The Pleasant Pheasant

Home Fashion

2012-02-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

I'd like to share the enormous range of what is beautiful in polymer clay for the home fashion set. It truly is amazing when you realize all that can be done with polymer clay, and this collection of home fashion items shows that well. I hope you'll check out the things that these fabulous artists do with their chosen medium.

Fashion for the home - Voila!

And the winners are...

2012-01-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

The PCAGOE challenge for January was really fun, and not just the players thought so. PCAGOE has a new format for voter prizes that will prove to be very popular, we believe. There were a lot of voters and the 3 voter winners get to choose their prizes from a big assortment of Etsy shops. Neat!

One of the challenge winners was Susan of 11BOLDStreet of Etsy. She created a new home decor "device" that is totally cool. It's a Pomander Pod filled permanently with spices to brighten up the olfactory senses when you walk into a room. And to refresh, just shake the Pomander Pod and replace on the stand. Susan has made them so that you can turn it over for a different look, as well. Now that's the way to customer's hearts, I'd say.

You can check out Susan's shop here. It's not named 11BOLDStreet for nothing, either. Susan's work is all about BOLD, something she does well.

PCAGOE JANUARY CHALLENGE VOTING IS LIVE!!

2012-01-03T12:33:00.001-08:00

Yay, it's voting time again! Please vote for your three favorites at the PCAGOE blog by January 7th, okay? Since Facebook is having some problems with posting links, it's all the more important that you vote using this link...

Thank you! We work hard to bring you fun things to see, and of course if you read the new Prize Format information, you're really wanting to vote this month. You'll get to choose your own prize from a big list of participating Etsy shops.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

NEW PRIZE FORMAT AT PCAGOE: January Challenge

2011-12-30T17:45:00.000-08:00

I'm really happy to tell you all that the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy is launching a new way for winner voters to get their prizes when they vote and win in the PCAGOE Monthly Challenge.

YOU WILL CHOOSE YOUR OWN PRIZE from a list of participating shops from now on. It's a really cool concept and we know that you want to know about this so you can be sure to vote. Voting commences the first week of every month. The January Challenge voting will be open from January 1-7.

See the participating shops and what they are offering as prizes at the PCAGOE blog, and get ready to vote!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-24T19:17:00.000-08:00

On this day before Christmas, I wanted to wish you all a very happy Christmas Day tomorrow. Hope you all get that special gift that you really wanted!

I have to share this photo, it makes me laugh whenever I see it. Mr. Snowman Votive has such a look of surprise on his face, you just know he must have received the most fantastic gift ever!!

Enjoy your Christmas, every one.

:)

December Challenge

2011-12-02T11:24:00.000-08:00

Artist Trading Cards Head on over to the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy where you can vote in the December Artist Trading Card Challenge, and you may become a voter winner of a handcrafted polymer clay item from one of the PCAGOE artists. Voting runs until December 7th, but don't delay!

Artist Trading Cards are just that - cards for trade. Beautifully decorated and fun to display, after the challenge the artists from PCAGOE will be trading these cards and others between themselves.

On this same note, keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming Artist Trading Card swap that I'll be hosting soon. In the meantime, practice making some ATCs... they are the same size as a standard playing card (2.5" x 3.5") and can be decorated in any manner you choose. A bit of art on a card - always fun!

New Artist Trading Cards

2011-11-27T10:56:00.000-08:00

I've been working on new Artist Trading Cards, otherwise known as ATCs. They are made from any material (in my case I start with polymer clay, but you can use paper, felt, fabric, whatever floats your boat), and they are always the same size as a standard playing card. Once you have your basic "card", then you get to embellish. It's really fun because there are no rules. I have a large ATC collection from trading with other artists. And than brings me to the one rule about ATCs - they are to be TRADED and never sold!

Here are the two cards I made this week, the blue flower is for the PCAGOE Monthly Challenge for December:

Making these cards is addictive, as they tend to get better and better as you make more of them. Your mind gets going on all the ideas that you "could" do and then it's hard to stop. :)

I hope you'll all get ready for a big Artist Trading Card Swap that I'm planning to host in a couple of months. It will be so much fun!

(Please use my new Widget and sign up for email delivery of my blog posts. It's easier, they come right to your email box, and you can read them or delete them as you wish.... Thanks!)

Telling a story

2011-11-21T21:53:00.000-08:00

My smart blogging friend, Donna of Cottage Days and Journeys says that my photos should tell a story, and I have a good story today! It has to do with snow and screen porches and gazebos over our spa at the back of the house.

Dealing with snow here in the High Sierra Mountains at 7,600 feet elevation is a pain in the you-know-what. And, we're not getting any younger which doesn't help. So, my smart husband and really helpful son have fixed one big problem - the snow that we have to deal with at the back of the house, after we've spent hours dealing with the driveway at the front.

The following photos will explain....

Here's a photo of the back of the house taken from above in May, 2011, showing the lovely new back deck and the spa. The spa has been there for 7 or 8 years but hubby just replaced the old rotting back deck last year.

And here is a photo of that same spa taken December 30, 2010, last winter. The winter of 62 feet of snow. The worst winter since the 1950-51 season. It was awful. This photo was taken at the beginning of the winter, too, you should have seen it in March. There was no place to put the snow, and we gave up and pretty much let the spa get buried. Not good.

But now - TADA - problem solved! This is a completely removable screen porch and gazebo that my husband and son built to remedy the problem. Can you see me smiling? I am over the moon happy! No more snow to shovel back there, yay. It's thrilling. And come Spring, down goes the entire thing and we will be back to normal until the following October. It was quite a project but now that it's done, it's great!

I already spent half the day yesterday in the spa - the gazebo is cozy and bright and just the thing to make the spa less a hassle and a lot more fun than any other winter since we got it. Woo hoo!

Dezaree turns 16 and Gracie's Island Snow Girl

2011-10-28T15:10:00.000-07:00

Last week, granddaughter Gracie stayed with us for a few days, because it was big sister Dezaree's 16th birthday weekend... (Dezaree is in the center, cute, isn't she?). Oh my gosh how it happen that she's SIXTEEN?? Wow. You think they're going to stay little forever but they keep growing up on you.

While here, Gracie had fun walking on the block wall out back....

And peeking around the corner looking for Papa....

And playing clay with Nana! We had so much fun making this, Miss Gracie is much like her mom April and moves fast as can be. She stuck those ears and the beautiful "blouse" on her Island Snow Girl so fast it was amazing. She had no problem deciding where it all should go, including the smooshed big nose, the large eye, and the off-kilter eyebrow. :) And the fact is that Island Snow Girl is looking over her shoulder instead of facing forward (not part of "my" plan for her creation, heh heh.) But it was Gracie's creation, so of course I resisted the temptation to pick up that head and turn it to the front. LOL!

Claying with kids is always fun and interesting. I recommend it highly.

Fun Things You Can Do While Kayaking

2011-10-17T14:41:00.000-07:00

There are so many fun things about kayaking on the lakes in our area. From loading the kayaks into the truck and driving off to the various lakes that are within 2 or 3 hours of where we live, it's really the most fun and healthy thing that we do. It's got some hard work involved.... lifting the kayaks off the truck and carrying them down to the water (and back later on) can be tricky at times, and the winds blowing across the lakes can make your paddling experience brisk, to say the least. But a day spent on a sunny mountain lake is very fulfilling, and we get to see great flora and fauna that we wouldn't otherwise see at close range:

You can play Hide-and-Seek:

You can wonder at a mysterious group of curved trees (not a trick photo!):

You can see snow in August:

You can eat lunch on an island:

You can question the sense of a duck paddling on its back while trying to choke down a fish:

And you can paddle back to the truck tired and happy for all the wonders that you were so blessed to get to see and enjoy:

October Challenge: Make a Polymer Clay Mask

2011-10-01T11:14:00.000-07:00

October.... fall leaves and of course the month for MASKS! So the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE) decided to have a Mask Challenge this month. The entries are amazing! Take a look at the mosaic of the masks:

But it can't be a challenge without VOTERS... so I urge you all to click on this link and check out the full size photos and pick your favorite 3 masks and VOTE! It's fun and easy.

Voting is open until October 7th. Here is a peek at the prizes you could win just for voting:

Vote here!

Thank you for voting, and may the best mask win!

Special Fun Claypen Chat on September 29th!

2011-09-27T13:22:00.000-07:00

Would you like to win a Julie Picarello pendant?

This is an invitation to attend the "Discussions from the Claypen" chat at Polymer Clay Central.

Date: Thursday Sept 29th.

Time: 11:30 AM Eastern Time.

All you have to do is show up for chat and your name will be tossed in the hat!

