Beads-Of-Clay Giveaway

Beads of Clay is having a great giveaway on their blog...
Click on the title "beads of clay giveaway" to bring you to their site.

~~~WiNNeRS ANNOUNCED!!!!

The winners of My Open Blog Event with the Beads of CLay are:::
The top pendant with the bluebird on the limb goes to ROCK CREEK CREATIONS.
The bottom pendant with the bird on the limb with branches around it goes
to MANEKI Congratulations to you both. Please send me your mailing addresses and I will get these out to you.







Here is what South Mississippi looks like today. The last 3 days have been raining. TOday it is cool, sunny and absolutely gorgeous out. This is the view of the lake outside of our backyard. The leaves are just beginning to put leaves on.



Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. Make sure to go to my etsy shop
where everything has been discounted 20%. I will leave these prices good through Monday morning. Items may not be shipped out until Tuesday. Also, scroll to the bottom of this post and you will see the 2 pieces I am giving away to 2 lucky winners. All you need to do is leave a comment to be put in the drawing to win. Also, make sure to check all of the participants blogs and websites for their giveaways and discounts!!!
Thanks once again and have a great day!!!


State of My Studio
I absolutely could not show how my studio looks right now. It is literally upside down. So I choose to take the easy way out and show some molds and stamps I have created to help me in my work.


This photo shows some of the stamps and molds I have made to create my beads and pendants.

~~~~Inspiration~~~~~
O.K. so where does my inspiration come from??? Great question. Not sure if
there is one SIMPLE answer. I cannot ever remember a time that I wasn't
making and or creating something. I have always loved being creative. Whether it
was sewing at age 9 or 10, cooking with my mom, crafting at school or in 4-H...
later I started painting in acrylics and then that led to watercolors. I have made pottery now since 2006. In painting I always saw color...in making pottery, now I see everything as TEXTURE. What is really great is that now I can combine the love of bright colors with the textures in creating pottery pendants and beads. I find myself looking at everything as a way to use that object as texture in creating a new stamp or to use the object in stamping a design in a piece. The above photo shows some of the molds and stamps that I have made in order to create some of my pendants and beads. Most are made of clay. Some I have used sculpey to make the stamp. The yellow ones are molds made of rubber. I will in some future posts start showing how I am making some of these stamps and molds.






Giveaways!!!!
And last but not least....what everyone has been waiting for...
Yes, the two photos of the two little bird pendants will be my
2 giveaways to 2 lucky winners. The bird on the top is from a stamp that I handcarved and the one on bottom I just made the stamp from twigs and leaves and a metal bird ( part of a finding).
All you need to do is leave a comment in order to try to win. I will leave this open until around 6pm and then announce who won. Please leave me your email address
when you leave a comment. I have a special surprise for both of the winners....
If by some chance I have 20 or more comments, I will include an extra happy for each of the winners....so get out there and tell all of your friends to drop by and leave comments!!!!

Do not forget to go by the Beads of Clay Blog and check out all of the participants in this event.

LOOK WHAT I WON!!!! ~~Necklace by Marie Cramp~~

I couldn't believe it when I got the email that I had actually won this beautiful necklace made by Marie Cramp with Skye Jewels. The pendant was made by Martha at Menagerie Studio. Make sure you check out the photo that shows the backside of the pendant...it is just as pretty as the front side. Marie and Martha both do absolutely wonderful work. Thank you both so much for a stunning necklace......AND IT IS ALL MINE!!!!

UPDATE on METALSMITHING!!!

Here is the update of my metalsmithing journey. With some warmer weather down here in the south (the last week has been 65-75 degrees)our "Warehouse" where we are taking the classes are much more endurable. We just completed week 5 of our 10 week workshop. 3 of the classes have been freezing cold with RAIN!!!! Makes one very cold in an old warehouse without heat. BUT WE ARE TROOPERS AND WANTING TO LEARN ALL WE CAN!!!! So we go without complaint to learn to make MORE JEWELRY!!!! Enough of this......
This photo shows my bottom layer of the pendant which is on the left and is made of brass...and the right photo will be the top layer which is made of copper. The bird took 5 hours to saw and 12 blades....the leaves on the right took 1 hour and 50 minutes and only 5 blades...but whose counting???? Yes, I have improved~~~practice does make one PERFECT!!!! I SO WISH!!! I am such a wannabee!!!! hehe

Here is what the 2 pieces of metal will look once they are connected through a process of "cold connections". But...trust me...there is still lots of work to do on these two pieces before they are riveted. I have lots and lots of filing and sanding. AaRrrrGGGG!!!!! I need to be "Bewitch" so with a twinkle of my nose the not so fun things can be completed FAST FAST!!!!


Yes, this is so exciting....here are my first 2 rings I have completed...well I do still have to polish up the metal...and then they will be completed!!!!
The one on the left is a cabachon that I made and the one on the left is a small dichroic cabachon I purchased. They are not perfect....but still...it was so exciting to learn to make this!!!! The rings are made of brass. The base on the dichroic glass is copper. I like the contrast with the brass and copper on this one.

New Earrings

So this is what I was up to later this evening. I received these antique brass components and much more than what is actually shown. It seems as though I have no time
to actually make JEWELRY anymore.....so I sat down and made these earrings. I will bring these to my bead shop and hopefully sell some for Valentine's Day!!!!

Metalsmithing Workshop

Yes, it has been a long long time since I posted.....shame on me. I have been a busy girl. My newest journey in life is a metalsmithing workshop I started January 21st in New Orleans taught by Steven Donnelly. He is an excellent teacher!!!!!
I started metalsmithing 3 years back...but didn't learn much!!! I have worked with
metal in cold connections for the last 2 years. I always wanted to continue with the metalsmithing and the opportunity came up over the Christmas Holidays.
The ladies I go with to New Orleans is Sheila Smith and Chris Goulet. We have loads of fun finding new coffee shops and restaurants in the Marigny community (right on the outskirts of the French Quarters). I truly am learning more about New Orleans.....I think Marigny is New Orleans best kept secret....anyway, this week I will get pictures of the area and post to my blog.

In our workshop we have some ongoing projects to teach us the techniques.....the second project is what I am working on now. It is going to be a 3 layered pendant or broach....haven't decided yet.



I have sketched out a bird on a limb. You will see this on the first photo.....I still have the tracing paper glued to the design.



At this point I have only broken 12 blades....whooooohooo!!!! I might have set a record!!!



In this photo I have completed the second layer.....the cutting anyway. I will need
to file and sand the edges. This top layer is made of 18ga brass. The bottom layer will be made of copper. I will continue to work on this later tonight.....all the layers are suppose to be cut by Friday. Got alot of cutting still to do.