I can't believe week five is done! I had some help this week from the grandpuppy! When we would go on our walks I kept an eye out for things I could make charms from. I took a page out of my niece, Leanne's, playbook and wire wrapped a cool piece of bark. I also did a couple of polymer clay beads from leftover clay on the table and a great orphan bead. The new charm swap is video games so tried my hand at the "1 up mushroom" from Mario Brothers. He didn't make the cut for the swap, but made a great Charm a Day! The last one for this week was my celebrate with butterfly. That is a postage stamp on a wood piece with a resin coat on it. I had a little problem since the piece is slightly rounded so had a little drip issue, but it cleaned up pretty good. On to week number six!

Where does the time go?

Where does the time go? Week four is already here and gone! This week was really a mixed bag of charms. I did a little Steampunk ladybug and a celebration hamburger. Tried to do a kitty head, but sort of looks like an owl, but I guess more kitty than owl so I guess okay. The pink with the white heart is an easy little trick. Cut out the center with a little cookie type cutter and replace with a different color using the same cutter. Looks cool and sort of like a slice of cane, but easier and uses up some of the leftover little pieces of clay on my work desk. The last two with the black and white flowers are leftovers from a project using black and white cane. Sort of inspired by Zentangles, but I am calling it Clay Doodles! I covered a couple of Altoid tins and one of my clay tools with the black and white canes and they turned out pretty cool. I really like the contrast of the black and white and then on the tins adding the black bottom.

Week three is already gone!

I finished my third week of Charm a Day! Looking back at the week, I used polymer clay more than anything else. That is what I like the best I guess. Of course, we had July 4th fall in there and had to do something to match the day. I had some leftover striped cane from the Patriotic Swap earlier, so it worked out very well for the heart and added a the beads and tada, a charm! The little frog was from trying out making my own molds using paper punches. Gave him a little lily pad to sit on and he turned out to be one of the cutest charms this week. He just makes you smile! I also tried a little Steampunk. Sort of copied the idea for the charm from sis. She is a Steampunk diva! Had to give it a go and I like the way it came out. Well, I have two already done for week four! 24 charms so far! This is way too much fun!

Second week of Charm of the Day

Okay, I know that I am almost done with week three, but here is week two for my Charm of the Day. I did a variety this week, from polymer clay to orphan beads and a tiny snail on the leaf made from a tiny charm fork! I have a little cup on my work table that I have been throwing "orphan" beads into and when I can't think of something I look in there and usually come up with something! I have been wanting to try the fortune cookie out of the Making Mixed Media Art Charms and Jewelry book so I was able to do that this week. I had made a fork snail with a regular size fork and wanted a smaller one, but it was too small for a charm, so I made the polymer clay leaf for him to sit on.

Charm a Day! CAD

Similar to Create Every Day, I decided to do Charm A Day (CAD). I am part of a charm swap group ArtCharms and there are a group of us within the group that are doing a charm a day for either a week, a month, or some of us dubbed as "overachievers", are going for a charm a day for a year! I started my year on June 17, 2011. Here is a group shot of my first eight. I figure this gives me a challenge to do something creative, even if just a small charm, every day. And I can try different kinds of charms that I may only want to do one of, not 30 or so for a swap! The other challenge I gave myself was to try and incorporate a butterfly in each charm. I was very excited and honored to find out that my slice of chocolate cake is this week's home page charm! My first time for that! If you enjoy making charms, swapping charms, you might want to check out this wonderful group! Everyone is friendly and very helpful and the charms are such a treat when you receive your swap! If you want to check it out, here is the site http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArtCharms/

I love a challenge!

I really love a challenge! My sister asked for a "Gourdgeous Girlfriend" done like a monkey for a friend of hers. I said "sure, I can do that". Well, I did it and I love him! She liked him, too. A few months ago my daughter in law was looking at the gourds I was playing with and she thought one looked like "Mr. Peanut" and asked if I could do that. "Sure, I can do that". Well, I finished him today and I really think it looks like Mr. Peanut! The body is the small gourd she picked out and then it is covered with polymer clay. The arms, legs, hat, are all polymer clay. I painted him the yellow color and painted on his eye, nose and mouth and the Mr. Peanut on his hat. I couldn't seem to get the monocle chain-thing right and the clay kept breaking and ended up using a piece of very small cording. Worked like a charm. Anyway, she will be getting this Friday night as one of her Christmas presents. Shhhhh....don't tell her it's done! Merry Christmas to everyone and hope you have a wonderful, creative 2011!!

Here is the one we did for our Mom. It is a little larger, so Lisa added another sheep and an adorable donkey! Way too cool! I am showing it out of the gourd so you can see the detail. It is hard to get a good shot of it inside the gourd! We are giving it to her tomorrow. Can't wait to see what she thinks!