All images and contents of this blog © Ginny Baker. Please don't use without permission.

Friday, December 31, 2010

FRIDAY FINDS

The holidays made it pretty much impossible for me to stick to the posting schedule I set for myself, but hopefully things have now simmered down enough that I will be able to do so.

Usually around the holidays, I'm so busy with last minute orders and trying to get stuff up on ebay etc. that the holidays all but fly by, and it takes a real effort not to miss out on the enjoyment of them all together. It's all I can do to get my house reasonably clean, get my tree up, get the shopping done, and throw in a little baking.

I'm always amazed when I come across somebody who not only manages to celebrate the holidays with incredible style and grace, but manages to live that way year around. One such person is Jenny B. Harris. Her blog, All Sorts, is one that I've enjoyed for the past several years. It is an absolute feast for the eyes. I can only dream of my house looking as gorgeous, festive, and inviting around the holidays as Jenny's house looks! Here's a few pics from Jenny's blog showing her lovely home decked out for the holidays:


(click to enlarge)


(click to enlarge)

Someday, I aspire to celebrate the holidays in such lovely style myself. (probably will never happen, but it's definitely something worth aspiring for!)

I highly recommend Jenny's gorgeous blog. :o)

Saturday, December 25, 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 
Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope your day is filled with family and friends and lots of love. I also wish you all a very happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!



Wednesday, December 15, 2010

WORKTABLE WEDNESDAY

On my worktable today is a repeat of the holiday scene below that I am doing for a customer.  The original was created on an 8x8 glass block and was sold on ebay. I'm creating the new version as a wall hanging.



(click to enlarge)

Also this week I've been working on little Christmas scenes which are now available on ebay. Here's the little Bichon Frise one:


(click to enlarge)

Back to the clay table I go! :o) Hope everyone isn't going crazy with last minute Christmas shopping! It's been a busy week for me!

Friday, December 10, 2010

FRIDAY FINDS

Well, I already missed a day on my intended weekly schedule. There was no Worktable Wednesday post. The reason being that I wrenched my back out of alignment two weeks ago and I haven't been doing any clay work since then. Until yesterday that is. So, I will have pics to post, but they'll have to wait till next Wednesday.

Every Friday I hope to share something or someone I've found that I really like or think might be interesting to readers (and from my stats I see there still ARE some of you out there! :o) ).

This week my find is the Flying Lessons ebooks by Kelly Rae Roberts. Kelly Rae wrote the very popular book, "Taking Flight: Inspiration & Techniques to Give Your Creative Spirit Wings" which is a best-selling book that covers all aspects of living a creative life. Kelly has had phenomenal success considering the relatively short time span that she's been a full time working artist. Besides her first book, she's also been published in several mixed media books by other artists, has had numerous articles published in magazines, and her art is now licensed and can be found in stores nationwide.

Kelly has created a series of creative business related ebooks under the "Flying Lessons: Tips & Tricks to Help Your Creative Business Soar" title. She sells them in three parts, each of which is devoted to certain aspects of running a successful creative business. These retail for $55.00 each. Or you can get the whole shebang (that's what she calls it LOL) which is $140.00.  Each comes to you as a pdf document.

These ebooks may seem pricey. They did to me. But I have to say, you get quite a bit of value in return. About a month and a half ago, I took the leap and invested in the whole shebang myself. I have a lot of business goals I still want to achieve and I was feeling the need to take things a little deeper. The book contains 205 pages and a wealth of very practical information from an artist who's been there, and done that. ;o) I don't regret the investment at all. This ebook is really a comprehensive course in running an art or craft business successfully.

FYI, I don't get any kickbacks for recommending Ms. Roberts work. LOL I don't know her and she doesn't know me. I was just very pleased with her book and thought I would pass on the info. If you're wanting to take your business to the next level, I can definitely recommend you check out her ebooks. Very helpful information indeed and it is presented beautifully. :o)

Kelly Rae Roberts Flying Lessons

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

MISSING LINKS

Unfortunately, I used Blog Roll to keep track of the links to other websites I wanted to share and they closed down recently without notice. So all of my links went >>Poof<<. :o( It will take me some time to add back all those links and I do apologize to everyone I exchanged links with. 

