Funky Boho

I've been busy making polymer clay components last week for a show I had the past few days. I had lots of fun creating various components in a few different colorways, and the odd time, I come up with a shape I want to try just for fun.

I set these aside to make a pair of earrings for this blog post late in the evening (hence the artificial lighting - sorry!!). I wanted to make a different pair of earrings using a 'chandelier' type of component, but without making a 'chandelier' type design.

So this is what I came up with:

I couldn't resist using my favorite Swarovski crystal drops (in my favorite color to boot) since the color matched so well with the pink I used in my polymer clay design. The hints of coco brown, and the speckles of Gold metal leaf add just enough sparkle to my liking!

I've used some anodized aluminum rings in the colors that pick up the pink and gold, and some Tierra Cast hammer textured components at the top to add a quick touch of rustic sparkle. Small sparkling yellow/pink seed beads are wrapped in using copper wire on brass head pins.

Fun, funky... a little boho, a little different ;)

Have a wonderful day... hoping things aren't too hectic for you!

I'm hoping to have time to update my shop with these earrings and add some new polymer clay components for sale over the next several days.

See you in a couple of weeks!
Nathalie

Visit my Etsy components shop: My Garden Of Love
The Crafty Tribe

Land of the rising Sun

I was scrambling at the last minute for ideas to make some earrings. I always have a hard time deciding which colors to go with. I think I need to start writing colors onto pieces of paper and just draw a main color at random and go from there lol

So instead, I went on my FB page and asked my friends what colors I should go with. Orange and Fall colors were some of the suggestions (among many other fun ideas), and since I had a pair of handmade polymer clay components that had some nice orangey shades to it, I pulled out some Carnelians and went to town:

I'm a sucker for Copper, especially when it comes to coupling them with rich Fall jewel tones. I wanted to use some kind of bead cap for the chunky faceted carnelian briolettes, but I didn't have anything suitable on hand. I pulled out some of my handmade slightly domed copper beadcaps and bent them to make a bit of an Asian style cover for the top, as I wanted to add a bit of width to the bottom part.

A few more copper accents and carnelian beads, and voila!

I wish the "rising sun" would make its appearance here. We've been drowning in rain for the past couple of weeks now. I had just a wee bit of a break to go plant my seed garlic in the garden (after the blizzard we had, I thought I had missed the window to plant garlic). It's been very wet and dreary here... these sunny Carnelians were a very welcome sunny sight on my bench!

I need to take better pictures before I list them, although it looks like they might be spoken for already :)

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends in the US!

Cheers,
Nathalie
Visit my shops:
My Garden of Love on Etsy
The Crafty Tribe on Etsy

Simple lines

Sometimes things get too complicated in life and we're reminded that we should aim to keep things simple.... go back to basics. Lines. Metal. Wire. Pure lines. No color. Simple. Minimalist. Simplicity.

My brain is still adjusting to verrrrry slow and verrrrry gradual increases in my new epilepsy medication (this stuff is potent, wow), and I do feel better for awhile, but when the next small increase comes up on the schedule, it takes awhile for my brain to adjust and then it's a challenge until I've adjusted.

Because of this, I don't have anything new to show you today, but I pulled a few pairs of earrings I've made in the past that show this concept of keeping things very very simple.

Sometimes when the creative muse isn't 'happening', maybe just going back to pure simple lines is a way to create while the muse is on vacay ;)

Here's a few examples for you:

What do you do when your muse wanders off?
I'd love to hear!

Be well,
Nathalie

Visit my shops:
My Garden of Love on Etsy
The Crafty Tribe on Etsy

Fall Beauties

Hey everybody! I hope you're all doing great and that the weather is behaving in your neck of the woods. I'm sorry I went MIA a couple of weeks ago. I injured my knee the day I was supposed to make earrings, take pictures and write a post, and my coconut just totally zonked out with the pain killers and the ice.

