State Fair Entries

It is that wonderful time of year!

The leaves are beginning to turn, the wind has turned chilly and shadows grow longer each day.

The State Fair is right around the corner and I'll be turning in my entries tomorrow!  I'm so excited to see all of the wonderful artists and get ready for the fabulously fried food that comes along with the state fair!

Here is a sneak peek of my entries:

Here, a baby alligator is taking his first peek at the large world around his nest.  He peeks out of his egg, deciding whether to venture out into the large world or stay hidden for a little while longer.

Thanks to a very good friend, I've had these wonderful cups for a project for several months now.  I'm still working out details for my ultimate project, but I wanted to do something fun for this entry!  So, I took glow-in-the dark clay and made a daisy, then complemented it with a lovely tulip.

Sometimes, I like to develop stories for my pieces.  This one, a hen lays a very unusually large egg, which garners a lot of attention from the local newspaper!  Here, Henrietta is sitting on top of her precious egg in her nest while a copy of the newspaper has blown up against the egg.

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons and I have wanted to tackle a leaf bowl ever since I made the acorn egg two years ago.  This is the result.  The leaves have gaps between them, allowing light to peek out from a tealight.

PPD Wrap-up and New Beginnings

What a wonderfully busy weekend!  I met some great people this year at the Central North Carolina Pagan Pride Day and I'm already looking forward to next year.

Several of my Itty Bitty Cthulhu sculptures found new homes and I was able to get some great advice from veteran vendors.  A beautiful and busy weekend, but now that it is over, I must turn my attention elsewhere!

Up next, I will be starting work on my annual State Fair entries, which I will be posting work in progress pics as I start sculpting.

But, in the meantime, I have reopened my Etsy shop!  Please feel free to go check it out!  There are several Itty Bitty Cthulhu that need good and loving homes. :)

I also love making custom Itty Bitty Cthulhu, so feel free to contact me through Etsy or using the form on the left side of this blog.  I will happily work with you to make your very own Itty Bitty Cthulhu to live with you (or your friend!)

I will be adding more Cthulhu and other items as the next few weeks progress.




















I have also branched into working with precious metal clay. The two charm necklace and leaf earrings will be added to my shop as well and I will be providing more details about this amazing medium as I begin my learning process.

The Results are In!!

We made it to the Fair and had a blast!  I buy our tickets early so we get a discounted price, but it can still be expensive, so you want to make the most of your time there.  We paid a little extra for parking, but it was worth it since we were right across the street from the fairgrounds and everyone was SO nice!

Of course, you have to sample the fair food...in all of it's fried glory.  One of our favorite vendors does amazing cheese sticks/cubes/melty goodness.  Here is a jalapeno pepper jack with jalapeno ranch dressing.

So worth the calorie count!  Followed by Italian sausages and more fried foods.

After the food, we decided to walk off all of those calories by checking out some of the livestock exhibits.  Look at the adorable bunnies!

We finally made it to the Handicrafts and Hobbies exhibit.  To my shock and amazement, every single entry won a ribbon!

Here are the results!

My acorn egg won First Place AND Best of Show for the egg decorating competition.

My pumpkin egg won a Third Place ribbon among some beautiful entries!

My Gnome Sweet Gnome house also won Third Place in the decorations division.

As did my hermit crab :)

My miniature Koi Pond received a 2nd Place ribbon in the Miniatures category!

I am so thrilled that all of my entries earned a ribbon of some form.  We also had a great time and won some stuffed animals at the balloon dart toss, as well as the ping pong ball game for goldfish.  I refused to bring home any fish, so the lady let me have a stuffed one instead :)

We also did a turkey shoot for the first time!  My boyfriend did a much better job than I did (his two targets are on the right, mine are on the left and are less..holey) :)  We would have won, but one guy was just a smidge closer to the crosshairs. It was still an amazing time!

Work Table Weekend

They are submitted and completely out of my hands for now!  :)  I have completed all FIVE state fair entries and took them over to the fairgrounds this afternoon.  I will be posting a picture a day of each project, so you can see all of the final pieces. 

We will be going over later this week after the judging and I will post any results at that time. 

First, one of my chicken egg entries.

This egg was originally supposed to be a pumpkin, but I could not find my orange paint and the mix I created up ended up making a beautiful copper hue.  I couldn't bring myself to paint over this gorgeous color, so I ended up crafting an acorn instead. 

This is one of those wonderful times when a mistake turns out better than the original idea. :)

After making the cap, I realized that there is no way the egg could stand on it's own.  So, I made an oak leaf in the transitional colors by marbling red and yellow clays.  After it was baked into shape, I went back with paint and carefully applied multiple layers to achieve the shimmering effect.

Yet, the leaf itself still did not have the weight to hold the acorn steady, so I created a second base for it, then covered it with simulated ground cover and grass. 

 Acorns and leaves are probably in the top list of my favorite things about Autumn. What are yours?