Meet My New Flying Pig Model

I’d formally introduce you, but she doesn’t have a name yet. You can help with this, more later.

I’d been thinking about making myself a new flying pig model, possibly out of polymer clay, when I stumbled across this wonderful pig with wings in BrondyBlue’s shop on Etsy. Don’t get me wrong, I like my old model that I have used in my photographic art on my note, holiday and special occasion cards, clocks, cufflinks and bookmarks found in my shop, EclecticSkeptic. However it has its limitations. It is only partially 3D and I wanted a truly 3D model.

I plan to add shiny black eyes and then this flying pig will be ready for her glamour shots. However, with the holiday season fast approaching, it may be next year before she debuts in a new item on EclecticSkeptic, so stay tuned.

Now for the part where you can help, I’d love to have a name for my new model. I’ve decided to open up a naming contest. Submit your suggestions in the comments of this post and if I select your submission, I will give you a coupon for 25% off one item from my shop EclecticSkeptic or 10% off your total order from one or both of my shops, EDCCollective and EclecticSkeptic (excludes shipping).

So, put on your thinking caps and submit your names below. You are welcome to submit more than one name.

Design This – Grandmother’s Necklace

My custom birthstone necklace has been ordered to represent mom and dad and the kid(s) as I anticipated, in addition it has also been used to celebrate close circles of friends. It was one of these customers who asked if I could modify the design so that it would work as a Grandmother’s necklace. She needed five birth months represented and didn’t just want them added to the central crystal section of the necklace.

I told her that depending on the necklace length, I was confident that I could do this and got to work. My customer wanted an 18 inch necklace made with silver plated findings and figaro chain. After a bit of experimenting so that the spacing between the sections was balanced and not cramped and so that all of the sections would show at the front of the necklace, I had a design. Actually, this request was not as difficult as many of the custom requests that I receive because my original design allows for a lot of flexibility.

So if my original birthstone necklace design doesn’t quite meet your needs, please feel free to contact me and explain what you are looking for. I’ll be happy to give you an estimate based on your specs for your own customized piece.

Baseball in Waco

Sometime during the first week of August each year, Little League baseball comes to Waco, TX. Waco is the headquarters of the Little League Southwest Region and hosts the Southwest Region Tournament at the baseball complex behind region headquarters.

I have just returned from spending a bit over a week in the record breaking heat in Waco. “Why?”, because my husband was invited to umpire at the Little League Southwest Region Tournament this year. I wanted to show my support of his accomplishment and help out when I could. The volunteers took good care of the players and umpires and even though the temperature was over 100 each day, none of them fell out from the heat. Fans were encouraged to stay hydrated as well and seemed to follow this advice. I was able to pitch in and help clean up the stands after each game.

The umpire assignments rotated them through the different positions during the tournament. My husband called the plate for the semi-final game between the Colorado state champions and the Texas East champions. (Texas is so big it has two “state” level tournaments, one for Texas East and one for Texas West.) The team from Texas East beat Colorado in an exciting and close game. For the finals between Texas East and Louisiana, my husband was assigned to rotate out with another umpire on the right field line. This is where he was at the bottom of the seventh inning and where some of the action occurred on the game winning play. (Little League tournament games are six innings. This game was in extra innings because the score was tied at the bottom of the sixth.) A clip of this play was uploaded to YouTube. The first minute of the clip shows the lead up to the last play, the final hit and my husband calling the ball fair. The hit resulted in a triple, but with an overthrow by Texas East at third, the batter scored the winning run. Louisiana now goes on to represent the Southwest Region at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.

The fans really get into the excitement of the tournament. Fans of teams often have matching t-shirts, some had matching jewelry. I wore my baseball gathering pins several times and one fan wore an elaborate handmade hat to the semi-finals and finals. All in all, in spite of the heat, a good time was had by all.

Thanks for the Treasuries - July 2011

Seven different Etsians let me know that they had featured one or more of my items in a treasury during July. Eight July treasuries included one of my items and one treasury included one item from each of my two shops. You can see a collage below of my items from EDCCollective and EclecticSkeptic that were featured during July. (Click on the collage to see a larger view.)

I really appreciate being featured by the treasury makers. To thank them, I have listed below (in alphabetical order) links to the 7 different Etsians that let me know that they featured at least one of my items, as well as an item from their shop or profile that I like.

Enjoy window shopping and please click on the shop links of anything that catches your eye.

artefyk
This shop carries mostly jewelry and home decor one of a kind Polymer Clay and beaded items.

BellaVioletta
This shop owner does an amazing job of upcycling materials from everyday life and turning them into gorgeous goodies.

CarrotPatch
Unfortunately this shop seems to have closed up since I posted, but here is one of her sold items, a cute flat wallet or business card holder.


CorkyCrafts
Look no further for gifts for a wine connoisseur who happens to appreciate unique hand made items.

IntoTheLight
This shop carries a large assortment of beautiful, affordable fused glass jewelry & accessories.

LarkspurStudios
This fused glass artist "paints" with powdered glass to create unique fused glass pendants.

TexasHillCountryArt
Find Fredericksburg area wildlife & wildflowers, greeting cards, an occasional acrylic painting and some tropical vacation art in this artist's shop.