Swaps

Swaps can be fun.  Here’s one I did for manilla tags.

On the tags I used: Clearsnap’s Colorbox Cat’s Eye Ink Pads, and smooshed those different colors around, rubber stamps, polymer clay button I either sewed on with thread or fun wire, embossing powder, ribbon and brads.

Swaps need a good coordinator and most importantly committed participants.. one person can ruin it all.  I’ve done a few, most are excellent, but a couple have fell through the cracks.  I’m still waiting for the results of one; it’s been almost a year.  People get busy and can see it through to the end.   Now, I choose wisely or not at all.. lately it’s been the latter.

Here is another I did for ATCs.  I made them out of polymer clay.  Now, that was fun.  The recipients were thrilled to get something so different.

Some, I stamped into the raw clay with rubber stamps then antiqued with brown paint or shoe polish, others were covered with decorated napkins once out of the oven.  The others were covered with a sheet of millefiori clay canes.  All of them have been embellished with clay buttons or beads.

I can’t help but use polymer clay thingamajigs on all my work.  they don’t seem complete without one, two or ok maybe three.

Thanks for stopping by.

Judy

Next up…. Mixed Media Mirror Frame.. Oooo la la

Swap-a-roos!

I’m not one to do any swaps. With my schedule, there isn’t much time to commit to.  However, there were two that came up recently that  just caught my interest.  One was for a charm swap.  The other for a “twinchie”.. read on.

Below, at the bottom of the photo, are the charms I made from polymer clay using push molds.  They are about 1 1/2″ each.   I loved trying to figure out what I was going to do to each one.  I used colored pencils and glitter glue.  The 2″ square piece on top was impressed with a rubber stamp and decorated with glitter glue; that was just for fun and has ended up at a magnet for the refrigerator.

The set up for the 2nd swap:    This second piece I did was inspired by Ruth Rae.  One of her many talents besides jewelry designer is a mixed media fiber artist.  I had recently downloaded one of her mixed media workshops from Interweave.  I this workshop she shows the beautiful ways to layer fabric and other embellishments and sew them together.  I just fell in love with it, especially since I just developed a happy relationship with my sewing machine.

So………the piece below was created for Milliande, another creative, artistic  soul, who just celebrated her birthday.  She wanted to celebrate her special day with other artists by requesting 2″ square pieces of art called “twinchies”. The catch was that the twinchie had to be in natural shades of white.. in other words very neutral.  Here is what I sent her… and I threw in some other pieces of clay art to swap with her personally.. I can’t wait to see what I get back from her.  Here are Milliande’s YouTube videos… take a look.. she’s wonderful..

I layered ripped pieces of muslin, felt, lace, doilies and a music paper coated with resin and stitched all together.  Then I made a tiny polymer clay heart button and sewed that at the top.  I just loved the feel of this tiny piece of art in my hands.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed the visit.

Judy