Playing Catch Up

I had planned on getting on the torch today, but the morning is already half gone and I still need to dip mandrels.  So the game plan for today is being revised.  Instead, I am spending time cleaning and straightening up the house so everything is done & set for the week.  Tomorrow will be a full day on the torch with very few breaks.

This weekend went quickly, but I enjoyed the time with my kids.  I took the boy child to a surprise birthday for a friend and we got to race in a go-kart together (poor boy child inherited his momma's midget genes and had legs about 8 inches too short for reaching the pedals, so we got a two seater and I drove).

Atlanta has been hit with clouds pouring cats and dogs over the last few weeks.  There is much grumbling about all the rain.  But I just smiling, thinking to myself "I'm so thankful this isn't snow!"  I do feel bad for my honeys, though.  It has eliminated any chance for going to the courts and hitting a tennis ball, which is a huge stress relief for him.  And good exercise.  And I love his tennis buddies and that he can spend time with them.

After months of fighting friends about joining Pinterest, I have caved.  And as I suspected, I got sucked in.  Quickly.  I created a board to showcase jewelry using my beads because I 1) love seeing my beads grown up and 2) love to showcase and support other artists.  So if you have used any of my beads and have them displayed on your blog or in your shop, please shoot me a link so I can add them to my board!

I was asked to speak at the Southern Flames Demopalooza yesterday morning about photographing beads.  For forty five minutes.  I agreed and then wondered if it was possible to talk for 45 minutes about photographing beads.  But I ended up speaking for closer to an hour.  Wow.  I shared comparisons between photographing beads and photographing people (and there are many) that help make an interesting photograph.  I should have known the time would go by fast when speaking about two of my favorite things!

New changes are coming.  I'm not sure what they are, but I can feel it.  The same anticipation and nervous/excited energy are filling my body similar to what I felt in the months prior to leaving the phone company last year.  Perhaps part of it stems from my trip to Miami a week ago and I felt my spirit just get charged up.  Part is knowing that several friends and family members will be exchanging vows this year and I couldn't be any happier for them.  And I will be there to photograph they day of a few of those.  There are other things in the works (mainly with my photography business) that are moving me towards reaching my personal goals.  And part is filling a pinboard with so many crafts that I want to try with my kids.

Like this one might just have to happen this week.

I know I've been quiet on the blogwaves over the last two weeks.  Catch me up.  What'd I miss that's happening in your world?  What are you looking forward to next?

Getting my feet wet in blogging

I'm slowly learning how to move around in this; waiting on the learning curve to speed up! I'm not quite sure why it wouldn't let Marcy leave a comment....I checked all the options and everything shows people should be able to leave comments if they're so inclined. I even removed the CAPTCHA word verification pita. Please email me at kelleysbeadstudio@mac.com if you try to leave comments and experience problems.

In the meantime, between now and the end of the year, I'm weighing the pros & cons of blogspot. Is it better/easier/faster/more/better than my website hosted by Mac and that sucks in a Ben Franklin at the start of every year? I don't know, but I want to explore my options and determine if less is more. Let me know what you think because I feel the onset of butterflies in my stomach thinking about giving up all my pages of pictures. Not that I feel the need to show off all of my work, but that all of the pics remind me of how far I have come and just how much I have really made over the past few years.


Last night I went to the Southern Flames meeting and because I was late counting (and recounting) my beads to give to Beads of Courage, I missed dinner. But it was so worth not eating. First, Robert Simmons did a demo on making glow-in-the-dark beads that are given to the kids who have completed radiation treatments. And then Brad Shute made a coupla beads from the silver glass he makes in the furnace on his front porch. The colors coming out of the glass were FaNtAsTiC! Brad brought a whole box of different batches of his StrikingColor glass to sell. Wendy and I pooled our backpocket cash and bought a half pound. If only we had known to bring more cash! Wendy made the pretty barrel beads and some incredible purples showed up. And I made all the little nugget beads.

I handed over a bag of 260 of my beads to donate to the Beads of Courage program and then we ran out the door and back to my house to fire up the torches. Wendy made close to a dozen barrel beads and I made almost 30 nugget beads with our new StrikingColor glass. To bring out the colors, we had to strike the glass/beads (pulling the mandrel out of the flame for the bead to cool down & lose the glow before re-introducing to the flame again, then repeating over & over). Wendy did this to the max, as she is prone to do because that's what she's good at. Her beads brought out some beautiful purples and other creamy colors. I struck my beads only once or twice and stopped when I thought I was getting ahead because I was seeing these incredible blues and greens. But this morning when I ran down to my kiln like a kid on Christmas, I found that ALL of my nuggets were brown and amber, with just a smidge of greens & blues around the holes. Now these browns and ambers are very pretty and I can't wait to string them up into a new set of jewelry. But it was a little disappointing not seeing a whole batch of green and blue beads when I lifted the lid to my kiln. Obviously an operator assumption gone bad, so I made a note to self to strike the heck out of future beads and like Wendy, I might find some colors other than brown and amber. Also, her encased beads had more vibrant colors, so encasing is on my mental To Do list for my next night at the torch.

Cas and I have set a date of December 6th to host a jewelry party at her home. She's creating the fliers to put out in her neighborhood the week before. We still need to decide on a date to host another party at my home because we're on different sides of the city and want to try to make more new friends & customers. I'm excited, but I need to make new displays. All of my current displays are wire and take up less than a square foot of space. I want something longer and taller that will allow ALL of my necklaces to hang together and with plenty of space in between. Since I LOVE to build things and work with my hands....I'm debating between building a stand with wood or using pipes from the plumbing section at Home Depot. Leaning towards the plumbing section because the pipes and connectors have always worked well as poles and stands for my birdhouses in the backyard. And plumbing would be a lot less precision work on measuring and cutting. We'll see. I need to scope out the plumbing section and see what they have in stock or go for a couple of cool ballisters with a dowel in between.

Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday! I'm ready for the week to be over because I'll be that much closer to having reports done for work, the kitchen mess/mail counter cleaned up and the long Thanksgiving four day weekend is just around the corner. Chloe has her swim lesson Saturday morning and Todd will likely be playing in a tennis match. Cas and I are going to a bead show in Gwinnett in the afternoon (I really need more SS crimp clasps for leather cords!) and then we have a couple of parties to go to in the evening. Sunday is another busy day of beads (Wendy and I are going to a Beads of Courage event where we have a two hour window to sit at a torch and play with free glass to make radiation and other beads for the kids!) and then a belated birthday celebration with my Mom & Grandma.....because last weekend I was in Peachtree City watching Todd play in the USTA state championships. I can't wait because Mom is making me my favorite Mississippi Mud Cake. I LOVE that cake....I look forward to it all year!