New Blog Format & Pre/Post-Philly Beads

So. What do you think of the new blog format? Do you like it? If not, why? Is it too busy? I've been wanting to have three columns for several weeks, but it took me that long to find a template I liked and the nerve to try switching over. The widgets all disappeared, which is normal. I was glad I took the time to copy/paste much of that information on how they were set up so I could bring them all back.

I wanted to have more of the link to other blogs, posts within my blog and many of the other features closer to the top of the page. I already had issues with pictures being too big to post side-by-side, so I didn't think I would lose out on anything by narrowing one column to make room for another one along the side. What I like best is that if you click/drag your browser window to expand the width, the columns also expand accordingly.

Here are beads I made Tuesday night after coming back from BeadFest filled with inspiration.


These are black base beads covered in spirals of Kronos and then dotted with clear. I love the ocean blues!
Beads I made before going to BeadFest. I just love the purple over copper green and how it separates the colors and forces brighter outlines.

A new pink frit that I just tested out. The sun really makes them bright.

Lorelei asked for this color combination. My faves are the green on opaque yellow. Really love how the green reacts and separates.

I made a twisty of black and some Gaia before wrapping it around a core of clear and then encasing.

Tear drop beads with transparent cores.

A focal bead with dots on dots on dots. I like the colors, but the coral didn't keep very definite lines, which wasn't really the look I was going for with this bead. I'll try again with different colors for more finite separation.

Bead Storage

I realized recently that some of my etched beads were not faring so well in my little trunk of holding all the beads listed on Etsy. Normally this trunk is stationary in my studio, but it went on our summer trip up to Minnesota and got jostled around more than normal. As a result, I have taken all of my etched beads out of my shop for inspection and restoration.

This isn't the best pic, but it's all I got with my iPhone a few weeks ago when my old camera was loaned out before the new one arrived.


I bought these two sets of drawers when they were hot in the school supplies aisles. They work well for separating my beads into various sections so I know exactly where to look, instead of digging through the whole trunk and wondering if I will ever find a set. It is easy to look through these drawers to be reminded of what is inside and assures me they are no longer scared of the dark.

They are no longer sitting on top of each other and fighting for space. My beads are happy because they can breathe.

All the worry stone beads are hanging out together and behaving like the best of friends. I haven't heard any fighting coming from those big guys at all.

When My Boy is 100 Years Old

As parents of a four and six year old, we have worked hard to teach our kids to treat others fairly. To be kind and understanding. To not call names. To follow the golden rule of treating others the way you want to be treated.

As added back up, we have story books that display openness and appreciation of others in spite of appearances, infirmities or just some good old-fashioned stubborn bullheadedness. One of our favorites doesn't label races or colors, but champions people's skin tones as mocha, peach, cinnamon, butterscotch, or cream. Similar descriptives are used for hair colors.


I love that my son is growing up believing that people are just people. Not black or white. Not slow or smart. That he knows everyone is different, but that different does not equate to lesser or better than he.

Differences are what make each of us interesting. Owen agrees the world would be a boring place if we were all the same.


And I also love that he believes when he is 100 years old, he will look like Little Richard.

Mississippi Mud Cake

This is really my all time favorite cake. Every year for my birthday, I still ask Mom to make it for me. I have no idea what the caloric intake on this is, but I like the sound of 27 calories per slice. ;)

My favorite cookbook that my Mom gave me for Christmas one year. Go Mom!

Start off with two sticks of margarine (or butter, if you prefer).

Cut it up into cubes so you can melt it in the microwave.

While the butter is melting, get four eggs ready. We buy ours in a carton for health/heart reasons belonging to the husband. As many times as my Mom or I have made this cake, I can't taste the difference between real eggs and the. Ummm. Not-so-real eggs. Pour these into a mixing bowl with the melted butter.

Add one and a half cups of granulated sugar.

Scoop out a half cup of cocoa.
And pour that into bowl to mix up until it gets pretty thick. Don't forget to add a teaspoon of vanilla.

