Spending a Gift Certificate

Yes, I did it.  I received an awesome Amazon.ca gift certificate for Christmas from my brother and decided to spend it on some books about making jewelery and food with polymer clay. 

The first one that caught my eye was Making Polymer Clay Beads by Carol Blackburn.  I am looking at trying out making some beads and using them in my jewelery designs, because as of yet I've not used it.  So I'm pretty stoked to learn something new and it looks like there are many designs available to learn.

I'm hoping it won't take too many tools and instruments to make those beads, I do have some on hand but I'm hoping they keep it as simple as possible to pull off some really pretty designs.  It will be interesting to see how bead making goes, because it would be fun to add them to my occassional spurts of jewelery design that doesn't look bad... heh.

Then I picked out Tasty Trinkets: Polymer Clay Food Jewellery by Charlotte Stowell.  This is really what started it all for me.  Learning to make little food charms to add to bracelets, earrings, and necklaces.  I have been getting away from this and I thought it would be fun to learn a few more techniques and try it again, since the fun of it hasn't gone away but I've just got caught up in making characters and flowers and jewelery... aahhhh!  So much to do and I'm looking forward to trying to get back into the little charms and maybe try miniture foods.

Which then leads me to my next two book finds.  Sooo exciting!!

Miniature Food Masterclass: Materials and Techniques for Model-Makers by Angie Scarr.  The cover on this book gets me itching to start creating.  From the reviews the book should be good as well I've picked up Making Miniature Food and Market Stalls by Angie Scarr as well and I'm looking hoping to gleen a bit from them to learn just how those miniatures are made and maybe start making them.  I wonder if there's a market for miniatures... are they for Barbies or other small dolls?  I've seen some of those dolls, but I don't know if it's a universal love of small foods or if it's a niche?  Well, it doesn't really matter, because I plan on trying to make them and enjoy doing it first and foremost.

Other than taking a peek through Amazon.ca for some books to pick up with my gift certificate I've been trying to make some small birds, plants and some beads... (the beads I've had some success, but I ended up smooshing the end of the bead I'd tried making and didn't really like the outcome.  So I think it will be back to the drawing board and maybe pick up some thinner metal knitting needles so I can make smaller holes in the beads I make, the one metal dowel I have is just a tad too big for making the holes I'd like... maybe I'm looking for the word "delicate" so the beads can be smaller instead of large and incharge.  Maybe I just need to switch it up a little... lol.

Once I've baked my little odds and ends I've been messing around with I'll take some pictures and show you the results... should be in the next day or so I should hope.  Looking forward to the new year... and I can't believe it's almost the end of 2010.  Where did the time go???

A delightful cup of Tea

 As you may not know I love a nice cup of tea and this Christmas my Mum and Dad bought me a fabulous RED teapot.  They know my favourite colour and I am just now enjoying my first cup of tea goodness!

I have been making a few changes to how I'm listing those great sites that I come across and add to my site for anyone to take a peek at.  I'm starting to think I'm a little link crazy though... and may need to figure out how to put those sites on my site without taking up the whole sidebar.  I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas this year and got everything they desired and more :)

 Besides the fabulous teapot I recevied I also got a clay extruder.  I'm going to give it a whirl and see how it goes.  I went to their website, because they said that they had some clay ideas and projects... and I was sadly a bit disappointed with the projects.  I'm hoping that somewhere in the future that WalnutHollow.com will come up with some more ideas, because I would have thought that with a Clay Extruder you could do so many new things.  Since I'm an absolute newbie to it... I'm not even sure what I can do with it.  It looks like there could be endless possibilities but I'm currently at a bit of a loss. 

I'm not sure if anyone else has used the Walnut Hollow Extruder and have any tips or tricks on using it, or even some projects I could try using the extruder would be awesome.  I'm finding myself full of ideas bouncing from making little characters and then I'm off to the races trying out making some beads, then I'm trying some jewelery designs, going through my beading magazines and then back to making polymer miniature foods for jewelery.  I feel like I'm all over the map, and I find that there are some people with blogs dedicated to just one thing...I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THEY DO THAT!  As I'd be wanting to try everything I can think of or even see online.

I really don't know how they stay on one topic... as I would find it so hard to do!

So I'm off to enjoy another cup of tea and try making some cute little

characters I think, something not too hard to do and it can a bit of fun like little birds, cats and maybe a dog... see where it goes.

I also see on Flickr and even on Etsy that many of us put our little creations up against rocks, sticks, and little backgrounds.  I'm thinking I'm going to have to look into that a bit more and even try to focus on the lighting for the shots, because some of them are coming out a bit dark or not quite as appealing as I think they should be.

