Unexpected Gifts

I don't consider myself to have more luck than the next person, but I sometimes stumble upon  fortuitous occasions, for which I am always thankful. So today's post is about giving thanks for, and acknowledgment to those generous souls who offered up these recent gifts.

First of all, I must acknowledge the wonderful gifts I received in December from my PCAGOE guild mates, for our holiday swap. (yes, I'm very behind in the thanks for these lovelies, the holidays and start of the new year really ran away from me this year).  These beauties were the work of Jackie Sieben of The Pleasant Pheasant and JAE Jewelry (Gorgeous pens and seam ripper, left), Susan O'Neill of 11BOLDstreet (Funky trinket box and fabulous pendant, center) and Linda Riopel of NKDesigns (beautiful caned pendant necklace, right) Check out their work, by clicking their names to view their respective etsy shops.

(I wanted these images to appear together, so please click on the image to see them up close). Thank you again, Jackie, Susan and Linda!! I absolutely love my swap gifts!

The first of 2 surprise gifts happened last month, when I was notified that I had won a giveaway from the website, BeadingGem Journal by Pearl Blay.  Pearl partnered with one of my favorite polymer artists, Helen Breil, to give away a bunch of Helen's silkscreen designs. I was one of the lucky winners, and I had my pick of Helen's silkscreen designs! I chose the design "Cabaret". It arrived in the mail about a month ago, and I still haven't had the time to play with it, but here's a photo of the silkscreen package that I received:

I have yet to try the silkscreen technique... so I am really looking forward to a day when I can play around with this fantastic design! Helen has many other designs in both silkscreens and textures, if you're not familiar with her work, please do check out her website (which includes links to where you can purchase her designs for your own use!) And don't forget to check out Pearl's site for tons of inspiration, tips and giveaway opportunities!

The second windfall that came my way happened on Valentine's day. I entered Deb Hart's (of Renaissance Gal of San Antonio) Facebook event, where she generously gave away 3 of her polymer pieces. Deb is known for her fabulous millefiori cane work. The other 2 prizes were a bunch of her original canes and one of her caned owl pendants. The prize I was so very lucky to win was one of her sea turtle trinket boxes!! If you know me, or follow this blog, you probably know I have a little adoration for sea turtles and Native American inspired art... so, to say I was thrilled about winning this treasure was an understatement!  Well, my beautiful sea turtle arrived last week. I've taken a couple shots of her to show you how fabulous she is, and for the first time ever, I shot a video to post here on the blog. The idea for the video came about because one of my most favorite features about this treasure is not easily displayed in a still photo, check it out for yourself: (crossing fingers that the video actually works)

And since the video doesn't do justice to viewing all the wonderful details, here are the still shots...

Can you tell I'm absolutely in love with this turtle? ;)  She has found a permanent and prized spot on my nightstand, where I can admire her every day. If you love this as much as I do, and you don't know about Deb Hart's work, you should definitely check her out! You can find Deb here on her blog, etsy (where you can purchase a turtle similar to this one!), and Facebook. And if you want to learn how to make some of Deb's creations, she offers a great variety of classes at CraftArtEdu.

So, again, a big Thank you to (my guild mates) Jackie Sieben, Susan O'Neill and Linda Riopel for my holiday swap items, and huge Thanks to Helen Breil, Pearl Blay and Deb Hart, for their generous hearts and the wonderful prizes that I received! Aren't they all wonderful? Have you had luck in winning online contests or participating in swaps? Leave me a comment below, and tell me your thoughts!

And as an aside; if the video worked in this post, I hope to do some tutorial videos to post on the blog in the future....  and, if you like the Thank you image (first image of this post), you can find that as a printable digital postcard file in my graphics shop YourDigitalWorld.

New Year Blessings and New Challenges

Some thanks for last year and New Year blessings are in order.  Right before Christmas I had the honor to be featured on the Polymer Clay Daily website (curated by Cynthia Tinapple), for my recycled Christmas Tree (seen in my last blog post).  Again, this is a huge honor for any polymer artist, and I am so thankful for it!  Speaking of honors, I must also mention that the same piece (recycled Christmas Tree) was chosen in the top 3 votes of both the public and the PCAGOE guild members in the January challenge!  This is a huge honor as well, considering all the wonderfully creative pieces that our members produce each month!  Many thanks to anyone who took the time to vote!

For some reason every start of the calendar year brings a desire to reorganize and restructure.  This year, my major restructuring is the project of my studio space.  Because I like to recycle items, my studio supplies are outgrowing their designated space, and in the process, driving me crazy.  Sadly, last June a small room in my house became available.

