Monday Updates 09/12/11

I had a post planned for Friday and then the lights went out.
It was the "San Diego County Power outage of 2011" and it was amazing. It was really very weird.
About 3:30 pm on Thursday as I was sitting down to the computer to edit photos and get my blog post together, everything shut down, I mean everything. My whole house is electric. So I couldn't even cook anything. I couldn't open the refrigerator because I didn't know how long it was going to last.
Luckily I had fruit on the counter and bottle of water on the cooler.
No TV for the little one after her nap, which was the wrong thing for gramma to say.
My daughter called and said they had sent her home and everyone else home.
She went the back way and got home rather fast, there were people all over the county that spent hours on the freeways.
My family was all together so that was great. It was still stressful because there was no TV, no radio, no phone, no fans, no stove, no computer, no lights, no ice, no showers, and no a lot of things that I forget are attached to an electrical grid.
We sat outside at night because was so warm and it was still, except for the occasional fire engine or ambulance horn blowing, very still. I never realize how much of a constant buzz there is from traffic, fans, motors, trains, talking, and barking till it stops and then it is still and silent and rather nice.
Everything shut down, stores, food places, gas stations, and the phone service (from people calling each other all over the county and saying "Do you have electricity?"). There were a couple of bars open from what I understand and they were packed but only taking cash ;-D
Both of my daughters sat in their cars and listened to their radios to find out what was going on.
It looked grim and then we found out how big this really was, from the Mexican border to some parts of Orange County all the way west to the ocean and east to the Arizona border.
That is big. Really huge, a big outage. The biggest ever from what the SDG&E guys said.
We were also told that we wouldn't have power until much later that night.
I opened a bottle of wine and sat on the porch with my family and we talked. We haven't done that for a very long time like that, it was the great thing about the outage for me.

The Power finally came on around 2am my daughter said.
What a day.

I started the next day on a photo album my daughter wanted me to make for her friend's wedding on Saturday. I know, I am crazy. We were supposed to go to Micheal's to get paper for it the night before (but the power went out) and I had to wait for her to get home on Friday before we could go.
I am sorry I do not have more photos but I was rushing through this and after ripping the last page and taking it out 5 times at 2:30 in the morning I finally went to bed.
I got up about 10 am on saturday and continued working on it. Finally at noon I said to her "you have to help me", cut this, do this, glue this, tape this and so on until she went up and got ready and little after 2pm.
The wedding was at 3pm, LOL!
When she was ready to go, I stopped. I almost finished it completely.
I was very happy with the way it came out.
I wish I had more pics now and I want to do another one of these with this themed paper too.

I got a paper package from Me and My Big Ideas and it was perfect for her friend. Everything we used except for the chip board, the linen cord (it is Coptic bound), the inks, the glitter glue, distress ink and brads, came in the kit.

I also made another book this weekend, it is mini, it is Coptic bound, it is jewelry, and it is a journal.

And it has clay covers. You knew I was going to go there right?

So fun! The clay is pretty thin, about a the 4th thickest setting in the clay machine. I think I am going thinner next time.

I made the holes and set the eyelets with the new toy Jodi got me and it worked like a charm. I am in love with that Big Bite.
Bit right through the clay and set those eyelets like it was chip board.
I was doing a little dance, this opens so many more ideas in my head ;-D

It has parchment for pages.

It is signed on the back.

It has the waxed linen and rhinestone brads for the closures.

I covered the brads with a super thin piece (the 9th thickest setting in the clay machine) of clay that was baked and then cut with a pair of scissors to size and then glued in place.

I am very happy with this little book and I learned so much in making it.
I plan on making more.



I also made this. I think he is a little confused about his holidays.

He could be used for everyday.

He could be worn for Halloween.

He could be worn for Mardi Gras.

And for the Day of the Dead.

I love him. This is my version of a skeleton key ;-D


I also got my Book that I won from my friend Nicole at Beadwright Blog, Steel Wire Jewelry, by Brenda Schweder. Oh baby, am I going to have fun with this one.
I think you should go get one now! ;-D

Thank you Nicole and Thank you Lark/Sterling, you guys are the best!!
I would have posted on 09/11/11 but I thought it was best to have a moment of silence.

Have a great week, all of you! Thanks for giving me a moment of your precious time, I appreciate you all so much!!
Now go create a beautiful week.

I just won this book!

I am so excited, my friend Nicole Campanella at Beadwright blog reviews books for Lark Crafts/Sterling Publishing. When she is done with the book she gives it away on her blog and writes a review on it.
Very cool, yes?
I won this book Steel Wire Jewelry by Brenda Schweder!!

I am even more excited because Artistic wire just started making stainless steel wire and we are carrying it at ClayFactory.net. Wooooo Whoooo!
If Howard doesn't have it up there, bug him about it. Sometimes he needs a push.;-D

The book is actually suggesting you use wire from the hardware store too and I will, but I think some of the designs will lend themselves to the stainless wire also. Stainless wire and Cernit polymer clay even.
I mean how perfect is that, that I win this?
Thank you Nicole and Thank you Lark Crafts/Sterling Publishing for being so generous. I appreciate both of you!

 

one of Nicole's patterns

And guess what? Nicole not only does some beautiful bead-work and carry some awesome products (Nicole's BeadBacking) and bead patterns in her Etsy store, she has a wonderful blog and is a very nice person and....
She is giving away another book now.
Here is the link
http://beadwright.blogspot.com/2011/09/win-jewelry-book-of-year.html 

Be sure and visit Nicole's blog and get your chance to win a great book from Lark Crafts/Sterling Publishing.

Hi, I'mmmmmmmmmmmmm back!

