New buttons on Etsy.

And new buttons at Polka Dot Creations.

And lots of fog out the window.

It’s been a day of catching up. I only got half of the orders out today (*sigh*) but the rest will definitely be done by tomorrow. Some batches just take longer than others. This particular one was about twice the size as usual, with a large percentage of international orders. Shipping globally is more time-consuming than shipping locally.

Of course, the kicker is that once I get these out tomorrow, it will already be time to get the next batch ready to go, if I don’t want to fall behind again. And I don’t.

Ah, it’s almost time for the school bus to get here and another evening to begin. Off I go to await my firstborn’s arrival home.

Whoa, almost forgot my little bit for 30 Days of Thankfulness…  Today I am thankful not to be a deer.  The hunt is on this week at the Great Swamp, and I woke up to the sound of shots being fired.  Just heard another one a few seconds ago, too.  So, I’m glad I’m not a deer and that nobody is stalking me with a rifle at the moment.

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An unsolicited copy of a new magazine appeared in my mailbox this weekend, and it has brought to the forefront an issue that I have been batting around for a few months. The focus of the magazine is on crafting with natural materials. I flipped through it and saw things like felt, wool, cotton, natural food colors (like, from beets), beeswax, etc. Not surprisingly there wasn’t an ounce of polymer clay to be found.

Even in the beading article, the words “choose natural materials wherever possible” appeared, essentially excluding the multitude of beautiful polymer beads available these days.

I guess I started considering the idea of natural living, conserving resources, using renewable materials wherever possible, when I started blogging more regularly this summer. I found myself reading blogs like Tiny Choices where the entire focus is on reducing your ecological footprint. I observed bloggers like Amy Karol write about ridding her home of plastic bowls and cups and buying her children handmade wooden and fabric toys. And while I am still choosing to drive my minivan over a small hybrid, and I have no intention of giving up my washing machine in favor of an old-fashioned washboard, I have been making some more ecologically-sound choices inspired by things I’ve read.

For one, we’re using exclusively cloth napkins around here now. The only paper napkins we ever use are the ones we’ve collected from take-out restaurants, who always put more than you need in the bag. Initially I started with the cloth napkins because it was an easy sewing project for a beginner. Now, though, I can’t imagine going back to the paper kind - the cloth ones are so soft and nice, particularly after they’ve been broken in.

I bring heavy canvas bags with me when I do my food shopping. I don’t know why it took me so long to do this - as it turns out, I like shopping with these bags infinitely more than the paper or plastic variety. There’s nothing more handy than slinging 4-6 tote bags over your shoulders to get the whole grocery load in the house in one trip!

At the moment, aside from what I’ve already mentioned, my actions aren’t drastically different than they ever have been. What has changed is my way of thinking. When I have needed new kitchen things lately, I’ve considered the materials carefully before buying. I’m phasing out the plastics and nonstick stuff, and replacing with glass or stoneware as the need arises. In thinking about Christmas gifts for the boys this year, I’ve found myself drawn more to handmade, classic, wooden objects and less to the ubiquitous Made in China plastic monstrosities that I wouldn’t have previously thought twice about putting on the shopping list.

Plastic is the enemy lately. And as drawn as I am to some of the more natural materials out there (particularly since discovering fabric, sewing, and crafty mom blogs earlier this year) I still am under the spell of polymer clay. Polymer clay, which, in the right hands, can be transformed into a wonderful, colorful work of art. Polymer clay, which has held my interest and taken over my house for the last twelve years. Polymer clay, which is, essentially plastic.

This is not a topic I’ve given much thought to until now, and to be completely honest, I don’t know how I feel about it. These days, I refuse to buy new plastic mixing bowls when I can have glass. I turn my nose up at plastic cups when I can drink out of glass. I don’t have any interest in buying plastic building blocks for the boys, when they could stack wooden blocks instead. But give up my polymer clay? Should that form of plastic be the enemy as well? And will I one day start to perceive it as such despite myself? And even if I remain confortable with it, will there cease to be a market for my creations once more and more people start to “go green” and adjust their attitudes towards plastic?

If you’ve read this far, I’d like to know your thoughts. Are you enamored with polymer clay? Are you feeling the pull to utilize more renewable resources in your daily life? How do you feel about using a material like polymer clay, and does it bother you that it does nothing to reduce your ecological footprint?

