Changes

Chocolate Pansy Bracelet.......
as usual I have been very busy making pretty things... But there have also been some changes going on at Gingerbell's.

White Rose and Violets bracelet

Christmas Candle

One change I have made is that after much thinking and weighing my options I have closed both of my Etsy shops. They were beginning to cost me more time and money then I was willing to invest for the return I was getting.

However over the last few months I have made my Http://Gingerbells.artfire.com studio my main shop and the efforts are paying off ; I am happy with the gradual steady pace. I am confident now that Artfire is out of beta and with the great improvements they continue to implement things can only continue to get better.

Another thing that has changed is that 1000markets where I had a shop has sold to another online retailer Bonanza.com. At first I wasn't happy because I really loved 1000Markets and my studio there. I wasn't going to open a shop on the other venue but I changed my mind and opened a shop there this morning http://www.bonanza.com/booths/Gingerbells . I figured I'll give it 6 months and see how it goes, sometimes it's better to go with the flow then fight the waves. Check out my new booth and let me know what you think.

And lastly I have my annual 10 day show that I have been preparing for. So if you love craft shows come check out the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival in central Indiana. It's a great county wide festival with lots to see, do and eat.

Well it's back to the work table for me.......

Introducing CatsWire

Cat's Wire is a very talented artisan who describes herself as a "Bookworm by day, crazy cat lady and hooked on wire in the evening!" She lives in Southern Germany with her Husband and 4 cats.

She is very talented with wire and incorporates polymer clay along with gemstones and beads to make some awesome wearable wire sculptures.

She also is a talented miniaturist and sculpter who uses my favorite medium Polymer Clay to bring her designs to life.

Cat is a proud member of the ArtFire Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild and sells her lovely creations at http://Catswire.artfire.com she writes a very interesting blog http://catswire.blogspot.com/ Check out her sites you won't be disappointed.

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.

I fell in love with these beads...

I must confess I have a bit of a problem when it comes to buying and hoarding beads.

I don't know how most people create but I buy beads that speak to me with no idea how I will use them. Then I hoard them until they tell my "Muse" what to do with them...

This necklace is a good example:

Almost 2 years ago Jose and I went to a bead show in Chicago and I saw the cranberry pearls for some reason I had to have them. I don't know why because they are not in my usual color pallet. I passed by them twice before I went back to get them. So there they sat in my bead stash waiting to be used.

A few weeks ago I saw the 2 piece lamp work shell beads and fell in love with them; so much so I bought 4 strands in 2 colors again not in my usual pallet. I didn't have a clue how I was going to use them. So there they sat in my bead stash waiting to be used.

A couple of days ago I was feeling unmotivated so I conditioned some pearl clay and began to play with some ink and alcohol to see what kind of pretty sheets of color I could come up with. One of the sheets came out looking like sunset colors with a very pretty pattern- Ding- the light bulb above my head went on and I thought it would make some pretty hollow lentil beads. I made the beads and when they were done sanded,buffed and polished I loved how this one looked. Again I had no idea how I was going to use it.....

As I was putting it away in my stash I saw the cranberry pearls and the shell beads next to the lentil and in my mind I saw this necklace......

So that is how I create; strange I know but is what works for me....How do you create?

Check out my new ArtFire studio

Check out the showcase link to my new ArtFire Studio. I have really been enjoying the set up there. I have found a couple of exciting new artists. The community there seems to be very supportive, I imagine that is how it was when Etsy was a new start up company.


I am posting a new item from my bath and body line.

Portable soap balms
********
These are awesome for slipping in your purse diaper bag and gym bag. They are perfect for travel, no mess no fuss. just take off top rub on wet cloth or hand; recap and use.
I dislike the alcohol sanitizer and sometimes it isn't enough to clean something up the portable soap balm is the perfect answer.

Solid Body Butter Balm
*********
This is my favorite new product I just love the feel and convenience of this product. It is a long lasting ultra rich body butter that fits great in handbag, desk drawer and travels so well. It is awesome for all dry areas and my feet have never been softer.


on my work table.....bead loom project, and herbal bath salts.

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....

I need a day at the beach...

I am having a little bit of the winter blues; it has been so cold and dreary here for several weeks. I am ready for a little beach therapy it always makes me feel better.

