An Hour at Michaels... Priceless

Today the family and I stopped at Michaels, just to browse.  Of course I know I'm only kidding myself when I say that I just want to browse.  My browsing took me all over the store and an hour later... and almost $100 later (I don't know how it ended up being that price...lol) I've got some new ideas to give a try.

Of course I thought I'd do my Ring A Day... which turned out to be one.  I'm terrible at doing anything for any amount of time.  It's like I've got ADD... there are just so many things to do - and my mind bounces around like it's a ball in a pin ball machine.  All - Over - The - Map.  I'm just hoping with my new little purchases ... I'll be able to do a bit more focusing on my clay and start to get back into it.  I've not done any clay work in month...and quite honestly I'm missing it!

I picked up some frames for my clay, so you can hang a few
around the neck, a bird cage, 2 bird houses, some rings, pinheads,
bead / pearling rods some clay and black embossing powerder.

The start to my little polymer clay terrerium

It was quite a a bit of an eye opener when I did get my bill.  I didn't realize what I'd bought would come to that amount... I also picked up some Valentine's Day bits and bobs... so really, I guess it wasn't so bad.

I think my first project will be my little terrerium.  I picked up 2 bowls like this... of course they may get a little dusty because there is no lid, but I couldn't find anything that was enclosed and small - either they were larger flatter bowls, larger more rounded bowls (all of which would be very awesome), but I'm just wanting to do a few mushrooms, toadstools, little home, trees and grass maybe.  I'll draw out some ideas - just to be sure that I don't end up forgetting something... or maybe I'll just go for it and let the creativity go where it wants to.

Taking a moment

I've been away... and totally not claying or being remotely creative over the past little while.  I think with the pressure of work, family and my "studio" being the kitchen table, my ability to get anything remotely creative accomplished has been lackluster to say the least.  Also my computer is continually conking out on me and it's been a pain in the butt.

I have to say that I did manage to get some crafting retail therapy in over the weekend... I was so pleased with myself.  I took the family to Michaels and had a blast - I bought enough clay to last me quite some time and it was even more awesome by the fact that the clay was 50% off!  Holla!  I bought a few more things at the store, stamps, pearl luster (I see it around... had no idea I would find it in the stamping area... gah!), and I stopped by Chapters to pickup a Moleskin book for my drawings and "creative" moments that I felt I should write down.  I also stopped by Staples to pick up some watercolour pens.  Ohhhh.. I'm all ready to get my creative on.  I've just got to find the time to myself to do it (which is WAY easier said than done).

So seeking a little inspiration as to what to put in my Moleskin book.... to put into effect with clay I decided to stop by Illustration Friday.... which this week had the word: "perennial".  Now my mind goes straight for flowers... but I wanted something different and I went through what others had come up with for the word and for the life of me, that word Perennial... gave me ziltch for inspiration.  I'm hoping that this Friday will give me something more to work with because I was an empty empty woman when it came to being inspired by this week's word.

This past week I've been looking online for some ideas, inspiration and just an opportunity to be uninhibited and just enjoy creating.  I stopped by Fun Clay and they had some "how to's" on creating little characters.  I gave a whirl to the bird... and enjoyed it so much I made two!

Crazy little birds... I had fun making them

Illustration Friday: Asleep ... Part II

Illustration Friday: Topic ~ Asleep

Well I thought I'd be spending a bit more time on creating my little sleeping kitteh in clay... but in total it took about 3 1/2 hours and most of it was for making the green carpet under the kitty.  Each of the little tips of the carpet were hand rolled and made of various sizes... and I did it all while watching Harry Potter, so the time went by and it was a fun little project.

I decided to throw in a ball of yarn that the kitteh played with and then got so tired that she needed a nap on the squishy chair.  I really enjoyed myself making it and gave it to my daughter once I'd snapped a couple of pictures of it. 

My Muse.... Sweet Fluffy Kitteh

Illustration Friday: Asleep

Illustration Friday :: Topic ~ Asleep

I've been wanting to try my hand at Illustration Friday for a while and if you've been reading this blog, you've seen the Illustration Friday icon on the sidebar navigation.  Have I yet had the time to get a little creative with the ideas that come up weekly.... well.... no.  BUT!!!  Today I decided I'm going to do, as I've got a few days off and I plan on enjoying them (and not just spend the entire time cleaning and puttering and generally wasting time until I have to go back to work).  Well, that's the plan anyway.... so I'm going to put together a little clay creation of a sleeping kitteh in a funky chair with some crazy shag carpeting.  Have I ever attempted anything like this before?  Nope.  So it should be fun, challenging and hopefully not too frustrating...


