Good-bye My Love

A week ago, Friday, my sweet husband, Dave, took his last breath and passed away.  He was not only a wonderful husband but my soul mate, clay mate and best friend.

For the more than 30 years we have been married, we have done so much together -- we have worked side by side, traveled and just enjoyed life.  As Dave has said, "we have laughed, loved, cried -- but mostly we have laughed."

He was my biggest fan and supporter in most everything I did.  He appreciated the clay mainly through me but later decided to play with it a bit too.  He mainly preferred to just help whenever I needed it -- no matter what the task.

Dave playing with mica powders

Our largest project we would work on together was making lots of salmon beads for the huge salmon festival.  There is a large spawning ground for the Sockeye Salmon where we live and every forth year is the "dominant" run where there are the largest amount of salmon that arrive to spawn.  There are thousands of tourists and school groups that come to see this wonder in nature.

We would sit side by side making hundreds of beads while talking and listening to music or watching our favorite TV shows.  It was sometimes a bit tedious making so many salmon but doing it together made it more enjoyable.

Dave's favorite task with the clay was buffing our clay beads and pieces with the Dremel tool.  He said it was relaxing and loved seeing the clay go from a matte finish to gloss and almost glass-like shine.

Dave teaching how to polish the clay with a dremel tool

Dave was loved by so many and everyone says how they will always remember his great smile!  He was always so positive and looked at the glass half full side of things.  This never changed even after he became very ill and discovered his kidneys had failed.  He was on dialysis for nearly 17 years, with a year and a half break in the middle when he received a kidney transplant.  The new kidney eventually rejected and failed meaning he was to go back on dialysis for the remainder of his life.

We were fortunate for him to have his own dialysis machine at home.  Here in Canada everything is provided by our health care system including the training involved.  They actually encourage it, whenever it is possible, as it is more cost effective and saves the government thousands of dollars each year verses going to a dialysis unit and have the nurses and techs do everything for you.  Having his own machine at home was not only convenient, but gave him more independance and allowed him to have more control over his health and life.

I am so glad for all those extra years we had together.  Dave use to say he was living in "over-time" and he would keep on going as long as I still loved and needed him!

Well after spending several weeks in the hospital, his body could not take anymore and was worn out.  I will miss him dearly but it gives me peace knowing he is not suffering any more.

Next week will be the hardest with Christmas day and would have been our 31st wedding anniversary.  I have plenty of good memories and would not trade those for anything.

So good-bye my love.  I will miss you so much, but you are still in my heart and I will always love you!

Huge Scarf Jewelry Sale

We have created quite a few scarf necklaces in a wide range of designs for the holiday season.  We had several upcoming shows planned but had to cancel due to my hubby (claymate) Dave, ending up in the hospital.  It will be a long haul for us as he is expected to be in for another 6 weeks at least.  As long as his health improves, I can rest a little easier though.

In the meantime we have some inventory we need to sell and there is still plenty of time for them to arrive to wear to that special  Christmas or New Year Eve's party.  These also make fabulous gifts for any scarf lover.  So we are having a HUGE sale in our online store.  All of our "Classic" style scarf jewelry sets are 40% off!  This is our original style scarf necklace design which includes one of our ultra-soft and luxurious linen scarves in a color choice that is provided.

Each scarf necklace listed in our store is an original and you will receive the exact pieces that is shown (first come first served).  They will arrive on their own special hanger for storing and wrapped in a beautiful organza pouch.

So to receive your 40% off discount in our online store,

enter the coupon code:

scarf40

at the check-out.

Remember that our prices in our online store are in Canadian currency and shipping charges are a flat fee no matter how much you buy.   Shipping is also free to Canada and the U.S. with a minimum purchase (after any discounts are applied).  This sale is on until midnight Friday, December 8.

Big Sale on All of our Tutorials!

So here is our first surprise sale right now -- All of our tutorial lessons are 50% off both in our online store and in our Etsy shop.  To get your discount, simply enter the coupon code:  HALFOFF at the check-out in either store.  See the links below to shop our tutorials and save.

