Testing again!!

Ok.....I played around with some clay this morning...in the midst of taking my house back (anyone wanna help??!!!) I know the colours are ick. But I didn't want to waste anything good. It makes me nervous to try new things when I don't really have a clue what I am doing!...so....here it is...forgive the bad pictures, that isn't my calling! I have NO idea why the picture is first.....I wanted the words first...gotta try and figure that out.

Oops forgot the update!

Well.....not the same as last week!! Was terrible...windy, cold and rainy. Not good things for market night. about 2/3rds of the vendors didn't show up, so we were all spaced so far from each other, it looked quite bad. So few people out and about. But we had fun!! Drank some tea and ate some soup!! Doesn't get much better than that! It was chilly, and when it got dark the lamp made our tent warm(ish).

So, market it done. That is a good and a bad thing. I will put some bead things away, and take back my house for a while!! We can eat at the diningroom table again!! That will be a strange concept! My family does put up with a lot. But now I will focus on stock piling finished pieces. Getting ready for fall sales! YAY.

Tuesday night market - last one!!

I haven't been writing a whole lot on here!! The week has flown by. Tonight is my last night at market. I sure hope I do as well as last week!! I am now working hard at getting things ready for the Christmas season. I didn't do anything new for the market this week. I am trying to stock pile for November! That is when I am in Christmas shows. There will be more on that at a later time!!

Another thing I am going to try to do this fall is home shows. I am a bit of a chicken at asking people to take me things into their stores. I have read and re-read and then read again, peoples stratagies for getting into stores. But I just can't do it. I need to grow a thick skin. Hard not to take rejection personally. So for now....I just don't! I do have some things in stores, but was fortunate enough to have them contact me. In my perfect world that would be the way it happened!! One of these days I will get the guts to do it!! SO.....I thought that perhaps home shows would be the way to go. I have done one....2 years ago...I was so excited and spent a couple hours setting it up just so it would be perfect....and...waited and waited...NO ONE showed up. Of course I went home with my tail between my legs...and Doug told me it wasn't MY fault it turned out that way...because of course I personalize everything! Well....I swore I wouldn't do it again. BUT that was so 2 years ago and I am ready to try try again! Wish me luck!

Will report on last market later...hope rain holds off!

Nothing of interest to post, so thought I would post the picture of the very first pendant I made from polymer clay and I still wear it!!

Update on Tuesday market

Well....I just couldn't wait till the morning to post!!! We got rained out tonight. People were GONE by 8. Everyone was packing up but we were determined to stay to 9. Then we realized that no one was around and we were just getting wet. My husband bought a lantern at Canadain Tire and in lit our booth perfectly. So once you stepped out of the booth...I couldn't believe how dark it was and how we were the only ones there!! So by 8:15 we started packing up.

Was it a good market?? Remember last week how bad it was...well tonight even though so many vendors didn't show up, and it was windy and cold and then wet....it was my best night so far this summer at the market!! I couldn't believe it!! Very exciting for lil ole me!! And I got a custom order still to go! YAY. So I am off to curl up in my warm bed and read for a bit!!

One market to go....wonder what next Tuesday holds!!

Tuesday again!!

See how fast the week goes??!! Here we go again! Unless the dark clouds open up and dump what I know is up there!! Kinda wouldn't mind a movie night!! But I think that is lazy Kam talking. Last week was such a waste of time.....setting up and taking down....I think I am worried about that again! BUT....if the rains do hold off I am on my way!

I do enjoy meeting people at the markets and talking with them. And I have to say that this year has given me some great contacts. I got some wholesale orders and some large custom orders!! So that has kept me busy inbetween Tuesdays. So even if the actaul night hasn't been that great, I have come away smiling!! So markets have been a good year all and all. Only one more to go after tonight! I have a new lantern for tonight too....it gets darkish around 8:30, and with all the lanterns lit up gives market a neat feeling!!

If you are in the area come tonight to the Craig Street Market...from 6-9pm.

12 Years today!!

Well, this post has nothing to do with beads or jewellery but is just about us!! Today I celebrated 12 years of marriage to my husband Doug. Looking back to when we knee shakenly said our I do's, I really didn't have the slightest clue as to what I was getting myself into. And neither did Doug. We met at Bible College which was pretty strict on dating rules. 8 months...in April...when school was finished Doug asked me to marry him! I was sssoooo excited. He went off to tree plant, and I went home to plan the wedding of my dreams. We only saw each other once that summer, until the week before the wedding when he came out to help do last minute preperations.

Ok..back to the knee shaking....as we stood at the front of my church in front of family and friends...we had NO idea what some of what the Pastor was saying. Oh sure we had heard it before and THOUGHT we knew what it all meant!! But time would tell that we didn't have a clue!! You see, according to our beliefs we didn't live together before we were married. So, better or worse started pretty quick for us!! I for example "forget" to put the lid back on the toothpaste....Doug never forgets....I lose the keys ALL the time...Doug never forgets (well yes he does sometimes, but he doesn't think so!!) you get where I am going with this!! Looking back...we didn't know each other at all!! But over time we figured each other out, and our commiment to each other and our marriage grows stronger with each year that passes.

