Welcome, Giveaway, and Etsy

Theresa made this with one of my hearts. It is so beautiful

and she made it look so good with the great beading she did!

 Photo credit goes to Theresa @Faerie Moon Designs

Welcome to all my new visitors from Theresa's page, I am so happy to have you visit.
Blessings on you all, new and committed!

Theresa from Faerie Moon Creations http://faeriemooncreations.blogspot.com/ Her Blog is Welcome to my World  has posted a
Terrifically Talented Thursday! Clay and Crochet (DOUBLE Giveaway!)
http://faeriemooncreations.blogspot.com/2010/05/terrifically-talented-thursday-clay-and.html
Theresa also has an Etsy store and features people on thursdays that she finds.
Theresa's store is http://www.etsy.com/shop/faerymoongoddess
She has beautiful things and great prices.

It is about ME!!!!!!!!!! and a Talented woman named Emily. I am throwing my name in here with Emily LOL!!
Her shop is Nothing but String http://www.etsy.com/shop/Nothingbutstring  and Emily specializes in handmade Irish Crochet Lace Jewelry and Gifts. You should see this stuff people, that is talent.

Theresa has so graciously featured both of us, thank you Theresa, you are a jewel. Please visit her and Emily.
AND...
The giveaway- this is a two-fer too!

"Emily will give away one crocheted hibiscus flower similar to the one featured above to one lucky reader! The winner will be able to select this custom-created flower in the color combination of her choice! The dimensions of the hibiscus are 6" w x 4.5" l. The flower makes the perfect embellishment for scrapbooks, journals, head bands, pillows, afghans, and so much more!"

I'm also pleased to announce that Marie will also be gifting a lucky winner with a custom-designed Sacred Heart (similar in style to the heart featured on the light switch plate). Let Marie know how you wish to embellish the heart, and she will tailor it to your specifications!"

Did you hear that? Emily and I are giving away stuff "ON Theresa's Blog"

http://faeriemooncreations.blogspot.com/2010/05/terrifically-talented-thursday-clay-and.html

Photo credit goes to Theresa @Faerie Moon Designs

Your comment here will be lovely and I enjoy the heck out of them, but it will not count. It will only count on Theresa's blog.




ETSY!

Did I tell you I have an Etsy store? http://www.etsy.com/shop/mariesegal
I am still working on things and trying to get everything in order. If you have any questions, just let me know.
I have to do something with my creations or my husband is going to kick me out!


This is why I have been so absent, well that, and a gall bladder attack, Madi getting sick, depression, fear, doing my web pages, and just life in general.

I got in my first Treasury on Etsy

Oh, I am so excited. I got an Etsy Shop. I was going to announce it tomorrow, but I got in my very first Treasury. I am such a newbie at Etsy, all I can do is post the link for you. LOL!!http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=99780

Stay tuned for tomorrow though.

Please go check it out and check Cheryl out.

Cheryl from Cheryl's art is the sweetie that did this. http://www.etsy.com/shop/cherylsart
Your work is gorgeous!

Thank you so much Cheryl, I am so honored to be in there with all those talented people!




Oh and check me out too!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/mariesegal

To antique or not to antique... part 6

Clicking on the picture will take you to the picture

and story of these little mice.

Lone from Flowermouse Designs http://flowermouse.blogspot.com/ has a wonderful blog and attitude, I like her. Her work is joyful and brilliant in design and color. The girl works in rainbows a lot and I adore that. She usually also has a sweet little parable that goes with each picture and post to tie the two together, Lone's words of wisdom. Eye and mind candy.

Clicking on this picture will take you to the story of this necklace

and a larger picture

The reason I am talking about her now is to show you how she has antiqued, washed, or painted her pieces to great effect. Have a visit to the lovely Lone, you will enjoy it.

Giveaway 13, part 3- winner

In all of my time of Random Number Generators, I have never ever seen a random number generator pick the # 1. It has though, and that is Jan from Laughing Dog Arts
Jan you are the Winner, please contact me with your address and if you would like to keep it as a cabochon or if you would rather have Brooch.
Yay!! Congratulations Jan!!
I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend.  

Giveaway 13, part 2- winner

Used the random generator on my page for this pick too.
There were 20 wise people playing and no duplicates.
The random generator picked #5 Barbara/ myth maker that would be you.
Congratulations Barbara!!
You have one week to get back to me with your address and whether you would like this to be a brooch or left this way with out a pin back.

