New Beads Coming Soon

The fruits of last weekend. The top, middle and bottom mandrels are all using the glass from Val Cox's sampler pack that arrived via Santa's UPS truck. :) I just love the teal and blue in those polka dotted beads on the bottom!

The ivory and chocolate swirl beads above the teal polks were made for Pearl & Pebble who won my last naming contest. She received one of those beads in the giveaway and loved em so much she needed a dozen more! Those beads are now on their way to the tundra for her :)

Close-up pics coming this week!

Goings On in the Wenzel Household

It has been a long coupla weeks. My Chloe Bean has had a 102+ fever every day since Friday, December 11th. Do you know how long that is for a five year old? To be stuck at home with Mom & Dad while they work and not have any friends to play with? Eons. It is truly eons for the girl child.

Tonight we made our third trip to the doctor's office and found out whatever she had has now turned into walking pneumonia. We started five new meds to combat the pneumonia, infection, rash/hives and itchiness. Thankful we now have a name for this pain and a treatment to get her back in school by the start of next week (crossing fingers for this Friday, but we'll see). Even with this high fever, she has kept a great disposition and has felt pretty good. She has also become quite proficient using the ear thermometer.


The other main event (which is more draining) is that our 18 year old boy cat got extremely sick last night. He has had hyper-thyroidism for the past three years, which has slowly taken his 22 lb frame down to 6 lbs. Last night, he threw up blood all over our living room. It looked absolutely horrible and I could only imagine how awful he felt. We called a neighbor to come stay in the house while we drove Keeters to the emergency vet clinic. We knew before we left that we would likely be putting him down.

When we arrived, all of his vitals were much lower than normal. The veterinarian ran through at least a dozen tests they could run through, but ended with she didn't think any of the tests would help him. She agreed that euthanization was the best decision. The most humane. But oh, how hard that is. The weight of that decision, that responsibility, is just so staggering. It never ceases to churn my stomach with pets, but I know we made the right decision last night.


I am taking the rest of this week off from work to regroup. To spend time with my girl child as she recovers. To wrap Christmas presents. To bury my Keeters boy once this rain stops. To re-organize the house and clean in prep for the upcoming company we will have beginning next week. To make new jewelry. To spend time on the torch when the girl child is napping (if I don't nap with her!). To bake cookies. To ship presents. To write our yearly letter and get it sent out on time, rather than sending our Christmas cards in July (like I might have done this past year). And to clean out the 40+ beads I made this weekend and get them photographed so I can blog about them. :)

Go Enter This Contest!

Win a $25 Artbeads.com gift certificate here! Lorelei also posts a facebook link to another chance to win a $100 gift certificate to Artbeads.com. How cool is that?!

New Beads Coming Soon

For the first time in almost a month, I got to spend hours n hours on the torch this weekend. Woot! I had several orders to fill. I ended up making over 40 beads!!!

Unfortunately, these are the only beads that I have gotten cleaned out and photographed. I like them alot and originally had plans to make similar ones in a deep red. I like how the fine silver melts into little dots as more heat is applied to it over the glass. And on red, you can see a trail of where the silver touched, even after it draws up into these little balls.

But then this weekend came and Santa delivered a five pound package with the Val Cox sampler pack inside. A BIG THANK YOU to Lorelei for her big heart, belated bday and early Christmas wishes for playing Santa after seeing my wish list. She totally rocks!!! It was a spendy pack of glass and I would never have expected one of my friends to go all out. Seriously, that would have been alot for family. I was very touched.

Anyone want to guess what might be headed her way in another week for under the tree? :)

The Loot

Just thought folks would like to see what Pearl & Pebble won from my Need a Name 2 contest. :) A dozen beads that would sell for $35 in my Etsy shop.

New Jewelry

I made these red and green beads quite awhile ago (I even have another set, just a little bit redder for sale here), but didn't know what to do with them until recently. I had bought some really cool beads in Philadelphia at the 2009 BeadFest and realized the Apatite and quartz beads would be a perfect match. The Apatite ovals are more blue, but the green on my beads has quite a blue tint. The earrings are waiting here for you. :)


Here is the bracelet, using the small coral quartz beads and medium size ruby red quartz. I love how they sparkle!

In the necklace, I used long sterling silver tubes to separate the beads. I think it is pretty eye-catching, but what do I know? I'm only a masked lampworker carrying a lighter around in my pocket for the next unknown bead emergency ;)

These black and white ones were a special request I received a couple of months ago from Perrii to make in time for Christmas. I made alot of different black and white beads, but decided these were my favorite. There is a small core of white under several layers of clear. In some of the beads, the clear tugged on the white, forming a little outward spiral of white which looks pretty cool. Then I used wisps of black over the top. With all of the clear glass in between, the black wisps create little shadows on the white underneath.

In the necklace, I used ivoryite barrels and onyx coins and discs in between my lampwork beads. The onyx and ivoryite were mined in Southern Arizona by a man who runs Sweetwater Gems. I met him at the bead shows in Tucscon in 2007 and have been hoarding, I mean protecting these beads ever since.