[Edited 11/14/07 to add: This topic just came up today on Polymer Clay Daily.  Have a look.]

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Or are you about ready to gouge your eyes out by now?

These are for the boys. The one on the left goes with Aidan’s orange vest, and the one on the right goes with Eamonn’s blue vest. They’re both made in my usual way, with flannel backing, polymer clay buttons, and a few patches of a solid linen/cotton blend. The patterned fabric is from American Jane’s Look and Learn collection - I used a charm pack, which gave me one 4.5-inch square of each pattern in the collection. That worked out pretty well for these small scarves, except that I might have chosen different areas of some of the patterns had I cut them out myself. For instance, I would have focused on little boys playing instead of little girls in those patches on the left. So far A and E haven’t noticed, though, and I’m not saying anything!

Kathi sent me the fabric to make this one for her. Good choices, Kathi, they go so nicely with the Blue buttons! Now, I just need to get this in an envelope and on its way. Sometimes that task takes me longer than it takes me to make the darn things! If any of the rest of you like this blue/purple one, there will be several more similar to it (and yet delightfully different) in my store the next time I get a chance to do some stitching. They’re all cut out and ready to go…

This might be a good opportunity to tell you about a few rss feeds that can help you keep track of my new creations for sale (just in case you’re waiting for a blue scarf, by chance). Subscribe to one or both of these in your favorite feed aggregator:

• New Creations at Polka Dot Creations
• New Creations at Etsy

And as far as the three scarves I posted about today go, there are more views of all of them on flickr, if you just can’t get enough. Heh.

So, what am I thankful for today? I’m thankful that I managed to stay awake on a 45-minute drive this evening, even though I was sleepy. I picked one of my mix CD’s at random to listen to, and it was a very good choice - kept me singing the whole way home. It was quite an enjoyable ride, and not once did I feel too drowsy to get home. Whew.

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I’m making scarves for the boys.  They’re going to be the two columns on the left, made to match their blue and orange vests.  The other three will go in my etsy shop.

I had to make coordinating buttons, of course…

Here’s another series of scarves I’ll be working on.  The one on the left is Kathi’s custom order, and the other four will make their way to my Polka Dot Creations (non-etsy) shop.

So that’s 10 scarves in the works.  After I took these pictures, I cut out the flannel backings and all of the linen pieces as well, so I have ten neat little piles, waiting for me to sew them when the opportunity arises.  Aside from the three that have definite recipients waiting for them, that could be in two days, two weeks or two months, depending on how successful I am at squelching the little voice in my head that says “who needs clean clothes, food in the fridge, and vacuumed floors? finishing crafty projects is of vital importance!”  It seems like a losing battle, but for the sake of my home and my family, I must fight the good fight

What am I thankful for today?  Well, at the risk of sounding exactly like yesterday, I’m thankful for an afternoon visiting with Michele.   Not quite like yesterday, though.  That was a visit with Michelle with two ll’s.  Today I visited Michele with one l.  Michele is my oldest friend, matron of honor at my wedding, and someone I rarely see anymore despite the fact that we only live about 30 minutes away from each other.  I’m thankful that she thought to email me last night when she realized she had a day with no plans, and I’m thankful that I was online at 11pm to receive the message in time.  And, after seeing our collective four boys doing a fine imitation of a jungle full of monkeys, I’m thankful that I only had to bring two of them back home with me.  Heh.

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See? Told ya my Swamp color scheme and the Bleeker Street fabric belonged together! It practically looks like I custom-mixed those clay colors to match, doesn’t it? I think this combination is just yummy.  And what is interesting to note is that there is no actual aqua in the Swamp scheme.  The light blue and the yellowy green in such close proximity trick the eye into seeing aqua.  It’s that principle I wrote about recently in action.

I’m so glad there’s a nip in the air this morning, so I can wear it around on my errands.  If these colors make you swoon as much as they do to me, fear not. There’s another version of it headed to Etsy one of these days.

The husband has the good camera with him at the moment, can you tell?  Blogging has turned me into a photo snob.  I’m no longer happy with the 2.1 megapixel old standby, darn it.  If he’s going to make off with his decent camera all the time, then I think I need one of my own.  Any suggestions for a nice point-and-shoot that I can add to my Wists (another name for “list of things I’d like but will probably never get, but that’s ok, I can live without them if I must or find some way to turn them into a business expense and just buy them myself”)?