My knee is fine, thankfully... my coconut, well...... it's getting older. I'll leave it at that LOL ;)

I've got a showcase coming up on FB on Nov. 2-3rd in the Handmade Beads and Findings group (I hope to see you there!), and I've been making various things, including these:

But, my heart wanted to make something with one of the pairs I had made, so I grabbed them and here's the pair of earrings I designed for you today:

Handmade polymer clay round earring connectors featuring modern leaves, with shades of orange, russet, and aqua blue, with a touch of brass. I love how the colors play against each other.

I added copper tone chains for a feminine wispy look, on which I suspended a pair of pretty TierraCast hearts. I've also included some cool funky shaped 'tube' Blue Apatite gemstone beads that i bought many many years ago (yes, I'm a hoarder!!), sandwiched between some rustic TierraCast rondelles, topped with sparkling yellow glass seed beads.

These will be available for sale in my Etsy shop HERE over the next couple of days, as well as new handmade polymer clay jewelry making components!

I wish you all a Beautiful Fall season (and my heart goes out to all those still dealing with all the fires, and other storms going on at this time)

Cheers,
Nathalie

Visit my shops:
My Garden Of Love Jewelry Supplies
The Craft Tribe Instant Download Printables

Dragonflies and Faux Australian Koroit Opals

One thing about suffering from a chronic illness, I end up spending a lot of time (sadly) laying down, thinking and designing things in my head. One of things I do is work through various creative ideas in my brain, and try to work out all the kinks so that when I feel well enough, then I can actually implement things quickly. Kind of like hitting the ground running.

So, among the many ideas swirling around in my coconut, the idea of making some 'faux' Australian Koroit Opals had been swimming in there for quite some time. I figured it was time to try it out, and see what happens! Yay!!

So this is what I ended up with. I made several oval-shaped faux opals (some smaller, and these slightly larger ones), and picked a pair to use in these dragonfly earrings:

Faux Koroit Boulder Opals Sterling Silver Dragonfly Earrings by Nathalie Lesage

I'm also fond of charm necklaces, but wanted to make some 'charm earrings' since we're all about earrings here. Extremely lightweight (gotta love Polymer clay for reducing the weight on our earlobes!) these cuties are ready to play and explore the world with you! These measure 2.5" tall x 1" wide.

I used some 20g Sterling Silver wire to make the hoops, added a bit of textures while cold-forging, and decided to go with a pair of fun twisted sterling silver jump rings to suspend my faux opals. I kept the rest simple (truth: I made these quickly before running out of light to take pictures and write this post..... haven't been well at all lately)... so fun little Sterling dragonflies, and a few sparkling Czech glass beads became part of this little party.

I'm happy on how these turned out, but I want to try again and go a bit finer on the chunks of host-rock (the brown areas) I think. It's definitely fun, and I'll keep at it. Practice makes perfect!

I have a showcase planned on FB for October 1st. I'll be selling some faux opals and other polymer clay handmade jewelry components (Search for the Handmade Beads and Findings FB group to discover lots of great handmade jewelry components makers!).

In the meantime, these earrings can be found in my Etsy shop HERE, along with other jewelry supplies. I've started to list some of my personal gemstones collection on Etsy too. I'm just too unwell to make much jewelry, and I need to part with some of my stash.

Have a wonderful weekend! I can't believe September is almost done already...

Cheers,
Nathalie
Visit my Etsy shops:
My Garden Of Love
The Crafty Tribe
Nat Lesage Designs

An apple a day

... keeps the doctor away :) Well, at least let's hope so!

I was talking with my hubby a couple of months ago about wanting to make some mini apples and pumpkin beads for Fall creations. It's my favorite season in terms of the richness of colors, the nice cool crisp air, and because it's actually cool enough for me to snuggle up in a cozy sweater. I love handmade sweaters!

I don't knit much these days, but playing with beads is always on the agenda... So my hubby made me a small batch of super cute apple and pumpkin beads! Yippee!!

I may be biased here, but I think he did a really fabulous job. He's very patient and likes a challenge. Each one is individually hand sculpted by him and I added the finishing touches of pretty shimmering mica colors and protective glaze.

