Mother's Day Weekend

It was a good weekend.  The kids had soccer games Saturday morning.  Owen did great and Chloe, well Chloe mostly played in the dirt.  On the field.  While the game went on around her.  The coaches promise it is the age group and she will grow out of it.  

Temperatures were a little lower yesterday with overcast skies.  I hit a bird while I was driving.  Sniff.  All I saw was feathers in the rear view mirror.  It made me feel bad.  I slowed down as much as I could, but there were cars behind me so I couldn't hit the brakes hard as I saw her flying in front of my car.  I spent the majority of the day cooking while the kids played outside or helped Todd wash his car.  

 

My Mom and Grandma came over for dinner, as did Todd's sister.  Our dinner table was filled with family, laughter and good food.  There was a lot of story telling going on as we recalled family histories, many involving events where one of us had had the snot scared out of ourselves like this.  Funny the things that get us giggling.

I made my mashed sweet potatoes, a meatloaf using crushed gluten-free crackers instead of oatmeal (my mom was just diagnosed with celiac disease, so gluten is now a no-no), stuffed shells which were the BOMB, asparagus salad which was also very delicious and this raspberry jello salad for dessert.

These are all recipes from Thy Hand Hath Provided blog that my mouth has been watering to try for weeks.  They were so delicious and I know I will be adding them to my book of favorite recipes!  Thank you Thy Hand for sharing your recipes on your blog!!!

The kids had fun with two of their grandmas.  They played scrabble together and had a close game.  We wished our other grandmas could have been with us to celebrate Mother's Day, but Minnesota is a long hike from us.

The weekend was so jam packed with family that I didn't get any time on the torch.  And it's not going to happen tonight, either.  Tonight is the last night Todd will be home for the rest of the week.  Tomorrow he is flying out to Washington DC for work.  When he returns, he will be leaving the same day for a tennis state championship.  The house will be quiet and empty without him.  I hate when he travels.  But while he is gone, I will be filling every evening with time on the torch after getting the kids in bed.  I have a bunch of egg orders needing to be filled and they won't get done by themselves.

Here is a pic of some of my beads all grown up, in their new home with Thy Hand.  She found this birds' nest and now has it sitting in her kitchen window sill.   I am still on the hunt for my own abandoned bird nest because I think it will be great for etsy pics and also to keep inside the house to look at when I need a little smile.

I hope you had a great weekend!  I look forward to jumping back on the torch tomorrow night and showing you all pics of the new loot.

Happy Friday!

These 25 eggs are on their way out the door!  

Can you believe someone snatched up 25?  

Out of the 32 I had on hand?  

Wow!  I am so thankful! 

Which puts me back close to square one on making beads to fill orders.  Nicki is next.  Out of the five color choices she wanted to see, I have zero.  That's right.  Nada.  The seven loners aren't even on the list.  Oh well, this is a good problem to have and I am certainly not complaining.

I had intended to get on the torch last night.  But I was so tired.  Staying up past 11pm or midnight EVERY night for two weeks has not been good.  Almost every single one of those I was on the torch.  I have absolutely enjoyed all of the torch time I am getting after the kids go to bed.  All the time to play with new colors.  Yesterday it caught up with me.  I know if I got on the torch, I would not have been safe.

I did not get the video made as promised for this week.  Perhaps for next week.  Maybe?  We have soccer games for the kids tomorrow morning that start at 9:30am.  But they overlap and we will be done before lunch time.  After that, perhaps I will get free time on the torch.  Sunday will be busy.  Church in the morning and I've gotta be there extra early because I'm getting dunked in a big tub in front of a few hundred people.  I'm a little nervous.  I don't like being the focus of attention.  But.  It is something I need to do. 

Many of you have purchased beads from me.  I would love to see pics of what you have turned them into.  I always wonder about what becomes of my beads when they grow up.  Sometimes they come home to me, but that is rare.  I couldn't stand it with these aqua nuggets that Keirsten of Lune Designs created.  The southwestern color combination, the hammered S hook clasp and the double cross drew me in.  It wouldn't let me sleep at night.  A week passed and my ability to say no disappeared.  (Don't forget to enter her giveaway HERE for a cool pair of earrings she made!)

So.  Getting back to my point.....if you have my beads and have used them, I would LOVE to see pics.  I want to do a few blog posts in the coming weeks highlighting different jewelry designers and their shops.  Please send me an email if you are interested.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  

If you are a Mom, I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day where your family celebrates you and everything you do for them.  May you get the best handmade cards, fresh picked flowers and relief from cooking/cleaning for the day!

