Grand Opening

Well Now I have really gone over the deep end and opened a second shop dedacated to bath and body items and candles. It is http://gingerbellsbathshop.etsy.com check it out and feel free to tell me what you think.

I decided to open a second shop to showcase all the personal care items I love to use and make. I will still be carrying some in my main shop but as they sell I will phase them out of that shop.

Every day for a while I will be adding new items that are exclusive to the bath shop. Things like herbal tub teas, milk and soothing salt soaks, foot bath soaks and lip balm just to name a few items.

Right now my house smells awesome I just made some beautiful Chai tea milk bath and sealed it up in giant tea bags for the tub.

Hopefully separating my shops will help me on my quest to become more organized when it comes to my least favorite part of my craft journey; the business side. So dear reader please wish me luck.

Bead show projects

I played a little with some of the beads I got at the bead show.

I made the bracelet and earrings with the earth toned jasper beads. I free form wire wrapped each bead with sterling silver wire. Each bead has it's own look.

I hope you enjoy them. I am going to list them in my Etsy shop because the bracelet is a little snug on my fat wrist. I think I will make a similar set for my self using some of the teardrop shaped turquoise beads. I think the beads will go great with silver wire.

BOGO in my shop

For those who are interested I am having a
BOGO SALE in my Etsy Shop!
Buy 3 bars of soap and get a 4th. bar free!
I have a lot of new soaps I have added and will be adding more this week as they dry. Feel free to mix and match your scents and soap types.

Chicago Bead Show

Well I had a great time at the bead show this past week end. I saw so many beautiful beads it was hard to choose. I decided to concentrate on gemstones because they seemed to be the best value at this show.

I am posting some photos of the ones I like best of the gem stones I bought. I love the tear dropped shaped ones. I made a wire wrapped bracelet and a pair of earrings from some of the earth toned ones I will post the photos of the set I made tomorrow.

I was good about not spending to much at the show and for the most part I was good but I did make one splurge. I bought a pair of hand made dolphin shaped beads they are beautiful. They are made in blue tones with dicroic glass accents. They were really expensive but I had to have them. I think they will make a beautiful pair of earrings. I will post them with the jewelry I made today.

This weekend

This week end is our wedding anniversary and our nephew Leonardo's birthday so we are taking a trip to Chicago. It will be a busy weekend.

We are going to drive up Friday late afternoon. We will be going to a coin show Saturday morning then in the afternoon we are going to a big family party at Jose's sister Martha's house. The Gonzalez family parties are always fun ; lots of laughing and food and we all play games together. The youngest person there will be my Grandson who is 20 months and the oldest will be my Father in law who just turned 86.

On Sunday we are going to a bead show at the Highland Park Art Center[yippee I am stoked]. Then we are going to take a drive around the lake to the in laws and spend the night visiting with them. On Monday morning we will be doing a little shopping at the Mexican stores in Jose's old neighborhood. We can't find a lot of the things he likes in poduck where we live so we always stock up when we come to the city. After shopping we will begin the 4 hour drive home with a lot of good memories and some fresh tamales...

We pay our house sitter with tamales :o) .....

Polymer clay cane swap

I belong to a awesome group of polymer clay- aholics at Polymer Clay Central. Polymer Clay Central is kind of like my online guild. It is filled with wonderful caring and sharing artists.

One of the cool things we do there is swapping. Last month Linda Weeks hosted a geometric cane swap. I joined one group I sent in 4 canes that I made and Linda sent me back 4 canes from other artists . It's always fun to open the box when the swap items come back because "it's like a box of chocolates.. you never know what you are gonna get." { sorry Forrest Gump I couldn't resist}

I got some lovely canes in return all of them are in colors that I never use so I was excited to be challenged to work outside of my color comfort zone. I am finding that I like working out of my color box and I would like to share the first item I made using one of my swap canes.

I believe the person who made the cane is Nancy Welch, I apologize if I have the name wrong the writing on the wrap was smudged. It is a beautiful Kaleidoscope cane made in golds greens and brown.

I used the cane to make inlays for a the gold bracelet in the photos. The pattern in her cane is so delicate and detailed she did a very nice job. Thank you Nancy..

I would like to thank Linda Weeks she was a wonderful swap host and I would recommend any one to join a swap hosted by her

What I do with scraps

I make a lot of clay pattern sheets for beads and veneers and sometimes there are scraps left that are to nice to mush up so I like to figure out ways to use them.

I used the left overs the other day to make these cute little flip flop beads. They are tiny only about 3/4 th inch and the straps are made with tiny seed beads. The bottoms even have treads like real flip flops.

They are so fun to make and I think they will make so really cute summer earrings. I think I will make a pair for myself one pair for my shop and list the rest for other people to make things with.

These were so fun to make I think I will make some more scrap flip flops....

Red Barn Market

The last 2 days I have been set up at the Brocton Red Barn Market in Illinois. This is the second year I have done it I really enjoyed it.

The promoters and staff are excellent and well prepared they take wonderful care of the vendors and customers.
It is a jurried show for fine crafts and antiques.

The setting is a big red horse barn in rural Illinois. The stalls are where the booths are it is fun and a challenge to set up there. It was a fun atmosphere . The crowds were really good.

My soaps were a big hit, I am glad because that means I get to make more.

My husband Jose had a really good time he loves antiques and he found a lot of things he couldn't live with out.

The photos are of my set up in my little horse stall midway through day 2. Because I am forgetful I didn't get any photos yesterday when my setup was fresh and full but you will get the idea. There is also a photo of Jose antique shopping.....

I am pretty tired but very happy...... I think I am going to go curl up on the couch and watch Torchwood on BBC America. Good night.....