purpleluggage

Just reading the title of this post it's easy to conclude that this is not going to be a happy read, but ive been having a really crappy day (weeks?) I need to rant. First, I can't make ANYthing. Seriously. Everything I've made so far feel like major fails. It wouldn't bother me really if I were just experimenting, or looking for something new and fun to do. But I have a deadline, which I might not be able to meet, i now realize. Most of the time, last minute panic fuels creativity and becomes fodder for some seriously inspired work, but, man! My brain feels like a sun-baked stretch of desert; dry and blah. {insert guttural expression of absolute frustration} Then 2 nights ago, my dogs fought and one of them came out with a couple bites on the forearm, which swelled so much the following morning I thought it was getting infected or that it got fractured. It was a relief that after a couple days of cleaning the bites and giving extra pats, hugs and food, he's feel...

I'm started a series on my Facebook page today. Hopefully the tips I can offer can help some of you guys. --and hopefully can keep this up :) If you have suggestions or questions, just leave me a comment below. 

Lately I've been feeling bored because all I've been making are flowers-- and I'm not even a girly-flower-wearing person. They're all made-to-order stuff made in different color schemes as my previous works and that just takes away the fun in making things. It's like running on auto-pilot, which is nice sometimes when you don't want to think about what you're doing, but I miss kinda miss the giddy feeling that makes my hands shake. Sure, these flowers brought attention to my page and what I do. I got some mileage from them especially when my lockets were featured in The polymer arts (right next to a piece by once of my all time favorite artists Kathleen Dustin. Color me STARSTRUCK!), and then I had several people asking me to make a tutorial about my flowers. I was a good ride, but you know what they say about good things. I even took a pottery class (a future post, maybe?)  thinking it might turn on a magic switch in my brain and make me create like crazy i...

Seeing as I have't posted much of the things I've made lately here's a compilation of my favorite recent works. A personalized cake server and knife set and a couple of champagne flutes all in a pretty carnation pink palette. This photo is from Diane, a client who also asked for a  custom cake server and knife set for her beautiful wedding. A playful lock and key I made for our guild's  "Sweet Pairings" March challenge some new "experimental" flowers dainty pink flowers and a monogrammed heart for a wedding pretty and colorful custom hair combs and clip on earrings for a chorale black and white flowers.. so pretty! i loved the tulle and bead center  my sister made for them. a Stroppel jellyroll in the works. I just LOVE making these.  They're useful, versatile and I get to use all the "stale" canes I have in my cane drawer. Some new lockets HAPPY SUMMER! ...

hey, there! I made a short video about how I make my funky ladies. watch it below :) hope you guys like it!

An artist friend recently told me about a thread she read online which, in a nutshell, said that unlike other crafters, polymer clay artists are madamot  in sharing their techniques. There were some good points raised on that thread and I wish I was a member of that group so I could have participated in the discussion, but since I'm not I'm having my say here. Share your thoughts in the comments below.. i don't bite :) People who know me know that when I began working with polymer clay it was at a time when the Internet was still a magical place few men have gone. We had a computer but what it really was was an electronic typewriter (remember DOS?). Craft books, tools and supplies were hard to come by unless you had generous and thoughtful relatives abroad. Forget about e-books. What I had was a bag of clay samples, a little slip of paper with baking instructions, my hands, my imagination and my eagerness to learn. This makes me sound so old, but I did start roughly 20 ...

Just a short post today since I should really be finishing everything for the sale tonight. Here are a few of the things that will be included, a link to a quaint little playlist of songs used in a cooking show I just recently discovered ( I love it so so much!) and an interesting article on the seriously labor-intensive process that the Japanese grow -and sometimes brand- their apples! Amazing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnmUQoB46VA&list=PLBAE42C8ECDF07658 http://www.ediblegeography.com/the-tree-with-the-apple-tattoo/ See at the Sale! :)

Hi! How long has it been since my last post? I know, I promised to be a good girl and update my blog more often, but it's really been scorching here. During the day I can't make myself sit in front of the computer and type. Come to think of it, I find it hard to even think. And at night it feels so sticky and stuffy that I want to shower, and after I shower I get this uncontrollable urge to lie down and sleep, lol Anyway, I made 3 more magnets end of last month, and i threw in some new yummy letters to the mix. The "i" I made to look like our native tsokolate. They look a lot like hockey pucks, really, and the way you use it is you put it in really hot water or milk and stir until melts and then you drink it. It has a sandy, gritty texture which is characteristic of this drink, and it goes really really really great with   ensaymada, a local bread (with a spanish influence maybe?) with butter and cheese on top. Churros would probably be good too. I also added a ...

It's been a veeery slow couple of weeks for me. The hours seemed to crawl at a glacial pace, and yet in the blink of an eye another week has come and gone and I was still nurturing the couch potato that is me. Thing is, I've made a few shop announcements that I was back and ready to go to work in my studio table, and yet I find myself constantly drawn from it. The mojo is not there. I've made so little and the little I've made were a tad below my personal standards. I'm feeling sheepish, and kinda iffy about risking another shout out to advertise another false start, then I  say myself I have to start somewhere. Maybe this time I'll just slide into things and see how things go from there. Right now I'm feeling pretty okay. Just the other day I walked my 2 dogs, and the day after that I walked with my sister--no, she wasn't on a leash. she's a pretty good girl! And today when I made my doggies' food, I decided to shake things up and make meat...

Happy post, post Valentine's, everyone! It's a weekend and I'm hoping to get a lot done.  A lot of sleeping, that is. I've been feeling a bit melancholy these past few days, and I kept thinking about Hobbes. I miss him. Ten days from now it will be 2 months since he passed and I still miss him. I've known him for so long sometimes I catch myself wondering how is it that he's really gone, but he is.  About 3 years ago one of our dogs, George, got sick and died. During his treatment, we went to several doctors, went through bags of medications and struggled to feed him. Eventually, his kidneys failed and we had to let him go to end his suffering. I read a lot and learned a lot from articles during this time, about how to treat dogs with compromised kidneys, or other organs for that matter. I also stopped going to a particular overcharging vet. Since then, I've been careful about what I feed my dogs. Back then, we would've just bought regular...

iam having a cane sale! mosey on down to my facebook page . there are still quite a few available. And i'm also having a tie up with Purplenook. it's a special 2-Saturday worksop.  Send an email if you're interested.

It's already September! Time flies by so fast and Christmas is fast approaching. But while we're still preparing for the holidays, I decided to finally finish the circus boxes I've had languishing and gathering dust in a drawer. I finished the base last year if I remember correctly, and they have waited patiently for the day that I would finally find the inspiration to make another set. That day came on the first week of September and so I finished all 4, yey! They are now listed on my Etsy shop .

BIRTHDAY SALE ALERT!! These babies along with some other pretty stuff  are now on sale on my Facebook page. Shimmy on down there to have a look. I will be posting more photos during the week so keep your eyes peeled for surprises! Also, a portion of the sales will be donated to PAWS -- Philippine Animal Welfare Society. See you there!!