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.

Do you want to see how I made it?

Don't you just love these colors together? I do.
I had this beautiful Dicro cabochon in my stash for a couple of years waiting for the right design to use it.

I thought it would be fun to do kind of a step by step of how I made these beads into the pretty necklace at the end of this post.

I mounted the cab onto a square of stiff interfacing and stitched a peyote bezel around it with Dark blue size 10 Delica beads. I like using delicas because of their uniform size and large holes.

After I stitched the bezel I trimmed the interfacing and glued the unit to some soft ultra suede to hide the ulgly stitches and make a nice finished back for the pendant.

The next step is to join the front and back together and finish the edge with pretty picots.

When I finished the edgings and embellishments I added a Swarovski crystal link and used it for the pendant bail.

Here is the necklace being made. This stitch makes the necklace look like a spiral staircase of pretty bugle beads

This is how the back looks totally finished. See how neat and tidy it looks.

Here is the front finished, isn't it pretty.

This is a close up of the finished necklace. I named it Tranquil Waters because I think the glass cab looks like a pool of water with gentle ripples.

Tada here is the finished necklace I wish the camera could capture how pretty the pendant is but trust me it is lovely in real life.
I hope you enjoyed seeing how this necklace was made and maybe you are a little inspired to try a little beading yourself.

How I make beads

.





Here is what it looks like when I am making polymer clay beads. This isn't meant to be a tutorial but more a quick look at some of what goes into making polymer clay beads.

Step 1...
pick out canes and blend base color for beads.

Step 2...
cut out and roll base beads

Step 3...
slice paper thin slices of cane and apply to base, roll to smooth.

Step 4...
cut and shape bead caps from base color. Add to beads.

Step 5....
pierce beads with bead pins hang on rack and cure..

Step 6....
when cured sand through 5 grits of sandpaper and buff to a glass like finish.

Yup I know that was a quick run through and some steps were skipped. I promise to do a proper tutorial on bead making soon.

The beads came out pretty nicely. I made a pendant base to go with them and as soon as I get the pendant beaded I'll post photos of the finished necklace.

Victorian Poinsettia Brooches

I have always liked Victorian styled things around the holidays. I think these 2 brooches have a Victorian look to them.

When I started making them the other day I had intended for them to be pendants on necklaces. By the time I finished the beading and making the ruffles edges they were way to big for pendants. So.....brooches they became. In the end I think it worked out for the best. I'll take the beads I made for the necklaces and turn them into a bracelet and earrings.

The soft diamond one is my favorite. I like how the champagne beads and black opal seed bead ruffle frame the bezel.

on work table......earrings, earrings and more earrings......

Pretty Poinsettia set

These are my first holiday themed projects of 2009. I am very happy with how these turned out. This set is the ball point pen and the pill box key chain. Instead of offering them individually I will be selling these as as set.

The designs on each piece are not painted it is made with polymer clay. The poinsettia cane I used wasn't one of mine; this time I used a cane made by Cat Therin. I have been enjoying experimenting with other peoples canes.

I liked these so much I made a set for myself, I just love pretty useful things.


on my worktable.......poinsettia beads

Fun with accesories

I really like making things that are functional as well as pretty.

I have some craft shows coming up so I have been making things to sell that are moderately priced and that will make great gifts for the upcoming holiday season. I have several nice gift sets made for my bath shop so yesterday I made some sets for my gift shop.

I am trying to decide weather or not to group coordinating pieces together and sell them as a set or offer them as individual items. There are pros and cons for doing it either way. Myself I would like to by the set if I could but I know not everyone feels the same way.

I like the set in the photo the colorful designs on the pieces are made with polymer clay the set includes 1 twist ball point pen,1 pill box key chain and 1 dual mirrored compact.

on my worktable........more pens and pill box key-chains also whipped olive oil soap

New Necklace

I have been enjoying beadweaving my lentil beads. I made this necklace with reversable pendant yesterday. It is much prettier in real life; I am happy with it.

Today I am going to make some floral lentils for some pretty spring designs and change the bezel style some. Maybe add some fringe dangles with some of the crystal flower beads I have.

I listed the red one I made the other day on Sunday in my Etsy shop and it sold in less the 10 minutes. I was shocked it sold so fast and pleased because it will be going to someone who really likes it. I am going to list this one later in Etsy and Artfire hopefully someone will like it too.

I got a beautiful fancy professional beading loom today that I am excited to start using and designing for it. This loom is so pretty it's almost a display as well as a tool. I am thinking maybe a floral patterned bracelet would be nice.

I have other looms that are not 1/2 as nice as the new one, I think I'll keep them to teach my Grandkids with when they get older.

Keep on trying

I really like making hollow lentil beads I think they make great pendants and earrings except for one thing...no matter how carefully I trim and sand the beads the seam in the side still shows a little and it bothers me. So I have been working on different ways to design aroud the seam to make it less noticable.

I have made polymer clay bezels they work nicely but still not exactly what I wanted.
I have wire wrapped them that works great because of the channel the joint creates and the wire covers that really well but still not exactly what I wanted.

