Polymer + PMC = LOVE

Color Hoop II
Originally uploaded by LizardsJewelry

Liz Hall's work is amazing. I've gone over her Flickr photostream and shop over and over - it's hard to decide what to show you because it's all just fabulous! Liz is another fellow member of PCAGOE. She is from Virginia where her and her husband (also an artist) own Silverwood Farm and Studio - their art haven and pinto sporthorse breeding farm. Her work combines the wonderful colors of polymer clay with PMC (Precious Metal Clay) which is a clay composed of fine silver (or other precious metals). Her etsy shop is filled with such colorful wonders - rings, earrings, pendants, brooches, belt buckles - all just amazing in their color and detail. You can find more of Liz's work in her ETSY shop or her website at www.lizardsjewelry.com. She also has a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/lizardsjewelry.


With Mother's Day just around the corner, now is a great time to pick up something wonderful from this award winning polymer clay artist!




There is always so much to do. =) I'll be feverishly working on new designs for the next few days but things always get slowed down when I have to take those designs and photograph them, edit, post, etc etc. I was working until about 2am last night burning off some pent up anxiety that occasionally builds up in all of us - bills, kids, housework, business, yardwork, relationships, etc etc. I think sometimes you have to be super human to make it all work ....and I'm not quite there yet. lol I've been working on overlays some and experimenting with covering pens - practice, practice, practice and then sand, sand, sand. I think I'm getting it down though - I love the shine and color of these pens and the faces really just POP. And hopefully with more practice I'll leave some skin on the sides of my fingers when I'm done sanding. lol or not....

PCAGOE April Challenge

These are the entries in the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy's April Challenge, the theme of which is "Inspired by Fabric".


Please vote for your top 3 favorites at www.pcagoe.com between April 1 and April 7, 2010. 5 lucky voters will also win fabulous polymer clay prizes created by our talented member artists!


1) BeeTreeByMe
2) RiverValleyDesign
3) ClayCenter
4) CraftsbyCag
5) HiGirls
6) 11BoldStreet
7) RenGalSA
8) PhoenixRose
9) ArrowdaleArtStudio
10) PolymerClayCreations
11) VyaKyasha
12) AshPaints
13) MirameCreations
14) TheColorOfDreams
15) StillPointWorks
16) IansCafe
17) BlessedBeadJewelry

Always so much to do. =) Here is a few samples of some of my new Memory Capsules - something fun for upcoming Mother's Day and end of the year teacher's gifts! I've been playing around with my 60s canes and trying to think of new design ideas. Plus I'll be working up some generic college design ideas to offer to the stores wishing to carry my products after I get licensing and some new local school ideas for some fundraisers and sales at different schools coming up. All this along with preparing more beads, orders, paperwork, business plans, meetings, etc etc in order to get everything up to speed. One step at a time - wish there was 10 of me right now. lol OH - time for laundry, too. =)


Don't forget to vote! You'll see my entry sitting at #7 (lucky - right?) up there, but please vote for your favorites! I will be!

Mosaic Bracelet

Mosaic Bracelet
Originally uploaded by juliespace

The wonderful thing that becomes so addicting about polymer clay is how much you can do with it. You can stamp it, emboss it, layer it with designs, add colors, paint it. In this wonderful piece from Julie Sweeney you can see what happens when you use a bunch of those techniques to make tiles for a wonderful mosaic design that can be worn with just about anything. Julie is the secretary for the PCAGOE and often the first person you talk to when joining the group - and the first person to introduce you to the rest of the crowd in the forums. Her shop carries not only wonderful unique jewelry designs like the one shown, but also hair accessories, buttons, frames, and more! You can find her etsy shop HERE and follow her blog at http://juliespacedesign.blogspot.com.

Mother's day is fast approaching and wouldn't yours just love something unique like this wonderful bracelet?