More Eggs and Two Necklaces

I made another 9 egg beads last night while I was on the torch.  Five were these cool raku on black, but one of them chipped during the cleaning process with my dremel.  Sigh.

I made more of the ivory beads with the white, brown and teal speckles.  I think they really need more of the teal speckles.  What do you think?

 I got a late start, but I also stayed up late because I was video chatting on Skype with my best friend Mary.  She made the time fly.  Our time always flies too fast when we are together.

It was so good to see her face while hearing her laugh.  It is the first time she has seen my torch or how I melt glass.  She asked me to make her a hot pink and bright green worry stone and was excited that I made it while she watched.

It is also the first time she has seen my house, because I walked around with my laptop facing out from me so I could hunt down Panting Pony for her. 

And here are the two necklaces I made with the special-requested letter focal beads.  I am pleased with how they turned out and hope the recipients like them.

Tonight we have kids' soccer practice and then after their bedtime, I will be making more eggs and stringing some new jewelry.  I am hoping today and tomorrow are quiet with work....I am backing up my director while she is out.  How's that for fancy schmancy prestigiousness? ;)  I'm an acting director!  

Betcha my kids don't listen any better, though.  They are unimpressed with the title.

But then, they know it is actions that are more important than titles.  That what's inside matters.

May they never lose that.

My Random Thoughts for Today

breathe

make a dent in my mile long To Do list (personally, professionally and with my torch)

live in the moment without dwelling on the past or worrying about what tomorrow holds

stay focused

appreciate the small things

still enjoying the giggles from this morning

I love tickling my boy when he has crawled into bed after the alarm has gone off

I love those morning snuggles

counting his ribs makes him come unglued :)

just as I finish one custom order of eggs, another name is added to the list

I am so grateful

and I am having so much fun with these eggs

I was asked to make a couple of letter focal beads for a friend

I am pleased with how they turned out

I am addicted to the Publix brand of Kellogg's raisin bran crunch cereal

I could eat it for every meal

so could my husband

I could also eat asparagus for every meal

I am finding new music to listen to all day

it brings me a sense of peace and energizes me

all at the same time

a close friend of my husband's died last week

when he was walking out of the gym

Jeff was 43

he has two children under twelve

I had the privilege of meeting Jeff and hanging out only a handful of times

Todd was with Jeff when he asked Colleen to marry him

Todd was in his wedding

Jeff made the trek from Minnesota to Atlanta to be at our wedding

he was a kind man

and funny

I am overly pensive today

and somewhat weepy, as I contemplate what is most important to me

but then, I'm a big cry baby

my closest friends know this about me

but right now, I am smiling

because I hear my husband upstairs

he is doing laundry

AND

cleaning the cat boxes

happy dance :)

Another GIVEAWAY!

Go visit the Cerebral Dilettante here to win this pair of earrings!

Please be sure to follow her directions to the T for entering to win this gorgeous pair of earrings.  Or she will delete your comment and you'll be left with squat in your chance to win.  She's ruthless like that.  Not like me.  I let some of you guys slide....sometimes.

More eggs were made this weekend.  Pictures tomorrow since my outdoor photography studio is flooded from all our rain.  And inside the house is flooded from Little Horse drooling and panting since 3am.  Three AM, people!  He has been re-named Panting Pony.  Oh. My. Gosh.  I got a whole three hours of sleep last night because he was such a pain in the toukis.  Not cool, people.  Not cool atall.  :(

Still working my way through custom orders for these little eggs.  BIG THANKS to everyone who has shown such interest and who continue to be patient in waiting your turn.  Or at least in giving the appearance of patience if you are inwardly gnashing your teeth and taking my name in vain while I work my way through this list.  The good news is that I think as I make more eggs, the wait list will be moved through more quickly because not every egg made is being scooped up.  So they are going into the stockpile of options for the next person on the wait list.  Yay for that, right?  I hope. :)

Week Night Eggs!

I have been getting so many requests for beads over this last week that I have started getting on the torch again in the evenings.  I thought you would like to see what came out of the kiln the last few mornings.

From left to right on the back row: light/sky blue, pink, olive green, pale lavender, wicked green and mosaic green

Next row: light turquoise, pajama blue, periwinkle and dirty martini (pale sage green)

I have also had a few requests for the baby raku on black beads, so those two sets are now in my shop.  And the oyster nuggets are now on reserve, pending approval of one of those focal beads up there that I made to match.  Another set of oyster nuggets are on the To Make list for next week.