My flickr favorites this week. As you can see, I haven’t spent much time “flicking” this week. Where does the time go?

Speaking of time, I have roughly 2 hours left of child-free time this morning, and I need to spend it getting some orders the rest of the way out the door, and catching up on any number of other business tasks that fell by the wayside while I was experiencing technical difficulties this week.

Oh! Guess what. I bought yellow clay. That means the last few installments of Evolution of a Color Scheme can’t be far behind…  As long as Neil leaves me the better camera.

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In our quest to build a color scheme from the mosaic pictured above, we have developed three color recipes and added some white so that we have six colors. Now we have to decide if we are happy with these hues. We’ve managed to match these colors pretty closely with those that we originally picked out of the mosaic, but that may not be enough. No matter how scientific we try to be about getting where we’re going, we really only know when we’ve arrived by our gut reaction. Right now I’m going for an emotional response more than anything else. When I look at that pile of clay, does it “feel” the same as when I look at the mosaic of images?

My gut tells me I still have some changes to make. For one, the green is still not yellow enough for my taste. Additionally, I think I may have made a mistake with the pink I chose to copy. I’m now thinking that I would prefer a slightly warmer pink, with less of a tendency toward the purple. I’m also thinking that I’m making these recipes too complicated at this point. I’m going to start from scratch with the green and the pink.

I like these colors. I think they’re going to give me the feeling I’m looking for. For those of you playing along at home, these are the final recipes I used for each color:

• BLUE: 3 Teal + 1 Granny Smith
• GREEN: 3 Granny Smith + 2 Yellow + 1 Sweet Potato + 1 Leaf Green
• PINK: 3 Red + 2 Yellow + 1 Maroon

The colors are Sculpey III colors. Additionally, Teal and Maroon are discontinued colors, that I just happen to have stockpiled. Polyform has a handy PDF with formulas for recreating the discontinued colors, if you need it.

We won’t truly know if we chose well until we have a nice variety of canes piled up to look at. Here’s a little teaser. I’m not sure how these colors are going to work out, but we can find out next time…

…after I’ve replenished my supply of Yellow Sculpey

We’re perilously close to needing a name for this color scheme. Hope you’ve got your thinking caps on!  As I mentioned before, I’m going to let you make suggestions for what to call this color scheme.  The owner of the winning entry will receive a little prize - not to mention the honor and prestige of having his or her name forever associated with those colors on the Polka Dot Creations website.  But more on that next time!

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If you recall, we are trying to create a color scheme in clay that will evoke the same emotional response as this mosaic. We’ve selected the colors we want to replicate and now must decide what packages of clay we need to get us started. I do all of my caning in Sculpey III (read this, if you’d like to know why) so when I refer to clay colors, it will be Sculpey colors.

The blue dot looks to me like Teal straight out of the package. The green looks a lot like Leaf Green with some Sweet Potato. And the pink seems like Maroon with some Violet. I got to work mixing them up, eyeballing the proportions and making notes of what I used.

For the most part, my instincts were right on, although I had some trouble with the pink. I ended up also adding a bit of red and white. I was happy with the way the dark colors on the right mixed up, so I added some white to them to see how they compare with the original images. Remember, what I really want out of this color scheme is for those lighter colors to speak to me. No matter how accurately I match the dark clay to the dark dots on the paper, if the lightened versions don’t look enough like the photographs, I’ll need to adjust the recipes.

Unfortunately, I’m not sold on these. The blue needs to be a touch greener, the green needs to be a lot yellower, and the pink is just a tiny bit too purple. I tried again.

The samples on the right are the original recipes, and those on the left are new. I added some Granny Smith to the blue recipe, some Yellow to the green recipe, and some Red to the pink recipe. I think I am happy with the lighter versions of these colors and am ready to move on to the next step. Notice that the darker versions of the new colors don’t really match the big dots. That’s ok. They don’t have to, as long as their lighter counterparts are acceptable.

Next step: Compare our color choices to the mosaic as a whole and decide if we need any further tweaking.

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If you recall, last time we used three online color palette generators to help us pull the dominant colors out of our mosaic. Now our job is to pick our favorite choices from those palettes, narrow them down to three main hues, and determine our final colors.
I pulled all three palettes into Paint Shop Pro and chose four of my favorite blues, greens, and pinks to help me narrow it down. Looking at these choices helps me to see what hues will look the most appealing together.