  I put together the illustration in Fireworks and I have to admit since I've been away from doing anything with graphics for almost 3 years.. getting back into it is challenging.... what use to come pretty naturally is SO NOT the case.  I put together the illustration above using Adobe Fireworks.  I love that program.  It just doesn't feel as bulky as Photoshop and Illustrator... and has always been my preference when putting together graphics, editing photos, and general illustrating that have an opportunity to do.  I'd like to get back into making graphics and even trying my hand at creating web templates or something like that.

I'm getting way ahead of myself on that topic... for now I'm going to enjoy making this little clay creation.  Wish me luck!

Little Birds

I have been spending a bit of time this weekend drawing up some ideas for projects I'd like to try.  I was also talking with my hunny about starting to sell some beads and things I make online, he's all for it!  I think so far it's been pretty productive... and surprisingly relaxing this weekend.  I've just decided to be mellow... and let creativity happen when it happens.  Also I've been staying away from playing on my iPhone which I have a tendancy to do when I'm bored and watching TV.  Strange how I seem to multi-task those two together.  Instead I've spend the weekend picking up a pencil and drawning in my book.

One of my little creations I had thought about making was 3 Little Birds.



Three Little Birdies in Shadow Boxes

 I thought I'd make little birds and place them in shadow boxes and give them unique backgrounds and see how it went.  Trees with flowers, a sunny sky and some paper cut out clouds.  As I was working on my little birds I've decided rather than placing them in 3 separate shadow boxes, that I'd just put them in one.  I think it just was due to the size that I'd made them... thought they'd look better all together.


The Basics of the Birdies I started to create

 I started out with three bird shapes.  One in a blue, one pink and one brown.  I had wanted a more red looking bird, but the mixing took it to a pretty in pink and I had some leftover pink that I was able to encorporate in the design of the pink bird which made me pretty darn happy.  That clay I had was from one of my earlier canes that I had tried to make when I first started.... back in November!





First Birdie... I wanted to wire wrap it's
legs to give it a bit of pizazz.


Having never wire wrapped anything before I thought I'd give it a try with my first little birdie.  I took some thicker bronze wire and wrapped some silver around it to make it stand out and then placed some beads on it to make it look a little more interesting, while keeping the bird itself very straight forward and minimal in design.







Little Pink Birdie... the beginning of
something beautiful!

 Starting this one's little head design... not quite sure where I wanted to take it, I was thinking of placing a little flower on a wire stem and putting it on it's head, but it just didn't look quite right so I decided to encorporate several wires and let it kind of look more like a mohawk.


My little pink birdie with it's
 unusual mohawk :)







Here is where I got to encorporate the older cane that I had made back in November for the chest piece on this little pink birdie.

As I was showing my hunny ... he thought it might look good in a flower pot as well as the shadow box I was planning on putting it in. 

See.. so many ideas!  I can't help but get excited to think that there is so much I can get my hands into....that sometimes it's hard to focus on just one thing!


A decorative little pink birdie



Encorporating the old cane, kind of made my day because I have it in my box of clays... wondering if I'd ever had any use for the stuff, and there you go.  Making it a bit more pretty and decorative.






My very decorative brown birdie


It was a bit funny with the last birdie.  I was sitting thinking what I could do with this one that I hadn't done with the other two.  I figured I didn't really do any tail feathers on the other ones...so I ended up improvising a bit and make some green decorations with some wired feathers. 

I was thinking if I had actually made it long enough, but I like how they've turned out.

The Shadowbox... before the magic.  LOL.

The potential shadow box that I'll be putting my little birdies in once they've been cooked up and I've found a proper background.  I'm thinking of placing some scrapbooking paper in the back... maybe a nice light blue with polka dots if there is one, and then I'll add a polymer clay tree with some clay flowers/leaves.  From there depending on room I might add a sun, and some paper clouds that I'll glue in there.... all depending on room.  I was thinking of maybe rather than doing a polymer clay tree branch I might try putting a real one in there and then glue/wire in the flowers..... I'm not sure yet.

