Getting Back In The Groove

Since my new grandbaby was born I've been back and forth around here for the past week. The last few days have been busy getting more beads made, cleaned, pictures taken, and of course, listing them! 
We made a fun set because seeing my grandbaby made my heart grow three sizes that week.
Here's what we doodled on glass.....

Kind of a cutesy set of bead yea?
Then we started on some fall beads. Fall is around the corner and I love moving out of the bright colored glass and into the more deep and rich colors of autumn. Been playing around with all sorts of colors and mixing some colors with others to give the feel of autumn. 
The theme....Changing Seasons.
I kind of like that!

 Fabulous colors in ambers. You have a few oranges with yellows mixed in this lot. Love how they came out!

Hope In A Hopeless World

I have some beads to share but I'll wait until tomorrow for that. Today wiped me out. I was supposed to visit my son and daughter in law yesterday and spend some quality time with my granddaughter. It was the second time in a week that plans sort of fell through. I was pretty bummed. My granddaughter is just the cutest thing. (Yes, I know we all say it) but it's true!
She brought me out of such a dark place almost 2 years ago. She was born 1 1/2 months after the loss of my mom and then my sister 2 weeks after mom passed. She took a shattered heart and made it beat again.

So after being in a sad state of mind yesterday, I got a text from my son around 1:30 am stating that Ella came a week early and I am a grandmother again!! So even when things don't work out, there's always a reason for it happening. I believe that.

I can't share pics of the kids online and I am totally okay with that but we have another heartbreaker in this world. Sadie will be a wonderful big sister to Ella. They both have wonderful parents that are so in love and so dedicated to them that they can't go wrong.

So while the rest of the world is falling apart, while there is war, death, disease and famine, if we close our eyes for a moment and look at the "good" stuff, we can actually smile.....even for a moment.

My prayers go out for everyone that is in a war torn area and for those that are suffering with disease, or loss of a loved one. Life is hard but remember to always look up. That's where the blessings come from.

xoxoxoxo

A Little More Of The Good Things

Well about 40 minutes ago would have been the 20th and I wouldn't be a day late again. As Maxwell Smart would say, "I missed it by that much!"
But here we are. Getting ready for bed and thought I'd post another bead set I've made.
I'm on a disc kick lately. They are really fun to make and trying to think of different color combinations has been fun.

This bead set is made in a classic red, black, and white themed. I'm trying to make some large disc beads without the big donut hole in the middle. I figured out a plan that I'm going to try tomorrow where the donut hole is small but there will be a way to still use this as a pendant without having to go through the center. It should be fun.

Still have some work to do on the raked part of the bead but every day I do seem to be getting better. I also have some pretty leaves made for the start of autumn but will share those tomorrow.

If you like any of my stuff, just contact me :-)

Always A Day Behind And A Dollar Short!

I promised myself that I would be good at posting each and every day. Sorry, I guess I got a little sidetracked in this thing called, "Life."
I think if I wrote each day, this blog would end up being a soap opera and so maybe it's better that I haven't posted much.

This world is going to hell in a hand basket! Just watching the news or hearing of news makes me sick. I think that's what has me thinking about so much that I had to write it down just to remove it from my thoughts.
The plane crash of Malaysia Airlines yesterday, war in Israel, and just seeing our own country falling apart makes you just want to curl up in a ball, hide under the covers, and never come back out.

Being on the torch is the only thing that seems to get me through the day. What was once a hobby that I would do on days like today has now turned into a business. I create because I want to but also, because it pays the bills. (Well it's kind of paying some bills.)
I know it's going to get better and I've seen improvements to my skills because I now sit in front of that torch each day.
Some days, I have no idea what to make. Other days, the images of what I want just fill my mind and once I start, I won't finish until they are all in little creations of glass.

This is what I have been working on.
The flowers were a challenge but they brought happy thoughts to mind. Fields of flowers blowing in the wind. You can't go wrong with making flowers......ever!

Aren't those pretty? And then of course, I had to make dot beads. I struggle with making perfect dots. They are never the same size or spaced correctly. Well, with a little bit of practice each day, they are now becoming more defined and even.

