Almost Good Enough to Eat

Combining ideas into one sweet treat of a necklace a la Fulgorine and Lisa Palveka and the Sutton Slice.  I really enjoyed putting it together and had a couple of people say that it looked like a cookie....lol.

It was a fun donut focal bead to make.  Three cheers to the sutton slice!

Not just another pretty face

I have to say after making the first little face I was hooked.  I put this little creation together last night after I was off work.  I have a few other ideas perking in my brain on what to do next as well as put something together for Illustration Friday... this week's theme is "Space" - so I am thinking of something I can put together on a tile.  I think I just like the idea of putting those little people in costumes that come from some back lit place in my brain and I just run with it.  No roadmap - just a lot of fun.

Another little person I created. I wasn't really sure where
the head dress came from...sort of medusa like.

I really am finding that creating these little
images is super addictive and I've got about a
few other ideas to add to this collection I'm growing.

A little woman tile

I received some absolutely fabulous faces from a purchase I made on Etsy...  I was feeling in the mood to create a tile - and this is what I came up with.  I'm really quite pleased with this first attempt!

An Etsy Addiction

Over the past couple of weeks I've been looking through Etsy for some deals on items I had wanted to pick up but couldn't find them in places like Michaels.  I have to say that this is becoming a bit of an addiction - I can find ring bases, necklace bezels, Washi tape (darn it!), molds for my polymer clay and silly cute Kawaii items.

My addiction is starting to cause me to re-think things.  I'm spending money and I've yet to make any form of income through my polymer clay work.

I think I need to step it up, start using what I've bought and open my shop.  See if I can sell anything :P

Woman of the Sea

I have just been enjoying making some characters in the past few days and I just enjoyed the fact that I can make them, they don't have to look a certain way - they're just mine.  It's been a nice break from doing housework!

Please bare with mne as I try to figure out how
to use wire with my polymer clay!

I added tin foil to the wire for filler.  I figured
this was the best way to do it so the little
character I was making didn't end up weighing
300 pounds :)

My little starfish... I loved how it turned out!

My little characters skirt... not at all typical

She's slowly coming together, skirt in place
and then I put together her arms and upper body.
I wanted her top to look like rolling seaweed
strands with little pearls.

All together at last.  I added some acrylic paint
to give her a more earthy look.  I also removed
the tin foil from her head - too bumpy to
use tin foil, so I just used the clay.

I really like how she turned out, being this
is the first time I've ever attempted something
like this :)

I added some knitting yarn to her for hair
and to give a bit more va va voom.  I think
she needs a bit more hair to fill things out.

I was really pleased with my little Woman of the Sea. First time I'd ever done something like this before and for a first attempt I'm really happy with the outcome :)  I think all she needs now is a bit more yarn for her hair to fill it out a bit more, but I'm really happy about it.

I've got a couple of books on making polymer clay characters and since I'm in the mood ot make more... I think I'll give those books a go and see where it takes me.  It should be interesting to try to follow step by step rather than the last couple of projects I've put together where it's all been done rather willy-nilly out of my head.

Three Lovely Ladies

Last night I just felt that I had to start making something.  I though I might make some charms, buttons.... not quite... I made three lovely ladies.  I just felt like creating a little characters - it was going to be a full body but at the end I just felt they looked better as is.  I think that creating more of these are in order, bigger - with a full body.  I'm excited!

Three Lovely Ladies who were absolutely so much fun
to make.  I was able to use my new cutters and some mica
for a little sparkle on the woman in yellow.

I created some fun hair on the woman in green from some
embrodery thread I had in my cupboard.  I just wanted a
funky look

Three Lovely Ladies hanging on my wall

 I made the three lovely ladies smaller than I had originally intended, as this was a first attempt.  I found that two of the ladies became headless after the baking process, so I had to add extra clay to the back and add some liquid clay to bond the heads to the bodies again.  Next time I'll do a bit more blending of the head/neck so it doesn't happen again.  I'll also re-inforce it with a bit of wiring.

