Gorgeous Beads

Most jewelry designers include some sort of beads in their work.  These range from tiny seed beads to, large and in your face,  focal beads.  Since I work, a good deal in polymer clay, I often peruse the works of some of the talented artisans from the Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild on Art Fire.

Some of these artists make and sell individual groups of beads for others to create with.  Some create intricate canes, which are  cylinders raw polymer clay that depict a myriad of designs including faces, flowers or abstract designs.  Others make beads to use in their own work.  But whatever reason, these beads can be beautiful,  wonderfully silly or striking.     

I've chosen a few to feature here, for all to see.

This bracelet is a striking mix of polymer clay flower beads and hammered copper.  It was created by Flower Childs Artsy Jewelry  and is a gorgeous blend of metal and polymer clay.

 

This lovely focal bead necklace by Creative Sisters  features a lentil swirled bead with a tiny flower atop a bed of leaves and comes with a rayon ribbon and waxed cord necklace.

This Euro style large hole bead by Blue Morning Expressions  is an example of a polymer clay bead made using cane work.  The attention to detail is amazing!

This set of 11 leaf beads by Prescence  would be wonderful on a charm bracelet or a necklace.

This necklace featuring watermelon beads by Kael MiJoy  is fun and funky and perfect for your next cook out.

All in all, the Smooshers are a talented group, creating wonderful pieces of jewelry art work that anyone would be proud to wear.

New Guild On Art Fire

There's a new guild on Art Fire.  The Art Fire Bloggers Guild  is a group of artisans dedicated to promoting each other through bloggong.  the membership is open to all Art Fire shops.  So far it's a small but highly talented guild.

I just joined this guild and created this Art Fire collection highlighting some of their products.  Here's a sampling of the items in this collection.


From The Art Fire Bloggers Guild

                 

It's Smoosher Time!

For this week's blog roll topic for the      Polymer Clay Smoosher's Guild
on Art fire, I decided to focus on shops that have less than 25 sales.  So here are a few that I chose at random.

Creation In Clay  states in her bio that she has always loved creating.  Her favorite medium is polymer clay with which she creates some magical items. I love this Collectible Owl Magnet 

He's a little bit cross eyed, but soo cute!

Second Sister At MoArk Jewelry  moved to the Ozarks with her husband to retire.  She says retirement never happened.  Together, they work for the all volunteer local ambulance service and run a small home garden business.  She is a self taught jewelry artist who admits that when she first started selling her jewelry on line, didn't have a clue about marketing, Twitter or blogging.  It appears she's come a long way.  I love this Red Hats Bobblehead Nightlight 

TTE Designs  is another creative soul from the Smoosher's guild.  She has always been creative and has lived with her Navy helicopter pilot husband all around the USA, including Guam.  When they moved to Virginia, at the urging of her husband and her friend she started making and selling jewelry at craft fairs.  She finally landed at Art Fire and sells her wonderful creations there.  Here is one of her pieces.

Ocean Green Sand Dollar Pendant and Earring Set

Another creative member of the Smoosher's is the creator of Valerie's Stuff
She says she discovered polymer clay about six years ago, but it wasn't until she learned the mica shift technique that her art really took off.  Right now, she admits to being in love with the effect of alcohol inks and polymer clay.  This Iris and Spider Polymer Clay Cuff Bracelet  

 was made using a three color cane of brick red, yellow and green.

These are a few of the talented members of the Polymer Clay Smoosher's Guild on Art Fire.  I hope you find the time to check them out.

As Blue As The Sky And The Deep Blue Sea

The color blue is a favorite among a large number of people.  I'll bet that if a study was done about a person's favorite color, a large majority of the population would pick some shade of blue as their favorite color.

There is sky blue and indigo blue,  periwinkle blue and baby blue But, no matter, what shade is your favorite, you're sure to love at least one of the blues used in these pieces by the Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild on Art Fire.

First up is a Morning Glory Covered Needle Case by Art Maker's Worlds 
This piece is a wonderful place to store your needles, whether you are hand stitching, doing needle point or beading.

Although winter is over, at least in most of the country, this pale blue Shimmering Star Snowflake Ornament by Creation In Clay 
caught my eye for its intricacy and beauty.

 

This amazing Double Sided Teardrop Necklace by Art Asylum 

has patina added to give it an antique look and the back is as lovely and interesting as the front.

This Soulful Sprite By Amy Crawley  was inspired by Celtic worry stones and can be used for meditation.  The serene face on this piece has me itching to get back to my yoga and meditation.

 And finally this Black Heart Pendant with Blue Flowers. by Strange Whimsy  

is another in her long line of heart pendants.  The metallic blue is gorgeous against the black heart.

Round Your Wrist Collection featuring members of the It's Better Handmade Guild On Art Fire

Round Your Wrist Collection
Here are a few example from the collection
Handmade Almond Glass Pearl Bracelet

Dichroic Glass Heart Cuff

Variscite and Jade Bracelet 

You can check out the rest of the gorgeous bracelets at the link at the top of the page.

Promote My Shop

I was one Twitter earlier today and checked out some new followers.  Promote My Shop was one of my new followers, so I decided to check them out. 

Promote My Shop is a blog written by Dana.  According to her, she started the blog after opening a shop on Etsy and reading all the posts about promoting her online shop.

Right now, she's featuring a Shop Hop.  You can add your online shop on her blog, along with the many others.  Visiting other shops and promoting them along with your own shop is encouraged.

Dana worked for almost 20 years in sales and marketing.  She has worked for Fortune 500 companies and has acquired some practical experience that she is willing to share in her blog.  Her blog is  "a community of open, supportive, and responsive artisans who share ideas, offer support, and chronicle our journey to success."

I suggest you check out this informative blog and let Dana's experience work for you.

Even though I am no longer on Etsy, I'm providing a link to Dana's shop there.  Check it out and see all the wonderful  beach themed items she has.

  Cereus Art on Etsy

Let's Have An Earring Party!

Out all the jewelry in the world, my favorite type are earrings.  Earrings styles can range from the simple gold stud to discs the size of desert plates.  I tend to go for the more wacky and unusual style, such as cheeseburgers, scarlet macaws, and flip flops.  My earring choice can be seen at Art Fire called Wyvern Designs.  I've had flamingos, ravens, cardinals, ballet en pointe slippers, French fries and the like in my shop.

But this post isn't about me.  This is to highlight some of the talented people in the Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild on Art Fire.  I joined this guild awhile ago, then let things lapse and got booted out.  But they took me back and I've enjoyed seeing all the wonderful, unusual items these artistic members have come up with.

Like these Pixelated Polymer Clay Earrings by Blee Kreations  which were constructed using a pixelated cane. 

This gorgeous Paisley In Teal With Antiqued White Patina by TTE Designs  is a earring necklace set that anyone would be proud to own. 

TheseMillifiore Cube Earrings in Teal, Pink and Yellow 
would be a great addition to anyone's earring wardrobe.

 

I love the stone look of these Hand Carved Petroglyph Earrings by Cynthia Blanton 

 I love to have an earring party with these artists.  I I'd probably add to my already copious stash!