Is the week over already??

I don't know what it is, but since March the end of the months seems to come right after the start. The middle seems to pass me by in a haze of busyness, and when the haze lifts another month has started already ... I must admit I don't like it. At all .... And I have no clue how to change it :-(

This week I worked mostly on my mosaic. I finished the new mirror I started:

And felt like starting another one! But first I needed some more mosaic pieces. So I got out all of my materials Wednesday night, and started working the clay. Oh boy .... that didn't feel good on my hands ... The clay was really hard and crumbled in my hands. And all the kneading didn't do much good. I kept going at it (I'm stubborn that way ☺), and succeeded in getting it more or less like it needed to be. But my poor hands ....I even had a blister in my palm! The things we do for art ..... I know some people would call me crazy ...

Anyway, the mosaic pieces I managed to make weren't nearly enough, so I started searching the web for solutions on handling hard and crumbling polymer clay. Thank goodness for the internet! And for the people willing to share their experiences and solutions...

I was so inspired by all that I read that I stayed up until 1.00 am ... Decided to "marinate" my cut-up clay in some oil overnight, and expected them to be soft and pliable in the morning. Were they?

Nooo!
Still felt very hard and couldn't get them to mix together. So I took another (more extreme) advice I read about, and went to work on them with a hammer .... And managed to beat them all into submission :-D
It felt very liberating smashing those stubborn pieces of clay (great stress reliever) and I finally had soft and manageable clay, phew ...

These are the pieces I finished before the kids got home from school:

Still need more, but I think I'll give my poor hands some days off ;-)

As a result of my mosaic making, I didn't get to paint very much. But I've almost finished the first layer of white. I love this kind of painting, it's very relaxing, almost like a meditation. This is where I am now:

And then yesterday I got a big surprise in the mail! Netty, who had won one of my paintings in the giveaway a few weeks back, decided to send me a surprise package with art goodies.

Oh, so exciting to open up ... :-)

And look what was inside! I love every single thing in it!

A beautiful pendant. I'm in love with the little glass beads at the bottom. It's nice and glossy, and the girl is so cute.

Love this tag too. And I had to write her to ask how she got the girl on here so glossy. Love the result! And again those lovely beads ....

 And this is actually a little notebook! I'll only write very special notes in there ;-)

And it was all wrapped in a beautiful napkin that I can use in collage:

Thanks so much Netty. You didn't have to do this. But I'm happy you did :-)

And following my last post about all the time I'm wasting on Pinterest lately, Conni from Atelier Tante Trulla sent me this pin:

 Hihi ... so true ;-)

Well, that's it for now. I'm linking this post as always to Paint Party Friday.

Hope you're having a fantastic day! Thanks for visiting, and enjoy the coming weekend! ♥ ♥ ♥