Dreaming of a Warm Christmas:
My Square Buttons Are in a New Treasury

Michele of MichelesArtJewelry.etsy.com included my buttons in her beautiful treasury in warm colors.

Follow the link below to see the treasury and the works of included artists:
etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=80344

Thank you, Michele!

New Free Tutorial

Snowflake Cane

New polymer clay tutorial for a snowflake cane is now available on my youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_5qrri6U58

Custom Order

Completed

Sea Urchin Vases

These polymer clay and pearls vases will be the central pieces at my customer's wedding. They are made as a slightly bigger variation of my Sea Urchin Vase featured in my corresponding tutorial.

My customer is planning to use purple and green as the main colors in her décor, and sea urchins as the main motif – I was told that even her wedding cake is going to be in a sea urchin shape. I am sure it all is going to look wonderful together!

I used the colors and textures of these vases to make small gifts for the bride and her groom. It is a surprise, so I am not showing the pictures of these gifts until my customer receives them.

My Poppy Beads in Kate's Treasury

When people create their treasuries on Etsy.com, they create a mini-exhibition. The theme of that exhibition can be a certain color, or a common subject, or, perhaps, the same material used in all pieces in collection. Kate of Organic Odysseys have chosen a different – very nice and gracious – approach to her new treasury. She featured her favorite items of the artists who included Kate's works in their collections earlier this year. What an original and artful way of saying “thank you”!

Follow the link below to see the treasury:
www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=79372

Kate, thank you for including my poppy beads!

The White Orchids Are in One More Treasury

This lovely treasury celebrating beautiful polymer clay works by PCAGOE artists was created by Lynda Moseley (Diva Designs).

Follow this link to visit the shops of all featured artists:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=78549

My Faux Lampwork Beads Are in a New Treasury

My Polymer Clay Square Tile Faux Lampwork Beads in Earth Tones are included in a yummy treasury by twistedcreatures.etsy.com.

Please follow the link below to see the treasury and visit the shops of all artists, whose works are included in this lovely collection:
http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=98949

My New Studio

I want to brag about my new studio!

We have one big semi-finished room in the basement, and I've been using a part of it for my studio. Here is how it looked like a few years ago:

Unfortunately, I do not have a more recent picture – with all the extra stuff I've accumulated since then. The space under this table was packed with boxes, and the table itself was always covered with various unfinished projects.  There were a couple of open shelves overflowing with my tools and supplies, and I also had a smaller, rather inconvenient, table for taking pictures (and you know – I am taking tons of them, both for my tutorials and for my on-line listings).

So, my husband and I finally decided to remodel the downstairs space. Eventually, we'll have three separate rooms there, with one of them being my studio. Since we do all the work ourselves (or to be exact – my husband does most of the work, and I am helping him a little), the entire project is going to take at least a year. Right now, we have one of the corners of that big room enclosed, and we are building a new master bedroom in there.

Suddenly, right before Thanksgiving, my husband scored a VERY good deal on a few kitchen cabinets and counter tops. The best part is that they will fit nicely in the future studio, when we really have it finished, with all the walls and everything. For now, we temporarily installed all the new furniture so that I could use it right away.

Here is where I will be working now:

See the white cube in the corner? That's my permanent photo studio. No more folding and unfolding it between the photo sessions and no more balancing it on a tiny table!

This is my sewing space. Did you know that I actually design and make most of my clothes myself? I still need to put some drapers over the top shelves for now. When we finish this room, all my sewing stuff will be inside a built-in closet.

This part is still open to the rest of the big room. Eventually there will a wall right behind the left section of the counter top.

I am so happy to finally have all these drawers to put away my art supplies. I know, some artists prefer to have their supplies in the open. Not me! I prefer to have only the stuff I am currently working with, and to put it away when I am done.

I took the pictures above yesterday. Here are how the views from my studio look like now (it's been snowing the whole day today):

By the way, the numerous lilac vases are for the custom order I am finishing right now. They are a variation of my Sea Urchin Vase design, and are intended as the central pieces for my customer's wedding.