Giveaway 13, part 1- Winner

Well, my other random generator (Madi) is out with her mother.

So I resorted to the standby.
There were 19 of you, no duplicates. And the number drawn was 18, that would be Nydia.
Nydia you have one week to get back to me with your address.
I also need to know if you would like to wear this as a brooch or if you want me to leave the pin off the back so you can use it for something else.
Congratulations, Nydia!!

To antique or not to antique... part 5, a little project- Inspirational tags

These are the Nature colors http://www.clayfactory.net/cernit/cernit.html  from Cernit and they happen to look very much like sand and stones. They have a porcelain look to them and are filled with all kinds of fibers and glitters. You can click on the picture for a larger view.

They also look very nice, you guessed it, antiqued!

You can find these colors at my husband's on line store Clay Factory http://www.clayfactory.net/ .

For quick and easy little tags for book marks, necklaces, and earrings. I am sure you can think of  lots other things for them too.

Inspirational Tags

Cernit Nature colors in your choice (link above)

Clay Words Sheet stamps 269-001, 30 words- ERAGraphics http://www.eragraphics.com/wordsclay.html

A Bic stic pen

Black or Brown Ne-opaque- Clay Factory http://www.clayfactory.net/jacquard/neo.html

A piece of old towel

Brush

Condition the color of clay you want to use.
Cut the stamps apart, or not. That is really up to you I guess.
Roll little coils that are a little longer than the stamp you are going to use.
If the words are skinny make the coil smaller in diameter.
If the words are thicker make the little coil thicker
These two in the first step should give you the general idea.

Flatten and lengthen the coil a little.

Lie one end of the coil at the bottom or end of the word and have the excess  extend over the beginning of the word.

Do not press the stamp all the way in. It looks better if you do not have the outline of the outside of the rubber there on the clay.

When you antique it after it is baked it will highlight that line there.

Do not peel off the stamp yet.

Use the point of the pen to make the whole in the top

of the little tag.

It works great if you press gently on the rubber to hold it and drill the pen to loosen it from the clay and make the hole.

Peel off the stamp and then bake this on a tray just the way it is.

Going through it again with the other stamp.

Smaller or thinner stamp, smaller coil, flatten and lengthen a little.

Press in the little stamp, these stamps are made for clay and are very deep, so do not press too far. It is OK if you do because you just smash it up and roll in to a coil again.

No worries.

Use the pen again and drill the little hole in the one end.

Peel the stamp out.

BAM!!!!

Now bake these at 275 degrees for 30 minutes, shut off the oven and let them cool in the oven.

When cool, paint with black or brown ne-opaque and let it dry a little on the clay. With a damp not wet old piece of towel and rub(sometimes vigorously) the excess paint off.

Easy or what???

 No hole you can use them as glue on words. If gluing on, I suggest Weldbond or Crafter's pick the Ultimate glue for the job!

To antique or not to antique... part 4, sometimes it is the only answer

My friends Kelly and Tina have a fun blog. It is called KTdidclay http://ktdidclay.wordpress.com/ 

They share the space together, and with their great senses of humor and creative personalities, it is a fun place to visit and the eye candy is huge. I love being with them in person too! We laugh and get in trouble a lot.

It just so happens that Kelly did a little thing on white clay and then antiqued or washed or painted (whatever name you choose to call it) with acrylic paint and then wiped off the excess.

I thought "oh,  this is perfect for the tangent I am on"!

click on the picture and it will take you over there to ktdidclay and a giant picture.

You can even see the veining in the stem of the "weed".

As in Kelly's case "one man's (or woman's) "weed" is another ones art."

Kelly says,

"I picked a few “weeds” which I thought had some interesting potential. I had created them by impressing the plants into the raw clay which leaves the texture behind."

See, it just goes to show you something as simple as weeds and paint can add a whole new view to a plain piece of white clay. I can imagine whole little landscapes being made this way.

A work of art is born.

To antique or not to antique... part 3, try another color

Pick a color...any color

Black Ne-opaque

Brown Ne-opaque

True Gold- Lumiere

Red Ne-opaque

White Ne-opaque

Click on the image for a closer view.

Wow, what a difference a color makes!

I used all of the same colors of clay. 

Do not forget the 13th giveaway, with 3 parts.

Part 1 http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/05/13th-giveaway-part-1.html  ends the 19th of may, 2010

Part 2 http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/05/13th-giveaway-part-2.html  ends the 20th of may, 2010

Part 3 http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/05/13th-giveaway-part-3.html  ends the 21st of may, 2010

Taking shape-changing ideas and altered directions- part 18, getting a handle on things

Getting a handle on things... Also known as "to antique or not to antique".

