Steampunk Airship

Steampunk fascinates me! I was totally engrossed in the movies 'The league of Extraordinary Gentlemen' and 'Skycaptain and the World of Tomorrow'. If you have not seen these movies, they are worth watching. I find the whole 19th century, industrial revolution genre quite addicting. I have just discoverd a lot of Steampunk in the game Final Fantasy too. Very interesting.....anyway, here is a little sculpture that I created this weekend of a Steampunk Airship. All I can say is that I had a blast making it. It is for sale in my Etsy store if you would like to see more pictures or purchase it. It is a signed and dated one of a kind.

A Wonderful Montana Holiday

Another Christmas day comes to a close. It was a wonderful holiday. Once again the family was together and the food and festivities were a success even though the long list of gifts from last year had to be cut in half this year. I can honestly say that we enjoyed this years giving more than the last. We found ourselves delighted with the handmade gifts that we shared. Simple things like knitted potholders, recipe boxes complete with recipes for the young cook, handmade 2008 Keepsake Christmas tree ornaments for the kids, hand knit sweaters, polymer clay keepsake boxes and lots of grandmother's home made brownies and cookies. Grandpa made sure the room was nice and warm by tending the fire in our little wood stove while the snowflakes danced past the windows outside. There was popcorn, candy canes, chocolate Santas, spiced cider, cheesecake in a multitude of flavors, hot chocolate with marshmallows all served after a scrumptiously moist ham and pork roast dinner with all the fixings.
Outside, the deer and some pheasants were nibbling under the birdfeeders while the snow created a beautiful white blanket covering the Rocky Mountain tops and the pastures and meadows. It was a beautiful sight to behold making us all thankful for the things we hold dear.

An Accidental Beauty

Sometimes when I mix my polymer clay colors, a very pretty accident happens as I run the clay through my pasta machine. While working on some of my wishboxes, I found myself with a bunch of leftover clay. I gathered it up and just randomly stuck it together. I decided to blend it and ran it through my pasta machine a few times and came up with a very unique, warm and bronzed looking color combination. I trimmed some rough edges and voila' a beauty appeared! I added a simple coiled bail made from gold wire and strung the pendant using some beads that I had laying around. I then made some simple beaded wire earrings that I formed from the same gold wire as the bail...here is the end product. It will be available in my Etsy store this weekend. You can go there by clicking on any of my jewelry pictures or my Etsy link tab.

Buy Handmade

There are many talented and creative people in the world who make a living from their art and writing. I have a shop called ajoydesigns on a wonderful website, www.etsy.com. This website features artisans from all over the world. Praise to the creators of Etsy who have given us an affordable place to set up shop and sell our creations. On Etsy you can find just about anything that you are looking for, from the ordinary to the most exquisite and extreme in all price ranges.

Please go and visit my store at http://ajoydesigns.etsy.com and from there I urge you to explore the whole site. You will be delighted in what you find.