For a second chance to win, send me a photo or link to a polymer clay piece that uses the Mokume Gane technique as taught by Julie either via her classes or her new book, "Patterns in Polymer Clay". If you can't make the chat but have a photo to share, your name goes in the hat that way, too! It's a WIN-WIN, and somebody IS going to win!

The photos below are some pieces that I've made using Julie's technique... the patterns and the fun are really endless, just wait until you see the Claypen Art album on Thursday! I'm lucky and get to see everybody's photos first.... and they are just fabulous so far, with many more to come, I'm sure.

First is this Imprint Mokume Gane Heart Necklace:

Then, a Hidden Duck Keyring - do you see the duck swimming peacefully there? (Click on photos to enlarge them.)

And a Southwestern look pendant made a couple of years ago:

I hope to get a chance to chat with you all on Thursday! See you then. :)

"Caged Beads" Necklaces from Jae Jewelry

2011-09-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

Although I'm primarily a polymer clay artist, I like to make jewelry sometimes, too. I made these necklaces a while back, but just took new photos of them. Click on the photos to see closer views.

I'm including just one photo of a white necklace below, and will take better shots of it for another time.

Above is a blue/black "hologram" look necklace, and also below in two different views.

The fun part of these necklaces are the focal bead and the two smaller "netted caged beads". They are bead cages made with seed beads that hold the larger beads. I have made a lot of these caged bead sets because they are quite relaxing to make and they look so good.

Click on photos to enlarge.

Here is a photo of the white one, which would be just awesome for a bride! It is super gorgeous and would set off a bride's gown beautifully. Click on the photo for the closer view.

Thank you for checking out my jewelry today. I wish you all a fantastic day!

Speaking of Wildlife.... From The House Series

2011-08-28T14:29:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago, I was alone in the house, and I started hearing this deep "wuff, wuff, wuff" sound, it was very strange. So I looked out the kitchen window, and this is what I saw:

Click on photos for a closer view.

I was sure glad I hadn't been outside when I heard that sound! As it turned out, this bear was injured and couldn't step on one of its front paws. I felt really bad for it and I called the Nevada Wildlife department right away. While I waited for them to arrive, I was keeping an eye on it and taking photos. Here are a couple showing the bear trying to make its way down the hill without stepping on that paw.

The story gets interesting because when the wildlife guy arrived and loaded his big scary looking tranquilizer gun, I was fascinated. But this dumb guy decided to wait for the other guy who was driving up the mountain with the cage to put the tranquilized bear into. As you see from the photos, that bear was tagged.... so he already knew about the wildlife guys, somehow. We watched the bear sidle off from a vantage point in my driveway, and I kept asking the guy, "Um, shouldn't you do something before it gets away?", and he kept saying he wanted to wait for the cage guy.

He finally realized that the bear was moving away from my house pretty fast, and decided to go after it. Well, I'm so smart (not!!) that I said, "I'm coming with you!" and since he didn't seem to mind, I went along. There we were, hiking through the mountains above my house, and guess what? No bear. I was amazed! There were large areas of manzanita bushes just above the house and to be honest, that had to be where the bear was hiding out. I'd been watching it move along for quite some time already that morning, and it couldn't move very fast at all.

Well, the dumb guy wouldn't give up, and I just wanted to go back to the house, but there I was, out in the forest with this guy who had the tranquilizer gun, and going back to the house alone with no protection when I knew there was a bear nearby would have been silly. So I had to stick near him for an hour or so, until he finally admitted defeat. Was I ever mad! He had his opportunity when the bear was 20 feet away, and he didn't take it.

So the bear melted into the forest and I went home really dirty and hot and sent the wildlife guy off, hoping someone would give him more training before they sent him out again. The cage guy was by now sitting in his truck down the street waiting to put the bear inside, so he went away disappointed, too.

The bear? Who knows? I'm sure he couldn't do much and since it was already November, unless that paw healed enough for him to walk on it and dig a winter hideaway cave, he may have died from lack of food or perhaps made it through the winter to limp around the following spring on a paw that probably didn't work too well. The best hope I have is that somebody else saw him and called the Nevada Wildlife department, and they sent a smarter person out to deal with this bear. Let's hope that's true. :)

From The House Series

2011-08-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

I live in a beautiful place. I really dislike it in the winter but I love it in the summer. It's a huge dilemma for me, without a doubt. :)

Lately I've been seeing really neat photos from the house, and luckily my great camera has been allowing me to catch some of them. So therefore, my "From the House" series of photos is born.

This bird was about 15 feet from me, in the double-trunked Douglas Fir tree we call the Twin Towers that is closest to the house. We've called it that for 24 years, so it isn't a take-off on the 9/11 situation. That tree was small when we moved here, now it's so tall it looms over the house! We estimate that it is around 70 feet tall.

I had to quietly sneak out the door, it took about 10 shots to get a good one of the bird, as it was hopping around in the tree and a little worried about me being there, but finally I succeeded! This species is called "Western Tanager" and they are vibrantly colored in red, orange, yellow and black.

I hope this guy comes back again so that I can get even more photos of him, as he is so colorful and pretty. His "lady" was hopping around in the tree at the same time, only on the far side of it, she was not so brilliant as her man.

Click on the photo for a closer view.

WIN The Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy Summer Promotion

2011-08-08T15:19:00.000-07:00

KEEP IT COOL!

The talented artists of the PCAGOE are going to Keep it Cool with a Gift Basket Giveaway from August 8-14!

Win this great basket stuffed with all kinds of one-of-a-kind handmade gifts from the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy. No purchase necessary. Enter in one of two ways: Each item purchased between August 8th and 14th from a participating Etsy shop (see list below) gives you one (1) entry. Or you may enter by sending a convo to any of the participating Etsy shops.

GOOD LUCK!!

Young Creative
Polymer Clay Creations
The Pleasant Pheasant
ashpaints
Play Sculpt Live
NK Designs
Hi Girls
Beadelz
Penny's Lane

Summer Storms

2011-07-30T17:13:00.000-07:00

It's the end of July... and we are having giant thunderstorms up here in the mountains. Yesterday was the worst hailstorm I've ever seen in my life, really horrendous. I saw the closest lightning bolt I've ever seen, too, and almost fell over flat when the accompanying thunder hit. It was so loud, wow. But afterwards? A rainbow from God...., pretty, isn't it?

CLICK on photos to enlarge.

So when the storm clouds started gathering today, I went out and took some sky shots around me to share with you all. The photo below was taken looking east, and that is Job's Peak in the distance.

Again, the photo below shows Job's Peak, but this time I was looking more toward the south.

Here is a shot of the 10,000-foot Heavenly Mountain with a 75-foot tall pine tree right in front of it. That sky is looking threatening!

Looking toward the west before the hail started, we still see some blue sky:

I pulled this photo out of the last one because it's a really interesting cloud formation, it makes me think of the Loch Ness monster, roaring out loud.

Then the hail came! It was loud, hitting everything with a power hard to explain, watching the hailstones hit the ground, the roof and the deck and bounce 6 feet high was enthralling!

It's quiet now, and it feels as though the world has had a nice washing, and is clean again. Ahhhhhh...

Purple Princess Chutzpah

2011-06-07T20:32:00.000-07:00

I have to share this photo with you, because all of us can clearly see that when you're wearing a beautiful purple princess dress and matching high-heel shoes with clear tops, you're just full of what is called "chutzpah". It doesn't matter what you are wearing under that purple princess dress or that your socks are blue, not one bit. Beautiful is beautiful, just ask little Gracie. In her words, "I am a pitty pincess"... that's all there is to it.

Almost a Repeat

2011-05-28T23:18:00.000-07:00

In my last blog post on May 10th, I shared snow and kitty bibs. Well guess what? I might as well call this one the same thing, because even though it is May 28th and we should be seeing some summer weather by now.... it's still winter. To prove it, I took a photo out my front door tonight, nice, huh? Grrrrr! No more snow! To add insult to injury, I just heard the snowplows going up and down the street. And it's still snowing... sigh.

On a happier note, granddaughter Gracie is here with me this week, and I took the opportunity to snap a photo of her in the famous Kitty Bib. She sure has grown since that last photo taken in September 2009. She's been a complete joy to care for, she's a little angel child and is no problem at all. She's the sweetest little thing, seriously. She cried only once this week, and that was when I tried to get her to watch the DVD "Lilo and Stitch" instead of watching her "Barbie" DVD for the 14th time. Guess who won? Yep, it was like David and Goliath again, and we watched "Barbie". LOL!