Do not forget the 13th giveaway, with 3 parts.
Part 1 http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/05/13th-giveaway-part-1.html ends the 19th of may, 2010
Part 2 http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/05/13th-giveaway-part-2.html ends the 20th of may, 2010
Part 3 http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/05/13th-giveaway-part-3.html ends the 21st of may, 2010

13th giveaway- part 3

Part 1- Meditate Cabochon

This can be made in to brooch or it can be left this way so that you can bead around it.

2" diameter

leave a comment on this post.

this part will close on may 21th, 2010 at 6 pm PDT

Sealso these giveaways, part 1

http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/05/13th-giveaway-part-1.html

and part 2

13th giveaway- part 2

Part 2- King Cabochon

This can be made in to brooch or it can be left this way so that you can bead around it.

2" diameter

leave a comment on this post.

this part will close on may 20th, 2010 at 6 pm PDT
stay tuned for tomorrow.
See also this giveaway, part 1
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/05/13th-giveaway-part-1.html

13th giveaway- part 1

Part 1- Lion Cabochon

This can be made in to brooch or it can be left this way so that you can bead around it.

2" diameter

leave a comment on this post.

this part will close on may 19th, 2010 at 6 pm PDT

stay tuned for tomorrow.

To antique or not to antique... part 2

You can click on this picture for a larger view.

Well, it seems that more people prefer the antiquing than not and I agree most of the time.

 This is last post http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/05/to-antique-or-not-to-antique.html  

I am liking this one though, very much. I have the brightness that is so typical of wonderful Mexican art, but my little skulls pop right off the piece.

To antique or not to antique...

That is the question...sometimes it is so hard to decide.

I like the definition the antiquing brings to the piece. The colors darken a bit.

I like the bright colors though too.

Well, sometimes you feel like a nut... sometimes you don't.

Happy Monday.

You are loved.

Happy Mother's Day

I have a different view than most about Mother's day. I believe that all women are mothers. We  mother others, our pets, our husbands, our wives, our neighbors, our parents, our boyfriends, our girlfriends, our children, our grandchildren, our ideas, our dreams, our coworkers, our friends, our art and our lives. We give birth on a daily basis and it is not always human children.


Happy Mother's day to all of you!

Give birth to love, caring, and joy, we need some in this world.
Madi wants to say Happy Mother's day to you all too, especially to her mother.


She is trying very hard to get into this tiny box.

This is for you Anne, you said you would like to see a different light switch plate and in my spare time I whipped one out for you.
I antiqued it with the black Ne-opaque, but it got darker than I wanted it to.
So I made another so you could see the before the black antiquing.

I like them both.

I am going to antique the little skulls only on this one.

Almost hard to believe I used the same colors on both of them.

Have a wonderful weekend all.

12th Giveaway- you are sacred- the winners

There were 28 people, including 1 from my other blog on word press. Wrote, folded, and picked with out my trusty sidekick. I needed a break and she was going out with her mom. 4 molars at once is just bull.

LOL I am always doing a couple things at a time.

I put them in a little heart box this time, and note from my friend Renee popped out. Weird, but my heart skipped, I don't even remember putting it in there. I love that she said "Hi".

And the winners are.

Yoborobo http://yoborobo.blogspot.com/
Carol http://beadsandbirds.blogspot.com/
Deborah http://midlifepoet.blogspot.com/

Yoborobo gets to pick first,
Carol 2nd,
and Deborah gets what is left.
You have a week to get back to me!

OWOH- One World One Heart and my 3rd winner

Happy Cinco De Mayo!!
If you ever want to feel great about your self, mark this post and read it again sometime when you are behind.
At the end of January 2010, I committed to something called OWOH (One World One Heart), it is a blog social where everyone visits each others blogs and comments. Each blog host has a giveaway of some sort. I had such a great response and enjoyed my self so much. I had 2 people shy of 300 responses or comments. For every 50 people, I offered up a handmade goddess or angel made for them according to a few questions I would ask them. That is 5 pieces.

This is also my first post for the OWOH explaining the rules and what I was going through at the time.

http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/02/11th-giveaway-one-world-one-heart.html

I went to every blog on the list too. I had the time of my life for being in one of the saddest to date places I have ever been, needless to say doing the blog social is the best thing I could have done at that time, it kept me busy!

