artsinhand

2016-09-26T09:23:00.002-07:00

Hi everyone,

I really am a bad blogger. Maybe I should start adding tutorials on some of my crafts or something like that to keep going and give me more of an incentive. What do you think?

It's been hectic dealing with the terrible twos and my little one is taking the experience to the fullest. My first baby, she was a sweetheart. I maybe only had a handful of dealing with the tantrums and such with her, I think her sister is making up for it. With the new one, every day I have to have some sort of event or bout of crying fits and feet stomping. Especially when dad is home!!

As for the tuts, I will start adding some to this post, but won't start until December since the Christmas Craft fairs are approaching fast. Here is a sneak peek of what I am making this year:

adjustable bookmarks

felt busy books

I am really excited about selling the felt books. Who knows how well they will go? My goal is to make 100 before mid-November, but at the rate I'm going, hmmm.....

Anyway, another thing I am up to is I have just released a book on Swoon Reads

I'm listed under EK Peters

Let's see how well that one does! If you are bored, or feel like something to read, please check it out!

Follow Your Heart

I will be back soon...hopefully ;)

Sigh.....

2013-02-01T17:14:00.000-08:00

First I want to say sorry that I am a very bad blogger. I've been extremely busy with my Etsy shop, I haven't had time to post anything. While I'm taking sort of a break from modelling clay for wedding toppers, I decided to add a new post. I've also included a scrapbooking freebie!! Here's a preview of what to expect in this mini kit:

My daughter enjoying the outdoors.

This awesome template I used for my layout is from the talented Emily of mle Card. She has a lot of adorable kits in her store. You should check it out. For the template, click on link below to go to her blog.

http://scrapsbythebrush.blogspot.ca/2013/01/birthday-bash-fwp-freebie.html

I also want to mention that I have added some new items to my shop. I actually made them for last Christmas craft fair and....oh my! I didn't think they would be such a huge seller!! Since it was my first time back, I figured I needed some help so I enlisted three of my aunts to assist. Lucky I did. The four of us were so busy, we barely had time for a break. I guess selling them for only $2 each must be a good deal. Here is one of them.

etsy store

Of course I didn't make the beads, but kudos to those lampwork artists who do. Beautiful work. Unfortunately open flame and I don't really mix so I won't attempt to try and make my own.

Another item that was a hot seller were the zipper pulls. I was told you can use them as stitch markers. The kids love the dolphin ones to attach to their backpacks.

This is what they look like indoors.

Outside on a sunny day

Dolphins glow in the dark!

Enough of my ramblings. Onto the good stuff.

Since Valentine's is coming up, I figured there are some who might want to make their own cards instead of buying those basic ones in the store. More personalised. I will admit I already bought the store ones. Too lazy to make my own ;) Anyway, if you do have time to do your own cards, I hope you like the kit I've made for you.

valentine embellies

valentine papers

links no longer available

Winner announced!

2012-06-20T23:05:00.005-07:00

I woke up this morning, felt lousy (caught a cold from my daughter who caught it from who knows...) and realise that it's June 20. I completely forgot to pick a winner for the keychain.

Anyway, I quickly scrambled to find some paper, wrote each entry, and proceeded to put them in a basket. Of course she picked one and the winner is....Connie Babe. Please email me and let me know which princess you like.

As for a new kit, last week I was still in the mood to make another freebie and decided on an M&M themed one.

As usual, there are more elements in the download. Thanks again for following me, even though I don't keep up the blogging.

Embellies
papers
links no longer available

For my next kit, what should I do next?

So Sorry...

2012-06-02T01:52:00.000-07:00

I am a bad blogger. Never really been good at keeping up to date in the first place. So sorry for taking so long to update. The same as usual...keeping up with Etsy orders.

Anyway, I just want to show off this new product I have in my shop. It's a new style of cellphone charm!

Add caption

I think it's really cool. If you like to have something dangling or a decoration on your cellphone but have either a blackberry, IPhone...any type of smart phone, this is the next best thing.

Usually phones have that little annoying hole on the side where you struggle to slip in one of those lanyard type cellphone straps. A family member then pointed out to me that she likes to have one of my princess cellphone charms, but since she has an IPhone, there is no hole on the side. Luckily I got a hold of this Chinese company and managed to get these made for me. It's an earphone plug.

What you do is where you usually plug in the earphone, you can now plug in a cellphone decoration. The base is flexible for easy insertion while the top is a rhinestone for the extra sparkle. It's also great for keeping dust out of the earphone hole too.

And now for the freebie. As promised I finally managed an Elmo/Sesame Street themed kit. Hope you like it.

embellies
papers1
papers2
links no longer available

As an extra bonus, for taking so long to to update, if you leave a comment, I will pick a random winner on June 16 for them get their favourite princess cellphone charm sent to them for free! Good Luck!!

Long Overdue...and a freebie!

2012-03-20T11:03:00.001-07:00

I am so sorry for not blogging for so long. I sort of hit a snafu a couple of months back.

