July 2023 Honey Do List

2023 marks the eighth year that my husband Eric has been giving me a design challenge each month to get me out of my comfort zone and to help clear out my bead stash... The Honey Do List!  (Y'all, time really does fly!!)  I know that I'm not the only one who loves a good design challenge, so I'm hoping folks will continue to play along with us!

Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it:

Here is some inspiration from our trip to Asheville, NC earlier this summer. I took this picture of pink dogwood flowers right outside an art gallery, so I feel like bringing this around full circle.  Give us some flowers, some leaves, some pink stuff, whatever!

I just adore dogwoods... they are part of my childhood.  I spent many an hour as a kid climbing the one in my grandparents' house in Birmingham... although that one and the one at my house had white blossoms.  

I started out making a couple of simple pairs of earrings with sweet pink Czech glass dangles.  One pair from some cool copper plated filigree connectors.  It's tough to tell from this photo but they have a little bit of a dome to them.

My second pair uses some floral brass deco rivets that I've been hoarding for a while.  I need to break these out more often!    I sanded them down a bit to bring out the pattern.  

Next up, a necklace featuring a ceramic pendant by The Classic Bead that I had forgotten that I even had!  With the way its loop was situated, I decided that my best bet to attach it was to make a little beaded bail with some wire and a Czech glass bead.  I strung the front part of the necklace with more Czech glass beads and some rutilated quartz ovals.

Another little gem in my bead stash for this challenge was a sweet little rose gold colored dogwood pendant from Humblebeads.  I really wanted to do something to give it a little more visual oomph.  I played with a lot of different filigree type options to go behind it before landing on a sort of shield shaped one.  I made bead links with Czech glass and moonstone beads and finished the back with brass chain.

I managed to make one last necklace before my birthday trip to Denver.  I'm kind of shocked that I created as much as I did this month considering I was gone for a week.  For this design I used a vintage ceramic pendant that I had picked up in Asheville, NC a few years back.  I made links using Czech glass and Rose Quartz on brass findings.

Now it's your turn!  Please add links to/photos of your own creations below.  I love seeing what everyone else is making too.  Check back on August 1st to see what Eric dreams up for us next!

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February 2022 Honey Do List

2022 marks the seventh year that my husband Eric has been giving me a design challenge each month to get me out of my comfort zone and to help clear out my bead stash... The Honey Do List!  (Y'all, time really does fly!!)  I know that I'm not the only one who loves a good design challenge, so I'm hoping folks will continue to play along with us!

Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it:

I would love to post a spring picture, but we in MN are still in the depths of subzero temps right now.  To commemorate that frigid cold, here is a Bokeh shot of winter lights from the MN Landscape Arboretum.  Hopefully this challenge will keep folks busy until warmer weather arrives!

Boy, I'm wishing Eric could share some real-time spring pictures too!  But MN has way different ideas.  I feel like this winter has been more bitterly cold than it has been in a while, but this too shall pass!  For now, I guess I just have to embrace the snowflakes a little bit longer!  

I've been in a bit of creative slump lately... so I'm grateful to Eric's inspiration to keep me making a bit.  It was also a good kick in the bum to not let some snowflake themed items to languish for another year.  I'll be ahead of the game next winter, right??

First up, a pair of earrings featuring lovely colorized pewter charms by Soul Relica that I snagged in a destash a while back.  Both the color and design of the charms work well with Eric's inspiration photo.  I paired them with some iridescent Czech glass melon drops and a mix of silver plated and blackened findings.  I'm pretty happy with the final effect and they aren't super seasonal feeling either.  

Keeping on the earring theme, since they are my favorite things to make... another fun pair coming right up!  For this one I was focused more on the Bokeh effect of the photo.  The effect reminded me of some charms I've had stashed away from Diana Ptaszynki for a bit.  They are wood shapes that she monoprinted with a gel plate.  I love the layered look of them!  I had some fun vintage lucite melon roundelles that paired nicely and then I added a tiny touch of aqua with some small Czech glass beads.  These are long but super light weight due to the materials used.    

Last but not least, I did manage to make a necklace before time was up!  I've had this ceramic snowflake pendant by my friend Tracee Dock of The Classic Bead forever.  Time for it to see the light of day!  (I'm pretty sure this is the last snowflake I have from her.)  Returning to my stringing roots once again, I used a combination of Czech glass, Vintaj Natural Brass, vintage fluted brass, and moonstone.  