Looking back over this past week, we saw our Henry boy make a full recovery.  Yay!

Little Horse is doing progressively better at 1) following commands correctly and quickly and 2) panting less at night in his crate.  One night last week I woke up to him panting at 3:30am and the whole bedroom smelled like dog breath.  Lovely, eh? :)

I have also been working on the yard, pruning the trees/bushes and clearing out all the brush.  One pile of branches sat in place for several days (ok, maybe more than a week. hush!) before I moved it towards the trash cans.  Underneath I found this big guy.  He was bigger than both of my fists put together!  I have never seen a frog so large in person before.  The kids thought he was cool and wanted to name him.  The girl child suggested we name the frog Dora, to which the boy child yelled NOOOOOOOOO.  He suggested we name him Cliff.  So now we have Cliff, the frog living under our hose box in the back yard.  I check on him every day and he just looks at me.  Check out his eyes!  Gorgeousness with all those orange specks!

This weekend will be busy with four soccer games (two are make-up games from previous rain-outs).  The forecast shows rain for both days, so we'll see if the kids get to play or if we end up dodging the raindrops.  If it rains, I think it will be a good weekend to drive downtown to IKEA and walk around.  They have such fun furniture, shelves and organizational things and it is a PERFECT large indoor area to let the kids burn off energy as we walk around the whole place.  It takes about an hour to walk through, which is perfect as the kids are about at the end of their time limit for good behavior (read as calm, controlled and quiet).

I'll also be trying to sneak as much time on the torch as possible to keep up with my egg orders.  AND I need to get my butt in gear making new beads and then jewelry.  I am one of the sponsors for an upcoming tennispalooza tournament in three weeks.  My logo will be on the T-shirts and banners AND I get to have a booth set up on one day.  I would really like to have more jewelry to set out.  I'm excited about this, although a bit disappointed.  I had hoped I would get to watch Todd play tennis, but now he is not going to this tennispalooza because......his men's USTA tennis team from last summer made it into the State Championships which will be held that same week/end in Augusta.  Phooey for me.  Yay for him!

Next week, I'll be showing a video of another part of the lampworking process.  The kids may make an appearance, as this is a part they can help me with getting done.  We'll see.  They may be too enamored with the camera on the laptop to be even remotely helpful and spend more time making faces (which is what happens on video chats with the grandparents).  

On good news notes, one of my friends got her mortgage payment lowered $200 each month.  Another friend found out that she can now write off her health insurance because she is self-employed as a massage therapist (she has been without health insurance for years).  And yet another is getting her photography displayed in a restaurant.  I am super excited for all three of these friends.  They deserve good things to come their way.

Tell me something good.  

What is going on in your corner of the world that is making you smile on this Friday?

Mother's Day is Coming! --> Jewelry Sale!

Mother's Day will be here in just a little over a week!  Are you ready?  Did you get your Mom something special?  Do you have a special card for her?  

 Lavender Intrigue bracelet

In honor of our mothers, I am offering 20% off everything in my jewelry shop through Mother's Day.  I will even split shipping costs on USPS Priority to get that great 2-3 day delivery within the US!  Refunds will come back to you through Paypal.

Lunar Sea necklace

Go see if you can find something special to make your Mom feel even more beautiful on Mother's Day.  Buy handmade, because Mom's ALWAYS love things that are handmade.  I know.  Because I'm a Mom. :)  Handmade is THE best!!!

Chocolate and Cream Polka earrings

All items will be packaged neatly in a black jewelry box complete with a silver bow.  I would be happy to ship directly to your Mom and include a note from you.

Look! Look! Look at my Nuggets All Grown Up!

Keirsten has had these nuggets for awhile.  It took time before they spoke to her.  But she was patient and then they just leaped into this design.

I love this double cross.  And the carnelian and agate offset the aqua nuggets nicely, don't you think?

Look! Look! Look at my Egg All Grown Up!

See what Lorelei did with one of my eggs?  I had wanted to show you a necklace she made, but that sold pretty quick.  This cool bracelet is still in her shop.  

More posts coming today showing more of my beads....all grown up!

Oyster Nuggets!

Over the weekend when I was making egg beads, I also made these little nuggets.  I pulled out my Ekho glass from Double Helix.  It is one of the glass rods that looks like a very gross color, but it does such beautiful things in the flame.  While I was making these, I kept thinking of oysters and what the insides of their shells look like.  Now my memory could be fuzzy.... I'm pretty sure it's been a good fifteen years since I have eaten oysters.  I just love the purply luminescence these little nuggets have.  They are in my shop HERE.

