Mountain Storm

Here it comes...a picture of a snow storm rolling in over St. Mary's Peak in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana.

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.

My Polymer Clay News

A new experiment in polymer clay sculpting has turned out well for me. I started making little wish/keepsake boxes and included a gold tied scroll inside them (to write your wish on) and I am very happy with the way that they have turned out. The oval ones are a whole lot easier to make than the square ones though. The main cylinder is actually one piece simple while the square takes four seperate pieces to match, bake and then fit together. You can see them all in my Etsy store at www.ajoydesigns.etsy.com. There are some pictures here too. Hope you enjoy them. Each one is unique, signed and dated.