Yeah!!! Featured in Etsy Treasury!!!

Talk about exciting news...I got an email today from BunnyBubbles. She makes some amazing soaps! She got a treasury on Etsy today and chose my Ballade dragon to be in it.

Her Treasury is a great collection of fantastic gamer bits and bobs. Please be sure to check out her awesome collection as well as her store with the cutest soaps I've ever seen!

Time for a new look!

Inspired by De over at Delightful Minis I decided to change up my background. What do you think? Is it too much? It was my favorite one over at thecutestblogonthe block.com. I may search around the net to see if there is one I like even better but for now this one is wonderfully cheerful.
Thanks for the inspiration De!!!

Welcome!

I wanted to say Welcome and thanks to my newest follower. (gosh that sounds narcissitic to say! LOL) Sorry I digress. Michele is now watching my blog..she has a fantastic blog herself! She has the coolest Watermelon minis I've seen! I am definitely planning to give her method a try, as she was gracious enough to share her technique! I hope you'll pop over and check out here work!

Artist of the Week!!!

Meet Mirka, the very talented artist behind not one, but two shops on Etsy. Mirka.etsy.com features her adorable fabric creations. Stuffed animals abound in loads of fabrics and unique shapes, along side cute little purses and wallets. FinnFactor Arts is Mirkah's other shop featuring her truly amazing art work. Her animal prints are almost life-like.
I hope you will enjoy reading her interview, I know I did!
Deborah
Name Mirka Hokkanen-Kim
Shops Mirka.etsy.com for crafts and www.finnfactorarts.etsy.com for art.

About my crazy self: In the beginning I was just making gifts and giving them away to friends. The Etsy-site came along at the right moment for me, because I had ran out of people to give things to and it was a logical step to start selling my handworks. I am not looking to make a living producing arts and crafts, so it keeps me free to create what I want.
As far as making things is concerned I am all over the place which led me to divide my creations into two sections- art and craft. On one hand I work as a printmaker and illustrator, and have an artist website, blog and shop. On the other hand on my free time I like to sew, knit, crochet and felt for which I have a craft blog and a shop set up. It all sounds like a lot of work, but I love every minute of it. I am constantly moving around working on something. My inspiration is from nature and almost everything I do features some kind of an animal. I was born and raised in Finland, so I like to draw inspiration from my culture as well.

1. What brought you into your chosen craft or art?
I have been drawing and crafting little things for as long as I can remember. My mother always supplied me with pencils and paper, and my grandmother had an easy access scrap fabric bin on the bottom shelf of a closet. I do a little of everything and switch around with different materials and techniques as inspiration strikes. (This is also my Achilles heel.) I think what dictates my work now is moving around with a husband in the military. I have to choose small projects, that don’t take a lot of equipment or storage space.

2. Do you have a favorite piece that you have created?
I’m always infatuated with the newest creations, with the feeling wearing off and re-directing itself to the next critter that is completed. Currently I love my two little teddies that were crocheted a couple of weeks ago. The same usually goes for my artworks, but I am much more thoughtful and critical about that side of me- so it’s harder to like my prints. I think the crafts are freer and less meditated, so they have more of a whimsical and lovable side to them.

3. What would you tell someone who would like to venture into creating?
If you are not sure, start doing it on the side. Don’t be afraid of trying, learning and picking up new things. Nobody is perfect when they try something for the first time and unless you try you’ll never know what you like.
Search your local community centers, colleges, art centers etc. for craft classes. When you start looking, you might be amazed at the variety of craft instruction that is available and the nice thing is that you don’t have to invest in your own equipment only to find out you don’t like the technique.
If you live in a more rural area where no classes are available, search for local artists, most of them would probably be happy to give instruction for a small fee. See your local library for craft books. (free!!) The internet is also a great resource. You can find lots of tutorials, forums, blogs and artists who share their knowledge. Don’t be afraid to email and ask for advice, people love to talk and you will most likely get lots of friendly help.
I have listed some great resources on my craft blog www.finnfactor.blogspot.com and here are a handful of sites that might be helpful for beginners:
www.instructables.com an unbeatable resource of tutorials
http://getcrafty.com/ crafting forum
http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/ tutorials
http://sewing.patternreview.com/ support for those who want to sew

Thanks Mirka for sharing a glimpse into your life and your art! And thank you, reader for taking the time to learn about and visit Mirka!
Deborah

More New Goodies!

