Merry Christmas from my House to Yours!

Things are quite different for me without my mom this year at Christmas.  I was enjoying putting out some of my favorite Christmas decor items but I was totally exhausted afterwards.  I was at a point where I was wondering if it was worth the effort to put up my tree but them my sister reminded me of how it could help lift my spirits a bit and I can enjoy it through the season, even if they are not here to enjoy it with me.  I am glad I did, even though it took me several days to decorate!  

I live in a large condo complex that is age 55+ and very well maintained.  We have an active social committee, along with many volunteers, who create various events throughout the year but also look after putting up all the Christmas decorations throughout the building.  Our building has a very large dining room and lounge for such events and a caterer comes in to provide special dinners or brunch 2 to 3 times a week.

Front of my Condo Building

Main Lobby in my Condo Building

As of several months ago, I am officially retired from my day job (which was only part time) but now I can totally focus on my health and enjoying life which of course includes working with my clay and other art work.  I don't seem to be able to accomplish as much in a day like I use to but I am now learning more how to enjoy the "journey" instead of always looking towards the "destination".  I think that makes a great New Year's resolution, doesn't it?

So I just want to wish you all a very restful and Merry Christmas! -- I will be back again soon with some more updates.

In the meantime, if you are looking for a fun Christmas project, here is my Candy Cane Beads tutorial I posted way back in 2011 but is never outdated!  Enjoy!

Sweater Print Snaps for the Holidays

I can hardly believe how much time has lapsed since my last post.  Right after I had urgent eye surgery.  I had another hole in my retina repaired -- this was the second time but this time in my other eye.  I had to be careful for 3 weeks after -- no stooping, hanging my head down, bending over or lifting anything more than 5 lbs -- which meant I couldn't really do much.  I did manage to rest up which was a good thing.  Right afterwards, however, I ended up with an intense pain in my arm -- mainly my elbow.  Today I am finally feeling a bit more back to normal but babying that arm so as to not aggravate it any more than I have to.  I am discovering that aging really sucks and wish I could trade a few body parts in for some new ones!

So I did manage to finish off some items which will be delivered to the Artisan Market in Sorrento and Shear FX Hair Studio in Chase later this week -- that is as long as the weather cooperates.  We have had some huge torrential rain storms resulting in major flooding in our part of Canada.

Where I live (interior BC) is fine, however the flooding destroyed all of the highways between us and the coast.  This means that there is only essential travel to the coast and supplies are being transported through at a snail's pace.  Canada Post put our area on a yellow alert which means that the mail service will be very sporadic and extremely slow for a long time.  So if you are planning on ordering anything from my online store, please allow an extra week or so for delivery. 

So here are some Christmas sweater themed pieces I created using more silkscreens from Tonja Lenderman.  I really love the sweater designs which were fun to create with.  All of these pieces are on a snap so they can be interchanged.

I have added some of these pieces to my online store.  The necklaces shown in the above photo are cork in (off) white and available in many different colors.

Poinsettia Snaps for the Holidays

We only have a few days left to finish off some new items for the Craft-a-Fair this coming Sunday at the Sandman Center in Kamloops.  We created some new poinsettia designs in a snap for interchanging in the various jewelry pieces.  They are also now available in the Decorative Snaps Section of our online store.

To see more of our designs and accessories in our online store, we have included 2 other fun ways to help with your search:

Shop by Color:

and Shop by Collection:

Snowflakes in a Snap Tutorial

It is that time of year when we are busy creating items for Christmas shows.  Our snowflake snaps last year were a popular item and are in the process of making more as well as in some new colors.

If you are interested in making some interchangeable snap jewelry either for gifts or to sell at the craft shows, now is the time to stock up on your supplies.

We are also offering a free pdf copy of our tutorial, "Snowflakes in a Snap" plus a bonus snowflake charm with a minimum purchase from our DIY snap supply section in our online store. **

This tutorial is not for sale but only available as a bonus gift with the minimum purchase of snap supplies.  And don't forget to sign up to our website for additional offers or discounts.  We promise we will not share your information to anyone else and you won't be bombarded with a ton of e-mails. 

** If you already received my tutorial and snowflake charm last year, we will send you a free snap ring base and snap pendant instead.   See the bottom of our page for more information here.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas

to all of our followers!

It has been snowing here for the last few days so it really is a winter wonderland where we are.  If we are lucky, tomorrow we might see the Mountain Sheep come down the mountain looking for grass to graze on.  It is always a nice treat when they do.

Each year we make a special limited edition Christmas ornament only for our wholesale clients as a collectors item.  Since we were really into snowflakes this year we decided to go with that theme.