And there is one more option… I can use the color picker in Paint Shop Pro to just grab my favorite colors directly off of the mosaic. As it turns out, this is a good thing, because none of the pinks that the palette generators spit out were the “right” ones. I Sometimes you just have to go with your gut. The image above represents the three colors that appeal to me the most together, and I got them directly from the pictured photos. Despite the fact that we didn’t ultimately go with any of the hues from the palette generators, I don’t consider that a wasted step. Under different circumstances, where I didn’t already have a particular vision of what I wanted before I started, it would have yielded perfectly acceptable results.

So, this is the color scheme I want, but we can’t stop here.

Look carefully at the image above. These tiles represent the Blue color scheme. The tile with the stripes shows the three main colors (plus white) of this scheme. See how dark they are? Nearly all of the canes in this color scheme are much lighter than those stripes. That’s because most of the cane designs don’t use the base colors as-is, but rather mix them in varying proportions to white. If we choose our favorite pink, aqua, and lime colors and use them as-is, the resulting canes will actually be much paler than what we were hoping for. We need to start with darker versions of our favorite colors.

Since I generated these colors in Paint Shop Pro in the first place, I just used PSP to darken them uniformly. These are our base hues for our new color scheme.

Are you getting excited to see these colors translated into clay? You’re in luck - that’s our next step. Start coming up with ideas for how to name this color scheme while you’re waiting. There’s a contest a brewin’!

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’cause I’m kinda in the mood for a weekend. A crafty weekend. I know I left the “Evolution of a Color Scheme” posts hanging, but there is more to come. The next installment is already written, and I hope to get my hands on the clay for some color mixing within the next few days. With luck, I’ll wrap up the series within a week or so.  And I really hope the color scheme doesn’t tank.  That would kind of stink after all of the buildup, now wouldn’t it??

I got a call right before supper that made me think I am probably going to be invited to a baby shower soon, so while the pizza was in the oven, I cut out the fabric for three coordinating bibs, like the ones I made before. I’ve been wanting to make more, because they are a lot of fun, but I haven’t really had a good reason to do it. I used the pattern & instructions from Bend the Rules Sewing. Love that book. I need to see if there are any restrictions written in the book about selling the things you make from the patterns. It would be cool if I could whip up a stack of bibs, give some away, and sell others in my Etsy shop.

I made this yesterday, after I posted about the pillowcase skirt & table runner. [as an aside, it cracks me up how many of you are wondering now if you can fit into a pillowcase!] I’m not sure what I think of it. It’s my “fly by the seat of my pants, use whatever scraps I have left from napkin-making and add a matching clay button, fall apron”   I’d have been happier with a pocket that wasn’t stripey, but my leftovers in that collection are running low.

It looks like all I’ve done for two days is sew, but that’s really not true - I am just a fast worker.  In fact, if you read the crafter profiles in Bend The Rules Sewing, I am a classic Speed Demon if ever there was one! The bibs and the apron each took me less than an hour to do, and I stitched away at the dining room table after supper, while the kids played and did homework nearby.  As much as I would love to have a studio or craft room of my own, I think I’d miss a lot if I hid away in there any time I wanted to do a project.  It’s nice to be a part of the family life while I indulge my muse.

After tucking the boys in tonight I packed a huge batch of orders, most of them for the very excellent Millefiori Story.  I still have to charge the credit cards and print the postage, but I’m saving that for tomorrow.  I really preferred the idea of showing you my matching bib set to spending half an hour with the touch-tone phone punching in credit card numbers.  Yawn.

Speaking of yawning, it’s 11:25 pm and my dear husband wants to know if I’m going to “blog myself into oblivion” before crawling up to bed.  Guess that’s my cue to log off, eh?

One day closer to the weekend!

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We’re creating a new color scheme together, and our first step was to make a mosaic of photos that included colors we might want to use. Our task now, is to use that mosaic to generate a color palette, from which we can choose our three main colors. A simple Google search for “palette generator” yields an impressive number of results. I chose three free tools to try.

First was from Big Huge Labs and the results are pictured above. I see some attractive blues and greens in this palette, but the pinks don’t do it for me. I want something much pinker.

This swatch is from DeGraeve.com’s Color Palette Generator and I’m even less happy with these pinks, although the aqua in the vibrant column is a really nice one.