Slowly add one and a half cups flour, until all ingredients are mixed in. Scrape the sides of the bowl and then mix another minute. Or two. I'm ok seeing little chunks of cocoa, but feel free to mix longer if that bothers you. Knock yourself out and sift the cocoa first, if you want to be really crazy.

This is a bowl that I could happily sit down and eat with a spoon until it was gone. To save myself from caving, I try to tell others in advance that I'm making this cake as my form of accountability so I have to follow through on putting it in the oven.

Grease a 9x13 pan. My preference is olive oil PAM spray, but you could use butter or margarine or (gasp) lard/crisco. Anything to prevent the cake from sticking to the pan.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Don't rely on the toothpick test to tell you when this cake is done. It will come out a little gooey or with bits of fudgy cake sticking to it. Trust me, the cake will continue baking a little longer after you take it out of the oven and it really is the BEST when it's more fudgy than completely baked and crumbly like a normal cake.

While the cake is baking, you have time for a little kitchen clean-up of all the empties, including the mixing bowl & beater because you will have licked them clean at this point.

Sift a pound of powdered sugar to get it REALLY fine and powdery.

Melt one stick of butter/margarine and add one third cup of cocoa, one teaspoon of vanilla and six tablespoons of milk.

Mix it up good, slowly adding in the powdered sugar so you don't get a humongous cloud of powdered sugar dust flying up into your face. If you choose to add it all at once and turn the mixer on high, the aforementioned possibility may occur. Not that I speak from experience. Let's move on, shall we?

I used too small of a pan because mine is....ahem....missing. Mom denies any responsibility. As a result, the cake is higher inside this smaller pan, which unfortunately leaves less room for the icing layers.

Once the cake is out of the oven and has five minutes to cool a little, open up a small jar of marshmallow cream and pop it in the oven for a minute or two.

You want the marshmallow cream to warm and expand so it starts rising above the top of the jar, but not down the sides.

Then spoon the marshmallow cream onto the cake.

Spread the marshmallow cream evenly over the cake. If it cools too quickly or seems to be tearing the cake as you spread, you can zap the jar in the microwave again as you add more.

Give the icing one last mixeroo to freshen it up a bit since it has likely formed a bit of a skin on top.

Pour half the icing on top of the marshmallow cream and gently spread that around so the marshmallow is covered, but can be seen through the chocolate icing.

You may add more icing if necessary, but please remember this is a Mississippi Mud Cake and not a Death by Chocolate dessert. There is always extra icing at the end.

Always.

Can be served warm, but is equally as delicious if refrigerated (think cold fudge). Now you can lick the spatula, bowl and beaters from your mixer.

Enjoy!

Take Aways from BeadFest 2009

I normally stick to the local bead shows that come through Atlanta, although I did hit many bead shows in Tucson in February 2008. I never would have gone to BeadFest 2009 in Philadelphia had Lorelei not invited me a month ago. She has been one of my loyal customers since near the time I opened my Etsy shop in early 2008 and has always given me credit for my beads in her designs, which is so outstanding of her.

This year we have become friends. I enjoy chatting with her every day, which is awesome at helping the day go by soooo much faster. She often makes me laugh so hard that I cry. When she invited me up to Philly, there was no hesitation in my mind that I would go. I absolutely wanted to meet her to see if she was as cool in person as on the phone or in emails or instant messages. Before we had even made it out of the parking garage at the Philadelphia airport, I knew she was all that AND a bag of chips. Or beads. :)

My buying goals for BeadFest were to find some small, delicate chain and a few cool clasps. I had no intentions of buying much at all.

Seriously.

These are the cool donut beads I bought from Kristie. I would love to see Kristie in action while she's burning wood and Lord knows what else as she makes these smoky donuts. When I play with fire at my torch, it is totally controlled with a stationary flame because the torch is screwed to the table. When Kristie talked about her process for making fires and smoking out these cool beads, I had the evil scientist laugh going on in the back of my head. Because that's how I would be laughing if I was making big fires. But that's just me.
Or Marsha's pendants that completely captivate me with their scrollwork designs. I bought these with the intention of putting one at my torch table for added inspiration and sending the other as a gift. But I might need to hang on to both. At least for awhile.