I really enjoyed putting them together :)

A serious case of being all over the place

I seriously have a case of being all over the place lately.  I feel like I've got a million and one things I'd like to do and pretty much make myself no time to do it.  It was a very weird feeling... I don't know if it's because I got some awesome books from Amazon... or my trip to Michaels today.  It was and is just an overload of what do I want to do... and what do I want to do with it - I'd like to start selling the things I start making because I've been spending a lot of money and not really making anything with it.  I seriously need to stop buying things for a while... lol... but it's so much fun.  Ah well - let's just call it retail therapy.

With my little adventure in shopping at Amazon I picked these books up when I went shopping with some Christmas gift certificate money I had still floating around.  I have to say these books are very inspiring!  Also, not too bad to understand as well which is handy because I'm still learning :)

So now I have to figure out what it is that I would like to do... do I go into doing some buttons... do I go into making some sculptures, buttons, designs.... aahhhhh. See this is where I end up going - in so many directions that I end up not doing anything. SIGH!

Hiding out....

I've been more than just a bit sporatic with my blog.  I'm still buying clay and thinking up ideas for my next little project I want to do.  I've even bought some website names and hosting for some of the ideas I've come up with... why?  Because I would like to be able to sell some of my creations so I have that extra money to buy more clay... do more creating....

I've just been wanting to get creating again and I've just found that my life in the last little bit was just wallowing in discord... which made it really hard to take a break and get creating because my mind was all over the place.  I hate that when that happens.

Over the last couple of days I've been cleaning up around my place - which was my major discord... I just stopped caring, which then led to a massive mess and I'm soooo not good when things are messy and I was just getting sad and mad - why... I still don't know why I let things get so messy.  I just stopped.  I was ... am ... tired.  So anyhoo, rather than wallowing in my blah-ness I decided to get tidying and in turn I started to feel better and now that I have a clean kitchen table I got back into claying.  I wanted to make a name for my new neice that made her appearance earlier last week.

I made her name out of clay... I hope to have a photo of what I've done tomorrow (see, I'm being optimistic with getting back into blogging!)  I'm still trying to figure out a good way to take pictures of what I've done that looks good as my lighting leaves everything a bit yellow... which doesn't make me very happy.

I think I need to figure out how to make my own lightbox.

I have to say that I really enjoyed working on my little project today for my niece, it's been a long time since I actually set down to do anything with clay or anything creative - It just felt good.  I hope they like what I've put together, I'd made one for my nephew when he was born... that looked like this:

Now that I'm looking at this picture... I'm hoping that the squares I've made are small enough to fit in the frame (I got a great deal on a 3 pack)... I've also made a little flower in a clay pot to add a little more dimention to it.  Fingers crossed it all fits.... or I figure out a "creative" way to make the squares fit!

I'm glad to be back and blogging about what I've been doing and I hope to also get my websites up and running so I can share with you my little adventures in that as well!



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.

Happy 2012

Ok, I'm totally not sure where 2011 disappeared to, but here we are sitting in a fresh brand new year of 2012.  I'm excited and not quite sure where I plan on being by the end of it.  Still early days and I have to say that I haven't got one single resolution for the year - I find I'm good with a resolution for 2-3 days and then it all goes to hell.  This year is a year dedicated to goals.  My goals have yet to be worked out in detail, but I think this is why I'm a bit excited.  Because I have goals in mind and if (when!) I complete them - I'm going to feel like a million dollars.  Why?  Because I managed to do something with myself rather than wallowing in the feeling that I'm getting nothing accomplished... ever.

Time for a change - I'm excited!

One of my goals this year is to make 1 ring a day out of polymer clay (mixed media....included) to spark the creative in me.  Of course I'm planning on plenty of other things... so far my goals include:

• Ring a Day - post here and on Flickr
• Create some clay characters
• Make some clay beads... I've got the books!
• Buy a desk that is exclusively just for my crafts - no more kitchen table!
• Actually get my Etsy shop open and working
• Get my bead website up and running
• ... there will be more, but that's what I've got so far

So there you have it, things to work on and enjoy doing all at the same time.  It's a new year, it's going to be a good year!

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

New Books!

New Books for Polymer Clay and Jewelery Design!

Oh you have no idea how excited I was when the Purolator man came by and dropped off my books!  I got them on Friday and I ripped open the boxes I received (thank you Amazon.ca!!!).  I am so excited to get into more Jewelery making with Polymer Clay... learning a few things from Donna Kato and her Polymer Clay book and some Sherri Haab jewelery techniques.  I have to say that the little sea urchin rings sold me on the book!