Check these out:

Polymer Clay Handmade Red Apple Beads

Don't you just want to eat these precious little Red Apples?

Although I don't eat 'pumpkin' anything.... I know, bad girl lol - but hey, that leaves more for you!
I really adore how these little pumpkins turned out:

Polymer Clay Handmade Pumpkin Beads

I wanted to make a pair of Red Apples Earrings and this is what I made, featuring a pair of my honey's gorgeous apple beads:

Handmade Fall Apple Earrings by Nathalie Lesage

I've added a dangling drop of wood beads (for the tree), and some green and copper Czech glass beads, as well as some Swarovski crystals in Light Siam and Topaz. Lots of sparkles showcasing end of Summer/Fall colors!

Most of the pumpkin and apple beads sold in my FB showcase in July, but we made a couple of extras to list them in my Etsy shop HERE (the quantity is VERY limited). Grab 'em while you can. We're both quite unwell at the moment, and I'm not taking any more custom orders at this point.

These one of a kind Fall earrings are also available for grabs HERE in my shop :-)

Our thoughts and prayers are going to everyone in the path of all the hurricanes, as well as those affected by all the wild fires both in the States and up here in Canada.
Be safe, stay strong, don't give up xoxo

Nathalie
Visit:
My Garden Of Love Etsy Shop
The Crafty Tribe Etsy Shop

Fall Sunshine

Since I last wrote on this blog, my dear tiny yorkie fur baby girl passed away. It's been really difficult for me, as both her and her brother were my partners in crime in my studio and my babies for almost a 1/3 of my entire life. I've lost them both now, 7 months apart :(

My little fur-baby girl. I'll see you at the Rainbow Bridge xxx

Trix was 14 years old, and had lived a good and full life full of adventures with her brother Diesel (he passed away in January at the age of 13)... One of the things they loved most was jumping in the van and go out for a ride and a walk in the forest.

Fall was the best time as it wasn't too hot, or too cold. It was just perfect. Gorgeous colors in the trees, and the sunshine adding to the joy of being out in the fresh cool Fall air... so in their homage, I've designed these Fall Sunshine earrings:

Warm Fall colors in Polymer Clay, Glass and Copper

Using fold-formed textured copper components that I made a long time ago (I keep all sorts of parts, I'm a hoarder!), and some copper wire and tiny seed beads in rich Fall colors, I wire wrapped my handmade polymer clay drops together with the copper elements - If you've never tried Fold-Forming metal before, I highly recommend it - it's fun, although it takes a long time to go through the process of heating/forming/cooling and repeating until you're done, the resulting raised edges and textures are worth it in my opinion:

Fall Sunshine Earrings by Nathalie Lesage

When I designed my polymer clay drops, I embedded some small super sparkling orange artisan glass cabochons. It's like a ray of sunshine when you look at these. I only had this one pair of orange glass cabs (I don't even remember where I grabbed these, it was a long time ago), and I wanted to use them for something special.

These earrings, along with a few other pairs are listed in my Etsy shop HERE.

I've also uploaded a series of one of a kind new clay components to my shop, check it out when you have time, it may trigger some design ideas for your creations!

It's been a rough 10 days since Trixie passed. I was expecting it given her age, of course. Her ashes should be ready for pick up by Friday. I have a special urn in my studio where her brother is waiting to be with her again... I know they're both waiting for me at the Rainbow Bridge, but I just wish they could have stayed with me here on Earth.

I'm too ill to look after another pet or a new pet, but now we have a grandson who's growing fast, and we're going to focus on him. He's very snuggly and fun, and he's helping to heal my saddened heart.

I want to give a big HUG to everyone who has a pet waiting for them at the Rainbow Bridge too....