I'm having so much fun, what a blessed life I have and a wonderful family who are willing to "lend" me their children to enjoy for a few days in the autumn of my life. They couldn't be better to be me in that regard, and I'm very happy. :)

Two subjects - Snow and Granddaughters

2011-05-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

This post was actually for yesterday, May 9th, but little Lucie babykins managed to keep me from getting it posted. The photo above is my previously green back yard... It ended up snowing and hailing all day yesterday and this morning we had to shovel the front stairs to get out of the house. Hopefully it's going to stop now and we can get back to Spring. No doubt my daffodils are going to suffer because of this snow, darn. I was going to see about cutting them yesterday but I was a day late.

Now this is the fun part of the blogging for today. The photo above is my youngest grandchild, Lucie. She is the number ten grandbaby and she's almost 2 years old. The reason I took the photo, though, is for my second grandchild and first granddaughter, Brittany, who is 26 years old. Brittany and Lucie are cousins.

Brittany is the reason that I originally purchased the Kitty Bib that Lucie is wearing to keep at my house for Brittany when she was about this age! No Velcro on this baby bib - it ties in the back. Can you believe it would last through 9 grandchildren? It has, and most all of them have worn it at one time or another. Lucie loves the kitty on that bib so much - just as Brittany did 24 years ago. The poor kitty is a little worse for wear now, but causes much excitement when we talk about it before putting the bib on. Brittany used to smile and hug the bib and now Lucie does the same thing. So did Lucie's two big brothers and her cousin Gracie, this bib has been a hit for a while now.

Here is a photo of #9 grandbaby, Gracie, wearing the bib (and in the same plaid high chair) in September 2009. Gracie and Lucie are cousins, just 14 months difference in age.

I wish I had a photo of Brittany wearing the bib, too, but I don't. However, below are two photos of Brittany, then and last summer.

Gotta love those granddaughters! And I do. :) Being a grandma is one of the best things I've ever had the chance to be. Watching them grow and become who they will be has been good.

SPECIAL MOTHER'S DAY PROMOTION!

2011-04-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

What's in the basket? 2 clocks, 2 pocket mirrors, 1 large barrette, 2 hair clips, 8 necklaces, 5 pairs of earrings, 1 votive, 1 cookie turner, buttons, note cards, sculpture of a cat in a frame, wine glass charms, lighted keyring, a ring, 2 bracelets - quite a nice selection!

Spoil your mom or yourself for that matter! Win a Beautiful Basket Full of gorgeous Polymer Clay items. No Purchase Necessary. To be entered into the drawing, either purchase an item from the stores below from April 11th to the 25th or send an email to Laurelsteven.etsy.com with your name and email address.

What better way to honor your mom than with a handcrafted, beautiful item from the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy members? Shop handmade on Etsy. Shop at the stores listed below to enter!

11BOLDStreet.etsy.com
Alisonekurek.etsy.com
Beckysuecreations.etsy.com
Ashpaints.etsy.com
Higirls.etsy.com
Kellyplaysclay.etsy.com
Jkollman.etsy.com
Marcympc.etsy.com
NKDesigns.etsy.com
Peggers.etsy.com
Polymerclaycreations.etsy.com
ThePleasantPheasant.etsy.com

Every item purchased will give you an entry into the promotion, or for "no purchase necessary", just contact LaurelSteven.etsy.com with your name and address.

Promotion ends on April 25th so hurry! Only a couple more days to enter. :)

AyeletBeads A Winner

2011-02-11T17:07:00.000-08:00

I'd like to tell you all a little bit about a friend of mine, Ayelet, who is the owner of AyeletBeads. Ayelet hails from New Zealand and she has been developing with polymer clay for a few years very impressively. Her works are better and better all the time, love to see that happen to polymer clayers. Her canes are gorgeous and her jewelry is awe-inspiring for its beautiful textures, colors and design.

Here is a link to her Flickr site for some yummy eye candy:
AyeletBeads at Flickr

(I wasn't kidding, was I?)

She also does craft shows and has an Etsy shop named AyeletBeads here.

One of Ayelet's claims to fame is that she writes the BEST polymer clay tutorials! (Hint: check her Etsy shop for the tutorials.) I have several of them and they never fail to please. I've been able to use them in a few different ways making them indispensible to me. So a few months ago, I got this awesome "Magic Flower Cane" tutorial from her and was so wanting to try it out. Then I became unable to clay due to a pinched nerve for a couple of months, so I couldn't do it. But now that I'm doing better, I pulled it out, and gave it a try. It's a great tutorial! Easy and fun (just don't make your cane huge like I did!) and with great possibilities.

Thank you, Ayelet, for being such a nice woman, an awesome polymer clayer, a good friend and a good tutorial writer!

Below is the photo of my first cane made with her Magic Flower Cane tutorial. Something weird went on with the white clay in this cane, it was way too soft and compressed together when I reduced it, but I still like the flower very much. I'm going to make another one shortly, hopefully the white clay will behave next time. Ayelet, I hope I made you proud. (((Ayelet)))

Thing A Day for February 6th (Super Bowl Sunday)

2011-02-06T15:00:00.001-08:00

Well in honor of the Super Bowl... I'm NOT watching it! But I am going to post a photo of my Thing A Day entry for Day 6 of the Polymer Clay Central February Thing A Day Challenge, which just so happens to be a new Etsy listing, as well.

This is a silver and yellow key fob - the photo doesn't do it justice at all, it's SO pretty! The little touches of yellow just make it glow, and the Mother of Pearl coin beads along with the Bali spacers make it very pretty. I like this one a lot, can you tell?

I've been carrying two of these key fobs in my purse for EVER, and I love them. Every time I pull them out of my purse I'm pleased to see them, isn't that cool? I like the fact that they hold up wonderfully - both of my polymer clay focal beads have been dragged in and out of that purse for years, and they look as good as ever.

Thing a Day is extra fun for me this year since claying has been so difficult. But it's pushing me in the right direction as I clayed some more last night! I'm so happy and although getting up this morning was tough, I'm moving around again. Might clay some MORE!! Woo hoo.

Polymer Clay Central Thing A Day - February 5th

2011-02-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

Well, due to a pinched nerve, I've been absent from almost everywhere except my chiropractor's office for quite some time. It is not yet "fixed" but sometimes is a little bit better. It started the first week of December and I thought it would "go away". My new learning experience - if I'm having pain over a "3" ever again, I'm heading off to get it fixed before it gets to a "10" for weeks on end.

Now, though, I've had a little bit of a comeback, SO... I'm going to try to keep up with the fun fun fun annual THING A DAY contest at Polymer Clay Central! Okay so I'm 5 days behind already but I'll keep working at it.

Here is a cane I made over the period of about 2 weeks. I hope they start popping out a little faster after this! (click on image to enlarge).

Thank you to all my friends and family for your constant uplifting on my account. You don't know how I appreciate it.

A Beautiful Jesus Nativity Scene

2010-12-26T17:44:00.000-08:00

I've been terrible about blogging lately. But I took photos of my one-of-a-kind and seriously beautiful hand-painted gourds Nativity set and decided to share it here today. This little Nativity set is usually the focal point of our Christmas decor.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

The stable is slightly large for the set, but it adds a nice backdrop at the same time, I think. My husband was so sweet to find the stable and bring it home right after the set arrived here from the artist.

The close up photos that I took this year aren't the best, but look closely to see the incredible attention to detail and careful work of the artist. She is AMAZING!

I admire every piece when I unwrap them each year, and place them carefully with a smile on my face each time. They are special.

And now the bad news.... the wonderful artist who did my Nativity Scene is so backlogged that she's not taking new orders. Bummer! Her name is Helen Eyers and I just know you'll be chafing at the bit once you check out her blog and her beautiful (there really should be a better word) gourds here:

Litte Round Lady Creations

I'm happy that I was able to get this Nativity set from her before she got overwhelmed with orders. Thank you, Helen, I think of you often, but with special enjoyment of your excellent artistry at this time of year.

And Let the Voting Begin!!

2010-12-01T19:40:00.000-08:00

Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy's December Challenge - Faux Mokume Gane

The theme for the PCAGOE December Challenge is Mokume Gane. I hope you will click on the link below and go check out the beautiful entries! And please scroll down and vote for your three favorites while you're there.

Click HERE to vote!

Five voters will win prizes created by various PCAGOE artists.

Mokume gane is an ancient Japanese metalsmithing technique which artists in other mediums, including polymer clay, have adapted. The term Mokume gane literally means woodgrain metal or eye of the wood metal, and refers to the elaborate woodgrain patterns which can be created with the technique.

There are many ways to achieve the look of mokume gane in clay. The traditional method is to stack different colors of clay and/or translucent clay and foils, compress the stack, emboss it with a patterned texture sheet, then shave horizontally the raised areas of the stack to reveal the different colors and patterns. It requires a light, but steady hand. If you shave too deeply, you will ruin the pattern. If the cut is too shallow, you won't reveal all of the color bands.

