Mokume Gane Pendant

Mokume Gane Pendant
Julie Picarello Style

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Christmas Courtesy of Cracker Barrel

A recent trip to Cracker Barrel...


..brought me to the decision to have a brown, green and gold Christmas tree this year.  I always have a color theme going on.

Last year was silver and white.... 





...with very small touches of red and green from the polymer clay covered ornaments that I placed over the white lights.
Mokume gane covered glass ornament

Back to the Cracker Barrel part of this story!  They have a beautiful green, brown and gold tree in the store.
This ornament moved me away from my polymer clay for the past week or so!  I've been creating my own ornaments!  Of course, with time and materials, I could have probably said, "Load it into my truck!" and spent less money!! But I've been having a great time creating them!

These pictures were taken on the fly before zooming out the door to take my granddaughter home, so aren't the best.  Just thrown in boxes to keep them from the kitties!



If you get a chance to drop by a Cracker Barrel, take a look at their tree!  It's breathtaking!

I'm also making new polymer clay ornaments for the lights.  I've been accused of making "glittery camouflage".  I'll put a picture on here as soon as I get one taken! 

And here you go!!
When you put one of the mini-string Christmas lights
inside it, it has a great soothing glow!

Merry Christmas, y'all!!


Sunday, November 18, 2012

Dreams in the Works

After years of dreaming...

I finally dug deep into my pocketbook and did a complete 're-do' of my Craft Room.  After two trips to IKEA (wouldn't all fit in one pickup truck load!), and much assistance from my son, it's finally completed!  I love the look but still wish I had more room!  I used Billy bookshelves with doors in two corners and Expedit everywhere else.  If you look at an earlier post  you can see that there has been a great improvement!

Below is my crafty 8 year old granddaughter, Mackenzie.  She loves spending time "doing Art" in my craftroom!  There are Billys in the left corner.  Three make up the actual corner, with doors on the outside units to hide some of the clutter!  Then 2 stacked "short" Billys are to the right of the corner unit.  The black piece with all the drawers holds all of my unopened polymer clay.  Wonderful way to organize the brands and types, such as pearls, glitter, etc.  I purchased that at Hobby Lobby before the 're-do' so it doesn't match, but I can't part with it!  The shelf on the right is an Expedit from IKEA.  My son built the table (which is HUGE) for me!  As you can see, I use every inch of space, including wire shelving from The Home Depot on the closet door.






This one is a better view of one of the corner Billy units, with part of the RED (LOVE IT!!!!) IKEA Expedit units to the left in front of the windows.  You can also see many, but not nearly "all" of the items I love creating with polymer clay!  My blended colors and left-over canes are stored in the containers with the blue painters' tape on them. I put the brand and whether its canes or blends, and what color family is in each container.  The chair is another IKEA find.  VERY COMFY!!  And you can barely see for the stacked containers, the two pasta machines.  One manual and one with a motor that I used to blend colors.  It's so much easier on my shoulder.






These are IKEA Expedits.  Two stacked to the ceiling!  I bought several of the door and drawer inserts. 

I always had heavy curtains on the windows before.  I love the light! I put some clear storage drawers in some of the sections to let more light flow into the room.  I am so happy with the shelves and room I've gained!







This is another corner IKEA Billy unit.  So nice to hide some of the clutter! Well, except for all the "stuff I think I have to have on my table!"






This was not my original plan for this wall.  The TV width wasn't measured quite accurately, so we had to initiate an on-the-fly change in plans! With some changes (the two Expedits were supposed to be on each side or the tv), it's ALL GOOD!!






This is the 4th and final wall.  Again two IKEA Expedits stacked up.  Since I have cathedral ceilings, I gained storage space on top.  My granddaughter, Mackenzie, says I have "lots of junk."  I tell her it's not "junk, it's stuff!"