For the first time in a while I have someone I'd love to spend Valentines Day with. Only thing is I'm a couple hours away from Toronto this year watching a house instead. Theres plenty of snow out here but for someone who doesn't have a license, theres not much else...

Hopefully thats not the case for you guys and youll be sharing time with someone special. But I didn't write this post to complain... I wrote it as part of an annual (starting last year) Valentine for YOU! You who have shown me such stellar support over the years by sending me the most encouraging messages, viewing my handmade works, sharing my links, purchasing my jewelry/accessories, taking beautiful photos while wearing those pieces!, visiting my booth at craft shows, sharing your ideas, clicking the "like" feature on facebook and being strange.

So from now until the 17th of Feburary take 14% off your purchase from my etsy shop by using the coupon code 'VDAY2012'

I love and appreciate all the support <3 Thank You so very much!!
and have a sweet Valentines day

december's crept up again which means christmas and the new year are are closing in... not that you needed to be told. for those of you who are local and still shopping (or ready to start) the bazaar of the bizarre (run by plastik wrap) is a great place to pick up all sorts of unique and strange pieces. the vendors at this show will be selling a variety of odd and beautiful arts, crafts and wearable goods. this is just a handful of what to expect. clicking on the pictures will bring you to their listings:

The Bazaar of the Bizarre - Frost Bite
Where: The Great Hall, 1087 Queen St. w (Toronto, Ontario)
When: December 11th 12-8pm

ADMISSION IS FREE

Vendors List:
Baby's First BOO! (babies clothing and accessories)
The Bird behind the Mask (dolls, paintings, illustrations)
Angelyques Trinkets (goth jewelry and accessories)
Bad Bunny Puppets (puppets)
Beat Black (jewelry and accessories)
BitchCraft (clothing)
Black Orchid Designs (alternative fashion)
CGMonsters (plush monsters)
Chained Reaction (chainmail jewelry and accessories)
ChiZine Publications (publishers of weird dark fiction)
Cinched Tight Corsets (corsets)
ClockworkZero (steampunk and cyberpunk jewelry)
Curious Ltb.
Curious Oddities (victorian style jewelry)
earth{en} wind (feather jewelry)
Eden Bachelder (paintings)
Encyclopedia gothica (A to Z guide to Gothdom)
Ever & Bliss (push pins)
FUTURSTATE (industrial clothing)
Gothic Gourds (carved gourds)
hyper.textstyles (Cyberpunk/Industrial Inspired clothing and accessories)
Jana Falls
Justin Erickson (art and illustration)
Jonah K (art and music)
jaxamuse (art and illustration)
Kaotic Ekko's Curiosities (holiday cards, dolls)
Lana Opus
Magic Cow
Michele Witt Studio (jewellery)
Paige Reynolds (art and photography)
Papersnake Jewellery (jewellery)
Peculiar Potions
Plastik Wap (alternative fashions)
Roxy Swing Creations (alternative fashions)
Sadistic Vanity
Salon Mouton Knits
Strange Dames (jewelry and accessories)
Sci Feye Candy (alternative clothing)
Streetprints (clothing and prints)
Sword in the Stone Crafts (leather accessories)
Teetoo
Torched Studio (glass and metal jewelry)
Valkyria (paintings, drawings and jewellery
Sick On Sin (cute clothing and accessories)
Vincent Marcone (dark art)

for more information be sure to check out the facebook event page here: the bazaar of the bizarre-frost bite

Since I first started this polymer clay thingy I've been drawn to the colour yellow. I don't make many yellow items but I use it all the time when mixing hues. There's just some unexplainable draw to it that has me making bananas (weird I know)... My name is Sarah Norton and I'm a bananaholic.

Most of the nanners I make don't get cooked (cause really, how many bananas does one girl need??), only mixed back into a batch of clay. I guess in a bizarre way that means there are bananas in most of the pieces I've sold - I hope no one's allergic. I did cook a handful of em though,

This latest one I made especially for Francesco Zito. When he asked "why did you make me a banana?" I didn't even try to fake a sane answer, what would that even be? I don't know why I do it but upon closer inspection I see I'm not the only banana nut out there. I pulled these ones from etsy. Like the stuff I make they're all handmade from polymer clay. Clicking on them will bring you to their listings

It's a rare thing when this shop has a 15% off code running so what better time then Halloween to release one. From now until November the 3rd you can catch 15% off by using the code 'hallow2011' during check out from my etsy page 

A handful of surprise boxes will also be making their appearance after the 3rd. They'll be listed at $15 plus shipping for 5-7 polymer clay pieces (mostly mistakes and outdated ones). For a better description of whats inside the boxes you can check out the blab of my former self here

I hope your all getting out and doing spooky things this year... or at least downing a bag of candy. Have a Happy Halloween!!