For those who still have their pets...Please hug and kiss your fur-baby for me today xoxo

Nathalie
Visit my shops: My Garden Of Love on Etsy & The Craft Tribe on Etsy

Gold Fish

My apologies for writing this post so late in the day. I've been under the weather and totally zonked out on the day/date! Last year we bought (as a gift to my in-laws) a really nice wall clock that also shows the day and the date all in one spot. Both my hubby and I keep saying that we should get one for ourselves, as one day just seems to seamlessly blend with the next.

Does this happen to you too, at home? Not having a set Monday-Friday type of schedule really messes with us at times lol

Without further delay, here's the earrings I wanted to share with you today :)

I call them Gold Fish, although not quite in the traditional sense of the name, but you get my drift:

I found this cool pair of almost pink-gold opal-like artisan lampwork beads in my stash (I apologize, I do not remember who I purchased these from, as it was many years ago)... but their color played so well with my handmade Polymer Clay "Sunset" color-scheme Tropical Fish charms that I had to use them. I wanted to pair them with gold-filled wire and beautiful TierraCast (lead-free) gold-tone pewter. They are suspended on Niobium Ear Wires.

I wanted to showcase the gorgeous wispy feel of the lampwork glass beads, so I decided to simply suspended by the side instead of the more traditional 'up-down' direction. I'm really pleased how they turned out - I'm a big fan of pink and gold together :)

What are you favorite color combinations for Fall and Winter coming up? Any favorites? I'm really attracted to rich plums and blues, with copper...

I'm going to list these in my Etsy shop by the weekend. I'm catching up on a few other things first. Chronic Illnesses have been ruling our schedule for the past 16 months, gotta go with the flow at the moment.

Thank you for reading!
Happy up-coming Long Weekend to my fellow Canucks ;)

Cheers,
Nathalie Lesage
Visit: My Garden Of Love Etsy Shop
and The Crafty Tribe Etsy Shop

Can't decide? I've got you covered!

Do you sometimes feel like you have multiple personalities when it comes to accessorizing?

I do..... some days I feel bohemian and I'd love to wear long colorful dangly funky earrings and colorful flowy clothes, and other days I'm more 'subtle' minded and want something that can showcase my love of happy colors in a much more compact design.

If you feel this way too, then I've got you covered with this 'dual' offering today!

Still different, but with similar elements that can give you this particular vibe, no matter if you go long or go short :) Have you tried making a matching long and short pair of earrings too?

I've made these 3" long earrings starting with a pair of my handmade polymer clay headpins, and some fun sparkling Czech glass beads in various fresh summery colors:

And I loved the drop section on these long earrings so much, I decided to make an almost matching mini pair for those days where we want to carry that same boho feel, but in a much more subtle way:

Sparkling colorful Czech Glass beads, Copper and Gold-tone accents and findings, finished with Niobium Ear wires.

So, are you in the mood for "long" boho, or "mini" boho today? What's your general preference when it comes to earrings?

You can find my handmade jewelry making components and some of my finished jewelry listed in my Etsy shop HERE.

Enjoy the weekend!
Cheers,
Nathalie
Visit My Garden Of Love on Etsy HERE.
Visit The Crafty Tribe on Etsy HERE.

Scraps

Last week I mentioned that I had been going through my photos of years of jewelry designs I had created. And, I came across a few that touch on the subject above: These earrings are all made with scraps that were on my bench. Since I wasn't well this week, I didn't make anything new, but I wanted to talk about scraps and leftovers.

Do you aim to re-use everything leftover when you make jewelry? What do you do with all the scraps and odds and ends? Whether I work with metal, or polymer clay, precious metal clay, etc...  I re-purpose/re-use/transform scraps into new components and pieces. There's basically zero waste in terms of materials in my studio and I'm quite proud of that :)

Here's some earrings I made using scraps:

Tribal shields: Scraps of Sterling silver wire balled up, flattened, soldered to leftover pieces copper from another project, and everything is soldered to the sterling silver wire frame, and decorated with  two small Turquoise stones:

Tribal Sheilds by Nathalie Lesage

These Moonstone Moon Earrings are not made with scraps, but there's a part of these that ends up in other designs - I use a sterling silver round disc blank, and I offset it in my disc cutter to quickly cut out a crescent moon shape to make these earrings:

Moonstone Moon Earrings by Nathalie (Girard) Lesage

So when I make these, I'm left with 'eye shaped' or 'marquise shaped' pieces of sterling silver. Some of those scrap pieces ended up in these designs:


Mother Earth Earrings: The textured sterling silver piece (shaped like a marquise a bit - vertical) is soldered on top of the 'dome' in this pair. I textured the pieces and soldered them to the base round disc shape.

