MOTW...sort of

Well as I sat down to paint my nail, I realized I had totally forgotten to take a picture of the mani I just removed!!! Argh, so please excuse the fact that I only have one nail painted! But this is what I was wearing on all 10 digits until about 2 hours ago!

I started off with 2 coats of Barielle's Snow Day. They call it an ice blue metallic with silver undertones. I call it real pretty. After this I used 2 coats of Maybelline's Blue Brilliance. BB on its own is really sheer but it is a lovely color that tends to shimmer with pinks, purples and greens depending on the light. It kind of disappearred over SD, but I swiped it diagonally on my nails. (it's on the portion below the black dots.) Ok so I guess my next step was pretty obvious but I added black dots in acrylic paint. After that dried completely I added 2 coats of Northern Lights Hologram Top Coat.


On a crafty note I have been attempting to sculpt little polymer clay guinea pigs for Barbies. It's not perfect, but I'm pretty happy with my first one! =D

MOTW and custom polishes

Today I pulled out a color I've worn before but hey I LOVE it! It's Sally Hansen Nail Prisms in Pink Rose Diamond . This polish is actually what started my love affair with holographic polishes. (and heck even if you don't like pink the holo-goodness makes this a yummy color!)Sadly this line isn't available in retail stores anymore BUT it can be found on ebay quite frequently. Just be warned that the Nail Prism colors with the word PEARL in the name are NOT holographic! (But they are lovely sheer colors!) I started out this mani with 2 coats of Sinful Colors Star Fish which is a nice dusty pink. I added 2 coats of Pink Rose Diamond on top. After letting them dry I added black polka dots to my ring fingers with acrylic paint. Word of advice, be sure to let the acrylic FULLY dry before adding a clear coat. I smudged my right ring finger just a bit! lol


Trying to stick with my 'Ruby' manis for the month of July is kind of tough...I have been playing around with my Spectraflair pigment powder and mixed the pink I wore HERE. Plus I also made a purple and a charcoal grey! I am super excited because my order from TKB Trading arrived today. They sell supplies for making custom cosmetics, including nail polishes!!! I ordered some empty mini bottles for storing colors as well as sharing them, as well as the little ball bearings that help mix the polish. I ordered some syringes in 2 sizes (these are going to be used with my resin for mini making) and some cool holographic glitter.


I found a recipe for a deliscious looking cake on the Betty Crocker facebook page, and decided to save myself the calories and make it in mini. I am currently slicing a tiny brown wrapped cream color polymer clay cane into about a bazillion tiny almond slices for the cake topping. I forgot just how may strands the smallest disk on my extruder makes with just a peach pit sized piece of clay! (I'll have 'almond slices' coming out the wazoo!)

MOTW and Barbie goodies

My mani today is a nice straight red, fire engine red maybe even. It's called Red Tape by Wet n Wild. It's rather sheer, I've got 3 coats on my nails! But 3 coats covers pretty nicely and it dries really fast. The brush is also unique as it seems to be asymetrically curved which I thought was very nice. I want to do something to give this mani an extra pop, but at the moment have no idea what to do. Any suggestions?


Onto the Barbie front. I finally finished the ruffled tube dress outfit. I added pink and black shoes and bracelets, switched out the pink neck ribbon for a black on and added a nice gold bag. As soon as I can set up my 'studio' I wll get good pics taken and list it in my etsy shop. I have also been working on making dishes of Macaroni and Cheese. It's one of my kids favorite dishes. I initially was wrapping the clay around a toothpick and then quartering the wraps. but after a bit I realized that I was still reshaping them by hand so I just started cutting them my hand too. Taking out the wrapping step sped things up tremendously! I saved space in the dishes by baking mounds of pasta color clay to put under a thinner layer of macaronis. I am not a fan of the liquid polymer clay sauces as they need to be baked for them to set. Since I am often using plastic Barbie dishes this is well nearly impossible. So I came up with a mxture of glue and paint that I customize for that ever I am making. So, what do you think?

