New Supplies Added to my DIY section plus a sale

 I finally received my other shipment of supplies for adding your own beads to.  I am expecting more in the near future.  I now have more Mechanical Pencils, Twist Pens and Stylus Pen Combos in a wide range of colors.

Mechanical Pencils -- Stylus Pen Combo -- Twist Pens

I am also having a large sale:  All DIY (except clearance) including tutorials are 20% off.

I was Down But Not Out

Hi again.  I don't know where the time has gone these past 6 months but I will give you a quick update before I get into the new stuff:

As I have shared before, back in January 2020 my dad sadly passed away.  When Covid hit very shortly after, I brought my mom out to Chase, BC to stay with me.  We decided to make it permanent and so the two of us moved together in a new condo in Kelowna.  My plan was to take care of her until the end and avoid her having to go to a care home.  She had 2 leaking heart valves and one valve occluded (due to the pressure caused from the leak) so her heart was only functioning at 25%.

So mom's mind was very good and I enjoyed our time together including our talks about family history, etc.  Sadly, on May 29th, my mom passed away and she will be missed so much.  Our family had a beautiful memorial service for her in Alberta and her ashes along with dad's ashes were buried together.

While in Alberta, I stayed a bit for my nephew's wedding and visiting family and friends whom I hadn't seen in awhile.  Between all of this I have been learning to deal with my new "normal" -- Fibromyalgia.  I didn't realize how many of my health problems were all related to this one diagnosis.  Fortunately I have several wonderful doctors (family GP, Neurologist, Gastroenterologist and doctors at the Pain Clinic) who are working with me to improve my situation as much as possible.  I have to say there has been quite a bit of improvement in the past few months -- and as long as I can pace myself and not push too hard, it should be a bit more manageable.

So to add more misery to my life (any many others who are affected), the wonderful orange guy from south of the border has inflicted our country, along with the rest of the world, tariffs on anything shipped to the US.  The tariffs are 35% on top of what is purchased.  We also have to pay an extra 10% to the company that would be collecting the tariffs plus an extra charge of  $2/package to Canada post.  I refuse to pay these extremely high taxes/charges and I cannot see anyone wanting to pay that as an extra fee to their order so, sadly I have decided to suspend any orders shipped to the United States.

Then to beat us up even more . . . the Canadian Postal Workers decided to go on strike .. Again!  Yes this is the same strike that disrupted our deliveries for last Christmas.  It was suspended but not resolved and so here we go again!

In the meantime, my tutorial/lessons do not require physical shipping as they are PDF files that are sent directly to your e-mail address that is provided when purchased.  And right now I have a 30% off sale which will run until Tuesday, September 30th. 

So I have been able to do a bit of claying over this time to fill some store orders.  I will share some of that in my next post.  While working on an order for Kelowna Yarn & Needlecrafts (here in Kelowna), I managed to mix up the Pantone colors for this Fall/Winter using the Kato Clay so I am planning on sharing those here if any of you are still interested.

These recipes will be posted in a few days later in the week.  They are built on my "Clay Color System" so if you are looking for a unique way to mix colors and even a way to organize your clay and recipes, you might want to buy it now while it is on sale.

Pantone Fall 2018 Fashion Colors

I have been away for a bit visiting family and celebrating my dad's 90th birthday.  It was a good break but with so many things to do and catch up on, it is time to get back into my regular routine at home.

I was putting off mixing up the Pantone fall fashion colors again as usual, as it is difficult to think about fall when summer is just barely starting.  As I am in several shows this fall, I am making up those new items right now.  I really loved the colors for this last spring which makes it even harder to switch gears but I decided to  carry some of them through into the fall as they fit in well with this new palette.

A few of the new fall colors are closely related to ones in the past and just needed a bit of tweaking here and there.  For instance, Red Pear is very similar to the Tawny Port from last year but has a slight more red tone.  Ultra Violet of course is included again as it is the Pantone Color of the Year.

So you will see some of these new colors popping up soon in my work which will hopefully inspire you.  If you are working with clay yourself and have my Clay Color System, I will be sharing these new clay color recipes next week.

Please note:  These lessons are NOT instant downloads but are sent directly to the e-mail address you provide under your shipping info.  This means if you are in Europe, you do not have to pay any VAT taxes.  And remember the prices are in Canadian currency so the amount works out less if you are more familiar with US dollars.  (Approximately $1 Cdn = 76 cents US)

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.

Polymer Clay Adventure Retreat - payment plan and gift purchases now available.

I am so excited to be a part of the 2016 Polymer Clay Adventure Retreat!  This is a fun way to improve your polymer clay skills, learn some new techniques and make some new friends!  It is more than just lessons but a community you can connect with.  You can ask the teachers questions and share what you have made from the classes with the others.  Here is a cool video put together showing all the teachers and the fun projects that are all included in this year long retreat that you can attend right from the comfort of your own home!

This whole all-inclusive retreat is all for only $99 (U.S.).  And if it is too much to pay for all at once, they are now offering a 3x payment plan!  And now with the holiday season, gift purchases are also available for that special person or loved one.

I am still offering my new tutorial, "From Scrap Clay to Art Deco" as a bonus gift to the first 50 who sign up (click here or on the above photo) for the Polymer Clay Retreat through me.  Even if you are not ready to purchase, click on the link to be sure you will be registered under me later.

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.

Folded Bead Sweater Shawl Pin

Here are some more sweater pins in a different style that were inspired by Helen Breil's Folded Bead tutorial.   The pieces are textured on the front and back and the textures used in the first two  pieces are by Helen Breil as well.  I show how to make the matching clay bead dangle in my latest tutorial, Constructing Accent Pieces for Your Scarves, Sweaters & Shawls.

  

For this piece I used Wendy Orlowski's texture called "Feather Boa".

These are a few of my prototypes and I have a few more ideas that I am playing around with.

Jewel-tone Double-sided Textured Beads

We just finished off a bunch of double-sided texture beads and matching rondelle spacers in some jewel-tone colors for the Jewelry Party this Saturday at the Sewing Basket where everyone will make a memory wire bracelet.

Everyone will get to pick their own beads out in their favorite colors and textures to design their own bracelet.

I noticed that Pearl Ex has come out with some new colors that are suppose to be more bright and vibrant.  I am always looking for new colors and so these should be fun to play with.  You can read more about them here on Wendy's blog who now has them for sale at Shades of Clay.

We work with mica powder pigments quite a bit and in my tutorials, Double-sided Textured Beads, Textured Tubes and More and Make Your Own Rondelle Spacer Beads, I share some tips on working with them.

One thing I do differently now is I have actually mixed some of the colors to create new colors and save them in small jars with the recipe written on in case I need to make more.

Radiating Lines Necklace and Lake Country Art Walk

We are really excited about being in the Lake Country Art Walk this September.  It is a real impressive show with more than 300 artists represented.  It is a nice place to spend the day and even relax in the courtyard for a snack or lunch and enjoy some great live music.

We will have a wide range of scarf jewelry and accessories available with many other items including our popular interchangeable art bead earring system.

I haven't posted any jewelry pieces lately and thought I would show you one of my favorites.  I made this one a while ago for myself to coordinate with the vintage jacket Dave bought for my birthday last year.  It consists of four "kite"beads with a large focal in the center.  It is textured using my own plate that I designed and created based on Helen Breil's "Radiating lines" tutorial.

To learn how to make your own kite beads as well as other free tutorials available on my blog, click on the "free tutorials" tab at the top of this blog.