club

This week we visit the studio of Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati Jewelry.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • •

 I have small but mighty group of talented designers who have signed onto my
Simple Truths Sampler Club.  

Each month, I promise to send them a goodie in the form of one of my Simple Truths polymer clay designs. These will be limited edition and available first to the Club members but then possibly released to the public at the full retail value through my Etsy site.
They don’t get to choose, but they tell me that is part of the fun!

This year, I decided that instead of making what the spirit moved me to do, I would challenge myself to make something inspired by the artwork chosen for the monthly Art Bead Scene challenges. Sometimes that is a daunting thing to do because I am so very inspired, and just like you, sometimes I am not inspired at all! But it is an extra challenge to me to come up with something new and exciting every month, it helps me push my creative boundaries and try new techniques, plus the Challenge Art is just so darned impressive, that it is a joy to create! 

I hope that my Club members enjoy what they get (I have several members who keep coming back year after year, so they must love it) and I love to see what they do (I have a Pinterest Board devoted to their clever and inspiring designs). 

Want to see what you may have missed out on? Here is a look at the limited edition offerings that my Simple Truths Sampler Club has received in 2013:

It’s really gratifying to see all the progress that I made this year! I have tried new techniques, like carving my own molds in January, using an open backed bezel in March, making my own scenic canes for the first time in June and a Stroppel cane in August and even hand sculpting a design in September.

So, you might be asking, 
what is next for the Simple Truths Sampler?
I am not really sure, but I
already have designs in the works (read: in my overworked brain 😉 for
November and December (I picked the art for December and I am so
excited to share it with you!).  I guess you will have to stay tuned to
find out! And I can’t wait to see what happens next year! I
intend to keep this plan in place for the 2014 Club as well. And while
there are only a maximum of 20 spaces available any month (there are spaces open now, you know, in case you are interested), I would love to have you. You can choose from 3-, 6-, 9- or 12- months subscription that suits your budget and needs. 

Since this month the theme of the painting features an owl, and I recently released two new owls to join my parliament of Woodsy and Motley owls – Snowy and Great Grey – I gave a choice to the Club members of one of the four types of owls. And of course, I have a few left from this batch that haven’t made it into jewelry for my holiday shows or the new boutique that is carrying my owl jewelry. 

I will select one of the remaining owls (surprise!) to fly to the home of a random winner drawn on October 25th if you answer one of these questions: 

If you regularly participate in the ABS monthly challenges, why do you do it? 

 or

If you do not regularly participate in the ABS monthly challenges, what would encourage you to participate more? 

We have over 3,000 members who follow us regularly from around the world. And there are likely many, many more that also follow us. We would love to see more entries in our Monthly Challenge Recap/Blog Hop and have been making changes around here to spruce things up and bring you even more inspiration. We would love to have your feedback! We can’t thank you enough for being a part of our Art Bead world and look forward to the future!