Meet EmilyClaireCreations

Valerie of Http://EmilyClaireCreations.ArtFire.com is a wonderful Artist from Ohio who is inspired by nature and her environment. She is the stay at home Mom to her 2 adorable daughters whom she has named her shop after.

In her studio Bio Valerie says:
"Making jewelry makes me supremely happy. It is a one true medium where I can express myself. I follow my bliss. I believe it shows in my designs. Jewelry should be something anyone can wear no matter what size, shape, age or color you are, it is a statement to accentuate your personality." I like how she thinks and I agree it shows in all the beautiful items in her shop.

I have picked several of my favorites to share

I really like the style and composition of this piece. I think it looks like a piece of treasure that's been around for a long, long time.

I absolutely love this acorn that she has sculpted it's classy and whimsical at the same time. So if you like her style as much as I do check out her ArtFire studio where she is running a Christmas in July sale offering a 15% discount coupon.

Valerie is a proud member of the Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild of ArtFire.

What I made with my handmade beads...

I wanted to show what I made with the beads I showed in the previous post.......I like how the lavender highlights the pretty flowers and the cute little hummingbird on the pendant.

I love the way polymer clay works so well in beaded designs. It makes every piece a one of a kind piece of wearable art.

I wanted to show that I also work with gemstones on occasion. So I am showing the blue pendant and necklace I made the other night. I LOVE the pendant it is one of my all time favorites. I love how the colors work together. I also am glad I was able to work the black and blue ceramic beads into the design.

If I were honest I would say I am obsessed with beads........

What is a Polymer Clay Cane?

When people see the things I make they often think the patterns are painted on. I explain that they are made by applying thin slices of " polymer clay canes ". Then they look at me and say "what is a cane?" if you have ever had the same question here is a quick simple explanation with visual aids.

A polymer clay cane is made by blending contrasting colors of clay and forming them into a pattern. I know; it's still confusing....I'll use this simple flower cane to illustrate.

Photo #1
I took the following colors green pearl/blue pearl/white pearl and blended them together to form the striped pattern for a single flower petal and I wrapped it in a sheet of pearl clay. Then I "reduced" it; [squeezed it to make it longer] , and cut it into 8 equal lengths.

Photo #2
I took each of the 8 pieces and shaped them like a flower petal. I took the 8 petals and arranged them around a yellow center to form a flower shape.

Photo #3
I took translucent polymer clay and "packed" or wrapped it around the flower shape to help everything hold it's place during reduction.

Photo #4
I took the 3 inch wrapped and packed cane and redused it buy squeezing ,pulling and rolling it until the tube measured about 1/2 inch around and then cut it into 6 2x1/2 inch canes ready to use on projects. Just like the Pillsbury cookie dough at the store the flower pattern goes all the way through the cane.

That is how a polymer clay cane is made....Have I further confused you? I hope not; I hope I have intrigued you enough to learn to do it too.....

What's up?

So I've been neglecting my blog the last couple of weeks.
Why you may ask?

Well I have been busy with taking care of some unexpected health problems and getting ready for tomorrow's craft show.

I am feeling better and with a few life style changes and some time I will be all good. Turning 50 sucks, lol.

Tomorrow I am doing one of my favorite craft shows it is......
The Wabash Valley Herb Festival
It's a great festival on the banks of the Wabash river in Terre Haute, Indiana. It is filled with vendors selling herbs and flowers and garden related items and hand crafts. It's a jurried show and I like that because there are no buy and sell vendors there. It's a very popular annual event that people look forward to all year.
It has been raining here so much latley I was conserned that it would be raining but it looks like it's going to be a cool clear day....awesome.

Well it's getting late and I have to get up at 4:30 am to go set up, I will say good night!

Something for my sore muscles

ARRRRGGGG I hate getting old and some of the things that go with it. For me the body aches are the worst part. So a few years ago I started making different soaks and bath teas to relax my ouchys. I decided to make some for my shops.

I just love this stuff it smells awesome. When I am tired and my muscles ache I fill my tub with warm water . Then I fill a cotton bag with the herbs and salt and drop it into the tub to dissolve the salts and release the beautiful scent. The salts relax my muscles and the scent relaxes me. It is the perfect end to a long day.

The combo of dead sea and Epsom salts relax and sooth sore muscles and help detox the skin. I like the rose petals and hips the oils from them seem to help soften my skin. The wild rose and oak is such a awesome warm calming scent.

The resealable bag holds 1 lb. of salts and a reusable cotton bag to fill with the salts and petals. Just fill the bag and drop into the warm tub let the salts dissolve and soak you aches away.

Blue Gray Garden Necklace

Here is my newest necklace. I made the beads and the cabochon with polymer clay. I love polymer clay it allows me to make things that are all mine.

I usually make the focal and accent beads and then design a necklace around them. I like these beads even tho they turned out a little more gray then I had planned. I think the gray looks nice with the oxidized silver pendant frame.

It is a nice long necklace it measures 22 inches. I think that's a great length to wear with a turtle neck or a tunic. I am full figured and I really like my necklaces this long it is more flattering.

I'll probably add this to my shop tonight or tomorrow and if I still have it in April I will take it to my show with me. Necklaces are always a good seller for me at shows.

My first show of the spring is April 3-4 at the Brocton Big Red Barn Market Festival in Brocton Illinois. It is on of my favorite shows of the year.


On my work table 2 more pendants waiting to be finished and turned into necklaces.............

Finding new things

Etsy has a lot of wonderful supply sellers and it is great fun to look through their shops. I have found some awesome things to spice up my polymer clay jewelry.

Lately for me it has been vintage and Victorian styles that have been calling to me. I am also loving antique copper and brass. Today I got a bunch of beautiful copper and brass findings that I will be using for some awesome earrings I have planned.

