Cthulhu Has a Heart

Remember this little cutie pie?

Well, I entered him into a Valentine's Day Contest on Jerry's Art-a-rama!

There are some amazing and beautiful pieces of art on the website!  You should check them all out and vote for your favorite ;)

Voting is for two more days, so hop to it!  Cthulhu needs lovins' too!

Packing for the holidays

If you have ever tried to pack up any of your craft/hobby/art supplies for a trip, then you can sympathize with how much of a hassle it can be.  Do I take this set of tools, or that one?  Should I take these beads to work with, along with my crochet...or should I just focus on one project?  What if I have a bunch of free time and wish I had brought X?  What if I don't work on anything at all and just dragged these supplies around for nothing??

Such was my dilemma at 1am this morning.  While a pumpkin cheesecake was cooling on the counter, I was rifling through my clay and trying to decide what projects I might want to work with, what was absolutely essential to take with me and what I realistically would have time for, if there is any time to spare.

Enter: My new organizer.  This is the one I was drooling over at Jerry's a few weeks ago and fortunately, I found one (the last one) in a store closer to me.  I had a coupon at the time, so I just went ahead and picked it up. 

Squee!  It makes me happy every time I look at it.  The handle is round and does not dig into your hand.  The lid has a flip open section for storing small items, such as tools or other essentials...*ahem*

Don't judge me.  In my line of work, I never get the opportunity to paint my nails, so I thought I would toss these in just in case I have "more time." :P

Open the lid completely and you have a great drop in tray that stores a LOT of clay, or anything else you would like, for that matter.  My tool case that my boyfriend gave me for my birthday this summer also fits nicely in there, so it's the perfect compartment.

The bottom is the standard, empty toolbox bottom.  I did not want the clay to react with the plastic, so I lined the bottom with tinfoil and using some spare foam, I cut it to size and wrapped it up as well, creating a divider.  I have shells, armatures and miscellaneous on one side and finished projects will rest on the other side.  In time, I think I will probably divide this into three compartments and maybe put a secondary shelf.  The box is deep enough to allow that.

This will be it's maiden voyage.  I'm curious to see how it holds up, if I'll actually use it and whether it will be a better stay at home storage tote or if it will be ideal for traveling.  I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!  Will you try to tackle a project or will you take it easy and focus on more...culinary projects? :D

Work Table Weekend

Today, I spent time working with clay for the first time in a couple of weeks.  It was really nice to relax with my favorite medium.  I ended up reworking a hermit crab, finishing another one, as well as start the beginning of a new project attempt. :)  Here are the pictures of the works in progress.  The hermit crabs will be getting a coat of paint next, before incorporating accessories.  I did have to place a Santa hat on for the photo...it made me giggle too much.

 A friend and I explored Jerry's Art-a-rama yesterday and I picked up another jar of Pearl-Ex, along with two bottles of Lumiere paint that I cannot wait to try out.

We had so much fun exploring the art store and meeting individuals that do gorgeous work, including Sharon Payne of Jazztangled.  She had her boots on display, which won a 1st place ribbon at the State Fair and was demonstrating her amazing ability of Zentangle to customers of the store.

Property of Sharon Payne, jazztangled.blogspot.com/

Sharon had beautiful patterns on display and we really enjoyed talking with her about her artwork.  She said it was a wonderful way to relax, even though the final piece appears to be very complicated.  I wish I was had brought my camera to take a couple of pictures, but here is an example of her work from her blog, which you should definitely check out!

Property of Sharon Payne, jazztangled.blogspot.com/

Another Shopping Trip!

So, I got one of those daily deal emails, offering $40 dollars of supplies at Jerry's Artarama, for only $19.  After much deliberation, I decided that it was a great deal and that it would be worth it.

I love Jerry's.  It's the only local place that I have been able to find large blocks of Premo, along with my very favorite mica powders.  They just expanded their collection of colors recently too, so I never know what I'm going to find when I go into the store!

On this trip, my boyfriend and I decided to split the cost of the daily deal. Out of pocket, we ended up spending only $22 total for the above items. 

I, of course, grabbed the 1lb block of white Premo clay.  I also was able to pickup some brand new Pearl-Ex mica powders.  I cannot wait to try these out, so please stay tuned for new pieces coming soon!

 My boyfriend paints miniatures, so he was able to pick up these beautiful liquid acrylics. (Shh, don't tell him, but I'm going to be snatching a bottle of this for one of my upcoming projects to see how it works) ;)

On the day we went, Jerry's was also running a 20% off on all of their open brushes and paints, so he was able to pick up the above brushes too.  He is very rough with his brushes, so it was a great deal for some really nice ones.

I'm always on the hunt for a good deal.  Locally, Jerry's has fabulous prices and the quality/variety of their products are amazing.  When a daily deal is thrown in, it was definitely the deal of this week!