I didn't realise you're not allowed to stay in the states for more than six months per year. When I was visiting my husband in Colorado, we stayed there for a few months, came back home for a few weeks, then went back down again. We did this for two years. When he only had 2 1/2 months left of his program, we were at the border getting ready to cross when the officer told us to go in. We waited at the US Customs office for over 2 hours when someone finally came out. I got interrogated since they thought my husband was trying to smuggle me in illegally to live in the States.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I ended up getting denied entry and am not allowed to go back anywhere in the States for 5 1/2 years (so much for a trip to Disneyland).

Since I was stuck here in December, I didn't have my files to do any new digital scrapbooking kits. Only had the HP Touchpad as my temporary computer. My husband's computer was still back in Colorado. Now that he's back, I am able to get back to making more freebies.

Before I do that, I am also letting you know I have new items in my etsy store. They are cellphone charms.

Rapunzel with UV lanyard

different princesses

Harry Potter - the crystal heart has the Hogwarts crest

I added the clasp for everyone to have the option of removing the charm from the lanyard and adding it to a zipper, keychain, etc... You can choose from regular lanyard (second picture), keychain, or this cool UV lanyard. Inside the beads are white; outside the beads turn multicolour. I think the darker they go, the more sunscreen you should put on. As a request, I even made a Harry Potter one. Instead of the Hogwarts crest, people can change it to Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw. I can even do Hermione, Ron, Draco, etc...

Well, that's all I have for now. Before I go, here is your freebie. It's an Easter themed kit. There are more elements than what is shown.

embellies

papers

Hope you like it. And I promise an Elmo kit is coming soon.

Another digital scrapbooking freebie

2011-11-28T00:20:00.000-08:00

Hey, well this is going to be a short post. Still been busy with my Etsy orders. Speaking of that, I just added some new things to my shop just in time for Christmas. I've always loved doing origami, been doing it for 8 years, and thought why not try selling some ornaments? This is one of the samples I made.

This one's my favourite paper. Too bad I don't have that many.

I know it's not clay, but I couldn't help it. I'm also thinking of making some cool favor boxes.

Anyway, to make this short, and since I'm not feeling well, I've also made another free digital scrapbooking kit. It's an Abby Cadabby theme.

Abby1
Abby2
links no longer available

Hope you like it and stay tuned. I'm in the process of making an Elmo one.

Free gift

2011-10-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since I last posted. I've been busy with orders on Etsy. I'm finding most of my customers have been requesting Custom Orders so I ended setting up a section just for those. I'm also noticing that my animals are the most popular.

Anywho, the reason for this post is I am trying my hand at digital scrapbooking. I can understand why designers take a while to promote a new digital kit. Takes up a lot of time, especially when you're short on it. So, enough of the chatter. Here's what I've created.

This kit is called Halloween! I know very original right? I also did a couple of layouts with it too.

This is from last year. My daughter was not feeling well, but still wanted to go.


This was the year before. She doesn't look happy. Must be from the heat.

This is a full kit.

-76 embellishments
- 13 patterned papers
- 9 solid papers

I also made two quickpages for you too. They're the same as the ones above. Now to the good part...the download links. Enjoy!

Embellies1
Embellies2
Papers
Quickpages
Solids
links no longer available

If you like this one, make sure to come visit again for the next one. I'm going to be making Christmas, Valentines, and Easter. Might even throw in a Birthday one if I have enough people liking my kits. We'll see....

Custom Photo box setup

2011-10-02T23:55:00.000-07:00

I'm am having a lot of fun making my polymer clay creations. To make them look even nicer, I even built a homemade photo box for taking product shots.

My husband found this light for $10 at Walmart (sweet deal).

At first we tried placing the flash on the outside of the box, but the shadowing effect went to the right. The yellow lamp made the lighting look, well, yellow. The first option was to buy another lamp for the other side to add more light, but we didn't have an extra lamp and didn't feel like buying another one just for this purpose. So in order to make everything brighter, with barely any shadow, instead of using parchment paper I covered all the sides (except the side with the yellow lamp) with white foam sheets found at craft stores. My husband then put his flash inside the box with the flash pointing to the roof and voila, a perfect shot. I know this setup looks a little odd, but hey, we're happy with it. The total cost of everything (not including the camera, of course) came to $13.

So, I just wanted to let you know that I also have placed some new items in my shop. I've even begun making some of my magnets smaller and grouping them to sell as a set.

Since my daughter's into horses, I also made one after her, except this girl has more hair.

I told her she had to wait until my husband took a picture first. The whole day she kept asking dad to take the picture just so she could play with it.

I'm still in the clay making kick and will be coming up with more ideas every day. Love selling online. It gives me the opportunity to try out new things without having to make a lot of each item like I would do if I was selling at a craft fair.

