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The Road Trip Continues -Canyon de Chelly

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It was a warm (well hot!) windy afternoon and we both wanted to visit at least part of Canyon de Chelly.  Having visited this site many years ago, it was such fun to see it again.  Next time I really want to take the jeep tour to the bottom!  https://www.nps.gov/cach/index.htm The cholla (one of my favorite desert plants) were blooming.  I think they have some of the prettiest blooms and some of the most dangerous stickers!   It's so easy to step on a piece that has come off the mother plant and so difficult to pull out the stickers.   Beautiful Cholla Standing in the hot wind thinking about the early inhabitants caused me to compare their lives with ours today.  The scenery is beautiful and harsh  and peaceful.  Wonderful to see but I don't want to work that hard.  At the bottom of the canyon the trees were green and you can see where the people lived 5000 years ago.  Navajos live there today and I could see their trucks and homes from the rim. Cliff Dw

Summer Road Trip - Alamosa Nat'l Wildlife Refuge

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Peter and I just returned from our summer road trip to the Great Sand Dune National Park in Colorado.   I'll be sharing some of the sites along the way in the next couple of blog posts and hope you enjoy them. Alamosa Nat'l Wildlife Refuge(   https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Alamosa/about_the_refuge.html ) This is a wildlife refuge that covers 11,169 acres and has a mission to enhance the wetlands and desert habitats while providing protection for migratory birds.  It is located in the San Luis Valley in south central Colorado. It wasn't until we drove into the visitor's center and followed the scenic trail that I realized what diverse habitat existed in this area.  The road followed the Rio Grande where we saw a Ruddy Duck in breeding plumage.  I love the male's blue beaks!  Ruddy Duck in breeding plumage At the visitor center there was a large milkweed plant that was different than the ones we have.  I did not see any Monarch butterflies but the blo

Design Transfers on Jewelry

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I like a more free painting technique  Polymer Clay Universe 2017 has some really fun online classes and I'm learning different techniques for polymer clay.  I want to share the results of one class I've enjoyed.  It's titled  'Mini Masterpieces' with Syndee Holt.  This is the link to the site in case you want to check it out!  https://createalong.teachable.com/p/polymer-clay-universe/ Syndee shows how to use the Jelli Plate, design transfers, silkscreens and alcohol ink pens for coloring.  She also demos ways to finish the jewelry pieces and attach cords. There is so much information and Syndee explains the steps completely. For years I've been experimenting with ways to use my personal photos in jewelry and now I have another to add to my list.  I can make a black and white laser copy of my photograph and size it in Photoshop, repeat it and then transfer the finished design directly to polymer clay.  That will be another post! For this project I use