Your inner artist

Creativity is not something you must force. You always create when you truly wish to create. There is the opportunity for artistry in every facet of life. Give your love to whatever you are doing, and your own special art will come to life.
If you're just going through the motions, you're stealing life from yourself. Nothing has to be tedious, for everything is an opportunity to create new richness.
Complaining about your lot in life is an insult to your own amazing and powerful abilities. Instead of complaining, put just a few of those abilities to purposeful use.
All that you know, all you experience, all that you feel and love, will fuel your beautiful and unique creativity. Feel how good it feels to fully express your own perspective.
Allow yourself to passionately desire what you sincerely desire. Then follow the promptings of your inner artist and create the special masterpiece you envision.
-- Ralph Marston


Read more: http://greatday.com/motivate/110126.html#ixzz1CR9S3Bpf

 

Have a great day!

Janie

 

Creating Simple Polymer Clay Canes

When new clayers begin to create things with polymer clay, sooner or later they want to know how to create a polymer clay cane.  Why? Because it's a fun challenge and you can do so much with them.  You can make beads for jewelry, pendants, earrings, covered boxes and tins (great for recycling), and even faux fabric or fruit for sculptures and miniatures.  The only limit to their use is the scope of your imagination.  Canes can run the gamut from simple to complex.  The canes shown here are actually very simple and basic canes to make.  Each one can be mastered by a beginner with just some basic instruction.  However, what you create with them can also run the gamut from simple to complex. You are only limited by the scope of your imagination.  Here are some canes that I have made and some things that I have made with them:       

You can see more of my polymer clay canes and some beads I've made at my Art Fire shop here:

http://www.artfire.com/users/mypolymerclaycanes

And you cam see more of what I've made with my canes by visiting my Life Art Designs shops at Etsy or Art Fire.  The links are on the right side of the blog.

Have a great day!

Janie

I've Entered a Metal Clay Contest

I entered a contest at the Meta Clay Today magazine online.  My entry is a handcrafted textured silver clay heart necklace.  It has a purple cubic ziconia stone in the center with two hands clasped around the stone.  The theme of the contest is: "Show me the Love".  Voting is open and decided by the public.  Come take a look at all the entries and vote for your favorite.  And if it turns out to be mine...thank you tremendously!

http://www.metalclaytoday.com/ChallengesPDFs/ShowMetheLoveChallengers.pdf 

And here's the silver clay heart that I entered:

Have a great day!

Janie

The Finished Resin Flower Pendants

Here they are all dried and ready to go!

Have a great Weekend!

Janie

Ruth's Flowers

Normally, it's all about the clay, whether it be silver clay or polymer clay.  Today is different.  It's all about resin! That's because I am about to complete a very special project I've been working on.  Just before Thanksgiving, I lost one of my very best friends to cancer, my "wing buddy".  I've been making some resin pendants from some of the flowers we had at her service.  It's a long process and they are all still drying.  That's why they are hanging from wires in the photos.  Hopefully, they will all turn out okay and I will have enough pendants to give one to her sister, niece, great niece, her other wing buddy, and myself.  And there's an odd one in the group.  I had a little resin left over during the process, so I made a "beachy pendant" with a piece of a shell, a dragonfly, and a piece of moss that fell off of one of my oak trees. I think Ruth would like that.  I think she would like the other ones also...

Have a great day!

Janie

Metal Clay Heads of Etsy Team

I belong to a team over at Etsy called the Metal Clay Heads.  It's very informal and lots of fun, as well as supportive when you need it during some serious clay challenges.  The group consists of all types of clayers from all around the world.  Some are beginners and some are masters at their craft.  Our only requirement is that you love the clay.  We are all very open with help and advice whenever someone needs it and asks for it.  And speaking of challenges, we also have a metal clay challenge going on right now.  Please come and help us vote.  Here is the link to our team blog:
  http://metalclayheads.blogspot.com/
And if you are interested in joining us, here is the link to our team page at Etsy:
 http://www.etsy.com/teams/6043/metal-clay-heads
We also have an on going discussion at Etsy where we discuss anything and everything about metal clay:
 http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6732109&page=51

And lastly, here is a photo of a team treasury that I made a while back that show cases my teammates work.  There are only so many photo slots that you are allowed to fill, so I couldn't include everyone.  But, you can visit any of the links above that i posted to go find their shops and check out their work.

Have a great day!

Janie

The Man Fish Pendant

Just a quick post today to show one of the latest pendants that I recently made.  I made it for my husband for a Christmas gift.  Men can be very hard to design for!  I call it the Man Fish Pendant.  I was trying for a manly look...I think I got it.  He's happy with it anyway.

Have a great weekend!

Janie

Welcome to my new blog!

Welcome to day one of my new blog.  My intent here is to share the progress and process of my work in silver clay and polymer clay as I continue to experiment in both mediums.  The photo above is an image of a sculpted tin that I made last year out of polymer clay.  It was a custom order for a lady who found me through my Etsy shop.  She gave it to her Dad for a Birthday gift.  It was and still is one of my favorite custom orders.  And the lady that I worked with on it was just awesome.  Here is a link to my Flickr album if you would like to see more of my tins and boxes:   http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeartdesigns/sets/72157623263923473/

My plan is to keep this blog simple and easy.  I will probably bounce back and forth from polymer clay to silver clay.  I work in both mediums and love them both.  Here is a link to some of my silver work:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeartdesigns/sets/72157623263890603/

Thanks for visiting.  I hope to see you again soon!

Janie

P. S.
If you would like to check out my Etsy shop, go here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/lifeartdesigns
And if someone would like to let me know how to clean up these links, please do!  Or, please be patient until I learn how to do that...