Posted on 16 Comments

Have a heart

Polka Dot Cottage Heart Tutorial

Last summer, I was asked to submit a beginner-friendly polymer clay project for the upcoming Craft Hope book. The book will feature pairs of projects and charities, the idea being that you can make the projects and then donate them to the charities.

I was honored to be included, and so I set to work and designed a heart pendant that was attractive yet simple, and then sent it off happily to the publisher.  A few weeks later, I was disappointed to find out that the charity my project had been paired-up with was not interested in receiving polymer clay jewelry.  They wanted “glass only.”

Polka Dot Cottage Heart Tutorial

That was a really big bummer, of course, and it might have been nice if the charity had let their preferences be known up front, before I spent all of that time working on my project, but what can you do?  On the bright side, I now had this tutorial written up, and all of these photos taken, and I only needed a place to use them.  Well, last week (five months later), it hit me:  these hearts started with Craft Hope, why not use them in that way now?

Polka Dot Cottage Heart Tutorial

In case you haven’t yet heard, Craft Hope has opened an Etsy shop for Haiti.  100% of the proceeds from every sale will be donated to Doctors Without Borders.  The shop is stocked with handmade items from all over the blogosphere (they’ll be accepting more items after they’ve had a chance to catch their breaths, if you are inclined to donate something yourself).  As of this writing, there are nearly 170 items listed, and over 1500 ($27,000+) sold.  In just a few weeks!  I think that’s just wonderful, don’t you?

Polka Dot Cottage Heart Tutorial

So I spent last Tuesday morning putting my instructions and photos together into a 6-page PDF, and am now pleased to announce that 20 copies of the Polka Dot Cottage Hearts tutorial are available for sale through Craft Hope. Please consider this little splurge, particularly if you’ve thought about playing with polymer clay, but were intimidated by long supply lists, or were put off by a need for expensive equipment.  You can make these hearts with nothing more than a few colors of Sculpey III, an old kitchen knife, and a toothpick.  Everything else is optional.

Polka Dot Cottage Heart Tutorial

Alternately, I stumbled across Hearts for Haiti on etsy a few days ago, and since a heart tutorial seemed like the perfect fit for such a shop, there are now also 20 copies available there.  Both shops are donating to the same charity, so please just feel free to purchase wherever you prefer.  You may also get your copy directly from me at Polka Dot Creations below, but I do hope that you will check CraftHope and HeartsForHaiti first and buy through them for as long as they still have copies.

Even if you’re not intrigued by these hearts, I urge you to head over to either shop and see what else may be of interest.  Buy yourself a little something special and help make a difference in the world at the same time.

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Posted on 16 Comments

16 thoughts on “Have a heart

  1. Those are fantastic!! I wish I had time to start playing with clay 🙂

    Since I don’t, are you selling the hearts or just the instructions?

    1. At the moment, just the instructions, but I am considering what to do with the hearts as well. That is, the five hearts I didn’t commandeer for myself already 😉

  2. I got one!!! on ETSY. Thank you gf!
    .-= See Kathi’s latest blog post: Sunshine award. =-.

    1. Thank you! Hope you enjoy the project 🙂

  3. Lisa – was your charity beads of courage? just curious, because I sent them a bunch of clay hearts my guild made and never got so much as a thank you.
    .-= See Barbara Forbes-Lyons’s latest blog post: Sunday Baking: 10 Grain Muffins =-.

    1. No, it wasn’t.
      That’s pretty rude of them not to even acknowledge your guild’s gift!

      1. Well, I’m also assuming it was delivered. It wasn’t a huge box…they do great work and deserve support! Glad to know that it wasn’t BoC. Love these hearts, BTW.
        .-= See Barbara Forbes-Lyons’s latest blog post: Sunday Baking: 10 Grain Muffins =-.

  4. Lisa those are too cute!
    .-= See Kashoan’s latest blog post: My Feet are Always Naked…….sock knitting =-.

    1. Thanks – can I convince you to put down the loom for a moment and try a little clay? 😉

  5. New tutorial: Have a heart http://bit.ly/aq2Kqc

  6. thank you lisa. for everything. i wish i could have done something… with the book you know. i love the hearts and truly appreciate you donating the pdf to craft hope. they are wonderful!

    1. Oh, no, I know you did all you could! I don’t blame you at all. I was a little frustrated with the charity itself at first, but I never thought it was your fault.

      I hope that comes across in my post – I spent some time trying to word it properly, but I don’t know if I succeeded.

      I am just glad that I had something handy to donate to the cause 🙂

  7. RT @lclarke522: Have a heart http://bit.ly/bNg3jX What a wonderful thing to do Lisa!!

  8. […] you don’t have a pasta machine and/or you are new at this whole clay thing. (I wrote a whole beginner tutorial based on that premise). I whipped up this dotted button while waiting for the oven to heat […]

  9. […] my Polka Dot Cottage Hearts tutorial, I include a description of two possible methods for giving your pieces a nice shine.  These […]

  10. […] through Craft Hope and Hearts for Haiti, to benefit Doctors Without Borders. Find out more here. Tags: Nice, photos, Tutorial Did you enjoy this article? Share […]

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