Last of the Catch Up

After lagging on posting again, I decided/realized that just blogging for the sake of getting back in to it, wasn't working. I need that drive to get it done right now, and with so many things on the go, it's just not there. SO, with that in mind, I'm going to try diving back into things and see about a schedule of some sort in the next week or so. What sort of schedule will depend on how much writing I can get done amid everything else, but right now it looks like it'll stick with weekly.

That said, I'm now at least one post behind, so I'll see about getting that second post out over the weekend ;)

As for the catching up, well, with so many things on the go, and the majority of it being 'in progress', I'll save some of those to share with the finished products.

Last post ( or so) I showed you a pic of my peacock necklace that my muse shoved in front of the owl stuff I was supposed to be making. I DID finally finish an owl piece. Just one, mind you, but it's a start.

not the best picture, sorry. It was taken with my iPad, which I have mentioned previously, IS possessed, so...*shrugs* sometimes I get great pictures, sometimes I don't.

And an autumn themed bracelet I was doing at the same time as the owl...

I was going to add an owl charm or two in, but decided I like the maple leaf charms instead. Like the orange and dark purple, but I'm not sure about the light purple flowers... they may end up removed...and those 'brown' beads are actually all different shades of purple. The only other colours in here are those orange leaves and the  copper chain, toggle, and charms... everything else is purple.

And that's it for the new jewelry. sorry, but I'm STILL getting back into the swing of it. I have a wire wrapping project ( several actually) that I'll be starting just as soon as I clean up a work space, and that, while   NOT jewelry, will be taking its place for at least a month... maybe two.

Another project (s) I mentioned were some Halloween themed items. Only one is actually completely finished... sorry, two... kinda...  but I don't seem to have a picture on here of the other one....the ipad must have eaten it...

Anyway...

The finished -  The 3D Skull Mirror ala  Epbot.com 

It was surprisingly easy to make  AND.. despite playing with knives and hot glue, I neither cut myself nor burnt myself :D All is well!  I think I want to play with it a bit to ditch the shine on the frame, but otherwise, it came out awesome and I love it :)  Go check out the site for the tutorial to make your own, although now that the Halloween stuff has been cleared out of the stores, you made need to improvise or change it up a bit... or wait for next year.

The not finished... the Goblet... as I said, this was just a cheapo white cartoony plastic cup that I decided to play with while painting other stuff at the same time. And forgot to take a before picture of, of course...

He looks better black, but aside from that, I still don't know what all I'll do to him. Maybe wrap the stem in some twine? Maybe just add some detailing? Haven't decided.

The last one that's still in progress are my bottles. I have more of these glass bottles, mostly maple syrup jugs because they're great shapes. I'd considered doing the faux coloured glass treatment to some, but haven't gotten around to that yet. So instead... I did this - first I glued on some stuff, here I did a front half skull slightly tipping downward with some centipede halves, a half skull cut level, and a giant spider *shudder* don't ask... I really don't know why I did a spider.

Then I got messy. The black one is done with strips of newspaper soaked in glue, and the bronzey one is done with stripes of paper towel. The spider one is missing because he crapped out before the paint stage... he was a newspaper one, but it didn't let enough detail through, so it'll get cleared off and redone with tissue paper ( now that I've bought more)

As you can see,  the paper towel one has a lot more texture to it. I think it'll be either paper towel or tissue paper for the rest when I get to them.  The black one needs a few fixes with it's paper before I move on with it, but they'll both get a bit more done to them to bring out the texturing and such, and then I'll wrap the necks in twine... maybe the bottom too. I have a cork for the one, and the topper that's attached to the other one will get some attention too :)

And yes whenever I finish them I will share a pic.

So that's it I guess. While I've been doing plenty of stuff, most of it is just bits and pieces that have yet to be fit into a whole ( the name 'chaos' is there for a reason, people ;) ), plus there's my writing which... probably wouldn't fit in here without some tweaking... and warnings lol. I did try doing a newsletter years ago to go with my website the writing was housed on, where each newsletter had a chapter of a story done just for it. Maybe I'll figure out a piece to do here like that? Have a set day just for that so those who aren't into it can safely ignore that day's post without worry. Something to consider I guess.


