NEW PRIZE FORMAT AT PCAGOE: January Challenge

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!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.