Polymer Clay Smooshers Scavenger Hut.

How would you like a chance to have fun, do some shopping and take a chance to win a prize? You would...well great.

Here is what you need to do......
Go to the world famous Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild Blog http://polymerclaysmooshers.blogspot.com and follow the instructions for our Christmas Scavenger Hunt....There are several ways to win one of the awesome prizes donated by guild members.

Good luck on your hunt; have fun.........
Check out the beautiful prizes you might win..

Water as an insperation.

Star Fish earrings by EmilyClaireCreations

I grew up in Washington State on the beaches of the beautiful Puget Sound. I spent many many days watching the ebb and flow of the tide looking for the treasures the reseeding tide would reveal in the tide pools. I was at once awed and inspired by the Sea Stars clinging to the rocks and docks,the sand dollars that appeared on the sand and the tiny rock and sand crabs that skittered everywhere. Still today the most calming sound I know is the crash of the waves and the call of Seagulls as they sailed on the salt air looking for a meal.

Sea Star pendant by Beachcomber

I am so often inspired by the beautiful memories of the sea and love to use the colors and textures in my artwork. Today I thought I would share the artwork of fellow polymer clay artists that are inspired by water too.

Sweet wall hanging made by Fantasyclay

All of these awesome projects are made by Fellow members of my Artfire Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild ... http://polymerclaysmooshers.blogspot.com/

The colors of this necklace by HaffinaCreations scream water to me.

If you enjoy the water and or polymer clay art as much as I do please visit our Smooshers blog http://polymerclaysmooshers.blogspot.com/
or check out the shops of the featured artists in this article
http://Emilyclairecreations.artfire.com
http://Fantasyclay.artfire.com
http://beachcomber.artfire.com
http://Haffinascreations.artfire.com

Where the Wild Things Are

{Tiger pattern Bangle bracelet}

I have been going Tiger crazy the last week or two..
I learned to make this tiger pattern from polymer clay and I like it so much I designed a mini collection around it.
I thought I'd share my mini obsession with you.

{round 2 hole tiger buttons}

{Wild Thing Necklace}
The necklace is my favorite piece in the collection I think it's beautiful if I do say so myself.

{square link bracelet}

This is the newest piece in the collection, I like it alot too. I tried it on and it's a comfortable bracelet to wear because it's adjustable.

I have a couple of other designs for this collection in the works and then maybe I'll have it out of my system,lol.

All of the pieces in this post can be found split between my 2 online gift shops.
Http://Gingerbells.artfire.com or http://Gingerbells.1000markets.com
if you are interested or want to see more photos of these pieces check them out.

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.

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.

Buttons, buttons and more buttons

I use to sew a lot and I always thought buttons were the finishing touch to the project. I would search high and low for just the right buttons. I don't have to do that anymore; if I want a button I make it.

I made the cute little buttons you see with polymer clay. Each one is hand formed,sanded and buffed to a glassy sheen. they measure 15mm and are the perfect size for a blouse/shirt,scrapbooking or maybe to embellish a quilt.

I made a bunch of each for me and some to put into my Etsy and Artfire shops for others to use on their projects.

My favorites are the pinstriped ones and the gold retro patterned ones.


Today Is Easter Sunday and I am having a sale in my http://Gingerbells.ArtFire.com shop
FREE SHIPPING! on all jewelry
and
Buy 3 Get 1 FREE on all handcrafted soap bars.

Sale ends at Midnight....

Happy Easter to all !!!!!

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.

Healing a broken heart

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When your heart is broken what do you do to make the healing begin?

Some people eat comfort food, some exercise,some seek comfort in the company of others while others hibernate and cry. Everyone seems to have a method that works best for them.

For me when things don't make sense or I am very sad I find comfort in forcing myself to create something. I think it makes things better because I am forced to think outside of the painful box I am in and put that energy to use in a positive way. For me making things is how I cope. It is a big part of who I am few things make me as happy as designing and making something pretty.

My Mom was the same way before she started getting Alzheimers. She was my crafting mentor as far back as I can remember. She taught me to crochet,cross stitch,sew,Native American beading and leather work,latch hook and plastic canvas sculpture. I taught her about knitting,soap and candle making and beadweaving as well as other crafts. This has made for many great memories, I am so glad we shared this part of ourselves with each other.

Mom was always proud of my crafting skills and was excited that people were willing to give me money for the things I make and that she got them for free..

Over the last year or so Mom had been downsizing and getting rid of a lot of her stuff to simplify her life. She said it was just stuff she didn't need and she was only keeping things she needed. I was so very touched last week when my Brother and I were packing up her apartment to find that she had kept almost all the things I had made for her over the years;she felt they were some of the things she needed to keep.

So all of the things I had to do to put Mom's affairs to rest are done and everyone has went home. This last week I have had way to much time on my hands to think and be sad so instead of continuing down that path I started channeling my energy into making things again.

I have had a productive couple of days and it had helped some. Above are a few of the things I have made I'll be posting photos of some other things soon.

In my mind I can hear Mom saying "it's time for you to get off your ass and get something done" LoL I hear ya Ma.........

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.