This has been quite a week. So I decided to take the time off to fully be in the week.
I hope you all have had a great week and I missed you.
I got back from my friend Jodi's after book making and staying up all hours, going out with her and Jimmy to dinner at BJ's with Mojito's (Yum) with no major problems. I had a great time, which is probably the only reason I kind of slid through the whole week of interesting changes.

I would go over it for you but, I would rather not rather not relive that week again. Everybody is alive and well, so it is all good in the end.

I taught Jodi how to do the Coptic binding to the best of my ability. She liked it and we each made a Halloween Scrapbook by combing the Coptic book binding with Scrap-booking. I mean, it had to go there, right?
These are the cutest books, I will show you those at a later date.
What I wanted to share with you was this book I made with a closure on it.

I glued some clay pieces on the front.
Jodi bought me a new toy, it is called Big Bite. It made those pretty little holes you see in the book above. I am in love with this thing, beats the heck out of an ice pick any day!!
That is how I made my holes in the books before. Sets eyelets too. ;-D

Nothing better than a tool that does a great job! I have a bunch of other things in mind for this baby too.

Coptic binding on the edges with waxed linen beige cording.

Craft paper pages for journaling or artwork.

But... tiny! Isn't it cute? 2" tall by 1 1/2" wide.
I just had too.
I set the eyelet on the back for the string to tie the book closed with my new tool too.

I just tied a piece of the waxed linen through the eyelet with a square knot and bam! you have part of a closure.

That cording ties around a brad and a circular piece of card stock to make the closure.
The hole for the brad was cut with the Big Bite too. The big bite is not just a hole punch, it cuts through chip board and multiple layers of chip board like butter. It also has a long reach on it which makes it perfect for books.
Have a great week everyone. Be well, and breathe.
Did any of you have an all out crazy week last week?

Atomic age Influence votive holder

While you are reading this I am escaping from home to go hang out with my friend Jodi and talk to an adult, craft until my fingers hurt, and stay up crazy hours. I am expecting to have a good time.
We are going to make some books ;-D
It is hot here, kind of cloudy and humid, I do not feel like doing anything. It is 99 degrees here and almost 4 pm on friday the 26th, crazy!
I will talk to you all on Monday have a great weekend.
Be safe and be well.

Make the canes from the Black and white tutorials.
Continued from Part 1:
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/08/black-and-white-canes-2-atomic-age.html
and Part 2:
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/08/black-and-white-canes-2-atomic-age_09.html
and Part 3:
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/08/black-and-white-canes-2-atomic-age_14.html

Save any pieces from the making of the canes that you have left over. We will use those.

You will need:

clay slicing blade
glass votive holder
Canes from tutorials

Start with the sputnik cane or I guess it could be a stylized dandelion, well whatever you want to call it.
Slice off the slices about 1/16" thick and place around the top of the glass.
Do not press on just place.
When you have them spaced evenly with about an 1/8" between all of them.
Press into place.

Here is a better view.

Add the second cane.
Place those below the others.
Press on firmly.

These are from the second cane and are left over.
Slice off some slices and round them a little with your fingers.

Place one of those between the big circles at the top of the rim of the votive holder.

Now I have added the pieces left over from the dandelion cane and placed those between the rectangle canes.

I added some of the spiral, basically I am building a net of canes around the top of the glass. I can have small open areas as long as all of the canes are connected together.
I rolled the spiral cane down to about 1/4" and added one to each of the bottoms of the rectangles.
Bake in a pre-heated 275 degree oven for 1/2 hour, shut off oven, and let cool in the oven.
Add a votive and you are good to go!

OK, it is official!

OK, it is official, I am totally addicted to this book making thing.

This is my 3rd book.

I did this one with craft paper so it will be an art journal.

Blank fresh pages waiting for art.

It has 26 signatures, 52 pages, 1 3/4" thick, 4 3/8" by 5 1/2".

Next comes the embellishments.
I am working on my 4th one now.
;-D

My Coptic bound book

I told you guys I was making a book. I wanted to show you what I did.
This one is the first one I did. It has a nice cover. I learned a lot.

I used chipboard for the covers. I only have thin stuff, so I taped three sheets together to make it more like a real book.
This is some hand-made paper I've had forever.


I love the way the covers turned out.

I used some scrap paper I had for the inside cover.
I had this colored card stock that I rarely use so I made the inside papers out of it. There are some orange petals in the paper on the cover and I thought it would look better than it does ;-D

It looks OK with the back inside cover.
Another piece of scrap.

Here is the stitching that I used per the YouTube instructions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHAJyzzb4EE
I think that the heavy-duty thread I used is not heavy enough for this job.
Down by my thumb I pulled the thread too hard and ripped one of the pages (called stations by the man who was teaching it).







Now this one is my second attempt and I took my time and went through things thoroughly. I liked doing it enough the first to try again.
I really like learning old school things that may one day become a lost art. Plus I believe that building your body of knowledge or skills will only help you in the long-term.
It also given me a great appreciation of modern conveniences and technology.

This is the spine of the 2nd book. I used a much thicker cord, it is waxed linen I have had for an age, I knew it would come in handy one day.



Worked beautifully. I also used curved upholstery needle this time. What a difference a needle can make.

I used a creamy yellow card stock for the pages this time.

I used the great green sage paper with leaves and stems painted on them. This is the inside back and front cover.

My stitching looks so much better with this waxed linen and it stays in place when you pull it there. It also does not seem to bind, knot, or tangle as much as the other thread.

Pretty neat all the way across the spine.

The book opens nicely and will lay flat on the table too.

This is the back inside cover.
Book laying flat.

I used a great craft paper for the outside covers. I am so very happy with the way this came out, I am making another one ;-D