Congratulations!

Congratulations to the winning artists of the PCAGOE Team May Mica Shift Challenge!!

Artbylin
Marcia Palmer
Jan Geisen
Silver Gate Studios
Jill Kollmann

And congratulations to the winners of those who voted!

Aprilee Lawson
Cindy James
Diane Wong
Jennifer Morgan-Cheng

To see the full post, please check out http://www.pcagoe.com/

Mica Shift May Challenge

Here is the beautiful treasury including all the pieces entered into the PCAGOE Team challenge for May. Aren't they all simply gorgeous?

Happy weekend!

Yesterday was my birthday and against all odds (having to go to work and all) I had a lovely day. It started with the best present of all, my son remembering! Then, my friends posting happy birthday on my facebook wall, and when I arrived at work, my boss and co-worker sang to me. They also had made a little sign and hung it on my computer. A bit later, they had put in a little notice on each Doctor's day schedule so that they and the nurse's could see it. It was a bit embarrasing though LOL

After I got home from work, my mom, dad and my sister both called. It is so nice to hear their voices. They still live in Winnipeg, and I do not get to hear from them very often. I try to call them as often as I can. I moved here about 5 years ago, and was able to go back for a visit last year. In fact, it was for Mother's Day that I went to see them.

My mom had made me a lovely frog blanket for my birthday. She crochets, and wanted to be able to hug me, so by making me the blanket, it feels like she is hugging me whenever I snuggle up to it.

My sister sent me a lovely trio of garden yoga frogs, and an awesome Obi! It is absolutely gorgeous! I will take a picture of the frogs and the Obi later this weekend. Today, my husband and I are going into London for a shopping spree. He and my son need clothes, we both need books, and I definately need to get some new Birkenstocks. My pair from last year are a bit stretched and nasty. I think this year I will buy 2 pairs, that way I can rotate them.

I am still trying to find a source for wood, to make the circle bit to hang my bamboo windchimes from. I thought that I had some cherry wood coming, but the man who had it, had already split it up for firewood. Not impressed. Ah well, I will find something soon I think. I did tell my husband that perhaps I should look into buying my own scroll saw so that I can cut my own.

Here is a picture of the other necklace I had made to put in my Etsy shop. I call it Stars Crossing. Since I am trying very hard to not use too much metal in my work, the ribbon being looped over an end bead for the clasp seems to work quite well.

The Challenge is On!

The May challenge for the PCAGOE Team is Mica Shift technique. It is a really cool way of getting extra dimension to your polymer clay pieces. The short explanation? You use polymer clay that has little bits of mica in it (already mixed or mix it yourself), and use something to make impressions in it. Something like texture sheets, or stamps. Then you very carefully slice away very thin slices, until it is pretty much flat. This leaves a 3-D image in the clay. Once the piece has been cured, you sand it and buff it. It looks like it is all lumpy, but instead it is really smooth.

Here is my piece for the challenge, and if you look closely you will see what looks like little oval holes in it. In reality, it is very smooth and flat.

By clicking on either picture, it will take you directly to the listing in my shop for this lovely, hypo allergenic, metal free necklace.

If you would like to see the rest of the entries, just go to http://pcagoe.com/ and you can vote for your favourite one! Voting starts today and ends on May 7th!

Oh, and the contest for the Mother's Day gift giveaway is still going strong!