Chauncey Blog Feature!

Happy news for me today - my Chauncey the Jellyfish necklace was featured on the Etsy for Animals monthly challenge blog! Entering Chauncey was about challenging myself more than anything else. It's just not the kind of thing I normally do, so I thought it would be good for me. The last time something I did was entered anywhere was about 18 years ago when a favorite professor took it upon herself to submit one of my papers for a writing award. I'd love it if you could take a minute to check out the post and maybe leave a comment if you're so inclined. :)  The Etsy for Animals team members all do so much for animals in need, from raising money in their shops for the monthly charity and/or their own favorite organizations, to direct care as workers, volunteers and individuals. If you love animals and happen to be looking for a team to join, it might be a good fit for you.

I think it was four days ago that I said 'tomorrow' I'd be sharing a screen capture of my most recent treasury inclusion, go me! Thank you so much again, Life Covers, for giving me a spot in your beautiful collection! Image links to the treasury.

I was able to fire my flying fox focal and complete [for real this time!] two of the Pay It Forward pieces yesterday. I'm really happy with how the bat turned out, and as soon as I started filing him, he told me his name is Lewis. :D  I've been a bit grumpy about the backs of my PMC pieces. They're smooth and flat, but not entirely even or perfectly finished. I'm trying not to obsess about it because I know that's not absolutely necessary, but I have decided it's something to work on in the future. As in, when I can afford to get more clay! I'm also thinking of a way to designate the pieces as fine silver and include a maker's mark. I may get a fine silver quality stamp and a custom KSK stamp for marking either the backs or pre-made blank tags for hanging near the clasp. My plan right now is to etch .999 and my initials into a sculpy piece, bake it, and create a mold I can use to make my own tags out of PMC. I may have enough slip to at least make tags for the pieces I have listed.

Too much jewelry talk! I know this is yet another long one, but I'd love to share some pics I took on my Friday walk at The Betar Byway with my mom. I finally released two of the baby mice that wintered with me and Chris after we caught their pregnant mom in our kitty food cupboard. The first photo is of the path I took to release them. I meant to get pics of their first steps out of the sugar canister I brought them in, but it slipped my mind at the time - probably too nervous! These should all be bigger if you click.

Mouse Haven

My first ever Eastern Bluebird sighting - he's in there, really!

Bluebird butt -  hey, I was excited just to see him!

This Sharp-shinned Hawk [I believe] is why I was nervous about the mice

I released them far away from him, but he looks like he just knows!

I was up far too early, so it's nap time for me - I hope everyone enjoys their day!