Inspiration Revealed - Cherry Blossoms

"Inspiration revealed" is a new feature on the blog. I will utilize a collage and/or photos to show the inspiration and the end product. If you have a photo of something that inspired you and the piece of art you created from that inspiration, please send me some photos and I will post them in this feature. It's great way to share and get some free promo as well. If you have an online store, I will be happy to link to it!

Here's my first Inspiration revealed:

All those cherry blossom pictures I took this Spring were not for nothing. Their inspiration led to this lovely little addition to my "Out on a Limb" Series . The necklace and the inspiration below!

Be Inspired by 100

Today is the 100th day of school for my boys so I thought I would take some time to be inspired by the number 100. My son's kindergarten class had to bring in 100 of something to help the class visualize 100. Over the weekend Kyle created 100 polymer clay balls. I loved that he decided to create 100 things instead of just counting one hundred paperclips or grains of rice. His idea to create 100 things inspired me, so I thought I would pass that on to you too. Once the balls return from school we have decided that we will display them in some way since they represent not only his first 100 days of school, but also the creativity and perseverance it took to create all 100 of them. I think we may get a tall glass vase and fill it up with the balls, or glue them to a piece of wood to display on the wall. I'll ultimately ask Kyle what he'd like to do with them since I am sure he will have an opinion one way or the other.

Check out these items that might have been inspired by the number 100:














Get lucky with 100 Pink origami lucky stars by itreallyaddsomething.etsy.com


















Get the first "Onion Sets Delivery Day" print in a limited edition of 100. Created by dottylotty.etsy.com

100 Paper Bead Mix by yoyocottage.etsy.com


















Need some more inspiration? Or just something to do? Check out this comic/zine with 100 different things to do by Philippa Rice/ thejuzzard.etsy.com

Take some time this week to ponder the number 100. Will you make something using the actual number? Will you create 100 of the same thing? will you create 100 different things? Will you use 100 different colors? Will you start a new series of 100? Will you create something new each day for 100 days? Will you create for 100 minutes? I'm not sure what I will do yet, but you can bet I have some ideas. If only I had 100 years to create all the things in my head!

Back to Bloggin & the PCAGOE Challenge

Hi everyone! I hope some of you are still here after I took most of the summer off. My kids started school this past week (YEAH!), so we are getting back into a routine and blogging will become a regular part of that routine. I look forward to exploring inspiration and offering suggestions for those in a creative rut. There will be artist interviews and I will share my latest pieces and their inspiration. There may even be a few contests and more collaborative projects too. So without further ado, I'm getting started:

The PCAGOE is having it's monthly challenge and this one was right up my alley, Texture. I created this 8x10" canvas as my entry.























I wanted to create something that really showcased just the texture, so rather than distressing the clay pieces I left them the flat white and orange. The trees and the "leaves" are heavily textured with different patterns. Some of the detail is lost in my photo, ( I really have to work on photographing my art pieces). As with most of my pieces, I want to make this a series using different textures and colors. All of the textured pieces were created using my own hand carved stamps. This piece will eventually make it into my Etsy shop, but I am currently working on a set-up to create and offer prints and I want to get my art pieces scanned before I offer the originals for sale. With the kids in school, I hope to start making 2-3 original art pieces a week as I am enjoying creating the larger scale pieces and I have 1001 a ideas (thank goodness for sketchbooks).

You can vote for your favorite entry and be entered to win a pirze at PCAGOE.com from starting today, Sept. 1st through midnight EST, Sept. 3rd. Here are all of this months entries:

Inspired by the Incredible Edible Egg & Rescued by an Incredible Not So Edible Plastic Egg

It's PCAGOE Challenge time again. This month’s challenge was a technique that is fairly common and unique to polymer clay. Each member had to create a piece (functional or decorative) by covering an egg with polymer clay. I had only tried to cover an egg one other time and let me say it was not so successful, so I was a bit apprehensive about giving it another try, but since I run the challenge, I kinda feel I have to create something each month as an example. So I decided to brave the egg again. I got an idea immediately. My stepmother had some eggs that she had run ribbon through and hung from a basket ornaments and I always wanted to make one of my own. I had also been sketching some damask patterns in my sketchbook recently and decided I would put the two together and make a damask egg ornament.

First I made the blown egg and then I drew the basic design onto it to get an idea of scale for the stamp carving.












Next I sketched the design on a piece of paper and tried my best to make it symmetrical. I tend to just draw freehand on my stamps, so trying to do the symmetrical thing didn't really work out, so I ended up just drawing it out on the stamp. It wasn't perfectly symmetrical, but close enough and I figured the curves of the egg would help me disguise the tiny differences.













Here is where it got a bit tricky. I needed to put a base coat of clay on the egg and as I did, I cracked and destroyed the egg. Of course I hadn't blown out any more in anticipation of the inevitable. Some other PCAGOE Members had success with plastic eggs, so since I still had a ton of plastic eggs all over my house from Easter. I thought that would be the best way to go. I used my craft blade to carve a hole at each end for the ribbon to go through and then I glued it together and covered it with the clay. So much easier and a lot more successful than the real egg.













Next I had to stamp the clay, cut out each little piece and put them all on the egg. I also made 3 beads to use as accents.













Then it was time for paint. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to use light pink. I just really like the black and pink damask look. I wasn't thrilled with the way the color turned out (I wish it had been more pink), but I didn't really have time to paint it again.













Finally I distressed the egg, glazed it and put it all together with the ribbon.













And now it is entered in the challenge and hanging in my studio. It was a little gift to myself, so it won't be in the shop. I think I will make some more at Christmas and maybe Easter next year. It actually was a lot of fun ( but I will definitely be sticking with the plastic eggs)! You can have some fun too by going to PCAGOE.com and voting for your favorite egg. There are 27 to choose from and once you vote you are automatically entered to win one of 2 great prizes (see below).




Here are the prizes:


or



So get out there this week and create with an egg or just try something that you weren't so successful with in the past. You may find that it's better the 2nd time around. I did!

One of the Sketches Comes to Life as a Pendant plus a PCAGOE Challenge

Taking a little break from the Collaborative ACEO to promote the PCAGOE March Animal Challenge. You can still vote for your favorite ACEO sketch here and don't forget to comment so that you can be entered into the drawing for the final ACEO. My challenge entry is actually tied to the collaborative project. You will see that it closely resembles my fawn sketch. As soon as I had sketched it for the blog, I knew I wanted it to be a pendant. It is a little celebration of spring and all the new baby animals. I love the way it came out. It reminds me of an old children's book illustration which is exactly how it looked in my head! So.... take some time this weekend and head over to PCAGOE.com and vote for your favorite animal entry. When you vote, you will be entered into a drawing for a fun flora/fauna themed prize pack donated by the talented members of the PCAGOE! You can vote from now until midnight EST on March 3rd and the winners will be announced on the 4th! I will also announce the ACEO sketch winner on the 4th and then it will be time for color suggestions (we're almost done!)

















Be inspired by the animals you see in the PCAGOE Challenge and create your own animal inspired piece of art this weekend! And don't forget to vote!

Inspired by A New Technique

I'm taking a short break from the gift guides to promote the PCAGOE November Challenge. This month's theme was a polymer clay technique called Mokume gane. Mokume gane is originally a Japanese metalworking technique that was adapted as a polymer clay technique. Mokume gane is created by layering very thin sheets of polymer clay and then distorting the stack with any number of tools and then shaving off thin slices to show off the colors, layers and patterns created within the stack. You can also add inclusions such as metal leaf and inks to create further variations or use stamps and texture plates to create interesting imagery. This technique offers up a ton of possibilities. I did a fairly simple one this month. I used metallic (or pearl) and translucent polymer clay and stacked them to create layers. I then impressed circles into the clay with a couple circle cutters and then back filled some of them with more clay. I rolled the stack until everything was smushed together. I took some slices off the top until I got the look that I wanted. I then rolled it smooth and cut the shape of the brooch. I liked the simple shape, because it didn't detract from the mokume gane design. The thing I love most about mokume gane is that you cannot always predict how it will turn out. It's like opening a present every time. I also love how you can make something non-organic like polymer clay and make it look very organic.

Here are all the entries:



Vote for your favorite entry at pcagoe.com by November 28th at midnight (EST). You will automatically be entered to win a prize pack valued at over $150.

Take some time this week to explore a new technique or even a new craft all together. Is there something you have wanted to try, but just haven't? Well there's no time like the present. Many of the PCAGOE members had not tried Mokume Gane, but found that it was a wonderful technique that they planned to use again and again. Get out of your crafting rut and challenge yourself to try something new and I can guarantee that you will be inspired, and who knows the new technique may take your work in a whole new fantastic direction!