I'm curious how long many of you spend some time setting up your shots of your creations?  Do you just wing it and add them or do you take some time setting up the scene?  Do you spend much time processing it - like adding your copyright or link or anything like that?

Flickr'd ... again

I have to say that so far I'm really enjoying viewing some great work from the Polymer Clay group on Flickr.  I came across this super cute birdhouse design:

Birdhouses____________

I think I'm still going "wow" to how creative people are with their clay.  I love, love, love this design.  Cute little birdhouse broaches.  It's just so fun to take a look through the different clay groups on Flickr and see just how many people are out there creating every day and enjoying what they're doing.

Tropical Wave Necklace

How beautiful is that necklace.  Created for donation to cancer research.  Beautiful!

Blueberry Cheese Cake

Looking at this super cute miniature cheese cake makes me so hungry!  The start of my current obsession with polymer clay was to make these cute little miniatures so they can be added as jewelery, cell phone decorations, or just to enjoy.  So cute!

Flower rings

Seriously, how cute are these flower rings???  I would love to learn how to make flowers like this one.

Mix and Match Magnets

Haha!  I wouldn't have ever thought of creating different outfits for little people that you can stick to your fridge and have some fun dressing them up and changing their looks... I could see this being fun for kids and adults.  LOL.  FUN!

I just felt like making a necklace

I was thinking of making a necklace today after picking up the the necklace magazine a while ago.  I wasn't really sure what I might make as those beautiful necklaces had beads that I didn't have in my collection, but I figured I could try altering what I really liked to work with the beads I had.

My design was going to involve 3 strings of beads.  I wanted to encorporate some jump rings and metal so it wasn't going to be all about beads.  I wanted to break up the design a bit.  So I started to put it together:

This was the start of my first string, then I picked it up and dropped
one of the ends and ALL my beads went all over the floor.
So I ended up trying to put it back together and I ended up altering
the way I put the beads together, nothing too much but it ended
up being a bit different than the one I had here.

... second attempt at my first string of beads. SIGH!

First string is done... and I didn't drop it!

Here is where I put together my second string of beads.
I've included in this one a bit more metal and jump rings just to
spice up the look a bit and not to overwhelem the eye with
beads.  I love jump rings... since I've started to use them...LOVE THEM!

Pretty, Pretty, Pretty

The end result.  I put it on and I liked how it looked.  I also
like the fact that I can twist it a bit more and tighten up the
look or keep it a bit loose like it is and then it gives a bit
more eye candy to enjoy.  I like how it turned out :)

I just really enjoyed working on this project, it was a nice change from my polymer clay and I now have some very sore finger tips from bending those jump rings... even with the plyers my hands take a beating.  But at the end of the day when I can make something like this, it doesn't matter.  Now I'm wondering if my Mum would enjoy it for a Christmas Present?  I myself am not a big jewelery wearer.  I really like making it, just not into wearing it.... and that may have something to do with not wanting to draw attention to myself.  LOL.  I should wear what I create, nothing more awesome than when someone takes notice and says how nice it is... and then I can say I made it!  LOL.  SiGh... see I just need to get myself something pretty to wear in these colours and go out on the town.  Maybe tomorrow I'll make a pair of earrings to go with it, or even a bracelet.

Flickr'd

I joined the Polymer Clay Group on Flickr today and took a peek through the photos that had been added to the group.  Some really caught my eye and I thought I should share my little finds!

Colgantes by Bebe Clay



White Wentworth the Robot Standing next to Pennies & Keys

Flapjack magnet!

Christmas cookies jewelry set fimo polymer clay

Fun little creations made by some very talented fimo clay artists.  Hopefully by adding my name to this pool of creativity, people will see what I've been doing and check out the website and enjoy what I love to do.  Which is create... and remember what Bob Ross use to say when he painted... there are no mistakes... just happy accidents :)

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!

Polymer Clay Roses

Since I know how to roll my clay so I can make some cute looking roses I thought I'd take a look around Youtube to see if there were any videos available that would show me how to make a more realisitic rose because I thought I could start to use them in some of my designs. 

This video actually is quite good and got me going in the right direction.  Now it took me probably an hour to make these roses below and if you look it's not exactly a lot... so it sounds kind of sad really, but for a first attempt I think I did pretty well :)  I just found as I was making the roses they were so small that they became mis-shaped rather easily and I found that when I was making them if I wasn't careful as to where I put the new petals it looked... wrong.  So I smooshed it together and started all over again... so that in all took me about an hour.

I really enjoyed trying to make these, even though it took me
about an hour to make them... not so easy when they're
that small!  Now where to add them - jewelery or a little
clay character... decisions, decisions!

