Customer Appreciation Day

Did you know that it is your comments and feedback that boosts my days?  It is.  So in honor of my most recent customers and your lovely comments on purchases from my Etsy shop, please check out their blogs, Etsy shops and designs!

Gunilla Bäck's gbkoru blog and Etsy shop.  Gunilla lives in Finland and currently has four sets of my beads making their way across the Atlantic Ocean to her.  :)  She made these pieces using my beads, although I don't see them in her Etsy shop.  Beautiful, yes?

Kat has several pieces that use my beads in her Jewels by Kat Etsy shop, like this bracelet she has on sale.  

Keirsten's Cerebral Diletante blog and Lune Designs Etsy shop.  She highlights one of my egg beads in this necklace. 

KJ's Silver Parrot blog and Etsy shop.  I'm not seeing any of her pieces in her shop using my beads, but don't let that stop you from visiting!

Lorelei's blog and Etsy shop.  She has this bracelet currently listed on SALE using nothing but my lampwork beads and her wire wrapping with a little pewter charm.

Marsha Neal has countless sets of my beads, but I think she may still be hoarding them as I haven't seen any pics shared of her jewelry designs.  I know she has a newborn and is also chasing her toddler around, but I'm still leaning towards the hoarding excuse.  Either way, you can check out her blog and Etsy shop.

Tari's Pearl & Pebble's blog and Etsy shop.  She has this bracelet currently listed and uses my lentil beads in her design.  Love how she matched up all the colors!

Happy Valentine's Day to you, if you choose to celebrate it.  I've got a date with my Owen boy tonight that I am looking forward to with our one-on-one time together.  Todd is supposed to take Chloe on a date to a father/daughter dance that should be fun.

I hope everyone has an excellent weekend!

Goodies from Marsha Neal!

When I got home from our cruise, I had a little box waiting for me. It was cram-packed with TONS of beads! TONS of beads from Marsha Neal Studio. Can you say "Heaven"?

Seriously, look at all of these little, itty, bitty, bebe beads! These pairs are perfect for earrings. Or smaller focals. How I wish I could wear earrings because I'd be keeping alot of these to make earrings for myself!

And these longer pendants. I bought one of these from Marsha in Philadelphia at the BeadFest 2009 and love how it looks in the necklace I made.

More of the larger variety. I am having serious issues deciding which beads to keep. I really don't want to send any back to her. But I must. I must, because I know it would take me way too long to make all these beauties into jewelry. Way too long for me to make my own beads to go with them. So I must choose carefully. And perhaps hold onto them for an extra day so I can lovingly hold these bebes.

You can buy your own lovelies directly from Marsha in her Etsy shop here.

Marsha Neal Pendant Now in Use!

Isn't this pendant gorgeous? I just love it and have been saving it jealously for months. Ever since my trip to Philadelphia for the 2009 BeadFest.

Lorelei was pushing me to expand my horizons and so.....I bought my first art bead ever. Funny that I make art beads, but I have never bought or used anyone else's in my work. But now, just look at Marsha Neal's gorgeous pendant! Also check out Marsha's Etsy shop.

I used it with some of my other favorite components. Like this square, sterling toggle clasp, wooden triangles, faceted jade rondelles (also purchased at BeadFest 2009!) and my Atlantis Blues lampwork beads.

I am really pleased with how this necklace turned out. It is the first piece of jewelry I have made in a long, long time. Many moons. Over a year of moons. But my kitchen table has become mine again and I'm itching to create new pieces. I have all these supplies just staring at me, begging to be used.

Buy it here :)

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.