Here are some more of my Mokume Gane pieces. This is in my entryway:


Here are a couple ACEO's:

Be Inspired by a Favorite Book

I don't know about you, but I love to read. I can easily get lost in a book and they can be very inspiring. This month's PCAGOE Challenge was to create a polymer clay item inspired by a favorite book. My entry was the inspired by the "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. Eric has been a favorite of mine since childhood. The bright colors and texture and childlike quality of his illustrations have always inspired me. This book was also the first book I bought for my first son, Trey. I knew I wanted my kids to have a love for Eric Carle and his books too. We now have a small library of just about all of his books, and they are always favorites at bedtime and while I will probably pass most of their kids books on to someone else once they outgrow them, my Eric Carle library will stay and hopefully I will be able to share them with my grandkids too! The other reason I chose Eric Carle is because I wanted to try a new polymer clay technique. I received some alcohol inks from PolymerClayproductions.com (they also have a tutorial available) and was waiting for a reason to use them. The water color painting in Eric Carle's illustrations was something I thought I could duplicate. It was fun to try something new. They had frames on sale at the craft store, so I thought a frame would be fun. I ended up backing it with strong magnets, and now it is on my refrigerator!

The other PCAGOE Members really found some creative ways to interpret their books. Some created images of main characters, some used the illustrations as inspiration, recreating colors, textures and patterns, others created scenes as they "saw" them, while others used the meaning and themes of the book to translate them into art. These are all fantastic ways to be inspired by books. Take a some time to vote for your favorite entry in this months challenge. Just go to pcagoe.com to vote! You will automatically be entered to win 1 of 2 polymer clay prize packs worth over $75 each!! Here is a mosaic of this month's entries:

After you vote, take a little time to find a good book and enjoy a little reading. Let the book speak to you and think about the characters, themes, events, illustrations, the emotions, and even the words and see where inspiration takes you! You may be surprised to find that reading is not only fundamental, but it is also inspiring!!

You Were Inspired by What?

OK, I have to admit that I have been inspired by some strange things. Probably the strangest was when I actually found inspiration in spilled milk. I was cleaning my counter when I noticed a drip of milk that was shaped like a woman. Now don't write me off as a looney, I'm not claiming to have seen Elvis or the Virgin Mary in my food (not that there is anything wrong with that!), but she was there. I have photographic proof . Yes it is very blurry (isn't that always how it is when you are trying to prove something with a photo), but it is there, I swear!













Well, I took that image and drew it out on a block and commenced to carving. The milk drops had a perfect circle as the head and the perfect curves at breast and hip. The 2nd photo is the finished pendant entitled "Modern Goddess" and it is for sale in my Etsy shop. So the lesson today is don't cry over spilt milk , be inspired by it! (You knew I was going to say that!) Keeping an open mind and akeen eye out, you will find inspiration in places you never thought you would. This may be another regular feature (monthly or when I am lacking writing inspiration). I am going to poll some artists and see what the most bizarre thing is that has inspired one of their works of art. If you are an artist who has had some some strange or bizarre inspiration that turned into an amazing piece of art, contact me at blockpartypress@yahoo.com and you may get a feature!

I Create Therefore I Am

A great way to get the creative juices going, is to join in on a challenge. I love doing challenges. They seem to help me focus and I really like the ideas that I come up with. The PCAGOE (Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy) has a monthly challenge. This month the challenge was to create a self-portrait. This is what I created, a self-portrait ACEO titled, I Create Therefore I Am.















I knew I didn't want to do create an exact replica of myself, so I decided to think about who I am, rather than what I look like. I am many things, A Mom, wife, sister, daughter, Aunt, friend, confidant, businesswoman, blogger, etc... but the overwhelming thing that I am is an artist. Some days I feel like creating is like breathing and that if i can't create something, I will suffocate. I spent many years trying to deny my need to create and am very happy that I no longer need to contain that part of myself. This freeing is what inspired me to create this ACEO. The head represents me and the wheels of creativity are turning. The background is the ideas being transferred to my hands and becoming reality once I create them. I used the bright colors and the texture because they inspire me. All of the images, except for the head were stamps that I had carved before this project, so it was fun to use some of them again for a completely different purpose.

Remember, joining challenges can be a great way to get inspired. Just remember that it is a challenge and just a beginning point, so you will still need to decide what to create and how to turn your inspiration into reality.

To vote in the PCAGOE challenge and be entered to win a basic polymer clay kit from polymerclayproductions.com just visit the PCAGOE website and vote today!

Another great creative challenge can be found in the Etsy etc. forums every Monday. It was created by Jewelstreet.etsy.com and anyone can join in.

