June Blog Giveaway Prize

I thought I would change things up a bit and offer a pair of polymer clay and gemstone earrings this month, instead of a pendant.

One of my new favorite things is a silicone molds of this incredibly detailed rose, with tiny roses ringing the outside. I have made these earrings in every color I could think of, and am giving away this turquoise set with turqouise magnesite rondelles and copper accents.

These earrings are so much fun to make, and even more fun to wear, They have just enough of that "swish factor" you look for in a great pair of earrings. They would be fantastic accessories to a pair of jeans and a peasant blouse, your favorite bathing suit, or dressed up with a little black dress and a turquoise necklace.

The earrings measure 2" from the bottom of the copper earring findings. They are signed by me on the reverse side, your guarantee you are receiving a Diva Designs exclusive piece of wearable art!

If you would like a chance to win these earrings, leave a comment about the earrings, your plans for the Summmer, or anything else that suits your fancy. I will choose a winner at random from the comments and post the winner's name here next Monday, June 6th. If you do not have email enabled on your blog, please include your email in your post.

No purchase necessary to win.

Thanks!

Think Zebra!

My 17 year old niece, Kaitlyn, suffers from a primary immunodeficiency disease known as Common Variable Immune Deficiency (CVID). She takes weekly IV treaments of a plasma donated product, which is necessary for her survival. There is currently no cure for CVID. She is one of only 12 people in the state of South Carolina with this disease, and one of 250,000 nationwide. Kaitlyn was the first patient in the state to start the newest form of therapy, Sub-Q, which she can now administer to herself at home.

Kaitlyn serves on the National Immune Deficiency Foundation Teen Council and speaks to other patients and industry people about her disease and how it affects her life.

For the past few years, it has been my honor to participate in the national IDF conventions by creating and donating several necklaces which are auctioned to the higest bidder. This year's convention is June 23 in Phoenix, Arizona.

The mascot/logo for the foundation is a zebra in in a color scheme of black and bright green. In medical school, doctors are taught that "when you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras." But sometime, physicians need to look for a zebra. Primary immunodeficiency patients are the zebras of the medical world. So IDF's slogan is "Think Zebra!"

You can help by donating blood when your local bloodmobile comes around, or visit your local blood bank. It truly is the gift of life, as everyone in my family knows. It takes 45 pints of blood to make 1 pint of plasma.

To learn more about primary immunodeficiency disease, please visit www.primaryimmune.org.

Tutorial #8 How To Create Perfectly Textured Multi-Dimensional Focal Beads

I've been working on two tutorials simultaneously, intending to publish the other one before this one, but in the wee hours of the morning, this one got to the finish line first.

I have more people ask me about my creative process for the round, textured focal beads more than any of my other work, so I decided to let you all in on my secret. No, I don't roll the clay base bead onto the rubber stamp or texture sheet. No, I don't stuff the clay base bead into a silicone mold. No, I don't texture two half moons and smush them together. If you've tried that, you know it doesn't work anyway, all you get is a mashed pattern.

I am very excited to debut the focal bead tutorial, and I hope it helps a lot of people who scratch their heads to figure out how to get a good stamping on a round bead. And yes, I do sand and buff every one of these! Hee Hee

PLEASE NOTE THAT IF YOU HAVE PURCHASED MY FAUX JADE TUTORIAL, YOU ALREADY HAVE THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS TUTORIAL AND DO NOT NEED TO PURCHASE IT AGAIN. PLEASE REFER TO THE FAUX YELLOW JADE BEADS IN THE SPECIAL JEWELRY PROJECTS IN THE FAUX JADE TUTORIAL. THANK YOU!

701 and Counting

Wow, I just sent out my 701st tutorial... 701... 7-0-1! I am in awe that a little over a year after the first one debuted and winged its way to its new owner, I am sending out the 701st!

I am also amazed at where the tuts have traveled. I have delivered them to every state in the U.S., and to 76 countries worldwide, from Argentina to Tasmania. In the U.S., more have been delivered to Pennsylvania than to any other state, followed by Colorado and Maryland. Outside the U.S., more tutorials have been delivered to Australia than to any other country, overwhelmingly, in fact. Canada and France follow distantly.

Thank you so much to everyone who has purchased one of my tutorials and created some truly beautiful works of art using my recipes and methods for image transfer, mica shift, faux jade, and finishing.

