Bottles of Hope and other Clay Projects

 four generic bottles for men or women

Have you ever heard of the Bottles of Hope?  I made these a while back and they have been sent out or give to various cancer patients.  Just last week I uploaded them pictures with the intent to show them to my readers.  Today I was over at Lori's blog, My Wooden Spoon, where she has a post regarding Glad To Give.

 Dino bottle made special for a little boy

Because of Lori's post, I have decided to go ahead and get this post written. And if you visit My Wooden Spoon you can enter to win a $500 gift card, that she hopes you will use for giving.

My bottles are not as beautiful as those on the Bottles of Hope site, but I hope those whom have received them have gained a bit of hope from having them.

It has been a while since I have played with my polymer clay and my hands are itching to get back to it.  I have dreams of expanding my polymer clay art, and create much more beautiful items.  But like anything else, you get better with practice.

silver and white mokume gane cane covered empty chicken egg

black and white clay covered chicken egg

My clay work is not even close to other clay artist, but I had fun creating these items.  I love making the chicken eggs,  I put glass beads inside so that when you pick them up then rattle.  I have found that clay items beg to be touched, handled, and picked up.

fire breathing dragon

mother and child monkeys

I learned how to make the monkeys from one of the many Carol Duvall shows that was on HGTV at one time.  Sure miss watching your shows each day, Carol!

I am hoping when I can finally get back to my clay, to play, that I will eventually have some of the beautiful items that I vision in my head and many jotted down on paper, to show you.  But in the mean time I hope you have enjoyed these few items.

Hope you all have a wonderful creative and giving day,

BrendaLea

Day 26 of 29 - Day Giving Challenge

Today I have a pair of colorful earrings for you that I created. I made them by making my own polymer clay cane. With Spring around the corner, these earrings are perfect. The colors are bright and cheerful and they hang from sterling silver french hooks, and have a purple glass crackle bead dangling at the bottom.

To be entered to win today's gift, leave a comment here on this post. If you do not have your e-mail address in your profile, please leave it in the comment, so that if you win, I will be able to contact you.

And remember, you too can start your own challenge, your own 29 - Day Giving Challenge and reap the wonderful feeling and benefits of challenging yourself to give, just like I have. To learn more just go to the 29 Gifts: Challenge website. Give a little each day - make a big impact!

note: to see a larger image of the earrings, just click on the picture

Day 14 of 29 - Day Giving Challenge

Today I have something a bit different for you. It's another one of my polymer clay creations. Nothing too fancy, but a bit fun. And you get to choose which one you want. Maybe you have a first or last name that starts with a "C" or "G". And if not, maybe you know someone that does..... then you can do your own 29-Day Giving Challenge. Or possibly you collect clowns or giraffes. Which ever it is.... it's your choice today. These can be used as ornaments, or hang them from a nail on your wall, or run a ribbon through the loop and hang it on your door knob.

Leave a message on this post to be enter to win one of these cute characters.

Day 11 of 29 - Day Giving Challenge -BONUS DAY

Do you like jewelry?


I know that I do. Especially if it is hand made. Such as that by Danica of Harmony Jewelry Designs, Jewelry For Any Occasions (and come back tomorrow as there will be a give-a-way of a gorgeous bracelet by Danica... as well as my day 12 give-a-way). I digress....


Today's give-a-way as well as the next few will involve jewelry made by me, BrendaLea. And today's is a mixed-media polymer clay pin/broach. It is made with polymer clay, chicken wire, wire, paint, and glass beads. Sorry about the picture not being clearer. Guess I need to get a tripod. Included with today's give-a-way is a sandwich cutter or crust remover, called Sweetbytes, as an added bonus. It's a dishwasher safe, unique crust and sandwich cutter that would have been perfect for Valentine's Day, but would be nice to show your love any day of the year.

Remember to tell your friends, as there will be a special double give-a-way tomorrow and the next few will be for unique one-of-a-kind jewelry. And if you post about my give-a-way on your blog or website, please leave me a message so that you will be in the special drawing at the end of my 29-Day Giving Challenge.

Day 9 of 29-Day Giving Challenge

Do you make dolls? Do you like to use body parts in your collage work? Do you like to work with clay (polymer clay, that is)? Have you ever wanted to try polymer clay?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you need to sign up for today's give-a-way. Today we have a polymer clay mold and clay. I didn't show the clay as it will be a surprise. But there will be at least 4 packages of clay to go with the hand mold, and maybe another surprise or two!