This past weekend my good PCAGOE buddy Janice Sears featured me on her BLOG. It took me 3 screenshots to capture all her wonderful words and I'm truly honored beyond words. Last week was kind of a down week for me as I struggled with some personal issues relating to my kids and my ex husband that left me seriously wondering if I was doing the right thing. Janice's blog feature quite literally brought me to tears and got me off my pity throne and back to work and with wonderful results. I got brave enough to contact some bigger college bookstores and gift shops to show samples of my designs and got an immediate wonderful response and they want to carry my designs. Now comes the part where I have to go back into the business part of it all to work out a business plan, fill out paperwork, and set things up so all it copacetic with licensing, insurance, etc etc etc. Time to make my hobby a business, but I knew it was coming. =) Wish me luck! Thank you, Janice!

Golden Retriever

Golden Retriever
Originally uploaded by alisonekurek

Happy Birthday, Alison! Today's blog feature is Alison Kurek. Alison is a mixed media artist who works with not only polymer clay in designing her wonderful little sculptures, but also paint - at times incorporating the two in some wonderful 3d pictures! Alison is a fellow member of PCAGOE and an artist who has sold her work in numerous galleries, shops, and art festivals for over 15 years. Her ETSY shop is filled with wonderful 3D animals, paintings, notecards, and mixed media wall hangings and art cards (ACEO). She calls her blog Conservatively Outrageous and also has a Facebook Fan page.

It's Alison's birthday today, so it's a great day to look her up and wish her your best!

Spring Break is over and now I can relax and get back down to business with kids back to school. It always goes to fast and you never seem to get as much done as you wanted to, but it's wonderful to get to spend some extra time with the kids. My youngest was completely fascinated by my Groovy Tin I made and wanted to confiscate it for herself. She's become a wonderful artist herself and we'll be attending an award ceremony Thursday evening for her. She entered the National PTA reflections contest and went all the way to nationals where she received an honorable mention! So very proud of her and she is so talented for the young age of 10.

I had some left over scraps from covering my tin and decided to play around with them making some Groovy earrings. They're fun and colorful. I have some lentils polishing up too, so who knows what I'll do with those. lol.

Enjoy a new week, folks!

Steampunk Butterfly, Lilac

Steampunk Butterfly, Lilac
Originally uploaded by Eugena777

I look at Eugena's butterflys and all I can think of is WHAT FUN! My imagination (and my years of playing World of Warcraft) get the better of me and I can just picture those beautiful things flying all around Gnomeregan. Eugena must be a tinker along with a marvelous polymer artist. =) Eugena is another member of the PCAGOE and her shop is filled with beads, buttons, marvelous pendants, sculpted flowers, and wonderful tutorials to satisfy your need to learn! She is a master at incorporating different media into her polymer clay work, so along with steampunk - like the Butterfly - you can also find metal, wire, resin, and so much more in her creations. She is truly an artist. You can find Eugena's shop HERE, follow her blog at http://eugenascreations.blogspot.com, or visit her homepage at www.eugenascreations.com. You can also find Eugena's tutorials on Claylessons.

Eugena's work is intricate and masterful. I need to set aside some time and pick up some of her tutorials myself!

OK - TADA!!!! My little tin is covered! This photo is before I got it all sanded smooth and buffed shiney, but PHEW! Not too bad for a first go round at this tin covering thingie. I actually had a ton of fun making up the canes and playing around. My youngest daughter has fallen in love with the little box, so since this one is spoken for, I'll probably be making more. Besides, I need ideas to use up all those 60s mod canes, right! I have to say though - it was nice to take a break and try some new techniques and picking up the sanding and buffing tutorial from Lynda (SCDiva) made a huge difference in the final finish. Thank you, Lynda! Now I'm seeing visions of team designs on little boxes, too. lol ....omg, my to do list just got bigger!

THOUGHT OF THE DAY! It's spring break and I woke up early before my kiddos are out of bed. It's quiet and the TV is off and I can hear the wind chimes and doves cooing while I sip my coffee. Sometimes mornings are grand! Turn the TV off and listen to the birds sing!

Tiny Delights!

