Where did the year go?

It is hard to believe that a whole year has passed since I have even posted on this blog. It has been a crazy busy year but so many good things are happening. We started and finished our first year of Polymer Clay Adventure virtual retreat and it turned out to be the biggest polymer clay event in the world! How amazing is that! We had more than 1000 attendees in the first year and now we have launched year two. I am looking forward to another awesome year full of fun.

This year we also have some new and exciting things planned and are launching a whole other part of our business. Now that Kira has been able to quit her day job and devote her time to our business it opens up so many other possibilities. Stay tuned for more about that but meanwhile get on the list to be notified of whats up and coming. http://www.createalong.com

Here is a fairly recent pic of me since I don't think I have one on the site and you might be wondering who is this Ilysa Ginsburg person. LOL I am going to try to share more here on Emerald Earth this year I have so much going on and I want to share it all with you so I hope you will check back in to see whats up next. Have a happy, healthy new year!
Hugs,
Ilysa

A Passion for Creating with Polymer Clay

I was surprised to see my last post was back in November life has been quite an adventure since then. The first ever polymer clay and mixed media virtual retreat has launched with a huge success. We have almost 1000 attendees to this first year virtual retreat. Yes I did say virtual meaning we are all online and all around the world coming together because of our passion for polymer clay.

When my biz partner Kira and I dreamt up this event we never knew it would morph into something  as big as this in the first year, it has been such a blessing and so rewarding to see our almost 8 years of work and dedication to sharing polymer clay with the world come together in such a successful event that people all over the world can enjoy.

Lets face it attending retreats are expensive and not everyone can afford to attend one. Many people also have mobility issues, family and work obligations and just can't travel. So we wanted to have an event that all those things were not an issue and I think we pulled that off and we are going strong. There are 22 teachers this year and 2 classes are released each month. It's been great getting to know everyone around the world and interact with them via the community forum. Everyone has so much to share it is a wonderful experience and new friends are being made. If you want to check it out you can do so at this link.
http://www.polymerclayadventure.com

We are already planning the 2016 event so this will be a yearly event. We hope that you will join us on this wild adventure we are creating memories of a lifetime!

We wanted to bring awareness back to the Bottle of Hope program which is a program where polymer clay artists create bottles to give to cancer patients. So we decided to host a BOH challenge and get the public involved in making bottles for this wonderful cause. You can check it out at this link.
http://craftylink.ning.com/bottles-of-hope-contest-submissions

I created a video showing how to make a Bottle of Hope if you would like to get started creating your own. Enjoy!

Announcing the Bottles of Hope 2015 challenge

Announcing the Bottles of Hope 2015 challenge! We have contributed to the Bottles of Hope program for many years and noticed that there has not been as much awareness of the program lately and we wanted to change that. So we are hosting the 2015 Bottles of Hope challenge with lots of prizes to be won. Find out how to get involved and have a chance to win some fabulous prizes too.
http://craftylink.ning.com/get-involved/polymer-clay-adventure/boh

Easy Tags for your luggage and studio organization

This month the challenge was on, we received a box of goodies that I really had to put my thinking cap on. Since I am not a paper crafter my mind doesn't usually think this way but I wanted a way to utilize paper in my designs so I decided to create some tags. First I created a luggage tag using the Deflecto flexible pouches, it was super easy to do and you can create them to go with your luggage or to stand out so you can easily spot it as it comes down the conveyor belt. Of course my luggage is a little colorful anyway but I think the tag stands out even better because of it.

We received these wonderful organizational bins that I adore but if I cram a lot of things in there it can be harder to find things and let me tell you I am a crammer.LOL So I thought why not create some tags to label each bin. These super grip sign holders are just that when you stick them to something they are not coming off easily which I love!

I have to say my favorite new thing is being able to see my stencils and hanging them makes it so easy to find what I am looking for. To see more details on all of the products I used please visit Deflecto's website at http://www.deflecto.com

Come on an adventure with us, a polymer clay adventure that is...