Been busy with little things

I was inspired by several other bloggers including Mo Tipton over at The Mouse Market. She's been making some of the most gorgeous gingerbread houses in 1/12th scale. She even has a little mini-tutorial on her blog! Since I am working more in 1/6th, I took a pattern from a cookbook and printed it out at the right size. Then I turned the printed patterns into templates by laminating them with clear packing tape. I lightly pressed each piece to some gingerbread colored clay. (which I also scented with a cinnamon Christmas oil, and added several herbs and spices for texture) I used my slicing blade to cut out the pieces. I actually worked with the sheet of clay pressed to my tile, and just peeled away the excess so as to not distort the pieces. After baking and cooling I started glueing them together. Today was spent starting on the candy making process. So far I have made candy canes, patterened hard candies, cherry sour balls, lime Dots, and Necco wafers. I need to make more Dots tomorrow and I'm also making some Kisses. While making the gingerbread I made some donuts and cupcakes too!
More pics can be found on my Flickr site here!

Clay Friends...WE HAVE A PROBLEM

Ok so today I found out about the impending changes to Polyforms' Premo! clay line. Facebook Topic here They are introducing several new luscious sounding colors. Ok this is good news, however there is BAD news attached to this. Due to sales volumes Polyform has decided to discontinue the following colors
Red Pearl, Green Pearl, COBALT BLUE, SEA GREEN, Copper, ZINC YELLOW, Frost, Fluorescent Green, Fluorescent Yellow, Fluorescent Red and Glow-In-The-Dark

Cobalt, sea green and zinc yellow are VITAL to most artists' palette! Cindy Lietz of Polymer Clay Tutor has been in constant contact with the people at Polyform and she is starting a petition to keep these PRIMARY colors in the line-up. It's about a quarter of the page down. If you use Premo! I urge you to read her article and help save these necessary colors!

Cakes and sales

So I really enjoy creating things. When I finish them I usually snap a quick pic on my desk to share.(with all the 'stuff' behind it) Listing items in my Etsy shop seems to be a whole 'nother matter! Yes it takes me a while, but I don't even really mind sitting down (or crouching as is often the case) to spend a few hours taking photographs and editing them to best show off the product. BUT sitting dow to list each and every item on Etsy about drives me insane! It's not that I don't like writing the descriptions, that part is pretty easy for me. But it's the monotonous plugging in details that gets me...Heck I've had items where the listing took longer to do that making the item itself!!!
BUT if you're going to sell online this is something that needs to be done. It's silly to complain about lack of sales when the same few items have been sitting stagnant in your store! Thanks to the late night urging of a dear friend I listed these 2 cakes Friday night. Saturday morning I received a message from a gal in Canada asking if I'd ship the cream and chocolate one to her. No problem, (I prefer NOT to list shipping prices for international, but I will gladly do so after I adjust the listing accordingly) I emailed her back and confirmed that I would indeed find out how much shipping would be then alter the listing accordingly. Well not 5 minutes later someone ELSE bought the cake!!!!
My poor first customer was heart-broken, but I told her I would gladly make another cake custom for her! Then later that evening after posting my good news on Facebook, someone else custom ordered a version of the cake in Chocolate and Hot Pink!!! Soooo this just goes to show how important listing is!!!! (And listening to the urgings of good friends! =D)

So, what can it be???

I've been toiling with this idea for quite a while now...I wasn't entirely sure how I wanted to go about doing it. I'm still not sure this was the BEST way to do it, but I'm on the right track. I know at this point you're going, "Ok it's a white vase???" Maybe if I turn out the lights?





I printed off some wolf silhouette clip art and then trimmed each one individually. Each one got a good layer of black sharpie front and back. No clue if this helped the effect or not, but from the inside it look nice too! The images were then decoupaged onto the clear rectanglular vase with Mod Podge. While it dried i mixed up a 4:1 mix of Translucent-White premo polymer clay. I conditioned it until it was almost completely mixed but left a few striations for 'texture' so to speak. Then it got rolled out really thin in my pasta machine.
(a number 5 on my Atlas) The clay was then smoothed over the frame trying to eliminate as many bubbles as possible. I got most of them. I then baked it for 20 minutes (since it was so thin!) let it cool and sanded it a bit. I think it will get more sanding as well as some black trim along the top and bottom. I am trying to decide between black clay or a ribbon or fabric trim of some kind...black leather or suede 'ribbon' seems really appealing right now. Each side has a different image which can be seen here.