I was puttering around on Etsy checking on the folks who had marked my shop as their favorite - just because I like to find out who likes my work and curiosity and all that. And while I was browsing these other shops, I came across the link to this shop - a sister shop to one I was looking at. Ana of Tiny Delights is from Lisbon and her shop is filled with wonderful dollhouse miniatures - pies, cookies, salads, breads, spaghetti - all that she custom creates out of polymer clay. The wonderful Mushroom Mediterranean Pie above just made me hungry!

She has also recently added some beautiful dollhouse miniature pillows and bedspreads by her friend Marlene like the one pictured on the left. All the creations are in 1:12 scale and are so adorable and colorful and unique. I just can't imagine the patience that goes into making such tiny delights. =) You can find Ana's etsy shop HERE or follow her blog at http://alltinydelights.blogspot.com. For more images of Ana's work you can also go to her Flickr Gallery.

I think a lot of us - even though grown up - wish for that special dollhouse to make perfect one day. These are truly bitty treasures!.

Ok - here is a photo of my work in progress! Can you tell what it's going to spell? lol As I was discussing yesterday, my tin for the upcoming PCAGOE challenge is going to be a flash back to the 60s - with daisies, peace signs, and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! The canes I'm creating - like this one - are white designs with translucent backgrounds so I can layer them over a retro pastel background. I'm having fun so far and visiting lot of memories from my childhood of things like non-slip daisy appliques in my grandmother's bathtub and visions of the backdrop to "The Dating Game" - I even watched a few YouTube flashbacks of the show - and it still makes me laugh. Here is one if you'd like to share a giggle with me. Wish me luck today as I put it together!

Keep smiling and PEACE!

PCAGOE April Challenge Prize Mosaic

PCAGOE April Challenge Prizes
Uploaded by DivaDesigns1

This month's new batch of goodies!! These are the prizes in the pool for our PCAGOE April Challenge, the theme of which is "Inspired by Fabric". Vote between April 1 and April 7, 2010 and you could win one of these prizes handmade by our talented member artists! Check out the PCAGOE website for more information and make sure to mark your calendars and VOTE!

Top Row L-R: 11BoldStreet - pen; RenGalSA - tietac; PolymerClayCreations - bead set; LaurelSteven - pendant; Chicki - earrings

2nd Row L-R: Spiritmama - bunny charm; BeeTreeByMe - pendant; ClayHappy - earrings; SCDiva - pendant; ClayCenter - earrings

3rd Row L-R: NKDesigns - brooch; JKollmann - necklace; RenGalSA - bracelet; ClayCenter - covered tin; LauraBeeStudios - bracelet and earrimgs set

Yes, that's right - I have two prizes in this month's pool!!

It's a quiet, wet, rainy day today. Thunderstorms rolled in last night and it rained through the night. The air has that wonderful crisp feeling to it this morning and is much clearer - with all the oaks and others things blooming, the city is always full of allergy sniffles this time of year, so a good rain was just what the doctor ordered! I've been puttering around with a new line of items based on my theme for the PCAGOE June challenge to cover a tin. It'll be a base of a marbled yellow, orange, pink covered with millefiori 'LOVE', peace signs, daisies, and some faces of every race. I can handle the cane making, but this will be a new challenge for me in covering a tin and the other ideas I have in mind, but I need a break from the school stuff to satisfy my muse. I've included a photo of some of the fun lentil earrings I'll be posting to etsy today. They're faux opal with swirls of green and a touch of red at times - left overs from my Aries zodiac caning, but they have a wonderful shine to them and the green is a great contrast to the pinks and sparkles in the faux opal. I'll probably making a matching bracelet that is just these lentils, too - they're just a very attractive mix.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: I've been thinking a lot lately about life's drama and hardships - and facing too much of it sometimes in my life. It is alway hard when life's road is so bumpy, but then all those hard times make us take a hard look at our focus and what is truly important to us. Rarely when we're faced with hardship do we not see good come from it in the long run. Life's bumpy road keeps us awake at the wheel.