The Wigglebutt Blog

I was contacted by a lady last week about possibly creating a Christmas ornament depicting a beaver and a duck. Apparently her and her SIL went to rival colleges in Oregon (THE rival colleges in Oregon - OSU and UO and you have probably already guessed that the beaver and duck are the respective mascots) and SIL found an ornament with a duck being very mean to a beaver. So... I needed to come up with and ornament that had the Beaver coming out ahead☺ I had never made a beaver or a duck, but I figured I would give it a shot. This one was Hubby's idea.  I think they turned out pretty cute and it gave me a reason to clean off my work table and I think I will make a few penguins while I am making little figures☺ P.S.  My customer loved them and wants them both☺

19 Years ago today ♥ This was taken in maybe '96?  1997 Camping in Sutton  2004 Fast forward ......  Labor Day Weekend 2012   We've been best friends from the beginning. We have spent almost all of our free time together (except when he rides his snowmachine, I don't do winter outdoors) The only time I was worried that our relationship might be difficult was when he got a wild hair and decided that he wanted us to own our own business. And ... work.... together.  That was 4 1/2 years ago and I'm happy to report that business is doing as well as could be expected, our employees AND customers think we are "Cute" together and we are still best friends♥

My first challenge☺ You can call me Chicken Girl if you want, but I have never entered a "Challenge" before. I guess I have always been afraid of getting ~ 0 ~ votes. No voting involved in this one, as far as I can tell, and even if there was, what's the worst that can happen?  No one can "take away my birthday"  (I get older next week by the way☺) so I figured ~ why not go for it! There are two categories~ A finished piece:  Love the way these came out;~)  Asymmetrical earrings using my polymer clay leaves wire wrapped to hammered copper washers with a lamp work bead from my fav Juls. The second category ~  Handmade component:  More polymer clay leaves using a different surface treatment. So, I guess I'm entering two challenges☺ Hey, even the Cowardly Lion stepped up to plate eventually, right? ~Baby steps~

And I couldn't be more pleased with it;~)  Aside from the hairy arm and pale skin, this photo shows the truest color of the focal and beads.  LOVE IT!  Ok let's recap how this little lovely evolved shall we? I told you a little while back how I had been inspired to try something new. And this one was the second one I was working on. (after a little mishap with the first one) This is how it started out I wasn't really pleased with how it was coming along, so I reworked it a bit. And it was slowly becoming this, but when I got to where I was going to finish off #1  ~ It was more choker length than bracelet length (unless you are the Hulk) #2 ~ I had a few cords that were just too short to work  with for finishing. Now, you need to know that when I decided that I wanted to try this micro-macrame thing, I went in search of instruction. I bought this pattern  as inspiration and I also got this b...

My plan this last weekend was to clean and organize my work area. Translated, that means = clear a path so I can get to my table and mess with some clay. I got distracted. I'm sad to say that it didn't take long at all. But I made these☺ And there's always next weekend☺

I finished the ends of this using this tutorial ~~ Thank you Sherri ~~ I love the way the ends look and, even with all of it's flaws, I like the way the pattern turned out, But....... after double checking that all of my knotting was tight, then glueing the knots and trimming my ends I realized that...  front  I had one end right side up.....  back of knots and the other end upside down.  Oops.... So.... I will redo this one in the same pattern and hopefully both ends will be right side up when I finish☺ I am redoing this one. I added a lot more cords and I love the way it is coming along. And for "redone"....  Before I liked it this way but I started thinking that I wanted it to be a bit "beefier" (word?) So I did this.... Then I got totally distracted and made a bunch of earrings for absolutely no reason..... ~except that I had an idea~

 I have literally dozens of things I want to be working on, dozens of things that are started that need, at some point, to be finished and I'm having a difficult time getting the oompf to do them. Clay things, charm things, bead things, I have metal clay, a kiln, ideas, no oompf. Life is good☺ Work is good☺ Hubby is good♥ Lily girl is good♥ It's all good 'cept for the oompf. I've been looking at some gorgeous micro-macrame jewelry by this awesome artist . I also stalk her on facebook  and I had been wanting to try something different, but no oompf :~( Then one day this lovely lady announced a sale on her absolutely gorgeous lampwork glass focal beads and I thought maybe I could combine the macrame and the lampwork. And since an entire drawer full of Juls beads is not enough for any living being, (I may have mentioned a small addiction a time or two) I had to order a couple of focals (and, ummm.... some beads jus...

I have been extremely f***ing uninspired the last couple of months. As you could probably tell by the major lack of posts lately;( After all of the yard work was done for the year, the weather got (stayed) crappy. *i.e. Record snow fall last winter, a late spring, coldest July on record, earliest snow fall that I can remember in the 20 years I've been here Sept. 30th* Other stuff happened and I just haven't wanted to do much "making", but the last couple of weeks I have felt almost desperate to make something ~anything. But I just couldn't get interested in starting anything. So I decided to do some more of these . And I just couldn't come up with a good color combo that I liked, (yea, I know, I'm tired of the whining too. And I am totally done with it except to say that it has been raining for a solid week and hot flashes suck! OK, I'm done) So I went here , go there , you need to go there . And I found this...

Time to get the plow truck ready for the season.......... Still need to put the chains on the rear. It's old (and rusty;~)  but tough. ... because this is what it looks like out there.... Which means it won't be very long before we need it. Linking up to ...... With Lori over at Studio Waterstone ☺

Thought I would share an update on Lily. If you read the last post you know that we lost someone dear to us, and it has been particularly difficult on Lily.  Lily 2008 She had her first and only batch of pups in a kennel in our dining room in 2002... Scooby was one of her pups. They have always been inseparable (These pics are horrible quality but they will always be some of my favorites. The entire evening they looked like synchronized swimmers. They each had a bone filled with peanut butter☺)  Neither one did anything without the other. Lily is a little confused about why Scoobie isn't here. Well.....  to keep her from being alone all day while we are at work..... I have started taking her to work with me☺  Since she is 12 yrs old with arthritic hips, jumping into the back of the Tahoe wasn't an option anymore, so we got ourselves this handy dandy ramp☺ It folds right up and still leaves plenty of roo...