Aimee's Birthday Giveaway

It's Aimee's birthday but she is giving away the gifts. Help Aimee celebrate by heading over to her blog and leaving her a comment. One of her giveaway gifts is a Sunflower Brooch made by.......ME!! There are also a bunch of other fabulous gifts to be won. HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIMEE!!!



blessings, Zuda Gay

The Winner Is....

Using the random number generator I got the numbers 9, 1 and 35!!! Now, off to find who these numbers reveal.


Number 9 is Jill!!! WooHoo, Jill!!! Jill is one of my BBEST team friends. Jill has wonderful things in her Etsy shops. In Jill's Treasure Chest she has her ceramics (check out her adorable figurines!) and jewelry and in her Turtle Treasures Shop Jill offers supplies and crocheted items.

Number 1 is Bev!!! WooHoo, Bev!!! I can't tell you how long I've known Bev....although we have never met face to face, I've been talking to her online for quite a few years. Bev's Blog is wandering, wonderings of a wacked-out woman.

And the third number is 35 is Tessa!!! WooHoo, Tessa!!! I haven't known Tessa very long as she is a pretty new member of the BBEST team. Tessa is a talented artist who lives in UK. She offers beautiful original paintings, silk scarves, jewelry and greeting cards in her Etsy shop, Colours and Textures.

I am sorry this is late. I reminded myself several times throughout the day on Tuesday and then we were invited to friends for supper and I totally forgot to do this before we left home. We stayed out until after 10 pm!!! I can't tell you the last time I stayed out that late. :) Yummy food and great conversation....you can't beat that!

blessings, ZG

WOOHOO!! 1000!!! and a Giveaway!!

As most of you know, I have been waiting for my 1000th item to be sold from my Etsy shop. Today it happened! Yay!!! I threw confetti and streamers and danced around the room.....well I danced, and if I had had confetti and streamers they would have been flying. I'm tickled pink!!

Let me introduce you to the customer of the day. Lulu is a return customer and oh my! what a delight. She and her sister Lisa pool their talents in their business called Coastal Sisters. They have an Etsy shop, CoastalSister.etsy.com, and their online store is, Coastal Sisters. They have all kinds of wonderful things from banners to items to decorate your home and beautiful jewelry. Lulu publishes a delightful blog, Coastal Sisters News. Pop over to Lulu's blog and see the beautiful necklace she made with one of my focals!

To celebrate and thank everyone for the encouragement you have given me and for my customers who have helped to put food in our mouths, I am having a giveaway! I would love to give something to everyone, but I just can't do that....so I am going to give three items. If you are one of the three chosen, you may pick anything from my shop or if there is something you would rather have that has already been sold I will try to make what you desire. All you have to do is just leave a comment on this post and your name will be put in the hat. PLEASE make sure I have a way to get a hold of you. Names will be drawn around 6:00 pm Illinois time on Tuesday, September 1st. Good grief, September!, where did the summer go??

blessings, ZG

Count Down and A Little Sculpted Leaf Tutorial

August 19th count: 994! The person who buys the 1000th item will get to choose a free item from my shop. AND....there will be a give away here.
The count down (or up) is at 990....only 10 more items sold to reach 1000!!!

This is a little tutorial for making a somewhat realistic sculpted leaf. You may make a leaf any size you like with these directions. This one is quite small, I think it ends up being less than 1/2" long. I will put these leaves on the top of a pod bead. I think they add just the right finishing touch! You will need Polymer Clay and a needle or needle tool.

Roll a smooth ball of clay. This one is about the size of a very small pea.

Place your finger on the side of the ball and roll it back and forth
to make a teardrop shape.

Flatten your teardrop into a leaf shape.

Using a needle tool make a crease down the center of the leaf.
(my needle tool is a needle that has been baked in a clay snake for a handle)

Using your needle tool make veins on one side of the leaf
with the point of the needle touching your center line and
angling with the point toward the base of the leaf.

Press veins into the other side.

A leaf with veins.

Run your needle tool down the center from point to base to make the veins line up
and to give a crease to fold the leaf so it looks realistic.

Fold the leaf on the crease and
squeeze the point then give it a little turn or twist to make it look realistic.

Finished leaf ready to decorate a bead.

The leaves are going on top of a little pod bead.

Placing the sculpted leaves on a pod bead with the needle tool.

Finished bead ready to cure.