But I think so far I'm liking the little birdies I've made.  I'll cook them up later this afternoon and then when I get a chance I'll start building up the landscape.  Maybe a bit of dirt, grass, rocks... all in clay to give it dimention and depth.

From there I think it will come together.   I'll glue in the birds to the clay...since I'm not sure how well something like this would bake in an oven and I don't really want to risk it.

So there you go.  My afternoon delight... and I think I'm going to call it a day as my back is starting to ache from being bent over those birds!  But it was fun to get creative as I've not been drawing anything for yonks.  I need to get back into the happy... and today puts me off to a good start.

Beaver Magnet

Sweet Beaver Magnet

Of Mice and Men

Loads of mice... but not a man in sight

I spent some time back in February making some little clay mice... it was mostly to create one that my daughter could give to her friend at school... out of the three little mice she took the middle one.  The big mouse as a decidedly sparklie nose which I thought added that special charm to him... and now the mice are sitting at my computer desk looking up at me.

Cruising by way of The Mini Food Blog I found the website I found the link to TinyHands (her site is quite awesome). Who in turn has some really fabulous work and a new website... and because I have a love/hate relationship with my past job experience as a graphic designer I almost had a heart attack when I clicked on the link to a WordPress theme designed for selling jewelery and well... anything charm-wise...basically what we do here at Lovely and can use it on this theme.  Oh My God... seriously I'm getting giddy just thinking about the possibility of having my own little shop on the web. Check out the really awesome looking WordPress theme for a Jewelery Shop... here.

I have to say I've been rather lazy with my clay work, jewelery work, or basically anything crafty for the past couple of weeks.  I'm not sure if it's a case of "I have too much on my plate at the moment... excuse me..." or if I'm just generally procrastinating, realizing that my workspace that is the kitchen table just isn't really cutting it.  It got me thinking today to go hunt down a cheap second hand table (or just cheap table) for me to setup my clay stuff and well all my craft stuff I've got wedged in my kitchen cupboard and feel like I have a place of my own to create.

See... start a website, sell my stuff, get a table... it's swirling around and I feel almost paralized to do anything.  Ask me why... I really don't know... maybe it's the roadblocks I place in front of myself that I never get anything accomplished.  Maybe it's time to change that and get excited about making a change, making cute charms, beads, jewelery, stuff.... just get something going that I love to do.

Good times :)

Bits and Bobs from around the Stratosphere

Mmmm... you look tasty... nom, nom, nom

I've been working on some little dragon-monster looking little cuties this past week.  They were such a hit at my daughter's school, that she ended up making some and handing them out to her friends.  She's gotten so into the clay, that she went an bought some of her own so she wouldn't be getting not what I have for clay.  Very cute... very fun for both of us.

I also so some pictures of little miniature Japanese figurines, so I decided to make my own with some left over clay I had.

I had seen these little Japanese looking girl figurines and decided
to make my own, entirely out of polymer clay... no paint

I enjoyed putting her together.  In a way I'm finding my fun in making these little characters and figurines more so than anything else lately.  I've been looking through Etsy and checking out my favourite blogs on clay and jewelery and loving everyone's creativity, but I'm still trying to find my own little niche.

Also I was thinking about how I might be able to take my love of clay and make it into my own little store/business.  I would be creating one of a kinds (OOAK... see I found out what that meant... finally!) and then selling them on a site like Etsy, maybe get a PayPal account and set up a little site of my own to showcase what I do and sell directly.  I've been reading Itty Biz and really enjoying Naomi's marketing tips and I have always enjoyed her writing style... it's no bullshit.  So refreshing!  LOL.

Totally fun to make, but her little beads on her sleeve fell off...darn it.

I'm thinking for February I might do something like 28 days of love.  Everyday I'll make a little bead/charm and show it here.  It's pretty ambitious for me, since I'm so hit or miss with what I can get done during the week, but it might be just the challenge I need to keep inspired and set in motion my little online shop.

If nothing else... it will be a bit of time to be creative and have fun :)

Into the New Year

Over the brief holiday I had this year (oh do I wish it was longer!)  I was messing around with my clay and trying my hand at some of the things I'd seen online ... no, I wasn't feeling overly orignal by any stretch of the imagination... and I tried making one of those beads I'd found in my Flickr roamings.... only smaller and well a bit more mashed up than the original I'd come across.

