow. No such luck, instead of black houndstooth beads I had pale pink sepia ones. You know that wouldn't work for any BAMA fan.

So OK, I am 1 for 4 but still determined. I had made lots of new beads and they are ready for their first firing. Not much to worry about here since the first one turned out so good, right.......Wrong. Got up and the kiln was off, so was my Internet modem, the dish TV receiver and everything else in the room. What could have happened. Billy check it when he got home and couldn't figure it out. When I got home it was like a room possessed!!!!!!! Everything was working. I turned the kiln back on because I wasn't sure it had fired enough and I figured better safe than sorry and with my luck I needed to be safe. Got up this morning, same thing, everything was off. Nothing in any other room was off just my craft room. Had to go to work so I will see if it is working again this afternoon when I get home.

Looks like it will be non stop for me this weekend if I intend to have anything to show at the Open Blog on Sunday.

I Must Have Lost My Mind!!!!!

Thanks to the wonderful people at beads-of-clay.org Without your post I wouldn't have known how to choose a kiln, where to buy it or any of the great supplies I have bought. Everyone is so quick to answer all the questions and offer support to all of us who aspire to be bead artist. I have spent the last month on the group site and blog reading every post soaking up information like a sponge and being inspired by so many gorgeous pieces of art. Maybe tooooooo inspired........I have 10 days til the Open Blog and I have just put my first load in my new kiln. I just setup this blog and my ETSY shop yesterday. This means I have to paint the stuff in the kiln fire it, make more beads, fire them, paint them, fire decals on some of the beads, make some jewelry and post the items in my ETSY store. That is after I finish setting the store up. Finish this blog after I figure the whole blog thing out. Make an invitation, send it to the masses. Clean my studio (worst part of all). Make pictures, write the text for the Open Blog. And the list goes on and on. Like I said, I must have lost my mind..... I have always loved a party (watch for pictures on the Open Blog) and this sounded like a fun one. And I did say I love a challenge, well this should be a dilly. Come along with me and watch my madness as I try to keep up with the talented people who have been doing this for years.

Please join me and some of the best bead artist around on our Open Blog October 25th from 1 to 4 est. There will be lots of party favors, prizes, discounts and good times. Here is a list of the participants and their blogs. Check them out and come back on the 25th.

MarshaNealStudio http://www.marshanealstudioblog.blogspot.com
MaryHardingJewlery http://www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com
Chinook Jewelry http://chinookdesigns.blogspot.com
Diane Hawkey http://dianehawkey.blogspot.com
Marsha Hedrick http://porcelainart.blogspot.com
Joan Tucker http://offcenterproductions.blogspot.com
Indian Creek Studios http://pampots.blogspot.com
Lisa Peters http://lisa-petersart.blogspot.com
Kristie Roeder http://artisanclay.blogspot.com
Tracy Isley http://tracyisley.blogspot.com
Melanie Earthenwood Studio http://earthenwood-beads.blogspot.com
Winchell Clay Works http://www.winchell-clayworks.com
Summers Studio http://summersstudio.blogspot.com
Jessica Sharrah http://jessicasharrah.blogspot.com
Creative Impressions in Clay http://www.claybuttons.blogspot.com
EveryHeartCrafts http://everyheartcrafts.blogspot.com

YEAH!!!! The Kiln Made It To Eoline

Day two of my exciting journey.

Got a call that the kiln had arrived around 4 pm. I had it put together and running it's burnoff firing by 6 pm. I was very disappointed by the operators manual that Cress provided. Luckly they are located in NV so they are two hours behind me and still answering calls when I called them for help. Very nice gentleman answered all my questions and away I went........ I was hoping the kiln would be cooled down enough so I could load it this morning but no such luck. Just as well, I am not comfortable leaving it firing while I am at work. I will start it as soon as I get home this afternoon. As promissed, here is a picture of the kiln and some stuff I have ready to fire.

Can't wait to start painting.

The Beginning Of A New Journey

Welcome to my blog, my name is Donna and I started this blog as a journal for my new clay art business. First a little bit about me.......I have been married to the same sweet man for 37 years. We have two lovely daughters, two great son- in-laws and were blessed with four grandsons. We all live in a small town in Alabama. We live close enough to each other that we all have Sunday night suppers at my house (thank you kids for keeping up this tradition). I have been doing crafts most of my life. My grandmother sewed and taught me how and instilled in me that I could do anything I wanted to. Over the years I have tried just about every craft that has become a fad and some that weren't. I love the challenge of learning something new but seem to get boarded with it after the challenge is gone. I am hoping this will not be the case with my new adventure.

Enough about me, on to the clay....... A few weeks ago I decided once again that I needed a challenge. I had spent some time that day with my girls and we had such a good time that I was trying to come up with something that the three of us could do together. They have bought several ceramic jewelry pieces and really enjoyed them and I did some ceramics back in the 70's so I decided to order a kiln and start making jewelry.

The process of choosing a kiln and getting it ordered was not as easy a project as I wanted it to be. Lots of different brands and vendors to choose from. Finally after four days of researching, I decided on a Cress kiln and ordered it from Bailey's. I was very disappointed when the salesman told me it would take three weeks to have it made and another week for shipping. Finally after four weeks "TODAY is the DAY". It is on the UPS truck out for delivery.......

I have been making some beads while I was waiting and have them drying so as soon as the kiln is ready I can fire it up and see some progress. The girls haven't been bitten by the clay bug yet, but my grandsons have had a ball (no pun intended) making beads for bracelets for their teachers for Halloween.

Sorry I don't have any pictures to post yet. But I promise a picture of the new kiln tomorrow.