I found the pretty pendant mounting while shopping around Etsy and built this necklace around it. I made the pearl peach floral beads and strung them with pale peach freshwater pearls. Click on photos to get a better view. I listed it in my shop tonight; http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=20201211 . I am getting my spring collection ready for the spring shows and I think this will fit right in if someone doesn't buy it before then.

On my work table now.... earring earrings and more earings....

Upcycled Cuties

A neighbor of mine knew that I make candles so the other day she brought me a bag of frosted tumblers that she had saved from the store bought candles that her daughter in Law likes. She said she thought it would be a bummer to just throw them away and I agreed with her.I cleaned them up and this is what I did with them.

She gave me 9 tumblers and here are the four I made yesterday. I am so missing spring that I had to decorate these to remind me of why I love spring.

The Enchantment candle is Green Clover and Aloe scented.
The Happiness and Love Candles are Sweet Sugar [pink sugar] scented.
The Hope candle is Exotic Night Blooming Tuberose.

I scented these to go with the new soaps I listed this week end. I think the 2 together would make a awesome gift. I made one for myself too. I have a few others that I will be finishing over the next couple of days.


On my work table.....A pretty shabby chic beach themed photo frame and candle. I may list them as a set.

One of my favorite shops on Etsy

Daisy Designs Floral is a awesome shop filled with whimsical floral designs. These designs are well made and sold at an affordable price. I own a few myself. And best of all it is my good friend Terri's shop.
I asked Terri a few questions so others could get to know the artist behind the designs. She is offering a cool giveaway contest at the end of the interview.
Enjoy and good luck all.........

1. Terri how long have you been a floral arranger?
7 years

2. What kind of arrangements do you make? What are you favorite and why.

I create arrangements for any occasion. Weddings, Funerals, Proms, and New Baby just to name a few. But custom orders are always welcomed.

I love to work with fall flowers, and I think that the arrangements I create from them are my favorite. I like doing wreaths, and bridal bouquets.

3. What other kinds of crafts do you enjoy?

I recently started making handmade greeting cards. I really enjoy using this as another outlet for my creative energy!

4. Tell us a little about yourself.

I have been married for 32 years, and we have two grown daughters. But I am proudest to be called grandma by my two year old grandson, and soon he will be joined by a brother.

5. Do you have any sales running in your shop?

I have free shipping on my entire shop and all of my Christmas wreaths $30.00 and higher have been reduced by $10.00 until Monday December 1, 2008.

6. What are your shops urls?

daisydesignsfloral.etsy.com

daziemae.etsy.com

is there anything else you want readers to know? Do you want to offer
a give away contest?

I love what I do and I hope it shows through my designs.

For everyone that e-mails me with the event that sparked the idea of selling my arrangements, will be entered into drawing for the Jolly Floral Arrangement pictured below. Hint you can find the answer in my profile.

daisydesigns2006@aol.com

Insperation and and a blog feature

Where can you find inspiration, great polymer clay art ,adorable animal photos and a blog feature on my shop all in one place...That would be Artsy Clay's blog http://artsyclay.blogspot.com/ .

Her blog is well written and has a lot to offer a reader her photos are a lot of fun. She is also a wonderful polymer clay artist she makes the cutest sculpted cat faces as well as other lovely pieces that can be seen on her blog..

I am always touched when someone likes what I do because I get so much joy doing it and for someone to put that much effort into telling others about it is very touching to me and I really appreciate it.

She has reviewed several other shops and I found some new artists things to drool over so if you want to see some cool things check out her blog.

Cute little frogs

I have a friend named Moe who lives in Hawaii she is so good at making tiny little things. Awhile back I asked her if she could make me some tiny frogs for a custom order. Well the customer changed her mind and decided she wanted lady bugs instead of frogs. So I got to keep the delicate little cuties Moe made for me.
I can make things but not anything as small as these frogs they are less then 1/2 inch and have tons of detail. She sent me several in different poses so I wanted to make something cute with them; they are cool little buggers.
So I made a little 3 1/2 x 5 frame on a 6x6 1/2 inch piece curved beveled glass. They are little tiny tropical Hawaiian frogs so I wanted to give them some tropical flowers to live on. All of the embellishments are made with polymer clay there isn't any paint on this project.
I hope Moe likes what I have done with her little froggies. I saved my 2 favorites for another project.

These are to pretty to use

s


I love making pretty soaps almost as much as I enjoy using them. I like this new style I made last night. These are a little more labor intensive carving the flowers and applying them on to the soaps for a 3D look but I enjoyed doing it. The drips are a little messier then I like but I can live with that. And to top it off they smell divine.

As much as I love using them I am often told at shows that my soaps are way to pretty to use and often the best sellers are the pretty but less fancy bars. I always tell people as pretty as they look they are even better to use. I am on a mission to get people to pamper them selves and use the pretty soap, tee hee hee.

I have been making some really pretty palm wax candles the last couple of days. Palm wax is a cool wax when it hardens it makes a beautiful crystal like star burst pattern on the surface of the candle. I really like them each one looks different and special. yesterday I made cinnamon scented and today I have been making sweet pea scented. I will post photos in a later post.

Craft show

Well yesterday's craft show went really well the weather couldn't have been better for an out side show; it was sunny and in the low 70's with a very slight breeze. I was able to keep all the sides up on my tent and enjoy the beautiful day and all of the people.

Attendance was awesome and sales were very good.

After the show we packed up and went to my Son and Daughter in laws house for dinner. My Son cooked me a very nice Mother's Day dinner and my Grandson Brenden gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. It was so sweet he is almost 2 and he brought the flowers to me and the bouquet was almost as big as him. He gave them to me and said "here Mamaw" I could have cried he was so sweet. We had a very nice evening together that topped off a lovely day.

Life is good..........