Bella Dia

Miniature Cairns

I've been working on these for awhile: they are miniature cairns.  These are a familiar sight in the area where I live - hikers marking a trail or making a little monuments to remember special places.  We've made some of our own too on warm days down by the river. 


The stones are made from polymer clay and permanently stacked so they can be a source of contemplation next to your bed, on your desk, or any place you want to be reminded how to find your way home. 


They will be for sale in my shop very soon.  I hope you like them :)

Kvetch and Sketch

I keep a little sketchbook (3½" x 5") next to my bed and have been trying (key word here) to do a little drawing before I go to sleep every night.  This is my most recent one and one of my favorites so I thought I'd share.

I have had a horrible cough for almost a week and I am ready to be rid of it.  The coughing is wearing me out, zaps all my energy and makes my head pound every time I cough. Complain, complain.

We got out a little bit over the weekend to see if spring really is here to stay and I have to say I believe it is.  Snow is melting, rivers are running and birds are taking up their summer homes.  Picture taking was making me dizzy so I only took a few but it's nice to know that winter is behind us and we have greener days in our future.

Baby Bootie Contest!

This is exciting!  Michael Miller Fabrics is sponsoring a Baby Bootie contest where the grand prize is a Singer Curvy Sewing Machine!  You can also win a $100 gift certificate to Reprodepot, some Michael Miller fabric bundles and a feature on Craftzine.  The rules are simple (you can read them here) and entries must be posted to the Flickr group by June 18th. So get your creating caps on and start designing some booties! 

Above image is from Google patents.

Robots!

I've been working on these robots for about a week - building, gluing, painting, varnishing - and it has been so much fun!  Do you like playing with all the different filters on Photoshop like I do?  I don't know how to do much in Photoshop (another thing on my to-do list) but I love clicking through the various filters and oohing and aahing over the different looks.  I thought the robots look like vintage toys in this photo. 

Here they are under normal conditions.  I haven't given them names yet because I am so name-giving challenged (see, I can't even think of a name for my short coming, good grief!) so I am open to suggestions.  Hopefully I'll have some of these guys and a few other new things I've been working on for sale in the shop fairly soon.

And Now for Something Different: Watercolors!

Sometimes it's easy to overlook a craft or art project because it's labeled for kids but going though all these new projects for The Crafty Crow has really gotten me itching to try a bunch of them.  I think it's good to remember to experiment with new mediums and give those creative muscles a stretch every now and then, so when I saw the watercolor tutorial by Arounna I decided to jump right in along with my kids.

You begin with a very abstract watercolor and after it has dried you go back with India ink and a bamboo skewer and create flowers out of the watercolor splots (sorry, couldn't think of a better word.)

The freedom and unpredictability of the medium was really fun and different from the controlled detail work that I usually do.  I'll definitely be doing this again.

Need a creativity boost? Look here:

Decal papers for a variety of uses that
you can print at home - oh my, the possibilities are making me swoon! 
Found via Swiss Miss.

The Importance of Creativity for Children and Other Living Things

Sir Ken Robinson, "an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources," speaks about the importance of creativity: why we need to be encouraging it and how modern schools "are educating people out of their creative capacities."  The video (taken at the 2006 TED conferences) is about 20 minutes long but so inspirational and very funny too - try to take the time to watch it.  Every time you put a blank piece of paper or a lump of clay in front of your child or just go on a nature walk to see the change of the seasons you'll know that you're doing the right thing, the right thing for your child and the right thing for our future.

What TED celebrates is the gift of the human imagination. We have to be careful now that we use this gift wisely, and that we avert some of the scenarios that we've talked about. And the only way we'll do it is by seeing our creative capacities for the richness they are, and seeing our children for the hope that they are. And our task is to educate their whole being, so they can face this future -- by the way, we may not see this future, but they will. And our job is to help them make something of it.
~ Sir Ken Robinson