Inspiration From Color

I was trolling the Etsy forums last week and I found a thread by LoveGemma.etsy (AKA Gemmafactrix.etsy, AKA Jewelry Artist Brooke Medlin). She had found a very cool site, COLOURlovers™ , "it is a resource that monitors and influences color trends. COLOURlovers gives the people who use color - whether for ad campaigns, product design, or even in architectural specification - a place to check out a world of color, compare color palettes, submit news and comments, and read color related articles and interviews. "

Being a color addict myself, I checked it out. The palettes Brooke had posted were very timely for me as they were from butterflies and moths. I had carved a moth stamp about two weeks prior and already made 2 pendants, but I was struggling with what colors to use. Needless to say I was excited to find this site and try out some of the color possibilities. The two pendants I made were done in black and brown clay, so I knew I needed to use those as a one of the colors in the palette. After some debate, I chose 2 very different palettes, "Elena is warming up"by Glenset which included colors such as Fuzzy Wings (taupe), Moth Beauty (deep brown), Red Rsing (Red), Autmn Flight (Orange) and Warm Air (Orange/Gold) and "Butterfly Winter" by Ben Nelson which included Winter Water (A kind of sage green with a touch of aqua), Ice Wings (pale aqua blue) Flutter Snow (bluish white), Winter Warmth (orange) and Nutrient Soil (black).

The two color palettes were very different and not combinations that I would normally use, so it was fun to to try to make them work within the pendants I had already created. I really like how they turned out and I am very grateful to Brooke for sharing that site at just the right time.

If you find yourself feeling less than inspired, sometimes looking at color combinations can really get your creativity flowing. The COLOURlovers™ site is a great place to explore color and it's many possibilities. Take some time to check it out and get inspired!

PCAGOE Letter Project

Recently the PCAGOE (Polymer Clay Artists of Esty) completed a collaborative project for the Etsy headquarters and lab. We created a wall hanging with Etsy's slogan. We decided to create it in the same style as our PCAGOE banner with different members each creating a letter and then one member , Dawn of HardflowerStudios.etsy.com, created the background and assembled the final piece. This was no small undertaking and it took us a couple of months to complete. We recently sent the gift to the Etsy Labs along with some polymer clay and a pasta machine. We felt that in order for the labs to be complete, they had to have some polymer clay for artists to come in and use. Plus, we are all about promoting polymer clay as an art medium, so this was a way for us to hopefully do our part to introduce it to some artists who have never used it before (few as they may be)!

The wall hanging was happily received by the Labs and they even wrote about it on the Etsy blog. If you ever visit the Etsy Labs, please keep an eye out for the wall hanging and please take a closer look. The detailing really can't be captured with a camera! I created the O in .com and the last A in handmade (see below).






















I think the best part of the project was how different each letter was, but how great they all looked together! That may just be another life lesson to make you say hmmmm.

PCAGOE members who contributed to this project:
Ilysaart, StudioBijou, MarciaPalmer, ScottGarrette, MaureenThomasDesigns, HardflowerStudios, MamaStaub, BlueLadyStudios, BenCanDance, IttyBittiesForYou, MadeinLowell, Faffcreations, TheColorofDreams, DeerCrossDesigns, BreezyDawnDesigns, NatureStudio, LadyRayCello, ColorFunky, NothinLikeIt, Peggers, BlockPartyPress, Treasurefield, Nanjodogz, Polyclarific, BlueDogBeads, MithrilDreams, and Cutesis. The letter board was compiled by HardflowerStudios.

I wanted to add a special thanks to Judy from Artsyclay.etsy.com come for surprising me this weekend with a very cool feature on her blog!

You Deserve the Whole Tree

It's that time of year when everyone is trying to find something to give their kid's teacher to thank them for their hard work. I was trying to think of what I would give my son's teacher this year. Last year I made an altered book for his Kindergarten Teacher. It took a very long time and I just didn't have that kind of time this year. I thought I would give her a pendant, but I don't really know her taste and I know most teacher's kind of loath the whole apple thing, so I thought I would give her something with some meaning to it. I took a little quote from the book I made last year and decided to turn it into a pendant. The quote is "A good teacher deserves an apple, you deserve the whole tree." I decided to make an apple tree pendant (I know, I know still with the apples, but it went with the quote!). I drew a simple little tree and painted it in bright colors. When I distressed it, the colors looked almost like they were done is crayon. I love that it is simple, has meaning, and is childlike in it's appearance. I will be attaching it to a altered tag which has the quote written on it, so that she can get the meaning. I hope she likes it.

Don't forget to get a little something for your child's teacher. They work so hard all year, and they really deserve a little thanks! If you don't have the time to make a gift, you can purchase one of these pendants for your teacher too. I will be offering this design in my etsy shop. I can also include a tag with the quote and offer free gift wrapping. If you would like to see the rest of the altered book, visit my flickr page.