CANDY SANTA

I finished another Santa this past weekend and now all three of the Santa heads that I sculpted and showed you way back when have bodies. With this last one I couldn’t make up my mind what I wanted him to be holding. I tried out about a dozen different ideas but none of them looked right. I had to settle on something so he would be finished and I could paint him but I’m not sure if I like what I settled on. I need some feedback here. What do you think?

I just love candy canes and peppermint lollipops. Don't you?

The candy is made using cold porcelain clay that has been painted. I tried coloring the clay first but didn’t care for the results.

Here are some photos of the Santa who is holding the candy.

It seems to me the finish on this piece has a lot more shine to it than it should considering I used a matte sealer.

You may have noticed this Santa doesn't have a scarf or hat sticking out of his pockets. That's because his cloak has a hood.

The three Santa sculpts are now complete. It would seem the doll and bear balance is now out of whack. You know how important it is to maintain a balance.

That's all I've got for now. There are some projects in the works. All are quite different from what I have been doing and should present me with some challenges.

Have a great week and as always, thanks for stopping by.

LETTER FROM CAMP

Dear Mom,

We are having a splendid time here at Camp Good Bear. We have made so many new friends and have finally met our blogging friends in the fur.

On our first night at camp we had our first camp fire and it was so much fun. We learned some new songs that we’re going to teach everyone when we get back home. Bellamine’s favorite is the one that starts out “The ants go marching one by one” and she learned the whole thing the first night and wants to sing it all of the time. She even marches while she sings it. One of the bearcelors told us a really scary ghost story and we all screamed and then laughed and it was so much fun. Wilbur showed us how to make Damper on a Stick and when we get home we’re going to show you how to make them because they are so good and easy to make too.

Us listening to the scary story with one of our new friends. He brought marshmellows to snack on and said we could share. Wilbur is cooking us a Damper and when it's ready we're going to pour honey in the hole. We'll show you how it's done when we get home.

That's what a Damper looks like. The bear sitting next to Wilbur couldn't get his fill of them and wanted more.

Prudence is just as we thought she would be and although she is a camp bearcelor and has loads of responsibilities she always has time for her friends.

Believe it or not, Clarissa has made some friends. She and Blossom have become besties and spend lots of time telling each other and everyone who will listen how beautiful and special they are. Sissy looks so much like Prudence but they are so different from one another. Both are a lot of fun and such wonderful tales to tell.

Sweet Pea and Wilbur have become best mates and you’d think they’ve known each other for ever.

One day some of us went hiking on one of the trails and climbed some rocks and found a bird’s nest but the birds weren’t there anymore. We gathered all sorts of neat things to use making some craft things.

They encourage us to make crafts and since we like making crafts we work on something every day. Mom, we’ve already spent our camp money so please bring more when you come to visit next weekend on Bearents Day.

We’re having fun and we miss you and the hug.

Love and kisses from your girls,

Bellamine, Clarissa and Wendy

I'VE GOT MAIL

This was a great week for mail at my house. As some of you know I won the magic wand that the Angry Gnome and his very talented crew created for the Celebrate Oz event that was held on July 19th. Our mail carrier delivered it to the door on Wednesday. It was inside this humongous box marked very fragile and when I carefully cut open the top flaps I found  a piece of paper with a warning that said,

"Careful opening the wand. I hope you don't hear any sound of broken glass! I have bubble wrap and taped all around & the top paper part is fragile, as well as the glass bowl. Oh heck- maybe you better not even touch it! Just leave it wrapped in the box!"

Well, that didn't sound like any fun at all so I threw caution to the wind and dug right in. Talk about bubble wrap. There were three kinds of bubble wrap and then there were the Styrofoam peanuts and all of the tape and then more bubble wrap. I've got enough packaging materials now I won't have to buy any for years to come. It took forever to get to the wand but when I finally did I was so excited I nearly dropped it. I've got to have a display stand built for it but for now I have it stuck in a vase full of sea shells.

Isn't it beautiful?!? There is so much detail to this piece that I can't even begin to tell you about it all. I was going to take more pictures but as fate would have it, the camera battery went dead. I had taken other photos with it earlier this morning so I managed to get a pic of what came in yesterday's mail as well.

I've just added another photo trying to show the detail in the globe of the wand but this is as good as it's going to get. I'm getting a reflection off of the glass so you really can't see the witch and the flying monkey or see how the poppies and everything fits together so magically.

You remember Dillywink my Munchkin from the Oz posts? That was his name here but his new momma gave him a nickname, Dilly Boy and now that's what he prefers to be called.  He's so happy at his new home so he asked his new momma if he could send me something as a thank you for sending him to live with his new family and she told him he could send me anything his little heart desired so he chose to send me these:

Aren't they wonderful?? It's a  set of 18 of the most delightful Oz ACEO cards and I was flabbergasted when I opened the package and saw them. It wasn't the first time that I'd seen them they were on the July 19th Celebrate Oz blog party post on Ireland Brady's site. I'd never visited this site before and hadn't seen any of the work created by Karen Anne but once I did see it I wanted to see more. I took my daughter blog hoping to see what everyone else had posted for the Oz celebration and she fell in love with the artwork on this site too. Karen Anne is not only a talented artist but also one of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. That is one of the wonderful things about blogging. You meet some of the nicest people. I am so happy I took part in the Oz celebration and am thankful for the new friends I've made by doing so. Thank you so much April and Karen Anne and you too Linda for bringing so much joy by being the lovely people that you are.

Remember the pale Santa in the last of my Oz posts? I finally got him painted and took a few photos of him. I've named him "2 B & a D" (two bears and a doll).

I have one more Santa to finish and that will take care of those three Santa heads that played "What's my Line" awhile ago.

Wishing you a happy weekend. Thanks for stopping by.