What's New This Week.....

I hope you all had a great week and celebrated St Patricks Day on Saturday with a nice pint of Guinness!

I just wanted to show you a couple of new designs I have made this week.

I am going to do a tutorial next time I make the above Kiwi Fruit beads and share my tips on how to create them.  If there are any other tutorials you would like me to feature then just drop me a line below :-)

Just a Reminder to Enter the Rainbow Necklace Giveaway.......winner being drawn on the 31st March :-)

The Mouse x

New Jewellery Range!

First off I would like to apologise for the lack of Posts on my Blog lately.  I am glad to say I have been busy working but thats no excuse so I will be posting more regularly from now on.

The good news is...........I have a whole new page of goodies to buy from my website Mouse Illustration dot com.  I am just so very excited to share my new Handmade creations with you.  I have to say that I am just a little bit in Love with them.......especially with three new special little friends!

I wont hold you in suspence any longer.  Meet my Matryoshka Dolls, Alyona, Natalya and Olesya:

Aren't they super cute? I hope you think so.

They are exclusive to my online shop so they can't be purchases anywhere else.

I also have another New exciting Range of Necklaces that are great for jazzing up your neckline for that special occasion.  I particularly love the Over the Rainbow Necklace.

All my New Products are online and Ready to buy so please have a peek and enjoy shopping!

P.s. Pop back soon for my Latest GIVEAWAY to celebrate my new Jewellery Designs!

www.mouseillustration.com

Valentine's Day

Love it or Hate it Valentine's Day is nearly upon us.  I was trying to get into the spirit of it all so I made a little display at my stall over the weekend for all you romantics out there!

This little guy has to be my favourite so I thought I would share him with you.

Sweet Valentine

I have to say I really enjoyed myself at the Arts and Crafts Market over the weekend.  It was a holiday weekend in New Zealand so I had three markets in a row.  The weather was beautiful....I even had to cool off in the lake afterwards (its a hard life)!

Here is a little peek at my New Display.

I am trying to upload more Goodies for you all to buy on my website so keep checking back for the latest news! You can also get more regular updates on my Facebook Page :-)







I've Gone All Fruity!

Since I have been back from my Holiday in the Scottish winter I have to say I am fully appreciating the summer here in New Zealand.  I have been munching on fresh Strawberries and Cherries and eating dinner in the Garden most nights. 

While eating some delicious Strawberries yesterday I came up with a cute idea for a bracelet..........

 My Fruity Beads before I baked them!

This is the Tutti Frutti bracelet that was the end result!

I have to say it just screams summer and juicy deliciousness :-) Yum!

I will have it for sale at my Arts and Crafts Market Stall tomorrow but it will also be available to buy from my website soon!

Christmas Gift Ideas

Orders have started coming in for Christmas so I just wanted to share with you what the favorites seem to be, and maybe give you some ideas along the way :-) 

It's hard work deciding what gifts to give, especially to those family members that you have just run out of ideas for!  Well for those book lovers how about a handmade bookmark?  With ten to chose from I'm sure you will find one that suits that certain someone perfectly!

My customers have also been loving my Licorice Delight Bracelet.  Seems to be a definite favorite at the moment, but how about treating someone to the Necklace and Bracelet set for Christmas.

Other Mouse Illustration products that are trending at the moment are my Charm Bracelets and Necklaces, along with my Cupcake Pendant Selection.

And of course the ever popular Love Bunny and my new Jewellery Range
And for those wine lovers in your life you can never go wrong with some wine charms!

Well I hope I have given you some fun ideas for Christmas.  Please remember that all my products are handmade with love and are available to purchase online from  www.mouseillustration.com

Jingle bells Jingle bells............... :-)

All I have to say is..........

Doughnuts!

I don't know if I told you but I decided to go Vegan about 6 weeks ago....

As I live in the South Island of New Zealand I have to say I am struggling to satisfy my sweet tooth due to lack of Vegan products!  I can't find dairy free cooking chocolate anywhere so can't indulge in some chocolate chip muffins!!! I miss them :-( 

Needless to say I have been making treats from clay this week instead of eating them!

Hope you like my latest delight.......my Doughnut Bracelet.  Was done for a bit of fun but I think it's pretty cute :-)

Market Day tomorrow so I'm having an early night tonight! Hoping for some sunshine please! :-)

Have a fun weekend everyone!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like.........

Christmas!

Sorry to bombard you with Christmas but you know you need to start thinking about it very soon.  I had a fantastic week with the Wine Tasting Store I am selling my products at placing a re-order of my Wine Charms because they have sold out!

They also asked me to design a special Christmas range for them so I thought I would give you a peek at what I came up with.............

Since I live in Queenstown and the shop caters for a lot of tourists I decided to make a Kiwiana range to keep things cohesive with my products already in store.

I hope you like them and I will let you know how they are selling.  They are also now available from my website along with my other Christmas Decorations. 

Happy Christmas Shopping :-)

The C Word........

Yup you guessed it Christmas! (If you were thinking of something else, shame on you)!

Sorry folks I hate to mention it but it will soon be upon us with only just over 8 weeks to go!

I have decided to get organised and get going with my Christmas Range. Last year I sold some Tree Decorations that seemed to sell quite well and I got a really positive response from them. Therefore, this year I have decided to carry on with the range and have added what I have so far to my website.

This set of four decorations can be bought individually so you can mix and match.  I will be adding more decorations to the Mouse Illustration website as I make them.  There will be a few Christmas Bookmarks and maybe even a set of Festive Wine Charms which would make a great Present for that special someone.

I must admit that I really enjoyed making the Christmas page of my website and I really need to get some Christmas Illustrations done as well!

I will keep you updated when I put more Christmas goodies up on the site but in the mean time start thinking about decorating your tree :-)

Finished Product

Here is the Necklace I made from the Polymer Clay Cane Tutorial I posted a few days ago.

I hope you like the final result :-)

Polymer clay cane - Mini Tutorial

Hi folks!  I thought I would share with you the process I go through to make a polymer clay cane.

I have finished the cane and have made a bead to show you how it all comes together.  The final results (which might be a necklace I think) will have to wait because I have run out of white clay and am waiting on my order!  Unorganised!

So here is the process:

I start by putting together my shape (in this case a flower).  This is the longest part of the process as your are forming all the individual shapes, a pasta machine definitely comes in handy as you can roll your outline colour into a flat sheet easily.  Then you fill in the gaps with the white clay making sure that it completely surrounds the inner flower to prevent any colour mixing on the outer rim. 

After that you start the process of squeezing your cane to condense it.  While you do this you are gradually blending all the joins together on the outer rim.

Next you start squeezing and pulling your cane from the middle out towards the ends.  You cannot roll your cane yet as it will distort the shape in the middle.  Once you are satisfied that there are no air bubbles and your cane has been reduced enough, you can start the rolling process until your cane looks like a long cylinder.

Next leave the cane to cool before slicing it in the middle to reveal your shape.

Then you cut thin slices from your cane and start placing them around a ball of clay to cover the entire ball.

You then mould the ball and your cane slices together until there are no visible joins and the bead is completely smooth.

Lastly put a hole through the centre of your bead and you are ready to cook!

When I have completed my necklace I will post some pics of the finished product.  I hope you have enjoy seeing how the beads are created, maybe you could try one of your own and let me know how it goes?