I've been busy, but still crafting!

As usual, I have too many irons in the fire.  Though I've recently removed one.  After almost 10 years with the local Rocky Horror Picture Show shadowcast, I have retired.  It basically came down to this:  It was time.  So, what do I do with my newfound extra time?  I get crafting! :)

Tonight I whipped up something I wanted to make for a while now.  My stepmom has a holder for plastic bags.  It's got elastic openings on either end and you stuff the plastic shopping bags into it.  You'd be amazed at how many bags fit.  I didn't use a pattern, I pretty much deconstructed hers in my head and rebuilt it.  I think I will do some things a little differently when I make more, but for a first go, it's not too bad.  :)

Sewing will be happening more often once I can have a craft room.  Having to set up and tear down each time I work on a project is no fun.  :(  At least with a craft room I can close the door! :)  I have another project I am working on.  I've been crocheting squares that I will stitch together to make a blanket for hubby.  It's very slow going, but it will be nifty once it's finished.  :)

Here are some pics from today:

Here's the closeup on the fabric

The bag hanging in the pantry

The sewing machine!! :D

success!

The presents were a hit!  Grandma LOVED her Ohio State swirl necklace and Mom thinks that she can sell a bunch like the one I made her.  I'll have to sit down and calculate how much it would be for one.   I'd also have to get them made for next Football season. 

For now, I've moved onto another project.  I am making fleece "Go Home" blankets for some homeless kitties.  They are at the Colony Cats Adoption Center, where I volunteer on Wednesday nights.  These cats have either been found stray or were part of managed feral colonies that are very social with people.  So, instead of releasing them back into the feral colony after being spayed/neutered, they're trying to find homes for them.

I have so many craft ideas to work on, but not enough time at all.  Nor really enough space.  At some point, I'm hoping we will be able to have a craft room for me, but that's a ways off.  *sigh*  Oh well. 

When the kitty blankets get more creative besides being just fleece with the edges stitched with embroidery floss, I'll post them.  Right now, they're too boring and plain.  LOL

Happy Creating!

Feeling accomplished--3 more presents done!

The last two days have been very productive.  I've finished Mom's, Lois' and Nizzie's Christmas Presents.  I still have quite a few to do, but every little bit helps, right?

Mom wanted an OSU themed necklace, so I made "O" necklaces with red and silver sculpey.  I used a thin layer of black to outline the "O".  I need more practice as it looks like a 4 year old made the beads.  I do like the effect of a pen outline the black made.

Next, I made Lois' necklace.  I made enough beads to make her a matching bracelet too.  The rose got distorted when I reduced the cane, but I think these beads look pretty nifty still.  I included pictures of the leaves & the rose before reduction.

Lastly, I put together Nizzie's rosary.  I really like how it turned out.  I have two more rosaries to make.  One for Cheez and one for my brother.  Those will be fun  :)

Progress as of Nov 8th, 2009

Yesterday and today I had the gals over for more clay fun. Tricia's rose came out pretty cool, though I forgot to get pictures. Croa was extra creative and came up with food stuffs. She and I now have a nifty hotdog/cheeseburger earring set!

The food trend continued tonight as evidenced by the next few pictures. I believe I am missing a few things, like Trishie's fries and Cora's Margarita

I was trying to figure out what to do for Bro's rosary. I came up with the canes below. They kind of have a stained glass look to them. The cross one looks more like a turtle shell. Oh well. All of the rosaries will use the cross one.

Next are the pieces (which still need to be baked) to finish all the beads I need for Nizz's rosary. It's hard to see, but I used the dusty rose and burgundy to make a windy design on the cross. I'm not sure about it. We'll see how it looks when I string everything. I may re-do it. :)

Here are the "Our Father" beads. I'm not sure I like how they came out. As usual, a work in progress. :) I may pick up some more of the burgundy and pink to make a gradient to re-do the cross. We'll see.

Part of me is afraid I've bitten off more than I can chew with this project. Though, I do have a good dent in them. I still need to make a ton of pens for the guys. Those I can whip out in an evening though. I did find that we do have jewelry boxes at Michael's. Score.

Oh yeah, I picked up a 2nd job at the craft store (Michael's). Subsidizing the craft habit is a good thing. Hopefully the extra exercise will be good for my back too. I barely made it through my shift this past saturday. That's why I like the crafting, it's easy for me to do, as long as my arthritis behaves. Hopefully keeping busy like this will keep it at bay too.

More to come soon!

A little more progress and fun with the girls

We had an impromptu craft night at my place this past Sunday. Cora and Tricia joined me to play with clay. We learned a couple of things:

1. The sparkly polymer clay is harder to condition. I'm not sure we ever really got it to work

2. I live in an icebox which makes it even harder to condition clay.

Since it's easier for me to throw on a sweater and warm up than it is for hubby to cool down, icebox it is. Oh well. :) We've started sitting on our clay to help warm it up. There were jokes flying about that on Sunday.

I taught both Cora and Tricia how to make a Skinner blend. Cora got far enough along that she was able to make a rose cane:

Cora's Rose Cane:

Tricia didn't get as far, she only finished her Skinner Blend:

While they were working, I was using the new bead roller and rolling out beads galore. I used remnant clay from other projects. I just smashed a bunch of it together and then rolled it out. The different colors swirled together to make a cool marbled effect.

Here is a close up on the burgundy rose beads. These are for Nizz's rosary. They are a little bigger than I planned on. I think for Cheez's rosary, I will hand roll the base and use the roller for the finished bead.

I really like how the beads are turning out and can't wait to see the finished product. It's slow going since I picked up the 2nd job at Michael's. So, that cuts into my crafty time a bit.

One of these days I will pick my quilting back up. I just need to get the Christmas presents done first.

What's in a name?

Simply put, the name "Thunder Paws" comes from my furry children. My husband and I have 3 cats. When they start running about, it is quite the noisy racket. Whenever someone goes running my husband calls out "Thunder Paws!". The first design I came up with from clay was a cat inspired one. So, I decided that the girls should also be the inspiration for the name. Thus, Thunder Paws Designs was born.

As I've stated, Clay is my most recent passion. I am also known for having multiple projects going on at once. I've also started a project to teach myself how to quilt. I'm making halloween placemats. Hopefully I will have pictures of those up soon.

I enjoy creating things, I also enjoy giving things to those I hold dear. Giving them things that I have created with my own hands is a double-win.

I've made progress on the rosaries. I have the rose canes made, I just need to make bro's cane. I'm not sure what I am going to do. I'll have to get creative for his I guess. I did see a cool design that's a quilt pattern. I could modify it with ihs colors. We'll see.

But for tonight, I am going to rest. I want to pick up a bead roller before I make any more beads. I'm tired of having my fingerprints all over the beads. :)

Getting Started

So, after being encouraged by my lovely friend Miss M, I am starting a craft blog as well. I've recently discovered the joy of polymer clay and jewelry making. I also dabble in sewing, crocheting and scrapbooking. Now that I've got this blog started, maybe I'll dabble more in photography with my digital camera. We'll see.

I hope to post pictures of my projects as well as things that inspire my creations. It's always fun to have a creative outlet. :-)

Here are some of my first pieces of jewelry. These are going to be Christmas presents this year.

Grandma's Ohio State Swirl bead necklace

Stepmom's 'Calico Swirl Bead' Necklace.

Cousins' bracelets. I made coordinating pen sets too

Auntie's Bracelet

Coming Soon: Rosaries for bro and a couple of his gal friends. I got the idea from Traci who taught the bead class I took.