Monday, December 06, 2010

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY

I hope to get back to the schedule I once had of posting every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday - beginning today. :o)

No star is ever lost we once have seen,
We always may be what we might have been.--Adelaide A. Proctor

It is never too late to be what you might have been.--George Eliot

It's so easy to lament the passing of time as we get older, to wish we had achieved certain goals or a certain level of success by a certain age. But don't give up. It's not too late. Just start where you are, today. Don't let other people's thoughts of what is possible define what is possible for you.

Friday, August 06, 2010

TIME FOR ANOTHER GIVEAWAY!



Just on the off chance that anyone who used to enjoy and/or collect my clay art figurines still checks out this blog, I wanted to announce that I'm having another contest over on my Facebook fan page.

I haven't been creating my clay art for months because my time has been tied up with other projects, but I really miss it and I'm ready to get back to it. So in celebration, I'm giving away this little bear below:



If you'd like a chance to win this little bear, please click on this link to go to my Facebook fan page. If you're already a fan, just leave a comment and you'll be entered into the contest to win. If you're not yet a fan, become one and you'll receive two entries into the contest. If you recommend my fan page to friends who you believe will honestly enjoy my work, you'll also receive two entries. (They must leave a comment and tell me you sent them!) If you buy anything from my etsy store, you'll receive three chances to win! (there's not anything in my etsy store yet, but check back on Monday)

The contest will run until 12 a.m. Thursday night, and the winner will be announced Friday, August 13th. Who says Friday the 13th isn't lucky??

Friday, April 09, 2010

Illustration Friday

This week's theme is "Linked", and here is my entry entitled "Nice to Meet Ewe":



This little lamb and sheepdog puppy are linked by their curiosity towards each other, and of course, by the puppy's playful tug on the lamb's ear!

Created with colored polymer clay on a canvas background.

Monday, March 15, 2010


I'm having a giveaway contest! You can enter several different ways! Leave a comment here, or on my Facebook fan page. I would like to see my fan page grow a little bit, so if you recommend my fan page to a friend and they join my fan page and leave a comment mentioning you, you will receive two entries. :o) Leave a comment of your own and that will make it three entries! More chances of winning! Become a new fan yourself, and leave a comment and you'll also get two entries!

What's the prize? This cute little snowman sitting on my desk this morning. I know it, he knows it - everybody is sick of winter and snow! But he's hoping to find a loving home all the same!

I'll be taking entries from now until midnight central US time Sunday, and I will announce the winner next Monday morning. That's March 22. :o)

Here's a link to my Facebook fan page:

Designs by Ginny Baker

And here's the little snowman you could win:

Monday, March 08, 2010

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY

This week's theme is "Brave". I just completed this little astronaut guy floating above the Earth, and I think he fits that theme perfectly. I think it takes no small measure of bravery to become an astronaut!!

Created with colored polymer clay. :o)

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

My poor blog has become so neglected - yet again. I've just had a lot going on lately. It gets a little difficult to keep all the balls in the air at times. I've been given the opportunity to submit samples for a project that would be a dream come true for me - so, not surprisingly, that has my total focus at the moment.

The polymer clay group I started on Facebook is going strong. We're up to 161 members! Just incredible! It's a great group, and if you have any interest in polymer clay at all, I'd like to invite you to join us.

Designing With Polymer Clay

My Facebook fan page is growing more slowly, but then I've done nothing to promote it since I've been busy with other things. I hope to do some giveaways to generate a little interest as soon as I'm done with the samples.

Designs by Ginny Baker

Hope all is well in your world. :o)

Friday, February 05, 2010

SUNSHINE AWARD :o)



This Sunshine award was given to me by Lori Allberry of Sugarberry Sensations! If anyone I know deserves it, it's Lori. She is as sweet as the name of her business! But I'm honored that Lori decided to give the award to me as well. :o)

So, as part of the rules I must pass this award on to 12 bloggers. Here's my list:

ABCcreativity
Claykeepsakes
The Critter Company
Clay Wishes by Christina
My Tiny Treasures
Redheaded Stepchild
Tonja's Polyclay Corner
Helen's Clay Art
Saga of a Work at Home Mom
The Adventures of Mama Bear
Darbella Designs
Gourmet Felted Designs by Gerry

Here are the rules, so please pass this award along....
The rules for accepting the Sunshine Award are:
- Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
- Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.


