My Work for Sale
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Etsy
Clay Bugs
I joined Connie’s bug swap again this year – I did it in 2005 or 6 as well – and while I won’t post what I made just yet I will show what I made from the scraps of one group and what inspired the other!
One of my bugs for the swap is a butterfly. The remains from making those made a regular butterfly cane. The other bug I made was inspired by these, very bright little Costa Rican shield bug young. Mine are a little bigger than the 1/4″ things in the picture.
A really awesome feature of the online polymer clay community is the sheer number of swaps on every topic happen. It’s a wonderful way to see what techniques others are doing and to contribute in your own way. My next swap is Sarajane Helm’s Mini Mask Swap! A quick spot to get started finding clay swaps is right here.
Chaos and Everything Before
The last we heard from me I was taking a few days off, visiting the town I’m moving to in the summer. I spent my weekend there eating. No joke, everyone kept feeding me. I had two birthday cakes:
The first were part of a care package from the very charming Schimmel’s Dutch Bakery and the second is a slice from the beauty made for me by Cindy of CindyCreativeCrochet.
I got to see how my future studio and office space is coming along. The subflooring just got finished. Next is either the laminate or paint. I got to visit with the house cat Sam who is my daughter’s sole reason for willingly agreeing to move. Then we came back to town.
Tacked to my apartment door was the notice that they were going to be doing major and extensive work on the apartment and that everything had to be boxed, cleaned and moved. By the next morning. Yikes!
Somehow we got that finished up and I tackled an order that was pending for Rycrafty:
I expect it’ll be a few days yet before I’m all recovered!
Rest my Weary Self
If I’m slow to return an email for the next few days it’ll be because I’m spending a few days out of town with limited access to my computer and clay.
The last few weeks have been exhausting so I’ll take myself out of the chaos for a few, catch up on my sleep and come back with a little more energy.
Officially, that means I’ll be back in the game on February 17th! Have a great Valentines you guys!
The Shop: Shiny Things
Last week I busily listed stacks of new beads – lots of bright, sunny yellow pretties with monarch and tiger swallowtail butterflies on them – on my Etsy and Artfire shops. Here’s a selection:
These all link to my Artfire listings but if you’d prefer Etsy, the same items appear there! Happy bead ogling!
Bowl Goals: Belatedly
I realized, belatedly, that I had missed my Bowl Goals post last week (and all the other posts too but there’s another story!). I can only plead distraction as I was busy making Thing-a-Days. Here’s my catch up and it’s been a regular bead making factory around here this week:
As to what was distracting me, there were orders for which some of those beads are, preparing for an oncoming long weekend trip and my upcoming birthday! Valentines Day is my birthday and this year we’ll be in the small town I’m heading to at the end of the school year.
The Sort of Post I like to Make
I still have to sift through all the entries from my giveaway – more than 60! – to collect all the advice and see what I can do with it. Last time I was given some fabulous ideas and suggestions and I implemented them and had my best fall season yet.
The random number picker however gave me a number and I scrolled down to find that it was Hazel who won!
Hazel made a good suggestion about my photos – using a more contrasting background – and it’s true, too. I’ve begun trying it for some of my beads but I will have to give it a shot with some of the canes as well.
And I won a weekly giveaway on Art Bead Scene’s blog! These guys give away something *each week* – one of the editors gives away an art bead each time. How incredibly cool! The format is to read the Saturday Studio post and answer the writer’s question. The post for this week is right here so make sure and give it a shot.