I truly feel blessed to be married to a kind and considerate man. I know I am loved, which apparently isn't a given in marriage relationships. We have fun together, and love spending time together. We now have 2 girls, and love spending time together as a family!! Sure there are difficult times, but I wouldn't want to go through them with anyone else!! It has been 12 years, which to some might seem like a LONG time. To us...it seems like yesterday that we were walking down that isle getting ready to promise ourselves to each other!! I am looking forward to the next 12...well actually 13 because I would like to re-do our vows for our 25th somewhere super cool...or hot actaully!! Maybe a cruise, or hawaii, or the Bahamas...I don't know, got some time to figure it out! Wanna come??!!!! There might be a bead store there!! (Oh I am bad!!)

Finished Flower!

Here is the finished flower!! I couldn't decide to go with a blue crystal or a pink one...and well....I am a pink girl, so pink it was! Blue looked nice too, but I only had one flower.

Mokume Gane flower pendant

First of all let me say sorry for the bad pictues. This is NOT my thing. I took this photo outside in the bright, but still turned out dark. I NEED DIANA...she is an awesome photographer and if you are in need of someone who has great prices and takes really good and unique shots....check her out at http://www.dianajohnsonphotography.com/ . Anywho...back to the new thing I did today. I have created a line of flower pendants...I guess I should show those sometime... made using canes. Which is basically rolled up clay after making blends and bulls eyes and what not. I don't know all the proper names!! Well this flower is made using the mokume gane technique...I might even be spelling it wrong!! All I am trying to say is that is was a first for me! Was scary and fun all at the same time! Now all I need to do is sand and buff it and make a necklace!

The results of the experiment as promised

Here is the "slab" waiting for me to do something with it......
I found the drawer pull thingy that my girls found out in the yard somewhere...was going to through it in the garbage...but I didn't!! YAY
This was super scary for me...to squish the "drawer pull thingy" into the rectangle....would it work..would I push it hard enough....or too hard...it was a wee bit stressful for me!! But I did it!
Then the slicing began.....I held my breath and sliced away!
This is the finished pendant (before curing and sanding/buffing of course)...I think I will leave it. I also made some beads to go along with it and hopefully make some earrings to match!

Well....there you have it. My experiment!

Taking baby steps

Today I am trying something new to me. I am very new to polymer clay. It is fun for me and for now I just am playing a bit. Nothing too serious....but I can see it sliding that way. There are some AMAZING polymer clay artists out there. If I could have as much talent as they do in their pinkys I would be laughing. But for now I put in the hours that they already have put in trying new things and trying to make them come out in a nice way!!

Anyways, today's adventure is trying to make a mokume gane pendant. I have ordered some texture sheets which should arrive next week, BUT I want to do this TODAY....yes I have patience issues...and I wonder where my kids get it from!! SO.....my kids found a cool drawer pull thing that has a really neat shape imprinted on it....so I am going to use that. I hope at the end of this experiement I don't wish that I had waited for the texture sheet!! Oh well if I do, then I can try again next week. Maybe I will post a picture of it!! Vanessa wants me to be putting pictures on this blog, but that is scary for me!! Other people checking my stuff out!! But maybe. Keeping my fingers crossed! Will report back later!

Update on Market

Well......lets just say....I am glad I had a friend along with my last night!! OH...was it THAT busy??? Nope....but it was nice to have someone to visit with! What a completely awful sale! I sold 4 things. Never have I been to a sale that bad before! So what did I do the whole 3 hours?? (so glad it was only 3 hours)...I ate. Thats right....I ate. Some super yummy soup....which I couldn't figure out how to make it...I ususall can!! And some carmel popcorn! YUM!!! Didn't eat it all by myself...shared with my friend, who broke her tooth on it. (I am sure she is glad I bought popcorn!!) And brought home the rest, and my youngest daughter got up before me this morning and ate it for breakfast. Oh dear.

You can't win them all, and last night was definatley not a winner!! Will try again next week. Only 2 more left anyways. I have already shifted my thinking for fall sales anyways, and am starting building up stock for those!

Have a great day,
Kam

Market Tonight

Well it is Tuesday again...the week seems to fly by so fast in the summer. Felt like I was just at market last night. This is my 4th summer doing the market, and every year at this time I wonder why I am in it!! I guess if it wasn't SSOOO close to home I wouldn't continue on. Things really slow off in August. And the last bit of market gets kinda dark! But with that said it has been a good market for me....not a GREAT market, but a good one. There is so many people out there making jewellery, and they all seem to be at this market! Well, any market/sale actually!! The key is to try and be different. I really admire the people who find their "niche" and have a style completely their own. I am not there yet, but believe me it is something I am trying to work on.

Anyways, wish me luck tonight!! Perhaps it will be better than last week...which was very slow! Will let you know tomorrow how things went!

I have taken the plunge!

Well, after much time thinking about it, I decided to join the others and create a blog. No idea what will happen on here, but perhaps a place to show some of my creations!! If I can figure that part out that is!!