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.

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 to make a cuff bracelet part 2

So I finished doing all the stitching on the front of the bracelet and I think it looks cute so far now it's time to put it all together.
I sandwiched the front ,brass cuff form and suede backing together then I stitched them all together with a picot edging stitch.

So here is a top view of finished cuff

side view

close up side view

and here is the glamor shot of the finished bracelet cuff. It measures 2 inches wide and is about 7 1/4 inches long it can be adjusted to fit most wrist sizes even my fat little wrist.
The center cabochon is polymer clay,the butterflies are enameled with Swarovski crystals. The rest of the beads are Japanese seed beads and Swarovski crystals. the sparkle is awesome to bad that doesn't show up well in photos.

Over all I am happy with the end result of course like any other "artist" I see lots of thing I would do differently.

So there ya go this is my entry for The Polymer Clay Smooshers flight theme challenge........What do you think?

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.

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!!!
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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.............

Crazy for crystals

I really like the sparkle of things made with crystal beads.

The watch is made with peacock and silver crystals they are very lively in the sunlight.

The black and white bracelet is made with jet and aurora clear crystals. This is a very bold elegant bracelet.

The last bracelet is a pairing of round amethyst gemstone beads and green/silver crystals . I think the purple and light greed beads goes well together.


I made a couple of pairs of crystal earrings yesterday. It was a sparkling day on my worktable.


I have been making a lot of new things because I am getting prepared for my first show of the season.

I will be at
The Rosedale Indiana Civic Center
October 10-20 2008
For the 51st annual
Parke County Covered Bridge Festival

So if you plan on being in Central Indiana come and see me......

This is a great 10 day festival that covers the whole county and is a great time with lots to see.

Gift sets

With the fall craft show season starting I have been adding a lot of new things to my inventory and one of the new things I have added are gift sets.
I have been making candle sets and some soap sets.
I enjoy crocheting but can't do big projects anymore because it makes my hand hurt so making these wash cloths and soap savor bags were a way to enjoying crocheting on a smaller scale.
I like the 100%cotton your for making wash cloths because the more they are washed the softer they get and they last a good ling time. I think these little sets will make good gifts and stocking stuffers they are inexpensive little luxuries.
The tan set is Gingermilk shea butter soap...I love this scent it is a warm rich scent
The green set is Bamboo Zen Tea Shea Butter scent.... Nice spa type scent
The pink set is Sweep Pea Shea butter Soap with a soap savor bag.....This is a BBW type scent.
I have also been making more bracelets. The beads I used in this one are so awesome in real life. I was surprised how much I love these beads together because they are not my usual color pallet. It tells me I need to work out side of my normal colors more often. I like this one so much I am making one for my personal collection.
I would be interested if people are interested in the gift sets.

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.