New prize format for PCAGOE challenge

One of 19 possible prizes

If you've visited this blog for any length of time you know that just about every month I enter a challenge as a member of the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy. The first week of each month we open the challenge up for voting by the public (YOU).

We hold a drawing after the challenge and select 3 winners to get a prize created by one of the PCAGOE artists. In January, we are mixing up this formula a little bit.

New prize format: You choose your prize
We have 19 participating shops offering prizes ranging from custom creations to gift certificates and the 3 winners will get to choose their own prize.

The photo above is the prize that I am sponsoring. A winner who chooses my prize can have this pin made in the color scheme of her choice. See the full list of prizes.

Don't forget to visit PCAGOE.com between Jan. 1-7 to vote.

Season's Eatings

Tis the season to eat! It is also the season of too much to do and too little time. So while I am trying to get myself ready for the holidays, I thought I would whet your appetite with some of my favorite easy recipe from posts past and one item from a friend that I haven't been brave enough to try.

First, the item I haven't tried yet:

Lime Cottage Cheese Mold

• 2 small or 1 lg. pkg. Lime Jello
• 1 lb. cottage cheese, mashed with fork
• 2 c. boiling water
• ½ c. salad dressing (Miracle Whip)
• ½ c. whipped cream
• 1 Tbl. Chopped onion
• 2 Tbl. Grated carrot
• 2 Tbl. Grated green peppers

Mix all ingredients except whipped cream. Let jell for about 20 minutes in the refrigerator. Remove and gently fold in whipped cream, and refrigerate until jelled. Nice when made in a pretty Jello mold – Tupperware has a good one for this purpose.

 

This one comes from Jackie of The Pleasant Pheasant who I met through the Polymer Clay Artist Guild of Etsy. She admits that it is a "love it" or "hate it" family tradition. I'm curious! Maybe I'll get brave and take it to my sister's house for Christmas. :)

Now for some memories from Creative Sprinkle posts past:

 Insanely Simple Fudge
Only 3 ingredients!
Get this simple fudge recipe.

Sea Glass Candy
Great eye-candy that taste good too!
Make your own sea glass candy.

Gluten Free Glazed Triple Chocolate Cupcakes
Taste wonderful even if you don't have to avoid gluten!
Whip up a batch with this recipe.

DIY Fortune Cookie Gifts

Creating Personalized Fortune Cookies for Coworkers
"Easy Fortune Cookie Recipe"  -- That's what the Google search result promised me a few years ago. At the time, I was working as part of an in-house creative team at Penn State, and I needed a Christmas gift idea to make for 25 coworkers that was personal enough yet could be created in large quantities.

Yes, the recipe was easy. I used a basic recipe substituting almond flavoring for vanilla. It was the folding process that would have been more aptly labelled "frustrating." It took me three batches to get cookies that looked good.

Yet even with the frustration, they made such adorable gifts that I want to share the idea with you along with my thoughts on avoiding some pitfalls.

Writing the Fortunes
The fun part of the project was coming up with "fortunes" that fit each recipient's personality. These served as both holiday gifts and a thank you for the hard work that our team had put in that year. I researched fortunes online and tweaked them to fit our work situation. Here are a few examples.

For our exuberant production manager adjusting to our new office space:

Trish, You where born with the skill to communicate easily with people. 

That’s why Outreach seated you between introverts.

For our writer with a love of all things Seinfeld:

The number of items on a to-do list will either grow or 

remain constant. If only you could close the Penske file.

Creating Gift Tags
I also created custom gift tags using a fortune cookie stamped in silver embossing powder on card stock. I cut a slit in the stamped cookie to add each person's name on a tag and glued the whole thing to a larger card stock square to hide the back. (See photo above.)

Photo by Madison Faith author of Milk & Honey

Things I wish I knew before I started:

1. Cotton gloves aren't just "nice-to-have."
I didn't follow the advice I read on one site to purchase some lightweight, white cotton gloves, and my scorched fingers regretted it. You have to touch hot cookie rounds, over and over, to fold them into the signature shape.

2. Practice makes perfect. 
You can only make a few cookies at a time because there is a perfect temperature to fold them. Too hot and you can't touch them (see tip 1). Too cool and they crack. It took me three batches and a lot of cursing to figure out the "sweet spot" folding temperature.

3. Once the fortune is inside the cookie you can't read it anymore. 
If you are creating a specific fortune for a specific person, you have to make sure you know which cookie to give. Once I realized I couldn't see which fortune I had used inside the folded cookie, I created an assembly line process to organize them.  I placed each folded cookie on a tray beside the paper tag for that person so when I was ready to wrap the cookies, I knew whose cookie it was.

