artsinhand

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

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

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.....