So what do you think?

Bren's Busy Baking!

Bren was sooo very excited when the mail showed up today...a package from Hong Kong! I ordered some more Re-ment dishes of ebay and Brens' chef whites arrived! She had to try them on right away. Ooops didn't realize the pants were capris, but
Bren says they'll be really comfy in the kitchen. Although we are thinking about adding a bit of lace to the hem for a little bit of 'flirt'! Our resident fashion maven Ellie declared that the red scarf would be better suited to tieing back Brens' hair. We both agreed!




After she got into her whites, she flounced off to the kitchen for a marathon baking session! I could hear the mixer going and bowls clattering as Bren sang along to the radio as she worked. She is a rather impressive baker as she got quite a bit accomplished today.
--Scrumptious Nibbles Sampler...Chocolate and vanilla butter cookies, jumbo cream puff, and a key lime tart in chocolate cookie crust. Also on this tray are a couple bars of the gourmet chocolate Bren uses in all of her chocolate dishes.
--5 layer chocolate and yellow checkerboard cake with whipped cream frosting.
--Black Forest Cake with buttercream frosting and homemade cherry filling
--Cream Puffs, Jumbo and MiniBite
--Bren's Famous Rich Dark Chocolate cake with Madagascar Vanilla Bean frosting!

Daily Dish...um...how about Monthly, Maybe!!!

I am such a horrible blogger! It's been a couple weeks since I posted anything and most of what I have been posting has been well...fluff! My husband headed over to the Middle East in the middle of April, I hurt my back, I have been dealing with dr visits, a craft show, a yard sale/bake sale and an impending surgery. Every little thing just seems to run together!!!
The boys and I are doing well...they are very eager for school to let out. (and honestly so am I) My hubby is doing well also although he would MUCH rather be home!!!
My back is fine now! :-) Doctor visits should be ceasing with my surgery next week, well after the follow up! LOL It's nothing major really, just an outpatient procedure to stop my non-stop feminine issue ;-) It's a procedure called an ABLATION and YES to my guy friends out there it's one of those feminine issues! LOL While under anesthesia they are also going to tie my tubes for me! =D I am very happy about all this. My mom is flying in from Ohio on Thursday to take care of me and the boys! I am not really worried about the surgery, but I am very glad to know that she will be here! I miss having my mommy close by!
My craft fair, that I worked feverishly on for almost 3 weeks...was well kind of a bust! It was scheduled from 10-5, but most everyone had packed up and left by 3! The weather was actually rather nice, but the sky was rather threatening, and the wind was pretty gusty! I felt really bad for many of the other artists who had paintings or photography for sale...those things just couldn't stand up to the wind!!! I did ok...I made about $60, which covered my table fee, lunch, and dinner for Saturday and Sunday night. So not bad, although it could have been better...at least I sold something!
This weekend is our Post-Wide Yard Sale...that means the whole military community has their yard sales the same day. It's a HUGE deal...I am by no means ready for it, but I honestly never am! LOL I can think of a ton of stuff already that I just need to pull out, wipe down and price. I also told my boys that we will make goodies together, but they can have a bake sale and 'lemonade' stand. AND whatever money they make they can split between the 3 of them! They are all very excited about that! (heck they might end up making more than I do! LOL) So tomorrow I need to start baking away so there will be tons of goodies for them to sell. We are also gonna do lemonade, sodas and waters. I've gotten some really great deals on those things, so I think it'll go well!
Then next week is my surgery, so I will be out of commision for a couple days. I don't think I'll really need it but my Momma says I am going to relax if she has to lock me in my room! LOL So I guess I better get my TV hooked up, my books ready and my Farmville set! =D

I have tons of new polymer clay items to share with you, but need to get pictures taken. Hopefully over the next few weeks I can do that. Thanks for listen to me ramble! Y'all have a wonderful week!
Deborah

I never promised you a rose garden...

but how about a little bouquet????

