Category Archives: Handmade Gift Items

Working Out the Details

I thought I’d be happily printing tote bags with my homemade printing screen today. Alas, I am not, but all is not lost. When things don’t work out as you plan, you can either drop it, or work it out, and I’ve made both decisions plenty of times in my years of creating things, both […]

Autumn Color, Autumn Leaves, Coasters for the Season

Though these were inspired for a summer event, it was really autumn I had in mind. I’d always loved the white patina on terra cotta clay pieces and my little experiment in reproducing that look in polymer clay worked better than I’d hoped. Using real leaves from four principal trees found on the trail impressed […]

Such a Very Pretty Kitty

This small pendant is made with a print of a detail of my ink sketch “Kitty in Pink”, but I colored him in with black because I liked the silhouette—which may look familiar because he’s the same silhouette I used on my “Cats Are Like Potato Chips” sign. Click the image to learn more about […]

Decorative Wooden Trays With Autumn Wildflowers

Just a few decorative trays with autumn wildflower photos from the Panhandle Trail help to celebrate autumn. The larger tray is 10 x 14 and the smaller tray is 8 x 12, and made of lightweight unfinished wood. I paint the outside and inside, then adhere a print of the image on my high quality […]

A Pantherish Cabochon

Giuseppe is a housepanther, but he does have a rather real pantherish profile. This small pendant is made with a print of a detail of my photo “Watching the World” . We all love my studio window, a big, old, battered metal-framed casement about 4′ x 4′ on the second floor looking out at the […]

Signs of the Cat

After producing a few signs back in August I’ve updated each of these four designs just a bit, adding a little color here and there and keeping the designs the same size. Just doodlin around in my studio with some nice weathered wood from my neighbor’s old stockade fence. I like the look of the […]

Are You An Ailurobibliophile?

I’m working out a design I’ve had in mind for a while—since just about a year ago to be exact! This was to be September 2017’s new introduction, starting with a tote bag then possibly moving to other things, and the concept would lead to a line of items with this design and others, using […]

“Back to Front” Clay Pendant, Revisited.

This small pendant is made of polymer clay with a stamp of my sketch “Back to Front” impressed in the clay. It comes in four different shapes with a little variation in size from 1″ to 1.5″and about 1/8″ thick, and comes with an 18″ black flocked cord. I initiated this pendant in 2016 using […]

Trees of the Trail Coasters

“Trees of the Trail” coasters are made from terra cotta polymer clay with the imprint of a real leaf that’s from some of the more populous tree species growing on the trail: sycamore, oak, maple and beech. In fact, the sycamore leaf is from the sycamore tree I sketched in “Sycamore Moon” and the maple […]

Wildflowers and Butterflies of the Panhandle Trail Pendants, and a Discount Through August 31

Wildflowers Butterflies of the Panhandle Trail Cabochon Pendants

The cabochon pendants I’d made for my Seasons of the Panhandle Trail exhibit sold so well the first day that I made another set the next morning! Sunflowers and sweet peas, daisies and St. John’s Wort, and butterflies, in all the colors of summer! Above is a photo of the Panhandle Trail Collection of cabochons. […]