Reindeer Remnants

Some cookies never made it to the cookie trays this year. Without my daughter helping me, I ruined a whole batch of reindeer cookies because they were under done. Those poor, poor cookies.

Merry Happy Jolly

We wish you and yours PEACE

This was among the first photo ornaments I made for our tree.  It's Joe goofing off on our first Christmas together.  My favorite from that batch!

Holiday Cookies

Here is your virtual tray of cookies from me to you.  There are the perennial favorites as well as some newbies.  The box below tells what each cookie is.  My daughter usually helps me, but working 12 hour shifts at the U of U Hospital and nursing prerequisite classes kept her busy this year.  We create a theme for the cutout cookies because they are the stars of the show.  The baking take about 3 days.  We do them each year for our family and friends. Peace is the theme for this year.  Have some!

We use the old Wiltion recipe for the cutouts.  They added more flour a few years ago.  The old recipe uses 2 3/4 cups which can be tricky in the handling, but stays very buttery tasting even to the last roll out.   We decorate with royal icing which dries very hard.  The reindeer is everyone's favorite.  Janice helped me bring character to them with those awesome eyes.  She's a wonderful cartoonist!  Below are her designs for the tropical Christmas theme we did a few years ago.  

That was a turning point for our process.  Folks so loved the different designs that it uped our game AND our enjoyment of the process. 

 

It is not in the nature of artists to produce the same thing over and over.  It's so much fun to begin the design challenge!  Blue crabs for Christmas is a Maryland thing.

 

My favorite art professor told me that art begins with a problem and ends with a solution.  That's how we approach a theme - we ask "What if.."  Then the fun begins.

 Once we decide on a theme, Janice starts sketching.  She's learned the basic decorating from me, but she doesn't have my patience.  She'll do the first one, then I do the basics and she'll go behind me to do details. 

 

 We look for new recipes to try and edit our collections accordingly.

  

 The year we did these cookies, we were all about bling.  We wanted to use melted candy accents where ever we could.

 

 They were lovely, but found that the "work to looks to taste" factors was out of balance.

 

 The Christmas Margarita was inspired.  I was psyched to use this cookie cutter!

 

I can't resist buying a new cookie cutter!  I always check them at the craft and kitchen stores.  I have a separate set in my studio to use with clay media.

 

Sometimes you can use a generic shape, like the one above to make a cool new design!  
This year I made extra reindeer.  I was flying through them so fast that I had a whole pan that was underdone.  I lost half of them trying to move them off the tray.  Normally that's not a problem, I would set them aside for Hubby to eat.  But the carnage was so great that I just went with it. Sooo, Janice got a tray of roadkill cookies, from one warped soul to another.  She gets me.

 

We finally started keeping a cookie book last year.  We hope to hand it down to the next generation of cookie makers.

Crazy Aunt Candy Wants YOU!

The Cool2Craft Creative Play Theme for This month is "What's Your Word?" What are your plans for next year? What do you want to attract, practice and create in your life? Spoiler alert!!! In January I'll be asking you to send me a photo of a "crown" that represents your word for the new year. It could be a real crown, a drawing/painting/sculpture or other any other representation of the "crown" you'll be donning for 2012!

When I'm in my studio, I feel like a mad scientist.  To my family, I'm crazy Aunt Candy toiling away long into the night!  Sounds of hammering, the roar of my heat tool, inspired shrieks and maniacal laughter waft upstairs.  I am in my element.
When I'm upstairs in the "real" world, I'm less at ease - shy and quiet actually.  That's why my word for 2012 is HARMONY!  I crave more than balance; I crave harmonious integration!  I want to be graceful in social situations.  I want to sing myself into BEING!
I hope you'll join me in this journey and declare your intentions for the coming year!  Email me so I can post your declaration!

The Mike and Candy Show Chocolate Box

 

My latest chocolate box art piece represents my brother's and my inner musical natures.  It's full of family symbolism and love!

We come from a musical family.  Mom was professionally trained and our brother, Steve worked as a musician. My brother Mike has always played guitar and we have always sung.  But we hadn't sung together in 3 + decades until a few years back when we moved close to Mike and his lovely family, as well as my parents.  Suddenly there was music again!

I used polymer clay skeletons to represent us because that's an important part of the chocolate box pieces for me - the inside of the box is the hidden treasure laid bare.  It's the inside story.
The bejeweled chocolates are polymer clay and there are some small details that represent our family.  My mom's pewter bird pins are all about our shared love of nature - Mike is especially fond of birds just like Mom.  I set in some small clay beads I made, pearl beads from our grandma's broken jewelry collection and one of a pair of earrings that Dad brought back from Okinawa for Mom.  The three smiling faced chocolates represent Mom, Dad and Steve.
The Mike and Candy Show is the name I list our music under on YouTube.  Click here to hear one of my favorites!

My Thanksgiving Tea Party

I collaborated with two dear friends to present a Thanksgiving feast alternative.  Herbalist, Candace Liccione and Chef Debbi Dubbs helped me come up with a fabulous and intimate gathering for a small group of family and friends.  Featured on Cool2Craft TV.

Click here to watch Chef Debbi's kabocha soup video and recipe

Click here to watch the invitation video tutorial

I Did Not Start My Day This Way! Interactive Art

Some days you feel this way.  Life turns you all around and you can't predict how you will end up each day.  This whimsical skeleton is a reminder that, no matter where you go - there you are, and no matter what - you are who you are.

