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CADD — Arts and Crafts Attention Deficit Disorder.

Since she was a young child, Tippett has been interested in every variation of crafting.

When she was 5, a friend of the family taught her to knit and crochet. In high school, she did needlepoint and made a gift for her cousin. She also did counted cross stitch, candle wicking and macramé to make gifts for her family and friends.

As an adult Tippett continued her crafting with cooking, working in the garden, painting, antiquing, making flower arrangements and wreaths, sewing, refinishing furniture and creating jewelry. Whew, that is some list!

She was working full time and had twins when a co-worker began to sell earrings for her church. The co-worker was marketing them for $6. Tippett thought, “I could do that.”

“After my twins were born, I became fanatical about taking their pictures,” Tippett said. “I wanted to come up with a unique way I could preserve those precious moments and make something I could wear, like a piece of jewelry.”

Tippett stayed busy with the twins and work.

When she visited her parents in Illinois, she saw some necklaces similar to what she was working on. The difference was these necklaces had pictures but not of people like family members. She came up with a technique of transferring the pictures to a piece of clay and making pendants. Tippett knew she would never make a million off the pendants but she really enjoyed the process of making pendants and magnets.

Tippett did lots of research and experimented until she came up with a procedure she could use.

The first step is to run the clay through a pasta maker until it is the right consistency. Using special material, she transfers the picture to the clay and cuts the clay out around the picture.

Then the clay is put into a toaster oven for about 15 minutes and the transferred material is peeled off.

Next Tippett smooths the edges of the clay down.

The pictures on the pendants can be done in black and white, sepia or color. Tippett does not use a template, so each necklace is unique. Each pendant usually takes three hours to make.

Tippett makes her own cording for the pendants usually of rawhide or smooth leather.

Her twins are now 7 and love to help make the jewelry.

Tippett has made a magnet with pictures of her great-grandparents on them. She also has magnets with her kids’ early artwork on them.

“You know, the boxes of artwork you save,” Tippett said.

When a friend saw the necklaces and magnets, she said, “Cindy, you should make these and sell them.”

Tippett had primarily been making them as gifts for family and friends. Her friend, Renee Blackburn of Greensboro, also suggested the name Mud Peeps since the pendants were made out of clay.

“We need to brand the Mud Peeps with a special name like the Liz Claiborne brand, so the brand Mud Peeps by Anna Keith was born,” Blackburn said. Anna and Keith are the names of the 7-year-old twins.

This year, for the first time, Tippett also made a key chain with a Mud Peep on it. This was a friend’s daughter’s graduation present.

Tippett makes Christmas wreaths, centerpieces and table linens. She called these items her funky-style Christmas and uses hot pink, electric blue, lime green and Pandora purple. The wreaths and the jewelry can be seen on her website, www.mudpeeps.com.

Tippett’s Mud Peeps are also on display at Wee Kids, a children’s consignment shop, 3925 Sedgebrook St., Suite 109, High Point.

If you have news of High Point people or events, contact Kathy Johnson at mjohnson2@triad. rr.com.