Sadly because, for the last 14 years this space was home to my beloved cat who had to be put to sleep in June.  If you don't know the story, you might wonder why a cat has his own room... long story short, I had 2 cats (read furbabies) when I met my husband.  Husband is asthmatically allergic to cats.  Every time while we were dating/engaged that the subject of getting rid of the cats came up, I was reduced to a puddle of tears.  So, my brilliant hubby devised a plan that worked... we built a room into the basement of our new house plans, with a door that had outside-only access (no air exchange with the rest of the house).  It was a process, to spend time with my cat(s) every day, of changing clothes to snuggle with them, keeping a sealed container for clothes worn into the room, laundering all cat-room related items at the laundromat, and bathing immediately after a visit. But for me and my baby(ies), it was worth it.  I lost my pretty girl, a tiger long hair who resembled a Maine Coon, 9 years ago.  The last one, a flame pt. Himalayan - my sweet boy, is now gone.. so I began the process of turning this space into a spare studio space.

This is my baby, sitting on his bed by his window,  just one month before he was put to sleep and before I knew anything was afflicting him, beyond old age.  I had just painted the room the color of raspberry ice cream (before that it was a khaki color) to make things more cheery for him and me...

The room was always drywalled.  But, it was the only "living space" in our house that had never been trimmed out with baseboards or window sills/door jam trim, as you can see (the exposed plywood window frame) here:

 

So, late this fall, once I felt I was ready (emotionally and after healing a broken ankle) to turn the space over to it's next purpose, I made a trip to the lumber yard and picked up what I needed.  Thanks to a loan of my dad's mitre box, the trim is mounted, caulked, and ready for a new coat of paint.  The trim and door will be a darker shade of the wall hue.  A trip to the local furniture thrift store outfitted the room with a large desk, 2 filing cabinets and a vintage art deco wardrobe closet (all for under $200).  I'm anxious to have things completed, and should have the trim painted by next week (I hope).  I'll share photos of everything when it's done!

Oh, and I'm challenging myself to do a few other things this year: #1 be more active and heath conscious, #2 get more studio time, #3 keep things organized (once I'm finished with both studio spaces) #4 write those tutorials I've been promising (and perhaps consider writing a project book on recycling with polymer) and #5 blog twice a month.  Let's hope I'm able to meet these challenges!  Have you decided to challenge yourself to do something new this year?  Tell me about it in the comments!

Belated Thanks

I have been remiss in mentioning here, the blogs in which I have been recently featured over the past 5 months.  This negligence on my part has simply been due to the fact that: 1. I'm not the greatest blogger... and 2. during the past couple months I've been consumed with garden chores and food preservation.  I was thrilled to be mentioned in every one of these features, 2 blogs in the polymer world, a fellow guild mate's website, a fellow polymer artist's facebook page, and a upcycled/recycled art world blog. 

The Polymer Clay Planet blog, which is curated and authored by polymer artist Anya Artesania, has featured me 3 times since June!  My Tiffany inspired lampshade, Peacock Mosaic serving tray and Paleo necklace were all featured at PCP over the summer.  Find all 3 features here.

The Polymer Clay Diaries, which is curated and authored by polymer artist Maria Petkova, featured my turtle island wall art.  Find that feature here.   You can use the Google translator drop down menu on the right side of the screen to translate the page.  

Back in May, fellow guild mate Marie Young featured my Peacock Mosaic serving tray on her creatively inspired website.  Find that post here.

And as recent as last week (Oct. 13), fellow polymer artist Ginger Davis-Allman of The Blue Bottle Tree kindly mentioned my blog and my Acorn Light on her wonderful Facebook page.  You can find her facebook page here.

And for those of you who know my work as Create My World Designs; I also have an upcycled line of art which I sell under the name OneMoreUse.  Just today I was thrilled to see a feature for my OneMoreUse upcycled art on the Sustainable Style blog, in an article written by a fellow upcycle artist, Amelia Musselman. You can find this feature here.

I think I may have posted some of these features (and thanks) on facebook, but I know I missed some of them there too.  So, I'm listing all of which I am aware here, with sincere thanks for the notice of my work!

A Special Thank You

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to vote for the May 2013 PCAGOE challenge!  I was honored to have my Peacock Mosaic Serving Tray (seen here) chosen by both the public and by the guild as the 1st place entry.  As is the case every month, all of the pieces deserved an award, as all were well thought out and executed ideas.

 A special Thanks too, to friend and guild mate Marie Young of Young Creative, who mentioned me on her website... Thanks Marie!  Marie also placed in the challenge, with her innovative Peacock Crazy Quilt Mosaic Light Switch Plate tying for the 3rd place public vote.  Please go check out Marie's website post; and while you're there, stay a while and read through some of her other posts.  She does with her website what I wish I would do with this blog...  she posts regularly (much more often than my typical once-a-month posts), she features artists who inspire her, and she talks about her current projects and her creative process to achieve each piece, including things she's learned along the way from trial and error.  I'm signed up for her email list and I always enjoy getting the email when she creates a new post.

Thanks again to everyone!  I'm planning an unusual blog post for my next posting (hopefully within the next few days, and hopefully I can get it done before the next challenge blog post).  Check back to see what I have planned, especially if you own a Kitchenaid stand mixer...