Ireland’s Silvana Bates starts our week with wrapped polymer bud beads that look fresh from the garden. With their rounded tops and sherbert colors they could almost be edible.

Silvana has only been using polymer for a year yet she’s posted an impressive gallery of pictures of her work on Facebook, Pinterest and Flickr.

Living far from other polymer artists, she’s had to develop her own methods. The birds, bugs and flowers in her garden provide ample inspiration. Don’t miss her butterfly watercolors and her hummingbirds. Silvana tweaks colors and shapes to suit herself.