A Locket for Mother's Day

Olivine Locket 4
Originally uploaded by Laureleee

Ok, now what Mom wouldn't absolutely love this - I mean really, REALLY love this. Laurel Stevens has truly outdone herself with these lovely handcrafted lockets! They have that old world feel with a wonderful momento tucked inside and necklace itself is asymmetrical for such a wonderful, clever statement. Classy, dressy, nostalgic - PRICELESS! Laurel's shop is filled with wonderful, creative pendants, custom toggle clasps, and touching little heart sculptures to give any friend, teacher, or mentor a moral boost! You can find more of her wonderful designs HERE or follow her on her blog at http://www.laurelsteven.blogspot.com.

Mother's Day isn't that far away. Check out her shop and plan ahead!

Meanwhile, I plug along on odds and ends. The UT canes are underway after I did some clean-up on my work bench. It seems one of my kids spilled the contents of a pixy stick all over my workspace and the clay I had set out there....Luckily soaking the clay in water removes the sugary treat. Sitting down to work, I was like......what the heck. The joys of children (Kelly knows what I'm talking about. lol) It made me think to do some clean-up also, so I made some fun beads and lentils off of leftovers just hanging out on my table. Time to tidy up and might as well make a treasure out of trash - right?

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Seahorse Pendant

Seahorse Pendant
Originally uploaded by beetreebyme

This little guy is just swimming out to meet ya! Ok, today I was paging through the photos of my Flickr contacts and he just swam up and caught my heart. Mary Ellen Nichols (affectionately known as M.E. by her friends in PCAGOE) outdid herself with this little guy. I love the marbling, the faint hint of glitter, and the attention to detail with the face, gills, and fins! Beautiful! The coral backdrop is a nice touch, too! ME's shop is filled with wonderful angels, fairies, clowns, along with some of the most beautiful floral beads and pendants you can find! Check it all out HERE or catch more of her musings at her blog at www.beetreebyme.blogspot.com!

Her work is an absolute MUST SEE!

River Valley Design's New Earrings!

353
Originally uploaded by River Valley Design

These caught my eye late last night and they're wonderful! They have the feeling of turtle shells or an old wall of pebbles under the water! They reminded me of the wonderful pictures of stone streets under the water with algae growing on them in the endless hunt to find the lost city of Atlantis! Christi has yet to title them, but I think I'd name them Atlantis Lost Earrings! lol Christi Uliczny is another fellow member of PCAGOE. She has everything in her shop from polymer clay covered pens, to pendants, bracelets and crocheted purses! You can find more wonderful designs by River Valley Design HERE or follow her on her blog at http://rivervalleydesign.blogspot.com.

Please give her a look - you won't be disappointed!

In the mean time, I continue to plug along with various computer tasks this weekend, but will be starting on some UT LONGHORN designs at the urging of many, many folks.  Here is a new Valentine design that I threw together with odds and ends.  Jill Palumbo has suggested that I enter it in the February Art Bead Scene Challenge and I think it would work.  =)  Take a look HERE and tell me what you think.  I'm always so shy about this kind of stuff, but it's time for me to get brave.  lol

*Hugs* to everyone!

Journey to the Soul

Journey to the Soul
Originally uploaded by
desertdreamstudios

I've often thought of doing wall sconces because candlelight is so very elegant. Mary Jane from Desertdreamstudios reminds me of that passion with her wonderful art shrine pictured at the right. Mary Jane is also a fellow member of PCAGOE and also makes beautiful, endearing boxes and paperweights.  The colors are rustic and have almost a southwestern flare to them.  She encompasses her art with pictures and phrases and texture - with hints of metal and gemstones.  The finished products are breathtaking and so very personal.  I just may have to look into experimenting with wall sconces again with the inspirations from these wonderful shrines.  Much of her work can be found exhibited at the Gainsburg Studio in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Check out her Flickr gallery at HERE and her etsy shop at http://desertdreamstudios.etsy.com/  

I adore her work - hope you enjoy it, too!

The sun finally has come out in San Antonio and I have some new work posted and more post soon.  So....drumroll please......SMU MUSTANGS!  You can find my listing of SMU items HERE.  This is my first foray into college jewelry and I'm hoping it's the first of many.  In the next few weeks I hope to work on a Texas Longhorns cane and some faux opal for an Aries Zodiac cane.  

Thank you for following!  Always more things to do and learn!

Revisiting the Past

I was just thinking as I was talking to a new friend how much I miss my 35mm camera, my darkroom, and the countless hours locked away in a dark closet with only a red light and Hotel California for company.....ah.....memories.  And as I was reminiscing I happened to look over some old files on my computer and found some fun photos I took of my daughter's rodeo day back when I was on the church preschool board (along with photoshop renderings) and some fun photos of my experiments with Friendly Plastic.  I thought I'd share a few here.  You can find more at my Flickr gallery if I made you curious!

New Site!!

In my endless search for ways to market myself, promote my art and my websites, etc etc - I discovered a wonderful site where I can upload my artwork and they take orders, make prints, cards and even frame it and I can set my commission rate - PLUS get a cut of any framing that is ordered.  And it's at no cost for their basic service.  It's a win win situation for me because I don't have to struggle finding a place to print my art, shipping, framing or anything and can upload and just concentrate on doing.  You can find my new Art Store HERE!  I am absolutely tickled looking at the site and seeing how my art looks all framed and matted there - hope you enjoy it, too.  Please let me know if you have a favorite I haven't posted there yet!

Zodiac!

I've often thought about starting a zodiac millefiori series using the different zodiac symbols or even some wiccan designs. This months PCAGOE challenge lit a fire under me, though my home life got the best of me this past week and I didn't get my entry in soon enough.  Hopefully this next month will be less stressful.  I still have SMU and Longhorns jewelry on my agenda and am working now on making a light box since San Antonio seems to be forever raining this winter.   I will have SMU and more Pisces jewelry posted as soon as the rain settles or my light box is finished.  

The PCAGOE challenge is going on now.   This month's theme was "Gemstones and Flowers Associated with Your Birth Month."  Below is a little snapshot of the wonderful entries for this month.  The voting is going on right now at www.PCAGOE.com.  Vote now for a chance to win one of the many wonderful prizes donated by our members.  Voting is the 1st through the 7th of every month, so check it out for a chance to win some wonderful prizes!

The entries at the right are by:

1)  BeeTreeByMe
2)  NKDesigns
3)  KellyPlaysClay
4)  SCDiva
5)  Eugena777
6)  ElementalDragons
7)  11BoldStreet
8 ) ArrowdaleArtStudio
9)  YoungCreative
10) PolymerClayCreations
11) Cloud9ClayCreations
12) JKollmann
13) BlessedBeadJewelry

Please take the time to visit the shops of these wonderful artisans!  They create some beautiful works of art that make wonderful, affordable, unique gifts and memories!