A Quick Post...

This is a quick post! I've been running a garage sale all day and taking care of our 1 yr old in the midst of it all and I'm pooped.

I just wanted to say a HEARTFELT THANK YOU to Erin, Lori, Leann, Lisa, Martha, Kelly, Helen and Cindy for your wonderful words of creative encouragment about my creative block post. I appreciate you ladies taking time out of your busy (Kelly, you get 3 busy's, lol) day to offer your support. I have taken all your comments to heart. I'll post later this weekend as to what direction I'll be heading in artistically...

To bead or not to bead...This is the question.

i haven't blogged in a week or so because there never seems to be enough time in the day for everything. that being said, i've come to a creative crossroads of sorts. many times this week i've sat down at my bead table to make something and instead of getting something accomplished, I just sit there and stare at my many boxes of beads. nothings coming out, no creative direction, no muse, nothing! i'll get out a project tray and pick out some beads and accompaniments and it ends up just sitting on my table for weeks on end. i sit there and bite my nails trying to come up with something to make. can you say "struggle"? that's what i do every time i sit down to work.

i've been beading and collecting beads for at least 12 years now and have every imaginable color, component, finding, and wire known to the beading world, but yet i still struggle. for the last couple of years the idea has been in my head to try and come up with something that will make my jewelry "mine", you know, something identifiable as "my jewelry". i'm not sure if it's a particular medium, polymer clay or ceramics maybe, that i could fashion my own charms or pendants. frankly i don't know what it is that would satisfy this hole inside me. i LOVE my beads and i LOVE beading and i truly don't want to give it up, but lately i have really considered doing just that.

it's really hard for me to justify the thousands of dollars worth of beads that i have when they just sit there. when i was working i had group of regular customers and i was selling on a weekly basis. now that i don't work, that has dried up to one customer who i sell to once every 6 months or so. i've had little to no success with etsy, so i'm trying to decided if i should even continue that.

i know that the majority of my struggle goes back to what i said earlier about trying to find my own "style". it's very difficult in the beading world to do something that someone hasn't already done.

such is the world and this is my dilemma! if you have any thoughts or comments, let me know. i'd love to hear what you have to say or if you have experienced this type of creative struggle.

My Bodhi Leaf...

Last week my friend Erin over at everyheartcrafts did a post on the meaning behind the Bodhi Leaf that is featured in some eastern philosophies. Well, Erin being the ceramic artist that she is, made some Bodhi leaves (see pic above) and decided to host a giveaway for them. Your's truly won one of them! Yipee! Thanks so much Erin!

My New Handmade Treasure

Recently a handmade journal was featured in a Front Page treasury on Etsy. Well, being that the journal was designed with batik fabrics I had to mark it as a favorite. My entire fabric stash is made up of handmade batiks. I love them and can't have enough of them. After marking it, the seller/creator of the journal convo'd me to thank me for marking her work and to say Hello as we are almost neighbors. She lives in an area on the coast of Florida called Ponte Vedra. Which is about a 20 minute drive from me. Her name is Lori Vliegen and her Etsy shop is called ElvieStudios. She makes wonderful journals and ACEO's. I approached Lori about trading as I noticed that she had my "Grow Strong" necklace in her fav's. She was thrilled and was not aware that "trading" was a common practice on Etsy, so I introduced her to the in's and out's of it. I reserved her listing and she reserved mine and we mailed our treasures to one another. We ended up receiving our items on the same day. I was so impressed with the quality of work put into this journal. They are wonderful! Please head over to Lori's shop and blog and see her creations. You won't be dissapointed.

"Seek Wisdom" Bracelet & New Owl Beads

Well I didn't come up with anything terribly interesting to blog about as I had hoped, so I'll just show you a couple of pics. One is of a new bracelet that I did while I was recuperating last week and the other is of some new super cute carved owl beads that I found at one of our local bead shops, The Bead Hawk. Now mind you red is not a color that I normally use, but I found the 2 red & brown swirl lampwork beads at a new bead shop here in town and I just couldn't leave them there. The red & brown polka dot bead is called a "Freckle". It's by my friend and bead shop owner, Juede Rooks. "Freckles" is what she's calling her new line of ceramic and earthenware beads and focals that she makes. I already had the 2 red Kazuri beads, the asian themed carved bead and the piece of bronzite. So, here it is with a "Seek Wisdom" focal connector from Green Girl Studios. I've accented it with some dangles of red freshwater pearls, thai silver, brown faceted czech glass and a handmade swirl clasp. I'll list it in my Etsy shop sometime tomorrow. Let me know what you think...

Did she fall of the face of the earth?

no i didn't! i felt like i did though. my husband, myself and our 3 year old all have been battling a nasty case of food poisoning that we unfortunately acquired last saturday night at our local longhorn steakhouse. needless to say we will never eat there again. as far as hubby goes, he says he's done with restaurants all together. i hope to find myself feeling human again by tomorrow and can blog about something that you guys will find terribly interesting in order to make up for my absence. i do have a new trinket that i've made so i'm sure a pic will be forthcoming. be back tomorrow...

