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.

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

BOGO!!!

Hey Ya'all I just wanted to do a quick post about a great BOGO sale I am having in all of my shops.........BUY 1 ITEM and GET 2nd 1/2 OFF

This is a great way to stretch your dollar and get something nice in return. You can click on any of my shops on the blog sidebar and enjoy browsing my 3 shops. If you find something you like awesome just go through the check out process and I will return the discount on your second item to your pay pal account. I will also combine and adjust shipping costs to further save you money.

HAPPY SHOPPING!!!!!

this sale runs through June 20 2009......

Grand Opening Sale!!

GRAND OPENING SALE!!!!!!!!!!!
March 21-25,2009
To officially honer the Grand Opening of my new ArtFire shop I am offering awesome BOGO sale in all of my shops.

Buy 1 Item Get 50% off Second Item +

Combined shipping even if you buy from either shop.

Go ahead and check out and I will return discounts to your pay pal account to make it easier for you. Wright BOGO in notes to seller to qualify for awesome discounts.

http://gingerbells.artfire.com
http://Gingerbellsbathshop.etsy.com
http://Gingerbellsgifts.etsy.com

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

These are to pretty to use

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I love making pretty soaps almost as much as I enjoy using them. I like this new style I made last night. These are a little more labor intensive carving the flowers and applying them on to the soaps for a 3D look but I enjoyed doing it. The drips are a little messier then I like but I can live with that. And to top it off they smell divine.

As much as I love using them I am often told at shows that my soaps are way to pretty to use and often the best sellers are the pretty but less fancy bars. I always tell people as pretty as they look they are even better to use. I am on a mission to get people to pamper them selves and use the pretty soap, tee hee hee.

I have been making some really pretty palm wax candles the last couple of days. Palm wax is a cool wax when it hardens it makes a beautiful crystal like star burst pattern on the surface of the candle. I really like them each one looks different and special. yesterday I made cinnamon scented and today I have been making sweet pea scented. I will post photos in a later post.

I love my new soap mold

I bought a new soap mold that I just love. It's not a fancy shape its a classic beveled oval what I love about it is how much easier it is to use then my other molds. It is made of a really high quality silicone the soap slips right out. Also because it is so heavy weight it doesn't warp like the hard plastic molds so it makes a lovely smooth bar of soap. The beautiful shape makes a wonderful base shape for embellishment and fits perfectly in the hand.

The soap in the photos are simple looking but the look really fits the awesome Strawberries and Cream scent. This soap smells like the yummy strawberry cream savors candy. I am not a big fan of food smelling soaps but I have to say this one makes me crave strawberries. YUMMO!

I have been testing a lot of different M&P soap bases lately to add to my cold process soaps. I wanted a base with high quality ingredients like the ones in my CP soaps. After a lot of trial and error I am happy with the one I have chosen and I think my customers will like it too. I know my soap testers are giving it rave reviews. I love testing soaps it's good clean fun(ha ha).

I have several new scents that I am testing too. The next new soap I will be adding is a Blackberry Sage blend Shea butter soap; I really like this fresh scent. I also will be adding some new herbal bath tea blends and milk and salt soaks too. I just got a big shipment of excellent organic herbs to blend into these bath luxuries.

Craft show

Well yesterday's craft show went really well the weather couldn't have been better for an out side show; it was sunny and in the low 70's with a very slight breeze. I was able to keep all the sides up on my tent and enjoy the beautiful day and all of the people.

Attendance was awesome and sales were very good.

After the show we packed up and went to my Son and Daughter in laws house for dinner. My Son cooked me a very nice Mother's Day dinner and my Grandson Brenden gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. It was so sweet he is almost 2 and he brought the flowers to me and the bouquet was almost as big as him. He gave them to me and said "here Mamaw" I could have cried he was so sweet. We had a very nice evening together that topped off a lovely day.

Life is good..........

Grand Opening

Well Now I have really gone over the deep end and opened a second shop dedacated to bath and body items and candles. It is http://gingerbellsbathshop.etsy.com check it out and feel free to tell me what you think.

I decided to open a second shop to showcase all the personal care items I love to use and make. I will still be carrying some in my main shop but as they sell I will phase them out of that shop.

Every day for a while I will be adding new items that are exclusive to the bath shop. Things like herbal tub teas, milk and soothing salt soaks, foot bath soaks and lip balm just to name a few items.

Right now my house smells awesome I just made some beautiful Chai tea milk bath and sealed it up in giant tea bags for the tub.

Hopefully separating my shops will help me on my quest to become more organized when it comes to my least favorite part of my craft journey; the business side. So dear reader please wish me luck.

What I do with scraps

I make a lot of clay pattern sheets for beads and veneers and sometimes there are scraps left that are to nice to mush up so I like to figure out ways to use them.

I used the left overs the other day to make these cute little flip flop beads. They are tiny only about 3/4 th inch and the straps are made with tiny seed beads. The bottoms even have treads like real flip flops.

They are so fun to make and I think they will make so really cute summer earrings. I think I will make a pair for myself one pair for my shop and list the rest for other people to make things with.

These were so fun to make I think I will make some more scrap flip flops....

Getting ready for next craft show

I have been busy making some new items for an upcoming craft show. I have been having fun making little things that I think would make nice Mothers Day gifts. I have a couple of cute little pill boxes that would make a nice gift for Mom.

I have also been making soap like crazy. I need someone to package up 15 lbs of olive oil soap and a bunch of oatmeal soap. Packaging and labeling is my least favorite part of making things. I have 15 lbs of goats milk soap I am planning on making next. I do 15 lbs at a time because that is all the room I have on my drying racks. I have a lot of really lovely new scents for spring; fruity and florals. I had a hard time not going for the scents I like best which are woody,earthy,spicy scents. Jose calls them my "hippy head shop scents". I was a teen ager in the 70's and I grew up in the Pacific North West ; what does he expect from an old hippy :o).

I have a treasury

The web site that hosts my shop has a section where members can make a gallery of 12 items that they admire from other shops. I have been doing 2 a week of these little galleries that last for 2 days each for a couple of weeks now. Here is the one I made today.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=34064

I really enjoy curating these treasuries because it involves a lot of window shopping which I enjoy. I have found such amazing talented people on Etsy that I know I will never run out of artists to feature. It is kind of fun coming up with themes and catchy titles for the treasury.

So if you have a few minutes and want to see some pretty things check out the link to my treasury. I am going to try to remember to post a link here every time I curate a new treasury.

Gifts from a friend

I have a great online pal named Moe http://moeart.etsy.com her and I became friends through our polymer clay guild. She a wise person and a talented artist. We have spent may hours IM'ing each other talking about the things we like to make and our shared passion for polymer clay and family.

Another thing we like to do is trade craft supplies and send each other little projects we have made. The other day Moe sent me a bunch of very pretty vintage crystals and stones to play with. They were so pretty and sparkly I couldn't wait to sort them and use some of them. She sent me some beautiful shapes and colors that I am saving for some special projects and to make a gift for her. I couldn't resist I had to use a couple of them. I used them to make the business card holder in the photo. I thought it would make a nice gift for a quilter or quilt collector. I listed it in my shop yesterday and I hope it goes to a good home.