{"id":10905,"date":"2017-01-02T12:08:40","date_gmt":"2017-01-02T17:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/keepsakecrafts.net\/blog\/?p=10905"},"modified":"2018-10-12T14:22:12","modified_gmt":"2018-10-12T18:22:12","slug":"2016-year-in-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keepsakecrafts.net\/blog\/2017\/01\/02\/2016-year-in-review\/","title":{"rendered":"2016 Year In Review-Polymer Clay Tutorials, Fairy Gardens & Swirly Lentils"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a short little video I made for you looking back on all of the tutorials I’ve created in 2016. It’s kind of amazing to think that it’s been a year since I finished my dragon challenge, as the habits I developed over that year I have served me well this year. I learned to be more disciplined, to work at my art whether I feel like it or not, and to make it a priority.<\/p>\n

\"Dragon<\/a><\/p>\n

I really love making polymer clay tutorial videos for you all! As I mentioned in the video, I added a third weekly video to my YouTube channel<\/a> in February. What I didn’t mention was that in August I realized making three a week was just too much. So now I’m back down to two per week, alternating weeks (more or less) with polymer clay and jewelry videos, but always with a Friday Findings video every week.<\/p>\n

One hundred thirty seven videos is a LOT and I hope you all have enjoyed them. Let me know in the comments if there are any that stand out to you as particular favorites.<\/p>\n

\"swirly<\/p>\n

I also created one class for CraftArtEdu.com this year, my Gradient Swirly Lentils Necklace class. This is a fun polymer technique that can be quite addictive. I strongly suggest if you enjoy polymer clay tutorials that you get on  CraftArtEdu.com’s email newsletter list as they regularly send out coupon codes for 30, 40 and sometimes 50% off their classes.<\/p>\n

Another thing I was really pleased to do this year was create tutorials for fairy garden accessories for Polymer Caf\u00e9 magazine.<\/p>\n

\"March<\/a><\/p>\n

They kicked off my series with the March\/April issue in which my fairy garden birdbath was featured on the cover! That was quite a thrill.<\/p>\n

Update:<\/strong><\/p>\n

*** This tutorial is now available as a downloadable PDF at my Etsy shop:<\/strong><\/em> Fairy Garden Birdbath<\/a><\/p>\n

\"fairy<\/a><\/p>\n

I then went on to make five other fairy garden accessory tutorials, concluding with the fairy garden bridge in the January\/February 2017 issue. If you’d like to learn how to make these but don’t have a subscription to Polymer Caf\u00e9 or can’t get the back issues, keep an eye out because I will be releasing them as individual downloadable PDF tutorials, once the rights revert back to me (about 18 months after publication.)<\/p>\n

Update:<\/strong><\/p>\n

*** These tutorials are now available as downloadable PDFs at my Etsy shop:<\/strong><\/em> Keepsake Crafts Create<\/a><\/p>\n

\"fairy<\/a><\/p>\n

I already have one out for sale, my Fairy Garden House<\/a>.  The Vines and Flowers Pen PDF<\/a> is also now available. AND there’s a video tutorial for the matching pen stand<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"clay<\/a>
Dolly from Maureen Carlson’s How to Make Clay Characters, cat-because he’s a cat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One thing I put in my 2015 looking back and looking ahead article a year ago was that I wanted to do more figure sculpting. Sadly I have only managed to do a grand total of ONE figure this year, this little dolly from Maureen Carlson’s How to Make Clay Characters<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I really have a strong desire to do figures expressing relationships, emotion and interactions and have been studying the work of other artists to see what resonates with me.<\/p>\n

My Pinterest board Doll & Figure Inspiration-Polymer Clay<\/a> shows the direction my interests & tastes take.<\/p>\n

\"pinterest<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking of which, if you follow my Pinterest boards<\/a> I have recently separated out the dragons and figures from my Inspiration-Polymer Clay board<\/a>, adding two more boards:<\/p>\n