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.

The 12 days of Christmas in July Sale

Many of the shops on Artfire.com are having Christmas in July Sales.....My shop is having one as well.
July 11-25th.
FREE SHIPPING!!! on all jewelry items
or
BOGO!! Buy 3 bath and body items or candles and get 1 FREE!!!!! feel free to mix and match
go to my shop at http://Gingerbells.ArtFire.com and check out what's new in my Studio.


I still have a few Holiday items in my shop if you want to get started on your decorations early.


So if your ready to start your Holiday shopping; I know I am Artfire is the place to start for a Handmade Christmas

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.

Meet Sassy Clay Creations

I would like to show some of the lovely things made by Dori of Http://SassyClayCreations.artfire.com .
I really like pretty things that are useful like this candle holder. I would love to have this as part of my Fall decor.

When I saw this mask in Dori's shop I fell in love with it. I love the whimsical style of it.

I love the texture in this Star and moon pin she made. I think it would make a great piece to add to any jewelry collection.

Not only is Dori a talented lady she is a sweetheart who has organized the Friendship round Robin swap box for our Artfire Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild .

So if you are looking for a unique gift for someone or a special treat for your self I recommend checking out her shop http://SassyClayCreations.artfire.com

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.

New on my worktable

My online clay buddy Jackie [ http://www.etsy.com/shop/ThePleasantPheasant ] has been making the most lovely canes. I couldn't resist buying some of them.

I used Jackie's awesome canes to make these very pretty pillow beads and square cabochons for beading. I love them all but if I had to pick a favorite pattern it would be the blue ones.

With the yellow set I think I'll make a bracelet with the pillows and a beaded pendant for a necklace with the cabochon.

The small green rounds and cabochon are going to be a pendant for a necklace.

The blue set will be a bracelet, necklace and pendant...

I am looking forward to designing the pendants because the square shape can be a challenge to work with and keep it soft looking.

So if you are looking to buy some awesome canes check out the link to Jackies shop I loved working with them.

Polymer clay and seed beads

I think polymer clay and seed beads are a match made in heaven. They play so nicely together.

I love good gemstone cabochons but they are so expensive and really drive up the price of the pieces I make. The cabochons in the hair pins are gemstones and were expensive so I will have to sell them at a higher price point then I would like. Had I made them with polymer clay I could knock about $10 off the retail price.

Another advantage of using polymer clay is I can create some awesome stone like cabochons with awesome colors and detail for a lot less then I would pay for a natural gemstone. Using my handmade cabochons allows me to spend more money on the high quality crystals and seed beads to give my customer a higher quality product at a reasonable affordable price point.

The necklace in this post is a beautiful example. The cabochon is one that I made with polymer clay,ink,mica and gold leaf; it's full of detail and pretty colors. because the cost to make it wasn't high I was able to use a generous amount of expensive high quality Swarovski crystals and delica seed beads. By making my own cabochon I am able to offer my customer a OOAK necklace at a very reasonable price. It's a win-win situation for both of us.

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

Blog Love

I wanted to give my blog a little love today I have been very neglectful.

I have been very busy getting things ready for the upcoming fall craft show season. It is my favorite time of year. The Mid-west has a great amount of festivals. I like the fall ones best because the air is crisp and fresh and people are starting to get in the holiday spirit.

Every year I do a 10 day show called The Parke County Covered Bridge Festival. It is a county wide celebration of arts, crafts and food. If you would like to check it out Google Parke County Covered Bridge festival.

So getting ready is a lot of preparation which I love. It beats the hell out of working a straight job again.

I am posting some photos of a necklace I made today. I am calling it "Bohemian Beauty" or something like that.
When I found the pendant mounting I fell in love with it, I think it has a cool exotic look to it. I mounted some vintage crystals and a polymer clay cabochon to finish the pendant. I made some beads to go with the cabochon and strung them with hemitite rice beads.

In my stash I had the cool brass bead caps and the perfect clasp. I think they all came together to make a pretty necklace. It measures about 23 inches long. I think it would look beautiful worn with a black moc turtle neck or a peasant blouse , it will make a bold statement for sure.

On work table another cool mounting I found waiting for my to make some beads and a cabochon for it.

I love my job!!!!!

Wooden purses.

When I go to the craft store I always hit the clearance isle to see what treasures I can find. I found some nice wooden purse blanks a year or so ago at a good price so I bought several.



I use to love to do decoupage and collage projects when I was younger and making decorative boxes was always one of my favorite subjects. These purses are pretty much the same idea. So I spent this weekend painting decoupaging a couple of the blanks.

I really like the "Butterflies in the night sky" themed one best.

The paint finish is my favorite part, the colors are a pretty combination of pearl,teal,turquoise and purple. I used several painting techniques to give the painted surface lots of great texture.

To the surface I decoupaged really pretty water colored butterflies, moths and flowers along with 2 pretty B monograms. There is just the slightest touch of fairy dust on the cut outs to catch the light for a gentle sparkle.


The other purse is "I will always be a dreamer" themed purse. I love hot air balloons and I think the are a good way to symbolize my dreams.

The front side has the sun and it is for day dreams. The back has stars and the moon and it is about night dreams. I blinged it all up with 64 crystals.

These were fun projects that I enjoyed doing. Now what next? I think maybe some cabochons for some broaches I got the other day or maybe some candles; maybe both.

Yummy These Smell So Good.

Last week end I had a mini soap making marathon. I made 8 beautiful batches of lovely smelling Olive oil and goats milk soap. Today I cut them all and put them on their racks to cure. I have to say the smell coming from the drying room is awesome.

Soap making is a addicting and useful craft. However it is not for the person who requires immediate gratification. Before this soap is ready to use it needs to cure "dry" for another 3 or so weeks. Sometimes I get lucky and they are ready a little sooner and I get to indulge a little early.

I will probably start listing them in my ArtFire and Etsy shop Mid May. These batches are on the small size so it is sometimes a good idea to reserve a few bars before my regulars scoop them all up. I posted a couple of photos so you can see how pretty they are, I really like the rustic look......

olive oil
________
Downy Fresh
Blushing Pink Hyacinth
Tuscan lace
Green Irish Tweed

Goats Milk
__________
Sage & Lemongrass
Black Vetyver Cafe` with cinnomon coffe scrub
Exotic Amazon Teakwood
Dusky Goddess

My Hubby will be out of town for the next three days so I will be enjoying many hours of guild free craft time. I will be teaching myself some new beadweaving stitches and also making some new beads and cabochons. I need to pour some new candles too and make a few pieces of jewelry. I have a craft show coming up on the 9th. We will be on vacation the week before so prep time is short. Housework will be low on my to do list for the next couple of days.