About the bottom photo: I didn't take any photos of my finished project, but this one by Madison Faith sums up the project pretty well. Madison writes a blog called Milk & Honey which has some of the most gorgeous food photography that I have ever seen.

Do you have good luck baking fortune cookies? What's your secret?

December Challenge: Vote to Win

Artist Trading Cards

The Polymer Clay Artist Guild of Etsy December Challenge is open for public voting now until Dec. 7. This month's theme is Artist Trading Cards. In the tradition of ATCs, these babies aren't for sale. They are only traded from one artist to another. But don't despair, you could win a hand-crafted polymer goodie just for voting in our challenge. Head on over to PCAGOE to vote!

By the way, my entry is #2, "Angelic Dreams ATC."

It showcases a few of my favorite techniques. The angel was created using layers of liquid polymer on paper to create a canvas-like texture. I then placed it on a mokume gane background and hand-sculpted polymer wings in an unconventional gold and turquoise combo. The frame is clay that resembles torn paper.

Don't know which PCAGOE member is going to receive this sweetie yet, but after the holidays she will be heading off to her new home.

Art Deco Christmas Ornament Series

Art Deco Snowflake Collection

I adore art deco__such a delicious style! When I read about a wax impression technique that you could use to transfer patterns to polymer clay in the latest issue of The Polymer Arts, I knew it would be the perfect technique to create some deco delights for decking the halls.

Following Sage's instructions I carved a series of deco diamonds into a wax block to form a stamp. Then I cut out the individual diamonds and pieced them together to create the Art Deco snowflake pattern for the backdrop of my latest Christmas Ornament series. They are available now at Young Creative, but hurry they won't last long!

Art Deco Snowflake on Silver Background

Snowman Ball

Art Deco Snowflake

Stay Sane; Shop Online

Flapper Snow Woman Holiday Earrings

My husband and I were watching the local news last night when the camera panned our Walmart parking lot to show it FILLED with cars and people streaming inside to start pre-Black Friday shopping. Insane!

Snuggle up and shop online.
Personally, we like to celebrate an alternative version of Black Friday. My husband and I are curled up today with a warm cup of coffee, Green Mountain Breakfast Blend. Mine is topped off with a dollop of whipped cream. And we are browsing the internet for great gifts.

An Etsy Christmas
Those of you who shop on Etsy (home of all things vintage and homemade) might want to check out the site-wide sales Black Friday through Cyber Monday. Several members of my clay guild, the Polymer Clay Artist Guild of Etsy, (including me!) are have sales in conjunction with the big Etsy event. See some of their wonderful gift ideas.

I'm offering free shipping on all jewelry. Here's a peak at some of the one-of-a-kind gifts and stocking stuffers waiting for you in my shop, Young Creative.

Panda Necklace

Fleur-de-lis Necklace

Ocean Swirl Necklace

In the studio

Works in Progress

It is Art Every Day Month and I haven't been doing a great job of physically creating anything. But that's okay. AEDM isn't about strict perfection. It is about infusing creativity into your day in whatever way you can. So on that front, I feel pretty good. And today, after a week of being pulled in a different direction, I am back in the studio with a few works in progress.

Most of my art creation procrastination this past week is because I attended the American Marketing Association's Higher Ed Marketing conference in Chicago for my day job at Saint Francis University. It was a much needed break from day-to-day tasks. Nothing like a conference to recharge the batteries.

The other thing that has kept me from actively creating is not positive. This week my alma mater became engulfed in scandal. Yes, I am a Penn Stater. My husband, my sister, my brother-in-law, and I all graduated from Penn State. I also worked there for 10 years. I still have many dear friends there.

Like so many Penn Staters, I spent the greater part of this week glued to the TV, hoping someone would say something that  made sense.It is hard to find the words that express what I'm feeling. I am ashamed. I am crushed. Yet my bond to my Penn State family has somehow become stronger through tragedy.

It is probably difficult for anyone on the outside to understand. I imagine it is what family members must feel when they find out that someone they love and trust did something horrific. In the pubic eye, your loved one's shame becomes your shame. The family name that brought you pride is now tarnished, yet your family is still filled with great people that played no role in all of this.

I came across this Facebook post that has gone viral. I'm not sure who wrote it, but it says it better than I can.

"We are… sad. We are… grieving with the families and the victims. We are… brokenhearted. We are… trying to make sense of things. We are… confused. We are… over 94,000 students strong. We are… ranked among the top 15 public universities. We are… the largest student-run philanthropy in the world. We are... over 8,500 top-ranked faculty. We are… hard working student athletes in many sporting events with NO connection to former events. We are… more than 2 university officials and 2 athletic department members. We are… more than this scandal. WE ARE PENN STATE. We have always been more than just a football team"