Christmas Sale!

Christmas Sale!

Everything in my shop, including organic catnip toys, bamboo storm windchimes, polymer clay creations and even my destash and supplies is now 10% off! Starting today, November 14th until next Sunday evening, November 22nd.

Looking for the purr-fect gift for your cats? Look no further. My handsewn catnip toy pillows are filled with organic dried fresh from my very own garden this summer and 2 layers of quilt batting. The catnip is organically grown in my own flower beds. I do not use any herbicides, pesticides, or chemicals of any sort in my gardens. All of my plants are fertilized using my own compost that I make and is refreshed every year. I also have adorable little teddy bear and Christmas Stocking catnip toys.

There is lots to choose from in my shop, including my handmade bamboo storm windchimes, gift tag toppers made out of polymer clay, and lots of fimo polymer clay destash supplies (such as books, a pasta maker, foils, inclusions and more).

Do you need scrapbooking and cardmaking supplies? I have acrylic flatback rhinesones, foil confetti, shimmery / glitter sands, and even foils that make wonderful embellishments.

Have questions? Feel free to convo me in my shop on Etsy. I will do my very best to help you get what you are looking for.

Refunds will be made through paypal. Shipping is not included in the sale.

Hope to see you there!

Canadian Thanksgiving BOGO sale!

I have decided to have a special sale for Thanksgiving. Buy One, Get One free!

Lots of wonderful handmade gifts for the holidays :) Pop by my shop and see what I have for you and your loved ones :)

50% off Clearance Sale!

I am going on a two week holiday, and will be closing my Etsy shop while I am gone. So, to celebrate my vacation, I am having a 50% off Clearance sale today. I will be putting my shop in vacation mode when I wake up tomorrow morning, Monday September 14th, so feel free to come and browse today!

1 2 3 Button Sale!

I am having a sale in my shop on Etsy!

Buy 1 set of buttons, get 10% off

Buy 2 sets of buttons, get 20% off

Buy 3 sets of buttons, get 30% off

And so on :)

(Percentage off is on the price of buttons, not including shipping)

These buttons are all handmade by me from polymer clay.

I love making buttons!

I have been trying to find ways of using up my little bits of clay and discovered that making canes out of them is a great way of doing this. I have so far made three different styles of canes. Bull's eye, spiral, or an abstract design.

But first, I have to condition the clay. If it is older, and a bit stiffer, it can take quite awhile to do this. At times, it means hours of warming it in my hands, squishing it, and rolling it out with a rolling pin. A number of people use a food processor to do this for them. I have considered purchasing one myself, and one day I just might! After the clay becomes more pliable (looks nice and shiny), I decide what type of cane I wish to make. If I have a lot of one colour, such as white, I tend to go more for the abstract design.

I am quite partial to these, especially the white and blue one. It reminds me of one of my favourite collectibles, the Copenhagen Danish Blue Plates (of which I have about 20 in two different sizes). They almost look good enough to eat!

After making the cane, I wrap it up in plastic, so that it can sit a bit. I have found that they tend to cut better if they have been sitting a few days. I make quite a few at a time, so that when I am ready to use them, I have a nice selection of colours and styles to choose from.

After a few days, and when I know I have a whole day to devote to it, I take a cane, and using a blade from a utility knife, I cut my slices. I do a bit of shaping (getting much better at this part!) and lay them out on a flat piece of polyfiber batting on a large glass tray from a microwave, and cure them in the oven.

I usually end up doing about 5 trays or so in a day. I like to have a nice quantity of buttons to work on throughout the week on my days off.

Sometimes, I will use a series of sandpaper to sand them, and sometimes not. It all depends on how well they turned out after curing and what type of look I want. The first grit I use is 250, and I use a palm sander for this. The first time I did that I ended up sanding off most of one of my fingernails without even realizing! It did not hurt, though. Then, I use (by hand) 5 more grits : 400, 600, 1000, 1500 and 2000. The higher grits I had to buy from Canadian Tire, as our local hardware shop did not carry them. I always let the sandpaper soak in hot water a bit before using it, as that helps keep it from clogging up with particles of clay. It makes it more pliable, and it will last a lot longer.

