New books and old friends

It has been a very busy week here and the wheels just keep on turning! On Thursday we had a Mamma Mia Party. It was with some high school (and other) friends and was a blast. We even played charades afterwards and I laughed until my stomach and sides were aching. That felt sooooo good!

Also this week, I managed to make a few more books and other items in polymer clay. For the regional guild meeting yesterday, I looked after organizing a charm swap. I now have enough cool charms to fill a bracelet. Such fun! The meeting was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday, with lots of interesting techniques that were shared. After lunch, we clayed and exchanged more clay ideas.

Today it's golfing and tomorrow we are going to a barbeque with some cousins for our annual family get together. It's the CA-AZ-CA thing. (California, Arizona, Canada). No rest for the wicked. The only problem with all these fun events is the food....too much and too good. I think I'll walk the golf course today rather than ride in a cart to burn off a few of those bites. And since I haven't golfed in quite some time, I'll go ape... swinging a little more than usual, lol.

The picture is one of my latest books that's a bit on the smaller side, about 3.5 inches square. I call it "The Last of the Dinosaurs" because the cover inserts remind me a bit of dinosaur tails making their way out of the picture. The triangles on the "tails" are actual cane slices that are also incorporated into the beads on the spines. The creation was a lot of fun to make.

The leaf on the left isn't actually attached to the book; it's part of an experiment I am working on. In our "yard" there are three fruit trees: a navel orange, a grapefruit/orange tree and a lemon/lime tree. This leaf is a copy of one of the lemon-lime leaves. I mixed up a Skinner blend in the colors of the leaves, and then passed a real leaf and the sheet of clay right through the pasta machine. The imprint of the veins was delicious. I am going to include this into some other work in the future; but I don't know quite how just yet. I'm sure an idea will pop up at 3 a.m. one morning.

The laptop now has a companion--a much-needed printer -- thanks to one of the gals in the AZPCGuild. Networking is a thing great isn't it?