RIP Andy Hallett

come and vote for spring!

Here are the entries in the very first monthly challenge of the EART etsy team. The theme is spring, and the entries are beautiful. I went with flowers and leaves in yellow and green. Come vote for your favorite at our blog!

etsy treasuries

Etsy treasuries are little collections of items from etsy shops, created by etsy users. They're themed by color or team or topic or lots of other ways. What's the point? Well, they're fun. And also, these collections often end up on the front page of etsy, which is great exposure for the artists in them.

Here are a few of my recent ones. This one was titled etsy vs the bed.


And this one is still active, chicken and waffles.

This one has items from two etsy teams: pcagoe and eart.

logorific

Thanks to everyone who helped me choose a font and gave opinions. This is my new logo and banner. They're simple, but I think they suit me.

new art for me - yay!

One of the cool things about selling/shopping online at places like etsy is that you get to meet some cool people who make art. I made a trade recently - some polymer clay goodies for this wonderful print by justgivemepeace. I absolutely adore it, can't wait to frame and hang.

goin' green

After all the St. Paddy's hoohah, I was thinking about green and went looking for inspiration on etsy, of course. Here's what I found - green mosaics by pcagoe member, juliespace.

Julie is the master of mosaic. I love how she fits all the pieces in just right. Also, I'm a big lover of gingko leaves, so this one really caught my eye.

Plus, the pieces in her mosaics are handmade from polymer clay. Wow - the hours these must take to create!

I love the idea of a wearable mosaic, too.

These are all in Julie's etsy shop here, here and here.

turtles and frogs!

I am not a sculptor. I have accepted this part of life. But at least I have friends who are. Here's a fun collection of frogs and turtles from their etsy shops.

My critter-creating PCAGOE friends are: NatureVisions, PolymerClayforaCause, peggers, artbylilin, AardvarkCreations, caren, SpiritMama, clayinaround and jewelzodonnell.

just give me peace

I've found another favorite etsy artist. Justgivemepeace creates wonderful, colorful hippie art -- images of women and peace symbols, all in rich detail. In her shop, she has originals, prints, cards, ACEOS, and some other fun stuff, like a checkers set. And each listing has a sweet poem of peace in the description. Groovy!

March canework challenge favorites

Every month I like to blog my personal favorites from the PCAGOE monthly challenge. This time, my picks are an A and a Z -- alicestroppel and zoeowyn.

This is alicestroppel's fantasy fish pin. This one isn't listed at her etsy shop, but she does have a few similar fish and a crab! Check it out. I just love her style and bright colors.


And these are zoeowyn's medieval canes. These are for sale at her shop. I just think these are such a great idea and could picture lots of uses for them -- photo frame, vessel, brooch...

Thanks to everyone who came over to PCAGOE and voted in the challenge. You can see the winners at our website. Next month's challenge theme is faux. I haven't decided what to make yet. Hmmm.

leetle glasses

Two little cordial glasses covered in intricate black and white polymer clay cane work.

Now I want to start hitting yard sales and used stuff shops to get glassware to cover!

$18 at my etsy shop

kaleidoscope canes

I made my first attempts at kaleidoscope canes the other day. Mostly I used lengths of canes, old and new, that were multiplying on my craft table. This one made of mostly blues was my first try.

Basically, a kaleidoscope cane is made by building a fairly intricate triangular cane and then using six matching pieces to make the pattern repeat.


This is my second attempt. This one is a bit of a cheat, because I used four triangular pieces and filled in the spaces in between with more matching canes - same basic effect.


And this third attempt is my favorite, because it's all hippie flowers and rainbows.

I must thank my friends Iris and Linda for the kaleidoscope cane inspiration! I have some projects made with slices from these canes in progress, so stay tuned. I'm not usually into sanding and buffing - I like matte finish - but I'm thinking these may need to be shiny. We'll see.

Beads!!

You know it's bad when I use double exclamation marks. I'm not usually a fan of superfluous punctuation. But I finally made some beads!! I don't make beads much anymore, because I have, well, "a lot" doesn't really cover it.


These are a bunch of mixy-matchy round beads made with lots of leftover canes from my recent rainbow projects.

And speaking of beads, my PCAGOE friends have been turning out some pretty fabulous ones, too.


Behold the cuteness from polyclarific!


And get ready for St. Patty's with these by Roz Petalz Studios. How adorable are these?


Iris Mishly is a master beadmaker. Just look at the amazing detail of these.


I love the random, psychedelic nature of these beads by CreativeSpiritToo.

Thanks for the inspiration, ladies. I might need to go make more beads...

challenge time - cane work

This is my challenge entry for the PCAGOE March cane work challenge. I'm pretty happy with this one. I started with a regular cardboard paper towel tube. Then I poked in (one at a time, my fingers were black - oy!) about 200 nails. Then I mixed polymer clay colors and made canes and sliced them up and put the slices on the tube one at a time. Then I baked it. Then I put in a handful of brown rice (what rainstick doesn't need a little fiber with its carbs?) and then I added more clay cane slices and embellishments, including ends, which do nicely to keep the rice inside. Then another baking. And then, yes, a good amount of admiring and turning it over and over to hear the little rain sound. You want to hear it?

OK, so click over to pcagoe and vote for a favorite entry. All voters are entered to win prizes, and the prizes are cool :) Thanks for your support.