Some artists stack the colored layers and then use a ripple blade to slice vertically, revealing wavy patterns in the clay.

Voting begins December 1, 2010 and ends at midnight Eastern U.S. time on December 7, 2010. Winners will be announced on December 8, 2010 at www.pcagoe.com.

Winning public voters will be notified as soon as possible after voting closes. If you do not respond within one week, your prize will be returned to the pool as unclaimed.

You may also sign up for our monthly newsletter when you vote.

Our members love to hear your comments about the entries. Please take a moment to complete that section when you vote. We also love to hear where you learned about the challenges.

DECEMBER CHALLENGE ENTRIES:

Many of the entries are available in the member's Etsy shop. Click on the member's name or the title link to check any entry you are interested in purchasing.

Thank you again for your votes, and for supporting the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy. We hope you will join us again next month. The theme for January is "Three Color Combo." We hope to have many beautiful entries to inspire and delight you.

Special Coupon Code Savings at ThePleasantPheasant until Nov. 30

2010-11-21T16:26:00.001-08:00

Okay, am I crazy or what? Noooo but I do want all of you who read my blog and my posts at my various forums to know that I have a special coupon offer running in my Etsy shop until November 30th! It's for an additonal 7% off the listed prices (and no I did not increase them first!). I am using Etsy's new Coupon Codes program for this special sale.

To get your additional 7% discount, you just enter this code when checking out - "UntilNov30th", and the discount will be applied to your order. Easy!

Please also check my previous blog post about the PCAGOE Holiday Promotion (below) to see the wonderful promotion that every buyer (if you are not a member of PCAGOE) will be entered into when ordering from my Etsy shop between Nov. 8 and Nov. 30. It's all too good to pass up, so check it out. I hope you'll enjoy shopping at ThePleasantPheasant!

SHOP AND WIN IN THE PCAGOE HOLIDAY PROMOTION!

2010-11-18T16:08:00.000-08:00

YES IT’S ON AGAIN, SHOPPERS…………………………
THE POLYMER CLAY ARTISTS GUILD OF ETSY HOLIDAY PROMOTION 2010.
WIN… WIN… WIN… WIN……..REALLY BIG!!!
How can I win?
Shop in one of the participating stores listed below from November 8th until November 30th, 2010 and your name will go in the drawing to win one of our fantastic prizes. OR send us a postcard - details will be in the Etsy shops' announcements. Purchase 1 item, get 1 chance - purchase 10 items, get 10 chances. Send one postcard, get one chance - send 10 postcards, get 10 chances. This is definitely one competition you will want to be in!
What do I win?
You will win a beautiful Christmas package stuffed to the brim with polymer clay goodies handmade by our members.
There are 3 prizes to win and with each prize pack comes a gift certificate.
First Prize - $75 gift certificate plus prize pack.
Second Prize - $50 gift certificate plus prize pack.
Third Prize - $25 gift certificate plus prize pack.
WOW!
Who wouldn’t want to be in this drawing?!!! Find out all the details by visiting any of the participating shops listed below:

http://www.ashpaints.etsy.com/
http://www.allisonekurek.etsy.com/
http://www.arrowdaleartstudio.etsy.com/
http://www.11boldstreet.etsy.com/
http://www.claycenter.etsy.com/
http://www.createmyworld.etsy.com/
http://www.debbiecrothers.etsy.com/
http://www.elysianfields.etsy.com/
http://www.jkollmann.etsy.com/
http://www.kellyplaysclay.etsy.com/
http://www.laurelsteven.etsy.com/
http://www.mandarinmoon.etsy.com/
http://www.miramecreations.etsy.com/
http://www.nkdesigns.etsy.com/
http://www.peggers.etsy.com/
http://www.polymerclaycreations.etsy.com/
http://www.rengalsa.etsy.com/
http://www.rmkdesign.etsy.com/
http://www.rozpetalzstudio.etsy.com/
http://www.thepleasantpheasant.etsy.com/

NO PURCHASE REQUIRED FOR ENTRY. Please see my Shop Announcement for the rules of the promotion.

A Blue Ribbon Win - Thank You!

2010-11-08T13:39:00.000-08:00

^That.. is a blue ribbon! The first blue ribbon I've ever won in my life... and I want to thank all of you who voted for my Winter White Vase in the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy's November Challenge for that blue ribbon. Picture me last night when I learned about the win, giggling like a little child. It was really fun, so thank you for that.

I want to take a moment to thank some others - my family and good friends. Not just for their votes, but for their endless support of me and of my polymer clay passion for all these years. They are the reason that I've been able to move past uncertainty and see the things I create as beautiful.

Now let me mention PCAGOE... you all ROCK and I love being part of a cohesive group of artists who push me to move along in the right direction, who encourage me to enter my art in challenges, and who help me keep listing things in my Etsy shop.

So I'm off to list some new things... and to giggle some more because in this stage of life, I'm the proud winner of a blue ribbon! Woo hoo!

PCAGOE November Challenge - Seasonal

2010-10-31T21:54:00.000-07:00

PCAGOE November Challenge Entries - please cast your vote!!

The photo below is a mosaic of the entries for the Polymer Clay Artist's Guild of Etsy November Challenge. The challenge theme of "Seasonal" for this month was a fun theme to undertake. There were many possibilities, and in my case I chose to represent "Winter White".

Here is my "Winter White" entry for this month:

(click on the photo to enlarge)

Please vote for your three favorites here: PCAGOE Blog from November 1st through November 7th and you could win a beautiful polymer clay prize created by one of our talented member artists.

Please click on the photos to enlarge. You can view the entries at the PCAGOE blog link above and click on each entry to view larger.

Thank you for voting.

Southwestern Theme for October Challenge - PCAGOE

2010-10-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

The Polymer Clay Artist's Guild of Etsy has opened voting for the October Southwestern Challenge. The entries are fantastic!! Please take a few minutes to look at each entry and vote for your 3 favorites.

Five lucky voters will receive a prize from this month's PCAGOE prize pool. Good luck!

Below is a mosaic photo of the all entries, but you can go to the PCAGOE Challenge blog to vote.

Click on the photo for a larger view:

It is a wonderful challenge, hope you enjoy all the interesting and beautiful art work here.

What does Cauliflower Quiche have to do with Polymer Clay?

2010-09-09T18:00:00.000-07:00

In honor of my lovely friendship with the proprietor of "Knightwork Clay", whose name is BJ and who just loves QUICHE... I am sharing a recipe for an easy and absolutely delicious Cauliflower Quiche that I make often. Now please, don't let the word "cauliflower" dissuade you from trying this quiche... it is creamy and good and you will never think of that vegetable when eating this dish. I promise you that it rivals anything that Marie Callender ever prepared!! That it is really good for you is a secondary benefit to the wonderful taste.

Check out Knightwork's goings-on here:

Knightwork: Playing with Clay

You will hear more from me on the subject of Betty Jo and Knightwork in the future, I promise. She's a special person with a special sharing way about her.

But as I promised, here is the CAULIFLOWER QUICHE recipe. Aw c'mon... give it a try!

===================================================
Cauliflower Quiche (oven 375 degrees)

1 head Cauliflower Florets, thinly sliced
1/3 c. Onion, finely chopped
1/2 c. Green or Red Pepper, finely chopped
1/2 c. Tomatoes, chopped (more or less to taste)
1 c. Cheddar cheese, grated
1 c. Milk - 1/2 c. Bisquik - 3 Eggs - 1/2 tsp. Salt - 1/8 tsp. Pepper

Place cauliflower in covered pan with enough salted boiling water to cover. Cook with lid on for 10 minutes. Drain, place in greased 9x13 glass casserole dish. Sprinkle with onion, peppers, tomatoes and cheese.

Place milk, eggs, Bisquik, salt and pepper in a blender, cover and whirl for 15 seconds.

Pour over cauliflower mixture.

Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until knife inserted in center comes out clean and top is golden.
===================================================
Easy peasy!!

Now to answer the question in the title - "they both use the same oven"!!! LOL.

Happy baking - both quiche AND polymer clay.

September Challenge Prizes from PCAGOE members

2010-08-28T13:03:00.000-07:00

I want to share the September "Prize Pool" from the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy with all of you. Below is a "mosaic" of the prizes that will be given away to lucky voters in the PCAGOE September challenge. These prizes have been donated by members of the PCAGOE.

The challenge is open to PCAGOE members only, but the public is invited to vote for their top three favorites at www.pcagoechallenge.blogspot.com between September 1 and September 7, 2010, for the chance to win one of these prizes and to determine the outcome of the challenge.

And just WAIT until you see the September challenge entries - this month it is all about transfers and there are so many beautiful entries. Voting is going to be very difficult, that's for sure. The transfer sheets were donated by http://www.piddix.etsy.com/.