Our tutorials in our Etsy shop are instant download so if you are from Europe, you will be subject to pay the extra tax.  Any tutorials sold in our online store will be sent to the e-mail address you provide.  You may notice a price difference between the two shops and that is because our Etsy shop is in US dollars and our online store is in Canadian currency.

This offer is for three days only and ends midnight Thursday, (Pacific Standard Time).  You can purchase as many and often as you like until that time.

A Time for Giving

I don't know about you, but our e-mail box has been jam packed full of all kinds of sales and advertising lately.  It is a busy time of year and we have been too busy to have a sale and felt it would be swallowed up in all the mainstream advertising wave.  We do, however, still want to pass on some savings to you and will be having some cool sales over the next month.  If don't want to miss any of them, I would suggest signing up on our blog to receive our posts straight to your e-mail box.

This time of year we think more about giving.  We are a proud supporter of the Samunnat Project in Nepal (click on the link to read more about them if you are not familiar).  We help raise money for their project by donating a portion of our Dremel Buffing Pad sales.  So to kick off our holiday sales,  we will be donating an even larger portion from each pack that is sold in our online store from now until the end of December!

And to mix it up a bit, we have added a new color!  Yes we have something for all you purple lovers!  Dremel buffing pads in a fun purple color!  These work exactly the same as our regular pads -- but just in a fun shade of purple!  But hurry as we only have a limited supply and when they are gone they might be gone forever!

So stay tuned for some upcoming sales -- the first one starts tomorrow and each one is for a limited time!

It's a Cinch! Scarf Clip

We presented our new It's a Cinch! Scarf Clips (Interchangeable Fashion for your Scarf . . . in a Snap!) at the Christmas show in Kamloops last week and they were a huge hit!  People loved how they could use them on any of their scarves and were so easy to use.

We have a wide range of colors available in our online store and you can also select your preferred clasp and cord end "metal" colors.  (They are actually nylon plastic but look like metal)

The beauty of this clip is that the snap base allows you to switch out the designs and interchange them so you can use it with more than just one scarf or outfit.  Any of our decorative snaps will work on the "It's a Cinch!" Scarf Clips, including the larger sizes.  We suggest, however, selecting the size of snap according to the type of scarf you will be using.  For a lighter or thinner scarf, a smaller size snap is more suitable and for a heavier or thicker type scarf, a larger snap will look more balanced.

We are finally getting around to adding some of our new larger style snaps to our website.  These textured and layered pieces shown here were created using some of the shape templates adapted from Helen Breil's Magnetic Pendants tutorial.  Instead of using magnets, however, we have added a snap for interchanging within our Snap Decisions Collection.  This way they can be added to a scarf using our "It's a Cinch!" Scarf clip, or worn as a necklace using our snap necklace base in either stainless steel or antique bronze finish.

We also have some gorgeous scarves that compliment our handcrafted items and for your convenience, have listed them as an add-on option with our "It's a Cinch!" Scarf Clips.

We carry several types of scarves:

A - Crinkle Cotton -- The colors are rich and the scarf is soft as well as light weight.  It is a nice choice if you do not want anything too heavy around your neck.

B - Linen -- These are beautiful scarves in luxurious linen that have been pre-washed and are super soft.  The colors are gorgeous and they have a slight open weave making them comfy for cooler days but not too heavy to wear.

C - Cotton-Viscose Blend -- These are a little heavier and have metallic threads woven in to give them a fabulous shimmer.  A little heavier weight than the linen but perfect for winter!

Our scarves are not sold individually but only as an add-on option with our handcrafted items.  We do have all the colors listed here and they are also listed individually in our Shop by Color section to make coordinating our pieces easier.

A New Twist on an Old Scarf Clip

A few years ago I introduced a scarf clip finding that you could add your polymer clay designs to.  The supplier who had those clips no longer carried them and the search was on to find more.  About a year later we managed to locate some that were similar from another wholesaler.  I was again disappointed when I returned to order more and discovered those were no longer available as well.  After a lot of searching I decided to give up and proceeded to brainstorm and work on a whole new concept instead.

I am excited to tell you about our new style of scarf "clips" that are a part of our Snap Decisions Collection -- 

Interchangeable Fashion for Your Scarf . . .

