Cat Tree

ETA:  I've added a couple of pictures showing the making of the cat tree for those with questions.  Also....see the comments too.

We've been busy here.  Finished the laundry room then we took some time off to make this cat tree.  Now I can get back to making beads and maybe even working on some new images for Beeswax.  Wally gets to work on finishing the bathroom remodel.

Homemade Cat Scratcher

Wally and I made a homemade cat scratcher for the kitties.  We wanted to make a big multi level tree house but I thought a practice piece would be a good start so we made this first.  The cats really like it and it looks great in the house.  The kitties ask me every day when the tree house will be ready. :)

Couch Potato

 New couch, new pillows and Trevor has taken over.  He loves lying on that small pillow and today he's watching tv on it with the remote in front of him.  I hope he lets me watch Mad Men tonight. :)

New Kitty Toy

 Trevor got a new toy.  I actually got it for the one year old Cody but Trevor took it over.  Isn't he handsome?

New Snake

We've never seen one of these before.  It's a Western Yellow-bellied Racer.

I'm working on new images!

We'll just ignore the fact that it's been 8 months since I've updated this blog.

Ninja Mantis

This is the second time my plumeria has bloomed.  I guess it likes the heat here.  Wally took this picture today and said that the praying mantis was going after hummingbirds.  Yes, they can actually catch a hummingbird.  Here's a link with a cool photo:
Praying Mantis Catches Hummingbird

More Kitten Pictures

 These are the latest pictures of Cody taken last week.  He's a little terrorizer. 

Cody

Here's the new kitten Cody with Trevor.  Most of the cats have learned to tolerate Cody.  The little kitten is extremely bold and fearless.  I'd forgotten what it's like to have a kitten in the house.  I wish I could siphon off some of his energy for myself.

Rescue Kitten

 We found this kitten on the side of the road last night.  Another member of the family now.  I'll be calling the Vet tomorrow to get it in to get checked out.  It seems really young but it's strong, feisty and looking for trouble all the time.

River Rocks

I've listed a new set of beads in my Etsy shop, River Rocks.  These were totally therapeutic to make.  They have a lot of visual texture with mottled and webbed patterns in ivory and brown encrusted with silver.  I've heavily encased them with a premium crystal clear.  There are quite a few perfect matches among the set so you could get a few earring pairs out of this as well.

Caramelized Onions FAIL

Dinner will be delayed.

Webbing Techniques * A Comprehensive Guide

My new tutorial is ready! Six webbing techniques, 25 pages, 123 photos, over 130 example beads and a 4.3MB file size. Available by direct download for only $21 here: http://beeswaxrubberstamps.com/lampworkbeads.htm

Woodpecker Art

Wally and I have been going hiking the last few months. We have a ton of different trails here so we are taking advantage of them. Wally brings a camera with so I'll start posting some pictures. This is a fence post where some woodpeckers have stashed acorns.

Webbing Techniques Tutorial

Gosh, it's been forever since I've posted here and I didn't even realize it had been so long. I've been testing all of the Double Helix glass colors since mid August for my new webbing tutorial. I'm almost done testing and I should have the tutorial available by the end of February. It will include instructions on each of my six webbing techniques and a glass color guide showing all of the techniques that work on each Double Helix glass color. I'm expecting it to be around 25 pages long. Here are some examples...

Tarantula

We've lived here for 7 years now and this is the first tarantula we've seen on our property. He's HUGE! About the size of my hand. Our outside kitty Jaimie found him for us and we relocated him so Jaimie wouldn't find him again but not before I took a few pictures.

Clio Revisted

Everyone has been talking about the tricks to get Clio a hot pink. It usually involves multiple layers of glass. Using orange as a layer requires a coat of clear before and after the orange to prevent cracking and to stop the orange from turning brown from the silver in Clio. Far too many layers and too much fussing around for me. Those of you that have done that, why not give Kalypso a try as a base layer? I'd love to know how it compares. This bead was made with a thin layer of Kalypso, struck and then encased with Clio. I then used silver foil, gave it a fairly good reduction and encased with Zephyr. Less reduction would have reduced the lavender luster and made it more pink.

Beeswax 16 Year Anniversary Sale!

We're having a big sale for our 16 year anniversary. Orders of $50 or more get 20% off and orders over $125 get 25% off. The shopping cart is all set up to automatically discount your order and the sale runs through Friday August 26th. Please pass the word around to all of your stamping friends! I'd appreciate it. :)

We also have a Facebook page for Beeswax and you can find us here:

Beeswax on FB

Perfect Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

I've been tweaking different recipes and I think I've put together the perfect vanilla bean ice cream recipe. It's rich and creamy and comes out perfect every time. You can use the batter as a base for other flavors as well by just omitting the vanilla bean. I'm still tweaking chocolate and strawberry but for now I do have a coffee variation. Warning: After trying this you won't be able to eat ice cream like Breyers or Dreyer's ever again.

I use the Cuisinart 2 quart ice cream maker (Williams-Sonoma is having a great sale right now). You need an actual vanilla bean to make this...don't omit it! The vanilla bean adds a ton of exotic vanilla flavor. Your best bet is to buy them from a site like Penzey's (thanks squid!). If you buy them at the grocery store you'll pay two or three times what you will buying online in bulk.


Perfect Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 2/3 cups milk
two vanilla beans
8 egg yolks
3 1/3 cups heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Combine sugars and milk in a medium saucepan. Use a sharp knife to split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Use a blunt knife to scrape out the seeds and stir them and the vanilla bean into the milk/sugar mixture. Bring the mixture to a slow boil over medium heat, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove and discard the vanilla bean.

Lightly beat the egg yolks in a small bowl. Gradually stir in about one cup of the hot liquid to temper the egg yolk and then slowly add the mixture back into the saucepan. Heat stirring constantly until thickened and the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Do not let it come to a boil or else you'll have scrambled eggs. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool a bit. Transfer the mixture into a bowl and refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Mix in the heavy whipping cream and the vanilla extract. Pour the batter into your ice cream machine and leave it mixing for about 30 minutes. Transfer the ice cream into a container and freeze for at least 3 hours before serving.

Coffee Ice Cream Variation

Omit the vanilla bean. Mix the sugars and milk over medium heat with 6 tablespoons of instant espresso coffee, I use Medaglia D'oro that I found at the grocery store. 6 tablespoons will make a very strong coffee flavor so if you're not sure you'll like that you may want to try 4 tablespoons instead.

AKDesigns Facebook Fan Page

It's been too incredibly hot here to do much of anything. So I thought it would be a good time to sit in our air conditioned office and get some work done. I've set up a FB fan page for AKDesigns which you can "like" here:

AKDesigns on Facebook

It will be a good way to keep up on my Etsy store listings. I'll probably put up some other glassy type things but nothing I don't already post here. Right now I have a couple of bead albums with work from 2011 and I have a couple more to put up.

For my rubber folks I'll be working on a fan page for Beeswax in the near future too.