Eric's Honey Do List 

From SJ Designs Jewelry and boy does she. Sunflowers for one last hurrah of summer. Works for me!

Though I am not one to design beads with predominately bright yellow I do enjoy it in my garden. 

My experience with sunflowers is the birds being all over them when the seeds mature. 

Well Eric you have re-inspired me to grow them again next year.

I made a polymer clay pendant. Well actually I made more than that but I was not happy enough about them to put them on. I do like this one though.

Thank you again Eric!

September Art Bead Scene Studio Challenge

Insects

Eugene Seguy

Published in 1920

Pochoir Print

Image Credit: Special Collections Research Center at NCSU Libraries

It's funny that this month is bugs when I have been collecting several bug pins on Pinterest

I have always been intrigued by dragonflies so I used a pearl polymer clay which I love, and came up with this pendant that strings through the back so it doesn't flip around and the beads. 

I equate my use of polymer clay to painting and sculpting at the same time and I love it!
So here is my bug painting, yes abstract but that's the way it is sometimes.
It is a pendant by the way.

 I also do a lot of gardening for insects. The bees and butterflies are having a hard time. I was making butterfly wing patterns and ended up with this necklace.
The black and white part of the bottom right bug pattern caught my eye and I guess it stayed in my head. So I combined the wing patterns with the black and white patterned clay. The white beads are white turquoise and the matt black beads are Czech from Art Beads.

If You Plant It They Will Come

One reason that I love the Butterfly Bush is that the minute they start blooming you get butterflies! Not hard to guess that one. This is a Miss Molly. It doesn't get overly large and the color and smell is outstanding. There is an even smaller one that I have to look up the name.

 Here's Peetie Not-a-Help! 

He likes to follow me around the garden.

This is a nine bark and a little pink cat tail plant. I got it from a friend and I don't know what it is called but it lasts a long time and had a nice leaf that gets a burgundy splash to it and is has and airy quality that is nice against a solid background.

My Phlox were outstanding this year. They were very tall and lasted a long time.

Blue Spirea or Caryoptris or Blue Mist Spirea, 3'-3.5' H x 3'-3.5' W. It blooms from July to September and the bloom and can stand hot dry areas. I starts blooming when most flowers are fading away. I have been trying to add more blues into my garden pallette.

Hardy Glads so beautiful!

Oak Leaf Hydreangea - no flowers yet but hopefully next year.

This Coral Bell is from 2 summers ago. It is Fire Alarm and boy do I love it. You can see some of the Rozanne Geranium trailing into it, love!

Miss Molly, Rozanne, and creeping Jenny.

New in my garden, Twirling Butterflies. Light , airy but super bloomer. Bees love it.

A Seedum I've had for so many years I don't know what it's called but it is a beautiful color.

The Rozanne behind a shorter coral Phlox. 

Pink Anemone what a show and it lasts a long time!

Left to right, Brunera, Coral Bell, raspberry ?, Coral Belle Southern Comfort (likes some shade for better color),

It doesn't look to hot but next years blooms are waiting to be planted!

SJ Designs Jewelry August Honey Do Challenge

Well the colors for this challenge are so right up my alley for gardening. I call it Sunset. I have some tulips and lilies that are somewhat colored like this.

When this picture is sitting on my desktop and small it looks like a sherbert orange so I was influenced by that too.

All of my beads are Polymer Clay.

These are coin beads, they sit just like you see them or can be strung as a small focal. I love coin beads foe bracelets. I really like the more orange one at the right top. At the bottom is green for leaves. 

I made pendants of the flower itself.

This one's a fatty but I still like it.

 Here's that peachy orange with flowers and petals.

I was somewhat frustrated with trying to create the striation of the petals going from pink through yellow with out too much yellow so I ended up with this color palette. It is softened down colors and swirled. I ended up liking them for the colors which remind me of Florida. 

 So now I address Erick's beetles!  I was trying to do an ancient scarab style beetle and these turned out with a Raku like finish. 

 

 This one was roughly carved and then pigmented.

 Thanks for the inspiration Erick!

Still working and creating things for the Art Bead Scene August Challenge and I came across an inspiration from Pinterest. I know it is an ancient spear head but I thought that I read thar it was fossilized coral. Well I took me right to the painting

I adore it and usually if I can spot some red in a challenge I'll go for it! So here is my polymer clay fossilized coral spear head and beads. My young six year old friend asked me if it was a carrot!  

The white speckled beads are from Marsha Neal  and I have been looking for the perfect thing to use them in and I think I found it!

A more rustic  bead.

The whole necklace! 

Art Bead Scene 

August Challenge

Twelve Princesses on the Way to the Dance

Kay Nieslen

Published in 1923

Watercolor and ink

This is what I saw

                               For some reason I am very interested in this shape and was playing around with  them and lo and behold here comes the ABS August challenge 

First necklace with the polymer clay bead focal that I made. I also had been craving some cherry quartz from Lima Beads so since this one is for me I thought it was a happy addition. The lighter pink are from a site that I have to find again, hammered silver ring and the toggle from Fab Beads  on Etsy.