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.

Hop To It! Here Comes The Easter Bunny.

With Easter fast approaching, I thought it was time to show off some of the bunny related items on Art Fire.  When this idea popped into my head this morning, I didn't realize how difficult it was going to be to find bunny items.

I wanted to highlight the pieces of artists in three of the  guilds I belong to on Art Fire.  It took me quite a while, but I finally filled my quota

So here goes.  Here comes Peter Cottontail!

From the Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild

 Creative Critters  Handmade Set of Two Easter Bunny Magnets

   








  Handmade Specialties  Polymer Clay Easter Bunny

 Kimis Jewelry From The Heart Bunny Necklace or Bracelet

     







        Fantasy Clay Set of 5 Mini Pastel Bunnies

The It's Better Handmade Guild

From Purpleberry Felt Egg Warmer Cozies

Crystal Beaded Designs Easter Bunny Rabbit Charm Bracelet 

Nina's Corner Crochet Mini Spring Time Bunny Made To Order

Berkshire Bowls Gray Rabbit Puzzle

From The Crazy Train

Acadienne Bunny and Flowers Cross Stitch Bookmark








                                  Blue Morning Expressions White Easter Bunny Earrings

                                                                     Christie Cottage Crocheted Bunny Pouch

Laura's Crafts Bunny Tail Happy Easter Card

Spring Has Sprung, Almost

With the coming of Spring, my thoughts have turned to the promise of green grass and flowers in my garden.  Although, here where I live, the ground is still rock hard and covered with a mixture of snow and ice, with the promise of more to come in the coming week, Spring is less than a week away!

So, in honor of the new season, I created a Spring Flower Necklace to celebrate the potential for  warmer temperatures and gentler breezes.

Spring Daisy Necklace from Wyvern Designs

The pendant is quite large, measuring 4" across and is a bold Spring statement piece.  The daisy is hand crafted from polymer clay and the petals are filled with Delta PermEnamel glass paint, giving it the look of enamel.  Some of  the beads for the necklace, the green, yellow and gold leafed ones, are hand made.  The larger beads are a combination of acrylic pearls and cultured freshwater pearls.  The whole piece is finished off with an antiqued silver plated toggle clasp.

I really like this piece and plan to make a similar on for myself, maybe in a different color.  The gold leafing gives the necklace a retro/vintage look and reminds me of some of the vintage costume jewelry from the 50's. 

Caty Ann's Creation - Featured Artist

 Cathy of Caty Ann's Creations started designing jewelry for fun.  Her early pieces were mostly for herself, her sister and a few close friends.  Some time after beating stage III breast cancer, a friend sent her a link to her new website where she was selling her own handmade jewelry.

Cathy decided to do some research towards opening her own on line store.  After a week of research, she decided to market her designs on line.  She started with an Art Fire shop, then added Zibbet to her sales base.  After a few sales on her basic accounts, she upgraded her shop to premium and was on her way. 

 She recently added crochet items to her Zibbet shop as she recently rediscovered her love of crochet.

 I love these  Lollipop Swirl Earrings

Purse Charm

Luscious Lime Delight Also has a swirl element.  I'm sensing a trend here.

She also has a place to store your earrings.  Jewelry Frame

Besides Art Fire, she can be found here at her blog  Caty Ann's Creations

 Her website  Caty Ann's Creations

http://catyann43506.wordpress.com/

Kottage Kreations Featured Artist on IBH

Like most artists, the talented creator of Kottage Kreations admits to waking up in the middle of the night with a new and wonderful idea,  But she also admits that she often starts a piece of jewelry without any plan at all, simply letting the beautiful beads lead the way.

Her pieces are both simple and elegant, as evidenced by this Etched Agate Chrysocolla Necklace  that evokes visions of the South West.

These little Copper Heart Earrings
are so sweet in their simplicity.

These Rose Quartz Moonstone Crystal Quartz Earrings  would be perfect for a bride to wear.