Flowering Field of Flowers

So this morning I tested out my new pasta maker to see if I could make a great looking tile background.  I wasn't sure if I were to run the colours through the pasta maker if it would stretch to the point where I couldn't use it and it would end up being wasted clay... and well I figured I'd try rolling the different colours of clay individually and then cut them together and joint them by blending the clay joints together with my fingers.  I think it started to come together quite well.   From there I debated on what I would put on the background as it looked as great place for a sheep or two.  But I ended up going with flowers.

I thought I would try building a very simple cane of polymer clay to make some funky flowers, because I had thought of having gold trim around the white of the flower and how would I accomplish that best... I thought a cane would do it.

Here's how the process went:

Putting together the layers of polymer clay.  Wasn't
quite sure how to put in the curves of the hills, but
found if I overlapped the fimo clay and then cut
it, it put together a nice flow and then smoothed the
layers together with my fingers.

The background is complete!  It is about 10x10cm

My attempt at my first polymer clay can ever.  It started
to come together quite well.  I went with a black
middle, white around it, then some red and white then
surrounded by more white and then gold.

The finished polymer clay cane.  Looks like a big
shiny cigar.  I stuck it in the freezer for about 10 minutes
so it was easier to cut and would stop the clays from
bleeding together when I cut it.

The finished product... pretty flowers

I have to say I really enjoyed putting the flowers and blades of grass on the background... really enjoyed putting the grass on there.  I found out that my glittery white, wasn't so glittery and more transparent which made the flowers look a bit funky.  So I know if I'm going to do it again, no glittery white effects Fimo, and just plain white Fimo is in order.  But for a first attempt at flowers, I'm pretty pleased and I've got a few more ideas I'd like to try and see how it goes.

One Sexy Pasta Maker

... and now the magic can start!

Pretty sexy isn't it!  After a trip into town I am now the proud owner of a pasta maker. All new and shiny and now I've got to figure out how to make some interesting clay colour combinations with it.  It's also so nice because now my clay should have a consistant... consistancy :)

On this machine setting #1 gives a nice thickness which I think will work well for the backing of my wall project that I hope to get started today. 

The other settings look good, but I probably wouldn't go further than a #4 setting on this thing as I'd have to make the clay quite thin to make it into anything further. 
It also comes with two other settings that I haven't tried out yet but it looks like I could make some pretty interesting spagetti out of my Polymer clay.  Which actually might come in handy when I have some designs that need consistancy in the way they're cut.  I haven't figured out quite yet... but who knows... and that's what is fun about it.  Endless possibilities!

My little link frenzy

You may notice that the sidebar on this blog has pretty much exploded with links to other sites of crafty crafty people.  It was like I couldn't stop.  I know that it may not be search engine friendly to have so many links on the sidebar (I know, why should I care... it's a part of my past that I just can't seem to shake... silly SEO.)  But you know what, I don't really care.  I mean I may know I shouldn't but I just don't care.  I love, love, love finding new sites and there are so many out there that are full of awesomness and written so well that I couldn't stop myself.

I have found so many wonderful creative people that I feel so utterly inspired.  I've got my handy dandy journal and I'm going to start doing some sketches.  I'd like to take a whirl at some wall art again.  I really enjoyed making the last one and I'm hoping today to pick  up a pasta machine so I can roll out my clay... what a time saver I'm hoping it will be... as well the clay will be consistantly one thickness... oh and I can then blend multiple colours and make some nice mixes.... yes... I'm excited!

You can see as I hop from one idea to another I haven't forgotten my plans... yes Christmas, yes jewelery, yes some freakin' awesome wall art that I'd love to create.  I'm just feeling like I could go a million miles an hour and I don't feel like I'm organized enough to do it!

My Journal to get some
ideas on paper before
I forget ... which  happens
 more than I would
 like to admit!

If plans fall in to place today I'm going on a road trip for the afternoon and I'll take my journal with me to sketch out a few ideas that I have for some wall art that I'd like to start.  Maybe some ideas for bracelets that I saw online too... see what I have for time on the trip and keep the creativity going :)

I'm hoping to get my hands on a bit more clay... I seem to keep running out not realizing that these little projects I've been doing, do take up a lot of clay.  I am going to try looking online for some wholesalers maybe or where I can buy my clay cheaper than Michaels... since they run $2.99 each for the Fimo clay that I like working with.

So my plan this weekend is to work on one wall art project, maybe if it's good enough I'll give it away as a present for Christmas this year.  If it's more a work in progress... then I've got tons of wall space here at home that I can add it to :)

Learn to Knit on Circle Looms

This past week I came across circle looms, where you don't use the needles but loop the wool around a circle.  Since I haven't got a clue on how to knit I thought I might look into this a bit further too. Looks like something that I could figure out and enjoy making a few things, like touques, mitts and fun fingerless gloves for work.