We are planning a trip to Savannah Georgia for April , I can hardly wait. I love beach combing it is one of my favorite things to do. I have a excellent huge collection of shells and rocks so I decided to use a few from my collections to make these 2 pieces.

The frame measures 8 1/2 x 6 1/2 with a 4x6 photo opening it can stand on a table or be hung on a wall.

The candle and holder are would look really cute with the frame I think. I poured a Night Blooming Tuberose candle in the holder.

They are not a trip to the beach but I feel happier after making them. It was a lot of fun going through my collection and remembering all the fun I had collecting them. I hope you enjoy them.

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.

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

I love Art Deco

I have been shopping around for beautiful metal mountings to add to my polymer clay jewelry and I found these beautiful copper Art Deco style pieces and I turned them into these pretty earrings. I am very pleased with the final product.

I made the focal cabochons using liquid polymer clay and gold and copper leaf. I think these earrings are very dramatic looking.

I have several other new mounting I have found that I am enjoying working with and will be blogging about them soon and posting them in my Etsy shop in time for holiday gift giving.

Let the soaping begin!!!

I just love getting new scents it is one of my favorite things about making soaps and candles.
In the mail today I got....
Spiced Orange..OMG this is yummy and will make some awesome soap and bath soak.
Bonsai...A beautiful unisex spa scent.
Pumpkin Brulee....need I say more.
Mandarin Basil Lime.. is another beautiful unisex spa scent that will make some excellent Olive Oil Soap.
Zanzibar Clove.. A rich and beautiful clove that will become a soap and milk bath.
Wild Rose and Oak....Beautiful, rich, woodsy and sexy. I love it.

This is just the start of my Fall and Winter scent line I have 10 more new scents on the way; Yummo.

Today I made some Ginger Milk Olive Oil soap and it smells like heaven. I am keeping some for myself. I also made some Pumpkin spice Honey soap that is very nice. I'll try to list them tomorrow.

I am one happy soaper.

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.

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].

Making Christmas ornaments when it's 90 degrees outside..

It can be hard to get in the mood for making Holiday items when it hot and humid outside; unless you live in Australia or any other country where it's summer during the holidays. So I have been cranking up the A.C. and watching Christmas movies while I work it's been fun.

These photos are some of the pieces I made Friday. They are boxes that are great for giving a special gift in and also make a great decoration. I made some last year that sold like crazy so I thought I would make some more this year; each one is different. I used glitter clay for the embellishment but unfortunately it doesn't photograph well.

Yesterday I worked on a new ornament design I am really happy with I am waiting for the finish to dry so I can take some photos of it. I am sure I will be making more today and I will post them when I am done.

I really enjoy making Christmas themed things. I buy ornaments all year around. When we go on vacations we always try to find a new ornament to remind us of our trip. Other then the ornaments we buy on vacation all of the others on my tree are hand made.

Well it's time to pop the White Christmas DVD in and get back to making some more holiday bling.

Love/Hate relationship

Have you ever made something that was so challenging that you had a love /hate relationship with it? Well that's the case with this necklace. I am glad I finished it because I like how it turned out.

The reason this was difficult is that I am a design as I go kind of creator instead of a pattern follower. Usually that works well for me but not this time. I redid the beading several times before I got it to a point where I could put it down.

The diamond shaped focal I made with polymer clay using one of the awesome canes I got in trade with Nat from Belgium and the seed beads I got at the Chicago bead show a couple of months ago.

I am working on some earrings to go will them and I have one done and it worked up so much quicker and easier the the pendant thank God.

New candles

Well I just love the look of the palm wax that I made these candles with. It is the coolest wax it is clean and long burning. The finish looks like the candles are covered with crystal snowflakes. Beautiful finish that the photos just can't show.

I always feel a need to pretty up paraffin wax pillars because they just look plain to me and the finish on them is so slick looking. But with this palm wax the finish is so interesting the simple shapes enhance the pattern so no further embellishment is needed.

I have started listing these in my bath shop today. I will be doing gift sets mostly I think; I haven't really decided. I have 8 different sets ready to list right now in some lovely scents. The photos are just a few of the sets I have finished.

I just love making things that smell good............Hum looks like I was leaning little to much when I took photo # 3. I will have to retake that one.... { Note to self}, Wine and photo taking don't mix