For now, you can drool over these great prizes. But next week you can VOTE and maybe win one of them!! Good luck, everyone.

HYSTERICAL LAUGHING (u will understand)

2010-08-15T23:05:00.000-07:00

I am so thankful that I have all of you to share this story with. My "Claypen" studio space has been the dumping ground for all my "stuff" since it was redesigned in Nov. 2009 - (see clean Claypen here - http://thepleasantpheasant.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-studio-space-claypen.html).

The Claypen looks nothing like that now, of course. Sigh. There is so much stuff in there I can hardly walk through it. Sigh. Every day I Sigh about this, but I just keep dumping more stuff in there. Sigh.

So tonight, I'm trying to condition clay, but I have nowhere to put it. No place at all. Every horizontal surface is filled with stuff. Important stuff, of course. Too important not to have right in front of my nose. Ask me if I’m sure I need all this stuff in plain sight, on all of my working surfaces. Go ahead, ask me…. Oh, why is some of it stacked on top of the rest of it? Well because there is no more table space, and the top stuff is more important than the stuff underneath it. Hmmm.

I have this big metal cabinet - 6 feet tall, 3 feet wide, 2 feet deep, with shelves - which doesn't show in those older blog photos. I think, "Hmmmm I wonder if I could make room in the cabinet? Then I could stack conditioned clay on a shelf, with deli sheets between!" So I open the cabinet. "Gee, there sure are a lot of glass jars, bottles and vases in here. Can I fit any of them in the OTHER metal cabinet that is taking up space in DH's office”? It already has a shelf full of glass jars, bottles and vases, but maybe I could squish them over some.

So I carry the jars, bottles and vases, little by little (there are a LOT of vases and bottles and jars. This is actually Naama's fault because she used to cover beautiful vases, and I aspired to be like her - but I digress...) There are also little piggy banks and “oh! Look at these metal napkin rings. What’s in that gift bag? Oh aren’t these the cutest little tins and tiny containers? I should cover these…”

Then I get hold of myself. “Jackie”, says me to me, “let’s get these jars and bottles and vases moved to DH’s office already”. So I carry more vases and jars, and “Oh, look at all these gourds! How fun!! Remember that gourd you covered? It was so cool. You should cover more gourds.”

“What is in this paper bag? Oh, switch plate covers. Hundreds of switch plate covers, hmmmm”. I wonder if anybody wants these switch plate covers?” I fold up the paper bag, hurriedly carry it to DH’s office with the gourds, and push it and the gourds way to the back of the metal cabinet.

Back in the Claypen cabinet, I find boxes. Many little empty boxes. Some of them are ugly. But they are cute little boxes, if you ignore the ugly part. I have a thing about small boxes, to the point that DH won’t let me keep them anymore. So whenever he’s not looking, and a small box passes by, I hide it. In my metal cabinet. So I start pulling out all these small boxes, and wonder where to put them. There is that bin down under the house, where I have my “other” stash of small empty boxes. Maybe some of these would fit in there? Probably not, last time I tried to put a box in there I couldn’t even find a box without more boxes in it to put a box into.

I slide the boxes over, thinking of what a hassle this is becoming. Then I see some plastic bags, way back in the corner. “Hmmmm, what is this?” I wonder. "Maybe something really cool!" I pull out the plastic bags. In the plastic bags, there are cornstarch peanuts. I’ve never used a cornstarch peanut to make a hollow bead in all my years of polymer claying, yet here they are. Cornstarch peanuts. I stand there holding two plastic bags full of cornstarch peanuts (some of them are brightly colored cornstarch peanuts, even) in my arms, and I start laughing. Hysterically. Laughing and laughing and laughing. Because I am thinking of all of YOU – my dear friends, my addicted to stuff polymer clay pals, and I’m thinking, wildly, “I could add a few of these cornstarch peanuts to every envelope I send out of here! I could share these cornstarch peanuts with my friends!!!!”

But fear not, I managed to get hold of myself before I lost it all together. Tomorrow, I am going to carry those cornstarch peanuts outside, and melt them all in a pail full of water. And if a small tear falls from my eye as I melt my cornstarch peanut stash, I know you will all understand.

Another Flower Mountain

2010-07-28T14:03:00.000-07:00

Well as you can see, I'm having all together too much fun over here. I've made some more flower canes - with many thanks to Zuleykha and Ayelet for their fun tutorials. Thank you for sharing your talents, ladies, you add so much to the polymer clay community.

I love the colors here - the copper and blue cane is different looking and the turquoise folded-petal flower cane is cheery and bright.

Click on the photos for a larger view.

A Mountain of Flowers!

2010-07-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

I posted the initial photos of these flower canes a while back, but now that I've wrapped them in my special secret recipe of translucent clay, and reduced them, I wanted to share them again. I think they are so pretty! I'm definitely making more like these as soon as I get some claying time in again.

Please click on the photo for a closer look.

I'll be listing these in my Etsy shop as soon as I find some extra time. Where DID I put that extra time, anyway??

Embroidering with Polymer Clay

2010-07-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

At times I feel like I'm embroidering pretty patterns with my polymer clay. This week, my thread colors have been turquoise, white, black, green and yellow. I've got some new polymer clay cane patterns to share:

(Click on the image for a closer view)

Next week I'll be working on some coasters for the Polymer Clay Central Coaster Swap. I'm looking forward to it, and already liking my prototypes.

Truckee Softball Rules!!!

2010-07-12T20:54:00.000-07:00

Today I want to share my granddaughter Dezaree, and her Truckee Softball team. They were in a tournament this last weekend and we got to go to one of her games. It was really fun and her team was doing so well when they called the game for time.... but they didn't win. But, since it's not just about winning, we still had a wonderful day together with the family.

Here is Dezaree's team all stacked up:

And here is darling Dezaree in a couple of poses - cute, isn't she? That's my girl!!

I love you, Dezaree!

New Flower Canes!

2010-07-06T16:46:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some new flower canes that I've been making. I just love them. I still need to work to make something closer to perfection, but these are my first flower canes in years, so I'm pretty happy with them.

I can't take all the credit, though, I did purchase a tutorial by Zulekyha from www.claylessons.com - and that made the difference. It's a great tutorial.

I hope you like these as much as I do! Thanks for looking.

Stack O' Canes

2010-05-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, I've been sadly neglecting my blogging lately. In my last post I said I expected to be back to my healthy self, but that didn't happen. Instead I had a darn relapse! But now, for sure, I am back to my healthy self and back to claying, as well.

Here is a photo of my latest doings... my "Stack O' Canes"! As usual I had a lot of fun making these. The orange set was made to mimic the school colors of orange and grey for the Atascadero High School, the school where my niece and nephew attend. The other two sets were my experiments with putting some of the color yellow into my work - it's a color that I rarely use. I think it worked out well!

Please click on the photo to enlarge it. Thanks for looking.

Purple and Gold, Blue and Lime....

2010-04-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

That title sounds like school colors or something, doesn't it? Nope. Instead those are the colors of two new sets of polymer clay kaleidoscope canes that I made. I've been sick for about 2 weeks - one of the longest illnesses I've ever had, and so I haven't done any claying for that whole time. Finally I felt good enough to get back into my Claypen, and these canes are the result of that.

I just know I'm going to be my regular healthy self any day now, I'm feeling much better at last. And I'm rarin' to get back to the clay table and make more canes. A lot of ideas are jumbled up in my head so I better let them out while I can!

Here are two of the most recent canes:

Thanks for looking! There are lots more canes that I've recently made on my Flickr site, I'd love it if you'll take a peek. Here's the link:

Jae Jewelry & The Pleasant Pheasant Flickr Album

Canes for Corey

2010-03-28T16:13:00.000-07:00

In honor of the memory of my friend Seana's son, Corey, whose 21st birthday would have been this week, I have created a set of orange canes. Corey loved the color orange, and all Seana's friends wore orange clothes as a remembrance of him on Friday.

While it's incredibly sad that Corey is not with his family now, we do know that they will see him again in Heaven. So to help ward off the sadness, we can use these small ways to remember him and the joy that he was while we are still held here in this realm.

Seana, my pain meets yours in the loss of your son. I can never express the depth of my sorrow to you in your loss, but what I can do is make a set of canes that I've named "Corey's Canes" to help keep his memory alive. (((((Seana))))) You're a dear friend and one of the best polymer clay cane-makers I know!!

Grandson Max's Visit

2010-03-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share grandson Max with you all today. He stayed with us for a week and we had a great time! He's a cute little guy and loves Nana and Papa a lot. And we love him, too.

Here's Max!

And here is Max again, after his bath, hiding from Papa! Since Papa was in the other room just then, Max said it was okay for me to take his picture. After a while, Papa was looking everywhere for Max and couldn't figure out where he'd gone. Max is a GREAT hider - he can be completely quiet for a long time (when he wants to be).