Here is a ball of some old scrap clay that I figured would work well
as my shape when I placed the coils of clay around it to make the bead

Using the Extruder I got for Christmas I made a nice coil of purple
and wrapped it around the scrap clay I had.  I then flipped it over
as I'd put a hole in the top and made it a bit bigger to fit
the clay I planned on putting in it.

  

I had thought of trying my hand at making them beads, but I just haven't quite got the knack of making them without squishing the bottom of one end as I wrap around the coil.  So I decided to make it a little plant pot instead.  Why?  Because I'd been on the hunt for some miniature flower pots, and I did find some online but at this time I can't be ordering new things online (money, money) and so I decided to use the resources I had and improvise.



My improvised tree that I made out of my bead



I'm not sure how easy it is to see what I did here, as I've got a bit of "stuff" in the background of this shot, but I liked how it turned out, so much in fact I tried my hand at another bead and made a twisted up little plant with flowers sticking out of it.



A little potted plant with some funky pink flowers



Pretty little tree and potted plant



It was fun to do and I really felt free when I was making the little plant.  I don't know if free is quite the right word to use, but I felt relaxed and felt like I was really in my element and enjoying the moment.

So much so... you can see in the background some little birds I'd made.  Inspired by some creations by JooJoo (who does great work!)



Little birdies

I just felt liberated and enjoyed the moment of just being able to create and not getting frustrated because something didn't look right.   Actually it went rather smoothly all in all... lol.  I think I'll make some more little plants because I had so much fun making the two I've shown you.  I don't know, one minute I want to make miniature foods and the next I want to make cute little plants and animals, jewelery and mastering how to make a Skinner blend.  SIGH!!!!  It's coming together, and the thing that is most definite is that I'll have a hard time getting bored with clay... too much to get into!

Christmas Cheer

Since I've been somewhat procrastinating over doing anything for Christmas I spent some time this weekend making a set of Christmas girls.  Now that I think about it, I should have made them with wings.  Cute little snow angels.  But I didn't think of it before I baked them, so their almost like under dressed Carolers... ah well.

I put the girls in the oven to bake and waited the usual 30 minutes and took them out.  Unfortunatley one of the girls had a mishap and instead of losing her mind, completely lost her head.

This girl has completely lost her head!

I tried to put the pin back into her head, but the clay was too hard unfortunatly so I have put her together with some glue.  Hopefully it's enough to keep her head attached so we can enjoy the pair this Christmas.

...after just gluing her head back on and fingers crossed
once the glue drys that she'll be good to go this
holiday season to enjoy.

I also managed to make some Christmas Tree ornaments in green and added them for a little decorative va-va-voom.  I've got some little stars I plan on attaching to the hoop at the top of the tree just to make them a bit different and fun.  Here's a pic of them, minus the stars that I plan on adding.

Christmas Tree Ornaments and my two little Christmas Girls.

Little Cake Topper Experiment

The other night I was sketching some little characters and really wanted to make one with an awesome beehive hair-do.  Don't ask me why.... I just really thought it would be a fun attempt at making a hair piece with Polymer Clay.

A fun beehive hairdo with some flowers and curls
thrown in for a little va-va-voom

I would have to say that this was the favourite part for me, making her hair and styling it like I wanted it to be.  Maybe I should have been a hair dresser in another life?!?!

Putting together her body... I enjoyed creating the
dress's train and I figured out how to make some very
pretty bow pieces

After I've put together all the pieces, I'm left wondering if
I should give her eyes or not....

Yup... decided to give her some little bead eyes
as I've never really done eyes on a little character before
I'd always used clay but had seen the technique used by other
great polymer clay artists, I gave it a try too...seeing that I have so
many to pick from!

Her two eyes... yes, I'm still debating on whether or not to
add them to her, as it would be hard to go back once they've
been added!

... eyes added!

... and here she is... I think for a first attempt at making something
as complicated as this I did a pretty good job :)

I really enjoyed making her, it took me about 3 hours to complete and it was fun... but a bit frustrating on figuring out how to add the neck, upper shoulders and arms to the dress.  I finally figured to hollow out the dress at the top to create a bodice and then place the clay in it.  From there it was the arms... those darn arms were killer!  I think I worked on those the longest out of the whole dress (well maybe the bow was just as challenging... and took a bit of time) because I'd create them, they'd be to long and then I'd take some off and then the arms got too thin... sigh.   It was a bit of a round and round I did on them but at the end it did come together quite well.

