ZenithJade Creations: It's that time of year again...

... for the Bead Of Courage AUCTION hosted by Glass Addictions (Jen Cameron) and the rest of the Art Charm Exchange crew!

As per usual, we make eleven charms- one for the auction, one to keep, and nine to trade with the other artists involved! Jen sorts and counts and makes sure everyone gets cool charms that are totally different; IE: we don't get the same charm twice! Some of the more ambitious artists made two sets!!!

To start off, I'd like to tell the story about my charms...

Materials:
Polymer Clay
Brass tone flying heart keys
Silver Jumprings (the bottom ones are handmade!)

Description:
The main piece of this charm was created using polymer clay and rolling it in a pasta machine for even thickness. Then I lovingly handcrafted each wing and heart using my fingers and a toothpick, (to get the wing's ruffles and the indent for the heart). This year's theme is "SOAR" so I thought a flying heart especially appropriate. I thought that love can make your heart soar and give you butterflies in your stomach, so that's why I ended up with this design. The brass key symbolizes, of course, the key to your heart. It also has little wings so it can keep up with the flying heart! :) The background of the polymer clay charm is sky blue sparkle with translucent clay to mimic clouds, the wings are white and the little hearts are lavender. An original creation by me of ZenithJade Creations especially made for the Art Charm Exchange and Beads of Courage!

May Your Heart Soar!!!

This is the process I went through to make my soaring heart charms...

Here, each circle has been cut and the holes punched out where the jumprings will go, plus I'm starting to put on the little wings.

Here's a closeup of the charms without the hearts...

And here's one of the tiny wings I formed using my fingers and a toothpick.

Here are the charms with the hearts put on. Lavender is one of my favorite colors...

This is the finished charm!!! I really debated about sealing it, but different artists have different methods of sealing and sealants they use, so I chose not to.

And without further ado,

here are the charms I received from my partners in this year's

Art Charm Exchange!

(You can sneak a quick peek at all the charms available in the auction going on right here!)

This is the charm made by SueBeads of Pittsburgh, PA!

Here's her blog: http://suebeads.blogspot.com/

In case you can't tell, this is a little red birdie!!! :) You might have seen my other post about SueBeads when I participated in the C5 challenge!

This is the charm made by Perri Jackson!

Here's her blog: http://ShaktipajDesigns.com/blog/

Hot air balloon time!

This is the charm made by Sheila Rose Prosterman of Belmont, MA!

Here's her blog: http://catswithbeads.blogspot.com/

3D fluttery wings!!!

This is the charm made by Melissa Trudinger of Australia!

Here's her blog: http://beadrecipes.wordpress.com/

Lovely 2-sided birdie charm with our theme word on one side!

This is the charm made by Cate van Alphen!

Here's her blog: http://fulgorine.wordpress.com/

Another 2-sided charm! This one is either a Phoenix or a Peacock- either is AWESOME.

This is the charm made by Shai Williams!

Here's her blog: http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/

This is the only owl charm I got. Isn't it a "hoot?" *winks*

This is the charm made by Chris Eisenberg!

Here's her blog: http://wanderware.blogspot.com/

Another 2-sided charm! Love the blues...

This is the charm made by Lee Koopman!

Here's her blog: http://stregajewellry.wordpress.com

Lovely little kite...with fibers!

This is the charm made by Lennis Carrier!

Here's her blog: http://windbent.net/

And the last one, another kite in cool coppery metals. :) It also includes our theme word!

I adore all the charms I received! Thanks everyone!!! :) You can view ALL the charms by going to the auction link HERE (there is one of each for sale in the auction for Beads of Courage!), or by visiting the blogs below! Have fun and happy blog-hopping!

Here's the list of participating artists: