New Beads! Finally :)

It's taken me dang near forever to get these beads cleaned and photographed, but I finally did it.  Finally.  :)

So here is a sneak peak of the ones that are about to start going into the shop.  Now.

Here's a shot of some of the green beads I made that may end up going into the shop later.  I made these on special request for jewelry gifts.  It will be the last jewelry I make, if I hear back on these.  I may have missed my window of opportunity on that.  All I have to say about that is bronchitis for 5+ weeks really stunk and threw me into a tailspin on so many fronts.  Slowly digging my way out.  So very thankful to be able to breathe normally again.

Here are re-takes on the discs I shared over a month ago.  Finally got some sunlight for shooting beads, so I wanted to pull these out and rephotograph them since the originals were so dark on my dining room table.  These are all still in the shop and I will be updating the listings to add these photos today.

And now I am off to start updating Etsy as I enjoy the sunshine streaming in through my windows.  We are supposed to hit a sunny 65 today and that makes me oh-so-happy.

Finding My Balance

Why am I so scattered lately?  I finished my Christmas shopping before Halloween, yet I am still rushing to get so many things done.  I feel like I'm getting next to no time with my camera or my torch.  How did I get everything done when I worked full time?  We got our Christmas tree up last week and decorations inside the house set out.  It's looking like the outside of our home may not get decorated this year.  Thankfully we have a gorgeous home across the street to gaze upon from our dining room and bedroom windows.  :)

This post really makes me smile.  I love hearing/seeing when goals are reached and dreams become reality.

Love LOVE LOVE this post and encouraging people to grow from failures.  But then, I just love encouraging people.  I think we are all capable of more than we know and having our own cheerleader helps us get closer to our goals.

This has been my week for catch up on so many fronts.  Laundry.  Cleaning out cabinets.  Family blog posts and photo/file organization.  Photography orders.  Family calendars designed & ordered (the one year I didn't do it, I was threatened within an inch of my life by multiple grandparents.  note-to-self, do NOT make the grandparents angry by failing to deliver calendars.  ever again.).  My mind is clearing as many things are crossed off my mental To Do list. 

The kids will be out of school for the next two weeks and I can't wait to spend every minute with them!  We will be taking a little roadtrip with friends to a nearby canyon in Northwest Georgia.  Baking cookies.  Christmas crafts.  Playing outside (bless the South and temps in the 50s and 60s and sometimes the 70s in the month of December!) on bikes, rollerblades, scooters and tossing around footballs, baseballs and hitting a tennis ball back and forth.  Family is flying and driving in.  Another roadtrip up the coast to visit my best friend in North Carolina may work out (fingers crossed).  We will be painting a couple of chairs and making cushions for them so the kids have their own special desk chairs.  These next few weeks are going to fly by.  I just know it.

Those beads above will all be going into the shop at 2pm EST this afternoon.

One More Hour and My Shop Will Be Empty!

Last chance!  My shop will be emptied of all items in one hour when my Cyber Monday sale ends.

Just use CYBERMONDAY50OFF in the coupon field upon checkout to get your goodies for half price.

The Sale Goes On

Until I get back on the torch.  It didn't happen today as it took more than HALF the day for me to package up all the beads everyone scooped up yesterday in my Cyber Monday sale.  But I got them all carefully wrapped and handed off to our postal service this afternoon.  Not sure if I will get back on the torch tomorrow as I still (it didn't happen today and the priority dropped when I found there was enough leftover spaghetti to heat up for dinner tonight and get us through to tomorrow) need to go grocery shopping.  And I really need to get through piles of paperwork on my desk so everything is filed away neatly 1) to make sure all bills are paid and 2) a set of missing beads isn't buried beneath all the paperwork.

Since all of the remaining beads will be disappearing from the shop once this sale ends (I'm really ready for a clean slate!), I thought I would share my favorites that are still waiting for their new home.

Teal & Amber tablets

Etched Holly & Ivy

Purple On Honey

Mint Julep

Mustard Yellow Speckles

Ocean & Kelp

Bumpy Sunset button

Oasis Spiral focal

Yellow & Purple nuggets

Creamsicle button

Take 50% off on everything in my beads shop by using this coupon code:  CYBERMONDAY50OFF

Cyber Monday Sale!

I hope everyone stateside had a FABULOUS Thanksgiving with your friends and family members.  This is my most favorite holiday of the year.  I LOVE cooking BIG meals and having a table FILLED with people I love.  We were fortunate enough to come to Florida again this year and enjoy warmer temps.  Like short-sleeve shirt temps (at least for me)!  The kids and my honeys and my favorite father-in-law were all in shorts.  And now I'm in such a good mood after doing things like this:

that I thought I should share the love and host a serious sale for you all.  And it would be serious if it was anything less than 50% off EVERYTHING, would it?  See?  I told you this was serious.

So what do you need to do to take advantage?  Shop to your hearts content in my beads shop and then plug in the coupon code at checkout.  Etsy is kind enough to do the math and recalculate the total purchase price for you to half off the whole order.  If that total purchase price is $40 or higher, I will still be refunding your shipping charges.  Woo hoo for you!

Don't feel guilty.  Just take the coupon code below and go clear out my shop for me!  Make some room for new beads and headpins cause I'm ready to jump back on the torch this week!!!

CYBERMONDAY50OFF

Shop Update Today! (pssst. eggs are included!)

Here are pics of all the sets going in the shop in just under two hours!

And these sets of eggs are also going in the shop.  :)

This week has flown.  It feels like today should be Friday.  I made close to 250 beads in just three days.  I got close to 250 beads all cleaned in just three days!  The boy child finished a diorama of the Piedmont that is due tomorrow.  The girl child finished reading her first real chapter book after starting it last week.  Two of my photos got published in a Minneapolis magazine which you can read about here.  And I rid our bathroom of a nasty stink that was lingering for a few days after I found a dead snake underneath Todd's sock bin in our bathroom (thanks Jezzie).  All in all, a rather productive week!

I hope your week is going just as swimmingly!

Eggs!

I pulled nine eggs out of my kiln last night and did a happy dance.  I knew right away that I could not etch them because I just love them as they are being all shiny.  These four sets of eggs will be going in the shop at 2pm EDT today, as well as all of the other beads I have shown you this week.

These were already etched and I love them, too.

But these are my favorites.  I might have to pull the listing if they don't get snatched.  I think I need more time with these babies.

TGIF tomorrow!

Last Friday Night Shop Update!

First, thank you to EVERYONE who left such supportive and encouraging comments on my blog post last night, or who let me know on Facebook how excited you are for me.  You all are fabulous.  Really!

And now onto shop updates.  This will be the last one on Friday night (currently scheduled for 8pm EDT).  After this one, beads will be listed in my shop on Thursdays at 2pm ET.  By my count, I have 30 new listings going in tonight.  

All of the lentils and focal beads will be sold individually.

This is the other side of the lentils above.

These will appear in one listing together, but will also be sold individually.

Same goes for the raku on black lentils.

I love the green and purple on the light baby blue.  These will be in one listing, but sold individually.

As will these!

I'll see you tonight in my shop and then back here on Monday.  Have a fantastic weekend!