The Wigglebutt Blog

I finally finished my tutorial I promised . It is a tutorial on how to build an insulated "box" inside your toaster oven. Why would I need an insulated box inside my toaster oven, you ask? Why, to bake polymer clay, of course. I love the one I built for myself, and I have NEVER burnt anything I have baked inside the "box". If you are having any problems with that new oven you got for Christmas, check this out. Since I am a little 'challenged' when it comes to posting pictures on the blog here, (still pretty new to this) and since the tute has quite a few pictures, and since I am very comfortable with my sitebuilder program, I decided to create a tutorials page on my website. That way it's just 1 or 2 pics here and a link to the tute. It didn't really take that long to build the page, finish taking the pictures and writing the tutorial, but as I was finishing it up, I realized that I hadn't updated my site in about 6 months and linking to it woul...

Just thought I would share a couple of pics of what I made for our gift swap at work. I filled it with bath salts. She loved it. I think:) I finally took some time and tried some of the creatures from Christi Friesen's book "Under the Sea". I think it came out pretty well:)

I had a small group of people to give a gift to this year. They all needed to be the same (equal) and they needed to be gender and age neutral. So I copped out and got gift cards to a store that I know they all shop at. The gift cards alone seemed very impersonal so I tried to come up with a more Christmas-y delivery system. Thank Goodness for the "Gift Basket" I found myself with the same problem as before. What to put in the basket with the gift card. Well this is what I finally came up with. The Anatomy of a (my) Gift Basket. I started with a plain bushel basket from Michael's and hot glued some ribbon around the sides and added a bow. To accompany the gift card I added: A small bag of mini candy bars. 2 sample bags of flavored coffee. A small bag of my homemade Snickerdoodle cookies. A music CD that my husband put together of Mannheim Steamroller Cristmas songs. And last but not least....drum roll please.................................. My Grandma Deen's FABULOU...

Now, that is one sincere, intense face. We actually received this photo as an email attachment from a very nice gentleman who likes to send us "A Joke of the Day". I couldn't resist sharing. With a four day weekend coming up, I hope to be able to finish the rest of the pictures for my very first tutorial! I can't say anymore, 'cause it's a surprise.

FROM THIS TO THIS AND THIS This little fellow is a Puffin. He is a gift for a good friend of mine. Now that he is finally finished I can continue dressing my naked herd of penguins.

When ordering anything on-line, I have learned to go straight to the shipping info first. It saves a lot of time. And frustration. I used to look around on the sites, maybe put something into my shopping cart, then go to check out, just to find out they ship to the contiguous 48 states only, or that they want to charge completely outrageous shipping charges. Now..... I am not a huge on-line shopper. I am a firm believer in Buy Alaska and I am a permit holder in the Made in Alaska program. That being said, being in Alaska, there are a few things I need that I can't come by here. A good example is that I buy Premo! in the 1 pound block. I haven't found it anywhere here, so I order it from Polymer Clay Express . You might think that it costs me a fortune to have several pounds of clay shipped to Alaska. But I order from this company for several reasons: their prices are good, they are always very prompt in shipping, they take the time to write little thank you comments on every s...

I am usually a neat person, and I like it when things are organized . I think everything should have a home. I actually have been known to become very annoyed when I'm looking for something and it has been carelessly moved from it's home. That being said.... when I find myself in a creative mood, I always seem to get 20 or 30 new ideas at the same time and, of course, I try to do all 20 or 30 projects at the same time. Then this happens. My husband has the good sense (bless his heart) NOT to mention the condition of my work table. A friend asked me to make something for an 8 year old girl. She had recently found a very dear, old school friend (via the internet ) and this friend has an 8 yr old daughter. My friend wanted to send her something from Alaska (which, by the way, is where I live). She said that she wanted to send one of my Moose Pins but she wanted to send her something else also. Something cute bu t Alaska-ish. I told her I would come up with something. Well, I t...

Say HI to Lily. She is 8 years old. Lily recently lost some unwanted weight(thanks to a fabulous diet suggested by the vet). She now seems to think we need to be herded. (She tries to push us where she wants us to go.... outside, the cookie cupboard, etc. and she does this with her head.) Nudge, nudge. She also seems to think that paper products, such as kleenex, toilet paper and sometimes paper towels, are one of the major food groups. Her regression to puppyhood is a joy. This friendly looking guy is Scooby Doo. He was born in my dining room. Lily's his momma. He is 6 years old and from this photo, you would never guess that he is frightened of just about everything. Sun light reflecting off of a watch face will send him scurrying from the room to hide in his kenel. He doesn't much care for strangers, but he has gotten friendlier with people he recognizes. The real Scooby Doo thinks he is a 60lb. lap dog and would lick your face right off of your head if you sat still long en...

When we moved into this house it had white walls in the kitchen, I got tired of the white walls and white cabinets, so I did this. Now, for years I have wanted a kitchen island. We have a large kitchen and almost no counter space. We got our cabinet at Lowes. It was an unclaimed special order, so it was really cheap. There was only one problem...... I wanted a RED island and that would certainly clash with my "artsy" walls. So I informed my horrified husband that the walls were going to have to be painted to match the new island. My husband didn't have an issue with painting the walls (I do all the painting around here). He just couldn't quite wrap his brain around a "Red Kitchen". He picked out the tile for the top of the island. He thought that having dark tile might tone down the red. I don't know if it tones it down or brings it out more but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! We went with 12" marble tile. We decided that 24"x36" was too small for...