My next post will a return to my artist/shop feature posts :) I know so many talented and wonderful people and it's past time to get back into showcasing them!  And Sarah, of Pookledo, who I believe I have featured here before ;), has made that leap that many of us would like to ( in theory anyhow, while in reality we're just terrified of doing ;) ) of getting her own brick & mortar shop !

Not sure if there will be a return of the giveaways and such, since current shipping costs are rather daunting, and my funds are bit lower than I'd prefer this time of year ( I have a set amount I like to keep my savings at, and while it's still healthy, I did dip a bit deeper into it than I meant to over a few splurges ) but I think I will at least do one for the Christmas season. whether it'll be something to ship out to the winner, or just a gift certificate, I haven't decided yet. And who knows? I might end up doing more than the one... I do enjoy them :)

So keep your fingers crossed for me to keep this ball rolling forward! And feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email with any suggestions of things you'd like to see me tackle, post or schedule wise, concerning a feature, contest/giveaway, or about my 'ongoing story' idea. I mostly write a blend of paranormal/drama with a bit of action and romance tossed in, and my current work is more that but in a  fantasy setting. I've done some sci-fi in past as well, but while bits of it might crop up in my work, it's not a genre I work in much now.

 Just put 'blog' or 'chaosblog'  in the  subject line so I'll know it's not spam ;) And don't worry, I always check my spam bin... whenever I remember to check my email, anyhow :) lol

  (skyescreativechaosATgmail.com ... I'm sure you all know to substitute the @ for the AT ;) )

Catching up Part 1 & 1/2.. aka... the haunted ipad

Yeah... the haunted iPad...

 well... iPad Mini.

I'd planned on this being some more photos of recent work, and few of my older pieces that I can't remember if I shared or not... BUT...

... the haunted ipad had other ideas.

Some of you might be in an FB group called 'Fans of Epbot' ( and if you're not, you probably will be once you go read some of the Epbot blog... it's FABULOUS ). If you are, then you might remember a comment made concerning my ipad and some of it's hi-jinx. At least, I'm fairly certain that was where I mentioned it.

Anyhow, I shall 'introduce' you  to my new 'friend'.

My brother repairs phones and ipads and such, and while he's cut back to just doing phones now, while he was doing ipads, I managed to get one from him. He'd been planning on fixing it up and giving it to me for my birthday, but I ruined his plans and bought it off of him first.. very cheaply. For just over the cost of  new screen, I got my ipad mini. No clue about who originally owned it, or what they did to it that they traded it or sold it to my brother, but it was now mine and it was great.

... for awhile.

Or at least, I didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary until about a month or so ago.

I have my google docs app on it and do some reading and writing on it while I can, as well as fb, and couple little time wasting games, including WordTrek ( which my dad constantly takes over whenever I visit).
I noticed it first with WordTrek... the letters would suddenly start to 'type themselves', or the screen would flip up or down as far as it could... or go white. And I kept finding websites entered into the browser that no one had entered. THAT I'm fairly sure was just my dad accidentally hitting the ads at the bottom of the screen while playing... same as at least half the 'white screens'. 

The letters typing themselves and the scrolling up and down... no clue. My only idea on it is a messy or screwy screen...?

Then it started doing in when I was in docs. I'd be editing or writing something, and all of a sudden random letters would be typing out and the cursor would be zipping all over my screen... the page would be scrolling wildly, or zooming in and out.

Incredibly irritating, let me tell ya.

It even started doing it on fb, although it seems to be focusing mostly on my writing in docs - which I should point out is supernatural in genre, and my favorite, and current main character.. is a necromancer. Coincidence? Eh.... the screwy screen theory isn't so good when it's only happening occasionally in just the one program... when the majority of the content concerns ghosts and such...

