Christmas 2013 - Ornament Swaps

Despite my swearing that I was not going to take on any swaps last year, I managed to find time in between baby showers and baby blankets to join in on two yearly ornament swaps. I have no idea what possessed me, other than a desire to "hang with the gang" - I love these swaps and challenges and I just couldn't resist. I belong to two amazing Facebook Groups - Artist Sharing Art and the Art Doll Artist groups. Both have annual swaps, and I couldn't join one without the other - so, I did both. Here is the result of those commitments: Artist Sharing Art - I love this group. Its run by Patrick Gill of Cre8tors Touch, and I really look forward to participating in what ever swaps or challenges he announces. For this one, we were to do a vintage card, pick out 3 elements and create ornnaments, unlike last year where a card was chosen for us. Left to my own devices, of course, I had to seek out a gnome to help me out with the inspiration, and found this adorable card:

I created one of the gnome bakers, and the couple on top of the cake. The figures are made of polymer clay over wire armatures, and are all gently poseable. I used felt for the bakers clothes and gauze cotton for his apron. The jester (Punch - who else could he be?) is also dressed in felt. The girl doll is dressed in a cotton dress that I actually used my sewing machine for. I went to YouTube for turorials on making minature fruit cakes to create the cake the baker carries - the powdered sugar on top was created using a product called Snow Writer and I think it worked wonderfully. Here they are - I had a lot of fun making them and hope they are doing well in their new home:

 The other swap I did was for the Art Doll Artists - they require participation in at least one swap/challenge per year to maintain membership, which is not just reasonable, but is actually a good practice to avoid having a group with 250696838 members, non of which actually contribute. I was happy to meet my obligation in this swap. I chose a candy cane elf and here he is. First, the sketch as this was an original design. I created him out of Creative Paper Clay, dressed him in felt, made his candy canes out of polymer clay and appliqued and embroidered his candy cane bag. A few sequins and beads, and he was ready to send off. I get a lot of satisfaction out of these swaps - I hope that whoever receives my projects feels lucky to have them, as I feel lucky to be able to create them.

And there you have it - my two swaps for 2013. Happy New Year to all!!