Lorelei did squat to help rein me in and not buy beads. In fact she unknowingly encouraged me to spend a ton of $$$ by introducing me to all of these wonderful artists that she already knew through buying their beads. At one point, there may have been a little clapping combined with jumping up and down as she said "I'm so excited you are buying ART BEADS!"

Here is some very cool Rhyolite that has wonderful colors coming out in different patterns on every bead (thanks Lorelei for splitting this strand with me!).
Cool magnetic clasps and toggles. Lorelei also bought some of Sara's beads...can't wait to see what she does with them!

I bought these two silver rings that I thought were really neat. I have been wanting rings for my thumbs for a long time, although not with the intention of wearing both at the same time.

Lorelei also introduced me to the Bello Modo shop that had tons of cool Vintaj Brass beads and toggles, although I fought hard against the impulse to buy any since all of the metal I use is sterling and I really don't need to get into another metal. Really. I'm sure my husband would agree. But it was sooo hard. They had turtles. Turtles! Reminded me of my Aunt Judy's turtle collection from when I was a child.

And humblebeads made out of polymer clay by Heather Powers. Such great color combinations! The set on the left perfectly matches Van Gogh's Starry Night painting, which I have hanging in my daughter's room.

LOTS of silver bead caps and cones (the cones are wonderful for finishing the ends of multi-strand necklaces!) that I loved for their carved designs and geometric shapes.

Beads and charms from Green Girl Studios and two copper bezels that Andrew threw in as an added bonus if I promised to slump some of my broken beads inside them to make super cool pendants. I promised I would try. Please Lord, let me be hit with beginner's luck for glass slumping in my kiln and make him proud!

And the flip side of all these lovelies. I really like the inspirational words or quotes on each one of these!

And the last of my loot are a few cabs that I purchased from Gary. He was a knowledgeable guy and most friendly. If only all vendors were so congenial. although these are not for me, but for my friend Cas. Happy early birthday and merry Christmas, Cas!

Cas, I'll be getting these in the mail to you this week. :) Cas makes the coolest rings ever....I can't wait to see what she does with these! Check out her Etsy shop and click on the Rings section over to the right.

Besides going to BeadFest on Saturday (ALL DAY LONG and boy were my feet sore!) and Sunday morning, we made it out to dinner on Friday night and saw Julie & Julia on Saturday night. Beth joined us for our evening activities, as well as returning to the hotel with us for wine, Mississippi Mud Cake that I made the day before I left and bead/jewelry talk.

I don't remember the last time I had a Girls Weekend, but I was long over due and this weekend could not have been any better. Aside from sitting on the tarmac for over an hour before taking off in Philly or the hour and a half on I-75 coming home because a really bad accident closed all four lanes. But at that point, I didn't even feel the smallest amount of frustration with either delay. I had had a simply fantastic weekend and nothing was going to take that away from me.

Nothing.

I feel rejuvenated from the weekend. I am filled with inspiration to make new beads. I'm excited about making jewelry again after taking a year off from making ANY jewelry. My store of patience, which had felt rather low before the weekend, seems to be overflowing now. I feel more at peace with my life, my husband, my kids, my work and my torch.

Amazing what girlfriends can do for the soul without even knowing it.

Take Aways

1 hotel room
+
a flight to Philadelphia
+
weekend with Lorelei
+
new friends
+
TONS of beads
=
PRICELESS!

BeadFest 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

This is the hotel/convention center where the BeadFest was held just outside of Philadelphia in the King of Prussia/Valley Forge area. The convention center was over to the left, but still attached to the hotel. Very large maze of hallways to walk through, which made me feel a little bit like I was in the hotel in The Shining.


Lorelei drove down from Upstate New York and picked me up at the Philadelphia airport. We chilled at the hotel for awhile before Beth Anderson picked us up and we went out to dinner together. Beth is a very kind and caring woman, I'm so glad I got to meet her. Check out her blog and etsy shop. Beth gave the best 'good-bye' hugs and I felt like we were family.