Anyhow, you're probably wondering what that has to do with delaying the blog post. First, no, I do not write my blog posts on my ipad, or post them from my ipad... I wouldn't have a clue how to even begin figuring that out. HOWEVER, I do take photos on my ipad, and need to get those photos onto my laptop so they can be added to my blog... and everyone keeps saying to use the cloud... I do use a cloud, I use the google docs cloud all the time... but the icloud is a different one and I have no desire to have to figure out how to juggle various things between different clouds...

.. and that sounds very strange if you don't know what the kind of cloud I'm referring to is... but oh well.

My method of transferring photos between ipad and laptop? email.


... although it just dawned on me now that I USE THE GOOGLE DOC CLOUD ALL THE TIME... just like I said... I could add PHOTOS to my docs and then save them to the laptop from there >.< *headdesk*

Sorry, it's been a slow/off brain kinda month so far...

where was I? Oh yeah.. emailing my blog photos to myself.

So, worked fine last time. No problem.  This time... they have become lost in the vastness of the interwebs...

For some reason, my email account when used on the ipad, offers an autofill for my one gmail account... with the 'nickname' of Holidays in Canada when I click autofill. It's MY email address, fully and completely, no misspellings, or differences at all... aside from the odd 'holidays in canada' nick that I have no clue where it came from... my account has the nick of 'Skye' attached to the email addie, so...

When I sent the first three emails to the autofill one and they didn't arrive... I sent them again without clicking the autofill.... and they still haven't arrived....

So when /IF they arrive, or I figure out how to add the photos into my docs app and share them that way, I will continue with 'catching up part 2'.

In the mean time, I think I'm going to write a story where my necromancer exorcises a possessed ipad in hopes that my little gremlin will get the hint and leave my emails alone, at the very least.

 I may also need to decorate my plain ipad cover appropriately... skulls and ghosts...
.... maybe the anti-possession charm from Supernaturals...? I haven't watched the show in forever... hmm... nah, I'll stick with my skulls and spooks... maybe a gremlin or two... Might as well make it feel at home, right?


I'll catch you all again later... my turkey stew is smelling wonderful and I need to go eat some of it.

...and if you're reading this on your ipad... keep an eye on it... just in case it's contagious ;) buwhahahahahaha :D

Happy Halloween :)

As promised... another post by Halloween.. or.. ON Halloween since.. this is it ;)

So here's the update on the autumn painting from my last post.  Just a few touches added with bare branches through the bushes that you can't see very well here, and the ground.

 

Halloween costumes ... originally planned on doing a dryad/ forest spirit... then I found the little clip on horns... so I painted them up, added some furry little leg warmers and went with a faun lol My hood fell back from the wind, and you can't see the makeup very well... photos were a fail this year along with everything else >.<

 

My mom came up straight from work... where she was dressed as a clown. She was the only one who wore a costume, and she scared the crap out of her dogs this morning before she left... but she, like me, is never too old to enjoy dressing up for Halloween :) She has a costume on, but it was COLD outside, so she's bundled up in my Jedi robe lol

 This years jack o'lantern.... not as fabluous as last years, but the landlady grabbed the wrong pumpkin last night; I left mine by my door and hers were by the steps. I guess one of the kids had moved them around, and this morning when I went down to get mine, there was a bigger one in it's place... and it had a big flat spot that was just begging to be made into a face lol Despite that, the nose still ended up crooked, but oh well :) We brought him up stairs with us when we abandoned our trick-treater posts, and he's sitting in front of the tv where we can enjoy him.

And here's what the place looked like earlier. I had nothing to do with the decorating. Usually I add stuff to it, but this year I just didn't the time, or the will to stay out in the cold wet long enough .

 There ya go... a second post within a WEEK. Of course, the only reason I did one this soon, was because people were asking for another recipe... so here it is.

My great grandmother's recipe ->   Stuffed Bologna 

Instructions first, followed by photos of the process ;) BTW, Little Gram was what we called my great grandmother... because she was about 5' tall, compared to my gram, who was about 6' ;)

Halloween/Day of the Dead Blog Hop

 I think you all know that autumn is my favourite season, and that my all time favourite holiday is Halloween. This year I haven't really been in the blogging or blog hop mood... I've done a couple challenges, but nothing compared to my usual, and this has carried straight through into my favourite season and holiday. Because I haven't been able to enjoy this time of year much so far, I decided to bite the bullet and sign up for Diana's Halloween blog hop. Joining this hop accomplished three goals for me.