Sharing the Baby Love

2010-03-08T14:48:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share little Lucie with my blogging buddies. She has a problem... her hands are always busy holding up her front half. So she can't carry the stuff she needs! She's a smart one, though, so she has figured out what to do.....

Nana and Papa are having the BEST week! We'll babysit anytime. Hint hint. Luckily there are enough grandchildren to go around - Lucie's brother Max will be here with us next week, and their oldest brother in April for Easter break.

Winter snow caused us to have to decline two chances to babysit for our son's kids - we were bummed! But hopefully he and his wifey will go away again soon, LOL. If not, we'll go visit more often now that we are getting less snow.

The Miracle Baby and Some New Canes

2010-03-06T12:10:00.000-08:00

Many of you may know that my child-bearing days are well over. So why do I have a 7-month old baby girl in my care this week? Ah, the miracle of grandchildren. We (husband and I) are having so much fun with this little baby, she's so cute and so busy, crawling all around the place and talking to us in big paragraphs that we don't understand a word of! After the first day, when she was a little worried about what happened to her old life (poor thing), she is now acclimated to us and just beams with happy smiles every time we look at her or talk to her. Of course - MY old life has taken a drastic change, too! Diapers and feedings are the new norm for me.

Since I finished some new kaleidoscope canes the day before Lucie arrived, I thought I should share them with you now. These are my "Magenta" and "Easter Sunset" series of canes. I won't be making any new ones for a while, since after this week with Lucie, her 3-year old brother Max will be here for a week. Crazy! But fun.

Day 27 - only one more day after this one!

2010-02-27T21:40:00.000-08:00

Boy, today was a busy one for me. We got a lot of snow overnight, here's a photo that I took early this morning looking out the back door. That's the hot tub under that layer of snow! And below that is a photo of our son Tim's truck in the driveway after we had gotten the driveway cleared of snow, a couple of hours later.

Snow being the first thing we had to deal with today, I am sharing an "already-made" polymer clay creation, a needle case that I made using a texture sheet made by our own Ponsawan Sila. I absolutely LOVE that texture sheet and use bits and pieces of it all the time. Thanks, Ponsawan! Ponsawan is a fantastic artist and always wonderful about sharing her knowledge. You can find her tutorial blog here: Polymer Clay Beads Tutorials by Ponsawan; and her fabulous creative personal blog here: Polymer Clay by Silastones.

We have more snow since yesterday's storm... but not so much that it should keep me from Thing-A-Day's final day tomorrow.

Day 26 of Thing A Day - held up by electricity

2010-02-27T01:13:00.000-08:00

I was ready to post a new photo for day 26 of the Thing A Day challenge, however, we had a snowstorm and suddenly lost all power for the entire evening, about 6 hours. So since the saying says "better late than never", I am posting some new kaleidoscope canes here for Day 26.

I'm still having a lot of fun making these canes so there will be more of them in the future.

Day 25!

2010-02-25T21:24:00.000-08:00

Well Day 25 of the Thing A Day challenge at Polymer Clay Central means that we only have three more days left. I can hardly believe it, and may just keep going straight on into March!

I've been claying... making canes to be more precise. I had a lot of trouble photographing this color green for some reason. These canes are actually a mild pastel green and don't have all the blue in them. I worked at correcting the color on these but it's still not quite right. They are really mellow in person. Well I guess we don't meet canes "in person", but you know what I mean.

More canes tomorrow, I hope!

Day 24 of Thing A Day

2010-02-24T22:56:00.000-08:00

Today I have a purple kaleidoscope cane pendant that I made. I like this one because I put a sapphire crystal in the center and it adds a bit of bling to the piece.

I sure wish I had more time to clay, but today we got almost a foot of snow. Nice wet heavy Spring snow - ugh. But it's all cleaned up now and I believe I saw "moon shadows" a few minutes ago. Hope it doesn't snow through the weekend, since we have a delivery coming and our son is coming over on Friday to help with some heavy lifting and spend the night. Will be great to have two of my favorite men in the whole world (our son-in-law being another favorite) to cook for on Friday night!

Click on image to enlarge.

Thing a Day Challenge Day 23

2010-02-23T14:27:00.000-08:00

Today is a "sad day", as it is the anniversary of my dear mom's death. She was a great mom and a fun wonderful person, all of us miss her a lot. But on the good side, I got to talk with my little sister for a bit, and so that was helpful.

Last night, during my thoughts of mom, I decided to make a Bottle of Hope. I got a lot of help on this one, though - from both Carolyn of Carolyn's Clay Creations and Seana at Skb31mom.etsy.com, who made the beautiful canes that I used. Aren't they awesome??? Those girls can both make fabulous canes, and I treasure those that I have from them.

Hope everyone had a nice day!

Day 22 of Thing A Day!

2010-02-22T23:48:00.000-08:00

Now that I'm back on track, here is my Thing A Day, Day 22 offering for the Polymer Clay Central challenge. I made this pendant from one of my recent canes and I just love the shape and the way the cane looks in the frame.

I'm sliding in just 10 minutes before midnight here, so with no further adieu...

Thanks for looking!

Day 21 of Thing A Day - Yellow Kaleidoscope Canes

2010-02-21T13:20:00.000-08:00

I'm not even going to talk about missing three days of the Thing A Day challenge. Suffice to say that I am back on schedule and have some new kaleidoscope canes to share.

Hope to be able to clay later today again - we have snow but we lucked out and the storm moved north of us. We have 5 inches... our son's area has over 2 feet!! That is not normal, usually it's the other way around. We are feeling so blessed, and so is our son, because he loves to ski. There's a win-win situation.

Hope everyone is having a safe and happy Sunday.

Day 17 - a Bottle of Hope

2010-02-18T00:31:00.000-08:00

The Olympics are a serious drain on my claying time lately! I have been watching them as much as I can each day. This Bottle of Hope is my Day 17 entry in the Thing A Day challenge that we are having at Polymer Clay Central. My guild, the Reno Polymer Clay Guild, provides bottles of hope to the Nevada Cancer Institute and since we are a small guild, keeping up with making them is an important job.

I also have a cane ready to assemble tomorrow. Looking forward to that, it's the fun part. The whole day of conditioning and mixing, conditioning and Skinner blending, is not the fun part! But that is all done, just need a few hours for the rest of it.

Only 10 days left of the challenge!

Thing A Day for Day 16 - Works In Progress

2010-02-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

I'm grateful to two people for showing me a couple ways to make pendants - first, Julie Picarello and second, Judy Belcher. Somehow, pendant-making has always been difficult for me, until these two wonderful women decided to share some tricks. These three pendants are made with my recent "Medieval Forest" canes.

They are not baked yet, I am waiting to get a full baking pan of things before heating up the oven, so I will share them as "works in progress" today.

Click on the image to enlarge them. Thanks for looking!

My Day 15 Education for Thing A Day

2010-02-15T22:57:00.000-08:00

When I woke up today, the sun was shining! This was very good news as we have had cloud cover for the past two weeks, not only was it depressing, it was also making it very difficult to take photos.

So, I got up, set up my photo cube outside on the deck, and started shooting. After 300 or so photos, I was even more depressed than when we had cloud cover for two weeks. My photos left a lot to be desired, especially in the color category. So many of the pens and key rings I was photographing were not really the colors that were showing up in my photos.

So I watched the Olympics for about 3 hours and got a headache. But then, a wonderful little miracle. My daughter, the graphic artist, called to say hello, and I told her about my color problems. Well she uses Photoshop, which I know can do anything, but I don't have that program.

However, her 6-year old has a computer with the same program that I have, and she sat down in front of it, took one of my photos that was completely off color, and figured out how to fix it! Now, she didn't just send me the photo... nope - she made me sit there and work with the program until I figured out how to make my photos better. What a relief! I have a zillion photos on my computer that I won't share, because of the color distortion.

Here is where I've begun - this Rose Flower Pen is not blue!! It's a very pretty gray-blue color. But as you see by the first photo, it looks blue. I probably have 20 different photos of this pen - all of them blue.

But - VOILA!!! As you see by the second photo, the blue has been reduced so that the photo (at least on my monitor) looks like the right color! This is wonderful.

So the saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" definitely applies to my new color-correction ability. I'm on my way to much better photos. Thank you, my dear daughter!

Happy Valentine's Day - TAD Day 14

2010-02-14T20:12:00.001-08:00

It has been a lovely Valentine's Day around my house, I hope it's been the same for everyone else. I have five Heart pendants to share for Day 14 of the Polymer Clay Central Thing A Day challenge.

