It is Wednesday today!

Yesterday I was off of all of my jobs, so I got the bookcase ready to ship, called UPS, went out and cut some wood and I mosaiced. I have put a Fibanachi wave on this Vase. I am uncertain what color I will put on next.

Boxing Day!

This wonderful Book Case (that i worked on for a very long time!), has been purchased by a lovely woman in New York! So tomorrow I will empty it and clean it up a bit, before I bring it to UPS on Wednesday. I wanted to portray the scene outside of my studio windows, through out the seasons. I will miss this Book Case.

Wednesday before Christmas and I think I am finished with all of my giftmaking.

Here is the angel project complete. I grouted for over two hours last night. Today I drop it off at my cousins'. I also put the two tea lights in the mail for my other cousin. I am so glad to be done with all of my prep work. Now I need to wrap gifts, bake, etc!

the Tuesday before Christmas

Yesterday was my only day off until Christmas Day. So I tried to get as much of my pre-Christmas local orders done or ready to be grouted. (I also made a wonderful Thai Curried Chicken Soup - YUM!) As I was finishing up when it was dark and needed to use a flash, the colors are distorted.

Today is Monday and it is dark and dreary here in N Mn.

Today I need to grout the tea lights that I will be sending to my Cousin Laura as a gift from her sister, Julie. The bottom two blue ones are for Laura. My other mosaic task is to finish the Angel that my other cousins commissioned me to make for Carrie's mom. I had an inspiration on Saturday to cover the exterior walls with stars, instead of just covering this surface in paint. What do you think? After redoing the top THREE times, I have decided to just leave it in it's third stage. I just can't manage to be able to convey the feeling of clouds.

It's Sunday!

This is the most recent photo of my angel box for my Cousin Carrie. I really like this box, which I think is just simple pine. The interior sides and top of this box are recycled mirror. The interior front is made up of a vintage ornament surrounded by milliflori stars. The exterior front is made up of premade ceramic tiles from witsendmosaic and firedandfused.

It's a cold Friday in December in Northern Mn. But did you need to be told this?

Today our house is very cold inside. The temps outside are very typical for Northern Minnesota in December. I keep reminding myself of how lovely our fall was. Each day brings us a bit closer to spring.

I sent off two of the three pendants to a customer yesterday. Hopefully, she will be pleased. She was so much fun to work with! She chose the one with the pink heart and the turquoise heart with the writing.

I was able to work only an hour or two on my angel for my cousin's mother-in-law. I really like how this is turning out! I know that grouting this will be a challenge as there is so much that is 3 dimensional on this, including the shape of the box that it is in. I almost wish I could take the angel out of this box for grouting.

A crisp cool and clear Sunday

I have been busy trying to complete my goal of 12 tea lights for Blue Lake Gallery. I think that I will only be able to bring 10 there on Monday or Tuesday. (As much as I try to work on my mosiacs, life just gets in the way!) These colors are so much more vibrant than the photos show!

Here is the progress on my Angel Altar.(This is my other goal - to have this completed enough by Friday to show Carrie as I will see her then.) I worked only on the exterior of this small pine box yesterday morning. I was playing around with inserting two tea lights into the interior. (Like my earlier Altar.) I think it is becoming too crowded with the tea lights, what do you think?

It looks to be a clear and sunny Saturday!

I have been so busy lately trying to get tea lights ready for the Blue Lake Gallery in Duluth, (!!!), but at last on Thursday, I was able to begin on a small custom altar. My cousin David's wife, Carrie, wants an angel for her mother. So I thought I would combine the altar with this angel design. My other project for this next week is a series of pendants for an Etsy customer who very much liked my designs for my good friend Bonnie. So today I will glue what I have photoed and sent to this woman so that tomorrow, should everything go right, I will be able to grout them. Then I will put the two part resin on them Monday; Wednesday I will mail them to her. Whew! Makes me tired just thinking about this schedule I have put myself on! I have too much to do.

Tuesday again!

THis week and the whole month of NOvember have simply flown by. Time keeps going even when I am tired or too busy to even think straight.

Today (after I finish teaching my GED class at HOCHS, in Duluth), I will drop off 5 more tea lights at BLue Lake Gallery as SEVEN of the ten I dropped off last week have sold. Although I don't make much money on these as the Gallery mark-up is 45%, I am still making about as much as I would if I were being a substitute and almost twice as much as being a Super 1 cashier so this is still profitable to me.

Here are some before and after grouting pictures of the 5 that I will be bringing in today. In the before photos you can see the pines in the background of my very messy studio space. I've included a picture of the bookcase of the four seasons in the Pines that was inspired by this view.

Tuesday and today I take what I have to a gallery on Canal Park

Canal Park is a heavily touristed area of Duluth and a gallery there would like to take my mosaics. So today after completing my job as a GED helper I will go to this gallery; they can choose what they want. I was able to grout 6 tea lights yesterday so I will have these as well as what is left following Saturday's market. Actually I went to the Festival of SEASONS, not Trees! Oops! My mistake.)

Here are the 6 before and after photos of these six.

Friday and I have completed 6 tea lights for Saturday's show in Duluth - the Festival of Trees!

I worked very fast and was able to finish 3 more tea lights just in time for the Festival of Trees. I have never been to this show before, but my friend Shelley says it was her best show ever, so I am attempting to be optimistic about it.

If you look at these photos you can see the "before" grouting and "after" grouting. Not quite a Oprah redo show, but still you are able to see the dramatic thing that the grout does for these humble tea lights.

Thursday and three t lights

Here are three tea lights ready to be grouted - in fact they have already been grouted - ready for Saturday's show in Duluth called the Festival of Trees. This morning before I head off to work I will grout three more and then that is it for this Show.