#1 - Get the creative juices flowing and participate.

#2 - Celebrate my favourite holiday.

#3 - Use some of my art beads!!

Yes, that's right.. one of the rules for this hop was that our pieces had to contain an art bead :) This meant I had to break open my hoard and actually *gasp* use some!

 

I had two pieces designed and started ages ago... but got stalled on the energy and will power to finish them. This turned out, despite my pre-planning, to be another last minute muse-fest :) Saturday night I finally set aside the pieces I'd been stuck on and pulled out a different art bead to feature.. and wham... my muse and I connected and we were off :) Since then I have managed to finish four pieces... including the two I'd stalled on :)

 

First up we have a fun piece made with a purple coated wire recycled from a pair of earphones ( yes, the kind you listen to music with ;) ). I knotted in some green catseye beads, and finished it with a piece of recycled silk. The focal is a fun polymer clay tentacle pendant made by Marlene Cupo of 'Amazing Designs'

 Next I grabbed a different box, and pulled out anther artbead from a different artist. This one became a simple necklace of 8mm black agate & dalmation jasper rounds, combined with some antiqued copper spacers and bead caps. the smaller rounds towards the back are glass. The focal is a fabulous bat from Marsha Neal Studios

Once I had these two done, I went back to the two original pieces I'd been struggling to finish. I ended up changing the designs on both in order to convince my muse to lend a hand and get them finished.

Both designs changed a fair bit. What was originally going to be several strands twisted with the focal hanging beneath, and the silk around the neck... became this. Shell chips & czech glass, recycled silk, chain & of course, a skull key pendant from MarlasMud.

 

And lastly, a three tier, off center, hand-made beaded chain design  shifted to a centered two tier design. This is a mix of handmade beaded chain with both blacked steel & raw copper, featuring czech glass in peach & aqua, with some magnesite spacers. The lampwork beads are from Gail of Oregon Handmade, and the skull focal of from MarlasMud :)

 

Sorry for the bad lighting ... last minute muses sessions result in poor lighting... It's a fact of life for those of us with a light tent.

I have a few other Halloween pieces on my table that don't contain artbeads that I might show you yet this week, along with another artbead featured piece or two. In the mean time, check out some of the other halloween  creations from my fellow hoppers :)

Thank you  for hosting a great hop, Diana :)

 

Hop List

~  ~  ~

 

Diana Ptaszynski  http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com

Staci Smith  http://www.stacilouiseoriginals.com/

Kathleen Breeding  http://99bobotw.blogspot.com

Sue Kennedy  http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com

Dianne Miller  http://www.artbydianne.blogspot.com

Lisa Liddy  http://www.lisaliddy.wordpress.com

Toltec Jewels  http://www.JewelSchoolFriends.com

Linda Landig  http://www.LindasBeadBlog.com

Laura Medeiros  http://Www.zoeowyn.blogspot.com

Veralynne Malone  http://www.veradesigns.blogspot.com

Lynn Jobber  http://thecreativeklutz.blogspot.co.uk

Michelle McCarthy  http://www.fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com

