Tooth Fairy Time!

Look everyone! Loose tooth!



Caden has had a slightly loose tooth for a couple of weeks, but it is really progression now. There is a large gap where the adult tooth is pushing through and his baby tooth is really loose.
So, that gave me the inspiration for a tooth fairy pillow. At first Paul wasn't too hip on my idea, he has memories of a white envelope from the tooth fairy, I had a heart shaped strawberry shortcake pillow. So, we had clashing traditions. I came up with a compromise that the gift from the tooth fairy can be put into a white envelope and Caden's tooth can be in the pillow.
I had Caden write the word "tooth" and used carbon paper to transfer it to the linen. I then embroidered it (this is my first time embroidering, so that explains why it is goofy looking, but I think it adds to the look of Caden's writing) I was very inspired by these two nifty crafters.


tooth-shaped tooth fairy pillow.


close-up on the embroidery and the patchwork pocket.


close-up on the "tooth" written by Caden.

I also hand felted a pin cushion using some organic silk and wool that I had laying around. I have read that it is better (keeps needles sharper) if you store your needles in a wool pin cushion. I love how the silk fiber is slightly wavy and shimmers.









.......We also pinched our pennies to go to a "monster jam" this weekend. Caden had seen the commercial on TV and we knew he would love to see the huge monster trucks. It was loud and crowded and fun, just what any five and a half year old thrives on. It is so cold and snowy here, there isn't much to do unless it is inside. We also got to see one of the two in the world "jet quad" which is an ATV set on a jet engine. VERY loud. It shot around the stadium making flames and basically sounded like a jet airplane. Quite interesting, I never even knew about this "monster" truck world.

here are some highlights:
before:

after:

(broken axel)
we were rooting for this guy:



In other news, our kitten, suki, is still sick. We are setting up a visitation time, since we haven't been allowed to see her in three weeks. She has been gone longer than we had her. It is so sad that they allowed a sick cat to be adopted, we are so attached and miss her so, but have no idea when and, now, even if we can get her back. They still do not have a definitive diagnosis, they have just been giving her different doses of antibiotics.

putzing along...

I am finaaly getting around to glazing some of the buttons and pendants that I have been making. I ordered mason stain and once it arrived, I realized that I needed to mix it with a "flux" to make it stick. Ugh. I didn't know what to mix it with, so onto the beads of clay yahoo group. Such a helpful group if you are interested in making ceramic art, especially beads. They also have a flickr group. So long story short, I was able to start the expiramenting today. I have found that, for me, I have had to do a lot of expiramenting to find my true niche. I am so excited to get back working with clay. I have decided that we really need a butter dish. So instead of going out to buy one, I am going to create one. Sure it may take me a couple of months (I am pokey), but we have lived this long without one, a couple more months won't hurt! But, I am most excited about a new concept I am working on, "nesting dolls" but in animal for, like a little bird that can open up and you can place little trasures inside etc. I think that, for me, jewelry was limiting me, slowing me down. I love to make jewelry and will continue it, but I want to also make small ornaments, candle sticks, figures etc.


This is a picture of some of my glass collection. I have been trying to imbed the various glass beads and shards into glaze. I have found that some colors work better than others.


These are the next set of expiramental glass imbedded pendants, they are glazed and ready to fire. I will show you all the results later, I am not sure if I am going to fire these separate from the pendants above.

Thanks for stopping by..have a great day!

change is inevitable....

This is a adorable little painting by superminx from Australia. I found her art through flickr. I really like flickr for storing my pictures as well as exploring.


I have been loving anything owl lately. sewing stars (picture above) is making lovely hand sewn versions.

this a miniature version made by Theresa as part of another adorable creation like this one:
, aren't they cute?


Ok, well on to why I titled this blog. Caden is now going to kindergarten and not young fives. He is also going to the smaller school district that we live in. We live in the city of Spring Lake, but Fruitport school district. Ugh, so confusing. I talked personally with the principal, and she assured me that he is ready. I still placed him with the teacher that teaches the young fives, just in case he needs to switch, at least he will have the same teacher. It is expected that the kids read by the end of kindergarten, that is wonderful, but I am not sure if it is practical for Caden. We will see. I know a lot of kids going into first grade that haven't started to read. Caden can identify sight words and his name, and tries so hard to read. He wants to learn and is so curious, so I think he will do great.

In light of this news, we went back to school shopping. He is great on pants (unless another growth spurt happens before September fifth!) and ok on shirts. I like the collared shirts, like polo shirts, he doesn't like tight shirts and stretches out the necks of his t-shirts. More nice shirts are what we are looking for, and as always, shoes.

So that is all for now.

We are...living

I have been working on new graphics for the blog and hopefully, eventually, my ceramic jewelry packaging. I have been diligently working on improving my skills and designing the pendants and focal beads for my ceramic jewelry. I have finally figured out how to dry them without distortion, or warping. Now I need to be able to make the pendants as thin as possible, which isn't easy. I like the look of very thin ceramics like this:

this is the work of Mia Goransson
I just love the paper thin effect. She is working with porcelain clay. I want to try porcelain clay out, but I first need to use the twenty five pounds of white stoneware clay! That'll take quite a while.


Mel Robson
also has gorgeously thin work.



