Wondergirl!

I am beside myself with pride!

My beautiful, wonderful, talented and lovely daughter Katie, has won the first "Holt's Got Talent" competition!

We are so amazingly proud of her!

Singing on Stage

We live in a small village, not far from Bath in Wiltshire. It has an amazing community spirit and there is always lots going on. We have many clubs and organisations and a very thriving and brilliant Amateur Dramatic Society. They decided to hold a competition along the lines of "Britian's Got Talent" and they had the auditions last week. Katie got through, along with 14 other acts, ranging from pianists, dancers, bands through to singers, with ages ranging from 10 years old right through to OAP's.

Katie decided to sing "Colours of the Wind" from Disney's Pocahontas. She sang totally unaccompanied! She is only 13 years old, but she showed a maturity far beyond her years on the stage.

I have to say, that as her voice rang out over the audience, I got covered in goosebumps and experienced one of the happiest and proudest moments of my life.


Receiving her prize, a beautiful bowl, a certificate and £50.00 prize money.


With the Judges

Well done Katie - our own Wondergirl, because you are wonderful and I wonder how on earth I could have produced such an amazing person!

We love you so very much!

What a Find!

Marble
Originally uploaded by Pips Jewellery Creation

I am a Polymer Clay Artist. I work with polymer clay and occasionally Art Clay Silver, and I am quite nifty with wire if I put my mind to it, but I am, by no stretch of the imagination, a metalsmith. So, much though I would like to make my own settings for my polymer, the reality is that I can't, not yet anyway!

Trying to find a really great setting to show off my creations is a constant search. I have lost count of the hours I have spent trawling the web in search of good settings/blanks/bezels. Most of them have had to come from Canada or the US.

So to find a really great UK company that have just about every setting I could wish for (over 215 products listed!!), was like a dream come true! Add to the equation, a really lovely lady behind the company, who cannot do enough for you and really goes the extra mile in customer service, then you know you have hit the Jackpot!!

The company is http://www.dichro-findings.co.uk/ and I cannot recommend them highly enough. Beautiful products, fantastic service, speedy postings and the human touch as well.

What more could anyone ask for!

Looking Up!

Cityscape
Originally uploaded by Pips Jewellery Creation

When I was little, about 8 or 9, I remember there being a craze at school for Erasers. Everyone tried to get different colours and styles and to show them to their best friends and swap them and collect them.

My favourite one (and does anyone else remember these?) were the sort that had a type of building brick around them. As you used the eraser and it wore down, you would remove the brick at the top and restack it on the bottom, revealing more clean new eraser at the top. The bricks were all different colours and I think there were about 10 of them.

This new bracelet of mine reminds me exactly of those, and also of a City Sky Line full of Skyscrapers.

Isn't it strange the places and memories that inspiration comes from?

Peacock Bangle

Peacock Bangle
Originally uploaded by Pips Jewellery Creation

The other day, my friend Jo from Muddle House Mosaics, came to have a Play with the Clay Day! She wants to learn to make canes so that she can use them in her mosaic work. We had a great day drinking coffee, chatting, and eating the lovely cake she made.

We did actually get some claying done as well, I showed her how to make a leaf cane and I made one at the same time to demonstrate. Hers was really beautiful, she has a great eye for colour and it showed. Considering this was the very first time she had tried her hand at polymer clay, the results she got were fantastic - I could have some serious competition here!

Anyway, I have used the cane I made in several different projects (have a look at my flickr pages if you would like to see more) and had a go at making a bangle. I got these lovely bangle blanks from the US and am really happy with the way this turned out. I will be making a few more of these I think.

Beautiful Birds

Sage One 1
Originally uploaded by DivaDesigns1

Please let me introduce you to the work of my very special Friend, Lynda of Diva Designs.

This stunning pendant is part of her series of Bird Beads and I think it may be my favourite yet. This newest series of hers has become incredibly popular, not surprisingly and Lynda was recently featured on Polymer Clay Daily.

Lynda has a way with the clay that is elegant, original and always beautifully finished. And I mean Beautifully Finished! We have had many conversations regarding the merits of sanding, sanding and then sanding some more!

Enjoy!

A Rest, A Restart and a Revisit!

Faux Jade Bracelet
Originally uploaded by Pips Jewellery Creation

I have had a bit of a break from the computer for a couple of weeks, over the Easter Break, but now I am back!

I feel much better for my little holiday, not that I went anywhere, but it was good to try and recharge my batteries, they were running on nearly empty I think!

So we tried to have some family time, and not think about work too much! My contribution to time was to stay off the computer (except for essentials!) The children really appreciated having us all to themselves for once and we had some lovely days out!

It has been back to the routine this week, children back at school, and us back at work, and so to the revisit...

..I have not made any Faux Jade for a long time, but thought it would be interesting to revisit it. Sometimes it is good to go back to basics and do something that I tried way back when I was first starting to work with Polymer Clay. It was very soothing to make something really simple for a change, my hands just knew what to do, while my mind was going down various other routes of things I might try next week.

Hope your weekend is a good one!

Flora

Flora
Originally uploaded by Pips Jewellery Creation

I think that Spring must have gone to my head this year. I have not created so many flowers since I used to make Wedding Cakes and made them in Sugar Paste!

This bracelet has over 60 little flowers and Ivy Leaves and each one has been individually wire wrapped onto the bracelet links. It took ages, but I am so happy with it, and it sits beautifully!

This is the reason I love Polymer Clay so much. It does not matter what idea/inspiration/brainwave I get in my head, I do not need to source beads, or try and find the correct sizes, or try and match colours. I do not need to spend hours trying to find what I need (I can spend that time making it instead). I do not need to worry that I will not find what I have imagined. I know that my imagination can be made a reality. I can do it all with the clay.

What a wonderful medium!