Karen Totten  http://www.starryroadstudio.blogspot.com

Jayne Capps  https://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com

Jenny Davies-Reazor  http://jdaviesreazor.com/blog

Joan Miller  http://metalmudandsand.blogspot.com/

Melissa Meman  http://melissameman.blogspot.com

Melissa Trudinger  http://www.beadrecipes.wordpress.com

Kari Asbury  http://hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com

Inge von Roos  http://www.ingetraud.wordpress.com

Andrea Glick  http://zenithjade.blogspot.com 

Stephanie LaRosa  http://Www.stringaholic.blogspot.com

Lola Surwillo  http://www.beadlolabead.com

Jennifer Cameron  http://glassaddictions.com/blog

Diane Hawkey  http://dianehawkey.blogspot.com

Kristi Harrison  http://kristibasket-itsanewday.blogspot.com

Nicole Valentine Rimmer  http://www.nvalentine.blogspot.com

Tanya Goodwin  http://www.Pixiloo.blogspot.com

Shai Williams  http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/

Sandra McGriff  http://skyescreativechaos.blogspot.com

Sarajo Wentling  http://www.sjdesignsjewelry.blogspot.com

Marie Covert  http://thistledown-and-swaddlings.blogspot.com

Lisa Stukel  http://www.carefreejewelrybylisa.blogspot.com

Laurie Vyselaar  http://www.Lefthandjewelry.wordpress.com

Sherri Stokey  http://www.knotjustmacrame.com

Pam Traub  http://www.klassyjoolz.blogspot.com

Lori Dorrington  http://lorisglassworks.blogspot.com

Kristen Stevens  http://kristen-beadjourney.blogspot.com

Eleanor Burian-Mohr  http://cornerstoregoddessjewelry.blogspot.com

Sally Russick  http://thestudiosublime.com

Dawn M. Gallop  http://www.flipflopsandpoptarts.com

 Christine Damm   http://storiestheytell.blogspot.com

More Halloween stuff :D

Yus... the title says it all... well.. kinda... ;)

btw... if you see words with the 'w' missing... I have a new keyboard and the 'w' likes to not compress fully when I get typing fast >.< But it's a cool keyboard... it's got glow in the dark keys... that my room doesn't have enough light to charge enough for them to actually 'glow' BUT, the black on light is so much easier to see than the white on black of normal keyboards... plus the keys feel neat against my fingers... and they're green ;)

Okay, enough about my keyboard and my new excuse for typos ;)

MISS-MATCHED HALLOWEEN EARRINGS !  Diana of Suburngirl Studios and Art Jewelry Elements blog, is holding a little hop today :) Here's my addition! check out the hoplist here... and check back because it goes as people add in their link ;) 

 sorry about the photo... but it's yucky outside >.< No natural light for pretty picture taking.

So here I took my last little witchie poo, gave her a  Czech flower dress... then used my only cat ( rather light how his eyes went red in the pic .. lol they're brown on the bead itself ) To even out the weight between the two, I opened a brass circle and turned it into a crescent, then wire wrapped some flowers around it to A- tie in the green from the witch, B- hold the crescent from slipping off , and C- keep the cat from spinning backwards. I'm afraid I don;t know who made the beads.. if you do, please tell me!

I think they turned out really cute :) Of course, now I'm out of cutesy Halloween lamp work beads.... actually, now I'm out of cutesy lamp work beads or any type :( Guess I'll have to start in on my porcelain and ceramic goodies ;)

Speaking of other goodies, I got my order of yumminess from Marsha Neil's shop and wow.... SO many ideas. As hinted at though, I'll be sharing a pendant or two in Novembers giveaway, so check back next Friday to enter for that ;)

I did order two special pieces of hers just for me though. One of her bats... I've loved those for ages and finally ordered one :) It's waiting for me to play with it.  And one of her skull pendants.  I whipped up a necklace last night, then added the clasp to wear it, despite the fact it's not finished. I ran out of size 11 seed beads in the dark brown and black >.< So until I get more in, I'm wearing it as is :D

Newest winners!

Alrighty...  busy procrastinating today, so a quick update to call out the winners, then back to it ;)

Remember this ?

This will be making its appearance in  Tiffany Smith's mailbox... as soon as she emails me her address ;)

And the bracelet?

 That will be soon be seen on Jen Ren's wrist ... as soon as she sends me her address...

And the surprise prize?   Kristen will be watching out for THAT particular butterfly-bedecked envelope... as soon as she sends me her address.

So hurry up and email me your addresses, ladies!

The rest of you have one more week to get your entries in for the big October giveaway!

Want another chance to win one of those 'fiber' bundles that Tiffany won?

Share a link to a picture of your favorite Halloween project - must be something YOU made, whether it be jewelry, clothing, costumes, or even a Halloween decoration! I'll pick a winner on Friday and have it posted by Saturday ;)

Okay ... now I'm going back to procrastinating. Catch ya'll later :D