And that's another Marsha Neal Studio ceramic pendant dangling front & center. I had been looking for stone pendants, but didn't have any luck. I asked Marsha if she could make any black & white pendants for me and she sent me a TON to choose from. I took pics of them all with the necklace partially strung to show Perrii, who agreed with me that this was the best one.
The necklace and earrings are now on their way across the globe to land under a Christmas tree for one lucky lady. I hope she loves them!

Another Winner!

Sadly, my first winner did not leave an email for me and there is no contact info or place for comments on her blog. So after a week of waiting to hear from her, I am choosing a new winner through Random.org.


Out of the 29 comments left on I Need A Name: Part 2, 28 of those counted and Random.org chose #1.

Congratulations to Pearl & Pebble as the new winner of a dozen free beads! Check out P&P's blog and Etsy shop. Raspberry Chiffon is the new name for my purple beads, going into my Etsy shop this week!


Please send me your address so I can get some cools beads shipped out to you ASAP! :D

My Wish List

I want one of these. Not the cocoon. Just the baby. Although, I do really like the cocoon. I want for the baby to stay this small and quiet and cute. Perhaps I should just make the picture my wallpaper. For more wonderful baby pics (to get your baby fix!) and adorable photography props, check out Jolie Anne's shop!

I think these white balance lens caps look pretty cool. Would be nice to never, ever have to fool with white balance issues ever, ever again. Ever. Santa, a 52mm would fit all of my lenses. :)

Water for Christmas. Just twenty bucks will provide a supply of fresh, clean water to one person for twenty years. I know there are tons of different charities and so many here in the states for excellent causes. But the stat that 4500 children die every. single. day. because there is not a clean water supply squeezes my heart. And it makes me so very thankful that I am right where I am. That I have the family I do. That I have my health. That I don't have to worry about the water my children drink will cause such horrible digestive problems that they won't live another day. It also makes me feel good to know I am making a difference in someone else's life, whether it is giving to Water for Christmas, Goodwill, the Salvation Army, United Way, Susan G Komen, local food banks or so many others. I don't know that I will ever feel like I am doing enough, but I will continue trying and giving.

Val Cox's sampler pack of glass. These colors are stunning. I want them. Not that I have any place to put them. My glass cabinet is completely full. But I would find room. Even if it means taking over the kids' game closet and giving away Candy Land. I would make room. :D

This is way too spendy for Santa, so I am slowly stocking away my dimes & quarters. But it's still on my wish list of what I am saving for down the road. Way down the road.

Five pounds of this might hold me through spring. My supply of clear has dwindled down quite low.

But most importantly, the things I am wishing for aren't really things. Not anything that can be bought in a store.

I'm wishing for health.

For peace (please Santa, days without any fuss or whine would be so totally awesome!) and contentment.

For patience.

For the wisdom of knowing when to keep my mouth shut.

For the inner-knowing of how to raise my children into thoughtful and caring individuals who give back to their community.

Who don't question their self-worth, for any reason.

Who find a purpose for their life doing what they love and being fulfilled with what they do.


What is on your Wish List?

Where I've Been

After we returned from our cruise, I was in mad-dash mode to get more jewelry made for the craft fair the very next Saturday. Then continued on in that same mode to finish several pieces of jewelry wanted in time for Christmas. Not that this is a valid excuse for not blogging, but I'm going to use it. :D

Below is a floating necklace I made, as well as a matching pair of earrings. A friend saw the beads in my Etsy shop and emailed me "Make my wife some pretties!" And so, this is what came out. I first had to make more of the same beads, since I had only 7 in my shop.


I stared at my boxes & boxes of beads for spacers, but nothing looked quite right. In the end, I decided just swarovski crystals on either side to make into a floating necklace would be the best. Nothing to detract from these beauties.

I haven't been on the torch in three weeks because we've just been into so many other things. We had grandparents visiting (which was absolutely awesome and ended too soon!) and birthdays to celebrate and laundry to do. Oh, the laundry! But I carry my lighter with me in my jeans pocket. It makes me feel just a little bit closer to my torch. Like I could fire it up at any second, if I want to. :)

My Mom's birthday was in the middle of all this, but work was out of control that night as I worked two separate outages until 7pm. Mom had to take over making her own birthday dinner. And her cake. Todd's sister helped with getting it stacked and frosted. Thank goodness for family members willing to help out and takeover when I couldn't be in there. I finished with work just as dinner was being cleared from the table. Just in time for cake!


Look at my Owensk. He just loves to help and jumped right in to secure the clasp on Mom's new necklace that I made for her. :)

Hoping to get back on the torch this week to make new beads. I still have more jewelry orders to fill. And am slowly learning different tricks in Photoshop that are fun (for my family pics, since I don't do anything other than crop my bead/jewelry pics so colors stay true).

I can't believe Christmas is 18 days away. My shopping is pretty much done, but I'm still working on photographs/calendars for all the grandparents. So much to do. So little time.

Are you ready for this Christmas?

And the Winner Is....

Out of the 29 comments left on I Need A Name: Part 2, 28 of those counted and Random.org chose #23.

Congratulations to S&J of That's What Love Is All About is the winner of a dozen free beads!


Please send me your address so I can get some cools beads shipped out to you ASAP! :D

*****12.3.09****************S&R, I can't send you your free beads if you don't email your address :) Your email is not on your blog, nor does it allow comments :(

Please contact me by December 7th, or I will go back to random.org to select a new winner. Thanks!***********************