I am sitting in my writing spot on a gorgeous Sunday. If I am being honest, I should be making dinner but instead I am enjoying some crafting time and catching up on my blog writing.
It feels so good to me when I make time for my creativity. It can be 10 minutes or 2 hours but carving out time each day to do something, make something, paint something or sketch something makes all the difference in not only my well-being but in the way I perceive and interact with the world. It’s always wonderful to be reminded that the better I take care of myself the more love and light I can share with those around me.
This week I got back into my weekly Artist Dates. If you are unfamiliar with the concept it comes from Julia Cameron’s book The Artist Way where she talks about going out on your own to refill your creative well with something that you love or inspires you. For me it’s usually a drive, maybe a visit to a local garden center, or my latest creation-my Mobile Art Studio. I am just working on editing together some videos and sharing my weekly adventures but if you are interested you may want to check out my new site The Creative Spiritualist where I will be share the whole adventure. (Don’t worry I am still keeping this site going!).
One of the things I have been having a lot of fun with this week is playing with clay. I shared my Self-Care Doll in this post (and every time I look at her through out the day I smile so she really is a bit of magic) and I am delving more and more into the world of Paperclay. If you haven’t tried it you may want to as it is so much fun. You can also use Air Dry Clay which I used for completing last week’s challenge.
You may remember I let my oldest daughter pick our challenge for last week and she chose 
cupcakes. I knew right away that I wanted to make something out of clay so I pulled out the air dry clay and had some fun. I was inspired by this video where she made a cupcake trinket box. Her box was large and required a few days to dry and as I waited until the weekend for this challenge I didn’t have the time. Instead I made a mini version and I couldn’t be happier with them!
Sure they are wonky and lopsided but to be honest that is something I love out of clay pieces. I don’t know if it makes me feel like a kid again but when I see whimsical, bumpy, lopsided clay pieces I just always smile-and these little guys really made me grin!
I painted the bases in different colors-each one is one of my kids favorite colors and then for sprinkles I used all 3 
colors to give it a bit of uniform look and have it feel more like a set. It was a lot of fun and because of their size the clay dried overnight and the paint dried almost immediately so I was able to go through and paint all 3 in about an hour. I finished them all off with a gloss varnish. I did notice when I was taking photos a few spots that need touch up that I will take care of but otherwise they are done and super cute!
Their mini size makes me think of storing something really magical inside. My daughter suggested 
glitter but I am almost thinking a secret treasure of some kind. I even have some mini crystals that would be perfect for inside.
I hope you had fun with last week’s challenge. For this week we are leaving the food theme behind and going to something a little more cuddly.
This week’s challenge is: Cats.
I cannot wait to see what you make!
Until next time…
-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante
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