Now it's your turn!  Please add links to/photos of your own creations below.  I love seeing what everyone else is making too.  Check back soon to see what Eric has in store for us this month! 

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Art Elements Theme of the Month: Foliage

For the September Theme of the Month over on the Art Elements blog, Caroline Dewison has challenged us to create art based on foliage.  I'm loving this idea as I have a TON of leafy beads in my stash... art beads, Czech glass, and metal... bright summer colors and muted fall tones are all well represented in my bead collection.  I spent a chunk of time over Labor Day weekend collecting some of my favorite art beads leaves as a starting point for this creative challenge and got to work making some new jewelry!

I got a jump start on creating for this challenge right away... I figure that was a smart idea since I was needing to prep for a big 3 day art show, the Art Wander, the last weekend of the month.  These were all perfect for that!

Thinking more along the fall foliage lines, the first thing that made it to my bead board was a beautiful ceramic leaf pendant by Tracee Dock of The Classic Bead.  I strung this one with a collection of gemstones and Czech glass in an autumnal palette.  The rich colors and patterns of Ocean Jasper and Red Creek Jasper were natural choices for this design.  I added in some Czech glass, mostly in metallics, to round out the necklace and finished it off with a fun brass leaf clasp.

Next up, another fall beauty featuring a polymer clay pendant by my friend Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati.  This little cutie was from her Simple Truths Sampler Club from last summer.  When I opened my box of brighter green beads, the first thing that jumped out at me were some matte banded agate rounds.  They had a nice mix of the colors from the pendant and I built things out from there.  I chose a few different Czech glass beads along with matte jade, green apple jade rondelles, and a copper plated leaf clasp.

As I was in major show prep mode this month, I decided it was a good time to whip up a mini collection of leafy earrings production line style.  I grabbed a bunch of different colors of Czech glass maple leaf beads and revisited a design from last fall.  I love the look of the leaves dangling inside the brass filigree hoops!  Believe it or not, this isn't all the colors of this leaf bead in my stash.  I stopped myself here instead of continuing down this particular rabbit hole!

Next I grabbed a fun box shaped bead by Green Girl Studios that I love but have been at a loss as to how to best use.  I decided that my best bet was to use it on the side of a necklace balanced by some cool carved stone leaves.  To round out the rest of the necklace, I chose some moss agate rounds that I've had since my early days of beading, copper nugget beads, and some tiny Czech glass rounds in a Picasso finish.

You can see the two sides of the box bead on either side of the complete necklace.

Since I only had a small handful of the moss agate beads left and they were still out on my bead mat, I whipped up a little pair of earrings with some of those and some copper colored metal leaf charms.  Easy peasy!

Not done with all the leafy goodness in my stash, I moved on to a gorgeous two holed pendant with a celadon glaze by Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio.  I fell in love with this design when she first introduced it.  There's something delicate feeling about the pendant with it's sprig of leaves across it.  I didn't like the idea of attaching metal jump rings so I decided to try using loops of tiny seed beads on my stringing material.  I strung a variety of gemstones (including prehnite, faceted aventurine, Burma jade) and some Czech glass.  I had some new leaf beads that were the perfect colors to go with the pendant... those went on one side with some chrysoprase nuggets on the other to balance things out.  Once again I used my favorite leaf clasp at the back.

Switching to a cooler color palette, I made a necklace with one of the pendants I made this summer in Erin Prais-Hintz's Petri Dish class.  The pendant has shades of blue with some tiny touches of silver.  I picked out a few different Czech glass beads in shades of blue as well as some smaller silver colored ones to use as spacers.  I grabbed a few denim lapis rounds and faceted angelite beads and a branch toggle to round out the design.

Next up I switched to a couple of necklaces in summery brights... I guess I'm just not totally ready to move onto Fall!  I bought these cute leaf and ladybug pendants from Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio at Bead & Button this year.  I knew that I had some little Czech glass lady bugs in my stash that would be fun to pair with these.  These two ended up being variations on a theme with similar but different beads in each.  (Don't let the photos fool you, the pendants are the same size, but my pictures wouldn't play nice when I went to make the collage!)