Mother Earth Lampwork & Sterling Silver Earrings by Nathalie Lesage

And in this pair of Kyanite Chandelier Earrings, I used that same leftover cut-out shape from the Moon earrings, but this time, I used them horizontally to make the foundation of this unusual pair of chandelier earrings:

Kyanite Sterling Silver Chandelier Earrings by Nathalie Lesage

So how do you like 'scrap' earrings? Are you happy with how much you can re-use and re-purpose in your own studio? Can you share some of your re-using tips with us? We'd love to hear what you do!

I will be back later on this month with new earrings to show!

Cheers,
Nathalie
My Garden Of Love Etsy Shop
The Crafty Tribe Etsy Shop

Throwback Thursday Favorites

I was archiving pictures of jewelry pieces I've made over the years recently, and as I was looking through my designs, I was so thankful that it's so easy now with digital pictures to keep a record of what we've done over time.... how we progress.... how our style changes.

It's also great to keep pictures of all our past work, to be able to go back and revisit old favorites, and maybe change them up a bit and offer a new updated version of the designs. I also realized that I've forgotten some of the designs I'd done (is it because I'm getting old? Or too many years of design work? Maybe a bit of both...)

So today, instead of making and showing you a new pair of earrings, I wanted to show you a few designs I had almost forgotten, but love so much - hopefully they will inspire you with some new design ideas!

One of my favorites is wire wrapping. Some wire wrapping with unusual pairing (pearls and Labradorite - these pearls were huuuuuuge and almost perfectly round - just stunning), or incorporating some wire work in building unusual shapes.... like the triangular design of the Tribal Turquoise earrings below:

Large Freshwater Pearls, Labradorite, 14kt Gold Filled wire wrapped Earrings

Tribal Turquoise and Sterling Silver Earrings

Designs vary from what appears to be a complex chainmaille design in Copper and Sterling, to the simplest of creation (a gemstone dangling in the middle of a chain -> that one made the front page on Etsy back in the day and was a popular seller for me for a little while):

Kings Scale Copper and Sterling Silver Mystic Topaz Earrings

Fancy twisted cut Amethyst on a simple sterling chain - Made the front page of Etsy

We can't forget hoops! They come in all sorts of style (I never get tired of 'em):

Triple Sterling Pink Tourmaline Soldered Hoops

Summer Daisies Fine Silver and Sterling Silver Rustic Hoops

Tanzanite Vine Sterling Silver Hoops

So what about you? Do you enjoy looking back and revisiting some of your past work? Do you use them as inspiration when your muse has taken a vacay? Do you have a favorite technique (chainmaille, wire wrapping, soldering, viking knit, cold connections, stringing, etc) that you tend to go back to or incorporate every chance you get?

I hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane with me. I hope that I will eventually feel well enough to be able to make more of these designs again, but if not, I'm going to go with the flow, and see where the currents take me.

You can find my latest jewelry designs in My Garden Of Love Etsy shop HERE, as well as my handmade jewelry components.

I want to wish my fellow Canucks a very Happy Canada Day (150 years!!!) as well as a Happy 4th of July to all of our dear American readers!

Cheers,
Nathalie
My Garden Of Love Etsy Shop
The Crafty Tribe Etsy Shop

Ocean Turtles

A couple of weeks ago, I made some new cute polymer clay Turtle Charms using some of my favorite ocean and beach inspired colors. I made some extras so that I could design a pair of earrings for today's blog post :)

I had this design in mind for several days. I just had to put the components together.