In case you haven't heard about the first ever polymer clay and mixed media adventure called polymer Clay Adventure I want to share a little about how it has come together. Over a year ago Kira my business partner and I decided we wanted to host a retreat that anyone, anywhere in the entire world with access to a computer could attend. Let's face it retreats can be expensive, with travel, the cost of the retreat, babysitters, time off from work and the family etc. can really set you back a pretty penny. We wanted everyone to be able to enjoy the community aspect where everyone gets to know each other and to be able to learn from their favorite artists without breaking the bank.

 After a ton of planning which is still going on we were able to pull it off.we gathered 22 super talented artists together from all over the world and will be introducing the first year long retreat which you can attend from the comfort of your home. There will be 2 new classes every month, there will be interviews and pajama parties and live chats and demos and so much more! This is going to be some serious fun! You will get all 24 classes and all of the events for only $99. I know that sounds impossible but it's true, we have far exceeded our expectations and as of this writing we have almost 500 people from all around the world attending. The event doesn't kick off until January 1,2015 so we expect there will be many more people joining us.

 So how do we think we can pull it off? Kira and I met online 8 years ago and we have never lived closer than 350 miles form each other almost everything we have done we have done virtually. We have learned the ins and outs of producing online video, communicating online, chatting and recording video online and so on. We have learned what works and what doesn't, we have learned how to make things user friendly and easily accessible, we have learned the best way to communicate and share online and now we are sharing it with the world. Don't get me wrong it's a huge undertaking but we have no doubts we can do it and do it great! Heck I think the hardest thing so far was convincing the teachers that we could pull it off. We are so happy many of them could see our vision and decided to join us. We know it will be an amazing adventure. So how can you join us?
Hop on over to http://www.polymerclayadventure.com and you can read all the details, we even have videos you can watch too. It will definitely be a year of creative inspiration and we hope you will join us. Hope to see you on the adventure!

Organizing is a breeze with these Deflecto products and a great way to store your extruder discs too!

I built my dream art studio last October and I am still working on organization, its been slow going considering how much stuff I have. I had plenty of my own stuff but I also inherited my moms 30+ years of collections as well. So you can imagine how much stuff I have. I am a member of the Deflecto design team and Deflecto makes some awesome organization products. I have a ton of clay cutters and had been storing them in plastic bags and had to sort through all the bags to find what I wanted. Let me tell you it was a pain in the neck so boy was I glad to get these organizational products to work with.

The black round one with the stackable bins is the Lazy susan design, I love how easy it is to find my cutters as the bins are all clear and I can spin it around to see them all. There are also stackable cubes that many people have used for dies and embossing plates. I used mine for molds and tools. There are also cubes with drawers and I have some of my metal stamps in them along with sponges.

The bins on the right are also awesome for organizing, I use them to store my liquid clay, molds, cutters and dye ink. They have one with a larger bin which is on the bottom and one that the bins are smaller which is on the top. They stack or mount on the wall, since I like to change things around all of the time I decided not to mount mine at the moment. There are so many options for these bins and I loved seeing all of this stuff that was just laying around now so neat and organized.

Deflecto also makes magnetic sheets which I was going to print out our logo on as little giveaways but my printer would not grab the sheets it kept telling me I had to add paper, lets just say it's a touchy printer.LOL  I wanted a way to keep my extruder discs neatly organized but easily accessible and easy to find so I thought how great would it be to place them on the magnetic sheet and it worked like a charm. I hope these give you some ideas for organizing your space. It feels so good when you can actually find what you are looking for and it looks so much nicer than disorganization!

 

Meet your Polymer Clay Adventure Teachers

So I told you the other day we are hosting the first ever virtual Polymer Clay & Mixed Media Art Retreat, Polymer Clay Adventure and there are 22 teachers involved. We will be showcasing all of them through a series of videos. This will give you a chance to get to know their work a little better. Enjoy!