Ack!, So I broke my three year streak and burnt $100 worth of goods in the oven the other day. The things were smoking so they had to be released on the patio while I aired the toxic fumes out of the house.

By the time I was ready to bring them back in i had to do a little hunting. They were covered in about a foot of snow but underneath they looked like the same, pissed off, burnt, puffy, little evil coals... minus the smoke. On the tray are two Peanut Butter and Jelly sets and one I Heart Brains BFF set (could have been much worse)

At first I thought I just pressed broil instead of bake on the digital oven but upon closer investigation I found out something a little different. My question now is...

why in the eff would someone change their oven from fahrenheit to celsius before leaving on a trip without telling their clay cooking daughter who happens to be watching their house while they're goooone?!?!  
I'm now on day 3 of my new not burning anything streak

It's valentines day (again) which means gifts and flowers litter purchase points in stores (again), restaurants and coffee shops are too full to enjoy (again) and tomorrow is a really good day to go chocolate shopping... again ^_^

Whether your a fan of this "holiday" or not I thought it would make a fitting day to release a mass coupon code. You know, to let you know how much I loooove you.

From now until the 17th if you enter the code 'vday2011' during your checkout from beat black on etsy you'll receive 15% off your entire polymer clay purchase

Hopefully your valentines day will be a little more interesting than mine. So far I've watched a doc on sea life and written a couple coupon posts 0_o

Over the years I've made all sorts of versions of the same idea. These polymer clay cupcakes, hearts and brains are only a small representation of the lot from 2007 til now.

Sometimes before I've sold all of one version the design has already evolved leaving behind a series of pieces without homes. Although this collection has been thinned out from the discount trays at Toronto shows, there is still quite a bit I would love to send out.

Having a soft spot for surprises myself I am stoked to present these super discounted surprise boxes, each of which contain at least 6 random items.

...Not entirely off topic but does anyone else remember these? if you do its best not to play it unless you like having the song stuck in your head

It's been 5 days since the close of the giveaway and today is the day to find out who gets to take home the grand prize. Since we had over 200 entries there will also be two more winners of $25 certificates for Beat Black.

Lucky for me weebly.com (my site host) gave the option of exporting all the data collected onto a spreadsheet. From there I was able to copy all of your email address' into the secure random.org and simply click a button to let it chose these 3 lucky folks. here we go...

Winner of the $50 gift certificate to Beat Black is:

All winners have been informed though their provided email address along with further details as how to claim their polymer clay goodies.

After the information from the survey was tallied and repeats deleted there was a grand total of 235 entries. Of those;

-nearly all of you ticked the necklace box when asked how you prefer to own your polymer clay creations

-many of you are interested in seeing more food with faces. Roughly the same amount would prefer less faces and more Gothic items

-one very helpful person suggested that I update the shop section of this website with all items, their prices and their availability. I will most definitely be starting this before the new year thanks to you :)

-a handful of people had lots to say in very well laid out and clear sentences only to surprise me by apologizing because English is not their first language

-the most commented on topic was the design of the pieces themselves. I really appreciate the kind words and encouragement I read

I am very thankful for the people who took the time to lay down their words and opinion on my work. After reading some of the lengthier critiques my first instinct was to send a response on your feedback but of course this can be spammy. If indeed any of you would like to hear back you can send me an email on my contact page and I will track down your words and be happy to oblige. (to my surprise) Weebly.com has saved all the survey information in a secure area so I'll be able to access it whenever I need to.

Thank You all again and Congrats to Keira, Jeorgia and Tracy!!

From September 25th to October 10th you can enter for your chance to win one $50 gift certificate to spend in Beat Black's shop!! On October 15th the winner (chosen by random.org) will be released on this blog as well as notified via email.

The Prize:
Top prize winner will receive one $50 gift certificate to spend on anything in my shop, including the shipping.  This prize comes with a unique character code and is totally transferable. If you wish to gift your prize to a someone special you are free to do so.

The more the merrier... If the amount of entries exceed 200 participants then two more prizes of $25 will happily be added to the pot. Be sure to share the news to increase your odds. I'll be sending updates as to how many people have entered via my facebook fanpage.

How to Enter:
Simply fill out this entry form below to qualify. Your information will not be shared with any third party, nor will it be used in any sort of spammy way. Once this contest is over all information will be collected and emails will be disposed of.

only one entry per person, per email address

Keep in Touch:
If your interested in staying up to date with strange new polymer clay creations, giveaways or offers come check out Beat Black's facebook fanpage or sign up for the newsletter. *This is not a requirement for entry nor will it increase your odds of winning in any way