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Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Things I made yesterday

 Just a quick post to share what I made yesterday.  

blue and rose pigment filled pendant

white painted fern and green leaf pendant


oregano flower and green leaf pendant

tiny baby's breath squares for earrings

All of these lovely frames can be found at Nunn Design.  What projects have you been up to lately?
~Katie

Sunday, April 4, 2021

Chocolate Chip Muffin Tops

I made some chocolate chip muffin tops this weekend for breakfast from a recipe I pinned from Pinterest.  The recipe uses cake mix as the primary ingredient.  The recipe is here.  It was really good, like cake for breakfast.  I did make some modifications.  I used Aldi's Classic White Cake Mix which is only a little over 15 ounces, short of the needed 18 ounces of cake mix.  So I added about 5 tablespoons of flour, the original recipe called for 2 tablespoons of flour.  I also used almond milk instead of cow's milk.  I don't like cow's milk, it tastes funny to me. I also subbed melted butter for the oil and used about 3/4 cup of chocolate chips.  


Aldi's white cake mix

all mixed up

I like making my muffins like cookies, no muffin pan.  That way they are like muffin tops.  The best!  

the not-so-beautiful muffin tops

rotated the pans mid-bake


all done-yum!

perfectly baked muffin tops

Have you ever made your muffins like cookies?  
~Katie



Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Soldering a Fern Leaf - Part One

This week I'm working on some soldering.  Specifically making new pendants and wall art.  This first part focuses on the steps prior to applying solder.  Next time, I'll cover the steps for applying solder.  I really enjoy soldering but these first few steps are somewhat tedious to me.  


The first step is picking out what I'll frame.  That's the easy part.  :)

fern from my garden and glass

Next comes cutting copper foil to go around my glass.  A little more effort.  But still fairly easy.

cutting foil to go around the glass

The third step (most tedious to me) is sandwiching the fern between the glass, whilst also making sure there aren't any dust particles, finger prints, or that the fern has shifted.  Definitely, a bit of a pain.  I feel like I always see dust and am constantly cleaning it out.  But when I feel it's finally dust-free, smudge-free, and hasn't shifted, I use binder clips to keep it all together.

binder clips hold the glass and fern together

Lastly, I wrap copper foil around the glass.  Still tedious but not as tedious as the previous step.  The hardest part of foiling is making sure that I'm square in the middle of the tape with my glass. For this piece, I cut the foil a little bit short and covered up what was missing.  I'll use an hobby knife to even up the tape on all sides.

the glass is foiled and ready to be cleaned up
 on the edges with a hobby knife

Next time, I'll show the steps for soldering.  Happy Tuesday!
~Katie


 




Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Doodling again...

I really like to draw.  Especially flowery things.  I'm not the best drawer but I find it to be a very calming exercise.  A mindful exercise.  I draw when I'm restless, stressed, or bored.  It helps keep me grounded.  

What do you do for mindfulness?
~Katie

fern

yellow flowers with butterfly




abstract leaves


















You can find my dishes here:  kateemarie

Friday, March 5, 2021

Polymer Clay Earrings

I've been playing with clay again.  A long time ago, when I first discovered poly clay, I made tons of beads.  Mostly in a swirled pattern.  Boring.  Meh.

One of my first beads. I suppose it's kinda cute.

But recently, I've found so many beautiful patterned clay slabs on Pinterest that I've been inspired to try my hand at slab work. 

First attempt at patterned clay cut outs.

Since I didn't have a very fun mix of colors for my first batch, I picked up more clay.  Stay tuned. 
~Katie
Purple bead and polymer clay earrings.

Friday, October 14, 2016

Soldering!

I like learning about new things and lately I've been trying out soldering. 




soldering stand, slides, solder, flux, and coffee (of course!)




I've made some flower and leaf microscope slide magnets.










I'm not sure that they're sales-worthy and my soldering iron tip disintegrated while making them, but it was fun to try. 


After I replaced my soldering tip (and bought a different iron because I couldn't find a replacement tip for the original) I tried out stained glass pieces. 






The far right green one looks like Illinois, right?!

It went a bit easier this time and the soldering tip survived!!!  I might even make these into necklaces or charms for bracelets for KateeMarie.

Monday, June 13, 2016

Recent Projects

Again, it's been a while since I've posted but just thought I'd pop in to show some of my recent projects.  Mostly resin work, of course. :)


Tracing real leaves on rubber stamp mat.


After using lino cutters to carve: 
completed stamp.  I've been stamping this
one on out-going packages.

Custom ring dish order with ferns and white larkspur.

Pink crab apple flower buds from my garden for
 another custom piece.


Using up little leaves that I've pressed for
 a new ring dish.


Added solar lights to the back garden.
It's not so spooky anymore.  :)

Playing with pigment color for a new
dish design.





I'm hoping to post again soon!
♥Katie