Kathy's cuffs

Some of you who read my blog know my friend Kathy visited me last Wednesday.  I asked her to bring the things she was working on, which she did.

On the table is the pouch I won from Judy in Australia.  I gave it to Kathy because she loves this sort of over the top beauty and will put it to use, where I will let it languish without finding a good use for it.  Please ignore the cat toys strewn all over the dining room area.  It seems I put them away and the boys drag them out again.

Kathy brought all these beautiful cuffs she's made over the previous three weeks for me to admire.   She plans to sell them to friends who asked her to make them.

This first one was gorgeous, 

but very difficult to photograph all the bling on it when it was on her wrist.  Maybe you can tell the embellishments go all the way around the cuff.

This one, more simple, was easier to show in one shot.

I got a bit close when I photographed this one on Kathy's wrist.

Since it took so long to put them on, photograph them, then take them off, I asked Kathy to let me photograph them on the table.

Of course, then I realized the shadow from the camera lens was in the way.

That's when I asked her to hold the cuffs.  It saved time, and I'm sure those of you who love cuffs can see how wonderful and over the top with bling they are.

This one was stretchy pearls that were attached together under the bling.

Although I didn't notice it through my viewfinder, Kathy pointed out the two smaller cameos on either side of the larger one.  I was in awe of all the layers she uses in her cuffs, including the string of pearls that connects the burlap looking fibers to the backing made of layers of lace.

Kathy admitted the shoe was her favorite, because it was very old and not something she could buy except maybe in an antique store.

The last one she showed me was a cuff from one she fashioned for herself,  Unfortunately, I  didn't get a good photo of it because she had begun putting the cuffs away.

Here you can see her new camera and the cuffs individually priced and bagged.

Although I failed to take photos, I showed Kathy my craft room after I had cleaned it up.  Of course, I had already started to get it dirty again, but at least it didn't have the huge mess I had dealt with from before my purge.

Then it was off to lunch, photos of which I showed on Tuesday.

The next stop was Mrs. O Leary's, Kathy's favorite mixed media, scrapbook, and stamping store.  I like it, too, and try to get ideas of new things to make while I'm there.  I fell in love with this piece, and got lots of ideas for a mixed media canvas.  This is a large piece, probably around 24 square inches (60,96 square cm).

When we turned the corner, the lighting was horrible.  I tried to color correct, but nothing I did helped.  These are some of the things they make here.

I didn't take time to stop and check the mixed media and jewelry out, because Kathy was anxious to get to the rubber stamps.

Unfortunately, that was all the photos I took, and this was the one I played with the longest to try to adjust the color.  Mixed media at its finest in these cases, and on the walls inside the actual store, too.

Thank you for joining me today as I played host to my friend Kathy last Wednesday who I met through our altered book club on Yahoo, then met in person in 2006.  What fun we've had since then, even though we live about two hours from each other.