Christmas in August- Dala Polymer Ornament.

Yes Christmas in July has spilled over into August this year. Remember that Dala craftalong I made a quilled card for a few weeks back? Well here's another dala project I just finished.

Pam, from Gingerbread Snowflakes (and a co-host of the dala craftalong) was sweet enough to send me a giant dala cookie cutter AND give me free rein on what to do with it!

I love to make ornaments using cookies cutters and polymer clay. I think Christmas cookie style ornaments look adorable hanging from a tree. And once I saw pictures of real dala horses I thought polymer clay would be another great medium to showcase all that intricate detail.

For this horse I used a gingerbread colored base and added some snowflakes in honor of Pam's blog (coincidentally gingerbread and snowflakes are two of my favorite things, if I could pick any blog name to have instead of my own it would be Pam's). I kept the finish rustic (not worrying about the edges or the surface being too smooth). I felt it was keeping with both the carved wood on a real dala as well as the "cookie look" I was going for.

A note on safety: If you are going to use a cookie cutter with polymer clay do not use it for food again. I have cutters I use only for food and a set that I use only for crafting.

Occasionally I get a cutter that's special and/or a hard to find shape (like this one) so if I want to use it for crafting but keep the possibility open that I could use it for food I trace the shape out onto card stock...

and use that template to cutout my clay form using a craft knife.

Happy Christmas in July... well really August, and THANK YOU Pam for such a wonderful gift!

Ransacked! Put out an APB

It wasn't even 10am this morning and there I was eating a double chocolate cookie and having a mocha coffee. Which seemed like the only logical action to take after coming into my studio this morning and finding this.

That filthy, broken muddle of crap all over the floor used to be those lovely mod podged frames I was working on last week. Not to mention the debris from about three other in-progress projects too. Oh and all that dirt is from the potted tulips I was storing until it was time to plant them outdoors in a few weeks.

On the island I also found a mishmash of broken items and supplies.

Now it's just something needing the attentions of work gloves, a trash bag and the shop-vac.

Although it's true that there's been a sad and frightening rash of vandalism and theft around my neighborhood lately, this scene wasn't caused by some stranger in the night. Who, when finding nothing of value to them, decided instead to destroy everything in their path.

No, this wasn't caused by some stranger. The culprit is well-known around here:

Female

12.5 years old

Approximately 50 lbs.

Black Fur

Brown Eyes

Goes by the name of Lucy. Other known aliases include Lucy Ducy, Shooshi, and Lucifer (perhaps for obvious reasons).

Crafters beware. She may look calm and sweet... but don't be fooled! (Well she is sweet.) Throughout her criminal career she's accumulated a rap sheet not just one, but two miles long. Including minor offenses such as general eating, stepping on and breaking of handmade items. Felonies consisting of Halloween pumpkin eating and studio vandalism. All the way up to the capital offense of "days before my wedding" hotel room guest's gift basket destruction/consuming.

She's a sneaky individual. Be on your guard, despite whatever security measures are taken- closed doors, locking trash can, high shelves cabinets or counters, you can never be sure when and where she'll strike.

Oh and to add icing on the cake the Internet appears to be going in and out at least every five minutes. Maybe in an attempt to thwart this all points bulletin, our suspect tried to eat through/rip out the Internet cables... again.