Just joined ArtFire

I just joined the ArtFire community, and now have a shop there. So far, I just have this dragon pendant listed, but more items will follow.
http://twentypoundtabby.artfire.com

Some Favorite Christmas Presents

We had a nice, cozy Christmas with just the four of us - my spouse, me and the two kids. We all received some very nice gifts this year and I managed to get pictures of two of them so far. Both of my daughters received hand knit hats and scarves from my sister, who is a fantastic knitter. Both girls wore their hats and scarves indoors all day! This is a picture of my older daughter, whose green eyes seem to match her new hat.


I received a gorgeous Thomsonite pendant from my spouse. I use to pick up Thomsonite from the beaches of Lake Superior decades ago. It is a zeolite mineral with green, pink and black banding. This particular pendant was made in the upper peninsula of Michigan by Julie Sanford and was found in the Miskwabik Ed Gray Gallery in Calumet.


While we didn't exactly put out the suet for the squirrel, he seems to appreciate it quite a bit.


Donovan watches all from his favorite perch.

A French Feast in Denver

There will be a 14th century French Feast in Denver on January 10th, 2009. More details here.

The Solstice Egg

On Winter Solstice I got an egg. While many folks probably wouldn't think much of getting an egg, this was quite the surprise for me, for this egg came from one of my chickens. From one of my very ooollllld chickens. A 13 year old chicken. I don't know which one of my four old hens laid it since none of them have laid eggs for over a year. If it is my silkie, it'll be especially hard since her dark comb doesn't show the usual signs of being bright red when she's laying. Chickens usually quit laying at a much younger age, and it is unusual for them to lay in the middle of winter when the days are short.
So, here it is, an egg laid from a very old little hen on the shortest day of the year. Since then, two more eggs have shown up. Oooh, maybe I'll make eggnog with fresh eggs again.

Give Us Some Morris!

Today's Rocky Mountain News mentions us in their Weekend Roundup which lists events to go to this weekend. The Maroon Bells Morris and Breathless in Berthoud Border Morris will be at the Solabration this Saturday. The best part is the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance at the very end.

Potential Energy

This is Eric, recharging his batteries after spending the night having a great time being as rowdy as possible. It's too chilly for him to go outside, so he chooses to sleep all day and discharge his energy during the night.

Sunday, December 14, we woke up to snow and cold after having a beautiful Saturday. The low for Sunday was minus 19 degree Fahrenheit.


I made sure the feeders were full, which the finches seemed to appreciate.

The Bat Cats are Back!

I finally made a couple of new bat cat ornaments to replace those that sold in my shop. You may remember my previous post about them, where my big furry living cats decided to take quite an interest in them: Bat Cats and Kitty Cats
I've put the first one in my Etsy shop and the second will follow in a day or two.

The Moon in a Sunset

Here in Colorado, we often have sunsets that color the entire sky, including the east. Here, the moon is rising in the east among pink clouds of one such sunset.



The snow looked like crystal.


And Donovan preferred to stay warm inside.

What to do on cold, snowy days

Eric has the right idea - find a warm comfy spot and take a nap. We got around 8 inches of snow yesterday and it went down to 10 degrees Fahrenheit last night.

The Accordion

Ummm, yeah, I really do play it. And I just found a picture of me doing it online here taken by a Coloradoan photographer:
http://tinyurl.com/5p98mz

Don't laugh too hard!

When this picture was taken, I had been playing all of two weeks. I had learned how to play the bass side and how to move the bellows in and out. The keyboard was easy since I already knew piano. Then I memorized 20 songs to play in public for a bunch of dancers at an Irish festival in Fort Collins, Colorado. I didn't do too bad.

A Dragon and a Kitty

Here's a couple more that went into the Boulder Handweavers Guild sale. I don't usually do blue dragons, but I did one this year, and a tabby kitty fairy.

The Boulder Handweaver's Guild Sale

I've been busy as heck getting ready for the Boulder Handweaver's Guild Sale, which will be in Longmont, Colorado from this Wednesday until the following Tuesday. I even pulled some items from my Etsy store for it.
I modified the style of a few of my items and also added a few new styles. The Kitty Fairies, which were brand new to the FootHills Holiday Art Mart a few weeks ago are also being entered in the Guild Sale.


The mermaids and fairies have had a hair style change from previous years beaded hair and now have long flowing locks made of a beautiful art yarn.


And I've added a brand new design - a horse:


There will also be dragons, fish, dinos, moons, and of course cats!

The Boulder Handweaver's Guild Sale.

Dragons in Polymer Clay

A few years back, I discovered Christi Friesen's wonderful work, and shortly thereafter, her tutorials on how to create dragon shapes, imbed stones and beads into polymer clay, etc. I then dug out my huge tub of polymer clay a made myself and little dragon pendant.

The bodies and wings incorporate lots of loops and swirls, which I've always been drawn to so making these came very naturally to me. I liked it so much, I wanted to make more and sell them. Even though none are direct copies of Christi's work, they are done in her style so I asked permission and Christi gave me the OK to sell, so I made some more to sell at an SCA event. I still have a few, so I thought I'd put them up in my Etsy shop.

These little dragons are pretty big for pendants, ranging in size from 2 to 3 1/2 inches. Some have glass beads and some have semiprecious stones in them. Some of the eyes are hematite, some are a very deep red garnet and some are tigereye.

The Morning Paper

Apparently I'm not supposed to read the paper today. According to Eric, petting comes first.

Foothills Art Center Holiday Art Market

I've been busy as heck getting stuff ready for two shows, one of which is the Foothills Art Center Holiday Art Market in Golden, Colorado. I put a board full of hand dyed cloth pins and quite a few ornaments there and some of my kitty pot holders.



This is the first time I've ever entered my kitty fairies in a show.

My board full of pins is quite colorful.


The show runs until December 30th.
FootHills Art Center, Golden Colorado

Wordless Wednesday - Eric's Wiskers

A Treasury of the Moon

I have always loved the moon, both in nature, folklore and art. Tweedlebee created this beautiful treasury on Etsy and included my moon ornament in it. The treasury will be up until Tuesday, November 11. Until then, you can find it here.

Wordless Wednesday - Donovan Hams It Up

New Dolls from Nifty Knits

I just received some genuine English morris dancers from Nifty Knits in the UK. She knitted up two little morris dancers to match my two full sized, living, breathing, stick whacking, hankie waving, bell clad morris dancers - Chris and Emily. The doll's baldrics even have a tiny version of the Maroon Bells Morris badge with the Maroon Bells mountains on it. I love the beard on the one that looks like Chris.


If you're at all curious about morris dancing, we have a website for the Maroon Bells Morris here.

And if you'd like a little morris dancer of your own, or another cool knitted item, Nifty Knits can be found here.

A Different Kind Of Cat!

An Emily cat!

Halloween Jack O' Lantern

Our freshly carved Jack O' Lantern, done by Emily. Donovan likes to eat pumpkin guts, so he hung around too.

Ogre! Happy Halloween!

When I made him, I was not quite sure if this little rust, ochre and green guy is an ogre or a demon. He might even be a bogeyman. But he was made with the Halloween spirit in mind.
He can be found here.