This hand mold was designed my Maureen Carlson in 1993. She is an excellent polymer clay artist, as is Christi Friesen, who has recently started working with polymer clay and mixed media together, with some amazing results. Maureen has several books out and they are all wonderful. I personally own a couple of them.

Anyhow, if you are interesteed leave a comment on this post to be intered to win. And spread the word..... this 29-Day Giving Challenge is awesome and I would love to see it grow even more. I orignally found out about this via Chrysti's blog, Art by Chrysti. Check it out, she is still in the process of her give-a-way.

And now for a few updates.

• Day 1: I gave a friend some food items that she needed to make dinner for her and her Daughter. She was hungry for potato salad and I had the fixins' for it and this prevented her from having the go to the grocery store.
• Day 2: I got on eBay some cutting mats for my oldest Sisters Cricut machine.
• Day 4: Helped my Grandson with his homework.
• Mailed off one dozen hand made birds nest for wildlife rescue of baby birds and rabbits.
• Let my cleaning lady leave early.
• Helped a friend search for a mannequin on eBay.
• Working on an afghan for my Sister for her Daughter who is due to have a baby in July.
• Mailed off crocheted nest to North Carolina. These are for squirrels and opossums.
• Still working on making more nest. I try to get one x-large one done a day or several smaller ones.
• Mailed a very good friend a birthday card.
• Visited a friend I had not seen for a while.
• Called a friend in Alaska.
• E-mailed my Brother.
• Sent a Congratulations card to my friend for her new Grandson.
• I sent a 'thank you' card to a church that helped me a few weeks ago with food.

And in return, I have received:

• My lower denture broke and my Sister paid to have it fixed.
• I won 7 gifts during the One World-One Heart Event.
• I won a bracelet from Danica, at Harmony Jewelry Designs.
• I've received a beautiful red lace heart and Valentine card in the mail yesterday.
• A dear friend called me yesterday.
• When I thought I was out of money this month for groceries, I received some money that was owed to me. So I was able to buy more groceries.

So you see, the 29-Day Giving Challenge does work! Give it a try!

Day 7 of 29-Day Challenge

Happy Valentine's Day!

Do you work with polymer clay? Do you bake cookies? Do you like to make pressed paper sculptures (I think that is what it is called)....ya know... where you take thin layers of damp paper and press it into a mold. Or maybe you like to decorate your kitchen with kitchen utensils? And here is one more question.... maybe you collect Pampered Chef products?

Well if you answered yes to one or more of the above questions, then you need to leave a comment here on this post to be entered to win today's gift, my gift for the 29-Day Giving Challenge.

This brand new Pampered Chef cookie mold. It's in a heart shape (as you can clearly see) and it has the design of fruit...looks like pears, grapes, and maybe apples and oranges.

Perfect item being that today is Valentine's Day!

Please help me spread the word.... about my challenge* here, and the 29-Day Giving Challenge blog. You can help by telling your family, friends, and blog buddies. I really want these gifts to go to good homes.

* It's my challenge to give something, anything, big or small away at least once a day for 29 days in a row. And since I don't get out much, due to health reasons, I need your help in spreading the word so that I can reach this goal I have set for myself. Please.

Still Plugging Away Trying to Get this Computer Set-up

Been very busy trying to get everything set up on this new computer...

It's not been easy, and I am getting closer. Then today I had Cable Internet hooked-up and boy it has been wonderful having it work so much faster. I love it! My Grandson, Conner, sure will be surprised when he comes over to see the cable internet. He will be ecstatic as his on-line games will work so much better.

Now I need to start getting some pictures uploaded on here so that it will be more interesting. I'm going to start off with some polymer clay pictures if I can figure that much out.


These are some bottles I made for the Bottles of Hope program. But I actually donated mine to a different Bottles of Hope program but for the life of me I can not remember the link as it has been some years back. I no longer have them as they have been distributed to various people. These were made several years ago, and were some of the first bottles I've made.

The bottle on the right is supposed to be an Iris. Not the best representation, but I tried.
This was a set of green bottles that I made. I recently won a huge Polymer Clay Cruise Gift Pack (no I did not go on a cruise, but wish I could afford to as it has always been my dream to go on one) via a contest that I found in the PolymerCAFE' magazine that was given via American Art Clay.

This package of goodies (maybe I can get a picture of the majority of the items as some of them I have already put away, but most are still in the box they arrived in) has inspired me to get my hands back in the clay. It was an awesome set of goodies that added up to atleast $278! I received it just before Christmas and it was one of the best Christmas gift I got, except for the Samsung Camera that my Sister, Terry, got me this year. I love that camera.