Last year at my pre-Mother's Day craft show, my flowers did really, really well! So I am hoping that will hold true for this year as well! I spent several hours last night making these polymer clay roses. Each petal is hand shaped and then added to the blossom. Each one is unique. The largest blossom is about 1.5 inches across (3 cm). They are on floral wire which will get wrapped in green floral tape and they will get calyxes and some leaves as well. I think these guys are gonna be mixed media pieces as I am planning to use handmade paper for the leaves and calyxes. For some reason I don't care for the way clay leaves look! (go figure! LOL)

I am very happy with most of the colors. The really deep burgundy actually baked a tad darker than I had hoped, but they are still very pretty. The other one I odn't care for it the peachy color. These were the first ones I made and I'm not entirely happy with them. BUT I am sure someone will love them! I want to make tons more of these as I intend to 'package' them up in little vases and boxes just like the full size 'real' ones! I think I am going to have some pre-made 'arrangements' as well as some loose ones so customers can choose their quantity and colors.

For now though I need to switch modes, as my left hand is a bit sore from pinching and smooshes around 400 individual petals! So on to some other cute things. :-)

PS silly me I forgot to add the link to my Flickr so you can see more pics of my roses!

YEAH!!!! I finally got some work done!!!!

It's about darned time too!!! I finally decided that my craft area re-org is just too time consuming. (right now) I have my first craft show of the season on the 8th of May and I am NO WHERE near being ready enough. So my claying area is 'set-up' I am started production! Since my show is the day before Mother's Day I am focusing on things for Mom. Yesterday I started with pens and pendants. I am only including 2 pics, but please check out my Flickr account for more!

Lacie WIP update

I have decided that my Lacie will be rather scantily dressed, so I took my porcelain figure and filled her in (except her arms, I'd like them to move)with Super Sculpey clay. Then I played 'plastic surgeon' Lacie got a boob job and a tush lift. Next she will get a coat of paint to even out her 'skin-tone' As unfortunately Super Sculpey blends in perfectly when raw but darkens noticeably when baked. I think I need to play around with some mixes to see if I can find one that bakes to match the porcelain. But any ways here she is in all her glory. oh yeah and she's running around in the buff. (But then again if Tessie is right Lacie won't be cognizant of anything until she is dressed and wigged anyway.)

I have also discovered the need for buying good quality dolls from a reputable dealer. Lacie was bought on ebay for a really good price. Maybe too good a price. I have noticed that she is rather 'rough' nor smooth and clean like Orah or Giselle were. So from now on I will stick to dealers I know even if the prices are higher. I think this is one of those times where you get what you pay for. Even still the roughest areas will actually be covered so it'll be ok! =D

Polymer Clay Cane Tutorial

Wow 3 posts in one day....talk about craziness! LOL

About 2 weeks ago I made some canes for doing miniature candy. I took pics and have finally gotten around to adding them to my Flickr. If you don't work with clay and are interested in purchasing some prebaked canes or finished jars of candy just send me an email! =D

I think I am crazy!!!

I sat down and mixed up some red clay for making miniature strawberries. (No canes this time, since they were gonna be whole) Notice I said were! Yeah for some insane reason as I was using my pasta machine to mix and condition the red, I thought....hmmm I need long stemmed roses for Valentines Day. So I set about looking on my desk for my tiny Kemper cutter....Dang it, can't find nothin'!!! It really is time for a good desk cleaning again! But anyways...what do my eyeballs spy amidst all the creative rubble...an eyelet...yep like in shoes or corsets or scrapbooking! Hmm I wonder....yep it works...kinda hard to hold though...so I grab my tacky wax and put a blob onto the end of a new sucker stick and press the eyelet onto it. Instant tiny circle cutter...how tiny you ask...1/8 of an inch across!!!!! So dipping my new miniature petal cutter into cornstarch I proceeded to cut out a bazillion tiny circles. And then just working like I normally do, albeit with WAAAAAAAAAY less petals (only about 5 as opposed to my normal 8 to 10) I made a rose. The stem is 28 guage beading wire. They are gonna end up being about 1/4inch across...so that makes them about 3inch in full scale. I'm quite pleased with them actually! I am planning to give it a coat of green paint and leaves after the roses have been baked! So what do you think?

