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Swaps for Everyone
When I was new to the online polymer clay community, I joined a lot of swaps. I had been claying on and off for years by that point but hadn’t had much exposure to more refined projects yet. I joined quite a few swaps those first couple years!
My goal was to see what others were doing, how they put pieces together, how it worked. There were whole ranges of people in each swap, too – published experts and first month newbies.
This year I joined two I had done before. Connie’s Bug Swap (which you can see a post about on her blog) and Sarajane Helm’s ambitious mask swap. Below are my entries – the masks are a spoiler so don’t keep going if you’d rather be surprised when that swap closes.
And the masks, which share my fascination with the little clay faces in the flower patches you see a lot of in my other work:
Happy Earth Day!
What strikes me as the best part is just how many different people I’ve seen talking about Earth Day and being ‘green’ lately. While I’m perforce talking about the online community it’s still an increase in consciousness about how necessary each step is.
For example, I read a variety of productivity and personal finance blogs, craft and community blogs as well as surf several art and craft related forums. The conversation is carried from one to the next. And some of the ideas are idealistic or unrealistic but many are normal people’s real life solutions. Take a look:
- SherryTruit, a well known Etsy seller, started a useful thread on the Etsy forums
- J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly has a post for today about how frugal and environmentally conscious go hand in hand
- Julie has several posts on Polymer @ CraftGossip to do with clay
- Katie Hacker has bead people ideas
- Artfire has a little article on setting up an office from a greener perspective
- My previous Earth day posts for clayers and for general craft and small biz types
Kids Help Phone
I donate to charities or help friends fundraise when I can. I’ve made items for breast cancer fundraisers and cystic fibrosis ones. The groups that are near and dear to my heart, though, are community ones (both local and world community). The food bank. The local shelter network. The urban projects society. The Night to Fight fundraiser show I did recently.
May 3rd marks the 3rd year that Chloe and I will walk for the Kid’s Help Phone. She goes with me because it’s a short walk and they spoil their walkers – there’s treats for the kids, music and games and it’s a family speed walk. I go because growing up I had friends who needed it. It seems ironic to do a fundraiser with the devout hope that YOUR child will never need to access the resources you raise funds for. And so we walk.
On the left hand side, right up at the top is a button to Chloe’s pledge page (I’m a little late setting up the electronic version, her paper one is doing fine). If you can sponsor her, it’s greatly appreciated and I promise that it goes towards a cause that does help troubled children. Drop her a note on the ‘message wall’ there even if you can’t chip in this time.
The Shop: Return to Work
Not that I don’t work when my kid is on break but it’s usually a little more leisurely pace rather than the parked at the desk / bench schedule of regular days. My Etsy shops have the first of my Made to Order items and a return of Carolyn’s canes (yay! Missed Caro!).
And in the Claychicks domain:
Alas, I think I have ‘holiday hangover’ – aka. a cold – so the whole Monday is passing by in a fog. At least the walk to the post office should be beautiful. We have summery weather today (don’t worry, snow for the end of the week… welcome to Calgary) so despite the fog I’ve got a little energy. Watch out world.
Bowl Goals: Beady Weekend
Funny story. This morning my Mom phoned me to make sure we were on for doing errands together and said she’d be over in 30 minutes. I said that was perfect as I had stuff coming out of the oven then. When she arrived she asked what I was baking. Of course, at that point, she realized it was clay.
We were back in town by mid-week and the end of Easter break marked the Calgary leg of the Oasis Bead Show. This year there was less of what I was looking for – a good selection of base metal findings – so I didn’t break the bank. I did pick up a few strands of stones and pearls in my regular colours. Chloe picked up a lampwork cat bead similar to Sam, our future house cat. The cat bead is made by artist Fran Davis of Dragonfire Beads.
I believe next year I will make a serious effort to have a table at the Bead Show! It was a candy store of goodies even if I was on a strict diet.
Chasing Ladybugs
I’m spending part of Chloe’s spring break out in Swift Current, the town I move to in June. While my guy was tinkering with the garage he framed last fall, I went and started clearing the debris out of the bushes and flower beds. I may not get the chance to put much in this year – we move at the end of June – but it’ll get a little TLC at least.
I must have found dozens of ladybugs as I picked up the extra leaves and big sticks. My trusty, inexpensive little Olympus does nifty macro shots.
Next cane when I get home? Ladybug for sure.
Easter Egg Hunt
Before I forget! The Trans Canada Etsy Team is hosting an Easter egg hunt on Etsy. A whole bunch of us have hidden eggs in our shops and the person who finds the whole basketful gets entered in a gift certificate draw.
For the easy click version of the contest check out the team’s Etsy shop here: TransCanadaTeam.etsy.com
These are what you want to keep your eyes peeled for:
Happy Bloggy Birthday!
I figured I’d mark my site’s third birthday with a picture of what I’m running my fingers through today!
Thank you everyone!
Week in a Blur
I’m sure most of us experience this – the weeks are going by in little blurs as I move towards my big show in May and my move in June. Individual days seem to be as long as ever but the weeks speed by. There’s a saying I heard elsewhere (The Happiness Project, an excellent blog) that goes: The days are long but the years are short.
I’ve been working on pieces for both the upcoming shows and for my shops. Some of these will be tile beads for bracelets I make and perhaps a set or two to sell. Most of the hearts will end up as pendants on ribbons and black cord at my shows. They are shiny, sweet, examples of clay
And yes, the table cloth on my work bench is horrifyingly red vinyl. It’s useful though. Everything I make stands out from it, glaringly.
My daughter now looks at me suspiciously when I wander around with my camera in hand. For good reason, I guess.
