New Bling and a Sale Reminder

Morning ya'll! I worked diligently in the studio last night to come up with some pretty bling for the shop today. I hope you like them. I just received these beautiful firey Lamp work glass rounds yesterday from BlackRiverBeads. If you haven't seen their shop, check it out! Lots of awesome gemstones, and lamp work glass. I fell in love immediately!

The Snakeskin Jasper necklace was inspired by a necklace I saw in Jenn Reese's shop (JennReese) yesterday. We chatted all day and worked out a trade for a jewelry swap. I'm stoked, because her work is really delicious! I had ordered these lovely jasper ovals from LimaBeads a while back and have been wondering how to use them appropriately. I like this design because it shows off just the jasper with nothing to take the attention away. They are beautiful stones and really hard to photograph without a glare.

Don't forget, there's only 2 more days left for FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING at the SHOP! And don't forget to search for today's Secret sale of the day item... HINT: It's not on the First page of the shop!

A Message that Made me Smile

Recently I received a lovely message from
an online friend. I wanted to share it with you
because it was one of the nicest things
someone has told me. If she's reading this
today, Thank you L. You Rock.

you're like a magic mirror

that reveals what could be

that shows possibilities

that offers promise

no clutter

open space

space to breathe

to be

to create

to accomplish

doing things now

today

right away

instead of putting them off

for another day

another month

another year

ever?

staying alive

in the moment

self-nurturing

nurturing others

getting up and going

and doing

and living

putting yourself out there

for all to see

showing

growing

staying fresh and lively

such a blessing

thank you.

Some new Jewels, and a Brag Post

Way, way back in the day, I posted exterior pics of my house. I might have posted pics of part of the painting process too, but I don't remember. I wanted to have a little show and tell. I just love the Before and After shock value ....

BEFORE:

AFTER!:

Almost done, just that one more dormer to do... We are so happy with the color. It's hard to see in these pics but the front and side doors are a beautiful eggplant color.

And of course, I had to share some new jewelry with you. I worked diligently on a few pieces last night. The first of which is this necklace with Lisa Peters pendant as the focal! This pendant, as I was looking at it, emits the feeling of water, a puddle. When a droplet hits the puddle in slow motion and creates this rippled effect around a central bubble. I continued this theme by bringing in crystal quartz (water), apatite discs, various stone rondelles in khaki colors, prehnite, aqua blue, and an Orange Bell focal cylinder bead at the side in a khaki color.


Then I created this charm bracelet. I had gotten these cute little hand-painted polymer charms from Michele at Gabriel and was trying to come up with a cohesive design that utilizes all 4 charms. I added some freshwater pearl charms, and some matte vintage glass melon beads, with silver wire, and silver chain.


And finally, this fairy butterfly necklace utilizes a new beauty from Green Girl Studios and my new little dragonfly button from HINT. Actually, I had another idea for the pendant of this necklace, but changed my mind at the very last minute. It's fun how this happens sometimes. You think you've the design down in your brain and as it's coming together you realize there is something else entirely different that's perfect for it.

Oswego Bound

A fun day - not a bad drive- only 1 hour and 45 min. to get to Oswego. However not a particularly scenic drive...just highway and trees. The city of Oswego is nice, not very quaint. Feels BUSY...lots of traffic...an annoying detour to get to campus.
The campus was bustling with the entire school arriving for the Fall semester. The campus is really enormous. We took the tour, saw the buildings, pit stopped at the campus store, scoped out all the hotspots. Then went into town for lunch at the Press Box restaurant by the harbor. Arrived back at the room to welcome D, Franny's roommate. Two peas in a pod, for sure. Ahhh, those were the days. (I'm glad I don't have to do it again! lol)
Here's Franny's dorm:

Fran's Room:


The view from fran's dorm window:

Lake Ontario

New Roomies!
See more photos from my day here at my Picasa Web Album!

DON'T FORGET- Free DOMESTIC Shipping starts today, and continues through Friday. Also, one day only sale items in the shop starting today. I'll see if you can find them!! :)
Have fun!

