Positively Charming Things

First, just to let you know, I didn't do a Featured Smoosher post last week because that person was me for the week.  But, I did get two sales during my week as the Featured Smoosher, yay!  One was a set of non-clay earrings, and the other was both sets of my snowmen charms. Anyway. August's Polymer Clay Smoosher's challenge theme was "medieval", and here are the two pieces I came up with for it. This one is a pewter colored medieval cross.  Hand cut and shaped, with a red decorative marble…

The featured guild member for the Polymer Clay Smoosher's this week is Too Aquarius. Elaine resides in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada, and her forte with polymer clay, is millefiori canes, and beads made from her canes. What is a millefiori cane? Take a look: And here are some of the beads that she creates using her canes - beautiful! In addition to her Artfire Studio, you can find Elaine of TooAquarius at her Etsy shop for her beads, TooAquarius; her Etsy shop for her canes, ClayChicks;…

The featured Polymer Clay Smoosher of the week is FantasyClay. Susan lives in New Jersey, and creates sculptures, beads, pendants, and other items out of polymer clay.  Her primary influences appear to be Dinko Tilov and Christie Friesen, but she has a style that is all her own. Here are a few of her wonderful wares:

This week's featured Polymer Clay Smoosher is Tamed. Dee resides in England and creates THE cutest miniature animals - dogs, kitties, bunnies, and even a guinea pig or two. So cute!  Some of them even have wool flocking to give them a furry appearance! Go check out the rest of her cute little miniatures!

This week's featured Polymer Clay Smoosher is Haffina.  She lives in Australia and runs several shops - HaffinaCreations, BeadsByHaffina, HaffinaAgain on Etsy and HaffinaAgain on Zibbet. Such a busy bee is she! Not only does she run four shops, (at least that I know of, I'm sure there are probably more!), she has such a variety of items available at each!  At HaffinaCreations, she offers handmade jewelry, some of which incorporates her handmade polymer clay items, as well as beaded jewelry and…

Ok, not so much "exploring" as jumping right in.  In July I talked about receiving a new book by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, which sparked my interest in picking up the watercolor brushes again.  I noted that this time, I wanted to use artist quality paper and paints. And so I went out and bought some. Artist papers and paints are not cheap, so I got two full sheets of Arches 140lb cold-press paper, a plastic board to staple it to after I wet it down, and a handful of Daniel Smith watercolors. …

The Polymer Clay Smoosher's challenge theme this month was "Space".  I created two items and posted them late last night. First, a rather irritated alien lady.  She has three eyes, and glows in the dark: My second item, is a stylized Blue Moon pendant, which also glows in the dark: They're both made with glow in the dark polymer clay.  The alien lady's eye stalks are clay covered head pins, anchored into the clay.  For the Blue Moon pendant, I shaped it by hand and added the crater shapes…

This week's featured Polymer Clay Smoosher guild member is Catswire. Catswire hails from Germany, where she lives with her husband and four kitties.  She is an avid crocheter of wire.  Yep, wire rather than threads or yarn.  It makes for some really interesting pieces!  And recently, she's started working with polymer  clay and is merging the two mediums together for some great items.  Go take a look! Just look at this cute little fruit basket!  Polymer clay fruit, and crocheted wire…

This week's featured Polymer Clay Smoosher's guild member is Valerie's Stuff. Valerie creates jewelry, pendants, key rings, and bracelet cuffs all with polymer clay.  She also hand paints some pendants with inks which remind me of porcelain beads.  Here is just a sample of the lovely items she has available at her studio: If you hurry and purchase something by the 24th, you can get 15% off using coupon code "THISWEEK" at check out.

This week's featured Smoosher is Creative Critters. Michelle creates whimsical sculptures, beads, ornaments and other items with polymer clay, and she also hand sews cloth dolls, cat toys, plush dolls inspired by World of Warcraft, and many other things.  And she knits, too! Quite the busy gal! Here is just a small number of the various wares she has available in her studio: She is having a Christmas in July sale, too!  Coupon code XMASINJULY in select studio categories, gets you 10% off! Go…