Project #3 Of Bead/Charm/Clasp Swap

Here is the 3rd project that I've designed with items I created/received from a bead/charm/clasp swap that I was in back in November. In this necklace I used a polymer clay charm that I stamped the words "Be Blessed" into and added a copper bail. I also used the copper hand-wrapped ring that I made for the charms. My bead stash is quite large and about 30% of it is my blue/green section of beads. Blues and greens are my favorites to work with so needless to say I have more that enough in those colors. Anyway, while looking through my blue/green boxes, of which there are 10, it wasn't until I had reached the 10th and final box that I found the perfect beads to go with my "Be Blessed" charm. Whoosh, I was getting worried there for a second that I was going to have to go out and actually buy beads to match the blue of the charm, lol. But never fear, I had something perfect. So here it is, wonderful marbled Czech glass oval and square beads wire-wrapped on copper. The 4 lampwork beads, of which these pictures do no justice, were created by Russ at Javabead. You can check them out on Etsy as well as Ebay. They have some gorgeous boro beads! I added the stamped copper rings between the lampwork as well as a olive colored glass briolette and a copper flower charm. These photos are not great because it's very overcast here in Sunny Florida today. I am in the process of building a lightbox to help with this and to start taking better photos of my work. Happy Beading!

And The Winner Is...Drumroll...

Mellisa of Chinook Designs...Mellisa was the first to correctly answer a random trivia question that I posted. Mellisa your Bead Trends magazine will be in the mail to you this week. Everyone else, go over to Mellisa's blog, website or Etsy store to peruse her beautiful ceramic creations. Happy Beading!

Magazine Giveaway!

Back in early December I saw that a jewelry designer that I like had been featured in the November 2008 issue of Bead Trends Magazine. So on December 11th I called and ordered a back issue from the company. Christmas rolled around, then New Years and I still had not received my order. So, I called and they were very nice. The lady said that if I had not received the original order by now that I was not going to. She said she would mail out another copy for me that day. Lo and behold it came in the mail today along with a second package containing the original order. Don't asked me how it happened? Anyway, now I've got 2 copies and I only need one so I thought I'd share the wealth with one of my readers. I think I'll ask a trivia question and whomever answers correctly first will win this copy.

Okay, here's another question: What are the "official" birthstone and flower for the month of October? First comment with the correct answer wins!

BLOWOUT SALE! ALL ITEMS IN MY ETSY SHOP DRASTICALLY REDUCED TO MOVE!

All items in my Etsy shop have been drastically reduced to rock-bottom prices in an effort to clear out my inventory. If you haven't been to my shop, please stop by. I'm sure you'll find something that you can't live without and you'll be able to get it really CHEAP, lol!

Look to the right of my post and you'll see the link to my shop. Go ahead, buy yourself a little New Years trinket, wink, wink.

More Bead/Charm Swap Eye Candy

Okay, I know, my last 2 posts have been about the bead/charm/clasp swap the I participated in back in November, but just today 2 of the other participants posted pics of items they had created with goodies we all received in the swap. Everyone's creations are wonderful and I'm so excited to see what the ladies are doing with these items. The first photo is from Erin at everyheartcrafts. She created a beautiful charm necklace in blues and greens using not only her ceramic leaves that she makes, but my copper clasp, swirl charm, wire wrapped ring and a polymer clay "be blessed" charm that I made. The second pic is from Mary Harding, another ceramic artist who participated in the swap. Mary went a different route and used almost all of our goodies in one fabulous necklace. Thanks again ladies for all the beauty, artistry and time that you've put into these items...Can't wait to see more from everyone soon!

My Second Bead Swap Creation

Here is the second little beauty that I created with 7 items from the bead/charm/clasp swap that I participated in back in November. Read more about it here. I have to say that I am super proud of this bracelet!!! It includes 4 handmade ceramic leaves from Erin Siegel at everyheartcrafts. I also used a piece of hand-dyed ribbon from Lynn Davis at ExpeditionD as well as a copper swirl charm and handmade copper clasp that I made for everyone in the swap. I hope to use more of my goodies in the week to come since my oldest will be heading back to school tomorrow and Mommy will have some time to bead!

Creative Giveaway for 2009

Jodi Ohl of Sweet Repeats is doing a giveaway a month for 2009. She's a wonderful and talented mixed-media artist. Hop on over to her blog to enter and check out her creations...

A Good Heart Necklace

I finally used some of my goodies that I received in a bead/charm/clasp swap that I participated in back in November. Read more about it here. I have pulled these little treasures from their wonderfully crafted pouch that they came in many times since receiving them, but found myself floundering to try and figure out what to do with them. I think for the most part I wanted to just hoard them and not use them. They're all very creative little items and I just wanted to ogle them a bit longer. Then I had the idea that I would try and use them all in one creation. That didn't come to fruition so instead here is my first installment using the first 3 of many of the items that we received, as well a 2 handmade lampwork beads from my friend Kelley Wenzel. Let me know what you think...

New Years Goals...

I don't do resolutions, never have. I prefer goals. So here are mine for 2009.

1. Make more jewelry

2. Blog more often

3. Do frequent artist interviews on my blog; I want to know how each of them found their "creative voice", that something that makes their work identifiably theirs

4. Make some handbags and possibly open a new Etsy shop for them. I've already got the name of it picked out

5. Get back to work. I miss working so badly

6. Find my "creative voice"

That's pretty much it for me. I don't think there's anything on that list that I can't attain. I wish everyone out there with "goals" for this upcoming year, much success. Wish me luck!