The final steps are putting on a light coating of Delta Ceramacoat. When I sand and buff them, I do not need to do this, but I decided to anyway since I want them to be able to be handwashed and last a long time. It also gives them a "wet look".

So far, I have only been making buttons with these canes. I am sure I may make other things as time goes on.

The Catnip Teddy Bear Story:

I have 2 cats. I have one catnip toy. Two big boys fighting over one tiny little Christmas stocking cat toy. Funny, most days, but that day, NOT!

So, I looked around trying to see if I could find another one for them, and as I was digging through my bag of various supplies, I found a bunch of these tiny teddy bears. Well, the one cat, Smokie, snagged one out of the bag and stared imploringly at me.

All righty than! This will be his new toy. I spent a very painstaking (and painful) hour removing 90% of the stuffing, and a bunch of extra embellishments that were on the bears, since I did not want my cat to eat them. Then refilling it with catnip (not easy to do with cat claws digging into you at every movement), sewed it back up again and Lo and Behold! A new catnip toy for the boy!

Needless to say, they both love it!

I decided to make a couple more, and offer them on Etsy, for your little furbabies!

February Challenge for the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy (PCAGOE) : ACEO's

It is time again for the PCAGOE to hold it's monthly Challenge. This month's theme is ACEO's. Personally, I have made very few of these and found it to be an exciting adventure! I never really considered the fact that I could make these intriguing little trading cards out of polymer clay!

For those who would like to know, an ACEO stands for Art Card Editions and Originals. Another name you may be familiar with is ATC (or Art Trading Card) which normally is made out of paper. These are fairly inexpensive ways for an artist to be able to provide art work for collectors at less expensive prices, and definitely easier to ship all over the world at reasonable rates. They have become extremely popular over the last few years. If you would like to see some examples, please visit http://www.etsy.com and do a search for ACEO or ATC and you will see some amazing ART! You can also do a search on Wikipedia and read the history if these wonderful collector pieces!

My fellow guild members of PCAGOE have put together a wonderful collection for you to browse and if you would like, please vote for your favourite. You can go to http://www.pcagoe.com to view the entries, and you may also view the prizes available to be won. There will be prizes for the most voted for entries, but best of all, as a voter, you will also be eligible to win a prize! The winners for voting will be randomly drawn and announced on the main website. Voting will be held from February 1st to February 7th.

Here is my entry for the challenge!

And here is a picture of all of the entries!

1. Coffee Lover by PuppyKissPortraits

2. Eros by Polyclarific

3. Altered Art by mistymountainrain

4. An Evening at the Farm by sswoss

5. The Dog Ate My Homework by beetreebyme

6. Color My World by polymerclaycreations

7. Composite by jangeisen

8. Spring Love by divadea

9. Valentine Memories by SCDiva

10. Dreams of Summer Gone By by jewelzodonnell

11. Industrial Dream by zoeowyn

12. Express Yourself by juliespace

13. Twilight Elf by Amantecatl

14. Hand Foot… hmmm by Vaharoni

15. Inspirational Message by thecolorofdreams

16. Unfurl Your Heart to Me by OrganicOdysseys

17. Little Bird on a Tree by peggers

18. Valentine by tejaesart

My New Banner!

Thank you so much to Tejae, a fellow member of the PCAGOE (Polymer Clay Artist Guild of Etsy) for my wonderful new banner! I love it, it is perfect! Tejae has been ever so helpful to me as I have only recently joined the PCAGOE and is always there with thoughtful advice and support. I know many of us are very glad that she is so generous of her time.

When I mentioned that I wanted to have a nice banner for my new blog, she created this one for me :)

Tejae is an extremely talented polymer clay artist, and has a shop on Etsy. You should check out her shop! http://www.tejaesart.etsy.com/ I think my favourite right now is this one,

It is called, "Key to my Heart"

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19906557