I've been eager to share this with you guys, but I wanted to wait til it was all officially official. Well, I got the signed contract back from the publisher yesterday, so here goes...

I've been asked to co-author a polymer clay book! It's called Polymer Clay 101, and I'm writing it along with Kim Otterbein. The publication date is currently scheduled for January 2011. Of course, my part needs to be done much sooner than that, so posts here may be a tad sparse for a little while.

Writing a book has been a long-time goal of mine — the kind of big goal you're almost afraid to talk about because you're afraid it won't happen. So I'm very excited for this opportunity. I have a lot to learn, but I've really enjoyed the work so far. Hopefully, once the book it out, you'll enjoy the projects as much as I have!

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It was nine months ago today that Sam was born... and I remember wondering, even that first day, what I'd gotten myself into. Granted, a lot of the things I worried about initially didn't end up being that big a deal. I worried about breastfeeding, which he took to like a pro. I worried about supporting his head, holding him correctly, and changing his diaper right. All that stuff just fell into place. When your baby's there, expecting you to take care of him, you get past the fear of doing things wrong and just focus on doing what needs to be done.

On the other hand, there were a few things I underestimated about parenthood... for example, the ongoing shortage of time. We imagined naps and early bedtimes, with at least some amount of time to ourselves. After months of blaming Sam's sleeping issues on diaper rashes or teething, we're beginning to think the kid just isn't much of a sleeper. So crafting — along with eating, showering, and bill-paying — all get squeezed into extremely limited naptimes.

Over the months, I've come up with some ways to make the best use of the polymer clay time I do have. Here are a few of them:

• Pre-condition your clay. While someone else has the baby (so you're not worried about being too noisy), use a food processor to bulk condition various colors of clay. That way you can get right to work when naptime rolls around, without being tempted to under-condition the clay just to get to the fun part.
• Cover your work surface. I got pretty frustrated having to spend precious naptime cleaning dust and hair off my partially-completed clay pieces. Turns out, one of those plastic under-the-bed storage containers fits nicely over my self-healing mat. Now when I finish my crafting session, I can cover my works in progress.
• Use someone else's project. You may have noticed I started doing more book review projects in the months after Sam's birth. This was my way of keeping my hands in the clay even though I had limited time for creating. If you have trouble coming up with something to work on when you're pressed for time, consider looking at books and tutorials online. Following someone else's guidelines gives you a way to get good results without as much risk of failure.
• Follow those safety guidelines. Be sure to wash clay off your hands before handling the baby (I love the Polymer Clay Cookbook's sugar scrub for this). You may also want to look at ways to make the baking process safer. I was fine with using a toaster oven in my craft room when it was just me, but I moved it to a separate part of the house when I found out I was pregnant.
• Try to get some dedicated crafting time. If you have family members who are willing to take care of your little one and give you a few hours alone, take them up on their offer. It's amazing what filling the creative well can do. I can tell a big difference in the way I relate to my son when I've just come from a fulfilling time in my craft room. I'm happier, so I can enjoy my time with him more.

Of course, I'm still new at this. We're just now starting on the getting-into-everything phase, so I'm sure I'll have a lot to learn when it comes to that. Whether you have additional new mom tips to share or suggestions for surviving toddlerhood, I would love to hear from you!

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My husband bought our Halloween candy too early again this year — so early, in fact, that we had to buy another bag by the time Halloween actually rolled around. And as luck would have it, we had fewer trick-or-treaters than normal. So now there's post-Halloween candy calling our names, too. Between Halloween leftovers and the temptations of the coming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, this time of year can be a dieter's worst nightmare.

But those same temptations make the holidays a foodie's delight. And if you're a foodie, then The Polymer Clay Cookbook: Tiny Food Jewelry to Whip Up and Wear by Jessica and Susan Partain may be just the book for you. As the authors say in the intro, "to celebrate food is, we think, to celebrate life." This book celebrates miniature polymer clay food jewelry, and it serves up the how-tos with a generous helping of food-related memories. The authors even sprinkle in a few edible recipes for good measure.

The Book

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Glow-in-the-dark polymer clay can be a lot of fun to use, especially this time of year. But it can be difficult to show off the cool results online. Whether you want to sell your creations on Etsy or just show them off to your Flickr contacts, here are some general guidelines for getting good photos of your glow-in-the-dark creations:

• Use a tripod and your camera’s timer function (if it has one). A little shakiness can really affect photo quality in low-light, long exposure photos.
• Turn off your flash. (Seems obvious til you forget to do it! <g>)
• “Charge up” your glow-in-the-dark creation by keeping it in a bright place for a few minutes before the photo. This will ensure it’s glowing brightly.
• Find a very dark place for your photo. This is easiest to do if you can shut off all the lights except one lamp beside you. Put the object to photograph in place (preferably against a dark background such as a black posterboard), focus your camera, and get ready to press the button as soon as you turn off the light.
• Want to take matching daytime and nighttime shots? Since the nighttime shot will be the trickier of the two, take it first. Once you have a shot you like, leave the object in the same position and turn on the lights for your daytime photo. (I didn't do this for my photo above, thus the differences in angle and position.)

Tips for Camera Settings

Let me start this part by saying I'm not a photography expert. These are some of the things I've tried that seemed to give me good results. Any of you who actually know what you're talking about, feel free to correct my mistakes in the comments.

Now that that's out of the way...

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Ever since I saw my first calaveras at a local Mexican restaurant, I've been intrigued by Dia de los Muertos, or "Day of the Dead." Celebrated throughout Mexico at the beginning of November, the holiday takes a festive approach to death. Families remember loved ones who have passed away through personalized altars, parties, and picnics. The belief is that, as long as a person is remembered, they never truly die. The calaveras (decorated skeletons) that adorn the holiday have a humorous look, not spooky like Halloween skeletons. They're more like caricatures of the person, featuring clothes and hobbies that the person enjoyed. I think it's a neat way to celebrate the lives of those lost.

Since I've been wanting to try making Dia de los Muertos crafts using polymer clay, I was a little surprised to find that there's a book featuring both things... and it's been out more than a year! Day of the Dead Crafts by Kerry Arquette, Andrea Zocchi & Jerry Vigil, is a fun and crafty introduction to the imagery of this holiday.

The Book

The book includes tons of examples of different styles of work. I love that these examples are great for sparking new ideas. However, the photos are mostly from a Hollywood festival. I would like to see more photos from Mexico to get a more authentic sense of the holiday.

The Projects

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