I also bought a handful of leaves and branches from Michelle McCarthy with the intention of pairing at least some of them with Heather Powers' big and beautiful polymer clay birds.  A few of those Humblebeads are getting to spread their little wings and fly in a trio of new necklaces.  All three feature branches by Michelle and the two ceramic leaves are hers as well.  The polymer clay maple leaf is by Erin Prais-Hintz... the colors were just too perfect with the rose gold bird!  These may be more focused on the fowl than the foliage, but I'm sharing them anyway because I just love them!

This is a blog hop!  I hope you'll check out what everyone else made too!!

AE Team

Lesley  

Susan  

Marsha  

Claire  

Cathy 

Jenny  

Niky  

Caroline

Guests

Dawn  

Hope  

Alison  

Beth & Evie  

Laurie  

Kathy  

Sarajo  - You are Here!

Michelle 

Tammy  

Divya  

Karen  

Alysen  

Mary  

Cat  

Jill

Sarah

Anita

Honey Do List: March 2018

This marks the third year that my husband Eric has been giving me a design challenge each month to get me out of my comfort zone and to help clear out my bead stash... it's the Honey Do List 2018!  I know that I'm not the only one who loves a good design challenge, so I'm hoping folks will continue to play along with us!  

Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it:

I decided to go with a monochromatic shot this month, as winter drags on.  This picture of a window was taken while on a walk through D.C. last summer.  Let's see what you can pull off with this unusual inspiration!

As soon as I saw this photo, I thought of some one of a kind patinated charms by Inviciti that I had managed to snag.  (I'm usually WAY too slow to snag the OOAK pieces from Vincent and Nooma!)  I love the rustic finish on them and the orange with black peaking out (and even the shape) reminded me of the bottom center two panels.  In keeping with the shapes and angles in the photo, I chose some English cut beads and some square plated hematite spacers.

Originally, I thought that I'd use the art beads from the next two pairs of earrings in one extra fabulous pair... that turned out to be a little much and a bit too long for my liking, so I decided that they would be two separate sets!  I think I made the right decision.  The first pair features some yummy, crusty, rustic looking lampwork by Donna Millard paired with Czech glass and brass on some of my favorite Vintaj Natural Brass ear wires.  The second pair are all about the goldenrod colored sari silk "cocoons" by my friend Anna Pierson of Saga Hus with some star cut Black Gold Amazonite.

Not wanting it to be all earrings all the time this month (not that I don't love me some earrings!), I also whipped up a necklace and earrings set.  I'm thrilled to have found the perfect project for this great geometric pendant by my friend Tracee Dock of The Classic Bead!  Actually, all the beads and the clasp in this necklace have been hiding in my stash for quite a while, so I think that this design perfect for the intent behind the Honey Do List.  I used a fun strand of square Czech glass beads and some Wooden Jasper rounds with brass findings.  The earring drops are deep maroon Mookaite.

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Art Bead Scene: August 2017

This month's Art Bead Scene challenge inspiration is an illustration from a book called Twelve Dancing Princesses and Other Fairy Tales.  As a children's librarian and long time fan of fairy tales, this choice made my little heart happy!  The artwork is from the collection's title story and was painted by Kay Nielsen.  You can read more about the artwork and the artist HERE. 

Twelve Princesses on the Way to the Dance

Kay Nielsen

Published in 1923

Watercolor and ink

I was inspired by the colors of this illustration as well as the leaves of the impossibly tall and skinny trees.  I chose an oversized ceramic pendant by my friend Tracee Dock of The Classic Bead as my focal.  The colors were just perfect and I thought the patterns in the clay echoed the leaves and, to some extent, the flowers on the princesses' gowns.

The large hole in the pendant cried out for some sort of fiber to run through it and I decided on some brown deerskin lace (does anyone know why it's called that??).  I sewed the leather to brass jump rings with maroon waxed Irish linen.  Since the pendant has a rustic, almost crusty feel to it, I added in some matte red creek jasper in two different shapes as well as some crazy horse jasper rounds that weren't too shiny.  Red creek jasper is one of my favorite stones because of all of it's rich colors... using it here was an easy way to pick up some of the other colors from the artwork. 

