Friday, December 31, 2010

Flowered Moebius

I crocheted another moebius and added a flower. Have fun tonight; be safe. See you next year.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Free Christi Friesen Tutorial

Christi Friesen is offering this free pdf download of her wreath! What a great gift! You can find it HERE. A nice way to end out the year.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The Last of the Christmas Parties

Our friends have a huge holiday party...I mean a sit down dinner for a 100 friends.
Cars are parked for blocks. We all bring something and we all exchange gifts. It's one of the best times because the food is great and all we do is laugh. It was a great party.
The gifts were packed under the tree. I'm always sorry when it's over. On the way home, we passed a house where a birthday party was going on.
The birthday "boy" was as old as a dinosaur. It's all in the attitude isn't it?

Monday, December 27, 2010

Frosty's Tiger Coat

OK, this is the last of the polymer clay holiday cards (I think). I'm still loving the animal prints so I gave Frosty some tiger ear muffs and jacket. I've been trying my hand at Tunisian Crocheting. Why? I have no idea. What a disaster.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Merry Fishmas!

I saw some chocolates at Cabella's sports store that said Merry Fishmas on them. Made me laugh out loud. Had to go home and use up some scrap clay and peppermint canes. Hope you had a very Merry Fishmas!

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Folks Dressed Up Like Escargots

In between shopping, I've been relaxing creating with polymer clay. Speaking of relaxing, we are going to watch "Christmas Vacation" (a tradition), then sit on the patio with a nice cup of hot chocolate and watch the fire in the fireplace. Now I can't get that song out of my head...."and folks dressed up like escargots, everybody knows...." Hope you all have a wonderful, warm, happy, joyous day!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Free Crocheted Necklace Tutorial

A free tutorial from Monica Welle Brown of M1 Designs on how to make the above crocheted necklace. You can find it HERE. It reminds me of the polymer clay ones that are so similar. I found it while I was looking through the jewelry patterns at Ravelry. I am probably the last person on earth to have discovered Ravelry (click HERE). It's free to sign up and what a treasure trove of knitting and crocheting patterns; some free, some not, but lots and lots of inspiration.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Free Beaded Bracelet Tutorial

A gorgeous raised pattern beaded bracelet-free tutorial from Ruby's Beadwork. You can find it HERE. Merry Beading!!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

My Work in a Gallery, Mall & Store

Inspired by Andy Warhol's painting technique, above are paintings of my polymer clay sculpture, "Warrior"........Ooooooo, they turned out great didn't they?
Above are two of my acrylic abstract paintings.
Above is one of my highly textured acrylic abstract paintings used as a backdrop for a mall display. How gorgeous is that!!!
And, last, but not least, above are three of my acrylic abstracts featured in the window of Grieders! I'm basking in this. Loving it, cherishing it....because these are what my work would look like in these places if any of the above were real. They're not. Photofunia is a photo editing program. What fun. I mean fun with a capital "F"! You can find it HERE. I just uploaded photos of my artwork into these photos and viola........I'm in galleries! They say you have to imagine it first, believe in it and then, who knows? Anything is possible.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Free Holly Wreath Tutorial

Isn't that a cute wreath? Add a pinback and it's a gorgeous pin. You could add glitter glue or metallic powders or paint some white snow on the holly leaf tips. You could add some bling to it with crystals or.....just enjoy as is. You can find the tutorial HERE. Thanks Polymer Express.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Oh Cactus Tree, Oh Cactus Tree......

That's what I've been singing instead of "Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree..." Our plein air painting group went to White Tank Mountains for the morning. It was so beautiful and peaceful. Below is what I was looking at and above is the result.
The dark frame makes the colors pop and the silver leaf frame brings out the pastels.
One of my fellow painters set up in the fine sand at the bottom of a wash. Again, I stayed on the main trail not wanting to make the descent with all my gear. I really enjoy the new sites, the fresh air, the painting challenge and the shared laughter. I'm looking forward to the next trip after the holidays.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Gingerbread House Free Tutorial

This tutorial is from Polymer Clay Express.....click HERE. Lots of good stuff at Polymer Clay Express! These could be downsized to a pendant or pin.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Free Polymer Ribbon Candy Tutorial

Polymer Clay Ribbon Candy Tutorial from Polymer Clay Central (click HERE). I'm making mine in red, green and white! How about you?