... so I showed my daughter, she thought it was great and wanted to make one of her own.  She saw a cute topper from Feats of Clay and liked the girl with the purple hair and wanted to make one of her own.  Now she's never made one before and she's 9.... I was amazed!

Pretty Freakin' awesome for a first try!

You would buy my stuff... REALLY?

One of my co-workers the other day saw me flipping through my bead magazine and mentioned that if I ever thought of making something from the magazine she'd buy it.  Even before I'd made anything... she would by one. 

I was sort of surprised... she's really nice mind you, but I was wondering if maybe sometime I might.... should...maybe....sell some of my bits and bobs that I've created.  I mean I'm still SO into the learning phase, but maybe someone would like to buy a pair of Santa earrings or maybe something I create from my bead magazine.  I don't know, but it was a really nice feeling to think that someone would like to buy something from me.... and I'd not created anything yet!

Yup... they are pretty cute!

With Christmas looming on the horizon I'm wondering if I'll have enough time to get everything done that I'd love to do.  Make some more Fimo clay Christmas Trees, Earrings, Jewelery.... it goes on and on for me.  I'm going to make a little list of what I'd like to do and get crack-a-lackin' :)

Cat Baby

I was on a bit of a roll after making my Shadow box and though I would give my try at a little character.  I had fun making my little cat baby.  Yesterday I had picked up some clays and some sparkles and throught I'd try them out on this little guy.  I had thought by adding it to a little brush that I could brush on the sprinkles nicely over the little fella.  Well, it didn't really work out as I had planned... the sparkles kind of stuck and clumped... not as awesome as I had thought but it's a learning process and here's the result.  I ended up scratching off some of the clumped up sparkles with my finger nails and I don't think it's so bad.

I am looking at getting something more together for Christmas and I'm hoping that I'll have a chance tomorrow to work on some ideas I have.  I guess I'm getting into the mood as it's started to snow last night.

Since heading into Michaels on Friday to take a look at what I could get my hands on for my clay projects I am looking forward to trying some new things... like sparkles, liquid clay, and I picked up some beads to add to my Christmas decorations... oh and some earring backs so I can add some polymer clay designs to them... it should be interesting... and hopefully I'll have a bit more to show you later on.

Christmas Girl

As Christmas seems to be just around the corner... and it just seems to be getting here earlier and earlier by all the Christmas bits and bobs that seem to appear right after Christmas at the stores.  I was kind of thinking maybe this year I'd create some Christmas ornaments and characters and give them to the family, which to me is more special than buying something at the store.

So again I went surfing on YouTube and found another video how-to and watched how they put together a little Christmas elf.  I went ahead and created one myself with my own little twist to her to make her my own.

Making and shaping my little Christmas Girl



Slowly came together but I decided to give her pigtails






My little Christmas Girl

Cute Polymer Clay Goth Couple Part II

As it goes a Cute Polymer Clay Goth Couple ... isn't a couple until I created the little goth guy.  So I spent last night working on him and here's how it went!

Slowly he's coming together, I put together the body and made
a little vest and jacket lapels... not too shabby!

An over the top view of my attempt at hair....

My little Goth Guy with bowtie and nifty hat

It may not look like it but on his little hat I put two black
hearts to match the look of the little Goth Girl

When I put the little Goth Guy together I didn't even really think how he would look beside the little Goth Girl.  I didn't really look at how big (or how little) he would be next to her... maybe not the best way to put the two together but at the end they actually look pretty darn good together if I do say so myself!

... So happy together!

Cute Polymer Clay Goth Couple

I found this video on YouTube and thought they were really cute and so I thought I'd give it a try to see if I could make a cute little goth couple of my own.  In total it took me about 1/2 an hour to make the little goth girl.  I've not yet attempted to make the boy... that I'll save for another time.  Since I've never made a character before, I think the little goth girl turned out pretty well.

Here are some pics of what I've done...

Here I've got Goth Girl's body and the start of the frill

A closer look of Goth Girl's body in the works....

Added Goth Girl's head... yes a bit bigger than her body,
but that's my spin on things.

I think she's coming together pretty well.  I'm going to have to
work on my bow making skills... heh.

Here is my version of Goth Girl :)