Happy New Year!

I've never been one for making New Year's resolutions, but this year I think I'm going to make a few this year.

1.  Blog at least once a week.  I'm a fitness instructor by day --even though I teach some night classes ;-)
     so I'm going to start blogging about health and fitness too.  If I come across a truly  healthy, AND yummy
     recipe, I'll be sure to pass it along.  I may have a fitness tip or two to share as well.

2.  Try to do something creative everyday, whether I'm working on a piece of jewelry or sketching a design
      for something.

3.  Try, try, try to stay organized!  That means keeping the house clean and the laundry done--even when I'm
     busy being creative.  This is going to be the hard one lol

I have been busy listing new items in my newly opened shop at ShopHandmade.com

Recycled Green Bottle, Oil, Vinegar or Dish Detergent Decanter with Clay Leaves

Happy, happy, happy New Year!!!!!  Enjoy the fireworks!

New shop on ShopHandmade.com

Handmade Necklace Clay Sunset Pendant Set in Silver Teardrop Frame

I've opened a new shop on ShopHandmade.com.  I'm pretty confident that I will be closing my Artfire shop at the year's end.  I found this new venue and am really excited about it!  They truly sell HANDMADE items.  Yes, they do sell some supplies for recycling purposes, but you will not find any COMMERCIALLY made items on this site.  This is one of the many things that I don't like about selling on Artfire (they recently added a commercial section).  I'll leave it at that.  Bonanza also sells commercial items, but since my account there is free, I'm going to leave some items there as well.  I also still have some items listed on Zibbet.  My goal is to eventually make this site, my main one.  It's really tough to maintain this many.  Transferring everything over is going to be a process though.

The items that I've listed here are completely new.  Here's a peek (p.s. you can access my store by clicking on the link right below my banner).

Handmade Necklace Black Clay and Silver Wire Cross, Black Onyx, Silver Beads

Handmade Necklace Metallic Bronze and Gold Clay Pandora-like Beads with Copper

Handmade Necklace Metallic Gold Clay Pandora Like Beads and Gold Accents

Owl Obsession

The owls are back in full force!!!

I remember my mom wearing these owl necklaces when I was a teenager.  She had a sort of owl collection.  She still has a painting of two owls that her cousin created for her at the time hanging in her dining room.  I also had an aunt who had a bit of an owl obsession.  I can't believe that they are back in style!!!

Well, needless to say, I came across a couple of vintage owls that I updated and have listed in my shop.

The first one has a rhinestone filled caged belly.  I left the actual owl alone and added my own clay filled diamond-shaped bead to keep the focus on him.

Not so Spooky Owl Necklace

 The second one is a larger owl that is segmented into three sections--his head, body and tail to give him some motion.  His gold rhinestone eyes also dangle from jumprings.  Here, I filled his once cut out body and feathery head with metallic gold polymer clay.  Of course a bit of coffee was kneaded and pressed into the clay--fair trade coffee that is!!
 

Updated Retro Vintage Owl Necklace

I had a real HOOT creating these!  Sorry, I just couldn't resist!

The Smooshers are back!!!!

I am happy to report that, thanks to Michelle of Creative Critters, the Polymer Clay Smooshers guild is back up and running on Artfire.com!!!  We are a multi-talented group of polymer clay artists  There are links to all members shops on the blog--this is being updated with new members, so check it often!

Until I get my widget back up, here are some links for you for check out:

Smooshers blog:   http://www.polymerclaysmooshers.blogspot.com/

Smooshers on Flickr:   http://www.flickr.com/groups/artfirepolymerclaysmooshers

Smooshers on Facebook:   http://www.facebook.com/PolymerClaySmooshers

Here is some random work from some of the Smooshers that I found on Flickr:

Creative Critters

Fantasy Clay

Averilpam

ArtFairly Aware

Desert Wind Designs

No more Smooshers

I found out today that the Polymer Clay Smooshers guild has been closed.

This was the first guild I joined on Artfire and was very happy to have found it.  I learned a lot from my fellow smooshers and was inspired by their beautiful work.  I'm going to miss doing my "Friday Finds" walks through the smoosher's shops.  I hope to be able to stay in touch with them through their blogs and facebook pages.

I have joined other guilds and am selling on other venues and will continue doing walks through shops.  It may not be every Friday, but I will try to do it as often as I can.

If you are a follower and would like to be featured, send me an email at artfairlyaware@gmail.com

And now I will sadly remove the smoosher widget from my site.

Take care and remember as Albert Einstein stated: "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

Which Avatar do you like better?

I recently decided to change my avatar/profile picture to represent ArtFairly Aware.  This is the old one:

and this is the new one:

Did I make the right choice?  I chose the first one initially because it really showed the coffee bean.  But then I thought more about the effect I'd like to have on the world through using fair trade coffee in everything I make and by donating 5% to World Hunger and 5% to Feeding America.  The ornament is filled with ground coffee.

What do you think?  I'd love feedback!

Autumn Challenge for Smooshers

For me, this was a no-brainer.  Autumn is my favorite season--mainly because of the beautiful warm colors of the falling leaves.  I also love putting on a cozy sweater and going for a walk with the leaves crunching under my feet.  I used an actual geranium leaf from my garden to make this pendant.  The red jasper nuggets that I recently purchased from Happy Mango Beads set it off beautifully. 

I will post the rest of the entries soon.  This necklace is for sale!:  http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/3768989.  I did make a pair of matching earrings that I will be posting soon!

Once again, don't forget to click on the hunger site button and help feed the world's hungry.  Thanks!

What Inspires You?

Recently, I was lucky enough to receive a big bag of necklaces, earrings, bracelets, etc. from a friend of mine who acquired them from an estate sale.  She said that when she saw these treasures she immediately thought of me and what I might do with them.  Well, let me just say that I've been having a blast!  She is a HUGE advocate for recycling herself--she recently wrote a children's book on the subject entitled  Recycling with Arnie and Bing.  Check out her website for more info.
Ok, back to the beads....here's what I received....

Can you see why I was so excited?  Here's what I've made so far...

All of these items are for sale via Artfire, Zibbet, and soon on Bonanza. There's a few more that I haven't listed yet.  It's been great fun to create the new from the old all while saving the earth at the same time!  I think that Arnie, Bing and my friend Ann would be proud.