Thank you all for so many wonderful comments/convos on the eggs.  I made ten new ones last night!  It was my first weeknight on the torch in MONTHS.  I had sooooooo much fun!  Hoping to get back on the torch tonight to make some more.

And.  Thank you for the kind comments on my hair.  :)  I am loving that it is short, although it hasn't totally sunk in that those six inches are gone.  We are having a little cold snap now and my neck is bare.  I constantly reach up to undo a ponytail that isn't there so I can cover up and warm my neck.  How goofy is that?!

How I Make the Eggs - Video

Enjoy!

Weekend Eggs

I made a video on Saturday showing how I make an egg bead and had planned on showing that today.  But I thought it would be unfair to make you all wait another day to see the new eggs.  So here they are :)

And a little sneak peak of the rest of the beads that made it into the kiln Saturday night with the newest fourteen eggs.

My weekend went by way too fast!  I still have laundry left to do.  I didn't get to changing out the sheets.  Gasp!  I didn't go grocery shopping, nor did I get to try out new recipes like I had planned.  I had more beads I wanted to make.  More stories I wanted to read to my kids.  Over 700 photos to inspect/crop/edit/post from the past week (mostly of the kids and over half from soccer games/practice).  Where did the weekend go?

Did your weekend disappear faster than normal? 

Happy Friday!

This is a great day and I am so glad it's Friday!  So many wonderful things happening after being a crazy, hectic week.

Monday night I noticed my Henry boy was peeing blood.  He had bladder stones two years ago and we almost lost him, so I was really worried.  Henry spent all day at the vet's office on Tuesday before they got a urine sample and found that he just had a very inflamed bladder.  They think he has Interstitial Cystitis (IC), which caused the inflammation and suggested putting him on Prozac for the rest of his life.  Because stress in cats causes flare ups with IC in cats.  Seriously?  Henry is the most laid back cat ever.  He bumps noses with Little Horse every day.  He is not a stressed cat.  And I don't need TWO pets on prozac.   After four days on anti-inflammatory meds, he is acting like his normal self again.  I was very thankful we wouldn't be going through another surgery to remove bladder stones. 

On Tuesday, my Mom's car started smoking.  The shop told her the radiator had cracked and needed to be replaced.  Thirty minutes later they called her to say, "Oh, by the way, the radiator leaked into the engine and now you need that replaced, too.  That's just another $4-5 thousand bucks.  K. Thanks. Bye."  Her little Civic had 120,000+ miles on it and was just done.   So we started talking about what should be her next car.  We started off thinking that Hyundais or Kias with their 10yr/100,000 mile warranty would be best.  But a friend's brother used to work for Kia and he said that that should really be the last car you would ever want to buy.  He should know, since he went to court for the company to dispute all the lemon law cases.  Sigh.  That returned us to our normal mantra: You get what you pay for.  Such a shame.  She test drove the Kia Forte and absolutely LOVED it.

On Wednesday, my 91 yo Grandma passed out at her neurologist's office in the exam room.  It took them a minute to find her pulse, which was really scary.  It earned her an ambulance ride to the nearest hospital and a one night stay.  She was discharged yesterday and will be getting one of those fun heart monitors to collect data for a few days before returning to the cardiologist's office for a follow-up.  She has a really low heart rate (it hovers around 50 or lower), which may be contributing to some of her problems.  They didn't run a bunch of tests this time (because they did that a week ago and didn't find much of anything wrong. sigh) and just kept a close eye on her.  Physically she is strong, but her parts are wearing out.  Basically, it's heck getting old.  I am thankful her memory is shot and she has no recollection of all these hospital visits or even how she felt a few hours prior to any conversation.  And I am thankful she maintains her overall cheerful and loving disposition.  She so enjoys being with our family and I'm looking forward to this weekend when we can have her over for dinner on Sunday.

On Thursday, Mom got over her bitterness with Hondas and Civics and test drove a 2008 Civic and was very enamored.  She found it at Carmax where they have the no haggle pricing and the price was only sixteen bucks more than the Kelley Blue Book suggested Private Party Value.  Yay for great deals and fair shakes!  She has the car on hold and will be going back today to likely buy it.

Mallory included me in one of her lovely treasuries.  Go check it out HERE!