Partridge in a Pear Tree

Um yeah so this should have been posted before Christmas, but yeah well I forgot to take pictures of it. I am not completely happy with it, as some of the branches are not as sturdy as I'd like them, and I think it could use more leaves. BUT that being said I love the concept and plan on fixing it to have available for next year.The tree itself was made from floral tape covered wires, that were then painted. Each leaf was hand shaped, textured and colored with various metallic pearl pigments. The 'Partridge' was based off of one of Christi Friesens L'il Blob Birds. The pears were made using a video tutorial by Cindy Lietz I think they look fantastic. Cindy's website is fantastic. Not only does she showcase tons of polymer clay techniques she posts color recipes using the various brands of clay. (many of her color scheme's are based off the amazing photographs that her husband takes!) If you aren't already familiar wth Cindy I highly recommend her! =D
As a matter of fact I enjoyed her pear video so much, I used her technique to make the tiny pears in the bowl that Orah is showing off. I told her that her pears still need a shine on them. Orah says they look frost-kissed! lol She wanted to bake a candied lemon cake yesterday and demanded an apron to keep her pretty dress clean. So I made her one...I mean what else was I supposed to do? lol The side table her bounty is sitting on is a part of the set that I am working on. This piece and the matching table are Hepplewhites from House of Miniatures. There is also a hutch from Michael's and a pair of chairs that will match. Oh yeah and one of my little soda bottle cap footstools too!Hopefully I will have pictures of the entire set finished tomorrow! =D

Another post????

Yep, I figure the other one was getting kind of long! LOL
This is a custom ornament I made yesterday. It's a small mouth bass. I still need to add the hanger to it, but I am super happy with it! It's about 5 1/2 inches long from nose to the tip of its tail fin.

Urgh...my apologies...

Again time has just run away with me. *sigh* So let me see if I can remember what has been going on in my life the last almsot 2 weeks.
When last I left you I was preparing for my one and only craft show of the season. it amuses me that I was invited to participate in 3, chose 2, then had to drop out of one due to being ill. *sigh* Oh well, the show I ended up participating in was put on by a local Art Guild. I went out Friday night for their Artisans Reception. I willingly admit to being more than a little intimidated and thoroughly scared about the show. Most of the artists in the guild are either painters or earthen clay sculptors. As I walked through the gallery, I couldn't help compare my little polymer clay pieces to the fabulous oil, acrylic, and watercolor paintings and the fabulous sculpted bowls, vases and greenman masks. I was honestly beginning to wonder what I was doing in with these other artists. I left Friday evening apprehensive, but happy. I met many of the wonderful painters and sculptors and think I made some new friends as well!
Saturday morning I arrived about an hour early to begin to set up my booth. As i unwrapped and placed each piece someone would stop by and 'ohh' or 'ahh' over something. I bought a pair of small christmas trees (that once I start decorating, will flank my front door) I set one of them up on a low table beside my booth to hang all my beaded and polymer clay Christmas ornaments one. It does light up but unfortunately I didn't have an outlet available. =( Oh well, with a big 'bay' window behind my booth, plenty of light came in and showed off my ornaments perfectly. I took all of my polymer clay pieces (well the finished ones anyways! LOL There are still several in various stages on my table) and had them laid out.
The show opened at 10am Saturday morning with a nice crowd of people...And within the 1st 30 minutes I had made my first sale. And they just kept coming. I couldn't believe it...my fear from the night before was actually at one point replace by a little bit of guilt. The painters and sculpters had a hard time selling things, while I just kept moving little bits off my table. I sold several snowflakes in various forms and many of my small figurines. I sold several pair of earrings too. I even sold one of my large dragons. I traded another of my large dragons with another vendor who does earthen clay work. I got several small fabric Christmas tree ornaments and a lovely sage green bowl for my dragon. Another artist is a photographer...sho had this gorgeous matted photograph of a silhouetted beach at sunset. The sky was streaked in these luscious shades of magenta and burgundy...it's perfect in our master bedroom. During a lull in the crowd and wandered over to purchase it. She offered to trade the picture for a unicorn I had sculpted. I was only too happy to oblige. Yet another trade came from a lovely older woman who painted the most adorable set of snowmen I have ever seen. I will be honest I initally walked over to talk to her, because she seemed lonely in the corner by herself. Her framed snowmen were just a wonderful perk to meeting an equally wonderful lady. I bought the snowman that she had painted that best matched my living room...he will be proudly displayed this coming holiday season. The next day she bought a little piggy I had sculpted. (the painting and the piggy were priced the same, so I chalk it up to a trade;-D)
All in all I had a wonderful time, met many talented artists and actually did really well!
This last week has been spent trying to catch up on neglected house work and such. I have some miniatures I need to make for a swap...those need to be in the mail by Wednesday...(I'm working on them Kathy! lol) The I have a few more swap items to make, but those are due in early December, So I most likely won't start those until AFTER Thanksgiving. urgh MUST CLEAN HOUSE THIS WEEK!!! We will most likely be having some of my hubby's soldiers over for turkey day next week.
My next major project will be a bash and smoosh of a trio of Orchids.(dollhouse kits)
I bought one from Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago intending to build mom's shop in it...well I think it is just too small! So in talking to my hubby we have decided to buy 2 more Orchids (gotta love 40% off coupons!!!) and some balsa sheets to 'build' our our house for mom! I love the Orchid for all it's lovely gingerbread and fretwork. Mom's house will be painting in 3 shades of blue, ranging from pale ice blue for the exterior to deep navy for the gingerbread. Donnie is going to build me a full front porch for a rocker or two and possibly even a porch swing.
I am very excited about this project and can't wait to finish it...honestly even more so I can't wait for Mom to receive it!!! I'm thinking that the video camera might serve me well for that. =D