And.... here's the result:

I have a few of these cool stick pearls that I've been wanting to use for some time. I thought they would go really nicely with my little turtles... what do you think? I added some cute little summery chunks of real Turquoise, and sparkling sunny glass seed beads, all strung on sterling silver wire.

My new handmade Turtle Charms are available in my Etsy shop HERE in a few different colors. 

I also have some nice Handmade Polymer Clay items in my clearance section at 50% OFF (yep!). Sweet deals, if you're interested :)

These earrings have sold within a few minutes of me showing them off on Facebook as I was writing this blog post, but I do have other one of a kind pairs of earrings listed in my Etsy shop.

Have a great Sunny weekend!
Cheers,
Nathalie

Visit my Etsy Shop for Handmade Polymer Clay Jewelry supplies: My Garden Of Love
Visit my Etsy Shop for my Digital Downloads Designs: The Craft Tribe

Garden Friends

We've had so much rain this Spring, that it seems now, we have much more little creepy crawlies and all sorts of 'friends' popping over in the garden... One of my favorite garden friends are beautiful  dragonflies!

I wanted to make some jewelry components that featured these cuties, and so I've created a handful of handmade dragonflies earring drops, and decided to use a pair to make these fun lightweight earrings:

The great part about making my own polymer clay colors is that I can pretty much 'match' any other component that I plan on using. In this case, I had this gorgeous green hemp cord that I wanted to use in some fun summery designs. It was perfect to use with the design I wanted to create:

A pair of my handmade green/blue dragonfly earring drops, Greek ceramic beads in dark blue, tiny seed beads in blue, and small TierraCast gold-tone rustic spacer beads, on fabulous green hemp cord.

The light flurry of beads/cords at the bottom represents that flutter effect that I feel/see when they fly around in the garden, like a light trail of happiness that they spread around.

Oh happy happy Summer Days....

What are your favorite garden critters?

You can find these earrings and more of my jewelry components HERE in my Etsy shop.

Thank you for stopping by! Enjoy the weekend!
Cheers,
Nathalie Lesage

Visit my Handmade Jewelry & Components shop here: My Garden Of Love
Visit my Digi shop here: The Crafty Tribe

Pinky Love Knots

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I get giddy just thinking of certain color combos, well this one is another one of my favorites: Pink and gold. It's sunny, happy, and makes my girlie heart sing :)

Being that my health hasn't been the best for quite some time, being able to work with polymer clay and create with happy fun colors and components is such a joy, and such a healing process. I highly recommend it. Just do it for yourself, if nothing else.

So today, I wanted to share these happy earrings with you:

Small polymer clay oval earring drops, handmade by me - these are water-colored in and I added some glitter (because life is happier with glitter, and because I can LOL), sealed with a glaze. I used some pretty Gold-tone Tierra Cast rings to create the two Love Knots.

Throw in a little natural hemp cord and Swarovskis for some lighthearted sparkling fun, and my gosh, we're ready for a fun Summer party! Wanna join me? We'll get the BBQ going :)

Have you added some fun accessories to your Summer wardrobe this year? What kind of accessories do you gravitate towards the most?

If you're looking for one of a kind handmade jewelry components and finished jewelry, hop on over to my Etsy shop HERE.

Cheers,
Nathalie

Visit my Etsy Jewelry/Components shop here: My Garden Of Love
Visit my Etsy Digi shop here: The Crafty Tribe

Mermaid jewels

Some of my favorite color combos for the Summer are ocean greens and ocean blues. Add in some sparklies in the mix and I just become totally giddy lol

I like to mix things up when I create new polymer clay jewelry components, and this time around, I created some cool earring drops with fabulous glass cabochon that I have encased in polymer clay. I had those cabs saved aside to use at some point, and I figured, why not use them with Polymer Clay? I'm very happy on how each design turned out!