Sunday FunDay

Above are some awesome beads that I recently received from a trade with Jordan Menicucci of The Alchemist's Daughter. She is really so talented and I found her on Flickr. Take a look at her photos here.

Couple of things to show you today. Gotta make it quick though. I'm headed up to Oswego for the day to see my sister. YAY! I'm really excited to get a look at the campus and her dorm, probably will go out to lunch and hopefully spend some nice quality bonding time together before her classes officially start tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'll post pics of my day there.

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm going to be offering FREE DOMESTIC SHIPPING all week this week. I am also going to be discounting various items each day so keep checking back often. I probably won't blog about each one, so you have to go and search them out at the shop.

Here is my Lisa Peters loot! Are they awesome!
I'm most likely going to hoard them for a while while
I think of the perfect design for each one. The connectors
are so fabulous, and will make perfect pendants, or even bracelet focals.

Here is my Beth Hemmila HINT loot!
This was part of a fabulous trade that I did with her a few weeks ago.
Her package was in limbo back and forth across the country for a week or so.
I'm so pleased to have finally gotten them. I haven't taken the earrings
out since I got them!! The dragonfly piece is a small button!
I'm thinking it will make a nice button clasp. And the little leaf
charm is so adorable! Beth's pieces are all out of this world. I hope to eventually get her
OWL pendant.

Here is a necklace I created over the weekend. This piece won't be sold at the shop. I want to try to submit it to a beading publication. Wish it luck! I used Round Rabbit's ceramic pendant as the toggle loop. I also used some fused silver rings from Lynn Davis, a lamp work glass round from Cindy Hoo, and a ceramic coin from Off Center Productions. The rounds are seafoam green glass, jade rondelles, Cherry quartz and small matte seed beads.



I am particularly proud of this piece below. I love the color combination and it just sort of HAPPENED in the studio yesterday. I couldn't believe how lucky I was. I used the wafer bead from Heather Powers as the button clasp, some wood, some glass, some citrine and jasper and a Vintaj Brass Co. swirly charm which I got at my local bead shop. Fell in love with it!!
And finally BeezleBub. Just a fun necklace
using some beads from Terrestrial. It's nice and earthy and would go with many outfits. I'm sure I'll be able to wear this one a few times before it sells, I hope!
Have a good SUNDAY and I'll see you all tomorrow! :)

Finally the Weekend!

I find myself home alone again this weekend. Joe went on yet another "mancation" without me. I read this term on a blog yesterday and thought it was funny yet fitting.
But that's ok, because I have large hopes of being a beading MACHINE today. We'll see if it happens. Yesterday's sale was super successful- THANK YOU BLOG READERS! I cleared out some of the stock, which was exactly my plan. I'm going to have a week long sale- on particular items in the shop, and FREE SHIPPING all week next week so stay tuned for that.
The voting is over for the poll that I held last week. As you can see, 65% of blog readers said they would love to purchase from an online store. I was surprised to see so many of you completely only loyal to Etsy. Nice to see, but surprising. I'm still contemplating this online store endeavor. I would hope it would get enough traffic. But the cool thing about the webhosting site that I found (which is StartLogic) is that it's only $5 a month, and they offer a blogging element too. SO I could blog and have my shop, all in one place. Know of any webhosting sites that are cool, or better? Leave me a comment! I'd love to shop around. StartLogic was recommended by my IT guy at the museum.
Last night I got into the craft room and had a bunch of orders to wrap up and package. (I'm now completely out of gift boxes. YIKES. Will have to bite the bullet and buy some more. Know of any good suppliers? I also had to re-create a necklace that I had sold and shipped to Barcelona- it got lost in the system or held up at customs I guess. Then made up a few little things to list in the shop today. Have a good weekend!

10,000 views and Counting!

Wahoo!! I hit the 10,000 views mark overnight!
I was a couple hundred away yesterday when I checked.
I would have never guess a year ago, that I would
have a blog that would get that many views!

To give a special thank you, I'm
giving all Blog Readers 25% off one item - EVEN CLEARANCE, for
one day only!
When ordering, type 10,000 Views in the Message to Seller box and
then wait for a revised invoice!