Don't Quit

I love this and I found it on a favorite page of mine, BridgettWalther, it is a horoscope page.

I am always looking for a positive word, thought, or image, to help me further my studies in life and the arts and I quite often find them on Bridgett Walther’s Home page under the Highlights, just scroll down to read the pearls of wisdom she plants there. And before you leave, also check out your sign in the blue bar under her name. I find that true wisdom can be found everywhere if I am willing to open my eyes.
She says:
“Thank goodness there are no real crystal balls to forecast the future. Through trial and error (lots of errors) I have learned that the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself.
Here's the poem that has helped me through the darkest days:”

Don't Quit
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low, and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to cry,
When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are.
It may be near when it seems so far.
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit.
It's when things seem worse
That you must not quit.
If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win, but think you can't,
It's almost a cinch that you won't.
For life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man.
But, sooner or later, the man who wins
Is the one who thinks he can.
-Anonymous

Success rarely comes on the first, second, third or fourth try. Sometimes even the hundredth. Keep trying and don't give up. Even when you are rejected unnecessarily, consider each rejection as character building. You are a miracle of life, and you can do it. Give yourself a break, but never quit. You are a star! Embrace each "no" and exclaim, "Thank you, I am now that much closer to a yes!"
We do and we'll continue to march on with determination.
Everyone counts. Dare to care!
Cynthia Brian is the Founder and Executive Director of Be the Star You Are! 501 c3 charity.

In celebration of the upcoming 10th anniversary, you are invited to submit a short story for the book, Be the Star You Are! for Teens. Information is available at www.bethestaryouare.org.

Tax deductible donations may be sent to Be the Star You Are!, PO Box 376, Moraga, Ca. 94556.

Jazzy Glass Beads

I meant to get this posted before the end of the year! Sorry, but it seems to be a great start for the new year. You may want to choose colors that are a little less holiday looking!

Jazzy Glass Beads
Marie Segal 2008

Do you have some plain glass beads that could use a make-over? I have lots of glass beads and I thought why not take some of them and make them different from what they are? One way to do that is too stamp them with Gold pearl ex ink!

I used some,
Rubber stamps, mostly for the texture, not as much for the image
Pearl-ex inks- gold
Glass Beads- Flats and cylinders are easier to stamp
Bamboo skewers or needle tool- different sizes
Heat gun
Baking card board- using a box top cut from a corrugated box is great
My Home Oven- to bake the beads to completely cure the ink
Rubbing Alcohol
Old towel or toweling

Here is a pdf file for the care and feeding of the Pearl-ex stamp pads
the link under the gold bottle of ink on the right side of the page is from the company that makes the inks and pads and the link to the right of that that says “How to use and care for these inks and ink pads” is from me and a lot more detailed with some fun instructions in there.
Clean the glass beads with the towel and alcohol and let them dry
Place the ink up the stamp with the ink pad.
Place the bead on the needle tool or skewer.
I used the needle tool for this one because the handle is metal and less likely to break when I press it down on the stamp for this long bead.
Stamp one side then the other and then the other sides. You can heat each side of the bead with a heat gun before you stamp the next side, but keep the heat gun moving or you might crack the glass by leaving it in one place too long. No, I did not do this, but the beads do get very hot. Do not stamp the next side of the bead until the bead cools down. I do two sides of the bead and quickly heat set, do the other sides, heat set until ink is not tacky and set on cardboard to wait until I am done stamping all of my beads.

For the cylinder beads I place them on a skewer and roll the skewer and the bead gently up the inked area.



Here you can see what it looks like when done. I find that too skinny of lines in the stamp are not as nice as the bolder stamps like the one shown (ERA Graphics stamp)

Here is a bead I placed on the needle tool and rolled up the inked area, You can place you finger on the needle on the other side and hold the bead down that way and still roll the needle up the stamp. Also placing the stamp on the folded toweling helps the stamp to conform to the bead shape while stamping. Go slow, the ink will tend to slip on the bead, you can just wipe it off if this does happen and the image blurs.
When all the beads are stamped and heat set until not tacky, you can place them on the baking cardboard and bake in a 275 degree preheated oven for 20 minutes. Shut off the oven and let cool in the oven.
String your jazzy beads just like regular glass beads and enjoy.

I think that the darker the glass on the bead the better these look. JMHO!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year,

I know that some of you don’t celebrate this holiday when I do, but my intentions for you are all the same, may my new year bring you all of the best you have ever had and more than you can ever imagine!!
To the infinite possibilities in 2009!!!

Blessings all over each and every one of you!

Marie

Polymer Clay Collaborative and Mixed-Media Retreat

Attention Polymer Clay and Mixed Media Artists!
Polymer Clay Collaborative
… and Mixed-Media Retreat
June 1-6, 2009

On the campus of Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, polymer clay artists will be able to collaborate with artists of other mediums. If you work in Polymer clay, precious metal clay, paper arts, collage, book arts, fiber, paint, beading, stamping, or all of the above, this retreat is for you! Get a group of your friends together and join us at Shepherd University in the quaint village of Shepherdstown.

Registration is open NOW until April 1, 2009!

For more information and registration, visit our website:
http://www.pccmmretreat.com/

Another Project

Pinata Ink Flowers and Leaves, here is another project someplace else. This is a good one if you just want to try one color of clay, you know test drive it, and have Pinata inks already (if not Howard carries them, pinatas and porcelain white Cernit). The flowers and leaves are completely colored with the inks. The color that I am using is the porcelain White or the regular white, the one that is a sort of frosted glass type clay in look. You can also do this with the opaque white Cernit for a completely different look!

The Pinata inks are a wonderful product to add to any artist's tool chest, because they can be used on almost anything. I am though careful when using them on something that alcohol is solvent to. I have great luck with metals, glass, polymer clay, some plastics, and fabrics. They are translucent, so color shows through them, especially on the lighter colors.

With Cernit clay they can be added and layered or added to the surface for coloration of the clay.

As in these Inkling Beads, this is a pay for project that can be found at

Holiday wishes

I hope that no matter how you spend this time, that you spend it with friends and family or friends that are family, that you are warm and you are dry, you have food to eat, and love in your heart. That is my wish for all of you who stop here. May this year coming, 2009, bring you all you could ever want and more that you could ever imagine. I am so grateful for all of you!!!

And... may you never get caught with your pants down!!!

Project Sheet

I am so sorry about not posting sooner, life got in my way and when I can get clear on what has happened I will post about it, or not. If I don’t have to repeat last week, it is a very good thing. But… it would make a great comedy skit; you just can’t make this stuff up.
The holidays are coming (gee, ya think?) and I am backed way up, with no money (like that is new for anybody). So that means I have to make something, I need to do that. So I am going to take the easy way out here and post some stuff that I have on another site that is new!
I have two new projects up on the Jacquard website; the first one is the silverware with the Granite Cernit that I showed here. There are step by step instructions and pictures for you!!! If you need a last minute but totally heartfelt and individual gift, this just may fit the bill.
Easy Stone-like Silverware
https://www.jacquardproducts.com/easy-stone-silverware.html

This is a very easy project so you will just have enough time to get this done!!

I'll post the other later.

Blessings all over all you all.