 . . . It's a Cinch!

* Easy to use!
* Adjustable
* Fits any scarf thickness
* A snap base for interchanging designs
* Style your scarf in various ways

It is easy to add even a large decorative snap to a scarf as an accent like these Holy CaBezels.

It is so easy to use.  Slide the scarf through the open loop placing the open snap base to the front.  When it is in the position you want, cinch it up to hold it in place.  Finally add your decorative snap to the snap base.

The cord is very strong yet soft and gentle on your scarf.  We have them in a variety of colors to coordinate with your scarf and several metal colors to choose from.  They are now for sale in our online store and will be available with a selection of our decorative snaps and luxurious scarves at the Kamloops Craft-A-Fair this Sunday.

New Interchangeable Snap Necklace Styles

We recently added some new interchangeable pendant styles to our Snap Decisions collection.  All of the decorative snap base pendants have our unique "easy clip" for interchanging.  You can clip them onto a necklace chain or onto any of our scarf bails to wear on a scarf.

These new pendants along with our other styles are available in our online store and we will also have them for sale at the Kamloops Craft-a-Fair this Sunday.  If you can make it we would love to see you there.

Our Snap Decisions Collection is also sold at the Silhouette Fashion Boutique.  We are excited to announce that Silhouette Fashion Boutique recently opened a second location at the Village Green Centre in Vernon.

I thought I would share this video that was made by Roxy of Shuswap Events featuring our Snap Decisions Collection and demonstrated by T.J. the owner of the Silhouette Fashion Boutique.

The Silhouette Fashion Boutique has such fabulous clothes with most of them Canadian made.  They are having their fall fashion show at the Vernon store location this Thursday which you need to book in advance.  To see other events and specials, you can follow them on facebook to stay informed.

If you are not able to shop in their store, you can find all the fabulous clothes they carry in their online store.

Lots of New Scarf Jewelry for Fall

Over the past few months we have been working overtime to create some new scarf jewelry for fall.  I have been teaching Linda, our assistant, how to make them with me in a sort of production process and so we were able to create a wide range of designs and have some fun at the same time!  These take a fair bit of work to make but is one of my favorite items to create.  The bails are handcrafted from clay and then we hand-shape sets of clay beads to match.  After baking and finishing all the pieces, they are put together with unique charms and beautiful beads to create a balanced necklace.

Our scarf jewelry is one of our most popular selling items.  We have had a difficult time listing them online as they would sell so quickly.  This time we managed to document and photograph these latest pieces before we take them to our Christmas show coming up in less than 2 weeks.  We will be at the Kamloops Craft-A-Fair at the Sandman Centre on Sunday, November 5th.  We will be in the same location as past years (on the concourse - turn left at the main entrance and down a bit on the left hand side).  If you are not able to attend, we have a wide selection listed in our online store and also adding some select designs to our Etsy shop.

Our new classic collection is in a wide range of fall colors.  You can add one to your own favorite scarf or they can be purchased with one of our soft and luxurious linen scarves in your color choice.

Creating with the Liane CaBezel Jewelry Mold

The Liane CaBezel jewelry mold is another new design from the CaBezel mold series created by Wendy Orlowski.  It doesn't have a hole like in the Holy CaBezel molds but does come in three sizes.  I loved playing with these molds and trying out various ways they can be used with a snap mounted for interchanging.

These are several arrangements out of many that can be made with the beads created from the molds.  The interchangeable beads on the necklace in the above photo were created using the medium-size (center) and small size (outside) in the Liane CaBezel mold.  In the arrangement below I used the large size (center) along with the medium size mold (outside beads).

The arrangement below is a combination of the small size Liane CaBezel mold for the 2 outside beads and the center bead made with the Fab Focals # 2.

I also created a large Liane shape with a curve and really like how it came out.  You can see a comparison in the photo below.  

Bead on the left was baked on a curve and bead on the right baked flat

The curved shape works especially well in the longer necklace design with the chain tassel.

 

And the beauty of it on a snap is that it can be easily interchanged and worn as a short necklace.

  

We create the art . . . 

. . . you choose how to wear it!