Here are days 5 & 6 of the 30 Day Drawing Challenge (go here to see the details). I’m now trying out Pencil Madness, which takes some getting used to, but gives some really cool effects – found through Jolene from Kitzbitz Art Glass who is joining in the challenge too!
Best friend:
Favourite Book Character: This was was so much harder, since most of my favourite book characters wouldn’t look very exciting when drawn, so I just chose Anderson’s Little Mermaid (um, before she turned to sea foam…). She apparently uses bunches of bananas as her bra instead of seashells O_O
So, this month I’m:
taking part in Camp NanNoWriMo, where I’ll be trying to reach 30,000 words by the end of April (3,000 down so far);
taking the free Gender Through Comic Books course;
trying to replenish my polymer clay bead stock.
So of course I decided I had to join in the 30 Day Drawing Challenge too, nabbed from Further Dispatches and The Blarg. Care to join me? I’m starting late, but it’s too fun not to try!
Here are days 1-4, drawn in PS Elements *Edit, no they’re not, had to default to MS Paint 
* with a mouse (hence the craposity). Oh, and when it talks about favourites, I’m actually just going to draw something I like drawing, because choosing favourites makes me sad for the other things.
Me
Um…elephant?
Cake (vegan!)
A random meadow
I’m not actually this bad at drawing with a RL pen, I have to add: my suckitude is marginally less anyway.
I was thrilled to see a picture of my strawberries used in a gorgeous bracelet today – the saga of the lost berries began in early August, but finally Monique of A Half-Baked Notion received her parcel of charms and was able to take part in my Summer Fruits challenge/giveaway.
You can take a look at the clever bracelet (and the very apt title) here:
http://ahalfbakednotion.blogspot.ca/2012/10/a-lingering-taste-of-summer.html
This is a short notice blog post (but that will give you less time to forget about it, right? 
)
On 12th October, a group of nutters who also happen to lampwork very well indeed (from this, you can guess that I am *not* one of them!) will be holding a BEADATHON. It’s in capital letters because you can’t be quiet about a BEADATHON, especially when it benefits the Beads of Courage program.
From approximately 7 pm of Friday the 12th October (that’s 2pm for those on EST) a full 24 hours will be devoted to lampworking, with participants aiming to keep the torch going all the way through. All beads made during the BEADATHON will be donated to BOC.
If you’d like to donate, here’s a link: http://www.justgiving.com/24hrBeadathon
And if you’d like to watch the antics, you can go here and watch a live stream on the day: Live Channel
A special announcement about the Summer Fruits Blog Hop: eight people entered, and so…I decided everyone who entered gets some charms! (I just couldn’t leave anyone out).
Could everyone who posted a comment etc. e-mail me a name and mailing address at: continuumdesigns@googlemail.com and ‘ll get the parcels posted out asap
A quick peek at what I’ve been playing around with in polymer clay. I’ve been trying to get the rustic, acrylic paint effect my own way – rustic and organic styles baffle me (in that I’m never sure if I’m doing them right!) but here are the results.
First up: Kites! I suddenly one day thought, “Oooh, kites.” So here they are:
And now…something else. They’re tea cups. Really. I thought they had some sort of rustic, quirky appeal, like ceramic charms:
I have a confession. I often don’t look at pictures. If someone’s image description tempts me, I’ll load up the picture, or if I’ve gone to someone’s Flickr stream I’ll load all their pictures, but apart from that, they take up too much data on my mobile internet.
So why on earth am I now a Pinterest follower? I can’t get enough of it, because I’ve found it’s so useful for:
a). collecting picture links for future shopping. Instead of bookmarking tens of pages so you can return to a shop, Pinterest lets you collate the specific items onto one board. Here’s a Czech glass one I’ve been building up: Delicious Czech glass
b). keeping a quick visual guide to tutorials. A board by fellow polymer clayer Cara-Jane shows how a Pinterest library of tutorials can be created from around the web…and I confess I followed her lead and made my own board: Tutorials that make me go, Hey, cool!
So since I’m now in full-fledged Pinterest mode – come follow me at ContinuumDesign (no s on the end becasue of character limit, boo!) or leave your own link here so I can check out your boards And if you have any group boards that you find fun, I’ve love to see those too!
You’re a jewellery-making addict if:
You try to make more beads out of anything that can have a hole drilled in it (here’s a time-saver tip for you – walnut shells don’t make good beads. Ask me how I know…)
Your partner/roomate/cat hears a rattling noise in the night, and knows that it’s just you combing greedily through your bead stash by the light of the moon.
The plans for your dream house include a two-story bead studio, but the plan for the ‘kitchen’ is a microwave on top of a mini-fridge.
The local bead shop owner is your designated emergency contact on medical information
You find jumprings in your hair (true story – *shrug* I have big hair) , crimps in your cereal, and seed beads down the side of your bra.
Whenever you’re shopping for a new bag, you make sure there’s enough room inside for a set of jewellery-making pliers and a bead box.
In Lord of the Rings, you most identifed with Gollum and his totally reasonalbe love for a pretty, shiny object
Got any more to add? Put them below 
You buy a much-longed for polymer clay extruder. After you’ve worked out how to use it and put it all together, the first thing you do is:
a). get to work on all those fabulous extruded clay tutorials that are all over the internet
b). invent a brilliant and innovative new way of using this great tool to make awesome beads
or
c). produce a kick-ass wig for your finger and make it headbang to punk-rock
If you answered c). then you have my deepest sympathies, because you share my affliction
I do actually have other non-pathetic news though – here are new beads now in the shop:
I”ll probably be the 1006979676,6078598458th person to complain about Blogger changing its dashboard, but oh well. I do not like. Why are things on the side when they used to be at the bottom? I have to actually move my eyeballs to the right to find things now!
But regardless, I’m braving the confusion and writing a post. How lucky do you feel at this news, huh?
Anyway, last week I graduated from the dining room table to a proper desk (a birthday present) for my polyclay work, and it’s really made a difference to have tools in drawers, and everything within reach. Also, random pieces of polymer clay will no longer get into people’s food at Christmas dinner. Well, hopefully (hey, who hasn’t ingested a small amount of plastic these days? I once swallowed a marble; polymer clay is nothing compared to that)
I’ve also succumbed to a mania for making pinecone beads and lilypad charms from polymer clay, which are now on Etsy:
And I’ve managed to produce a cute little apple out of hot glass. I can’t deny that I’m pleased with him, though his apple-ness may be in question (perhaps there’s some strawberry in his bloodline)
His sister is resting in annealing bubbles now, waiting to go in the kiln.