I'm hoping to get a few projects up and running and hey, maybe even completed while I have a few days off work.  I really like the colourful beads that Donna makes and I'm always wondering about different techniques to make the clay look the way it does when so many talented people make their beads and I'm left going... how??? So I figure once I've got a few new techniques under my belt (hey, even figure out how to make a few polymer clay canes.... without them getting warped when I make them smaller..) I would be so stoked.  Maybe get a few more items into my online store... and finally get my Etsy store up and running.

I'm excited to get started and I'm really going to try to make some time to get creative and get the crazy work life out of the way... because that does nothing but make me mad.  So out with the negative and in with the good vibes.... seriously.

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!

"Sinful" Cinnamon Buns

So after coming off a pretty successful Homemade Buns experiment in baking I decided that my sweet tooth couldn't be ignored... and what better than to try making some Homemade Cinnamon Buns...mmm.  So this is the first time I've ever tried making homemade cinnamon buns, so I didn't really know what to expect and I did find it a bit of a challenge to find a recipe that didn't involve a bread maker or a big-ass blender with dough attachment thingy.   Blah.  But I did find the cinnamon bun recipe at Cooks.com and it didn't require any equipment I didn't have and apart from waiting for the dough to rise... it was pretty easy.

The recipe:

4 1/4 to 4 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. butter
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
6 tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 recipe Maple Nut Glaze or Powdered Sugar Glaze

Step 1: In a large mixer bowl combine 1 1/2 cups of the all-purpose flour and yeast. Heat the milk, granulated sugar, the 1/4 cup butter and salt just until mixture is warm (120 to 130 degrees) and the butter is almost melted, stirring constantly.

Step 2: Add milk mixture to flour mixture; add eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds; scrape sides of bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can. (Dough will be soft.) Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough (3 to 5 minutes total). Shape dough into a ball.
 
Step 3: Place dough in a lightly greased bowl; turn once. Cover; let rise in a warm place until double (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours). (The dough is ready for shaping when you can lightly and quickly press two fingers 1/2 inch into dough and indentation remains.)
 
Step 4: Punch dough down. On a lightly floured surface, divide dough in half; shape each half into a smooth ball. Cover; let rest for 10 minutes.
 
Step 5: On lightly floured surface roll half the dough to 12x8 inches. Spread with 3 tablespoons softened butter. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle half over rectangle. Roll up from a short side. Seal edges. Make a second roll with remaining dough, butter and sugar mixture.
 
Step 6: Slice each dough roll into 8 pieces. Arrange slices, cut side down, in a greased 13x9x2 inch baking pan. Cover; let rise until nearly double (about 30 minutes).
 
Step 7: Bake rolls in a 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until light brown. Invert at once onto a wire rack. Cool slightly. Drizzle rolls with Maple Nut Glaze or Powdered Sugar Glaze. Serve warm.
 
Makes 16 rolls.

MAPLE NUT GLAZE:

In small bowl combine 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons maple syrup or 1/2 teaspoon maple extract and enough water or milk (2 to 3 teaspoons) for drizzling consistency. Stir in 1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans.

POWDERED SUGAR GLAZE:

Combine 1 cup sifted powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and enough milk (about 3 to 4 teaspoons) for drizzling consistency.

FREEZING AND REHEATING:

Bake and cool rolls as directed, do not glaze. Wrap in moisture and vapor proof wrap. Seal, label, and freeze for up to 3 months.

To reheat in a conventional oven, wrap frozen rolls in foil. Place in a 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until warm. Drizzle with your choice of glaze.

 

To reheat in a microwave oven, wrap 2 of the frozen rolls in microwave-safe paper towels. Micro-cook on 100% power (high) for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes or until warm. Drizzle with glaze.

Letting the dough rise... waiting to knead it

Rolled with cinnamon and brown sugar.  I added some with raisins... yum.