Friday, December 17, 2010

Free Frosty Earrings Tutorial

Karen Mitchell and Ann Mitchell of AnKara Designs created the polymer clay Snowman Earrings tutorial for Amaco.com. You can find it HERE. Love these.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Free Santa & Snowball Tutorial

Another great tutorial from HGTV. You can find it HERE. Frosty would be cute hanging up there too!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Merry Moebius

A polymer clay pin I made that I intend to wear with this moebius neck scarf I'm crocheting.
Oh, the kid mohair yarn is light as air, and the color Periwinkle is my favorite.
My neck scarf is based upon the above shoulder shawl pattern. It is Mirjam Bruck Cohen's design concept (written by Bonnie Pierce). You can find it HERE. Merry Moebius.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Doing the Happy Dance!!

I made it into the February, 2011 Polymer Cafe' magazine with my Egg-cetional Centerpiece Tree. I'm doing the dance of joy. It's a fun article on how to make polymer clay chocolate candy eggs for a centerpiece.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Beaded Holiday Bracelet

I won this hand beaded bracelet in a raffle. The bead artist is Sandra deBay. She was inspired by Linda Frechen's design in the August, 2007 Bead and Button magazine. You can purchase the pattern HERE. Linda Frechen accidentally stepped into a patch of poison ivy and from that she created an award winning beaded shoe.....which gave root (sorry) to the bracelet.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Free Lisa Pavelka Tutorial

This is a tutorial from Woman's Day (click HERE). It is written by Lisa Pavelka.
It is one of the projects in her book "The Complete Book of Polymer Clay" which is available from Amazon (click HERE). It's not really a holiday themed project, however, I wouldn't mind receiving one of these in my stocking.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Peppermint Candy Charm Bracelet

I had more than enough polymer peppermints to make a "charming" holiday bracelet!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Free Polymer Tutorial-Frosty & Friend

These are from HGTV Handmade Projects (click HERE). They are polymer embellished writing pens. So cute.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Global Warming and Frosty

Bet you thought these were polymer, huh? Nope, they're cookies. My kind of cookies!
You can find the recipe for these great cookies HERE at The Decorated Cookie blogspot. I get inspired from Meaghan Mountford's creations, thoroughly enjoy her sense of humor and appreciate her generosity in sharing.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Polymer Peppermints





This afternoon I am giving a class on making these great polymer peppermint candies. They're addictive. They can be used to add to garland or make a bookmark, package or card embellishment, jewelry, decorate a picture frame, oh the list goes on, but you get the idea.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Dashing Through The Dough...

Feels good to just sit and make a pair of holiday earrings. Feels good to have some quiet time and not worry about "dashing through the dough" during this holiday season.
Sometimes that's all we need is a little down time to re-energize. Wish I had made this sprite, but I didn't. I bought him about twelve years ago in Chicago. He hangs on one of my studio walls, or did until today.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Free Tutorial - Ornament

From Polyform....Syndee Holt's Ribbon Ornaments. I love these! Click HERE. I really like these because they are so simple, but really pop on a tree.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Free Ornament Tutorial

I'm so sorry! Thank you Barbara of Pinelands Patches and Beadscapes for letting me know my links are not connecting. I THINK it is fixed now and am crossing my fingers for tomorrow. You guessed it.....Polyform! Britta Lautenschlager's beautiful ornament can be found HERE.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Free Photo Album Cover Tutorial

Can't say enough great things about Polyform's website (click HERE); great products and tutorials. The album cover by Amy Koranek can be found HERE. Happy claying!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Frosty, Santa, Rudolph and......?

Polyform has a free tutorial for a Penguin by Kris Richards. It is so cute. You can find it HERE. I'm giving it a try later today.
These are the guys that started me on my "animal print" tangent.
They are appliques on one of my holiday sweaters.
So different........leopard print accents on Frosty, Santa, Rudolph and.......Penguin? I relate to the Penguin. Love Penguin.