Don't You Just Love Circles?

I sure do! This custom ornament I made recently is all about circles. The family circle, our circle of friends, and circle of life--or is it cycle of life(?).
Anyway, this round ornament is made up of many circles, and one of them encompasses a heart.

You can view the rest of the photos (3 more) of this ornament in Flickr.

Starting with this ornament, I'll post one of the ornaments a day, so be sure to check back!
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This is Thanksgiving week and in my house, the holiday baking begins! Tomorrow we'll begin by baking some cookies. MmmMmmm

Have a great day!

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Happy Easter!

Goldie and all of us in the Twisted Thicket


goldie, originally uploaded by TwistedThicket.

wish you and yours a very happy Easter!

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Gimme Steam (80s Flashback)

I've been so into listening to Peter Gabriel and watching his videos again. Boy, it's been awhile! I would love to meet the art director behind his videos someday, they are fabulous!

Anyway, on the subject of Steam...

Day 2 Steampunk gourd, originally uploaded by avision4.

I will be picking up where I left off on this gourd over the weekend. In my flickr album, you can see the progress shots up to this point here. After Sunday, I will post a couple more to show how much I got done this weekend.

Hope you enjoy the video as much as I do :)

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Sneak Peek!

flower gourd, originally uploaded by avision4.

This pretty flower is made of a small gourd and a piece of driftwood that I found on the river. It is just about finished too and I couldn't wait to show it off.

This flower was sort of an experiment to see if I could try and mimic some art glass done by Dale Chihuly. His work is so spectacular and I love how he gets the colored glass to do what he wants it to. I will never be a glass blower, but I do enjoy admiring glass artist's creations.

For this piece, I wanted to try and get a totally different look for the inside of a gourd by using a variety of color instead of painting it one solid color such as black. It was a success! Once it is totally finished, you will be able to see many different views of it here.

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Table Mural Progress shot

Table Mural Progress shot, originally uploaded by avision4.

Here is my entire table as it is right now. The theme of this mural is "life".

Since this is my own dining room table and something I'm painting just for me, I am only working on this when I don't have other paintings or gourds to get finished. This is why it is taking me so long to finish it.

It is a project that helps me to relax. Turn on some great music and paint the night away. :)

Want to see how this table started out? You can see the begining of this table further in under my Flickr Misc. folder here
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I will be enjoying a peaceful night tonight. I may watch a few movies, pop some corn, and do something creative -- maybe even work on the table for a little while. :)

We had a couple thunderstorms a little while ago, and supposed to have a couple more tonight. Right now the sun is out again and setting for the night, the temperature has dropped considerably, and the atmosphere is very comfortable right now. It really is a nice night for relaxing.

Hope your weekend is starting out on a good note.

Ciao for now!

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Spring Cleaning; Let the Games Begin!

March 31-April 1, 2008 Snowstorm, originally uploaded by avision4.

It was after midnite here (central timezone), when I was standing outside on my front porch in my stocking feet taking a few shots of the snow and ice. This photo shows the ground after it had been snowing lightly since around 2pm on March 31.

This next photo was taken early in the morning about 7am on April 1. The snow total was just over 13".

And below...here is what it looks like today, April 2.

It is 40 degrees right now (12:40 pm central time). The nice thing about a snowstorm in the spring is that the snow doesn't hang around for long. :)
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Much to my daughter's dismay, I have started spring cleaning my entire house this week.

This afternoon we are washing the walls in the living room and freshening up the windows with my lighter curtains and drapes. Furniture is being moved around and some will be on it's way out the door too.

It's a perfect day for these tasks, the sun is shining brightly and it is nice and warm. I may even open the screen on the front door and get some nice fresh air in here too.

All for now, have a great day!

[If you like, you can see additional photos of this storm in my Flickr album
Two of the photos (in my Flickr album) show one of my HUGE White Pines with the boughs touching the ground. These boughs are normally about ten feet off the ground, if not higher.]

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Ch.ch.ch.changes! 'Tis the Season

bottom view, originally uploaded by avision4.