P.S.  This is the project that I should have been working on when I was "productive procrastinating" with my giraffe necklace last week!  :)

Artisans Create Together Color Palette Challenge: June 2017

Each month there are two great color palettes put together to inspire members of the Facebook group Artisans Create Together.  I don't always get around to creating something new for this design challenge, but this month I manage (although barely!) to make two designs for one of the color palettes.  Here's the deliciously soft and beachy color palette:

These aqua tones are some of my favorites so I had no trouble at all finding some gorgeous beads and focals to work with... pairing it down to something manageable was more of the problem!  There's a decent amount of soft neutrals in the inspiration collage to work with too.

My first design is in line with the beach theme of many of the inspiration photos.  I started with a cute seahorse focal by Michelle McCarthy of Firefly Design Studio.  For some reason, as soon as I picked the bracelet bar up I knew I wanted to try something with a length of 7 ply waxed Irish Linen that I had cut too short for a different project.  I had already tied a loop (that would have been for a button clasp) but I decided it could just as easily be the "ring" for a lobster clasp.  I added a couple of wire wrapped links on the clasp side to round things out.    

Next up I decided to play with an oversized ceramic pendant by Tracee Dock of The Classic Bead that I got in one of her destash bundles a while back.  I love the funky repeating floral pattern she used.  I had fun stringing an asymmetrical pattern of Czech glass beads... many of them a fortunate Bead and Button purchase!  I wanted my design to have pops of the cream from the pendant so I used the creamy flowers and a mix of rondelles that had some lighter neutral tones included.

I love participating in these challenges (I know, I know, you haven't noticed before!) because they give me some focus for my creative process and often force me to think about things in different and new ways.  If it weren't for this color palette challenge, who knows how long it would take me to get around to using these lovely art bead focals.  Thanks for stopping by and checking out what I've been working on today!

Art Bead Scene: May 2017

This month's Art Bead Scene inspiration is Bowl of Fruit, Violin and Bottle by Pablo Picasso.  You can read more about the artwork and the artist over on the ABS blog HERE.  Truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of this particular artwork or, really, anything in the Cubist style.  Moreover, I really don't get it...  I see the violin and (I think) the bottle but the bowl of fruit escapes me.  I'm guessing that it's the blob at the top of the artwork, but who knows!?!

Bowl of Fruit, Violin and Bottle

Pablo Picasso

1914

Oil On Canvas

Since the artwork doesn't really speak to me, I decided that focusing on the colors was the way to go this time.  I chose to work more with the pinks, tans, and creams in the painting, but as you'll see below, I did add some speckled blue ceramic beads into both designs to try and pull it all together... and to echo the speckled and textured parts of the artwork.  But I'm getting ahead of myself!

Even before I had made anything for last month's ABS challenge, I had picked out the main components for this first design.  (Have I mentioned how much I adore having the booklet with the whole year's artwork to peruse??)  I was digging through my beads looking for options for April and a set of silk wrapped cocoons from SagaHus Components caught my eye.  I fell in love with the rich mix of peachy-pink and cream when Anna Pierson listed them in her Facebook group and had to have them.  Sitting just one compartment over in my art bead drawer were some fun ceramic flowers that I picked up from my friend Tracee Dock of The Classic Bead a while back.  It was serendipity!  The only other thing I added to those original components were the speckled blue beads.  These are pretty big earrings (bigger than I would probably wear myself) but I know they'll find the right person!

I thought that this would be it for me, but then another light bulb went off and I grabbed another pair of components from SagaHus... this time a pair of Czech glass teardrops embellished with scarlet silk and seed beads.  Once again, I added in some blue speckled ceramic beads (in a slightly larger size than those in my first pair.)

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to lately.  If you want to see what other folks have been inspired to make in response to this Picasso, check out the Art Bead Scene's Pinterest board HERE.  

Inspired by Reading: Tales of the City

This month's Inspired by Reading Book Club selection was Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin.  Originally published in 1976, this is the first of the author's books that chronicle the goings on at the apartment house at 29 Barbary Lane in San Francisco.  

For some reason that I cannot explain, I always thought that this book was a collection of short stories... it's so not.  The book follows a diverse cast of characters whose relationships are not all immediately clear.  Actually, some of the relationships and back stories aren't spelled out when this novel ends... I wonder if the other books in the series clear up some of the mysteries left behind.  I may have to keep reading to find out!