Today we have sunshine and temps in the mid-80s.  Happy dance!  I'm also lighter by a good 5 to 6 inches.  I got my hair cut short and think I really like it.  :)  I showed pics of short cuts I liked and a jaw length cut that Todd liked and told her to do whatever she wanted, I just wanted it to be different and shorter than it was.  She chose super short!  I'll get pics this weekend to show you all next week.  Or perhaps I'll make another video.  We'll see what kind of weather comes our way.  Weather.com is calling for thunderstorms tomorrow, so we'll see.

And with that, Random.org chose lucky number 10 out of the 18 commenters.  Cindy Higgins, please email me at kelleysbeadstudio@mac.com with your two favorite colors and your address.  I'll get your worry stone made this weekend and shipped out on Monday.  :)  Thank you everyone for commenting on my Giveaway!

Tonight we have a kids birthday party.  Tomorrow we have soccer games.  Sunday we have more soccer games and another birthday party.  Some time in there I will find time on the torch to make more/new egg beads, more nuggets and hopefully more worry stones than just the one for Cindy.  :)

This has been a long week, but with multiple happy endings.  I am thankful the weekend is here.  I hope you all have a most wonderful weekend to relax and do the things you want to do!  I will be posting pics this weekend of my visit with Cas of Metallo Bianco from last week when we went out for lunch and a walk through a local Antique Mall.  It was FUN!

Worry Stone GIVEAWAY!

Ok, I wasn't planning on doing another giveaway so soon, but I need some serious help.  Or rather, my Mom needs some serious help.  She is in possession of the biggest Honda lemon ever.  Boo hiss!  It has 120,000 miles on it and in the last year she has spent a fortune and replaced almost every piece under the hood.  Today, it started smoking while she was driving.  The shop said her radiator had cracked and needed to be replaced.  And oh, by the way, it leaked into your engine and now you need a new engine which will only cost $4-5K by itself.  Gah.  Not good.

So this weekend, I'll be going to help her car shop & negotiate the best deal somewhere between all the soccer games and other kids' stuff we have going on.  Thinking the cars with 10 year/100,000 mile warranties would be the best and in a budget of $15-20K.  Because at this point, she's all about the warranty.  She needs your suggestions, folks.  What would you recommend? 

Enter to win one of my worry stones (you choose the two colors!) by leaving a comment with a car recommendation and why.  A random winner will be chosen next week after she gets the new/used car.  I will make the worry stone after hearing color preferences from the winner and will get it shipped out within a week.

If you're commenting anonymously, please make sure your email is included, otherwise your comment will be deleted.

Eggs and Hollows

Here are the close-ups of the beads.  The eggs all got snatched up, so if you were holding your breath and crossing your fingers some extras would end up in the shop....well, you can exhale and wait until next week.  I need to make more now.  :)

And here are the hollows all cleaned out and ready to go.  Although they are simple in design and color, they were not the easiest to photograph.  So many reflections.

New Hollows and Eggs

I preferred to tell you about the beads I made in a video, rather than rushing to get them cleaned, etched and photographed.  Because I didn't want to make you wait any longer.  Because I'm just cool like that.

Happy Monday!

Lorelei is Having a GIVEAWAY!

Check it out!

You can win these cool pendants that Lorelei made!  And you get more than just one shot at it!

Click HERE to leave your comment on Lorelei's blog for your chance to win!

Fess Up

How much do you hold your beads before you use them?  Thy Hand Hath Provided asked that question yesterday.  She is not a beader and has no idea how fanatical some of us are about holding beads and not letting go.

Do you keep beads in your pocket(s)?

Stash them in your purse for easy retrieval and quick glimpses throughout the day?

Anyone sleep with beads under their pillow?  Cindy L?  Yes, I'm calling you out! ;)

I admit I have purchased handmade beads that I know I will likely never make into jewelry.  I realize that is sad and I am doing a HUGE disservice to the beads.  But I can't help it.  I just need to have them on my desk where I can look at them all day while I work. 

And I almost always have one of my worry stones in my pocket that I can reach down and grab and hold onto.  The ridges or bumps on the one side keep my thumb busy, although I found the smooth/flat side more comforting.

Feedback on Etsy: Part Two

Did I mention before that feedback makes me happy?  Especially when it is as lovely this!

