To Horizons and Back

We just came back from a fantasticly fun weekend.  Dave and I headed out to Vancouver last Friday to attend the Horizons, polymer clay retreat and check out my display at the Chameleon Exhibit.  I am a little tired from the trip so will share some photos with you a little later.  Here are a few pictures of the scenery from our drive over the mountain pass.  Part of it is called the Coquihalla Hwy.  It can be quite treacherous during the winter time and they even made a Canadian documentary/reality series about it called Highway thru Hell.  We were a little nervous about making the trip but the weather cooperated for us and it could not have been better that weekend for the middle of February.

Went from no snow in one area....

to this snow and fog...

and more fog....  got so thick you couldn't see any cars in front of us....

this is the large snow shed tunnel before we hit the summit....

Cookies Anyone?

I am still getting ready for the Horizon's Retreat coming up this weekend and filling orders for our customers in between.  I made these "chocolate and vanilla" checkerboard and pinwheel icebox cookie buttons as a special order.  They are now available for sale at Donna's Yarn & Craft on northshore in Kamloops.

Chameleon Pieces for the Chameleon Exhibit

Here are a couple photos of my work at the Chameleon Exhibit that I managed to snag off the Chameleon blog.

You can follow this event and see more photos of the ongoing exhibit if you click here.

And this is a close-up of some of the chameleon pieces I created special for the event.

This sterling silver necklace I titled "Emerald Forest".

"Emerald Forest"

"Emerald Forest"

And some chameleon brooch pins: 

"Hide & Seek"

I am looking forward to seeing the entire exhibit in person when we head to Vancouver next weekend for the Horizon's retreat.

Soft Kitty ...

Purr Purr Purr ..  The ton of snow that fell over the past month is already starting to melt and we happened to notice some large paw prints (notice the claws) in the snow in our yard today.  A little close for comfort I'd say but one of the joys of living in such a beautiful area.

Just the other day I was quietly working on a bargello project when we noticed a helicopter hovering overhead for some time.  I nearly jumped out of my skin when we heard the loud blasts.  We then realized it was avalanche control on the mountain behind our house.

It was interesting to watch for a while and fortunately it didn't affect my pieces I was working on.  Here is the finished piece.

Chameleon Opens Today

It is so exciting to be a part of the Canadian all polymer exhibit, Chameleon, which opens today.  This is a poster that the gallery created for the event and that is my container in the photo along with Gera's "Moxies"

Joan Tayler was the originator of this show and has worked very hard in organizing and pulling it all together.  She was the first person to introduce me to polymer clay when I took a class from her on how to make my own beads.  It was a life changing experience and from that day on I knew I had found my true passion (2nd to my hubby/claymate Dave of course :))

Click here or on the poster in the sidebar to see more about this event on the gallery website.  (It isn't posted yet but should be later today hopefully?)

Secret Garden

Bargello Veneers

I've been experimenting with various styles of bargello veneers for my tutorial and looking for inspiration from    bargello designs in quilts and tapestries to imitate in the clay.  I was quite excited when I managed to create this one the other day.

This piece is quite large actually (more than 5 inches across) so I have something special planned for it.

Getting excited about the Chameleon Exhibit which opens tomorrow.

Three color Bargello and Heart Brooch Pendant

This is an example of a three color bargello I will be sharing in my tutorial that will be available soon.  I created this heart brooch pendant and matching earrings from a veneer sheet that is shown below.