Here's the earrings I made with a pair of my latest handmade components:

Handmade polymer clay & glass chandelier style earring drops made by me, with little oxygen bubbles springing up all around; A mixture of Swarovski crystals and Czech glass beads, there's a little flower detail on each, with a tiny silver color glass bead in the center, like the flower in the hair of a mermaid :) and I used anodized aluminum jump rings in coordinating colors. These earrings are suspended on a pair of hypo-allergenic Niobium ear wires.

I love how the colors in the glass sparkle like the sun hitting the ocean. I love the movement in the colors and the feeling that you're holding a precious treasure. These are one of a kind.... a precious treasure indeed :) The glass set up feels like you're looking into the ocean through a porthole on submarine (I used to work on one of the Atlantis submarines in the Carribean, btw! It's magical!)

If you're interested, I have a few other pairs of one of a kind glass/polymer clay components that I will be listing in my shop HERE, along with these earrings.

Which colors make your heart giddy? Do tell!! I want to know what makes your heart sing :)

Cheers,
Nathalie

Visit my Etsy Jewelry/Components shop here: My Garden Of Love
Visit my Etsy Digi shop here: The Crafty Tribe

Around the Galaxy

What does the sky in your area looks like at night? Do you see the stars? Do you see the space station?

We live in a small quiet cul-de-sac where there's not much light pollution. We're very lucky in that. We're surrounded by large spruce trees (mainly). It's peaceful and quiet.

Each Summer and Fall, we enjoy sitting outside by the fire pit, camping style, and quietly gaze at the stars in the night sky. I have my lounge chair, my blankets (so the mossies don't bite me!), and I lay back and look at the night sky.

It feels so wondrous to me to look up and catch a glimpse at the vastness of our Universe... I love the energy and ethereal beauty of it all. I remember fondly a visit to NASA when I was around 8 years old. It blew my mind. I loved it! I also remember going to the (then) Planetarium Dow in Montreal to learn about the planets and the stars. It's was so beautiful and so inspiring!

That's how I try to live my life - Nathalie Lesage

It's not quite warm enough here yet to sit by the fire pit, and so I dream of what's to come. This is what inspired my "Galaxy Collection", based on the patterns created when I did this pack of Mokume Gane with polymer clay and silver metal leaf, recently:

I wire wrapped the top portion of my polymer clay drops with sterling silver wire, and added in a round 'moon' by the way of a smooth round Czech glass bead. It's half-clear, half-silver, and sparkles a lot in person.

The rings and metal beads all around, to me, are like various space stations. Think far away bases where space travelers all around the Galaxy can stop to get supplies, and meet others on their journey.

Soon the weather will be warm enough so that we can go explore the night sky. I can't wait!

I will be listing these earrings and other jewelry components from my Galaxy collection in my shop over the next few days.

Live long and prosper.... and enjoy the stars in your sky!

Cheers,
Nathalie Lesage
Visit my Jewelry & Handmade Components shop on Etsy: My Garden Of Love
Visit my Digital Download shop on Etsy: The Crafty Tribe

Love in the heart and in the air

As we were just wrapping up a beautiful Easter weekend spent with our loved ones, I felt a lot of love and kindness in the air. Family, Friends and strangers are smiling more, the hint of warm sunshine and the light scent of fresh new flowers blooming creates a palpable positive shift in the energy around here.

Do you feel it too where you live? How about at home? With your family and friends?

This loving vibe and this sentiment is what inspired me this week:

I've designed a romantic 'vine' inspired design, because we're all intertwined by our feelings, our own vibrations and energy, as well as those of others around us. As my eyes were admiring the beautiful flowers blooming around town, my heart was also more open to see the beauty in others, even in total strangers I interacted with...

I've used the long 18 gauge copper wire with which I've created a pair of my Mokume Gane polymer clay headpins to not only set the beads on the earrings, but also to wrap around everything like a vine would do, coming on the way back down. It lovingly gently hugs the beads and rests on the drops, waiting for more places to go.