I also always thought that the stories must be scandalous... maybe not Cinemax After Dark scandalous, but naughty in some way.  And maybe they were viewed that way in 1976.  I mean there is plenty of adultery, plus drug use, and (GASP!) homosexuality!!  Oh my!  I can see why it was popular as a miniseries.  It has all the makings of a good soap opera and I guess that's part of what kept me reading.

While I enjoyed reading this book, I didn't initially have any light bulbs go off in the inspiration department.  (I find that this happens to me a lot, actually!  Maybe because I'm too involved in the story and forget to think about design inspiration as I read.)  Luckily, I remembered that I've been hoarding a pendant from The Classic Bead that features a cityscape.  I've been holding onto it waiting for just the right challenge and that time is now!

To echo the windows in all those buildings, I stuck to rectangular gemstone beads in Kyanite and Bronzite to match the pendant.  Overall, I kept things pretty simple this time to let the pendant stand out.  I love the variations in the blue glaze make it look a little like clouds and stars in the sky.

Want to see what the other members of the book club created?  Or join in on the fun yourself?  Check out our Facebook Group HERE.  Thanks for stopping by!

Art Bead Scene: March 2017

The inspiration for this month's Art Bead Scene challenge is Armed Birds Nest in Acacia Bush, Chile by Marianne North.  Marianne North was a remarkable Victorian artist who travelled the globe in order to satisfy her passion for recording the world's flora with her paintbrush. The scientific accuracy with which she documented plant life in all parts of the world, before photography became a practical option, gives her work a permanent value.  You can read more about the artwork and the artist on the ABS blog HERE.

Armed Bird's Nest in Acacia Bush, Chile

Marianne North

1870

Oil On Paper

Even though yellow really isn't one of my favorite colors to design with, this is actually one of my favorite pieces for the 2017 challenges.  Moreover, I wouldn't have really thought about combining the goldenrod yellow with the purple blue tones... but somehow it works!

The first things that caught my eye when I was looking through my art beads were a pair of mustard yellow silk wrapped links from SagaHus Components.  I made dangles with some purple Humblebeads discs and topaz colored Czech glass flowers.  I'm really loving how these turned out!

Next up, I strung a necklace with a lovely pendant from Humblebeads.  The flowering tree on the pendant could surely be the same as the one from the painting!  The background of the pendant is more blue than purple so I chose some faceted chalcedony and blue vintage German glass to pull out those tones.  The oblong gold colored glass is also vintage German with some small Czech glass rondelles and pretty Picasso finished seed beads.

Last but not least, I made another pair of earrings with some components from The Classic Bead that I've had forever.  I finally got brave enough to play with the wire wrapping to make these work.  I had a couple of larger sized pale purple Czech glass flowers left over from a long-ago project that I paired with some smaller tan and rose toned flowers dangling from chain.

Thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to!  Enjoy your week!

Honey Do List: January 2017

Last year, my husband Eric has decided to issue me a design challenge each month to get me out of my comfort zone and to help clear out my bead stash... and we're continuing the Honey Do List for 2017!  I know that I'm not the only one who loves a good design challenge, so I'm hoping folks will continue to play along!  

Here's this month's inspiration and what Eric had to say about it:

This was one of the first visitors to our newly placed bird feeder this fall, so I ran for my camera and got a few shots while I could.  While I liked the picture, I felt it could use an oil paint look so spent some time tweaking this in Photoshop until it looked how I wanted it.  I like the textures and the bold blue and white color palate (and green if you want to include the background)!  

I love the colors and textures in this handsome blue jay but I didn't immediately know what I might be able to make.  Per usual, I went to my art bead storage and starting digging around for something appropriate.  These aren't the blues I'm normally most drawn to.   Lucky me, I came up with a few options!  Yay!

First up, I made a necklace and coordinating earrings that started with a pretty ceramic focal from Tracee Dock of The Classic Bead that I bought when I visited her in Kansas City a few years ago.  I quickly realized that the colors in the pendant's glaze went really nicely with a strand of vintage German glass beads that I picked up at the last local bead show.  (I used most of the strand and now I'm seriously regretting not buying another strand!).  On their own, these beads seemed a little too light in color so I added in some darker tones with the seed bead spacers, Czech glass, and sunset dumortierite rounds.  I picked a brass plated clasp in a sunburst pattern to mirror the look of the pendant.