I took these pics last night and even uploaded them to my flickr...BUT duh I completely forgot to post 'em here! Eeeek, granted it was 3 am when I posted them, so maybe I can use that as an excuse! LOL
Up first are my dragon head pendants...a gorgeous bronzy gold one , (he is nowhere as red in real life...bad 2am photography LOL) and the second is a Faux Turquoise one. I had intended to make a full dragon from the turq, but discovering last night that it does blend, smooth or roll well, well I won't be! After he gets baked, he'll get a coating of Silver Leaf Pen on his horns.
Next are my newest miniatures...Candles and soap. The large 3 wick candle is about 1/2in in diameter. I just love the way they turned out and will be doing more in loads of different colors! :-)

I got several new clay books today, including Christi Friesen's new Bird Book, Donna Kato's Millefiore book, and an amazing book for making realistic clay flowers. I sooooo wanna clay, but I need to go scouring my house for stuff for my yard sale! Ahhh well...gotta have this yard sale to make $ to buy oldest son a new bed, and hopefully some more clay! :-D

Ok I gotta turn of the laptop, other wise I will sit here all day! Y'all have a wonderful Monday!

Welcome!

Just wanted to post a Thank You and Welcome to Catlena! It's always wonderful to meet new people!

New Goodies!

This is Flora...she is a Flower Fairy. Christi Friesen had a tutorial in the Summer 2009 issue of Bead Unique magazine. I just adore the way she turned out. There will most definitely be more flower fairies in my future. (say that 3 times fast! LOL)

Next was a sweet Sunny Daisy in a terra cotta pot. (and I guess technically this came before the flower fairy, but who's counting!) Sunny is about 6 inches tall and is nice and bright and cheerful.
I have some smaller flower pots and I think I will make some smaller daisies to go in them. Maybe even try some other flowers too. My oldest thought she looked like one of the flowers from Alice in Wonderland. So I will probably do some research and see what I can find. I think they'd make great gifts for someone with a black thumb. :-)

Lastly are my fireflies...I have had this idea for ages and just now finally got around to getting it started. Mainly cause I couldn't sleep last night and ended up still awake at 6am this morning! Urgh. So anyways, back to my fireflies...I made glow-in-the-dark fireflies!!! They will be hung on monofilament wire from the lid of a jar. That way they will look just like a jar of freshly caught fireflies. (and the cool thing is you don't have to let them go and they won't be dead in the morning either! I am very excited about this project!

Today's Goodies & I was Inspired by Another Blog!

Today was a pretty productive day, craft wise and other wise. I started off the morning with the littlest one and me going up to middle son's school to watch him do his 1 mile run...Little man and I even joined him for the last half mile. They ran, I walked! :-)
Then Little man and I came home and had popsicles (it hit the 90's today!!!!), and he played the Wii while I got my books together for an upcoming inspection at my husbands unit.

Once 'work' was done it was time to play...I decided to take a break from mini making and make some more pieces for my upcoming craft fair. (barely 2 weeks away!!!)
So I made an adorable Potted Flower. These pics just don't do the colors justice...I'll try to get better pics of everything tomorrow. I also made a cute little cf-style flower fairy, but she just came out of the oven, so pics tomorrow.
The Harvest Angel is actually a piece I made back in the Fall, and my mom has spoken for her...but I realized I had no pics of her. I was playing with my camera and got down on the floor with our dog Zeus. The old man is such a good dog, especially since he turned 11 in January. I think he's such a handsome boy, don't you!

