Feeling Hungry?

In thinking about a giveaway/contest, I realized that in life, there is no such thing as a free lunch. And when I think about lunch, I think about what is in my fridge right now.... which got me wondering... What is the strangest/oddest thing in your fridge? Now here is where the "no free lunch" part comes in...

Can you design something... a card, earrings, purse, necklace, whatever you like, with that strange item as inspiration? I dare you! Send a photo of your odd item and odd item inspired design to me *gaea* to post here and post it on your blog (if you have one) and link it here by next Monday, March 15th and I will pick two winners! What do you win? I think hard work should be rewarded with a really fun prize...

Or

Here is my odd item, some very sweet, citrus scented Yuzu essential oil from our old soap making business (that's another story!)...

and my design...

More sunshine...

The voodoo dance must have done something (that and the new elements!) because I'm super happy with how the firing turned out! 

I'm ruminating the possibilities for a giveaway/contest... but you know... there is no such thing as a free lunch...

Flowing...

The ink keeps flowing so I keep catching it on the paper. It sometimes has a mind of its own. Sometimes it is a willful child and I just have to give in....

Anyone up for a giveaway?

Happy Friday!

Feeling Bookish... A book review!

I was recently contacted by book publisher Watson Guptil to see if I would like a preview copy of a new jewelry design book Sherri Haab Jewelry Inspirations: Techniques and Designs from the Artist's Studio.  Would I? Indeed! I had put it out of my mind until it popped up in my mail! What a beautiful and lovely surprise of a jewelry book! As beautiful as the photos are the projects are even lovelier! Being able to see an artist in her studio is also a nice surprise as well as an inspiration! My studio can and will take a few notes from Sherri's pages! I loved her use of baskets and ceramic dishes for keeping her working projects organized. Ordinary items like handkerchiefs and acorns are transformed into beautiful jewelry elements. There were even a few craft projects thrown in the mix. The wide range of projects made me feel like on any day, what ever my mood, I'd find inspiration. My head is spinning with ideas and I can't wait to dig in a little deeper really get my hands dirty with some good clean fun! Look for this book on March 9th! You can pre-order it here at Amazon.

5 Parc du Champ de Mars, and STEP ON IT!

I am having a virtual tour of Paris this morning! Care to join me?

http://www.paris-live.com/ This is pretty cool! And it is nice to feel like you are there.
http://www.offrench.net/photos/gallery-5.php
http://www.bonjourparis.com/
http://www.travelsignposts.com/Paris/paris_museumsunusual.php

Happy Skull!

The imitation skull beads are off the shelves (and on their way to me to destroy!) I called Fire Mountain Gems and spoke with a very helpful product manager who apologized for the incident and assured me the beads were purchased as part of a close-out bulk buy and they generally make very strong efforts to keep knock-off works out of their inventory. The offending beads were removed from the lot and customers will be sold the beads minus the skulls! Yay! They also assured me they work very hard to make sure artists rights are not being infringed upon because, as she said "we are all in business together!" I had called on Monday and the next day they told me they had removed the beads from their website and would be informing catalog customers that the skulls were not part of the mix. I was really happy it was resolved so easily. I'm hoping not a one of us has to deal with that again...

Birthdays...

It seems like every weekend we have a birthday party to attend. This is what happens when your 4 and 8 year olds have better social lives than you do. My pocketbook has not been happy with all the activity lately. What to bring as a gift has been a tough decision too! What toys do they already have? Is a gift card too impersonal?  With these questions in mind I decided that gifts from our hearts, really are the way to go lately. Magnolia and I have been giving gifts of art to friends. We design it with that friend in mind, personalize it with their name, and put in a frame. Sparkly water colors are usually added too, because you really can not have enough of that in your life! The one above was for our friend Jessie. A sparkly girl with a love of princesses! I wish I took a snapshot of the final colored print in the frame. Sweet!

Ad it up!

In an attempt to keep things fresh, I found time to squeeze another task into my week... creating a new ad! This one will be in Beads 2010! I'm not exactly sure when that will hit news stands as I'm always the last to know these things! See how chatty I am when there is actual work to be done (see previous post!)

I really like the way she turned out!

Free Shipping sale and free gift offer will continue....

Thank you Beth and Heather!

If you haven't heard, Stampington, the publishers behind Belle Armoire Jewelry have a new publication about to be launched! I submitted a few items last fall to Jewelry Affaire that will be included in the premier issue! Jewelry Affaire's editor Beth Livesay was kind enough to mention me on her blog! Thank you Beth!

And if you've been following the drama of the thieved bead designs I have to say thank you to fellow bead artist Heather Powers of Humblebeads! She has a great post in response to the recent copyright problems featuring links to some amazing bead artist!

Good Day...

It doesn't feel like I got much done yesterday because of how long it took me to figure out how to make a better PayPal payment button (yay!) I'm also working on revamping the website as my last revamp ended up being more like just a few additions to the site. I think the front page is way too cluttered with things and things need to be "put away". You would not believe how long it took me to make this new payment button fit my needs. I still can't figure out how to change the pricing in the html so if anyone out there knows how that is done, I'll be thankful! For now I have to just make a new button at their site for each new priced item.  The new payment buttons give more options all in one spot instead of 7 different menus that would take up the rest of the page! Yay! The new site will have more of my art as the buttons and link images (fun!) and will hopefully be a little more streamline! Of course this will all be done in my sleep as I'll be spending my waking hours making beads, feeding children, working on taxes, taking children hither and yon and making more beads. Somehow my procrastination habit actually ends up being productive in a weird way.... I seem to have these ideas (new pendant designs) that will not be shoved aside for proper and appropriate work (tax data entry).

Here is what my procrastination produced this time....

P.S. There is still time to have your order shipped with free shipping and a extra gift bead!

Thieves...

Cynthia Thornton of Green Girl Studios: unpleasantness  


Please read her post about the theft of her designs. I know I would never purchase designs not from her family run business. As a one gal shop I understand the hard work, blood and sweat that goes into keeping yourself afloat! When companies steal it really affects us. If you didn't design it, DON'T CALL IT YOURS! 

Free Shipping!

Through Monday! At the site! Free Shipping! 

Playing with color...

My Sea Girl needed some color. I made a photo copy on some thick card stock and started playing with the acrylics mixed with some liquid pearlescent paints. It is hard to see the pearlyness in the photo but it is really pretty. I was a bit heavy handed with the color so next time I will thin it a bit. I have a new set of pearly watercolors on the way to play with... Of course Magnolia wants purple hair now and why wouldn't she!

Timing is everything!!!

I was just reading Andrew Thornton's blog  post about the theft of his designs and low and behold what should show up in my mail box today but this image on the backside of a catalog from Fire Mountain Gems...

which looks amazingly like this...

If my 4 year old can see it "Mama! It's your bead!" then I'm thinking others can as well! I've seen this happen to other artists. I guess it's my turn. I should feel flattered that Happy Skull here is worthy of thievery. I've made a call...

They always come back...

But not always when you want or need them too...

Ideas. I had this idea for a pendant a while back. In ceramic it wasn't feeling right although I never made one and glazed it so I can't know for sure how well the idea will work...

But then today *blink*the idea light bulb went off... in copper it made much more sense!