Beads Coming Soon

How did a week go by without me blogging?  Somebody is stealing my time and it was not approved.  I have had very little time on the torch over the last week, so not much is going in today.  But here are the two sets of headpins and new sets of beads.

These will all be going into the shop in less than an hour.

Lately

I have been distracted.

So many things running through my head and not one them wants to stay put long enough for me to gain much of any focus.

I burned my fingers on the grill last week when I wasn't paying attention and grabbed the lid, instead of the handle to close the top.  Ouchie.  Thank goodness for my tube of unguentine that I keep next to the torch.  By the next morning, the band-aids were gone and there were no blisters.  No pain.  That has really been a miracle ointment for me!

I have several countdowns in my head.

Four more days until Little Horse is done with his heartworm treatment and he can run and be crazy again.  I can't believe we are almost through this two months of crate rest and am so thankful.  After he chewed through his leash in week one and took off running the length of several football fields, I was certain he would kill himself before we got through this.

Eleven more days until I drive the kids to Minnesota where we will all be spoiled by the grandparents.  This is always my favorite part of the summer.  To relax and not have my blackberry with me.  To fish.  Or not.  To enjoy my children and my inlaws to levels of happiness that are truly off the charts.  I feel undeserving.

I am inching closer to two photography workshops in August and so stoked for these upcoming opportunities to learn from photographers I greatly admire.

My boy child will turn nine in 95 days.  He now has very little hair as I gave him the routine summer buzz cut.  He does not look like my boy with so much missing hair.  But he loves it and that's more important, I think.  Combined with the fact he'll grow it out for the school year for me.

I will celebrate my 11th wedding anniversary in 101 days.  Wow, where did the time go?  Soon I will tell you how much this man loves me by what he is willing to give up.  It involves football.

And only 103 short days until my baby turns 7.  I did not authorize this and am very much opposed to her leaving six behind.

My blogging has been sporadic at best over the last several months.  That will change.  But not quite yet.  My apologies for shoddy blogging, torching and shop updates.  I am really looking forward to getting back into a weekly routine where I can combine all of these, yet still take care of work and home.

On a fun note, I will be taking off Wednesday through Friday of this week to use up some vacation time and help clear my mind.  Previously, I had not thought I would find time on the torch before leaving for Minnesota or be able to get in a shop update, but now I can.  Woot!

A couple of weeks ago, I had two friends reach out asking if I could make some beads for their family members who recently lost their family dog using the ashes.  I was honored and humbled.  Here are a few of the beads which I made for the friend whose package arrived in my studio first.  I will be starting on the next round for my other friend tomorrow.

My friend Keirsten just made this bangle with my Azure Island beads.  Awesomeness, right?

And Erin Prais-Hintz used one of my purple & green headpins in the flower focal of this great design.

That's all for now.  I hope that you all are enjoying warmer summer temps and NO tornadoes.  There have been some horrible storms sweeping the States, leaving much devastation and some flooding in their wake.  I pray you all (and your loved ones) are safe.

Featured!

Kristi Gruel of DreamSome used my beads in her lovely earrings.

Marsha Neal included my beads in her treasury.

Bearsneststudio included my skittled black beads in her fun treasury.

BlueBassinet included my headpins in her headpin treasury (wow, look at all the different kinds!)

Keirsten Giles of Lune Designs used my beads in this fabulous necklace.  I love all the wire work and how she flattened the spirals.

She also used one of my beads in this bracelet.

And some of my raku and clear eggs in this necklace!

Lorelei just used one of my eggs in a new necklace.

And this one with my little orange and white polka dotted bead.

I'm betting there are more pieces out there featuring my work, but these were just pulled from convos I received over the last couple of weeks.  If you would like me to share your work using any of my lampwork, please send me an email letting me know where to look.  I always ALWAYS love Love LOVE seeing how my beads grow up and sharing with others.  You all have so many great ideas on jewelry designs!

Have a fantabulous weekend!  I know I will be since I will be in sunny San Diego :)

More Buttons and Headpins for the Shop

These two buttons will be going into the shop tomorrow.

As well as these headpins.  Thought you should see the sets they will be in together.  :)

And this set of eggs :)

And this focal bead that I made in Sara Sally LaGrand's class last month.  I won't be making any more like this one again.

Today is my last day with longish hair for awhile.  I'm getting it chopped off tomorrow.  Not sure how much or what I want, but it will be at my jaw or above (right now, it is almost shoulder length).  I get maybe two haircuts each year and normally go in and tell her to do what she wants because I honestly don't care.  I'm looking for low maintenance and something that isn't going to look crazy as it grows out, thus requiring more hair cuts.  Or be too crazy for corporate America, because I do occasionally have face-to-face customer meetings.  Which definitely means no pink hair for me. ;)

My Mom and Grandma will be coming over tomorrow afternoon so I can take pictures of two of her cameras that she wants to sell, as well as some of her Great Aunt's silverware.  And a rifle that belonged to her brother and is 50-80 years old (it could have possibly been her Dad's as a child) that is in good condition.  How does one even go about selling rifles?  I know so little about weapons.  Over 12 years ago, I dated a police officer and he took me to a shooting range a couple of times.  I don't remember how badly I sucked at hitting the target...I just remember how extremely loud it was, even with the protective ear covers.

Sunday afternoon will be filled with the kids making Valentine's cards for their classmates.  And relaxing, enjoying the good weather (we're supposed to have SUN and temps in the high 40s). 

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!  I'll be getting everything listed around 1pm EST tomorrow in my Etsy shop.

Beads Coming Soon!

I finally have pics of all the beads I made last week and over the weekend.

Loving the dark outline around this delicate pink against this gentle seafoam green.

Still one of my favorite glasses that mixes these two colors.

More delicate pink on a darker green.  But no cool outline where the colors meet.

I am loving this translucent yellow.  They are almost milky in person.

Raku on black.  Lots of greens that came out of this batch.

Sweet pinks.  Has been too long since I used this garden frit with anything.  It was one of the first frit blends I purchased years ago and remains one of my favorites.

Silvered ivory spirals on ivory.  Love the crackling and the occasional dot of silver raised to the surface.

Bright speckles on black.

Did you notice I was on a bit of a nugget kick?  The smashing was therapeutic for me :)  I love the peach tint in the clear glass between the white wisps spiraling through these beads.

I thought the seafoam green glass needed its own set with no distractions.

The yellows were more brown when they went into the kiln, so I was excited putting them in and a little disappointed pulling them out.  Still a cool combo, but not what I was expecting.  What do you think of these?

Ivory spacers that are all a little bottom heavy.

A bunch of headpins got made and there will be more made this week.  Hoping to have them all ready by Saturday to list at least five new sets.

I also made a bunch of new focals, but will save those pics for tomorrow.

That is all for now.  Back to your regularly scheduled programming!

Etsy Shop Update Tomorrow Night!

Here's what will be landing in my shop tomorrow night. 

These will go in some time after 8pm EST tomorrow.   If you want any, then show up tomorrow night to grab them before the next bead addict because my lampwork isn't going in marked as RESERVED unless it was a custom order.  :)

It may not be right on the dot at 8pm as we will be celebrating my Mom's 60th birthday tomorrow night.  Woot!