This talented artist is also interested in gardening, crocheting, sewing, creating beautiful gemstone jewelry designs and pretty much any and ALL crafts!  And like most of us is always learning new crafts and techniques.
Kottage Kreations can be found on Art Fire Kottage Kreations
Blogging at http://kottagecreations.blogspot.com/
On ETSY http://www.etsy.com/shop/kottagekreations
Twitter  https://twitter.com/kottagekreation
And on Face Book http://www.facebook.com/kottagekreations

It's Better Handmade Featured Artist GlassSculpture.Org

The artist behind GlassSculpture.Org on Art Fire started creating at an early age.  As she went through school, she was told by many a school counselor that she needed to focus on a "real" career.
She was attending Purdue University, majoring in computer science, when one morning she woke up and realized that she could have a "real" career and be unhappy or take a chance and go for a vocation that she would enjoy.  She changed her major to Theater and Costume Design.

After graduating, she worked at theater jobs in the Portland, Oregon area until she realized that she could make as much from her art, mainly paintings at that point, as she was in the theater.  It was then that she starting creating full time.

To make a long story short, she moved to Carmel, California where, along with her current partner and a myriad of cats whom she adores, she creates beautiful glass works.  Her skills include glass blowing, casting, carving, etching, painting and so much more.  She has a blog dedicated to her love of her cats.  One article about her cat, Buckaroo Banzai and his favorite song, brought tears to my eyes.
Her other blog The Art of Joy Alyssa Day  is where you can find her blog posts about the other featured artists from It's Better Handmade.

Here are some of her amazing works.

Kitty Memorial

Blown Glass Heart - Angel Wings

An Angel Kneels On 9/11 Print

Blown Galss Paperweight - Purple Dream

Howling Caterpillar of the IBH Guild on Art Fire

So, this week's victim of the IBH Guild's Blog Roll is Howling Caterpillars
I love the name and her Art Fire shop avatar.  She also happens to be a fellow New Englander, hailing from Weymouth, MA.  She is also a fellow Pagan. 

This talented crafter admits to be a Jill of All Trades and her shop shows this. Her gorgeous products range from Dream Webs (kind of like Dream Catchers but since she is not Native American, she didn't feel it was right to call them Dream Catchers), to jewelry, ArchAngel bottles and altars in a jar.

You can also earn good Karma points by purchasing one of the  chokers on her site.  These were made by a friend's husband who was 1/4 Choctaw.  He, unfortunately passed away and she is helping her friend out by selling the chokers he made.

She has several blogs, this one: Demented Scribbling About Stuff and this one: Howling Caterpillars Maybe Daily Crafty Blog which highlight her sense of humor which is a little to the left of normal (I mean that as a compliment).
Some of her entries had me falling down laughing.

Her Art Fire blog is a delight to read and I recommend all these as prime reading material.

Here are some of her wonderful pieces.

Good for Karma points  Rose and Quartz and Silver Choker

Three Wise Monkeys Dream Web

Maika i Pomaika i Hawaiian Voyage Necklace

Divine ArchAngel Bottles

DaffyDill One Of A Kind Designs On Art Fire

I recently joined the It's Better Handmade Guild on Art Fire.  I was excited to be accepted as this guild appears to be both dynamic and growing, with members that are active and willing to support and promote other artisans in the guild.  My first task for this guild is to feature one of the artists of the week in a blog ring post. 
DaffyDill, One of a Kind Designs is an admitted craftaholic.  With 40+ years of crafting  experience  under her belt, this British Columbian artist is dedicated to reusing and repurposing materials in new and beautiful ways, as evidenced by the necklace below.

Black White and Silver Beaded Up Cycled Necklace by DaffyDill

As with many crafters, she has many interests.  Some of this talented artist's other interests include wire wrapping.  This striking  copper wire coil bracelet reminds me of one that my mother wore years ago, but it's timeless style and elegance still holds true today.

Copper Coiled Wire Wrapped Bracelet by DaffyDill

Another of this fantastic artist's many talents is beading.  This gorgeous amethyst necklace with beaded accent shows highlights this.  The choice of colors and the dramatic necklace is definitely eye-catching.

Amethyst Beaded Purple Pendant by Daffy Dill

Crocheting is another of Daffy Dill's interest.  This vintage looking Newsboy Cap is an example of her talent in this area.  This piece is reminiscent of times past, when young boys stood on street corners, hawking newspapers. 

White Crocheted Newsboy Cap by Daffy Dill

All in all, this is one talented artist with  myriad interests and talents. And, as she states in her Bio page on her Art Fire studio, while she might not be getting rich, she has much happiness in what she is doing.  And, in the end, isn't that what really matters.