Not much sunshine around here today. I posted about the "Perfect Snow", and this is what we woke up to this morning:



The kids in the book didn't get a snow day - but the kids in our town did. My daughter's still sleeping blissfully. LOL

Thursday, February 04, 2010

CLAY ILLUSTRATION



One of the areas I love to explore when it comes to polymer clay is clay illustration. My favorite illustrator of books for children is Barbara Reid. Barbara doesn't actually work with polymer clay. She uses plasticene. But the effect is the same - stunning three dimensional illustrations.

I've been a fan of Barbara's for years and own every book she's ever produced. It's just so much fun to see clay "come to life" in this way. Her illustrations bring such character and personality to the words in the books she illustrates.

Her latest, Perfect Snow, has just such amazing illustrations. You can almost feel the cool, crisp air, and hear the snow crunching beneath your boots when you look at the pictures. It's a really cute, fun book!


(click to enlarge)

Barbara also has a YouTube channel with videos showing how she creates her phenomenal clay illustrations.

She's just a very gracious, very talented lady. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when she so kindly told me my own clay illustrations were "Very beautiful"!!! There are few bigger thrills then receiving praise from someone you so greatly admire. :o) I hope you'll check out Barbara's fabulous work. I know you'll enjoy it.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

NEW POLYMER CLAY GROUP ON FACEBOOK

I've started a new polymer clay group over on Facebook and it's already growing by leaps and bounds. If you enjoy creating with polymer clay, whether it's a business or hobby for you, please consider coming over and joining us!

Designing With Polymer Clay

CHANGING THINGS AROUND A BIT

When I started this blog, my intention was for it to be about sculpting with polymer clay and needle felting, as well as a means to promote my own artwork. Since then it's evolved into a bit of a free-for-all!

I want to get back to my original intentions for this blog. So I've moved my Creative Adventures posts to a new blog, The Adventures of an Artful Dreamer. I will use this blog to chart my journey on my Creative Adventure.

This blog will return to being about polymer clay art, with occasional posts devoted to needle felting, a new interest I've been hoping to devote more time to.

Friday, January 15, 2010

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY

OK, this is my first ever Illustration Friday participation. The theme for this week is WILDERNESS. Well, using this definition:

wilderness

1. a wild and uncultivated region, as of forest or desert, uninhabited or inhabited only by wild animals;

my jungle piece fits the definition. :o)

This is an older piece and obviously the one I use for my blog's banner. This was created with colored polymer clay on an 11x14" piece of glass.



This piece was inspired by the work of my all-time favorite children's book illustrator, Barbara Reid.

Monday, January 11, 2010

MOTIVATIONAL MONDAY

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.
-Robert Collier


To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first.
-William Shakespeare

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.
Confucius


Sometimes it sure feels like those small efforts aren't getting us anywhere, doesn't it? Or, that we're not just going at a slow and steady pace, but damn near standing still! Those times can be frustrating.

It's like when we were kids and we were traveling some place with our parents, and it felt like we'd been in the car forever. We ask of our weary parents again and again, "Are we there yet?" And again and again, the answer is a disheartening, "No".

About a year ago, I got this strong desire to write a romance novel. It started on a lark. I've mentioned here before about National Novel Writers Month, better known as NaNoWriMo. This is an online event that takes place every November, and the idea is to try to write a 50,000 word novel in the space of 30 days. My daughter, Caitlin, wanted to do it, and she talked me into doing it with her for moral support.

Well, I didn't write 50,000 words by the end of November. I did, however, write over 30,000 and came away with an idea for a romance novel that I love and really want to finish.

I've never written a novel before, romance or otherwise. So what qualifies me to write one now? Absolutely nothing, but the sheer desire and determination I have to do so.

I've had to learn and relearn a lot about writing and I'm finding the challenge to be quite fascinating and enjoyable. But, I do struggle at times with feeling like I'm really not getting anywhere.

When we look at a goal that seems so far out of reach, it's easy to lose sight of the steps we've already taken on our journey towards it. It feels like there's still so far to go, like we've been traveling forever, and we're just not getting anywhere. This is why we need to celebrate each step we take in the direction of our goal, no matter how small. Each one is bringing us closer and closer to our dream come true.

