Happy New Year!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a delightful New Year!

It has been very busy over the last several weeks, but as things begin to calm down and the weather turns gloomy here...I am able to sit more and more at my craft table to focus.

One project that I had a great deal of fun creating were these racing pigeons:

During the holidays, two of my other creations found new homes!  My Itty Bitty Santa Cthulhu and my miniature Koi Pond both traveled to their new owners.  I am so thrilled that they arrived safely!

I am trying out a few new techniques, at the suggestion of my fellow polymer clay artists.  So far, I am liking the effects, but you will have to stay tuned to see what those changes will be!

Work Table Wednesday

Remember the miniature koi pond that I made last fall for the state fair?

With the tiny koi, all three of which fit on a single dime?

Well, I couldn't stop just there...I had to expand...or...well, miniaturize!

Three little koi, swimming on a dime...

Three little koi, swimming in their pendant pond...

 

Three little koi, having such a fun time!

This is only the first of a few koi pond pendants that I plan to make...I am testing out some techniques and finding what looks just right.  I also have a few other ideas, but one project at a time! ;)

A belated holiday gift

So, after promising to finish a piece for a couple of months, I finally did and got it mailed...just in time to arrive the day after Christmas.

At least it arrived before the new year... ;)

Here is the little hermit crab...

And here he is with his little friend...

The tiny betta was a bit of a challenge to make...he is the second one that I have done, the first is currently a prisoner in resin and shattered glass.

And, I also sent my friend a surprise necklace, in honor of her gorgeous and whimsical snails.

Vacation Creations

Just a teaser of some of the projects I worked on during my travels...

Did you find any fabulous deals on Black Friday or have fun creating something during the holiday? :)

Work Table Wednesday

Well, this cute little guy was on my worktable this past weekend...

Now, I am spending today, while trying to get rid of a really bad cold and migraine attack, how I am going to replace him.  See, I found out the hard way on Sunday evening that UV resin and glass do not necessarily mix.

So...my cute little betta...

is now encased in yellow resin in a cracked bowl.  I do not have a picture of this...it is too depressing :P 

But, that is how it goes sometimes...you never know until you try!  I will be making another betta very soon and hopefully, I can figure out how to make him properly shine!

Belated Work Table Weekend

So, I've had an interesting weekend to the say the least.  My "smartphone" is now an expensive paperweight.  Thank goodness for DropBox, because otherwise, I would have lost over 1100 pictures  on my phone.

I have now downgraded to an older phone to get me through until I can renew my plan with AT&T.  The huge downside to having an HTC phone that suddenly has a hardware malfunction and is one month out of warranty with the manufacturer and two months away until I can renew my commitment plan. 

But, I digress!  The weekend was full of Halloween decorating, candy making planning and lots and lots of creating!  Yet, I failed to get any really good pictures.  Here are some older ones that I took as pieces were in progress...please forgive the poor quality and lighting.

 

A necklace that is composed of zebra stones, snowflake obsidian and assorted cut glass beads.  I actually changed this a few more times before I was really finished with it...I extended it by adding a few more detailed beads into the design and I added a magnetic clasp, rather than the barrel clasp.

A couple of pairs of earrings that I designed. One utilizing freshwater pearls and purple amethyst, along with a iridescent glass bead, while the other draws attention to the small charm with the black cut glass bead and red coral beads.

 I also had another fabulous mail day as my latest shipment arrived from Deb at CrysallisGEMS!

My betta also got a new home over the weekend.  I picked up some live plants and set up a larger, 5 gallon aquarium for him.  He would barely hold still long enough to snap a picture.

 The first apple pies of the season!  The apples were courtesy of someone from work and I could not wait to turn them into tasty pies. :)  

What did you do this weekend?

Also, for my readers along the Eastern Coast, please be safe as Sandy heads inland and do not take unnecessary risks.  I think we have lucked out here, except for showers and wind, but I wish you all a safe week and Happy Halloween!

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!

All five entries...

Here are all five of my entries together:

And for those that don't remember, my fifth entry is the tiny koi pond I was working on a few weeks ago.  Here are some updated photos:

 

I will follow up with a post tomorrow, detailing the results of the fair competition.  :D

Work Table Weekend

The second koi pond is finished! *happy dance*  Stones were darkened, lots of shrubbery and plants were added.

Detailed shot of the grass sticking up through the water:

Yay, lily flower!

I love having the koi peeking out from beneath the plants

The two ponds side-by-side

Work Table Wednesday

So, I actually have a lot on my work table this week!

First, on my day job work desk, I have a beautiful mug that a friend, Stephanie, gave to me this morning while we were riding the bus into work.

She did a wonderful job on the handle..it has such a unique and fun design to it.  It reminds me a lot of grapevines...the mug also has a gorgeous blue/green tint, though this picture really doesn't do it justice.  Thank you, Stephanie!

Guess what?  It's finished!  I deem it done and ready to to be presented to the fair committee.  I darkened the stones tonight, finished off the lily bloom and got some of the detailed pictures that I've been wanting to do for some time now.

So forgive me if I barrage you with some of the pictures :)

So, what's next?  Well, another shipment of button covers arrived today, so I'm super excited to work on that.  I sketched out a full scene for my next project, but I'm still working out the details.  In the meantime, here's a hint:

It's going to have something to do with mushrooms, and no, it's not a cooking recipe ;)  Until next time!