2012 Art Bead Scene Ornament Hop

Good day to you! Is it though, I'm not sure - think I should have stayed in bed this morning. I had a lovely update written to replace my ABS Ornament Blog Hop sneak peek with my reveal at 7:00 this morning. Just as I was uploading my last picture so I could click "Update" my internet went down. I franticly tried to copy and paste into Word so I could repost, but that was to no avail. Thank you Road Runner.....Anyhoo, I'll try it again.....

Thanks for stopping by to see the ornaments I created for this wonderful hop hosted by the lovely Heather Powers of Humblebeads, Art Bead Scene and Earrings Everyday. Handcrafted Christmas ornaments are near and dear to my heart. Our tree is covered with them each year. I love looking at our tree and remembering either where and the artisan I purchased an ornament from, creating them myself, or with the kids. We have some lovely ornaments our beautiful TJ's Godmother created for him when he was a little boy.

Back at the beginning of October I attended Art is You...Stamford and took a mini-class with Laurie Mika. It was wonderful and introduced me to a new obsession - polymer clay. The class was wonderful, Laurie is a fabulous teacher, and the techniques were stunning yet quite simple. These ornaments, though nothing like those from the class, are very simple yet oh, so sweet!

I created these gingerbread folk using a special ingredient. My girlfriend Roxanne's grandfather, Wilfred, died a number of years ago. Wilfred and Arlene, her grandmother, raised her. They were l ovely people. We watched South Portland's annual Memorial Day parade every year from their front lawn. Some of my favorite memories from childhood right through to this past Memorial Day - we still watch from there even though Walter and Arlene have passed. Roxanne moved far away years ago as well. When Wilfred was at the end of a battle with cancer, Roxanne came and stayed with my family in order to spend time with him, and then make his funeral arrangements and everything associated with the home she grew up in. It was a whirlwind of activity and a bit overwhelming. We helped her some, my husband and boys moving the things she wanted to keep, but she handled the bulk of the Herculean effort. I say Herculean because Wilfred had owned a vacuum cleaner repair business since leaving the miliatry. Man, was there stuff!

Rox sorted through the things she watned to keep, sell and trash. There were a few things she didn't want but the hoarder collector in me, couldn't let them go - so I saved them waiting for the right time to make something with them. These ornaments are the first. The "icing" on my gingerbread folk are freshwater pearls from a multi-strand necklace Arlene wore. The pearls still smell of her perfume. Other ingredients I used are Swarovski flat-back crystal pearls and crystals (in Light Siam for the Mr. and Indian Pink for the Mrs.) as additional decoration. Believe it or not, the hangers took longer and were more difficult to make. I used pearlized lampwork beads by Adriana Sauceda of San Antonio, Texas to decorate the hangers. I truly hope that was German silver wire I was using instead of my sterling - there was a lot of scrap!

These, along with a few other things, will be winging their way down to Roxanne in South Caronlina shortly. Thanks so much for stopping by, and a HUGE thank you to Heather for hosting such a sweet hop! Now, go visit these other lovely artisans to see what they created!
Art Bead Scene
Humblebeads
Treasures Found
Song Beads
Viki O'Dell
Sue Beads
Modern Nature Studio
Diane Hawkey
Suburban Girl Studio
Jen Judd Rocks
Ellie's Bijoux
Island Girl's Insights
Life By The Seat Of My Pants
Too Aquarius
Shelley Graham Turner
Artfully Ornamental
Charis Designs Jewelry
Harrison Hollow Designs
Silver Nik Nats
Bead Soup Mix
Toodles and Binks
Bead Recipes
Play Sculpt Live
BeeTree by M.E.
Billi RS Rothe
A Half-Baked Notion
Kimis Jewelry and Gifts