Down by the River - Free Earring Tutorial

May Monthly Challenge Sponsors + Prizes

Our wonderful sponsors for the May Monthly Challenge. 

We will have 2 lucky winners this month.

Gaea Handmade

Gaea Cannaday of Gaea Handmade creates beautiful Beads, Pendants, Buttons, Jewelry Components and tiles.  Her designs and style are uniquely Gaea, using wonderful glazes plus different clay bodies. Let her create something special for you!

Gaea is donating a $50 gift certificate.

 Visit Gaea on her website, etsy, twitter and Facebook.

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Mo Martin Creative Glass

Mo Martin of Mo Martin Creative Glass makes wonderful glass beads, pendants and animal sculptures.  Beautiful craftsmanship and a great addition to your creations!

Mo is donating a $50 gift certificate.

Visit Mo on his website, Blog, Pinterest and Facebook.

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Submit photos of your wonderful creations using one or more Art Beads.

Vase with Flowers in a Window by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder has with many different elements that can be used for inspiration: flowers, flowers, flowers, insects, shells, landscapes, reds, yellows, windows and a vase.

We can't wait to see where your creativity takes you with the art for this months challenge! 

Please remember to put MAY ABS in the title or tag of your submission(s).  

Provide us with the artist of the Art Beads used and we always love to know all the materials you used. 
***Art Beads MUST be used in your entry.***

Studio Saturday with Gaea Cannaday

Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.

This week's winner is Boot-C
Congratulations! You have won a copy of Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry: 50 Designs Using Leather, Ribbons and Cords SIGNED by both Erin and Lorelei! Please send Erin an e-mail with your address and she will get your book out to you as soon as possible!

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This week we visit the studio of

Gaea Cannaday of Gaea Handmade.

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My previous Studio Saturday post I talked about inspiration. Grab a cup of your favorite morning stimulant and follow me through the day. We'll do the sped up, non-bickering children version! (If it feels to quiet at your end, please feel free to mentally edit in bickering children for the soundtrack!) 

Up at 7:00 am. Try to wake kids, then make coffee and try to trick my brain into thinking that decaf is where it's at! Can't have too much caffeine or my ticker will flutter like a butterfly. Sad but true. Make lunches and beg children to get up! Swear up and down that tonight will have an earlier bedtime! Feed groggy children and bleary self. Annoy children with spelling quizzes on the way to school, stopping the car periodically to watch wild rabbits eating their breakfast and quail families skitter across the street. Drop kids off at school and gulp coffee down before dragging myself into Curves. This always feels futile when I walk in, but oh so good when done! Next... Emails don't answer themselves! Another cup of decaf (recent studies shows that regular and decaf have special health benefits including helping to prevent type 2 diabetes!) and I hit the keyboard! Thank goodness for google! I can answer a question about annealing glass vs. kiln firing ceramics! 

The sparkle on the new gemstone beads and copper sheets picked up from the Santa Barbara Gem Fair are distracting me to no end. Decide to spend 30 minutes exploring these new toys. Fifteen copper wire head pins later and I am determined to cut out 5 crescent shaped copper blanks. Cutting an inner curve with scissors is quite a challenge! Note: research easier ways of cutting copper, not self! Pound the copper with a hammer and dust off the wooden dapping block that has been sitting in a drawer for 6 months! Decide that these need to be a necklace with dangles! OH! I've overstayed my time with this project and have to jump into the next thing. How many "project" trays do I have around the studio? I counted 11.

Motivate self by listening to the Jack White station on Pandora and pulling beads for sets to list on Etsy, LARGE mug of coffee (yes, more decaf) in hand! Invoicing. More decaf. Packing. Lunch. Shipping. Thank goodness for PayPal's multi-order shipping feature! Dogs need to go out. Cat demands a bit of attention. Time to get a special request necklace done. My friend Sherrie, requested a necklace and earring set to wear when she is watching her 6 month old grand baby. Sherrie let me have free reign on this design, but baby loves ladybugs!

Don't forget to add a split ring to the leaf charm! I used a split ring so if the baby gives it a tug, it will stay on! Oh. And, it might be time for more decaf.

Dreaming of nap but don't have time so, shamefully, I sneak a caffeine infested diet coke. I know. Bad. Photograph bead sets. Edit photos. Post listings on etsy. Yeah for the "copy listing" feature! Suddenly realize that it's time to pick kids up from school and rush out! Back home for... snack. Homework. Homework. Homework. Enjoy dinner and family time! Head out for Made In Ojai Artists Co-op meeting. Back home to make work list and bust out the bead work trays. Promise husband not to stay up to late....

It is a busy life and I am thankful for every busy minute! I tend to be all over the place in my day, even with a list... How do you keep focused on getting tasks done? Shortcuts? Please?! Leave a comment on how you get your day done for a chance to win a bead set from my etsy shop!

Gaea Cannaday is a proud mama, artist, and jewelry designer. To find out more, visit her blog, Gaea Beads.