Halloween

It may just be the first day of Autumn, but I've been thinking HALLOWEEN! It's one of my favorite holidays. I loved dressing up (my favorite costum was a fortune teller)and of course I loved the candy, but there  was more to it than that. It was walking on that edge of fear and thrill. Being in the dark , being ditched by the older siblings, running from door to door before the boogie man could get me. And I LOVE Autumn.
So when my daughter came to me and said she was doing fundraising for Race for a Cure (Breast Cancer), and wanted to know if I could help out, my first thought was Halloween Brooches! So I've made some up and 100% of all of the proceeds go to her fundraising efforts. I'm putting one a day in my Etsy Shop or you can order directly from the blog here. Just leave me a comment saying you want one and I'll get in touch.

The pins ABOVE are approximately 2 inches (5cm) across. They have a black ultra suede backing and they are $17.00 (US) each. Shipping is free. I have a couple more that I am finishing up and I'll get them posted in the next day or so.

These last 2 are an inch and a half across (3.5cm) also have black ultra suede backing. They are $14 (US) and that includes shipping. Again, ALL proceeds go to RACE FOR A CURE.

Day of the Dead and a Contest

Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos, is coming up on November 2nd. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it is a day of honoring your ancestors that is celebrated in Mexico and many of the southern states in the US. One of the customs of the celebration is to make tiny, colorful Sugar Skulls that are decorated with icing as treats for the children. I love making my sugar skulls out of beads. They last longer and have less calories. Ha. I make them as brooches or necklaces and sell them online and at the local crafter's market.

Although most sugar skulls are bone colored. I have a serious market for the black skulls -- mostly among younger customers. This one has a gold tooth - for a bit of whimsey.

One of our local galleries - The Maude Kerns Art Center - has had a Day of the Dead exhibit each year for a very long time and I have always gone to it and promised myself that the next year I would create something to submit for it (it's juried). Well, this year I finally did (and was accepted!). It is titled

 "The Grandmothers" and is a beaded bit that celebrates the lives of my Mother, my maternal Grandmother, and my maternal Great Grandmother. I made the sugar skull out of large, size 8 seed beads. Then I sandwiched photos between glass and did a netting stitch to bind them. Finally, I made a garland of marigolds (used often for Day of the Dead) out of TINY size 18 seedbeads that were like dust specks. Each flower is the size of the end of my little finger and took an hour (each) to make. The base for all of this is an old mantle clock case that I found at a garage sale for $3.

The Exhibit runs from October 14th to November 4th in Eugene, Oregon.

And finally, my favorite bead store, Harlequin Beads, holds a beading contest each month. This month's theme is "Seed Beads", so I created the heart above to enter in it. The prize is a $100 gift certificate in their shop! They sell online as well. So check them out here.

Cameos!

I recently bought some really nice cameos off of Etsy and have been beading them. I love them. And they seem to be selling well also. Here's a little glimpse...

And for my Halloween Friends...

She's Growing...

For those of you watching ZD (Or Ziti, as I call her) grow up, here are a few new shots.

These were taken at a picnic that I went to with some friends. Since I had no one to leave her with, she came along - and had a blast!

She is teething a lot and hands and feet are her toys of choice.

Here she is getting her bottle (the rest of us had iced tea).

And here she is sniffing the roses and entertaining Robin.

She has learned how to use the litter box, how to escape from her "crib" and today she ate solid food for the first time, although I still give her a bottle to make sure she is getting enough fluids. It has been pretty hot here and she hasn't quite grasped the lapping water bit.

Update on Baby Cat

You'll probably remember that a couple of weeks ago I started fostering a baby kitten. Since my last report, we have all grown head over heels in love with the little nipper and - with my long suffering husband's blessing - my son is adopting the little one. He named him "Zavalon Dexter", or ZD for short. This was after my husband said that I couldn't name the cat because I always came up with weird names. Guess my son inherited cat naming from me.
So we took the little one to the vet because of problems with colic and diarhea and found out that our "He" was a "She" . Totally OK with that other than the fact that it's more expensive to spay females, but that's minor.

So little ZD is happy and healthy now, She's getting real cat ears instead of her little rounded cub ears she had before. Starting to explore a little bit. Eating canned food mixed with her formula in a bottle and last night she actually played with a kitty toy I had bought for her.