Earlier today while reading through my blogs, I came across an entry at Katie's Clay Corner about her miniature gift bags, made from calendars and wrapping paper. Well, I got to thinking...I have tons of scrapbook paper out in the garage, and I need some kind of cute little bags for my craft fair for earrings...SOOOOO I searched on the internet for some free templates and made some sample bags! Personally I like the purple style better, one it's actually a little easier to put together, and (once I use the right size hole punch) I think it'll be the sturdier of the two. So tomorrow I am gonna print off a whole mess of bags, cut 'em out and glue 'em up! Thanks Katie for the inspiration!!!

Well it's late and hubby is already in bed...so Nighty Night all!
Deborah

Welcome

I wanted to say "Welcome!" to my newest followers. Eva at Prunella's Creation, and De from De-Lightful Mini's. Thank you ladies.
I hope everyone will stop by their blogs and check out there amazing mini works!

Wanted to say Thank You

and return the favor.
Yesterday I started following a fantastic mini-blog, that is a blog about a wonderful woman...who btw is also named Debbie...who makes mini's! She posts when someone new follows her blog, so I wanted to say Thanks and suggest y'all go visit Tiny Treasures! Down towards the bottom of her blog is her archive...Debbie makes some truly amazing mini's!
So thanks a million Debbie. :-)

Oh my Minis!

Well Thank goodness I think I finally figured out my picture trouble. I think my circuits were a little overloaded...so I cleared my cache and also recycled about 800 pics and documents that were clogging up my harddrive! I had no idea there was that much junk sitting there! Eeek!
Ok so here are some of the pieces I've been working on over the last couple of days! I started out making strawberry and kiwi fruti canes...they are smaller than the eraser of a pencil. Then I made little tarts to put the fruit in. The largest one is about 1 1/2 inches across, the little ones are about a half inch. The little ones still need their 'glaze' but other than that, I like 'em!

Next is a dragon necklace. I was going through dragon withdrawals, but didn't have the time to make a full size one. Soooo I decided to just make my favorite part. The face...so here is my dragon head necklace. And how exciting, he is already spoken for, was shortly after I posted him for my groups to view. I am currently working on another one too!

"oh so lo mi o" For some reason every time I think of Pizza, this pops into my head! This is a mini pizza about the size of a 50 cent piece, or about 1 1/2 inches. I made the pepperoni, mushroom, green pepper and black olive canes. (granted my olives have no holes, but I am pretty sure I would have drilled a hole through my finger had I tried to 'hole' the olives! LOL) I baked all the canes including bricks of cheese colors. I made the crust, added the sauce and then after the canes were done I sliced them thin and added to the pizza. A few brushes of liquid polymer clay to keep everything together and it's Pizza Time!!!

Thanks for being patient with my picture troubles. Hopefully it's good for now. Off to read through all my favorite blogs and then back to sculpting! Night y'all!
Deborah

Artist of the Week!!!

Eeeek, my apologies to my Artist of the Week...once again real life stepped in and delayed my posting this!



Meet the amazing artist behind Dunk Designs!

1. What brought you into your chosen craft or art?
I have always been interested in art. It was a natural talent at first, and simply a fun hobby. Then after much encouragement from family and friends I decided to cultivate it more, and applied to college to be a studio art major. I studied art history and studio art, until I later decided graphic design was a more sure bet and switched majors, but I never lost my love of drawing and art.

2. Do you have a favorite piece that you have created?
When my daughter was 4 months old, my husband, a soldier, was sent to Korea for a year long tour. The week of my daughter's first birthday, we arranged for him to come home on mid-tour leave. It was during this week that I created my favorite painting of my daughter in her footie PJs snuggling her daddy.

3. What would you tell someone who would like to venture into creating?
If you love what you do, there is no wrong way to do it. Have fun creating!

I hope you will take a few minutes to go visit her shop or check out her blog!

Again my apologies for this feature coming so late!
Deborah

Wow Tuesday Already!

