Flowers and Lady Bugs

It feels like spring at our house with the snow outside melting and all the flowers and ladybugs inside.  We just finished off more of our Brilliant Bloom stitch markers for the local yarn stores and this time made extra to list in our Etsy shop.

This is our stitch marker set for knitting.  The rings will accommodate up to size 7mm (10 3/4 US) size knitting needles.  They are on a double clasp with one of our matching clay beads to attach to a bag.

This is our stitch marker set for crochet that are on a clasp to attach to a bag.

Brilliant Blooms Buttons

I've been creating all sorts of things with our new bright flower canes.  These are our new Brilliant Blooms Buttons.  They are already for sale at Donna's Yarn & Craft in Kamloops and will be available in other local shops soon.

Like our "Toglets", they are sold individually rather than in a package to make it easier for purchasing any quantity and mixing up the colors.

I should mentioned that all of our buttons are totally washable (hand or machine wash and dry). Some styles of ours we recommend turning the garment or using a lingerie bag.  They should never be dry cleaned as the solvents could react with the clay.

This is a favorite summer sweater of mine that I switched out the factory made buttons for our Brilliant Blooms.  I think they give that extra touch that I was looking for.

BC Quilt Show 2013

We have been preparing for the upcoming BC "Everybody Loves Quilts" 2013 Show.  It is in Salmon Arm this year which is not too far from where we live.  We took a large space so we can display a wide range of the products that we make.  If you click on the poster you will see a map on our website of where the show is located.

I posted this photo on our facebook page a little while ago of a bunch of leaf canes I made that day.  That was an extremely good production time for me and it did help with having most of my clay colors already premixed.

So here is what some of the leaf canes were used for ...

More concave leaf buttons -- this time we made some in a smaller size that will be perfect for the knitter.  Our leaf buttons have been a popular item but since we put a lady bug on them, people cannot seem to resist them!  So we should have lots of leaf buttons available at the quilt show next week.

Black and White With a Touch of Red

The gigantic concave leaf buttons we created have also been a big hit.  We had a request for them in black and white and I love how the red lady bug really pops.

The fun thing about making buttons for both yarn and quilt shops is that each type of store prefers different styles.  Some tend to go best with the yarns and other natural fibers where others work well with the larger quilt patterns.  Some of our buttons happen to cross over and are popular in both areas such as these. They are quite large so would make an awesome accent for either a quilted or felted bag.  They  would also be fun to add to a sweater or quilted jacket.  These are available at Heather's Fabric Shelf in Kamloops as well as  the Falkland General Store in Falkland and Linda's Quilt Shoppe in Kelowna.

Leaf Shawl / Hair Sticks

These are our leaf shawl / hair sticks which is one of our most popular items and best seller.  Now available in our online store.

Floral Collar Necklace Prototypes

Whenever we create a new design I like to play around with making a prototype or two first.  Generally these pieces are added to my own jewelry collection.  When we are happy with the design we will create similar pieces to sell.

This is the first floral collar style necklace I made before I created the "Sunflower" one that was entered into the Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts show.

This has become one of my favorite pieces to wear so I decided to make another one but this time in the colors to go with a new top I recently purchased.  

I always like to make a watch strap to match my jewelry pieces.  This one I made with only leaves so I can wear it with most of my floral themed items.

More Studio Time Equals More Play Time?

I received a package in the mail the other day from my friend, Wendy.  She sent me a couple of samples of her new All in One CaBezels.  Aren't they cool?

The package came right at a time when I was feeling extremely stressed and worried about things. I was getting caught up with trying to fill orders, writing blog posts, ordering supplies, teaching classes and doing year end book work.  Dave had to remind me how he could be doing more instead of trying to take on too much myself and for not balancing my time properly.  I guess since he broke his hand and wasn't able to help out as much I was taking on more than I needed and was allowing the stress to build up.


Receiving the package from Wendy reminded me I needed more "play" time again with my clay.  It is so important as an artist to have that time for just having fun and allowing one's self to experiment and be more creative.


I had noticed when Wendy was showing on her blog how to use this type of CaBezel that she was working with clay that was textured.  I couldn't quite figure out how that worked until I gave it a try.  I was so surprised how the texture stayed intact when creating the shape.  It was just too cool!  This is the first one I made and decided to make it into a pendant.

Playing with these new CaBezeIs certainly primed my play and creative pump and I now want to experiment even more with them.


Wendy just created a new video on how to use these new types of CaBezels and you can find it here.

New Home Decor Pieces

I made my first soap/trinket dish for a housewarming gift for some friends.  Their home decor is in silver, grey and black so decided to go with a leaf pattern in those shades.  This was actually my first prototype and I love how the design worked out and plan to make more in different styles.

I hadn't made any candle collars in a while but finally got around to finishing a new set in the chandelier style for a wedding gift.  Their home decor colors were similar to our friends so went with the same leaf pattern.

Maple Leaf Buttons

Here are more buttons I made for Dianne Jansson from Di-Versity Quilting Supplies.  While making these, they reminded me of the maple leaf cream-filled cookies!  I used one of Helen Breil's texture sheets to give them that funky swirl design and then accented them with inks.

These buttons are quite large and will make a gorgeous accent piece on a bag, sweater or jacket.  I will be listing these in our Etsy shop soon.

Di-Versity has such a wonderful selection of beautiful fabrics and I couldn't resist buying these pieces by Caryl Bryer Fallert to make a bag.  I'm thinking one of these leaf buttons would look great on it.  I'm still deciding on my bag design and can't wait to use it this spring.

Necklace for the 2010 Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts

I'm looking forward to taking part in the Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts again this year.  I'm working on a few pieces for the juried show and a lot of our jewelry will be for sale in the gift shop.

I was asked to submit a necklace and earring set as one of the Raffle prizes for this years show.  I feel it a real honor to be asked and so I created the necklace and earring set shown below.  You can see it along with the other raffle prizes on their website.