Let's Hear Those Sleigh Bells Ringing

I have never gotten the Christmas spirit this early, but I am almost giddy with it on November 6th! Part of the reason is that I've been working on Christmas ornaments for a PCAGOE ornament swap, and part of it is because I've been prowling around Etsy looking for stocking stuffers, which turned into shopping for Christmas ornaments, which turned into shopping for Christmas "stuff". I didn't have to go far to look (should have known!) because my fellow PCAGOE members have gotten the Christmas spirit early, too. This little Polar Bear is so cute! He was made by Peggy of Peggers. Did I mention I am a nut about Polar Bears, ever since visiting Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC on a school field trip. They are awesome creatures, and very beautiful in their own way, and I love that Coke commercial where the baby Polar bears slide down the hill.


Peggy also made these beautiful Poinsettia magnets. They would make great "Secret Friends" gifts.

PLEASE VOTE! No, not THAT Vote!

Although you should definitely exercise your right to vote in the other important election Tuesday, I mean please vote for your favorite entry in the challenge sponsored by PCAGOE! This month's theme "Autumn Leaves". Aren't the entries wonderful? Lots of imagination at work here! My entry is #3, my Aubergine Leaves Necklace. I hope you like it, I loved making it. The pendant is heavily glazed with an aubergine glaze that resembles pottery from the 1920s and 30s. The base is a beautiful shade of pumpkin, custom blended. The gorgeous gemstones are Tiger Jasper, which has a dazzling array of Autumn colors in each stone. It is my new favorite gem!

To vote, please visit our guild website at PCAGOE between now and November 4th at midnight. Two lucky voters chosen at random will win some wonderful, unique polymer clay prizes made by our talented members. One of my pendants is a prize in Pack #1, so I hope you'll vote and I hope you win! If you do, come back here and let me know, okay?

Thank you!

Friday Favorites October 24, 2008

I grabbed a treasury today for my Friday Favorites this week. The title is "Life Is Messy, But Oh What A Ride!" . I am a big fan of woodblock and linocut art, and this week, I found a few prints that I really liked at Etsy: David's Tree by serendipityartist; Ride The Horse by sheridesthelion; Eighteen Trees On The Hill by magprint; and Pomegranates by casart

I also love the Love Is In The Air necklace by katswearableart and those gorgeous Copper Turtle Earrings by karmeldesigns

Thursday Clay and Play October 23, 2008

I am planning to finish some more Christmas Ornaments tonight for our weekly PCAGOE Clay and Play session.



Here is a photo of the gold glazed frankincense jar compared to the one embossed with red embossing powder...not a keeper, I'm afraid. Almost all of the detail of the leaf stamp is lost. It will make a lovely paperweight for my desk, though!

I did make several Christmas ornaments I really liked, but I turned them into brooches. I put these three in the Etsy shop:

"Good Things Come in Small Packages"brooch

"Sleigh Ride"brooch

"Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" brooch

Hopefully, I'll be able to finish a few more tonight, and pick one for our annual PCAGOE Holiday Ad.

Friday Favorites October 17, 2008

These are my favorite finds at Etsy for this Friday. I absolutely adore the Fall season, and Autumn in the South is spectacular. If you've never seen Biltmore Estates near Ashville, NC in the Fall, you are truly missing a really special treat.

I am so inspired by the colors of nature, and nature is at its most magnificent in Autumn. The colors of Autumn are my favorite colors: Pumpkin, ochre, sage, aubergine, plum, the red of maple leaves, mustard, chocolate, caramel...

Two of my fellow PCAGOE members are included in this sketch, SpiritMama and ArzuMusa. I am adding Arzu's sweet little buckets to my Christmas wish list!

I love daydreamers little spotted bird and JMcGuinness' Single Red Maple Leaf photo.

Thursday Clay and Play October 16, 2008

My plan was to work on some Christmas ornaments for the PCAGOE ornament swap. I got a few ideas transferred into clay pieces, and a whole lot of new ideas cropped up I want to do as well, but here are the initial efforts.



The myrrh pot seems to be the most popular one so far, although this is definitely a prototype. I figured out some things in making it which I want to correct, but will be making more.



I'm going to tweak the frankincinse jar, too. I think I'm going to add a glaze of liuid sculpey and bright gold mica powder and see what that does. I am not crazy about the red embossing powder. I think I used it incorrectly, it's tacky to the touch. I brushed it on the raw clay instead of embedding it, which seems to make a huge difference.



This little guy is my personal favorite because it has sentimental value. My mother writes a Christmas letter to her children, grandchildren and son and daughter-in-law every year. She puts them in little decorated envelopes and hangs them on the tree for us to find. This one is for Momma to hang on her tree this year. I will definitely be making some more of these. I want to try the flap in different colors and patterns. I think the holly berry transfer I did on the myrrh jar would be pretty on one.

I'll be tweaking and working on more this weekend. Off now to find my Friday Favorites! Be right back!

Aubergine Leaves

This is my entry in the November PCAGOE Challenge, the theme of which is "Autumn Leaves". I started by blending Gold Premo, Sedona Studio by Sculpey and a tiny bit of Alizarin Premo to get a rich pumpkin color. I rolled out a 3/8" sheet and embossed it randomly with a maple leaf stamp and cut out my pendant shapes. I then mixed a glaze of liquid sculpey and plum, navy and a touch of gold mica powders to get this beautiful aubergine color and applied it liberally to the uncured piece and baked it. I wet-sanded it through 6 grits of sandpaper because I wanted some of the pumpkin undercoat to show through, and buffed it. I think the result looks like glazed pottery from the 1930s and 40s!

I decided to make this my entry into the November challenge sponsored by the Polymer Clay Artist Guild of Etsy. Be sure to check back here or at PCAGOE on November 1st for your chance to vote on my entry or others. You could win handmade polymer clay pieces from our artisan members!