So last night I was messing with some of my seed beads and I created after much trial and error this bead net bezel in the photo and lo and behold it does everything I want it to do.....no visible seam in bead showing and I think the beads really enhance the pretty polymer bead. The pendant is reversible because the bead and bezel are just as pretty on the other side. I will be using the bezel a lot now for my lentils. I can leave it basic and conservative like this one but it also has a lot of possibility for further embellishment for those times when I feel like going overboard.

I am so glad I didn't give up and kept trying because I met the challenge and am happy with the outcome.

Awesome Olive Oil Soap

I have been making Olive oil soap again and I can tell you my drying room smells beautiful. I have 2 sweet bars and 2 spa bars.

The "sweet" bars are the first 2 bars. The purple bar is a beautiful sexy tropical Tuberose. It smells like heady rich island flowers. The pink bars smell like Pink Sugar and awesome feminine sent, very flirty.

The green bars are my "spa" bars. They are clean fresh uni-sex scents. The top bar is Green Clover and Aloe scent[BBW dupe], I added some apricot kernels to polish your dry winter skin. The 2 toned bar is my favorite it is White Tea and Ginger, I love the fresh clean smell of it I added apricot kernel to gently polish the skin and candula petals to sooth it. Both of these bars will remind you of a day at the spa.

I love olive oil soap it has really been good for my skin. I have been using it as my shampoo for the last couple of months and have seen a nice improvement to my dry hair and scalp.

I have all of these bars listed in my shop http://gingerbellsbathshop.etsy.com now is a good time to check them out. I am having a buy 3 get 1 free sale; mix or match any items in shop that will be over soon.

My little pumpkin

Well little Lexie is now 6 weeks old.

When her Mommy left her with me yesterday I put on her little Halloween out fit on. The little Jack O Lantern blouse is a little big on her but that's OK she is growing fast and will be filling all of her outfits out in no time. It is so fun to watch them grow; her big Brother is 2 1/2 now and it just seems like yesterday he was a little one just like her.

She is starting to show her personality some she smiles a lot, loves to be cuddled, { good thing}, and responds really well to being talked and sang to. She is only 6 weeks old but has her Grandpa Jose totally in love, he never has been able to resist chubby little red heads. I knew she had him hooked when he came home from the store the other day with a little plush dolly for her that has chubby cheeks and red hair. He said he got it because it reminded him of her awwww, not bad for the worlds most MACHO Man. He also bought her some little pink onesies I was surprised they were pink and not Camo.

I have been making up little gift sets for my bath shop. I like putting them together. The other photo is of another new bangle bracelet for my gift shop. I like it it is comfortable to wear even on my chubby wrist. the center focal is one of my polymer clay cabs.

Pretty in Pink

For some reason I have been going a little Victorian with my jewelry designs, and pink has been the dominate color. Could it be my sweet new Granddaughter binging out the softer pink side of me.

The bold pink and gold bracelet is a perfect example of this style. I sculpted the center focal using my favorite medium polymer clay. This piece isn't for the shy woman it is bold and ornate. It looks heavy but it's not that's the beauty of polymer clay durable but not heavy.

The cameo necklace is a beautiful feminine piece I haven't decided weather or not to sell it or to give it to my sister in law who collects butterflies . I love the metal mounting I am glad I bought several; I will enjoy designing with them.

The other photos are of some of the soap I made this weekend. I made 8 different kinds of soap this week end. Soapmaking is such a satisfying craft. I love to make things that are pretty and functional. I will post some more photos of then in next post.

Bead weaving with crystals

I love sparkling crystals they are so pretty . I like using them in bracelets because as you move your wrist they catch the light in the facets.

I made these 3 bracelets yesterday with some beads I picked up at a bead show. I like them all but my favorite one is the blue green one the beads are so pretty with hints of pink and violet in the blue ones. The Blue and silver one is very pretty to and the photos don't do the beads justice. they look black but really they are a peacock iridescent iris blue.

I have big wrists so I make most of my bracelets to fit other plus size women, I know how hard it is to find pretty bracelets when you have big wrists. I am going to post these later today in my Etsy and Dawanda shops.

Ho Ho Ho More Christmas Ornaments!

So While the Grandson was napping this week I made these cool ornaments. He sleeps for about 2 hours so I was able to gets some work done.

I made the red and green one with Fimo Soft Effects clay. I like using it when making holiday items because the subtle glitter effect is very pretty with several coats of finish.

The others are made with Premo Pearl and Fimo Effects. I used my most favorite texture sheet to make these ornaments. I love snowflakes and I will be bummed when I finally wear it out.

I accented the snowflakes in the pearl ornaments with Swarovski Crystals. Each ornament has at least 21 crystals adorning it. I love the curve on each of the 6 panels on them.

My favorite is the blue and pearl one. I love blue and white pearl for the holidays it reminds me of winter.

I am going to post these over the next week or so in my Etsy shop. I am also going to be opening a second DaWanda shop and I will be adding these to it.

I am planning a busy week end. Jose went camping with our Son, our nephew and my Brother in Law. It will be a real testosterone weekend in the woods. So I am going to take advantage of the time by myself to get some creating done and I make take a break and do a little housework [probably not].