We are already halfway through the challenge! I am glad I signed up for it this year, and I'll be looking forward to doing it again next February. What a good month to get busy claying in, after the holiday and the January lull.

Red for Thing A Day, Day 13

2010-02-13T15:52:00.000-08:00

What do Atoms, Fireworks, Baskets and Streamers have in common? Good question? I can tell you the answer - they are the pictures that I see in my latest set of kaleidoscope canes.

I made these for the 13th day of the Polymer Clay Central "Thing A Day" challenge - since they are red maybe I should be saving them for tomorrow, Valentine's Day, but I can't wait.

I did these a little differently in that I used exactly 50% each of Kato clay and Premo clay. I was impressed with how well this worked, I didn't expect them to be as crisp as the others, but they are. They also reduced without any more waste than the previous canes. So there's a win-win, since I have a lot of Premo clay here. They slice great, too, so I'm quite happy with the combination.

Here they are, please click on the photos to enlarge them.

I can't wait to make more... back to the Claypen!!

Day 12 - Plum Kaleidoscope Pendant

2010-02-13T00:29:00.001-08:00

I finished sanding and buffing this Plum Kaleidoscope Pendant this evening, and took a photo, then forgot to move the photo to my computer. But I've remembered! So with no further fanfare, here is the photo. Thanks for visiting my blog!

The Claypen Chat - Thing A Day 11

2010-02-11T21:15:00.000-08:00

The "Discussions from the Claypen" chat was this morning - so today I'd like to give you the link to the Claypen Art website so you can see all the polymer clay creations that people made. It's amazing, really, the diversity that people have in their creations from week to week.

And this is just one week! There are 5 years worth of weekly albums here at this site. Feed your eyes some lovely candy....

Here is the link to the Claypen Art photo album for this week:

Claypen Art - February 11, 2010

All the artists thank you for looking!

Day 10 of Thing A Day - Still Two-Thirds of February to Go!

2010-02-10T12:33:00.000-08:00

I was up late playing with clay last night, and I really like the magical thing that happened with this Plum Pillow Kaleidoscope cane pendant. It was a cane end that had a hole in the center, but it was too perfect looking to pass up.

This is not sanded yet, I'm still deciding whether to sand and buff this one, I may not.

The square center stone is compliments of Mr. Scott Mizevitz, it is an antique stone and very beautiful, the camera only caught a little of its glow.

Click on the photo to enlarge it.

(Reminder: tomorrow is Thursday, Discussions from the Claypen chat!)

Day 9 of the Thing A Day Challenge

2010-02-09T16:49:00.000-08:00

Well I fell off the wagon, as they say, and missed Day 8 of the Thing A Day challenge at Polymer Clay Central. Sigh....

But here I am with three pairs of earrings for Day 9, I hope that makes up for it. I don't like the little bump in the road, but will have to live with it now.

These little kaleidoscope cane end pieces are fun to play with and make really cute earrings. They are sanded and buffed to a high shine. I have a Foredom jewelry buffer that I just love every single time I use it.

Click on the photos to enlarge them. Thanks for visiting my blog!!

Four things for Thing-A-Day, Day Seven

2010-02-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

I got down to business yesterday, and made a new set of kaleidoscope canes. I was so good today that I took photos, and listed them all at Etsy even before doing my Thing-A-Day post.

Well, you can't go to my Etsy shop to see them, because I had barely finished the listing when they were sold! Thank you to my new customers, I appreciate your purchases and your support.

Here are the cane photos, you can click on the photos to enlarge them.

As soon as I am finished here and check into Polymer Clay Central, it's back to the Claypen I go!

Jackie

Some Earrings for Thing-A-Day, Day 6

2010-02-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

I have been making some fun and cute earrings - here is a pair made from a green kaleidoscope cane. I also have some awesome orange kaleidoscope cane earrings to get sanded, so be looking for them soon.

Click on the image to enlarge:

Thing-A-Day, Day 6 - I'm really having fun with this!

Thing a Day Challenge Day 5 - am I slowing down?

2010-02-05T12:06:00.000-08:00

Uh oh. Only Day 5 and here I am posting in the afternoon, where I was posting right after midnight a couple of days. The reason is that I didn't get to work on my new cane due to a headache and extreme tiredness yesterday, and snow this morning.

But now I'm back to my cheery self, and want to share these fun beads in my "Planetary" theme. Expect to see similar beads this month, hint hint. The rock-tumbler-turned-bead-sander has been working hard for the past week or so.

Thing A Day - Day 4

2010-02-04T00:47:00.000-08:00

I made this kaleidoscope cane with scraps just to see if I could make it work, and it did! This is from Donna Kato's recent book about millefiori caning. It was fun to do but I wish I'd started with more clay because it ended up rather small.

I didn't get to make a new cane for Day 5 today, and the Claypen chat is in the morning. So I will have to hustle to get one made and photoed on time for Day 5! Wonder if I can do it?

Day 3 of the Thing A Day Challenge

2010-02-03T00:05:00.000-08:00

The month is starting to blur already - who will keep up and who will NOT keep up? This is the burning question! Well okay, so it isn't the burning question but it sounded exciting, didn't it? All the members of Polymer Clay Central are secretly hanging out in their studios at night, making who knows what kind of polymer clay concoctions to be revealed the next day....?

Well I have some more kaleidoscope canes, surprise, surprise. These are a little different, different colors, different look, but I like them a lot. To me they look like little bits of a medieval forest from a fantasy book.

With no further ado, here they are:

I enjoy all your comments and read every one of them, so please don't hesitate to post them.

See you tomorrow, time for me to go hang out in my Claypen and consider what kind of concoction I can whip up for tomorrow!

"Thing A Day" - Day 2

2010-02-02T14:35:00.000-08:00

Today, Day 2 of the "Thing A Day" challenge at Polymer Clay Central, I have four things...sort of. I made some more kaleidoscope canes and had fun doing them. One of these days this month I will show photos of the process I go through to get to the point of actually having kaleidoscope canes to share.

Here are the Orange Kaleidoscope canes that I made, I just love them:

I can't seem to stop making canes! It's been so much fun and I am in the process of making more of them now. So, I'm off to the Claypen again - to "work" (haha).

It's THING A DAY at Polymer Clay Central - let's go!

2010-02-01T13:07:00.000-08:00

February is a special month not only because of Valentine's Day, but also because it's the month that many of us polymer clayers choose to celebrate the "Thing A Day" challenge at Polymer Clay Central. The challenge is to make and share one thing every day during February.

This may be a little like putting the cart before the horse, since I made the kaleidoscope cane first.... but here is a pretty kaleidoscope pendant that I made to start off with. I had loads of fun making it and will soon be putting it in my Etsy shop.

I am looking forward to the challenge because not only do I get to create great eye candy all month, I also get to see great eye candy all month. It's very inspiring and a fun way to share what many of us are doing.

So, with that, I'm off to make something for tomorrow. Hope I can keep up.

Scooby Doo Drawing Contest

2010-01-22T11:47:00.000-08:00

I think this will resonate with those artists who are interested in "contests". Some of us enter them, most of us vote for our favorites when we can. Contests are fun, you hold your breath as you wait to find out if you are the winner.

My grandson Ian, who is 6 years old, has jumped on to the contest bandwagon. He had a Scooby Doo comic and saw that there was a drawing contest at the back of the book. After a few tries, the following is what he came up with - a great picture of Scooby Doo himself as well as the Mystery Machine! Ian is a second-generation Scooby Doo fan and knows all the ins and outs of the stories from cartoons, movies and comics.

I'm happy that he has the confidence to give this a try - he's already a winner because of that. If he also wins the contest...., icing on the cake.

Here is a photo of Ian taken during the summer.

GOOD LUCK, IAN!! You're my boy.

Sunshine Blog Award

2010-01-21T20:33:00.000-08:00

I have a Sunshine Award for 12 people. If you want to pass it on as per the rules below, please do so. If not, that's fine! Just know that I visit your blogs and enjoy who you are and what you have to say.

The Sunshine Award is awarded to bloggers whose positivity & creativity inspires others in the blog world.

The rules for accepting this award:

Put the logo on your blog or within your post.-

Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.-

Link the nominees within your post.-

Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Thanks BJ and Col!

Knighttwork

Cottage Days & Journeys

MoeArt

ZapKathArt

Chasin Rainbows, too

Melody O'Beau Designs

Beki's Beading Blog

Robyn Regan Photography

Living with Walls

Creative Sprinkle

Desertwind's Creative Musings

Your Daily Muse News

Every one of the people behind the blogs have touched my life. It wasn't easy stopping with 12, though!!

Thank you all for your comments on my blog, I enjoy getting them very much.

