Mary Clare Art

Playing with designs
This did not come out quite as I anticipated which is why I usually don't have a plan when I sit down to play! I wanted to metal stamp the copper round but realized the gauge was too thin and would not take the stamping. 

I was going to combine words with the polymer clay squiggles and the black onyx cabochons. This piece is whimsical though so I will be keeping it for myself! 

Mary Clare Art
Mary Clare is one of my findings customers who creates stunning rosary beads.

handcrafted rosary

Each one is a beauty created with metal, crystal, glass and semi precious gemstones.

handcrafted rosary

Each is designed to be an heirloom piece.

handcrafted rosary

Not only that, but each is one of a kind, never reproduced.

handcrafted rosary

Mary Clare's talent goes beyond this. Please visit her page regarding a children's book written to explain adoption in a spiritual way to young children. She not only wrote the book, but also illustrated it! You may also find her blog here.

Visit Mary Clare Art for your next rosary purchase.

Thank you for stopping by! More to come soon as I may be making my television debut in a couple of weeks! 

Chronicle, which is a Massachusetts program that airs nightly on ABC, stopped by to interview me. The episode will be about the state symbols. I was showing off our official state gemstone which is pink rhodonite. Being a show I have watched for as long as I can remember makes it a bit exciting. 

~Val

This Week's Blog Post

Rosary Beads

This was my first time making rosary beads for a boy! 

Girls are easy.  I am happy with the results though. The glass beads are cats eye accented with pewter like beads. The sterling cross on this one is perfect! This will be carried by my nephew at his First Communion.

Birthday Flowers

My 39^th birthday was a couple of weeks ago and Jim gave me a beautiful bouquet of red roses and Fuchsia pink carnations! 

These flowers lasted really long. Carnations are the Energizer Bunny of bouquets. This was taken 1 week later:

 The roses have passed on so yesterday I removed them and the carnations are still going strong!

Wine Tasting Party

I had always wanted to host a wine tasting party and finally did so! We got 4 whites and 4 reds. Yup, Jim and I already got into the 7 Deadly Zins before company arrived! Hence the wine stopper on 1 bottle!

Jim made these perfect pamphlets.

The graphic on the back was for tasting instructions! The was a non pretentious event!

I put wine glass charms on the glasses. Jim had the idea of gifting the glass along with its charm as the party favor! We scored the wine glasses from the dollar store. 

These were surprisingly good quality and actually made in the USA. The dollar store is full of surprises!

I got this prop for photo ops. It is a super huge brandy glass. Jim figured out the right food coloring combination to create the look of red wine from water. 

I actually came across a massive wine glass at a store and passed on it thinking I would never be able to use it again after the party. I wish I got it though! This style of glass has more decorating potential later.

My friends who are totally talented bakers brought this masterpiece of chocolate covered fruit including apples, bananas, strawberries and pineapple. What a hit this was! 

They used sticks and that foam stuff from a florist shop to show off the fruit!

Here is Jim and I. I was totally feeling the wine if you can’t tell from the photo.  Hence the over smiling.

Thank you for stopping by!!! Have a wonderful spring week ahead! I really need to start addressing my yard! ~Val