For these earrings, I've actually used one part of some pretty TierraCast lead-free pewter clasps. I'm not a huge fan of the bar-toggle type of clasps, but I liked the design of these with the 3 vine leaves, and I thought they could be a cool part of this design.

On my copper headpins, I've wrapped some sparkling yellow glass seed beads, as a repeat of the flecks of gold metal leaf found in my polymer clay drops. I've also added in some rustic TierraCast copper tone flat spacers, and a pair of Cosmic 12mm Indicolite Swarovski Crystals. The ear wires are non-allergenic Niobium ear wires (copper color with a copper bead accent), also from TierraCast.

I'm not feeling well enough to make elaborate time-consuming designs at the moment, but, as my dear friend Monica of TG Bears (her handmade bears are absolutely LOVELY) reminded me, I've come a long way since almost a year ago when I became very ill.

I'm feeling impatient at times with myself as there's so much more I'd like to do, but I'm thankful for my friends who love me and remind me to look at myself with more loving eyes, and to be thankful to do what I can at the moment. I'm definitely able to do far more than a year ago (and than most of last year). It's progress!

Thank you all for being here, as well as on FB/IG, and for all your lovely comments. It really helps me keep my chin up, and try to do a bit more despite having been so ill this past year.

More tests are coming with a neurologist (to confirm what we're 99.9% sure of what I have). It hasn't been easy, but creating art is healing, even if I'm not feeling well most days.

May you be showered with love and romance this Spring season xoxo

Cheers,
Nathalie Lesage
Visit my Etsy shop for Jewelry & Supplies: My Garden Of Love
Visit my Etsy shop for Instant Downloads Graphic Art: The Crafty Tribe

Retro Sping Vibes

Hi there! I hope you're having a fabulous day today!

I have a spring in my step (no pun intended). I get happy when I think of all the pretty blooms to come. One of my middle names translates to "Daisy" in English, and maybe that's why I'm fond of all flowers that remotely resemble them? I don't know, but I really do love them!

Flower from my garden, taken a couple years ago

This particular type of flowers really caught my eye because of the beautiful shades of mauve, purple, pink, yellow, white and orange. I spent a lot of time admiring these in my front yard. I totally forget their name (I'm terrible with plant names), it's not a fancy flower, but they made my heart sing.... and that's what matters to me :)

Another thing that speaks to me is retro vibes - I'm a bit of a hippie, I won't hide it lol so I went a bit retro, and bit wild, with my new Ebb & Flow Polymer Clay Components Collection, and these earrings feature a pair of the drops I made:

Ebb & Flow retro vibe Collection earrings by Nathalie Lesage

There's a multitude of little details, starting on my handmade square Polymer Clay drops, where I have used some Silver Metal Leaf to add dimension, as well as a trio of square silver tone metal studs.

I wanted to bring out the pink in these very lightweight Polymer Clay drops, so I used some Swarovski Crystals (clear & Padparadscha AB), along with a trio of sparkling Silver Glass saucers, and some little TierraCast Silver faceted spacers (on the bottom jumpring) to add even more eye-catching sparkles. Titanium hooks complete the look:

Visit MyGardenOfLove.Etsy.com to view the Ebb & Flow Jewelry Components and more!

I will be uploading a number of these new Spring inspired Polymer Clay Jewelry Making Components with a touch of retro vibe in my Etsy Shop this week. You can also find these new earrings there! I have so much to list, with a few different collections/colors, I need more hours in the day.

Do you have a favorite flower? How about a favorite color combo on your favorite type of flower?

Do you like retro vibes? It makes me feel lighthearted, and I feel like dancing to the rhythm of some  B-52 tunes lol How about you?

Thank you for stopping by! I hope Spring is finally finding its way to your neck of the woods...

I wish you all a wonderful Easter!

Cheers,

Nathalie-The-Wild-Child-Of-The-60s

My Etsy Jewerly & Components Shop: http://www.MyGardenOfLove.Etsy.com

My Instant Download Digital Design Shop: http://www.TheCraftyTribe.Etsy.com