Monday, 24 November 2014

Welcome to the 2014 Art Charm Exchange Blog Hop!

 
Today is the official reveal of the Beads of Courage Art Charm Exchange and the beginning of the charity auction on eBay with all proceeds going to Beads of Courage. This post will chronicle the creation of my charms and show you all the beautiful works of art I have received in this exchange. However the main purpose is to increase awareness of this wonderful charity and encourage you to participate in the auction.

 I signed up for this challenge and proceeded to puzzle over what to create.I'm amazed at all the different interpretations of my fellow artists.

The theme is "soar" which made me think of birds.
Future birds in the nests,


Feathers to help them soar!
Mama birds and their babies ready to "soar"off to Jennifer and the other artists!
I took poetic license with the "Soar" theme and decided to "soar" into the unknown by revealing my polymer clay creations to the world for the first time since I've been spending so much time with it these days and I love these little birdies!


Just a few of the
thoughts that went through my head while waiting!

Worry, worry, worry!
Are my charms good enough?
This is my first time revealing my polymer clay skills to the jewelry world.
Will they survive being mailed all over the place or crumble into a million pieces?
There are some amazing jewelry and component artists participating in this challenge.
Why did I ever think I could compare?
Will I be embarrassed forever and afraid to show my face on my blog?
Will anybody bid on my charm in the auction?

2-3 weeks passed and the wait was over and I received the most amazing collection of charms I could have imagined.
I initially took individual pictures of each charm and cards of each artist but this blog post would go on much too long so I took some group shots to show you who sent me such fabulous charms.


I was quite humbled by the quality and artistry in the charms. I have been admiring the work of most of these artists online for a couple of years and am thrilled to finally own some of their work.I received a nice mix of charms from the USA and other international locations. There is a enameled copper kite from Leslie of Thea Elements in the UK, a polymer clay leaf from Alenka of Pepita of Slovenia , a beautifully hand painted pink glass bead from Caroline of blueberribeads in the UK., a ceramic feather charm from Terri of artisticaos, a fellow Canadian from Saskatchewan and my own polymer clay bird on a nest from Ontario

And from South of the border in the great USA.....
.Perri Jackson of Shaktipaj Designs made a wire wrapped glass hot air balloon which was a great interpretation of our "soar" theme, Jenny Davies-Reazor also came up with an original idea with her ceramic butterfly charm, and Kristi Bowman pulled her inspiration from the clouds soaring above and made a copper clay cloud charm imprinted with the letters soar. Birds were the most common element in my charms this year with two more besides the one I made. Michelle of Firefly Design Studio made a fabulous ceramic bluebird with a blue crystal and cloud dangle and Sue of SueBeads made the great handmade red glass bird charm.....so cute! (the pictures don't do it justice)
The Beads of Courage art charm auction is running now!You can easily own one or more of these fabulous charms too! Head over to the Art Charms for Beads of Courage eBay site and put in a bid on whichever charm strikes your fancy. You can own an artisan made charm and donate to a wonderful charity at the same time.

2014 Art Charm Exchange Participants

Jenny Davies-Reazor: http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog
Lennis Carrier: http://www.windbent.net


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11 comments:

  1. Cate van Alphen25 November 2014 at 06:53

    Gorgeous little birdies. I'm glad you found the courage to share them.

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  2. Divya N25 November 2014 at 08:32

    I saw your charm being shared on some other blog and thought they were pretty cute. Kudos to you for soaring into unknown territory

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  3. sheilaposter25 November 2014 at 12:53

    of course now you know you didn't have to do all that worrying because your charm is as wonderful as all the rest, the little nest was so cute, too

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  4. Pepita25 November 2014 at 13:59

    Love your birdies, they are sooo cute!!!
    I can see you've received one of my charms :-)
    Alenka

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  5. Monique (A Half-Baked Notion)25 November 2014 at 14:18

    What a delightful bird caring for her little nest! That was a beautiful leap of faith you took, Nan (no, you needn't have worried but we all do, especially when soaring into the unknown!)

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  6. Cassi25 November 2014 at 20:46

    Your birds and nests are wonderful!

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  7. la mar de bonita26 November 2014 at 03:39

    Nan, your birdies are soooo lovely ♥♥♥
    And girl, you learn so fast - your polymer clay beads are adorable!
    xoxo, Michi

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  8. Caroline26 November 2014 at 17:15

    Love my charm, it's a wonderful design... thank you!

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  9. Shai Williams28 November 2014 at 21:31

    Nan I am so glad that you joined in this time. Your little birds are so precious,

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  10. Jennifer Cameron29 November 2014 at 22:37

    Your little bird and nest charms were just so cute and charming. Thanks for participating!

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  11. Jenny2 December 2014 at 20:22

    So glad you took the leap and let your polymer birds fly out to us all! They are great, cute and whimsical!

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Thank you for all your lovely comments! I love to read them and they really make my day.

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