Now, this one, generated by Jeff Minard’s Color Palette Generator is much closer to what I want pink-wise. And I think perhaps I can find an appropriate blue and green here as well. Additionally, there’s nothing stopping me from choosing colors from all three palettes and using them together.

Next step? Making the final color choices.

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I’m creating a new color scheme, and I’m taking you with me. Interested? Here’s the scoop: Normally when I plan a new color scheme, there is very little actual planning involved. I have a vague idea of at least one hue that I want to use, and the rest comes about while standing in the clay aisle of Michael’s, comparing little packages to each other. I thought it might be fun to go a little deeper this time.

Plus, I’m going to let one of you name the color scheme and win a little prize when we’re done. Sound like fun? Ok, here we go!

I have a few self-imposed rules that I follow when making up color schemes:

• There must be three distinct hues.
• They must be vibrant, because over the course of canemaking, they will be lightened to varying degrees.
• They must look nice together (of course!)
• There must be one additional “lightening” color, usually white, but sometimes tan, gray, yellow, or cream.

So, let’s start considering colors, shall we? I know that I want to use some form of aqua and olive, along with a bright pink to complement those greens. I’ve spent enough time favoriting things in flickr over the last few months to know that I am very drawn to these colors right now. But how do I choose exactly what forms of these colors I want?

I am beginning by looking through my favorite photos and choosing the ones that are pleasing to me in that colorway. I used the free mosaic utility from Big Huge Labs to make the image you see at the top of this post. The feeling I get when I look at these pictures is the same feeling I want to get with my new color scheme.

The next step? Translate this mosaic into a palette of colors from which we can choose our three main hues. Stay tuned!

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My creepy, larger-than-life podcasting pose, at that. No, I haven’t started a podcast. I love to listen to them, but I can’t imagine my place being at the helm of one. So what’s with the headset, then? This was me two weeks ago, when I was chatting with Ilysa Bierer and Kira Slye of Polymer Clay Productions. It was an honor to be interviewed, and if you are reading this, Ilysa & Kira, I thank you! (And I promise to get that headset back to you as soon as I can find three minutes to dig up a box!)

If you’re interested in listening to the interview, you can check it out here.

You know how you always can come up with better ways to say things after a conversation is over? Well, maybe you don’t, but I am intimately familiar with that feeling. After playing the podcast and hearing myself speak, I realized that I didn’t say too much to embarrass myself, which is a really nice realization to have But I do think that maybe I trivialized my book store a bit. It really is a lot more than just a way to “pay for my clay so I can play.” Like many polymer clay enthusiasts, I have a serious affliction when it comes to new books, videos, and anything that gives me the opportunity to see what people are making. It’s an exciting feeling to see the UPS truck pulling in the driveway when I know some new book is on the way. I’ve been known to squeal and jump up and down in the living room, which may not be dignified behavior, but who cares?! Besides my obvious love for the products I sell, I really enjoy the connections I’ve made in the community as a result of having this business. Given how much I love seeing new books & videos come in, is it any surprise that I get excited to share them? I know I have complained long and hard about packing orders around here, but if there is one bright spot, one shining beacon of enjoyableness in that task, it is that I know I am sending a little package of inspiration someone’s way.

I was asked what my business plans are for the future, and my feeling is that I will continue for as long as

• I have an interest in polymer clay and a need to create things with it
• The business can sustain itself financially (we could never survive on this, but so far it’s not costing us anything)
• I can run the business without negatively impacting my family life
• I am happy running it

So there’s my little addendum to the interview. Other than that, I am happy to let it stand as-is. Neil commented to me (in jest. I think…) that I made it sound like I neglect our children in the course of being crafty and having a business. Anyone who reads this blog knows, though, that once in a while I do dust the little darlings off, take them out and play with them No, if anything is getting neglected, it is the kitchen. And maybe the husband.

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Words of wisdom from Judy Belcher: “Even crap is beautiful tessellated.”  I love it.  Along with the rest of this new DVD.  Millefiori Story showed up yesterday and over the past two days I have watched the whole thing, from checkerboards to quilts to faces.  There are over two hours worth of caning techniques, starting with basic stripes, jellyrolls, and checkerboards and moving effortlessly into mica shift, extruded canes, and a discussion of the ubiquitous and essential Skinner Blend.  The second half of the DVD builds on previous concepts to create leaves & fruit, kaleidoscopic (tessellated) canes, clay quilts, and face canes.  Despite the fact that I’ve been caning for over a decade, I still had a few a-ha! moments watching Judy do her thing.  That’s the beauty of DVDs over books, I think.  Sometimes there are things to learn simply by seeing how an artist cranks clay through her pasta machine.  Everyone moves somewhat differently, and it’s the seemingly unimportant movements that define an artist’s technique and can help you refine your own.