It is Spring and for most of us it is time to declutter our homes, scrub walls, and brighten things up after a long, dark, and dreary winter. It is also the one time of year I find muscles I forgot I had...Oooo the pain!

Changes for me this spring come in many forms. While I am depressed about some, I have to keep reminding myself that the world is so large and my options are many. Just thinking about that reminder makes me nervous/excited. More on this another time...
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Remember this small gourd bowl pictured above? If not, you can see more pictures of it in my Flickr album.

This picture shows the bottom of the gourd. There are four panels and each panel has been carved into a fantasy scene. It is now nearly finished! I am working on finishing this gourd in between other projects I have going at the same time.

It will be a cute little bowl for fragrant potpourri or maybe keep your rings safe at night.

This is all for now. May you all have a beautiful day!
((hugs))

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Happiness is Carving!

one side view, originally uploaded by avision4.

This gourd bowl is actually the very top part of a bulb from a bottle gourd.

The four different panels are all based on a theme of circles.

You can see more pictures of this bowl in Flickr by clicking on the picture.

The inside is painted black and the main color on the outside is brown. I have started woodburning and painting the outside of it and it should be completed soon.
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The holidays are upon us! I hope you are all having a merry December so far.

All for now. December is a really busy month for me as I'm sure it is for you too.

Have a wonderful day!

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Out With the Old, In With the New

Miniature " Memory" " Gourd" " Box", originally uploaded by avision4.

Last year, I made this small memory box out of an ornamental gourd. I have other photos of it in my Flickr account.

I sketched my ideas onto the gourd and then lightly burned them in with a Walnut Hollow woodburning tool. After that, I used one of my X-acto knives to cut the lid.

Once the lid was removed, I scraped and sanded the entire inside surface. I also reinforced the entire gourd's walls with wood putty. The walls of this gourd were so thin and delicate that I wanted to make sure it would withstand just about anything. Once the putty had dried completely, the entire inside was sanded smooth, painted and given two coats of varnish.

Once that was done it was time to continue on with the exterior design. This included more burning and finally, painting. On the more natural looking areas of this gourd, I had rubbed a metalic gold onto the surface so that it would give a light shimmer in light. The outside was given several coats of varnish to give it a glass-like appearance. A drilled natural stone was also attached as the handle on the lid.
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Saddly, I have finally reached the limit (200 photos) in my Flickr account.

This means I either have to upgrade to the pro (paid) version or delete photos that are there to make room for new photos. Even though it is relatively inexpensive, I am unable to afford the upgrade right now so I will be having to delete older photos as I add new ones. For me, the hardest part has been having to decide which ones will be culled. Take a stroll thru there now as the scenery will sure to be changing quite often. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful, creative day!

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Blogging with Flickr

Busy, busy, busy lately. You may have gotten that impression from the simple fact that my blog has not been updated as often as I like to do.

I am sitting in Flickr blogging right now and thought I would show you a picture of a bracelet I made from the neck of a bottle gourd.

This bracelet is a bit wide (from side to side almost 2"). This was the first bracelet that I tried my hand at making from a gourd. It was pretty easy, but I have learned a few things such as the width on the neck bubble is not always going to be the same on both sides. With this particular bracelet one side is a little more loose than the other.

Anyway, being able to blog from Flickr is awesome! Just click on a photo that you wish to blog about, click the "blog this" link (above the photo), and away you go! What a great time saver that is! If you have a Flickr account, you should give it a try sometime.
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Ghost Hunters was on last night and it was the season finale'. It was a pretty good show. I'll miss watching it every Wednesday now until it starts up again in Sept.. I hope the fall season is a bit longer than this one was.

Brian (on ghost hunters) was not in the final episode as he is now a proud new father of a little baby girl! They did show her with her daddy in the very end of the show...she is a little cutie!
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Re-organizing the studio is taking a bit longer than I anticipated. But, it is coming along. I have way too many things down there!! I promise there will be pics soon...as soon as I feel brave enough. haha.

I really am in need of storage of all kinds! More shelves and a peg board would be terrific! Bins with wheels would be a great idea too, since rocks are very, very heavy.
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This is all for now.
Hope you have a creative day!

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