Speaking of that, this past spring I did make some for this upcoming Christmas craft fair. Usually I make Santa ornaments out of pompoms and such. Since this is the first time for clay thingys, I wasn't sure what would sell and made about thirty of each style. When I was done, I then gave them to my mom to bring back to Vancouver. (My sister offered to sell them for me since I won't be there.) When my mom went through baggage check, security kept asking her all sorts of questions. It must of looked funny with all the magnets crammed into the carry-on with nothing else.

One more note before I go. Since my daughter's birthday is coming up, I think I'm going to put my shop up on sale just to celebrate. Still got a week to think about it.

I miss home...

2011-09-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

You know, I actually can't wait until we move back to Vancouver, BC. I miss my family a lot. I've even packed away things I don't use on a daily basis in boxes. According to my mom, who visited a couple of months ago, she says our room looks like a tornado hit.

I do admit our room is a bit cramped, but I think of it as not having to worry about packing at the last minute. Moving days are always so strenuous and exhausting. However, once we move back, most of our things are going to be put away in storage. We're going to be living with my parents for a few months until we figure out what's going on.

Our original plan was once my husband was done with school at the end of February, we were thinking of visiting Disneyland. My daughter's been so excited about going. I figured we should get in a major trip before my husband starts work. My mom, dad, brother, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew were thinking of joining us also. Sort of like a family trip. Once we got back, I was then thinking of looking for a house, but that's changed. My husband's been busy trying to set up his new orthodontic office instead. Maybe while the office is being built, we can go then.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings. I've finally added features to my Canuck sample I showed in my first post. Here's the new one. A lot of my family members have a thing for Ryan Kesler so I tried to base it on him. I think I need that scruffy beard.

The piece of clay between the skates is what I used to prop him up so I could take a picture of him standing. I also did Luongo. My husband thinks he looks cute.

For ten minutes we kept discussing about the mask. I was thinking of making it different instead of keeping it white. My husband thinks I should leave it as is. Since he's the avid hockey fan, I'll do what he says.

So, we're finally at the end of my long post. I do want to add that I've been thinking of trying a hand at designing digital scrapbook kits and giving them free on my blog. Hmm....

Strange weather

2011-09-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

I'm finding the weather in Aurora, CO is very odd. Like this week. The average temperature is in the 80's, yet a couple of weeks ago this is what we got:

This is 20 minutes later.


This is another 30 minutes later with lightning strikes.

We usually get a lot of rain in Vancouver, BC but nothing like this. My family and I have only been in Aurora for a year and a half. The rain here blows sideways so using an umbrella is almost useless when it's too windy. Heavy rain usually also includes thunderstorms. There was one day where the news recorded about 35 lightning strikes in a half hour. The odd thing is whenever you see lightning, thunder should come after it. In Aurora, you can see three lightning strikes before hearing that thundering noise. Crazy.

Anyway, I'm happy to note I just got my first sold order on my Etsy shop. YAY!! Thanks so much pinkylee07 for her generous order.

I also want to post what my packaging looks like whenever anyone does place an order with me.

Basically you can use the packaging box as a gift box. My business card is removable if you want to add a gift tag. Not a bad idea, right?

Well, this is it for now. I will be adding a new item to my shop in a couple of days. Stay tuned....

Opened shop!

2011-09-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I have now set up shop with Etsy! The link is on the left.

I have also added a whole new selection of magnets for you to look at. As promised, here are the Halloween ones:

I also made a special Breast Cancer one that represents my mom, grandmother and aunt who had this disease. She is also available in any ethnicity. For every purchase made, I am also going to donate $5 to Canadian Breast Cancer Society.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Welcome

2011-09-12T00:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog! I've never blogged before until I got encouraged to do so. If you have the chance, please go and visit my cousin's site Cake on the Brain (her link is on the side bar). She has some really great tips and recipes for you to try.

Anyway, my reasoning for starting this blog is to showcase my polymer clay work. The first time I attempted using clay was for my wedding back in 2004. My original plan was to make one for everyone, but with over three hundred guests, I decided to just make one hundred picture holders.

I also made a cake topper (shown as my header). Since then I haven't touched any polymer clay until recently when I got this sudden urge. But instead of picture holders, I am now making magnets. Here are a few samples I have:

Each stand at 2.5" - 3" tall (depending on the style) and weighs about less than 1/2 lb. I'm also thinking of maybe turning these into pins if customers want to wear them.

As a request from family members, I'm also experimenting with making Vancouver Canuck ones. Here's the prototype ( I know I'm missing the skates and rest of the facial features):

The second reason I'm working with clay again is from an idea inspired by my cousin. Instead of making decorations out of fondant (which I'm sure most people don't really like to eat), she figured why not use these as cake decorations or cupcake toppers. After someone eats the cupcake, they can use the topper as a magnet. Ingenious idea, don't you think?

So, if you're in the mood (or may be bored), I'll be setting up shop with Etsy.com. I'm still working out the kinks on how to do so. Once I get it running, I'll let you know. Also, stay tuned. I have some Halloween magnets coming soon.....