Update on Laurie Prophater's Faux Bone Technique

2010-01-18T14:30:00.000-08:00

I haven't been in the habit of featuring others on my blog, but I have just seen some new work by a special clayer - Laurie Prophater. You remember the awesome surface technique that Laurie taught us all in the Winter 2006/07 PolymerCAFE magazine, right? She called it her Ancient Metal technique. I had so much fun playing with that one, and covered lots of things that looked super. It was nice and messy, and turned out great - I loved it. I used it on pens, jars and Christmas ornaments - all of them worked out wonderfully, too. I will be repeating it in the future.

Well lucky us - Laurie is again going to share! This time her new Faux Bone technique will be published in the Spring issue of Belle Armoire magazine. It should be on your bookstore's shelves around the first of March.

Here is a link to Laurie's Flickr album with her fabulous pendants and bangles in the new technique - get ready! You're going to love them!

Ornamental Elements' Photostream

Thank you, Laurie, for sharing your knowledge with the polymer clay community.

Polymer Clay Canes a la Judy Belcher

2010-01-14T17:45:00.000-08:00

Recently, I have been having the BEST time making polymer clay canes. For Christmas I got my portable DVD player, so I have been hanging out in the Claypen watching a particular section of the Judy Belcher "Millefiori Story" DVD, and learning to make tesselation canes. The process on the first one was long, however the second one not only was a shorter process, but also a better result.

Here is a photo of one of the first sets of canes that I made from the DVD: (click on photo to enlarge).

Here is a pendant "to be" and a pair of earrings "to be" that I made from that cane:

Then I made a set of the canes using green. I really liked one comment that Judy made in the DVD - that she was not sharing color recipes because she wants to encourage people to use the colors that they love. Well, that was all I needed - first I used my beloved pink. Do you know that I kind of try to keep it from people that pink is my favorite color?? I do! So many people say to me, "I don't do pink" that sometimes I think I shouldn't tell. But now - I'm telling. I LOVE pink! It's a wonderful color.

I don't exactly love this shade of green that I used in the next set of canes, however, I think the contrasting colors just made the look of these canes pop beautifully. I hope you think so, too!

Well that's my blog for now... I am off to make more great looking canes, and lots of pendants and earrings, too. My most gracious thanks to Judy Belcher for sharing, and for a DVD most professionally done!

My studio space - "The Claypen"

2009-11-21T12:32:00.000-08:00

Lately I’ve been sick with a typical but exhausting beginning of winter cold, however except for the endless coughing, I’m starting to feel better. I thought, then, that I would share my studio here. I really adore my studio, called “The Claypen”, especially since my husband re-fitted the clothes closet that was there with shelves that he built.

He had a beautiful desk that was so big that when we moved it in to his office 22 years ago, we swore we would never move it out. And so we didn’t – instead we took it apart and he used it to make the shelves in this closet for me. Thank you, honey! I can find everything now.

In addition to my work space, I have a second work area that has been used only a little bit lately by our daughter-in-law, April and our granddaughter Dezaree. Since April had the new baby 18 months ago, she hasn’t had time for claying or beading very often. But her chair stays, because I know she’ll find time once little Gracie gets into pre-school. And Dezaree will not be 14 and busy with everything else forever, either. In the meantime, I have two tables to work on. I create my jewelry at the long black table that I'm saving for April and Dezaree to clay on again in the future.

Now that I’ve seen these photos, which were taken soon after the remodel of the room, it makes me see that I need to clean again. It looked a lot nicer before I got in there and messed it all up!

Sometimes the best things just don't work

2009-11-09T19:48:00.000-08:00

I made this bracelet when I found these great pink rock beads, and as I made it and photographed it, I thought it was a fabulous bracelet. I still think it's fabulous looking.

I always wear the bracelets and necklaces that I make for a couple of hours after they are made.... to make sure there are no serious flaws, that they are not uncomfortable, and so on. So I happily put on this pink rocks bracelet yesterday, thinking I would love it.

But no.... this bracelet will soon be no more. It was not comfortable, and the clasp kept turning to the top of my wrist, no matter how many times I fixed it. I'm back to the drawing board on these pink rock beads!

Three Necklaces

2009-11-08T15:43:00.000-08:00

I've been working on and photographing three necklaces recently. I love them all for different reasons. First I have a really long (31 inches!) almost lariat-style necklace with a front dangle. It is so great that I made two - one for me. And it looks good on, especially with a black or navy blue shirt.

Click on images for a closer look.

We all love Julie Picarello's style (Yellow House Designs), and so here is a pendant I made using polymer clay in Southwest colors with her style of mokume gane, and strung on a simple gold chain.

Finally, I adore this red coral and lava beads necklace! This is one that was in my mind's eye for several months, and it came together nicely. The coral beads are heavy, but the lava beads are light, and it ends up being quite wearable.

I'll be posting them on my Etsy soon... trying to find time! We need to slow down the clock, that's what I say. Thanks for looking!

Soft Flex Beading Wire Website Spotlight Designer for November - me!

2009-11-05T19:42:00.000-08:00

I am so pleased to have been chosen as the Soft Flex "Spotlight Designer" for the month of November. It was fun today to go there and read my "bio" and see all my photos. How nice of Soft Flex to do this.

I hope you will click on the link below to check out the Spotlight Designer page there when you get a minute, and tell me what you think.

Thanks - Jackie
Soft Flex Spotlight Designer for November

Copper Metallic Necklace

2009-11-04T18:29:00.000-08:00

I love these beads - they are just perfect. They have pretty colors but never bright, slightly textured but not too much, copper without being too coppery, and matte without being dull. What could be better?

Click on the photo to enlarge:

So I created this lovely and unpretentious necklace with them. I'm very happy with it because it has a nice "drape" to it, it's mellow but has a little bit of bling. I added some shiny copper beads in the front to offset the larger beads. I will say that I was very happy when I tried this necklace on, because it looks GOOD!

I'm going to list it on my Etsy, and because I got a very nice price on the beads from a friend, I'll list it for a very nice price on Etsy, as well. Why not pass the savings along?

A November Necklace

2009-11-01T17:17:00.000-08:00

The time change has me off balance... it's 5:30PM and dark already. Hmmmmm. The long winter looms.

Please click on the necklace photo to enlarge.

To take my mind off the fact that it's suddenly November, I've been making even more jewelry. I really love this slighly asymmetrical new necklace I made. It has a front toggle clasp that doubles as a pendant, and the square pendant is reversible. How cool is that? It has a grid design on the other side. The shell circles look really good as part of the "chain" look, and the 3/4 round bead near the pendant adds to the asymmetrical look. It has a seed bead section for around the back of the neck.

As a birthday gift to myself, I opened up my new Etsy store, The Pleasant Pheasant! It's my dream come true and I'm having fun filling up the shelves with both polymer clay things and new jewelry. There is a link to my store to the right side of this page, I really hope you will go take a look at what I've put up so far. I have a lot more to come, so please keep checking to see what new things I'll be offering.

My next project is going to be polymer clay. I'm going to move the beads aside for a few days and see what kind of polymer claying I can do. I have some good ideas to work on.

Thinking Pink in October

2009-10-25T21:19:00.001-07:00

Because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, I've made some jewelry in the traditional pink this month - a bracelet of pink and silver and angel earrings of pink and gold. Don't you love the little halos on the angels?

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

I'm getting ready to open my Etsy store, and have been making a lot of jewelry in anticipation. I'll also have my polymer clay work there... I've just been on a jewelry spree lately.

I have also made this "Cubist Necklace" and the prettiest ever Christmas tree earrings. But I can't get a good photo of these earrings to save my life! They are so glittery but my camera can't see it. Hopefully I will get a better photo of them soon, if so I will re-post them. They are made with Swarovski Margarita beads and Swarovski Bicones and Sterling Silver.

Sterling & Jasper

2009-10-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

I'm ready to start blogging about my adventures with polymer clay and jewelry, and life in general. I recently created a necklace that I love - it's made with Sugalite Jasper and Sterling Silver, and I think it turned out great. It does have one flaw, unfortunately, but it's an easy fix and I'll be doing that tomorrow. The silver wire that I used to make an interesting connection with just isn't working as well as I'd like, so I'm going to put the sterling silver textured jump rings there instead. Too bad, really, because I liked the "artsy" look they added. But they can't stay if they will be a bother to the wearer.

I really love this necklace! I hope you do, too. It will be one of the featured items on my Spotlight on Designer at the Soft Flex beading wire website in November. I also shared it at the Claypen chat a couple of weeks ago.

A start

2009-09-12T11:59:00.000-07:00

Well, it took me 5 minutes to figure out how to make my first post, but this is it. I don't think I'm ready to blog yet in my life, but I know I will be at some point, so I thought I'd begin. Now to decide what I want to say.... I guess we'll find out sometime in the future!