It’s reveal day for the ‘birds of prey’ theme challenge hosted by the Art Elements design team.  This month’s theme was chosen by Cathy Spivey Mendola.  The challenge is to make art, in any media, inspired by this theme.  There are 446 species of birds of prey, also known as raptors (from the Latin “rapere,” to seize or capture).  The are divided into the Orders Falconiformes (the diurnal hunters such as hawks, falcons, eagles, and vultures) and Strigiformes (the nocturnally hunting owls).  With 446 species to choose from, there’s no lack of inspiration in this theme. Continue reading →

The chosen theme for the We’re All Ears earring design challenge this month is “frozen” as in, that’s how folks were feeling when the “Polar Vortex” swooped down from the Arctic and brought record-breaking cold weather to much of the United States.  The challenge is to design earrings inspired by the freezing cold. Continue reading →

Kicking off 2019 with an earring design challenge is a great way to begin the year because earrings are my favorite kind of jewelry.  The We’re All Ears earring design challenge theme for this month is Pantone’s Color of the Year, “Living Coral.”  Pantone describes this color as “an animating and life-affirming coral hue with a golden undertone that energizes and enlivens with a softer edge.”  I would describe it as a warm peachy red, because I’m not as flowery as the folks at Pantone. Continue reading →

This month’s design challenge from the Art Elements team is brought to you by the color white.  White: the color you perceive when an object reflects all light in the visible spectrum equally.  White: the color of snow, clouds, and quartz or limestone sand. White: the color of polymer clay most likely to attract every last particle of lint, dust, and cat hair in your workspace. Continue reading →

The theme for this month’s Art Elements design challenge is “stars” and today is the reveal of our creations. The challenge was to interpret the theme in any media using any technique. Of course I used polymer clay, and of course, I made jewelry. I had plans to make some ornaments too, but you know what happens when you’re busy making plans. Continue reading →

The theme for this month’s challenge on the Art Elements blog was “petroglyphs.”  I signed up to participate in the challenge even though I had no immediate ideas for how to interpret the theme.  Sometimes I have a bunch of ideas right away for how to interpret one of these challenge themes, and other times …nothing.  That’s part of the fun of the challenge: either narrowing down too many ideas or coming up with at least one.

If you’ve followed my blog, you probably know I often struggle with being too literal when interpreting a design challenge.  It’s often only after I’ve seen where other folks let the inspiration take them that I get less literal ideas. One thing I knew with certainty for this challenge:  I was absolutely not going to literally carve rocks. Continue reading →

The theme for this month’s We’re All Ears earring design challenge is “autumn”  The hostess for this challenge, Erin, introduced the theme with a lovely Ode to Autumn on the Earrings Everyday blog.  Autumn is my favorite time of the year, and autumnal colors are a year-round inspiration. Continue reading →

This month’s theme for the Art Elements design challenge was seed pods.  Seed pods are especially fertile ground for my muse.  The diversity of shapes, textures, and colors in the vessels plants produce to protect and disperse their seeds is very inspiring.  There are so many ways to go with this theme that I could easily spend all year making nothing but seed pod-inspired art. Continue reading →