Sadly no claying today, had to take the oldest to the eye dr's to get contacts. His glasses broke last night! We decided to get him contacts as he has a very narrow nose bridge, and has trouble keeping his glasses where they belong. So he got contacts today...he struggled a bit getting them in at first but is getting better. He already really likes them. :-)

I made several mini's yesterday, and jsut finished taking pics of them...but for some reason all of my memory cards seem to be on the fritz....grr...one says Write Error, and the other 2 will display the pics on my camera, but when I plug 'em into my SD slot on my laptop it says they are blank!!! URGH!!!!

So anyways...I made a 9x13 batch of Lemon Squares (well 9x13 in doll size anyways! LOL) I also made a couple of cheese wheels, and one large strawberry-kiwi tart and 4 smaller strawberry & kiwi tarts. I still need to glaze those, but once I do I will take pics again, and hopefully this time I will actually be able to share the pics with you guys!

Gonna try to get some more claying done tomorrow...I have a pizza on my tile waiting for toppings. I have a block of Mozzerella, and one of Cheddar, 2 mushroom canes, and 2 pepperoni canes as well. Gotta bake them tomorrow so I can finish my pizza.
:-)

Y'all have a great night,
Deborah

Claying Today...

And last night too! I made 4 main pieces...A fabulous 2 layer chocolate cake The bottom layer is about the same size as a 50 cent piece. Each loop of the aqua bow was hand formed and applied individually.

The next piece I made was a Kudzu's Whimzy style dragon...but I only made the head. He will be a pendant...I have hidden the spot where the necklace cording will go, behind his horns.

I also decided to try my hand at some miniature fruit canes ...I made a kiwi cane and a strawberry cane. I am absolutely in love with the kiwi cane...I even did one that has the fuzzy brown skin on it...but I won't bake that one until I need it...That one will be used to make whole and half kiwis. The strawberry cane, I'm not AS happy with, as i feel some of the detail got lost in the reducing...btu for my first attempt I think it's pretty darn good!

BTW I apologise for sending you to flickr to view my new pieces, but for some reason blogger doesn't want to upload my pics. Let me know if you can't see the pics on Flickr...I'll be happy to try uploading the pics again tomorrow. :-)

Enjoy the rest of you weekend everyone!

Friday Night Movie Night!!!

Normally on Friday's I cook munchie type foods and we as a family gather and watch a movie or 2. It was a tradition I started with the boys during my husbands last deployment. Thankfully he enjoys the tradition as well. Tonight was supposed to be no different, we have Bedtime Stories and Return to Witch Mountain. (hubby and I loved this set growing up and want the boys to see the original before the newest one comes out) Sadly we didn't watch our movies tonight, but will do so tomorrow. But I digress...my friend Jean blogged today about her favorite movies. I started to comment about my own faves on her blog, but then decided to keep my answer short there and blog about my own faves here.

So here they are in honestly no particular order.

--Pirates of the Caribbean 1,2,& 3--what can I say...Johnny Depp AND Orlando Bloom! mmmm yummy And throw in a good dose of humor and the fact that it's a movie set that my WHOLE family enjoys! This series is a keeper for me! (BTW I took this picture in the PotC ride at Disney! :-) )


--Chocolat Ok maybe there is a little theme going here...another fantastic
Johnny Depp Movie (BTW this link will take you to the trailer for Chocolat. ;-) )

--Beauty and the Beast, yep the Disney cartoon...I love this movie, and I am a sappy romantic at heart. And yes I will admit to crying at several points in it too!

--EverAfter Yep another romantic comedy...Drew Barrymore shines in this Cinderella story.

--The Indiana Jones series...mmmm Harrison Ford mmmm I Love Indy!!! Leather bomber jackets and Fedoras are mighty hot!!!

I know there are others that I love watching but these are the ones that I reach for when I actually get a chance to pick the movie! I hope you enjoyed my little romp through the silver screen...come on share...what are your favorite movies!

Claying away the day!

