SHOP AND WIN IN THE PCAGOE HOLIDAY PROMOTION!

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!

^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

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

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?

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!

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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

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)

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.