I try to blog the Etsy treasuries I am lucky enough to be featured in, and link back to the curator's shop to thank them for including me.
It is difficult to get noticed at Etsy, and the Treasuries are a very important way to do that; and I am always amazed that people find me and want to include me, when there are literally tens of thousands of folks trying to get noticed as well. Most of the time, they are people I don't even know, and I am honored they choose me.
I am ashamed to say that I have been so busy with the day job the past two weeks that I have not done a very good job thanking these nice people who included me in their treasuries, and I would like to remedy that today. So bear with me, please, while I give some much overdue thanks! Your eyes will feast on all the beautiful items included. You could definitely fill a wish list, or your holiday gift list, just by visiting these shops, so have a great time looking!
June 28, 2010:
Lori of
FabricatedFamily included my
Turquoise and Copper Cylinder Focal Beads in her Etsy treasury Titled "
A Little Dog Told Me", which has nothing to do with dogs and everything to do with gorgeous coppery, coral and turquoise vertigris lusciousness!
Linda of
clickdecourcyNI included my
Cayenne Red Double-Sided Pebble Textured Beads in her Etsy treasury, titled
"Pebble...". I fell in love with several of the items she included in this treasury. It's such a soothing treasury.
My cayenne beads are really popular! They were also featured, along with my Cranberry Carte Postale Pendant, in an All-PCAGOE member treasury created by new member Penny of
PennysLane, titled
"Seeing Red." I love this treasury, but then, everyone knows Red is my favorite color.
June 30, 2010:
PCAGOE member Deb of
RenGalSA created an all-PCAGOE member treasury to promote our July challenge and titled it "Faux". She included my
Faux Turquoise Topped Antique Copper Textured Orphan Focal Bead (what a mouthful!). I am honored to be included with all the awesomely talented people in our guild!
July 5, 2010:
This treasury created by
Sweet2BLiving, which she titled
"Orient to the Keepsakes", is one of the prettiest treasuries I have seen at Etsy in a long time. Of course, I'm a huge fan of the Asian theme, and use it as much as possible in my own work, so that may be one reason it appeals to me so much. I'm so happy my
Black Capped Antique Gold Koi Fish Focal Beads are included.
July 6, 2010:
Now for a fun, happy, and irresistible treasury created by Nancy of
BytheBead, which she titled
"Spots and Squiggles and Dots, Oh My!". Nancy included my
Chartreuse Textured Focal Beads.
Sadly, this glorious "Summer Morning" Treasury created by Gloria of
GloriaKirk has already expired, but I wanted to include it here anyway. Gloria included my
Gold Mica Shift Double-Stamped Pebbled Swirls on Black Pendant. It was such a beautiful treasury, and many of the items are still available.
July 8, 2010:
Betsy of
BetsyBenson included my Majestic Butterfly pendant in her
"Beautiful Vision" Treasury Thursday. That little butterfly pendant has been featured in more Etsy treasuries than any of my other work. It's very popular!
July 10, 2010:
Whew! All caught up and I just received an email from Robin J. of
DevineDepth that she featured my
Faux Jade Gingko Leaf Cylinder Focal Beads in her new Etsy treasury today,
"What Exactly is Polymer Clay?" And what a special treasury it is!
I love it when artists who do not normally use polymer clay to create showcase it in a serious and positive manner. Polymer gets such a bad rap sometimes. It suffers from a stereotype that it is something kids play with, which infuriates me. So, I was thrilled when I went to see Robin's treasury and found that it included some of the best polymer clay artists around, some of my pc heroes and even a few friends among them! Thank you so much, Robin. You have truly made my day!
Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who featured me in the past two weeks. I cannot really express how much it means to me. Many happy blessings on you all!
Lynda
I am not a Summer girl. I hate it, and hate really is not too strong a word. I love my state, but I could happily live at the North Pole rather than suffer through this sweltering, "steal your breath" heat and humidity and the gnats and mosquitos, which we seem to have 9 months out of the year in South Carolina. 
I reworked this necklace using this "Tree of Life" pendant, my signature antique copper color blend. I added Picasso Jasper, Purple Impression Jasper, Desert jasper, Moukaite, and copper accents. I also added two handmade, hollow glass beads made for me by my friend Aja, who has a shop at Etsy called Wandering Spirit. Aja's work is so inspiring to me. I have purchased many of her hollow beads, and these are two of my favorites.
I am so honored that my little Barn Burner Pendant is included in two Etsy treasuries today, both created by ladies named Maria! 
I am one of the sponsors for this month's Art Bead Scene challenge. The theme for the challenge is based on Alexander Calder's 1948 mobile, "Blue Feather."
I tried transferring images to translucent clay a couple of years ago, and it didn't work. I use Premo Pearl almost exclusively, but seeing the success my friend and fellow PCAGOE member, Marcia Palmer recently had with transfers to translucent clay using my cylinder bead tutorial, I got inspired by her success and was determined to make it work for me. This is Marcia's bead that inspired me. Isn't it gorgeous?
The traditional way to achieve mica shift is to stamp or emboss a piece of metallic clay, slice off the raised areas and then compress the clay in a pasta machine to level the surface. Through trial and error, I found a better way to achieve flawless, crisp, foolproof mica shift with great depth. The only slicing involved is cutting a shape for a pendant or brooch. The pasta machine has a part, largely in conditioning the clay before it is stamped. And, you can use even the the most shallow etched stamps and get a fantastic shift. 
My frustration with the traditional method was first, you need a very, very steady hand and a razor sharp, flexible tissue blade to get a good design; and second, compressing the clay in the pasta machine tended to leave me with blurry, faded-looking designs that I could barely distinguish. I wanted something bolder, more vivid, with deep, crisp edges in the designs; and third, I just don't have the patience, or the nerves, for the slicing part. I can't tell you how many times I sliced too deeply and ruined a design, ending up with an uneven mess. It seemed the more flexible the blade, the less control I had over the slicing. And more than once, I sliced my finger in the process, too. 
Thank you so much to everyone who voted for my entry in the July PCAGOE "Faux" challenge. I won 1st place in both categories, winners voted by the public and winners voted by the PCAGOE members! I'm thrilled, and honored. There were so many wonderful entries this month. I had an extremely difficult time myself choosing only three favorites. 