I hope you enjoyed this little leaf tutorial. If you have any questions about it or about working with polymer clay, I am happy to help!!

blessings, ZudaGay

Coming Soon To This Blog

Just a heads up....

I will be having a give away soon. I decided sometime ago that when my Etsy shop reached 1000 sold I would have a give away. I'm getting close!!! Yay!!!! So, stay tuned. 987 and counting...more information coming.

blessings, ZG

Premio Meme Award from Diane

I am so remiss when it comes to awards, but I really do appreciate the honor and that someone is thinking of me and HEY! she actually LIKES me!! hehe.. This award comes from one of my BBEST friends Diane Clancy. Diane is an artist who works in pastels and paints and also does some very cool digital artwork. I am so blessed to own some of Diane's prints in ACEO size. They bring me joy when I look at them! Here is a small sampling of Diane's work and are some of my favorites.

The Hideaway - ACEO

Yellow Mist - ACEO

Conundrum I

Primio Meme Award

This award is a Meme in which I am suppose to tell seven little known things about myself. Hummmm. I've done other memes so I may repeat myself because I can't remember what I've previously shared. So, if I repeat myself, I apologize.

1. Either I have rose colored glassed when I look back at my childhood or I really did have an idyllic childhood. I enjoyed playing outside with friends until the street lights came on. Spending time up in my favorite tree reading books and riding my bike all over the north end of Quincy, IL.
2. I used to shoot archery and somehow I became pretty good at it and won some awards from tournaments I participated in.
3. I LOVE peanut butter. I could probably live on peanut butter. I like it straight from the jar on a spoon or on toast or spread on a banana among other ways.
4. I seem to be stuck on old standards and big band style of music. I would have loved to stand in front of Tommy Dorsey's band and sang the old songs.
5. I love dancing shows- Dancing With The Stars and So You Think You Can Dance. I have this hidden desire to be able to dance. Hehe...it's not going to happen! Dancing doesn't seem to be one of my talents.
6. My favorite sandwich is BLT, my favorite food is crab, I love Mexican, Italian and Greek foods and Chinese (which I'm told isn't really real Chinese food) and even some "American" food. hehe..
7. Now we are down to number seven and I can't think of anything else. I will go with an obvious fact. I love animals especially cats. I have the sweetest, softest kitty and sometimes he is quite silly. We have granddogs that we get to play with when we need a doggy fix as well. A very good way to have dogs. IMO :)

If you haven't received this award yet, please feel free to say that you received it from me and let me know so I can come and read your seven things. :)

blessings, Zuda

Blog Awards and Six Things

I feel really honored and really bad. Hehe... Quite a combination of emotions. Honored because I have received the One Lovely Blog Award from three wonderful people. And really bad because it has been a while ago and I am just now getting around to doing something about it. sigh...


At this time I am only going to do part of the award requirements and link back to those who awarded it.....and give a little feature on each. I don't have time to search out new blogs to pass the award on to right now. I'll try to get to that a bit later on.

The first one came from Vicki at Graceful Moments blog and EllieLee Etsy shop. Vicki is a painter and photographer who offers her beautiful originals and prints and photos in her shop. This is a beautiful day lily ACEO.


The second one came from Arlene at Harrison Hollow Designs blog and Harrison Hollow Designs Etsy shop. Arlene makes some fun and beautiful things from polymer clay. I just love her adorable plant pokes!

The third one came from Eugena from Polymer Clay Chameleon blog and Eugena's Creations on Etsy. Eugena is a very talented polymer clay artist. She also creates tutorials of some of her techniques. How cool is that? Steampunk is so popular right now and Eugena has made some gorgeous Steampunk Butterfly necklaces.



Arlene also tagged me for Six Silly Things That Make Me Happy meme. I've never done this one before so I am playing along. My six thing are:
1. When grandson Aaron plays my harmonica and granddaughter Anika dances. So cute!!
2. My cat Rusty. He is silly a lot! See my Rusty makes friends pictures.
3. I think the Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice commercials are so funny!!
4. Watching all my grandchildren being silly. And they can be pretty silly at times!!!
5. My hubby, Danny's silly one liners...I groan, but they do make me laugh as well.
Me: "I'm going to take a shower" Danny: "Well, put it back when you are finished" Ha!
6. I know they aren't really silly, but I love Jasmine Green Tea in the mornings and I just love
handmade soaps.....simple pleasures that add a bit of happiness to my life.

May many silly things come your way to bring laughter and happiness to your day!
blessings, Zuda Gay