Cute little frogs

I have a friend named Moe who lives in Hawaii she is so good at making tiny little things. Awhile back I asked her if she could make me some tiny frogs for a custom order. Well the customer changed her mind and decided she wanted lady bugs instead of frogs. So I got to keep the delicate little cuties Moe made for me.
I can make things but not anything as small as these frogs they are less then 1/2 inch and have tons of detail. She sent me several in different poses so I wanted to make something cute with them; they are cool little buggers.
So I made a little 3 1/2 x 5 frame on a 6x6 1/2 inch piece curved beveled glass. They are little tiny tropical Hawaiian frogs so I wanted to give them some tropical flowers to live on. All of the embellishments are made with polymer clay there isn't any paint on this project.
I hope Moe likes what I have done with her little froggies. I saved my 2 favorites for another project.

Ho Ho Ho More Christmas Ornaments!

So While the Grandson was napping this week I made these cool ornaments. He sleeps for about 2 hours so I was able to gets some work done.

I made the red and green one with Fimo Soft Effects clay. I like using it when making holiday items because the subtle glitter effect is very pretty with several coats of finish.

The others are made with Premo Pearl and Fimo Effects. I used my most favorite texture sheet to make these ornaments. I love snowflakes and I will be bummed when I finally wear it out.

I accented the snowflakes in the pearl ornaments with Swarovski Crystals. Each ornament has at least 21 crystals adorning it. I love the curve on each of the 6 panels on them.

My favorite is the blue and pearl one. I love blue and white pearl for the holidays it reminds me of winter.

I am going to post these over the next week or so in my Etsy shop. I am also going to be opening a second DaWanda shop and I will be adding these to it.

I am planning a busy week end. Jose went camping with our Son, our nephew and my Brother in Law. It will be a real testosterone weekend in the woods. So I am going to take advantage of the time by myself to get some creating done and I make take a break and do a little housework [probably not].

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.

Love/Hate relationship

Have you ever made something that was so challenging that you had a love /hate relationship with it? Well that's the case with this necklace. I am glad I finished it because I like how it turned out.

The reason this was difficult is that I am a design as I go kind of creator instead of a pattern follower. Usually that works well for me but not this time. I redid the beading several times before I got it to a point where I could put it down.

The diamond shaped focal I made with polymer clay using one of the awesome canes I got in trade with Nat from Belgium and the seed beads I got at the Chicago bead show a couple of months ago.

I am working on some earrings to go will them and I have one done and it worked up so much quicker and easier the the pendant thank God.

I've been busy

I haven't posted in a while because I have had a lot of things going on and I have been playing catch up.

This week end I officially opened another new web shop my URL is http://GingerbellsBathShop.Dawanda.com . Dawanda is a European based web mall much like Etsy in that it is for hand crafts. It has some nice features that Etsy doesn't that I like. For instance there is a section to make comments on individual items . I have often seen things on Etsy that I have wanted to tell the maker how much I liked it and why. I like that much better then the heart system on Etsy. I'll load a couple of items every day and see how it goes.

I have been back to work at my clay table this week end. I have been making a bead embroidered and polymer clay pendant that has been kicking my ass. I have been designing it as I go, at this point I don't know if I love it or hate it.... Tomorrow I will start on the 3 strand necklace I am making for it. With all the hours I have been putting into it I hope it comes out ok.

I haven't been able to work as much as I would like because of some problems with my back; some days are good and some are bad. I am learning to do what I can when I can. From what the Dr.s are saying is that I am going to need some rods put into my back to support my spine because it is deteriorating. Whoopee sounds like fun huh.

Well I am going to do what I can to help with the pain with out drugs. Step one is I have went back to Weight Watchers to see if I can get some of the lard off my butt and that will help. Also I am trying to find some way to strengthen the muscles in my back that support my spine. Maybe if I can make them stronger that will help relieve some of the pain. Who knows if these methods will work but I would like to try to do as much as I can with out surgery or to much drugs. We'll see what happens.

The new photos are 3 new soap scents...blushing jasmine-blue sugar-rice flower and shea.
Next are some cute little polymer clay bobby pins.
Last is a new bracelet.

Well it's almost time for Big Brother ....so I gotta go.

Polymer clay cane swap

I belong to a awesome group of polymer clay- aholics at Polymer Clay Central. Polymer Clay Central is kind of like my online guild. It is filled with wonderful caring and sharing artists.

One of the cool things we do there is swapping. Last month Linda Weeks hosted a geometric cane swap. I joined one group I sent in 4 canes that I made and Linda sent me back 4 canes from other artists . It's always fun to open the box when the swap items come back because "it's like a box of chocolates.. you never know what you are gonna get." { sorry Forrest Gump I couldn't resist}

I got some lovely canes in return all of them are in colors that I never use so I was excited to be challenged to work outside of my color comfort zone. I am finding that I like working out of my color box and I would like to share the first item I made using one of my swap canes.

I believe the person who made the cane is Nancy Welch, I apologize if I have the name wrong the writing on the wrap was smudged. It is a beautiful Kaleidoscope cane made in golds greens and brown.

I used the cane to make inlays for a the gold bracelet in the photos. The pattern in her cane is so delicate and detailed she did a very nice job. Thank you Nancy..

I would like to thank Linda Weeks she was a wonderful swap host and I would recommend any one to join a swap hosted by her

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 enjoy making beads..........

One of the reasons I began working with polymer clay is because I wanted different beads for the jewelry I was making. I live in a very small town with not alot to choose from for craft supplies and I wasn't on line at that time. I started goofing around with the polymer clay and fell in love with it. The things that can be done with it are endless.

I try to challenge my self by working outside my color comfort zone. I work very little with red and yellow so I was very surprised about how much I like the beads in the photo. I made 2 sets of each bead shape I put one set of each in my Etsy shop for others to use and then I made the bracelet and necklace in the photos above.

Polymer clay is fun and I highly recomend it to anyone who enjoys working with color.

I have a craft show coming up March 1st. in Clinton Indiana at the old High School Gym, if you are in the area come on by it is a nice show with tons of handcrafted items.

I made some new beads

Well I put my free crafting time to good use and made some new beads. I started intending to make some more floral beads well that sure as heck isn't what I ended up with.

I am pretty happy with these and I have already posted some of them in my Etsy shop. I am keeping some of the tile beads to make a watch and a bracelet for my shop.

I like the odd shape of the tiles and I think they could make an interesting piece. I think the texture on the side adds a little something to them.

I am going to add them to my Flickr page. Flickr is a cool photo sharing site. I have seeing some of the most interesting photos there. Check it out http>//flickr.com

Time for me to go start a new project....What will I make?