Thank you also for sharing your photos and your observations and your wonderful feedback about the tutorials. It has made me want to write many more, and I am thrilled to see how my customers have taken my instructions and put their own spin on things. I've seen some amazing faux jade from them!

I hope to have two new tutorials in the faux series ready for publication by the end of the month. Several of you have been waiting patiently for the next tutorial in the faux series, so look for it to debut soon here on the blog.

Thanks again, everyone!

Lynda

May Blog Giveaway Prize Winner

Thanks again to everyone who participated in this month’s blog giveaway by leaving a comment about the necklace.

A HUGE thank you to Laurel Steven for collaborating with me on the prize by creating and donating the gorgeous, carved and antiqued polymer clay barrel beads featured in the necklace design. I hope you all had a chance to check out Laurel’s shop at Etsy. She’s been busy creating more of these gorgeous carved beads!

We had 25 entries this month, and the winner is: #10, Norma’s Clay.

Congratulations, Norma! I will contact you shortly for your mailing address and will send this beautiful necklace right out to you.



1) Nena
2) Julz
3) JuLee
4) Earthly Jewels
5) RiverValleyDesign
6) Carmela
7) Leila Bidler-Gom6699
8) Kanella
9) Its All About Creating
10) Norma’s Clay
11) M.E.
12) Moonrae
13) Randee M. Ketzel
14) Another.Realm
15) Lynn
16) Lynn Eileen a/k/a ChickyLE
17) Sherry
18) Debbie Sparkle Chick
19) Jeanne a/k/a Gem Chick
20) Chipita Jewelry
21) Becky
22) Deb D Grammy Chick
23) Violet Marie
24) Lubna
25) Marie (Young Creative)

I'm on my own again next month, but check back in a couple of weeks to see the June giveaway prize. I hope you like it.

Thanks again, everyone!

May Blog Giveaway - A Collaborative Design with Laurel Steven

Well, here it is, finally! It is a little late, but I hope you like this month's blog giveaway prize. It is a collaborative effort between me and my friend, the fabulously talented Laurel Steven. Laurel created these gorgeous carved polymer clay barrel beads, and I added an ethnic themed pendant featuring a vintage Hawaiian Tapa Cloth fabric pattern on a background of black clay which I embossed with a basketweave texture stamp; and apple jasper and blue pearl jasper beads and copper accents.



If you would like a chance to win this necklace, please leave a comment at the end of this post and let us know how you like the necklace, and next Monday, May 9th, I'll draw a winner using a random number generator. No purchase is necessary. If you do not have email enabled on your blog, please add your email address in your comment so I'll know how to contact you if you are the winner.



Thanks for playing along, and please visit Laurel's shop and check out more of her beautiful work! Here are a few of my favorites.

Thank you, too, Laurel, for helping me out on the giveaway this month!

From Laurel's Shop:



Faux Granite Working Locket Pendant Necklace









Blue Flower Statement Necklace

Creeping Out of A Creative Slump

I am not usually one to sink into the "poor pitiful me" blues, but the last two weeks have been somewhat of a nightmare for me personally, which had me in a pity party for 1 much of the time. Car troubles, job troubles, family worries and health problems all seemed to converge on me at once. When it rains, it pours, right?

As a result, I did not feel at my artistic best and quickly descended into a major creative slump. Hopefully, that is behind me now and I can exercise some of those demons with some cathartic pounding of clay.

Usually when the muse hits the skids, I start over with some basic techniques and just practice for a week or so. I try to let myself go and just let the clay speak to me. This time, a cruise through Etsy's digital collage offerings perked me up tremendously. I found these gorgeous blue and white Asian designs. The muse started whispering in my ear and I was able to turn out a handful of pendants I realy love.



Creating faux jade always makes me happy and energizes me. I had an order for a duplicate, or as near duplicate as I could make, for a pendant I created a couple of weeks ago, so I made up a batch of a dark burma shade of green, a bit darker than the newsprint jasper green, and created a couple of new pieces in that color and also a "fantasy bronze jade" piece which I liked, a good effort overall.



I am running a bit behind this month with the blog giveaway. I'm finishing up a collaborative design using some wonderful carved polymer beads created for the giveaway by my friend and fellow Polymer Artist, Laurel Steven. I'll have it up tonight or tomorrow for you to get your comments in to be elegible to win it. I hope you like it.