I love what Robin Jorrey has done tough.  Every year she keeps her new swap beads on a  strand. Now she can look back at each retreat in a strand of beads, and she brings them to the cabin to show too. How clever is she?

One thing I have witnessed is that those who do swap are pretty darn generous. At his past cabin retreat people were swapping and as usual I had nothing. I can’t tell you how many people said, “Here take one. No, take more.” I felt guilty so I spent the weekend making trade beads. Ha! I needed to make something anyway.

Check out the little guy I got from Sheryll Hubbard and the rose from Jim Anspach (Mr. and Mrs. Booger). He is polymer clay with a penny in his head. Penny for your thoughts? I had to have him. I just love those eyes!

You all probably know my inner personal crusade against GMO foods and my journey into fresh eating, vegetarianism, juicing, blah blah blah. I almost did not respond to the very kind and personal offer due to the fact that everything is packaged.  That is, not fresh from the garden and probably packed full of preservatives. But, to be fair, I did a little searching on the site and found this:

Health Considerations.
eFoodsDirect takes family health considerations seriously. eFoodsDirect meals are Cholesterol-Free, great source of fiber, vegetarian options, no trans-fats, no hydrogenated oils, no added MSG, not genetically modified, lactose-free, soy-free, gluten-free, oxygen-free packaging and made in the USA.

Could a packaged product be more made for me? Still I was hesitant thinking about disaster relief foods being ancient, rusty, dusty cans and jars lining the wall of a cellar somewhere. But Hannah, who contacted me, was so nice and something inside of me wanted to give them a try.

I don’t know why but I kept trying to envision when I would ever eat packaged foods. Sugah Daddy is always bringing home these all natural, all healthy, organic out-of-the-can things thinking they’d be good to give to the kids on the run. I refuse to use them let alone buy them myself. I’ve gotten a little persnickety.

But anyway, I was having a hard time thinking about recommending the products and then it hit me. Ya big dummy, they aren’t meant to be eaten every day. They are meant for a disaster (which I guess could constitute nothing for dinner when mom’s not home). There are many applications where they could be used in a non-disaster format like camping or outdoors stuff.

So, anyway, I have an open mind. Way more than I did from the start. And when you think about it…it could happen, right? Anything could happen. And who would be the most popular family on the block? The one with food. And good food that provides actual nutrition. Not the family with canned Spaghettios and old rice cakes that no one wanted in the first place. Healthy food. And at that point, I’m guessing we wouldn’t want to be the most popular but, you get my point.

Stay tuned for the actual review after we’ve tried them!

Each tile is almost 1.5″ square.  The last tiles were set in polymer clay and I’m still kicking around in my head how to finish them in a higher end setting. Currently on the drawing board is Bronzclay.

The good news is that I have everything I need to make that happen. The bad news is, that  little thing called a learning curve. I’m going in with the attitude, “how hard can it be?” After all, I’m certified in precious metal clay. Did I mention that that certification was in 1999 and I haven’t done anything with it since? I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it is meant to be and that it will come as easily as this process shockingly has.

This one still needs to go through the kiln process but I think it’s pretty nifty. One thing I like about these pieces are the designs. Just like with polymer clay caning, it isn’t as easy as putting color down. Notice all that black outlining? That is key to the designs. The black lines are rows of tiny tiny tiny black stringer a fraction of the size of the color chips being used. Crazy, I know, but I. JUST. LOVE. IT.