"The earrings and worry stone I received from Kelley's Bead Studio are exquisite- lovelier than the photos by far.  There is no way to describe the way the light plays with these glass beads.  They are beautiful and it is obvious that Kelley loves what she does- her care and creativity shine through brilliantly." -GMG

These kind words are in regards to a custom pair of earrings and a special worry stone I made especially for a friend.  I had told her previously that I wish I could put cameras in my packages to capture the first reactions upon being opened.  But her words let me know I hit the mark and maybe, just maybe, passed it.  Her words are fulfilling and reassuring in that what I make with my own two hands does affect others. That what I create is appreciated.  Valued. 

It makes me think about the lyrics in a song Jewel Kilcher wrote called Hands:

I will not be made useless

I won't be idled with despair

..............

My hands are small, I know 

Feedback can be so validating.  That how my time is spent is worthwhile and was not wasted.   That my efforts are not useless.

Which brings me to Part Two, after writing Part One last month.  I'm curious about the feedback practices of other Etsy sellers.  Do you leave feedback immediately upon receiving payment?  Or do you wait to see what/if any feedback is left for you from the buyer?

I normally leave feedback after receiving payment to both thank the buyer for their purchase and to provide confirmation of when their item shipped (sorry LE, I realized today I didn't do that on your last two sets.  where was my mind?!).  But sometimes there is a nagging worry at the far reaches of my mind.  Particularly on custom orders.  Will the buyer be pleased?  Is it what (s)he had in mind?  What if I missed the mark?  Will the customer allow me the opportunity to make it right?

What if?

Because any type of negative, or even neutral, feedback would be devastating if I was not given the chance to make things right if I failed to meet someone's expectations.  And let me tell you, there are some people with extremely high expectations (some, I fear, that are higher than my own!).

My entire working life has been, in one form or another, delivering customer service.  As a teenager, I began as a courtesy clerk and then a cashier at the local grocery store.  I moved onto waitressing for several years before entering the world of corporate America to pay off the credit cards I had so horribly abused.  I have moved up that working chain over the past two decades from interfacing with the general public and standing on my feet all day while wearing an apron to partnering with directors and VP's of Fortune 100 companies.

I know which paycheck and which position my feet like better, but the responsibilities are very similar.

I nurture customer expectations and perceptions about the company I work for on a daily basis.  It is through my performance and my work ethic that I shape those perceptions.  It is how I have built my reputation.  I have worked hard to get to where I am.  Not just with the phone company, but with my beads, jewelry and Etsy shops.  I strive to create quality and unique products and make my customers so happy they come back for more.  That they have nothing but good things to say about me.

As the first-born and only child, I suffer from that overpowering drive to succeed, to care for others and to receive validation.  In that spirit, I can't foster the "What if?" mentality or the option of retaliatory feedback.   At the end of the day, as I close my eyes with my head on my pillow and am buried under countless covers and layers of clothing (because even in the summer, I freeze), I know that I tried my best.  That I gave my all.  And I hope that that is good enough. 

My hands are small, I know

I do love what I do.  GMG, I'm glad it is obvious to you.  I hope it is just as obvious to others.

Between my bead and jewelry sales on Etsy and selling my work at craft or bead shows, I have near 750 sales behind me.  It sounds like a lot, doesn't it?  It doesn't feel like it to me.  I have collected hundreds of comments of delight about items I have made with my hands.  Many of those comments are visible via etsy, but others are held carefully in email folders, special drawers or my own memories of conversations followed by hugs.  I always think back and wonder if I could, or should, have done more.  What else can I do differently/better going forward?

I have worked hard to build and earn my reputation.  And so, I will continue on in this same path, for it has worked well for me.  Using my hands and inspiration to melt glass and shape expectations.  To trust that what I have put out in the world will come back to me.  That I can leave positive feedback for others upon receiving payment and trust it will not make me feel sorry later.

Fellow Etsians, what are your practices on leaving feedback for your buyers?  Do you wait?  Why/why not?

Weekend Eggs

Last weekend went by quickly.  Torch time came and went on Saturday.  It was sucked up by a surprise three hour nap on the couch and a bad stomach ache.  But Sunday afternoon brought a successful session at the torch. 

I made a bunch more of these pearly green nuggets.  One set is reserved for Tari of Pearl and Pebble.  The other is up for grabs.

I also tried making some robin's eggs.  I made them in varying sizes and shapes, as well as with different colored speckles.  I like how they turned out and am excited to get back on the torch to make more in different base colors that might not be so bright.

I also made several clear hollows.  One of them is permanently attached to a robin's egg.  I'm still gnashing my teeth over that.  So there are no photos of the hollows.  Yet.