Check out Lorelei holding up the new ChainStyle book. She has NINE designs included in this book and her work is on the COVER of the book. How exciting to see it in print (finally!), but it will be another month or so before the publisher starts sending out copies to everyone who pre-ordered. btw, that's my ivory lentil bead on the right side :)

This is just one of many rows of vendor booths on the main floor of BeadFest. It was really overwhelming walking in and seeing so many shops set up with beads, Beads, BEADS everywhere!

There was a humblebeads section designated front and center at the Bello Modo booth. Very cool seeing Heather's beads in person. I bought two little sets to watch over me at my torch for inspiration. I love the colors and rings of color echoing each other all over the beads.

These bright enamel beads were made by Sara Lukkonen of C-Koop Beads. I bought several of her magnetic clasps which are the rounds in the foreground and also some of her toggles. The magnets are very strong inside the clasps, but easy to work. I'm excited to use them!

These were some Buddhist monk beads at Hands of the Hills, Inc. I bought two really cool silver rings from them.

Look at all the colors of Marsha Neal's ceramic beads. Delicious! Marsha was so full of upbeat energy and humor...I LOVED spending time in her booth. If she was my neighbor, I would probably be sneaking into her kitchen at night after the kids go to bed to talk over coffee. And I don't even drink coffee! Her beads were so cool with wonderful glazes and mesmerizing patterns.
Here are some very cool shards that had holes in the middle for use as toggles or at the end for focals.

I got many pics of Marsha and Lorelei laughing and having a great time, but I like this one the best. It makes me smile and wish I was back in Marsha's booth. You can check out more of Marsha's beads in her Etsy shop.

These donut beads were made by Kristie Roeder (pronounced raider, like Raiders of the Lost Ark) of Artisan Clay. I would like to sit in Kristie's studio and watch her work because the process sounded absolutely fascinating. She binds her donuts in string or twine and then sets fire to whatever wood or other combustibles she can find to smoke out her works of clay. They turn these beautiful shades of greys, browns, blacks and grey and look like they were dug up from the ground from thousands of years ago. I bought some of these, too. :)

Here is Kristie with Lorelei. I didn't think she was going to stand still because she was just jumping-up-and-down excited to be at BeadFest, and perhaps just to be alive. If I had one tenth of Kristie's energy, I KNOW I could get everything done in one day that I want/need to accomplish. She is another whom I wish I lived closer to so I could walk into her studio.

It wasn't too long ago that I became Facebook friends with Julie Nordine of Credit River Art Glass. She is an incredible lampworker (in spite of occasional 3rd degree burns on her thumbs) and it was a complete shocker to come upon her booth at BeadFest. I had no idea she was going to be there, but I'm so glad I got to see her work in person and just get to stop and chat. Julie was very cool and I might have to crash her studio next summer when we drive back up to Minnesota! I wanted to buy one of her acorn or birdhouse beads, but I was out of money. Something new on my Wish List. :)

Here is the Green Girl Studios booth with so many ultra-cool charms, beads and clasps. I enjoyed getting to sit down and talk to Andrew Thornton and Will while they ran the booth. Andrew traded me a few beads for some of my lampwork beads, which I thought was awesome! Will and I traded thoughts on iPhone apps and now I am addicted to Flood-It.

We got Will to take our picture and Lorelei ducked down so I wouldn't look like so much of a midget. Can you tell she was amused by playing the shorty?

So this little weekend getaway started a month ago when Lorelei asked if I wanted to fly to Philadelphia to go to BeadFest. I had no idea what BeadFest was, but I jumped at the chance to get to meet her in person and spend the weekend hanging out together. I booked the plane ticket and hotel room almost right away and then added the weekend to my countdown app on my iPhone. I am so thankful for this opportunity to meet so many extremely talented artists, make new friends and get away from the normal routine at home/work for a couple of days.

I'm glad to be home. Sleeping in my own bed (fyi - those sleep number beds or overpriced crocks of air mattresses!) and snuggling my kids.

I'm glad to be home. My levels of patience were restored with this little break. I'm filled with a new level of calmness and a feeling of being at peace with my life.

I am inspired.

p.s. Check out Lorelei's account of the weekend here.