There are nine millefiori lessons, and each lesson culminates in a project.  Jewelry, a clock, salt & pepper shakers, and a night light are among the offerings.  There is an extensive gallery (so extensive that I had to take a potty break in the middle ).  Image after image of Judy’s beautiful work is displayed, and each piece refers back to one of the projects on the DVD.  If you see something you like, you can go from the gallery directly to the relevant project and see how it’s made.  All PageSage DVDs have this feature, and I think it’s fantastic.  Actually, I love everything about PageSage DVDs.  They are professional, well-made, and take full advantage of the DVD format.

Millefiori is one of the most popular applications in polymer clay, and yet it has been hard for me to recommend learning tools when I am asked.  There are several caning videos out there, many of them very good, but aside from the excellent-but-10-years-old Millefiori Basics, they all focus on one particular type of cane.  This DVD is more than two hours full of techniques that will satisfy beginners and experienced caners alike.  I will not hesitate to recommend this DVD to anyone who asks.  In fact, at the risk of dooming myself to an extra several days of packing-and-shipping, I am going to be so bold as to say you really need to get this DVD now, if you have any interest in millefiori at all.

Or, you could wait - a little bird with the initials JB has offered to send me a signed copy that I was thinking would make a lovely little blog giveaway for one of you loyal readers… You’ll have to stay tuned for more on that.

If you’ve pre-ordered a copy, I will be shipping it out over the course of the next week.  I have more preorders for this title than ever before, so they will be going out in waves.  I’ll see if I can recruit a little help to speed up the process - as a clayhead myself, I know you get antsy waiting for your fix of new instructional materials

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It’s swappin’ time, and there’s nothing like leaving it to the  last minute, eh?  You may recall me mentioning the Sweet & Sinister Swap?  Well, the box is due to be mailed tomorrow.  Want to see what I’m putting in the box to my partner, Ginny?

• I’ve had the BOO! banner for some time now - bought it from Nikki of WhiMSyLove, who custom-made it for me.
• The pumpkins I bought at the farmers’ market one recent Thursday, and I painted the stems with black nail polish to make them look a bit creepier.
• The licorice I’ve had in mind since the beginning (it’s considered “sinister” because there are 13 pieces - yeah, I know it’s a stretch).
• I made a pin from polymer clay - three white pumpkins with black stems, and each pumpkin has a “patch” from the Grayscale color scheme.  I then antiqued, sanded & buffed it.  It really didn’t come out like I envisioned, but it’s still ok.
• The card and tags I made in Paint Shop Pro, fiddling around with patterns, textures, fonts & effects. That’s always fun.

Now all that remains is to box it all up and put it in the mail.  I hope my partner likes it.  I’ve never done a swap like this, and frankly the more things I see in the flickr group, the more it drives home the point that my crafting style is very different than many of the people in this swap.

Lacking an appropriate segue, I’m going to just jump into showing you my husband’s pants.  This are very soft, very nicely-worn-in Wranglers that just happen to have a gaping hole in the knee.  Or, at least, they were.  This morning, after mulling over Eren’s skirt at This Vintage Chica, I took a seam ripper and a pair of scissors to Neil’s pants and repurposed them into this:

Because everybody knows I need another homemade skirt. It looks crooked, but that’s just the way I am standing.  This is quite possibly the softest skirt I have ever worn.  Neil broke it in for me over several years, and I think tonight after he dozes off, I may sneak into his closet and look for more pants I can steal recycle.  Heh.

You may also have noticed that I got sucked in by the new Old Navy sweater commercial.  Two nights ago, I was sitting on the couch with Neil watching TV and saying, “I like that sweater with the big pom-poms on it.”  One evening later, I’m out renting The Ant Bully for Movie Night, and somehow I end up trying on sweaters and buying my first ever cup of $3.75 coffee (Oh, Decaf Tall Pumpkin Spice Latte. I think I love you.  Call me.)  The newly-crisp Fall air does something weird to me, but in a good, happy kind of way

I’m going to be so busy this week, it isn’t even funny.  A little bird has told me that the long-awaited Millefiori Story is going to be in my hot little hands very very soon.  And that means I am going to be very very busy packing up those suckers and sending them on their way to eager clayheads everywhere.