 I'm really happy with the progress I'm making and will continue to do so.
I do wish for Peace however so that every man, woman, and child has the opportunity in life to make something that will help them to smile again.

Out With The Old, In With The New

My motto for this week has been to start going through my beads and string them all up for sale. I have so many beads! It was actually fun going through them one by one. Memories of why I may have made a certain bead or, what was I thinking when I made these, filled my head.
The best thing is seeing how much I've grown in my beadmaking skills.
My dots are more evenly spaced, my use of color combinations has grown, and I am stepping out of my comfort zone more.

So today I sit here and wonder......
Should I make more beads? Should I keep my promise and sell what I have before making new beads? I think I need to just go with where my heart is. If I feel like torching, just do it. The problem lies in wondering what to make. I still struggle with that. What colors, what shape, what design...all fill my head until I'm overwhelmed to the point where I won't make anything.
So today, I think is going to be a day of going through glass colors and getting inspired. Pull out the magazines and look at nature and all the pretty colors that flow through it. Nature doesn't sit there and go, "Okay we have a yellow flower here so now we need a coordinating color to go with it!" Nature just sprouts colors among colors and it works!

Time to play like nature does!
Here's a few of my beads from this week.

 My Happy Beads. These always cheer me up! Mix up some bright colors with other bright colors and all you can do is smile :-)

 Dirty Martini and blues. Opaque and transparent blues turn these flowers into a painting. One of my favorite combinations.

Summer means "turquoise" and I make enough turquoise and ivory beads every summer. It's my go to color when I can't think of anything else. It's also one of my best selling combinations. You could use red, yellow or everyone's favorite, orange with turquoise and they come out pretty every time!

Another Holiday Has Passed

Mother's day hasn't been the same since my mom died almos2 years ago so I wasn't terribly upset that it went by as quickly as it did.

Today is a new day and opportunities are right around the corner. If you don't look, you might miss one.

Today we'll be packing bead orders and making more beads. I have settled into a life where bead making brings me peace, brings order into my life, and it helps to pay the bills.
At the moment, Life is Good!

Here's what I'm up to lately. Please disregard the grey and white stripes....Today is also a day I find out what's going on with my camera!!!

Our new Facebook Pages

Sometimes when times are tough, we reach for the impossible. As an artist (and I finally feel comfortable saying that) we sign up for shows, we work hard to make sure we have inventory, and we prepare, clean, price, label, and take pictures. Then, they don't come. Not like we prepared for. I did a show a few weeks ago. The weekend before that weekend was beautiful. Hot, slight breeze, and just an all-around beautiful day. I was getting exicted about the show as I always do. I bought last minute supplies to help me finish the projects that needed finishing. We always work late into the night before a show. Even after one, were dead tired but replenish stock for the next day.
This year however, it wasn't exciting. It wasn't even fun. Our booths were taken and we were put towards the back. Against the freeway where the wind comes from. The winds gusted up to 65mph. We ended up having one tent break. No one came. Too cold to go way in the back of the isles. No sunshine all day. 5 layers of clothing and hundreds of safety pins holding out items to the table. There were no displays. There wasn't a torch with fire blazing. There was nothing but what looked like a cheezy, 5 minute set up of cheap jewelry.

So, what do you do? You create a few awesome sites on Facebook! You tell your friends, they tell their friends, and soon you have a community of sellers and buyers coming together. Sales are made. Sometimes we put up items for sale and they sell but then sometimes they don't.

It's a new process, it's a fun adventure and I'm ready to ride it for as long as I can. I hope you'll join us :-)
Blessings to you all.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/artisanlampworkbeadsforsale/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/suppliesforthelampworkbeadartist/ 

Top of Form

https://www.facebook.com/groups/beadsgemstonesandfindingsforsale/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/fusedartmarketplace/

2:30am....

Soooo it's been a long time s4 I have been unable to sleep.   I am laying in bed with my phone and trying to type a post about whatever comes to mind.  My thoughts seem to be scattered everywhere. Could be why I can't sleep.  Anxiety has been with me for many years but has been much better than before.   Typing seems to help as it keeps my mind focused on something else......