The frame back is fitted with crossed hanging wires so that it can be turned any direction.  The skelly's head is pinned beneath the glass, but as the frame is turned, the body flops this way and that. 

Here's the link to him on Etsy

My Inner Misbehaver is Out

“My Inner Misbehaver is Out”  is a polymer clay articulated skeleton sprawled on top of a 4" x 4" wood frame.  Her bones are "tattooed" in purple ink.  The frame is worn and decked out with fabulous paper.  A handmade ceramic moon charm is suspended from the inside top.  There's no back to the frame so your wall will show through.  Total height is about 6".  Thickness is 2".
Click here to see the Etsy listing

My Art Show at the 30th Street Grounds For Coffee

I love the space Grounds For Coffee has in their 30th Street location!  It's big, but cozy and inviting.  It's always hopping with friendly locals and college kids.  I have 40 some odd pieces hung there this month.

I have a new series of pieces I'm working on.  They feature skeletons in dimensional frames.  The piece below is called Noir.  He stands beneath a lamp post, holding a lit cigarette in one and and gestures a melancholy greeting with the other, gently touching the brim of his fedora. 

Mum and Skull Fascinator

New on The Bone Tree - A purple silk chrysanthemum with swirly copper wire and handmade ceramic skull, secured to an alligator hair clip.  This skullfriend is looking for hair with body =0)
Click here to view this on my Etsy shop - DeliciousMischief

Monday on the Bone Tree - Zombie Coffee Mug Pendant

Zombies and coffee cups!  I know, right?!  The fun part is the zombies came FROM the coffee cups!  Read all about it on my Etsy shop - DeliciousMischief.

New on The Bone Tree - Skeleton on a Coffin Pendant

This little earthenware guy is new in my Etsy shop - DeliciousMischief.  He's a tiny low relief sculpture on a black glazed coffin.  The bail is handmade and swirly.  A perfect accent to the little black dress!

It's All In the Cards

The Cool2Craft Creative Play Theme for September is My Quilt. I made up a set of cards for my goofy video so I could "reveal" the theme as a fortune teller.

This is the card that represents me. I'm looking for submissions from everyone! If you're a quilter, I want to see what you're working on! If you're not a quilter you have a story to tell about what makes up your quilt of life. Madame Yendrovich (that's the Polish pronunciation for Jedrowicz) wants to know!

Here's the link to this month's goofy video   Go watch and then email me with your photos and story - candace@cool2craft.com

Bone Tree Jewelry

Etsy recommends having interesting photos of your product and I thought long and hard about it.  This is what I came up with.  It's The Bone Tree.  It's visually exciting to me!  I knew there was a reason I saved those vine wrapped branches all those years!  Soooo I'll be posting what's new on The Bone Tree occasionally, just because I like the sound of it! =0)

My DeliciousMischief Etsy Shop Opening!

I acquired the name for the shop over a year ago.  I have finally overcome fear of launching and the Mischief Chocolate Box art piece is the very first listing!  Here is the link to the shop - DeliciousMischief

Each chocolate box art piece started life as an actual box of chocolates and is lovingly hand crafted to bring you delicious art you devour with your eyes!   The artwork is deeper than the frame, so the glass has been removed.

The Mischief Box -

These polymer clay chocolates look good enough to eat! This is an 8" x 10" Framed mixed media art piece featuring handmade polymer clay tiles. The top and bottom of the box have small wire wrapped charms. 



Watch for more chocolate box pieces and some crazy jewelry that will be listed in the Bone Tree Section!

Chocolate Box Mixed Media Art

I've been playing with polymer clay tiles on chocolate boxes.  I love this new look!  It's feels like eating a leather bound chocolate romance novel with my eyes.

Okay, that's a stretch, but I actually assess art like that.  Is it a treat for the eyes?  And if so, what kind of treat?  Or, if not, what is undigestable about it?  Yes I do have food issues, but I think it makes life fun.  Have you ever consumed a sunset with your eyes?  Or more to the point, with you whole being?

I used brown clay for both the chocolates and tiles.  I treated the tiles with rubber stamps and metallic paste.  The focal point is a tiny heart cut from clay with red crafting foil burnished onto it.

I've been putting words and gems on the chocolates, but I wanted to carry over the sophisticated feeling of the stamped clay on these.  I know I've barely scratched the surface of possibilities for design, surface treatment and theme.  I have many rectangle chocolate boxes as well.  I also have larger heart shaped boxes.  So many choices!

Have you made any chocolate art?  I would love to share it here!  Email me at candace@cool2craft.com with high resolution photos and stories.

Chocolate Scandal

Oh, good grief!
Look at the mess I've gotten myself into!

CLICK HERE

to see the video that tells the whole sordid truth

2011: A Year In Preview

I posted this piece in the beginning of 2011.  It was a statement about what I wanted to see and do that year. It was really fun to make!  If you made a chocolate box to represent what you want from 2013, what would be in it?

 Click here to see details and explanations of my symbols.


I'm in love with making chocolate box art.  I started this in December and have added on steadily.  It's all about this year.  What do I want to invite into my life this year?  Oh, romance, travel, adventure, prosperity, the usual.  It's going to be a delicious year!  What does your year look like?