Baked up and now waiting for some powdered sugar icing

Yes... they were dee-lish and completely gone in record time

Yup, they lasted 2 days and they were gone.  They were a hit here and I gave some to my Mum and Dad and they said they were really good.   So two sets of thumbs up on this recipe and if you have the time and feel like getting right back to the basics and making food that is truely done by your own hands - this recipe isn't hard... just a bit of waiting for the dough to rise.  After that part is over with - the fun part for me began.... loved putting it all together and even better when everyone loved them.

Hiding out in the land of Homemade Buns

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted here... my bad.  I've been busy creating new beads, pendants, focal beads and just basic faffing around... is that a word?  ANYHOO!  Lately I've been baking like a mad woman.  I'm not sure what it was that made me feel like I just HAD to do it... I just really wanted to make something with my hands and I guess I was a bit fed up with feeling like I was getting nothing accomplished.

The other day I had a wicked craving for homemade buns.  I didn't have to look far and I found a really good recipe from a most unexpected website.  I found it at Expecting Mom... and no I'm not expecting a baby.. just some awesome buns!

Yummy Homemade Buns!

The recipe from the lovely Mom Mom on the Go:

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup of LUKEWARM water
4 TBS sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
1 TBS yeast
1 TSP salt
4 cups (or so) flour

Now lets get mixing.....

Take the lukewarm water and place it in a nice size bowl. My Mom always said that the bowl should be a special one because the bowl that the dough is mixed in helps make the bread good. I agree with this and so I always mix my bread in my Royal Worcester large mixing bowl. Superstition I guess! Also, make sure the water is lukewarm.....too hot or too cold will make the yeast not work as well. 

With the lukewarm water in your gorgeous bowl, put in the 4 TBS of sugar, the 1/4 cup of oil (vegetable is what I use) and 1 egg. Mix all that together. I use my whisk and get it all good and mixed up. 

Now go get that TBS of yeast and sprinkle it over your mixture. Let it sit for a few seconds and then just gently mix it all together with the whisk. Don't get all excited and kill the yeast mixing it too hard though! Now put the 1 TSP of salt in the misture and gently mix it in again with your whisk. 

Now we are ready for the messy part to start.....so far so good and easy though right?!

Take a cup of flour and pur it in the mixture. Get a plastic or wooden spoon and stir it in. Once it is mixed well add another cup of flour and mix it too. Sounding repetative, but grab that third cup of flour and pour it in there and mix it in as best you can. Ok now you have to ditch that spoon cause it just will not be able to mix well enough anymore.

Get two more cups of flour ready in a measuring cup on the counter beside your bowl. I know I said it only takes cups of flour, but it usually takes a wee bit more than that to make the mixture perfect. 

Add a fourth cup of flour and mix with your hands. You should have a cup of flour still in the measuring cup sitting beside our bowl. Now we are having fun and we are also at the important part. You have to mix that dough with love. Get it all nice and mixed evening and together. You probably have dough stuck to you hands and that is a sure sign that you need to reach over and grab that cup of flour in the measuring cup on the counter and put a BIT in. Do not put the entire thing in. Mix in a bit at a time until the dough is smooth and you can handle it without it sticking all over our hands.You will now when the dough is perfect because it will be smooth as a baby's bum. 

Now put the dough in the special bowl. Put some oil or melted butter, whatever you prefer, into your hand and rub the top of the dough you have placed in the bowl. Cover it with a clean dish towel and let it rise for 15 minutes. 

After 15 minutes go punch that dough down. Pick it up and knead it a bit and it should feel smooth and you might even hear some air pop out of it. Perfect! Now get your non-stick pan out and grab chunks of dough and roll it into smooth balls. Make the top look good, because any cracks will be seen on the top of the bun when cooked. I like my buns smooth! Make the buns whatever size you want. I like to make 12 buns with this recipe because I like a good sized bun. As you have each one ready, place it in your non-stick pan. once all of your buns are in their pan, then get your oil or melted butter again and rub the tops of the buns. 

Now cover the buns with a clean dish towel and let rise for one hour. When you return in an hour, your buns should have grown and look awesome. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degress F and when ready put them in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes. You will know that the buns are ready when the tops are a nice golden brown. Take them out when ready and get them out of the pan and cooling on a cooling rack. 

There you have it.....amazing buns.