In this picture she looks a little like a squirrel.

Sweet Little Baby Needs Me

Approximately 2-3 weeks ago, a feral cat gave birth to a litter of kittens in a field near a friend's house. Not long after, a mower went through the field and killed all of the kittens except this one. So I have a poor little orphan to bottle feed. He's TINY - that's a quarter by his head. And he's been having a little trouble with colic. But I think he will be just fine. I'll be sad when it comes time to part with him. I already have 9 cats and can't take anymore. But I'll feel good knowing that he got a chance at a good life in someone's home - not running around wild.
So here is my rant. There are lots of options out there for low cost spaying and neutering. Please don't adopt a pet if you aren't going to have them fixed.
Another scenario - My father lives out in the country. Someone thought he'd make a great host to their throw-away pet, so they dumped a half feral cat off at his house. He took pity on it and started feeding it, but had a hard time getting close. Unfortunately, the cat was pregnant and very soon gave birth to 2 kittens under his house. By the time that the kittens showed themselves, they were wild as little jack rabbits and twice as fast. Dad kept working with the mama cat and finally got her tamed down enough to catch her and take her in to be fixed. But by that time, one of the kittens was pregnant. So he worked at taming them down and eventually caught her and got her fixed as well, but not before she had 2 kittens of her own. You see where I'm heading? One of her kittens got pregnant and had FOUR kittens. So now from one original stray, he has 9 cats and kittens. I finally saw the need to step in - Dad isn't as young as he used to be, so I went down there and trapped the four kittens - a terrifying experience for them. Then I kept them in my bathroom to try and tame them down a bit. Finally, my friend Janetta, who works for the Humane Society, took them and kept them in her shop and they are now socialized and tame enough to adopt out. But not until they are neutered or spayed!

Two of the 4 kittens from my Dad's house.

If you have a pet and don't want it anymore, PLEASE take it to a shelter. It may cost you a little bit of money, but that is your responsibility for taking it in the first place. The shelter will get it fixed and adopt it out - or it may have to euthanize the poor thing because there are more pets than pet-lovers, but death is preferable to living in the wild where diseases attack cat colonies and they are preyed upon by coyotes and such.

My Daughter, Bryn, feeding a feral orphan. We kept this one.

These are sweet little creatures and deserve a good home. But please don't bring any more into the world. There are plenty to adopt already.

"Wicked" trying to escape the bathroom. We tamed her down and kept her, but she refuses to come in the house. Instead, she lives under the neighbor's shed and comes home for food and lovies.

Thanks for letting me rant and remember -Spay and Neuter Your Pet!

The Magic in Our Methods

I was reading a letter from a fellow artist a while ago and she was expressing the emotions she puts into her beadwork. She said that each piece holds feelings of peace and inspiration. Yeah! I get that. Sometimes I get so involved in beading that it's almost trance-like. I feel very peaceful and joyful. The endorphins have kicked in. I am in my Zen.
So do those feelings transfer to the new owner of the piece when it is sold? I think so. I have had pieces that I have bought from other artists and some have wonderful feelings attached, some are gloomy, and some make me agitated. Is this what the makers were feeling when they made them? If so, should I be charging extra for the calming vibes of my beadwork? Of course not. But it is nice to know that I am sharing some calm and peace with my customers, whether they are tuned into it or not.
So how about you? Do you have a certain emotion that sets in when you do your art? Or is it different with each piece. Is a disturbing painting disturbing because of it's visual value, or because the painter was filled with angst as he painted it? I'd love to hear from you about your thoughts on this. Do you get "vibes" from art? And do you think it's from your relationship with the piece or the maker's? Or both?
So sorry again for my tardiness in picking a winner for the Give-Away. June's Give-Away recipient is..... LOIS MOON! Send me your mailing address, Lois, and I will get your brooch in the mail to you pronto.
Since my summer is a bit hectic and I haven't had as much time to blog as I'd like. I am going to take a bit of a break. I'll still write a little something now and then, but I'm curtailing the Give-Aways until the beginning of the Fall/Winter season. But I'll make it up by making my first return Give-Away a doozy. Stay tuned.