Clicking on this image will take you to the OWOH blog list

You can check out Lisa Swifka's page here to see the almost 1100 blogs that participated here:
http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com/a_whimsical_bohemian/one-world-one-heart.html

I just finished my 3rd one, 4 months later, I have two more to do. I haven't gotten the instructions for one yet! That is a long time to finish these pieces. I did though, warn everyone that they would have to wait for me, the reason being that these pieces, even though I have information, pretty much speak to me about what is supposed to be on the goddess or angel. It takes time. I have to be in the right frame of mind. There is also study involved. Visiting pages and looking for info, every detail will make a difference in the finished pieces. Not only that, I have no idea what some of the things people request are.  

The 3rd one is gone, it was shipped off and Elizabeth from Altered Book Lover http://alteredbooklover.blogspot.com/  has received hers. I took a very long time with this one, there were not many things for me to choose from on her list. She loves her cat Bleubeard and her friend plays the steel drum, all the clay and wire should match, do not clutter it up, Crown and wings. I thought "oh merde" this is not enough info. I can not do this. Not enough info. And what the hell is a steel drum anyway??

Well, here it is, uncluttered, for my work, matching wires and clay, steel drum, Bleubeard, wings crown.

I added a halo of peridot and hoped that it wasn't over the top and a bit too much per Elizabeth's instructions.

The reason I added the peridot is myth, but lovely myth. 

Mystical Properties

Peridot jewelry is used to help dreams become a reality.

Lore
Peridot is given as a symbol of fame, dignity, and protection.
Legend has it that pirates favored peridot to protect them against evil. When the peridot was set in gold it also protected the wearer from terrors in the night.
Peridot has been mined from St John's Island in the Red Sea for over 3500 years.
Peridot is the US State Gemstone of Nevada.

The stone is so sweetly light green in chip form that I thought it would not distract. Giving someone protection in thought and heart is a good thing in my opinion and I have grown to like Elizabeth a lot. I like her attitude and her blog.
Not only have I gained insight about clutter, steel drums, and helped my sad state, I feel I have also gained friends from this experience. The more I blog, the more I love it.

The 12th giveaway- you are sacred- update 2

http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/04/12th-giveaway-you-are-sacred.html

Here are the 3 hearts I am giving away in the 12th giveaway.

Comment at the link above only.

Closes on the 5th of May, 2010 at 6 pm PDT, 3 winners will be picked.

Just a little reminder, I have a giveaway page with a tab underneath the banner that you can click on to find out what the current giveaway is.

Taking shape-changing ideas and altered directions- part 17

I think that one of the most wonderful things to make is light switch plates. It is like a small canvas to me or similar to an ATC. They are fun to do, not a huge commitment, and flat like a canvas, that could possibly change the mood of a whole room the moment you walk in and flip that switch.

I can just see this in a room, with leather like looking walls a mellow ochre color, dark wood half way up the walls, dark bookcases, library lamps, huge overstuffed and wood chairs, and a huge desk. It would be dark and cozy with a small brick fireplace and the smell of many tomes floating through the air and I in one of those chairs with my cat on the back and a blankie over my legs, brandy snifter full and a lit candle in a dark cranberry color at the side table, reading away in to the night. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

 The outlet plates could be a little simpler yet with the same theme to tie the whole room together.

I also love that the screws that hold the plate in place are an integral part of the design.

Oh yeah, I planned that!

I love when things work out better than I could have planned them!

Dream a little dream...

The 12th giveaway - you are sacred- update 1

This is the third heart I am giving away in the 12th giveaway.

Comment only this page → http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/04/12th-giveaway-you-are-sacred.html

Closes on the 5th of May, 2010 at 6 pm PDT, 3 winners will be picked.

Just a little reminder, I have a giveaway page with a tab underneath the banner that you can click on to find out what the current giveaway is.

Taking shape-changing ideas and altered directions- part 16, Capt. Nemo's Heart

Capt. Nemo's Heart

Complete with starfish stuck in the belt.

See other hearts here.

http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/04/taking-shape-changing-ideas-and-altered_27.html

and here

http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/04/taking-shape-changing-ideas-and-altered.html  

and here

http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/04/taking-shape-changing-ideas-and-altered_23.html  

and here

 http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/04/taking-shape-changing-ideas-and-altered_24.html 

Here is the 2nd heart I am giving away. Do not leave a comment here, leave it on this post only → http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/04/12th-giveaway-you-are-sacred.html
closes on the 5th of May, 2010 6 pm pdt.