Now that I have rambled on and on for a while now I should scoot...the laundry room is calling me and my kitchen table is screaming my name, although the cries are muffled under mounds of papers and craft bits and bobs!
Thanks for sticking with me and reading this far. Talk to you all later!

OOOOH I WON!!!

I am so excited...about a month ago I joined a couple of other ladies over on Yummy Miniatures Food From the Crow It was a Halloween Hutch contest, now Halloween isn't a big holiday for me, so it was kinda tough for me to step outside my comfort zone. But I did it. And here was my resulting hutch. I used a $1 hutch from Michaels and painted it matte black...it then got a gentle rub of metallic purple. I replaced the knobs with a star and moon set, and added a jack-o-lantern embellishment to the cornice at the top. I filled the bottom shelf with hand carved hollow jack-o-lanterns and a trio of miniature pumkins. The middle shelf holds a crystal ball, a plate of halloween cookies and a Happy Haunting sign. The top shelf has a trio of hand sculpted polymer clay candles, a picture of a set of spooky eyeballs and a shrunken head!
Please visit Julie's Site to see the other fantastic entries and my cool prize!!!

Teddys and Snowfolk

I have several pieces to show off but will probably take a few posts to do it. Here are a couple of little Polar Bears and snowfolk I have made in various sizes. The littlest one (with the green earmuffs and stripey scarf) is about 3/4 of an inch tall. The tallest one (Polar bear with brown teddy ornament) is 1.25 inchs tall. The Red Beret Snowgal sits about the same. =D I got my wire pieces coated in their clear layer and will photograph them tomorrow (in my new atbletop photo studio! =D)
I have also been working on a Halloween Hutch, (not sure if I can share it yet it's for a contest...gotta go check the 'rules') and a fireplace for a gift bag scene.
The fireplace is almost finished, the 'hearth' is drying right now. So that too will get photographed tomorrow.
Grr ok here is the link to my flickr Blogger doesn't want to let me upload pics right now. So you can see some of these things as well as some others I hadn't mentioned. =D

Still grey, but oh well....

I went ahead an took some pictures last night of some of my new goodies. So for your enjoyment we have...a trio of Unakite turtles, Boo, and a pair of sea turtles. On my Facebook and flickr I asked folks whether the trio should remain loose or get their own base like the sea turtles. Seems people are divided...what do you all think?