Looking at it as a whole, writing a novel is a daunting project. Writing ten pages seems a whole lot more doable. Writing just ten pages feels a very long way off from writing a 400 page novel. But, as we all know, ten pages on top of ten pages, on top of ten more pages will one day add up to 400 pages.

The key is in not getting discouraged and giving up. It's easier to keep going if we remember to celebrate all the steps we've already taken along the way. Soon enough, the distance we still have to go will be much shorter than the distance we've already gone.

Just like on those long road trips with Mom and Dad. Soon you start seeing those billboards announcing that your destination is getting near, and before you know it, you've arrived and the elation you feel is worth all the frustration and boredom you sometimes felt along the way.

Keep on keeping on. :o)

P.S. I'm not even worrying about what I'm going to do with the romance novel when I finish it. My only goal at the moment is FINISHING it. ;o)

Monday, January 04, 2010

Motivational Monday



“To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don't worry about the darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest.”
Author Unknown

“The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.”
Earl Nightingale

Since we're setting off on a creative journey, and each of us has to find their own path to our dreams, I wanted to share the two quotes above.

I do believe that as we set out on the journey towards our dreams, the path does become clearer as we go along. Although, there are times when I would give just about anything for a GPS or a tour guide! But, for many of our dreams, there are no road maps. So we have to forge our own path, little by little.

It can be hard to take those first steps towards your dream when it's something you've never done before, and you're uncertain of how to proceed. What you can try to do is to break the goal down into smaller, more manageable steps.

For example, when I made up my mind that I wanted to do a craft book on working with polymer clay, I had no idea how to go about doing that. But, what I could do was to look at similar clay books, and learn to break my own projects down into steps, and write up instructions outlining those steps - or step outs, as they're called. So that, by the time I was asked to do a book, I was prepared to do so.

So when you look at the dreams you have, the things you would like to accomplish - is there one thing you could do right now that would bring you one step closer to that dream? That's how we get to where we want to go. One step at a time. :o)

Sunday, January 03, 2010

BEGINNING THE CREATIVE ADVENTURE

Today kicks off the Creating Dreams Come True Adventure and our first assignment is to make a list of our dreams and post it online. Andrea suggested we list 100 or more small, medium, and large dreams, but I'm choosing to focus specifically on my dreams for 2010. I believe nothing is more powerful than focused energy, so I would rather focus my energy on specific dreams for 2010, rather than dissipate it by trying to focus on too much at once. But, that's me. Everyone has to do this program in the way they feel will work best for them. So, here's my list for 2010:

  • To focus more than ever on my writing, both fiction and non-fiction
  • To finish the romance novel I'm writing
  • To create tutorials on sculpting that I will make available for sale
  • To get more free publicity for my artwork in the form of articles on blogs and in publications
  • To continue to build my illustration portfolio
  • To redesign my website
  • To regain my blog following and reach even more people
  • To create more videos for You Tube
  • To do more needle felting, along with my clay sculpture
  • To USE my airbrushes on a regular basis
  • To learn to work more with digital art
  • To license my artwork
  • To travel more - this year to Ireland and Scotland, land of my ancestors
  • To take more time to expand and enjoy my social life
  • To take better care of myself

I'll probably add more as I go along, but this is plenty to get me started on the new year. :o)

I didn't want to lose the lovely comments I received when I moved this post here, so I copied and pasted them. Hope nobody minds.
Carrie Anspach said...

Hello Ginny!

I'm on the creative adventure as well and I love you list! I love your focused energy concept and I look forward to seeing all these dreams and more come true for you this year!

roz said...

Happy New Year, Ginny. I think I'll hop in your bag when you head to Ireland and Scotland. I am half British and desperate to go back for a visit. I was actually married in Scotland. Edinburgh.
Hope you're settling in well to your new digs. It's so funny to me that we were both in Vegas and now in the Mid West.

ABCcreativity said...

great list ginny!

yes we all have to do everything in whatever way feels right for us :)

Redheaded Stepchild said...

I look forward to seeing you and the rest of us creative dreamers fulfill our dream goals!

Ginny Baker said...

Thanks ladies! I'm off to respond to each of you on your own blogs. :o)


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