Since our last Bottles of Hope workshop was sooo popular at Ferguson library we are moving it to a Saturday so more folks can attend it!
This is a free workshop we use polymer clay to cover glass bottles to give to Chemo therapy
patients. you get one bottles to keep and you can make more bottles to donate.
Here is all the information for this event as well as a link to the Guild’s Bottles of Hope page.
I hope to see you there!
You can see all the details on how I made this tree topper that is going to be donated along with the Tree decorated by my Guild: Southern Connecticut Polymer clay guild!
Right here in the Makin’s Clay Blog.
If you have never been to an Art is You retreat I highly recommend you RUN to closest one!
They are a mixed media retreat BUT…… they are soooo much more!
The moment you walk in the door you know you are in a magical place surrounded by wonderful excepting artist from all over the world!
You can really get a full creative workout and expand your mind and go outside your comfort zone with caring supportive teachers!
I took my 2nd class with the wonderful Doreen Kessel here we have both posed with the VERY popular Rabbit !
Here is what I made in Doreen’s Class! A colorful Scorpion!
I took my second (and definitely not my last) class with Marjie Kemper!
We made a fun matching desk set using tons of different mixed media techniques!
Here is my set 
I went WAY outside my comfort zone and I took a soldering class with Robin Dudley- Howes
Who was super hero and filled in for the Cat Kerr who’s journey was thwarted by hurricane Matthew.
Here is my attempt (with much help from Robin)
You can see my other projects on my Facebook page. I made some custom handbags with Carolyn Dube and a sleeping Fairy with the always lovely Collen Colquhoun!
I highly recommend going to one of these classes is Art is you comes near your area !
You were ALL hoping that I have matured in some grand way! NOPE
I just checked off a goal I have been too scared too timid (yeah me timid) too reluctant to do UNTIL now !
I taught my 1st polymer clay class! I have taught for 1 on 1 or small groups but this was a class hosted by my local library the Ferguson Library in Stamford Ct.
Thanks to the support of my guild and friends at the library and at Makin’s Clay I got enough confidence to reach out to the library and ask if I could teach my Journey Totem class.
I was like a girl that wanted to play Double Dutch
I read about Double Dutch
I watched Videos on Double Dutch
I talked about wanting to try Double Dutch ……. But I
NEVER JUMPED IN !!!!!!!!!!
I guess I was afraid of getting hit on the face with the rope or falling or NOT being good at it !
Every year I have a goal or a theme for that year.
This year 2016 is the year of giving back!
I want to share my joy of creating with others. I want others to find solace and peace in their creations. I feel so blessed that I get to do things that I love and enjoy. Thanks to Makin’s Clay I get to play and explore —-and fail (3rd time’s a charm)
Makin’s donated all the clay to my class since it is air dry clay I do not have to schlepp a small oven to class.
I hope to share the joy of creating with others and learn from them at the same time.
Sure it looks good NOW……..
But look at my steps in my tutorial to see how many times I had to START over!
The 3rd time is a charm or I my case a BRACELET!!!
See the details on the Makin’s Clay site!
I have had soo much fun this last year working with Makin’s Clay as a design team member! This is a project I have been trying to perfect for some time now. It really shows off how flexible Makin’s clay REALLY is after it is cured. This piece has no SUBSTRUCTURE it is only Makin’s Clay and my beloved Swellegant for the finish!
Here are some pics of the ball as well as the plain white prototype ball from white clay. I think the plain white ball will be great for a 3 D Zentangle piece to doodle on!!!!
This is currently my new OBSESSION!!
I’m sure exploring the possibilities of this design will keep me busy for quite some time!
You can find all my other past creations and obsessions of these pages!
My Flickr page Under Compelled Crafts (hence the obsession thingy)
Pinterest page
and my Brand new Twitter page
You NEVER know what beneath and our hearts are EVER Changing.
This statement necklace is only about 1 ½ inches wide and 2 ½ inches high, but it has a big fun impact!
I had a blast using alcohol inks for the 1st time on Makin’s Clay®
I love that Makin’s clay is so flexible that is the only way I could pull off this particular design.
You can go see how I made this necklace on the Makin’s Clay page!
http://makinsclayblog.blogspot.com/
That is my only resolution for this year! I would like to fill people’s heart’s with hope and love. These little Bottles of Hope are the tool to achieve this.
This simple but elegant bottle in a Faux Wedgewood look only takes about 10mins to make but the impact it will have on a cancer patient that might be having a particularly rough day of chemo is HUGE!
Lets flood the polymer clay websites with EVERYONE’s Bottles of Hope. See Diane’s inspiring story of how she started Bottles of Hope in 1999.
Really all it took was blending the peach from the earth tones collection and the Blue( F and F) on the Makin’s Clay mixing ruler and then roll out the sheet to cover the bottle and then I press some white clay into the Florals mold, and then adhere to the bottle.
Yes I’m like many others out there and I love The Wizard of Oz……….
This was my December project for Makin’s Clay you can see the details on the Makin’s Clay blog . I really enjoyed creating this project and took advantage of the Makin’s Clay double sided spinning frame!
On the reverse side I have the famous quote from the Wizard Himself ! But what I don’t show is the Tin Man’s reply. “I know but I STILL want one! ”
Remember follow YOUR own PATH by Following your heart!
As we all rush around this holiday season being “oh sooo BUSY” lets take a moment to remember that some folks will be spending the holiday in a hospital or in hospice, while their family members and friends are praying for a Christmas Miracle.
These are just the current Bottles of Hope that will be brought to the local hospital to be given to the nurses who work on the Chemo ward. What are Bottles of Hope ? Well as Marie Segal said in this interview “There is a little bit a magic that people put inside these bottles”
I’m so honored to be a part of this type of creative community and the fact that the nurses give these bottles to patients just when they may need that little bit of lift me up after a trying day it adds to the love and magic that each bottle contains.
Please to all my polymer clay creative friends just take a few minutes even use your scrap clay from a current project to make a Bottle of Hope to give to the hospitals at this time of year.