Ah it's been wonderful to be back in to my clay. Today I decided to try my hand at making polymer clay cakes...I made a 2 tiered autumn themed cake, a red velvet round, a rectangle red velvet and 4 little r.v. cupcakes. I also made a chocolate ganache round cake as well. I think I annoyed my hubby though with them...he came home from work and I told him I baked cakes today...he stood there sniffing the air looking puzzled. I pointed out the little cakes on the counter...well let's just say he was hoping for REAL cake...so I think I'll bake him a cake tomorrow to make up for the tease. :-)


I also took pics of all the other little goodies I made over the weekend and before we went on vacation. Please visit my flickr site to see them all!

Slow Wednesday

Although I was busy pretty much all day today it was still pretty much a slow day. This morning little man and I went grocery shopping, came home made dinner and then off to church we went. Right now I'm watching Ghost Hunters. I love that show! I think I'm going through clay withdrawals. I haven't clayed in 2 days!!! Thankfully I don't have anything planned tomorrow, so it's clay all day!!!

I am planning to try making some miniature foods. There are so many beautiful pieces of polymer clay foods out there and I want to give it a try! I'm hoping to have several pieces to photograph tomorrow to share with y'all. I still have to decide what to do about the 6000 pictures I took while on vacation...I'm hesitant to upload them to my laptop for fear the poor thing will explode with overload! LOL

But either way I plan on having bunches of pretties to share tomorrow! Well GH is back on so I'm off for now! Have a great night and until tomorrow...happy crafting!

Artist of the Week!

Sorry this post is coming a bit late in the day! :-(




Meet Christie Brown, the fantastic artist behind Stitch N Love

1. What brought you into your chosen craft or art?

My mom taught me how to sew as a teen. I hated everything that I made pretty much. Then when my first child was born, I made a few things for her, some outfits and back then there were panels for making teddy bears and stuff. Her first Halloween, I made her a cow costume and her cousin a dinosaur costume. From then until she was about 7, I made her costumes every year. Then I became a teacher and started sewing pencil bags and curtains for my classroom. I quit teaching at the end of the 2006 school year.

A year ago, my grandma offered to buy me a quilting table so that I could make some money quilting. This started me thinking about sewing again. While waiting on the table to get here, I started making some purses, then opened my world to all kinds of things! Unfortunately, I never got to really use the quilting table, the business went in a whole nother direction!

2. Do you have a favorite piece that you have created?

That's a hard one. I haven't really ever not liked anything that I have completed! Over the summer, I started making hairbows and those first few are pretty bad. But I worked at them, found great quality instructions and some awesome templates and they look fantastic!

I am partial to the children's clothing. I love it when I see a fabric and can invision the final outcome!

3. What would you tell someone who would like to venture into creating?

Do something that you really enjoy. If it's just one thing, that's fine, but if it's a lots of things, that's fine too! Don't hold back and don't be afraid to try something new. You may not keep up with that thing, but just trying it out may help you in other areas. There are so many things that I want to try, but haven't yet. Time is always an issue for me. My mind goes a mile a minute but my body can only go so fast. Not to mention it needs sleep!


Be sure to stop by her fantastic shop!

Girly Comments & Graphics



I hope everyone is having a blessed Easter! Whether you are spending the day at church or hunting easter eggs, I hope you will cherish your time spent with family. Our Easter has been well...untraditonal. LOL Since we spent last week at Disney, we really didn't do any of the normal Easter prep. No dying eggs, no big meal...heck I didn't even do up baskets for the kiddos. It was a little odd not to do those things, but I do believe that the boys really enjoyed our vacation. (even with the cold winds and the long lines! LOL)

So today I tossed all the candy I had bought into a bowl and presented it as 'the basket' I honestly don't think the boys cared...it was candy and that's all that mattered! I made tuna and rice casserole for dinner...we are finishing that now. So I guess today was really just another day for us. Oh and my sister flew back to Ohio today too. Luv ya sis!!! Hope you can adjust to the 40 degree weather! hehehe.

