Wedding cake topper for Jules

My friend Jules is getting married in September. Although I can't be there for the wedding, I want her to know how happy I am for her and Pieter. I made a cake topper with her favorite - cows! I hope she loves them and they make her day a little more special. The cows are made from wire (copper eletrical wire and a coat hanger for the thinner parts), aluminum foil, and polymer clay. I added some glass bead details to the "wedding dress," ribbon roses for the bouquet, and some mica powder to make the bride's costume shimmery.

Wishing Pieter and Juline all the best on their day and forever after!

I'm a horrible blogger

Not only do I neglect my blog for weeks, I barely scribble a line to go along with the photos I post. But a picture is worth a thousand words, right? I've been busy for several weeks getting ready for a giant yard sale at the end of October. The storage unit is almost empty! What a huge relief to be free of all that clutter. I still have lots of organizing to do in my garage but things are feeling less chaotic.

All work and no play would make Stacie a dull girl. In the spirit of getting rid of clutter, I have also been making cards with my scrap papers. I have lots of pictures to post; I'll make that a goal for this week. I also completed a painting I started for my sister many moons ago. It's not a fabulous painting, but I am pleased to be "done." Since Carol seems to like it, all is well. I'll post a picture of the painting soon, too.

Since I last posted any news my sweet friend Juline had her baby girl, Shyenne. I really hate being on the other side of the planet for this event!! I would dearly love to hold this precious little thing! Jules is out on maternity leave until January. I can hardly wait to see more pictures and hear how they are all doing.

Last week was a big one--Les Mis at the Rep Thursday with some of the Ya Yas, girls' night at my house Friday, Race for the Cure, and the birthday party for Amy and Kristina on Saturday. I'll have to find some pictures from these events to post also.

Happy October!

Messages from a distant friend

My South African friend, Juline, sent me a couple of e-mails this week. It was so nice to hear that she received and enjoyed the package I sent her for Christmas. I've been watching Supernatural season II on DVD, which was a Christmas gift to myself. Juline introduced me to the show and I must say that whenever I'm watching, I am also thinking about Jules and remembering hanging out on Thursday nights. I'm so grateful that even though Juline is a world away instead of across the street now, we still have ways to connect and continue our friendship.

Just before Juline returned home to South Africa we had the thought to start a project idea book as a way to teach each other craft techniques. So across the ocean using e-mail and recently videos, we are beginning to build our books. I’m taking part in Kimberly’s Creative Card Challenge 2008; I'm sure to have many exciting new things to send Juline this year. If the other projects are as fun as smackin' acetate, she's sure to love them. My project book is also going to be a repository for my collection of scraps of paper--ideas from magazines, photos, and such. These things will be a visual reference library of sorts. Getting my book together in a usable format is another of my many organizational resolutions for the year.