I made a pair of earrings to coordinate with this necklace using some lovely light blue dahlia shaped Czech glass from Allegory Gallery.  (They've had some really amazing new Czech glass lately... stuff I've never seen before!)  I had momentarily thought about including the dahlia beads in my necklace design, but changed my mind.  I liked the way the beads echoed the pendant's design a little bit.  I added some little dark blue teardrops with a fun sueded finish to them.

Next, I took a trip in the Way Back Bead Machine for some of the very first art beads I ever purchased... bought long before I had any idea what to do with them!  (This is actually fitting as they were purchased at Disney World from the same artist who made the beads I used in the very first Honey Do List challenge last January!  You can see that HERE if you missed it.)  I thought the cobalt blue and white stripes of the lampwork glass focal bead were perfect for the blue jay inspiration.  I kept things pretty simple and just wire wrapped the focal and added a selection of Czech glass flowers in blue and white and a tiny leaf charm that reminded me of a feather.  The earrings are also pretty no frills... just the lampwork spacers and little flower charms... although I did add a touch of bling by using ear wires that are embellished with Swarovski crystals!

Last but not least, I whipped up a trio of waxed linen and seed bead bracelets that I adapted from a tutorial by Lesley Watt in shades of blue.  These were fun and easy to make and it was a nice project to work on while doing some binge watching of This is Us.  These have been a good seller for me so I  may use that as an excuse to binge watch a few more episodes in the near future while I make more in different colors!

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2017 Muffin Tin Challenge!

In the spirit of getting her followers pumped up and creating in the new year, Heather Powers of Humblebeads fame has once again thrown down the beady gauntlet and challenged us to participate in her Muffin Tin Challenge!  Heather set the reveal date for January 16th but I'm traveling that day, so I'm posting a little early.  The good news is, you may still have time to join in if you wish!!

The idea is pretty simple... grab a muffin tin (or similar container with multiple compartments) and fill each well up with all you need to make one jewelry design.  Then sit down and power through some jewelry making with a goal of finishing at least 6 pieces.  You can read all the details on Heather's blog HERE.  Full disclosure:  I'm not always the best about making sure I've gotten absolutely everything needed in my little muffin cups.  I tend to go with just grabbing the core items and adding to them as I go... that's just how my brain tends to work.  My muffin tin projects include some VERY late Christmas presents for my sister and niece, an even more belated project for my extremely patient friend Kathleen, earrings that have been waiting to be made for varying lengths of time, projects for this month's Honey Do List challenge, and more!

My "muffins" ready to bake!

I started with the lowest hanging fruit... necklaces for my sister and niece that should have been done ages ago!  I found a broken strand of fun orange sodalite pieces at the last Dakota Stones showroom sale and snatched them up immediately.  Most of my family (including these two ladies) went to Auburn University whose colors happen to be orange and blue, so this was a very lucky find!

Next up, a pair of earrings meant to go with the necklace I made for the December Art Bead Scene challenge.  You can see that necklace HERE.  The earrings are the same as the flower dangle off the bottom of the pendant.  Sweet and fairly simple!

Next up, a couple of pairs of earrings that have been UFOs (UnFinished Objects) for quite some time.  I have more earrings that are partially thought out, but at least I've knocked out a couple of them!

Next, in a fit of art bead madness, I made two more long necklaces with Heather's seriously amazing new "Gilded Bramble" bird beads as the main event!  (She has a few of these in her Etsy shop HERE if you are now drooling for one of your own!)  For the coppery one I used a ceramic branch by Diane Hawkey and a ceramic leaf by Tracee Dock of The Classic Bead.  The blue one features a pendant by Gaea and enameled bead cap by C-Koop Beads.  I really couldn't be happier with how these necklaces turned out!

And finally, my 7th "muffin" and 8th project from this challenge: I finally made a bracelet with the beads I picked out to work on during Heather's Inspired by Nature Retreat.  I learned a lesson... I did NOT need to bring extra projects.  I kept plenty busy working on the fun things that Heather had planned for us!

Stop by Heather's blog HERE (starting January 16th) to see what everyone else "baked up" for this year's Muffin Tin Challenge!  Even if you missed out on the official challenge, I recommend this as a great way to get some concentrated creating done!  I didn't finish making everything in my tin yet, but I'm going to keep on trucking with these projects... at least some of them!