Thursday's Themes - The Man Cave

1. Green Monster Seats Photo 2. Boston Red Sox Emblem 3. Streets of Boston

4.Ultimate iPod Station 5. Shot Glasses 6. Rhino Head

7. Poker Motto 8. Pulp Fiction Wall Decal 9. Leather Lounge Chairs

This weekend is my husband's birthday. Currently all the guys are downstairs in the basement playing the ritual Thursday night poker game. Our basement is pretty bare, except for my husband's poker table (which he made himself), the billiards table and the dart board. It is truly a man cave and as of last Wednesday it also now contains the dog that Jason has been wanting for a very long time. Last Saturday we visited the Champaign County Humane Society and adopted Pepper a female lab-mix. She is a very cute and rambunctious 4 month old puppy. Jason has been asking for a dog, for as long as I can remember and now that we have a house, he finally has the dog to complete his man cave. The above choices are things that I think would improve the vibe of the man cave. It is unfinished right now but I now my husband has great plans for it. Have a great weekend everyone and happy birthday hubby. Below is a picture of Pepper, I love her little Yoda ears.

Online Tutorials for Metal Clay Users

I am for the most part, a self-taught precious metal clay artist. I use the term "artist" loosely here, a better description of me would be a professional silicone mold creator. I have a mountain of precious metal clay books but I am a very visual learner. So when I can actually find video tutorials online for various precious metal clay techniques I bookmark them and study them diligently. The two websites that I have always returned to for their video tutorials is Whole Lotta Whimsy and Cool Tools.

There was however a very cool development last night on Tonya Davidson's blog , who is the co-owner of Whole Lotta Whimsy. Tonya Davidson has created a design team which she calls the Master Muses. These Master Muses are ten highly respected and experienced metal clay artists, that will be submitting a precious metal clay tutorials on various techniques on Tonya Davidson Blog every Wednesday starting January 28, 2010 . Two of the ten Master Muses are also Etsy Metal Clay Team members. A big congrats to Lora Hart and Ruth Baillie of Birdland Creations. There will be roughly 60 tutorials posted on Tonya's Blog. I can't wait to see all the different tutorials!

Handcrafted Help for Haiti

I found out the other day that there is a shop on Etsy called Hearts for Haiti. This wonderful shop has a collection of various items, that have been donated by various Etsy artists, to raise funds for the humanitarian efforts needed in Haiti . The Hearts for Haiti Shop will donate 100% of the proceeds (minus Etsy fees and Paypal fees) to Doctors Without Borders in bi-monthly increments. I am in the process of contacting this shop owner to donate one of my pendants. One of my fellow EMC teammate's, Liz Hall from Lizards Jewelry, has already donated her Heart Ring to the Hearts for Haiti Shop. There are several lovely items in this store that would make for great Valentine's Day gifts.