I have been busy claying off and on all day today. I have made several pens and am currently attempting to make a Macaw. I've made a couple little songbirds before, but nothing like this. So we shall see. :-)


Have a blessed Easter everyone!
Deborah

Quick Peep Tutorial!

Hi everyone...hope y'all have been having a great week. Before we left for Disney I took pics as i created some of my polymer clay Peeps. I didn't have a chance to post the tute before we left for Disney...so here it is.

1...This is what our Peep will look like when we're finished!
2...Roll 2 small balls of clay...one slightly larger than the other. My largest ball here is just over an inch in diameter. But you can absolutely make them smaller or larger.
3...Take the larger ball and roll it into a rounded oval.
4...Flatten it so that it is about 1.4 inch thick (this of course will vary depending on the size of your Peep) The base should be about twice as long as it is wide.
5...This is how your base should look.
6...Take the second ball and roll it into a tear-drop.

Peeps Part 2

Step 1...Gently stand up the tear-drop and press to flatten. It should stand up on it's own.
Step 2...Score the bottom of the tear-drop. This will allow the liquid clay to permeate and makes for a better seal.
Step 3...Add a drop of liquid clay and smoosh (yep its a technical term! :-) )it into the score lines.
Step 4...Place tear-drop onto the flattened pieces. I generally put it just back a bit from the front edge.
Step 5...Smooth and blend the front edge of the tear-drop into the base...you want it to appear seamless.
Step 6...Bend the tip of the tear-drop down towards the front-edge of the base. You now have a naked Peep! We will sugar them in the next step!

Peeps Part 3

Ok here we go...
1...I poured my super fine glitter into a zip-top bag.
2...Coat Peep with liquid polymer clay.
3...Put coated Peep into baggy and shake gently. Keep in mind you'll end up with glitter just about everywhere! LOL If making a pendant, you can always add the eye hook or loop before your glitter. Then you will be able to remove Peep using that. Otherwise just gently pick it out and tap off the excess glitter. Bake per manufacturers directions.

Enjoy your 'sugary' sweet Peeps!!!

Ack...It's been 3 days since I blogged!

Wow, time really flies. With icky weather and Meetings on Thursday, and my sisters flight being canceled, and then yesterday was spent running errands and picking up my sister from the airport, I just didn't have the time! And since I will be signing off for the next week...I definitely wanted to make sure I caught up. We are taking the kiddos on vacation. We are headed down to FLA...we aer taking the boys to Disney! They don't know that yet though. *evil grin* they think we are going to the beach. They are in for the shock of their little lives!!! But gosh there is soooo much involved in planning this trip, and of course the secrisy surely makes things a little harder too. (I can't research until after they've gone to bed! lol) But it's all good!
So I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Happy crafting, and have a blessed Easter!
See y'all around the 13th!!!

Wet Wednesday

Ah yet another rainy day! Um I think this is like 5 out of the last 6 days that it has rained. Urgh! I am so not a rain person...Well actually I like the rain, it's just the grey-ness that goes with it that I am not fond of. Cause I actually LOVE storms, the crash of the thunder, the flash of the lightening! I just love them. Summer storms are best when they come in without the rain. I love sitting on the porch just watching them. But these last few days have just been so darned grey! I am really looking forward to heading to sunny Fla this weekend. If I haven't mentioned it before we are taking the boys & my sister to Disney! My boys have no clue! *evil laugh* We are staying in the cabins at Disney for 6 days. We might stay in FLA for an extra day and go to the beach on Saturday. Hopefully we will have wonderful weather while on vacation.
Hmm what else...oh I am going to be working a craft fair in May, so I am trying to build up my polymer clay stock. I've been working on some little thing lately, like pens and pendants. Just quick stuff over the last few days. I probaly won't make anything new until after we get back from Disney on Easter Sunday. But that gives me about 4 weeks to make more stuff. My goal is to make 3 dragons each week, as well as several smaller pieces each day. Hopefully I can follow through with that.
Well I have rambled on for a bit now...off to fold laundry...joy! LOL
Until tomorrow
Deborah