 .... She's totally not kidding.  They were substantial - to the point that I only needed one for my lunch.  They weren't heavy but just enough to make me feel like homemade was the way to go and seriously where have the been all my life!  If you give the recipe a try I'd love to hear about it - and I'm sure if you popped by Mom Mom on the Go, she'd love to hear about it too.

Risen to puffy, squishy goodness... now off to the oven!



Fresh out of the oven

So good I just wanted more.. but I was soo full after one

A weekend of beads

Since getting my butt in gear to get myself a domain name, hosting and a WordPress theme for a jewelry site.... I then went and got my Etsy store created and added some graphics.  Now this is where I've been sitting for the last week.  Almost done, kind of.  I've found the theme I've purchased to be a bit of a challenge.  Not in "it's impossible" sort of way... it's just a freakin' slog to get  through with the setup.  Once it's done it will be awesome - I'm just the type of girl who wants all the hard bits done... now.


This past weekend my hunny made some beads for me for the jewelry site and I did some as well.  I really feel though as I'm making my beads that my creativity is put under the microscope.  It's like I want perfection, even though that doesn't necessarily have to be.  I just don't want them looking like crap and then no one likes them or buys any of them to add to their jewelery designs.

OHHHH the pressure.  I'm thinking that tomorrow I'm going to try carving into some polymer clay and the bake it and see if I can create a sort of mold that I can use for my beads and then then try painting them to give them a worn/old look.  All of that is new to me and I made an awesomely craptastic bead earlier this evening that I can't even bring to taking a picture of and showing you... it was THAT BAD!  LOL.

Ah well, I'm hoping to have a few more beads done this weekend and then make the brave leap into the world of Etsy.

 

Pretty Red beads

All Business Weekend

That sounds pretty important doesn't it!  I finally decided on a name for the website that I'd been contemplating making for a while now and I set up my Etsy store too!  It's been busy - and I managed to get some absolutely fabulous images for the Etsy store from Erin Bradley Designs.  From the experience I had with her, I would recommend her and her quality of work to any one thinking of sprucing up their Etsy store or if you would like a unique look for your store, check out her designs!  I think I must have spent hours looking through the different templates she has available and what really caught my eye (and there were a lot!).  I just want my store too look as friendly as possible and give the look that I'm serious about my work.

So that also spilled over to me working on my bead website.  OMG.... I have been so long out of the loop of web design it is seriously hard to get back into it.  I have that feeling of "I've forgotten everything!" and I can't say that it feels all that comfy.

So today I've spent the last 3 hours working on my jewelry website and I feel like I've not really accomplished as much as I had wanted.  The site itself will be running through WordPress and I am using the Jewelry theme I found a bit earlier.  Holy crap there is a lot to this theme and setting it up... as it has ecommerce in it - so PayPal has to be configured, shipping and handling... and all the not really fun stuff that goes with it.  Unlike the more creative part of writing up a bit of a story to go with the beads that will be on the site and taking the pictures, which I like to to WAY more than the back end stuff.

At the end of the day it will come together and when it's finally up and running I'll share with you the website and the Etsy site that I've made.

Phew!

Hunting down a Domain Name

For the past couple of days I've been on a search to find a domain name for me to put up a website and add my little crafts.  Am I having any luck?  No.  Not so far.  I've tried:

• LovelyLittleCreations.com
• Anything that has to do with the word "Clay"
• I've even tried some with "Raven" in it because I like Ravens... and then added "Clay"
• Anything "Clay" with the words "Cottage, Studio"
• "Doodle Bug", "Doodle Bug Studio" was taken

It's been frustrating to say the least.  Then I went to Etsy to see what other lovely clay artists have done... and it's been mostly their name and clay beads, or some cute concoction of their names/beads/studios/etc.

I'm frustrated... can you tell?

Maybe I'm over thinking it a bit, but I would like something short-ish in a name, no dashes in the domain name and something cute I can put on my cards when I'm selling my bits and bobs.  I really do feel like I'm overthinking.... and I think my mind went to the birds when Lovely Little Creations was taken.  GAH!  So it's like starting all over again and then I'm in a bit of a panic... do I now start another blog.... keep this blog for the stuff I'm doing... am I going to lose it all and close shop before I even try opening one.  SIGH!!!!

Well, I'm not going to give up... I'm just going to have to put my thinking cap back on and come up with something that I like.

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.