On another note, life here has been full of large ups and downs. A couple of weeks ago, Paul's oncology center called to say that his blood came back with evidence of a bloodborn cancer. Given his past history of bone cancer, the oncologist started to prepare us for the worse. There we were, again, feeling so out of control. We called our relatives and church to ask for prayer. On Wednesday of the following week, we had a glimmer of hope, more testing had come back and the high protein levels, and the white blood cell count could be what is called monoclonal gammopathy. Further testing was scheduled. We found out on Friday of the same week, that, indeed, this is what Paul has. I cannot explain what I felt as I heard the phone ring and see on caller id that is was the oncology/hemotology center. It was a mixture of fear and resolve that we can do it, it is early, we can get through it again. But, thankfully, we don't have too. Monoclonal gammopathy can lead to multiple myeloma (the cancer that it was thought most likely to be affecting Paul), but having it doesn't mean you will get multiple myeloma. What a complete blessing. We still don't know why he has high blood proteins, and Paul is still not feeling great, but it isn't cancer and we are so truly blessed. More testing is being done to figure out what, if anything, is wrong. He as been though chemo twice, the fist time he was so lethargic and nauseated, but was able to work most days, the second time was site specific, much more painful to the site, but not all encompassing like general chemo. The oncologist had prepared us that a blood born cancer is much worse, and he wouldn't be able to work. Our whole life once again flashed before us. All I could think was, is Caden going to grow up knowing his father? Thankfully, we are out of the woods. Thank you very much for those who went through it again with us, we are sorry to have caused so much worry, but we cherished the prayers, and believe they worked!

Caden is growing up so fast. He just finished up VBS (the week that we were thinking Paul may be sick again) and we enjoyed the festivities of the Coast Guard Festival last week. He has graduated to swim wings and is swimming like a fish, but not quite strong enough to swim unassisted. Our pool is quite deep and has a very little shallow end, so he wears out fast. His new love is jumping in the pool, anywhere but the diving board, he will jump next to the diving board, but not off from it yet! Sorry for the lack of pictures, the camera has been annoyingly slow and I haven't gotten any good pics lately. Caden is also obsessed with the weather, the weather channel and tornados! He would rather watch the weather channel than cartoons somedays. It was too funny when I caught him, sitting in front of the TV, entranced with the weather channel! Also, at the mere age of five knows everything. At least he thinks he does, oh we will have our hands full when he is a teenager, we already do! He is a great builder, has a huge imagination, and much more mechanically inclined than his mother. Today, Paul let Caden drive the tractor, and he did great, I was so amazed!

Wow, I never get to blogging because I feel like I don't have much to say, but end up blabbing away. Thank you for being there, I know that when miles may separate us, but it means a lot that family and friends take the time to share our life with them. I hope to update soon, maybe even with real pictures!

Work in Progress

This is a prototype of my new bunny pattern, the pattern was way too small, so I sewed it leaving the rough edges out. I have refined the pattern, as well as a small ducklet pattern, but who knows when I will actually get to sew them. I am thinking that they will be a fall/winter project. Caden loves his bunny, no matter how wonky the poor bunny looks! I am also working on making some headbands like this:


I am growing out my hair, this should keep my unruly main under control. The pattern was provided by the lovely heather bailey She also has a couple other handy tutorials..


I am working on getting the kiln full of all the new beads and buttons I have been making. I have also slipcast a few pendants, and have quite a few designs in the works. We are having a few technical difficulties, as usual. The printer needs ink...My laptop will never return etc...I work so much faster on the laptop, but I am so thankful for the new set-up Paul provided upstairs on our main television.

I had another set of spinal injections yesterday. The neuro added more meds to try to push them further up the spinal canal. So far so good.

Paul has had a change in his work, as in he as to be in Chicago (120 miles away) for ten work days a month. And to ass to that, we have to provide the housing. I would have truly been much more excited if we were childless and were in a different stage of life, but now, this is a bit worrisome. We are looking at small studios, for him to stay Monday thru Thursday night two weeks a month. In the summer, Caden and I will probably stay one week a month with him. We will probably take the train. In the fall, when school starts, we are thinking that caden and I can go over the weekend in between the two weeks. It is hard to tell,. We just found out about this change yesterday, and who knows, maybe it will change for the better...Or something else will come up, it is such a difficult economy.

I have also bee gardening. This is my first (albeit puny) lavender harvest:

I wanted to make a lavender wreath for the front door, but they crumbled and I didn't have nearly enough, so I will have to do something else with this batch, I think I will be planting a few more also.

and my lovely hydrangea's, which I am trying to dry:


Oh, almost forgot, Caden has graduated to only those blow up arm swimmies while in the pool, he is almost ready to swim on his own! I will try to get some pic's this weekend. Next week is VBS, I am helping out at the craft department, caden gets to be in the kindergarten group! Last year I was a group leader (ugh) and Caden ended up joining my group of first graders. I think he is ready to be on his own this year, actually I was quite surprised last year when he wanted to be in my group, he is usually so independent. Thanks for listening! Talk to you guys soon!

studio time

I was able to squeeze in some studio time this week. I have created a few more hand sculpted ceramic pendants ready for the bisque fire. Here are a few pictures:




the butterfly pendants are about the size of a quarter, they will bisque fire white and then I will glaze them.




they need to dry for a couple of days before I can kiln fire them.


The small pinwheel is my favorite, it is the size of a dime, I think I will make another, larger one, I really liked where this could go, with a little color...

I just wanted to give a shout out to Andi at

Mystic Spiral, who kindly called me and answered all my kiln questions. I have had a kiln for over a year, but have been afraid to use it, silly me! Hopefully, this will get me one step closer to achieving a dream.

One day we want to pick up a Nikon D50 or D70, to take some better pictures, but it won't be anytime soon, unless one drops from heaven......uh didn't think so.

for the love of ceramics

I discovered this new to me artist at the doctors' office yesterday. She casts porcelain in molds made from tin takeout containers. Such a great idea...beautiful texture! You can visit her site here.







The lovely peices above are by Mia Goransson. She combines the translucency of porcelain and the beauty of nature together beautifully. She makes molds of fresh buds to create the realistic branch effects. I have been admiring her work for a while now.

Well, that's all for today. Have a wonderful day!