Christmas Show Now Over

Our Christmas show of the year is now over and is nice to have it finished early.  Dave and I were both physically exhausted after but we were still able to enjoy dinner out later with our new friends from our polymer clay guild who were also there selling there handcrafted jewelry.  It was a nice way to unwind and relax afterwards.

Our interchangeable "Snap" Jewelry was a huge hit at the show.  I managed to take a few pictures this time before the doors opened and the floods of people came in.  We added a new item to our "Snap Decisions" collection which was our chain style belts.  These were not only a popular item they really added that extra touch to our display.  These belts are so gorgeous and of course I had to keep one for myself to wear.  We do have a few left over that are available in our online store.

Christmas Earrings & Chase Country Christmas

Our Chase Country Christmas is this weekend and we are preparing for our local craft fair on Saturday at the community hall.  It is a fun time and starts with a parade Friday evening with other events throughout the weekend.

These are some Christmas earring beads we made this year and will have for sale at the craft show.  All our earring beads and ear wires are sold separately to mix and match in our interchangeable system.

We will have lots of candy cane earrings on hand.  These are a real popular item this time of year.  We made some longer styles with chain tassels and Czech crystals in red or green.  You can click here to see my free tutorial I shared on this blog 3 years ago.  I added a slight variation on this last year which you will find here.

The red rondelle beads in these earrings are made from polymer clay and look like real glass pearls.  I have a published tutorial to make these type of beads.

These earring beads have Swarovski crystals embedded.  These beads are also reversible making them more versatile to wear year round.  To create the snowflake pattern, we used some metal snowflake findings to make our own "texture plates".  I share how to make your own texture plates and these type of beads in my "Constructing Accent Pieces for your Scarves, Sweaters & Shawls" tutorial.

Snowflakes are the theme for this year's Country Christmas celebration so we made some in different colors.

We love this time of year when we can get together with our friends and neighbors and really look forward to this weekend.

Memory Wire Bracelet Tutorial

It is that time of year again to pull out our supply of candy cane beads and make some more jewelry.  We made a huge supply of beads last year so still have a bunch on hand to play with.  If you play with polymer clay you will find my free tutorial here to make your own.

We like to use the shorter beads in bracelets and so we made some up in the spiral memory wire style.  The nice thing about this type of bracelet is that they are easy to put on and take off and they fit any wrist size.

Working with memory wire can be a little tricky at first, but once you know what you are doing, it can be a lot of fun.  When you first unpack the wire you will notice it is a lot like a "Slinky" toy.  When you stretch it out a bit and then let go, it will spring back into the same shape.

With this type of bracelet you want to have 4 to 5 "rounds" or rings so it will wrap around the wrist several times making it more secure and giving it that stacked bracelet look.  It is best to cut a bit more to allow for finishing at each end.  Do not use your good jewelry cutters for this type of wire as it will ruin them.  There are special "memory wire shears" you can buy for this.  These are very strong cutters and are like a mini "bolt cutter" so are also handy for cutting other things like soldered chain or other steel or brass wire.

Make an eye loop at the one end of your wire with your round nose pliers.  The loop acts as a stopper for your beads when stringing and you can also add some pretty dangles and charms on it after.

This type of bracelet can take quite a few beads which can make the bracelet rather heavy if you are using a lot of glass or metal types.  Because Polymer clay beads are light, they work really well.  Long tubes also look really stunning on these bracelets and the typical ones are made from metal.  Not only are these tubes rather expensive, they are also heavy and can tarnish quite easily.

I discovered a great substitute for the metal tubing which is called Softglass cord and is available at Shades of Clay  (*See update below)  The Softglass cord is like Buna except it is hollow inside so you can thread wire through it.  It also has a beautiful satin glass-like finish and comes in a wide range of gorgeous colors.  The other cool thing about using this type of tubing is that you can cut it to any length.  You can use scissors or I find using a heavy tissue blade makes really clean and straight edges.  Here I used the 2.5mm but the thicker cord works well too.

Now the fun begins.  You can play around with different patterns to see what works for you.  The main idea is to have your beads somewhat evenly spaced or "weighted" all the way around.  You will notice that the bead placement can change drastically with different tube lengths.  If you find it isn't working, then try cutting the Softglass cord longer or shorter and see what works best.  For the bracelet shown here (below) I am using the Emerald Green Softglass cut into 1-1/2" lengths.

Start threading your beads and cord tubing on the wire.  When you are happy with your pattern, slide the beads down to the end of the wire.  Keep adding your beads until your wire is full.

When you are happy with your bracelet, finish off the other end with another eye loop.  Add some pretty bead dangles and charms at each end and you are done.

* Update - Unfortunately, Shades of Clay no longer carries the hollow cord show here in the different colors but is available in black or frost.  You can use any cord, however that is hollow for these bracelets or make your own hollow tubing from polymer clay.