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Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.

Is it flickr favorites time again, already? Where did that week go? I know I was insanely busy, but I really can’t pinpoint where I spent my time. I can see some autumn influences working their way into my favorites - a couple of photos featuring pumpkins, and a few more warm, orange tones are showing up. And yet again, I’ve managed to favorite two practically identical images from totally different places: the bagels and the yarn. Apparently I had a thing for stacked irregular ovals this week

I took a walk this morning, just me and my trusty mp3 player. It’s the kind of fall day I absolutely love - chilly enough for the air to feel “crisp” but not so cold that I can’t get away with leaving the jacket home. The leaves are just beginning to turn in the yard, and a mile or two down the road, at the entrance to the Great Swamp, the colors are already heading into brilliant territory. The leaves at the Swamp always turn faster than they do at the top of the hill where I live. I plan to take the boys over to have a look at the leaves and the critters shortly, and of course, we’ll be sure to bring the camera.

While I was walking, I listened to Sister Diane of the CraftyPod chat with Anna Torborg, author/editor of The Crafter’s Companion. I have had a copy of that book since June, and it was something I enjoyed reading in the backyard while the children splashed in the pool. Each chapter in the book is written by a different well-known crafty blogger whose task is to answer the questions: Why do you create? What inspires you? How do you work?  There are photographs of the blogger’s workspace and creations, and each blogger has also contributed a project.  The people featured in the book are at the helm of some very popular blogs, mostly sewing-related.  It seems to me, though, that discussions of creativity are relevant to all artsy types regardless of medium.

I haven’t done any of the projects in the book, but I have enjoyed reading the stories.  I love reading about what makes an artist “tick.”  This book reminds me in a lot of ways of Lindly Haunani & Pierette Brown-Ashcroft’s excellent Artists at Work: Polymer Clay Comes of Age.  There are no projects in that book, but loads of pictures of the artists’ work, interviews about their work habits, favorite tools & inspirations.  And it’s all done within the realm of polymer clay.  It’s a 10-year-old book, so you’re not going to hear from some of the “new” talent in the clay world, but the pioneers in the medium are well-represented.  I may need to dig my copy out and keep it handy so I can read through it again in my oodles of spare time

Ok, time to get away from the computer and go find some leaves to crunch underfoot!

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Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.

It seems that my favorite time of year has arrived. The house is filled with the quintessential smell of fall - fresh-baked pumpkin bread. If your house doesn’t smell like this today, why don’t you take my recipe and see if you can rectify that, hm?

I welcomed autumn this morning with the very first hot apple cider of the season, and I nursed that mug all afternoon, refilling and re-heating as necessary.

The cornerstone of the First Day of Fall Ritual is, of course, the baking of the pumpkin bread. I was hoping to have some little helpers, but they preferred to watch a Netflix movie. That’s ok. I cranked up the music and enjoyed myself anyway.

Much to Neil’s chagrin, the other very important aspect of the First Day of Fall Ritual is the giving away of the baked bread. Lest you think I am heartless, I’m letting him keep the muffins The four little loaves, however, are destined for gift-giving. I have been doing this every year for at least twelve years, and ever since the kids have been school-age, the recipients have been teachers. I have to admit that I often drop the ball on end-of-year teacher gifts and some of the other more traditional holidays, but I always have a First Day of Fall loaf of bread to give, and maybe that makes up for it somehow.

This year’s loaves are going to three teachers and a bus driver. The teachers are also getting polymer clay pens and the bus driver is getting a polymer clay leaf pin - all in the Autumn color scheme, of course I made little gift cards from orange computer paper, and a computer sticker. I used some pigment inks to add a little interest, and then doodled on them a little bit with an ultra fine point sharpie. Then I tied everything together with a length of twine.

Before we know it, there will be crunching leaves underfoot, knitted sweaters, cozy blankets on our laps, brilliant foliage, and that crisp smell in the air that only fall can bring. I look forward to drinking in all of those wonderful autumn treats and savoring them as long as I possibly can, until winter arrives.

Happy Fall, my friends!

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Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.