Handmade Polymer Beads

I've been really inspired by all the beautiful handmade beads I've been seeing on the web lately.  Some of the bird beads are pricey to buy so I thought I'd try making my own.    Well, as it turns out, it's really fun and fast and I'm thinking of projects to incorporate beads and more beads.  Here they are drying on bamboo sticks.   They look like yummy little candies.

Mixed Media Polymer Heart Valentines

What is more fun than being inspired by special friends on Valentine's Day?  Whoo hoo!  After baking some polymer hearts, I covered the sides with Washi tape.  I covered the fronts and back with images from my painting stash.  I added some cool numbers that were from an old TV set.  I coated everything in Triple Thick for sheen and dimension.  A few more embellishments were added such as gold leaf pen accents and a metal eyelet.  I strung them on colorful banana fiber and they were ready to go.

Art Beads

I found these lovely rubber coated beads that have such a sparkle to them that I wanted to add my own imagery on top by punching out some circles from other card designs.  I coated the images with Glossy Accents to give them some protection and a nice sheen.  The beads are double-sided and I can't wait to string them, perhaps on a bracelet.  When I hold them in my hand they are like shiny little candies.

Soaring Blue Bird

Blue birdy flying over a color field in blue.  The background was made with collage and pastels that I smeared with my finger.  I love how the colors changed and bled when I painted them with matte medium.  Looks like watercolor but isn't.

Red Garden Postcard

Bursting with energy, and bright color.  I made this postcard to be a backer to some Valentine heart pendants.  I started by dividing my art journal page into quadrants and then worked on all four corners at one time.  This was one of the quadrants and the bird above was another.  The other two didn't turn out as well so only these two made it to be actual postcards.