You see I start looking around online and I get even more ideas... since I know quite a few people who love to knit and I've only ever tried when I was younger... but I didn't really have the knack for it then, the Circle Loom seems a bit more user friendly and a way that I could try to get into that sort of thing.

See.... so many ideas.  Now just to find the time where I can fit it all in.  Hmm... maybe with the Christmas holidays that I've got coming up I might be able to accomplish some of the things I'd like to do.

Does that mean I have to prioritize!?!  Eeeep.

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' :)

My little find at the Store

Last night I went to the local grocery store to pick up a few things for the week and I ended up going to where the magazines were.  I often check out the different beading magazines and I'm not sure why but I hope that for some little miracle theres a polymer clay magazine... but there never is... so I settle in on checking out those beading magazines.

I ended up picking up a magazine with some very awesome ideas and I'm hoping to get a few of these on the go for Christmas gifts.  I know, I've got a lot to do already if I plan on getting things done, but I am just excited!

Best of Bead Style was a little gem in the beading magazines this month and there are as it says in the title 64 projects to look at and make your very own.  I've got a couple that look like they wouldn't be to hard - and I really like that the layout makes it easy for those of us who aren't trained in jewelery making to be able to follow and understand.  LOVE IT.  So I'm planning this weekend to take a bit of time and try one or two projects and see how they turn out.

Mellow Monday: Warming the Heart on a Rainy Day

Here I thought I would be chalk full of inspiration with what I find online during the week... and this week has been one of the most bizarre weeks ever.  I couldn't get inspired to save myself.  But today has been one of those rainy, miserable, windy sorts of days... and I think I'm craving some sunny days and gorgeous sunsets.  Here's a little bit of what I find that makes me happy...

These lovely creations from let to right, top to bottom can be found at the following sites:

• Orange Crush
• Real Butterfly Wing Necklace
• Carnelian in a Stirling Silver Net
• Circles
• Burnt Orange Chunky Hat
• Tropical Escape

Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Yup, I'm crazy.  After making the Santas I kicked it up a knotch and decided to try making some Christmas Trees.  They are made out of Fimo Polymer Clay and I added some little sparkly beads to give it a little sizzle.   They aren't too big, they can be placed on a mantel or a Christmas tree... the choice would be yours to make.  But I thought they were fun... my only worry when I was making them was if I would have enough clay.  Luckily I had both a plain red and an "effect" red that had the sparkles in it.  So I tried one tree of each. 

Here's how they turned out...

I rolled them out... it took about 3 rows of the Fimo Clay to get
my trees to the right size.  I honestly thought it would take
more clay to get the desired look... happy it didn't!

My two trees are ready to be decorated!

My completed little trees.  One with just swirled white Fimo
clay and the other with dots of Fimo and my little jewels
for that added "OH LA LA"

I have to say that I am really happy with the way the little trees turned out.  Now just to add a ribbon on the top so that they can be added a  Christmas ornament... or not, depending on what you want to do with the little ornaments. 

Having just taken the Christmas tree ornaments out of the oven.. I don't recommend baking them with the jewels.  Even though it's a low temperature, it still make the jewels cloudy and they fell off.  So I put some new ones back on with a bit of glue and they look pretty fab-oosh!

Santas, Santas and more Santas

 Well with my new cutting board to use to make my little creations on, I decided to start with some Santas since it's getting closer to Christmas.  I had debated on how many to make and what they might be used for.  Do I create a little Santa character, do I make some charms, do I make some jewelery?  I wasn't too sure, but yesterday I had picked up some earring backs and figured they'd be cute and maybe someone might want to wear them. 

I decided to give it a whirl...

Starting out with my clays for my Santas

I decided I should make them pretty small... but with the detail I planned on giving the Santas I couldn't get too small.  It was a bit of a toss up now as to what I wanted to do, but I decided to stick with earrings.

Santas faces are coming together... slowly!

Now a little personality... faces are done

Here's the completed pair.... HO HO HO

Excuse the dirty finger nails...so full of clay!  But these are
the backs I picked up at Michaels on Friday and I figure
I'll make a pair of earrings and see how they fit on the ear.

After making the Santas... they may be a bit big, as I wanted them to fit well on my daughter's ears. I'll let her try them on and see how she likes them.  If they're good to go I'll put the backs on the other 2 sets I have and she can give them away at Christmas time to her friends if she wants.  I really enjoyed making them... I wonder what I should try next???

** Update **

I had added the earring backs to the Santas last night and now the glue is dry... here's what they look like when I put them one.

Don't look too bad...eh!