Dogs in my head.

Lately I have been modeling dogs, and they are coming out looking like dogs!
The eyes are made 42 hours before. A cone shaped white clay is moldeled and baked, after cooled the eye is painted, and clear casting epoxy is used to make the clear part of the eye. The idea was from this site, if you need step by step: realistic doll eyes by Aimee.
Then the dog is shaped using polymer clay, and a lot of pictures and imagination.
Here are my dogs if you need inspiration, or you can visit my Etsy store called "I made for you with love", to see if they are available.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I learned that Thanksgiving is a day to celebrate family, and to be thankful for what you have.
Since my family is far far away (and my husband was at work), I decided to have a fun and relaxed day with my two kids, eat cookies and watch the parade on TV. And all the conversations about food, and recipes, inspired me to make these little miniatures in polymer clay. After baked, I covered them in clear cast epoxy, to give the glossy finish.

But the perfect table decoration was the little projects brought from school.

And our holiday was quick and quiet, and it was perfect. Because they are all I need, and that is what I am thankful, every single day.

Thank You Miss Kathy!

Choosing where you leave your children while you go to work, 2 hours away, with no emergency contact, is a tough situation. But I was very lucky to find Carousel Day School, that would stay with my kindergartener in the morning, drive him to public school, pick him up, keep him until evening, plus watch my youngest son all day. And in these past 4 years, we always could count on the school manager Miss Kathy. Before 7AM she was opening the school, waiting for the staff, but always stopped to hold my crying baby while I sneaked out to work. She even stayed with them almost 3 hours after closing, in a day that the trains wouldn't run and we were stuck in the city.
Now I am getting ready to stay more at home, so I won't need to take them there anymore.
But not without acknowledging the great people at Carousel, and especially Miss Kathy, who deserves the biggest HUG I can ever give.
And since is winter, and the holidays are here, I made a little miss Kathy in clay.

This way she can remember every year how grateful we are, and how important she is to every child that comes to her.
I see it every time.
We love you Miss Kathy.

Cookies Ninja Style.

I just thought this was the greatest idea! When I saw the box of Ninjabread Cookie Mix, I just had to have it!
I found it in my favorite place to buy plants, Hicks Nursery, but I came across these unusual gingerbreads, and they were too cute that I couldn't leave behind.
For those who don't want to go all the way there, I found a link here: Amazon Ninjabread Cookie Mix.
They come with everything, and the instructions are very easy.

My kids had a blast making them.

The photo shoot was even more fun.

And they tasted great!

Happy Birthday, Karen!

It is always hard to pull a surprise birthday party for someone. Trying to do it in a busy day, at work, for your manager, is even harder.
But with the help of all secretive people who I work with (not really), we were able to surprise Karen. Jenn and Karen (number 2) had the idea of making a hamburger cake, because that is what the birthday lady loves.
Since I am not a great baker, I volunteered our friend Gillian to bake it.
A few days before, I made the filling decoration, that would be the lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese. Very easy, all made from candy clay (click the name for the recipe), which is basically white chocolate.
For the cake, Gillian baked a 8 inch round cake the night before (night meaning she sent me this picture when I was in bed).

So after her night of labor and a broken oven, she was able to make the perfect cake. After I had a full night sleep, she brought it to work in the morning. All I had to do was sliced it into 3 parts. The middle layer I covered with her icing tinted with brown food coloring to make the burger patty (by the way, I can't supply he recipes of the cake or icing because I am still waiting for them). Then placed all the lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and remaining of the white icing to be the mayonnaise.
Last I used fondant tinted with copper color food coloring, to cover the top part to make the bun. The little sesame seeds are also small pieces of fondant.
I say it was great team work, and Karen enjoyed it!

Little Karen.

I found out I can only create something new when I have the person I am making for in mind (if I have no purpose, nothing comes out of my head).
My manager of nearly 14 years had her birthday a week ago, and we decided to have a little celebration at work. My co- workers prepared a little feast of desserts, so all I had to make was a topper for a cake. And that made me excited.
Since I only know how to make baby faces and animals, I decided to make her as a child.
I grabbed my polymer clay and started working from top to bottom. The eyes were prepared before using liquid acrylic.


Until little Karen was finished, surrounded by animals she helps.

And she is for you Karen. I hope you remember me when you see her.

Thanksgiving is Coming.

My last project was little name tags to place on plates, for a Thanksgiving dinner. They were all made from polymer clay, and the names were painted after baked,using acrylic gold paint and a fine paint brush.


And let the holidays begin!!!

Rocket Man.

Meeting a real astronaut is not a everyday event, and it is every little kid's dream. So when my husband heard about the book signing of An Astronaut's Guide to Life, and the chance to meet Col. Chis Hadfield, he jumped and wanted to be first in line.
We first started following him on Facebook when he was out in space, sending beautiful pictures of our planet, from all different continents, sharing his rocket ship window view.
So to show our appreciation, we wanted to make a little gift for him, made of polymer clay.
.
And the guitar is a detail that people wouldn't imagine, but he plays and sings, and here is his video from the International Space Station.Space Oddity.
And also this other music video, he sings from the Space Station with the Barenaked Ladies via satelite: Is Somebody Singing.
Who else can do that?
And Marcelo came back even more excited! He arrived there 3 hours before, and had a chance to speak to Mrs Hadfield, who was extremely nice. He handed her the little package, and waited in line to get his book signed.

Coolest moment in life!
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
So for our great surprise, less than 2 days after Marcelo handed Mrs Hadfield our gift, Col. Hadfield posted the picture of my little astronaut on his Facebook page!
And this is what he wrote: "Good morning! With the extra hour's sleep of the time change, I hereby present my doppelganger instead. "
And to see all the positive responses for my little figurine, that was/is the biggest confidence booster I ever had!
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
And not only because he is an astronaut, but our admiration grew even more when we learned how hard it was to achieve his dream, and how he acknowledges that it was possible thanks to his wife's support. It gives us comfort and strength for us to continue our journey.