New stuff I made this week end

Now that I am feeling better I am starting to make things again. I really need to get busy my busiest craft show season starts in 2 months.

This weekend I was in a mood to make some palm candles. I made some that are red clove scented and some that are Heather scented.

I took the heather scented ones and made a gift set with some...
This is a a wonderful gift set filled with pampering goodies. Heather is a lovely fresh,herbal,lightly floral spa type blend.

In this set you'll receive:
1 4oz. bar of oatmeal soap
This is a awesome creamy bar of soap that gently polishes the skin.

1 8 oz dead sea salts in a taffeta bag
These salts a a great way to make a relaxing bath or foot soak after a hard day.

2 palm votive candles.
I love palm candles they are clean burning much like a soy candle. One of the characteristics of palm candles are the crystal like pattern on the candle. I think it makes them very pretty. These will give you many hours of scented burning time.

I listed the gift set in my Artfire shop http://Gingerbells.artfire.com . I am thinking I will offer the clove candles in a set of 6.

The clove candles smell so good I made some for my house so I could enjoy them too. One of the best part of making these kinds of things is I get to keep some for my personal use.

On my worktable ............polymer clay beads and cabochons.

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.

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!

I want to kick my cat's butt!

I have a long haired orange cat named Rupert and I love him dearly but this morning I really wanted to kick his furry little butt.....Why?

Last night I was working on a beaded project when I got tired and decided to finish it this morning. I had 2 large organizer boxes filled with crystals and gemstones that I had been picking beads from for my project on my worktable. I figured they would be fine as they were closed . Welllll that's not exactly right.

I got up this morning went to kitchen to make coffee and all of the sudden I heard a huge CRASH! Apparently Mr. Rupert launched himself off my desk and on too my worktable sending the 2 boxes of beads flying onto the floor where they opened up emptying and mixing 36 different compartments of beads and gemstones....OMG! What a pretty mess!!!
____________________________________________________________

Above I posted some photos of another one of my polymer clay and glass tile pendants. I strung this one with some nice spring time beads. I think I'll post it in my Etsy shop later.....

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.............

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

Another long festival over!

The Parke County Covered Bridge Festival is a 10 day county wide craft show held every October.

This is the 4th year I have done it and I really enjoy it. It is one of my favorite shows of the year but 10 days is a long time; by day 7 I am ready for it to be done.

Sales were down this year for everyone but it still was a profitable show. I sold 98% of the necklaces I brought and about 75% of the bracelets as well. I started the show with 89 candles and brought home 8 and sold many bars of soaps and soap sets as well as pillar candles and other misalliance items.

So needless to say my shops are looking kind of sad. I have been ordering a lot of supplies so that I can make new inventory for my shops and the 2 shows I have coming up in December.

The next couple of weeks I will be making new beads for jewelry , soaps and candles. While at the show I crocheted a bunch of pretty new wash cloths ,soap bags and bath puffs to pair with some soaps for nice gift sets. I also demoed polymer clay canes so I have a bunch to use for my new beads and to list in my shop for others to use.

Before I can start all the fun creating I need to clean up this messy house. My loving spouse is a "Spoiled Latino King" who's sweet Mom never made pick up after himself and he still does not. He's a great Hubby but damn he's spoiled of course after 21 years I ought to know better then to expect anything different. ( random rant over).

I am so excited to get the new oils I ordered so I can get started on the 20 lbs. of olive oil soap I am planning on making next week ; my curing racks will be jam packed with beautiful soaps. I ordered a bunch of fall and winter scents like Orange Spice , Zanzabar Clove, and Pumpkin Pound Cake. I'll also have some Shea butter soaps ready for listing next week and maybe a couple of bars of Pumpkin Spice Honey Soaps. I ordered 18 new scents so there will be loads of new wonderful smelling goodies going into my shop over the next few weeks.

I have a bunch of cool Christmas Ornaments in my gift shop and I am offering a 25% discount to my blog buddies. If you order them and put "blog buddy" in the notes to seller I will be happy refund the 25% to your pay pal account.

Well it's time to go mop the floors ............ OH JOY!

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.

Angela's visit

Our 17 year old niece Angela came to visit us for a week. She is a lovely young woman and we loved having her.
She lives in Chicago and is very much the city girl so it was quite the culture shock for her because we live in very rural Indiana. She was a good sport and even though she is not an out door girl she went hiking in the woods with Jose she also let him teach her target practice ax throwing with him. I took photos because none of her friend would believe she did it with out them.
We spent a lot of time in my studio making bracelets for her friends and making a sculpture for her Drama teacher. She is a very creative girl we have a lot in common.
Another thing we did was go to The Newport Aquarium in Newport Kentucky, I am posting some of the cool photos we took.
I hope she enjoyed her visit as much as we did.......