I bought paint!!!! "Banana Split!

I drove to Lowes today to try and find a color to paint my office in. I knew I wanted yellow but I didn't want a yellow that turns green when it goes on the wall.
Help at Lowes is hard to find so I ended up taking the samples and driving to Home Depot. Along the way, I see a Volkswagon Beetle in the color I was looking for. Gosh I wish I could have taken that in as a sample lol.

But anyhow, I chose a color close to it. It's called, "Banana Split!" Pretty pastel yellow. Not bright enough to make you close your eyes but yellow enough to make you feel warm, as if sunshine is on your back :-)

Now I need to paint!!!!

A bit of the ocean today

Everywhere on social media, my friends are talking about how horrible the weather is. Living in Southern California all my life, we get to see some really cold days but nothing compared to back east!
That's probably why I live here. We have oceans, mountains, lakes, and deserts. We truly have it all.
Even though it's been cold here, I have been wanting to start on summer beads. Beads that are bright or reflect the beach somehow. I long to move to the beach but until then, my beads will have to do.
These beads aren't anything special but I love the colors. Beautiful blues, aqua, greens, and white make these beads perfect to add into a nice summer piece of jewelry.
Hope you like it too!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/179223983/clear-waters-blue-aqua-greens-handmade?ref=shop_home_active_1

Is it 2015 yet?

Everyone's been writing on social media that 2014 is "Their year!" That problems they have been dealing with will be over, that losses suffered, will be restored, and that heartache turns back into a smile.
I don't know about anyone else but I don't see that happening yet. So far this year has been bustling with busyness, and total disorganization. Friend's are getting physically hurt, and others are fighting to live.
If this is 2014, I'm ready to take a nap and be woken up at midnight 12-31-14.

Ah, but that would be the easy way out and I don't do easy. Seriously! I don't seem to do easy on anything that I attempt to do.

So we keep going, we keep trying, we keep moving forward with an occasional on step back! It's okay. Just keep going forward, struggles are overcome when we don't stop!

Working on a design for my Pastor's sister. I have beads made but will gather all my materials and show you what were going to do with it. First, beads need to be cleaned.
And with that........I'm off!

The significance of a Heart

I have been making hearts for a long time now. There's something about a heart that draws me in. So what's the significance of a heart? Well, some would simply look at it from a logical viewpoint and tell you that the heart is the main organ of the body. It keeps us alive by pumping blood to all the other areas of the body. If it didn't do that, we would die. So basically, the heart is...."Life!"

From an emotional perspective, the heart signifies so many different things. Broken, Happy, Depressed, Cold, Warm, Loving, and Content are a few words that come to mind. You can tell alot about a person by "their heart." That may not be true but I do like to believe that the heart is more than an organ. When we talk about it from this perspective and we say, "He has a great heart!" We don't mean that his ogran is working just perfectly or vice versa. We use a heart as a symbol to tell the goodness of someone's soul. When a person is said to be generous, he has a "big heart." In medical terms that would be called, "Cardiomegaly." If a person is mean, we say he or she is "Cold-hearted!" Some people have "broken" hearts when they end a relationship or lose someone dear to them. I've been there! Alot, in the past few years. They say a heart can be mended over time which is kind of funny because the heart was never broken....from a logical standpoint. 

Most of us view the heart as the biggest emotional part of us, bypassing the brain where emotions are actually created and stored. Alot of artists use different techniques in creating them but we look at them and they touch us somehow.

This first heart, when I look at it, shows a darkness or brokeness on the outside yet the heart is blooming on the inside. The little twists and turns of color was the process it took for that heart to start blooming again. This heart was made by a lampwork artist and her store can be found here. Stephanie's Hearts

This heart also reminds me of a rebirth of the heart. It's taking on a adventurous nature as if it is being given wings to fly. The color orange is "fiery" and overtakes the soft violet as if to take on the world. You can find that heart here Calypso Hearts

This is my heart. I created it in 2012 and it isn't for sale yet. I don't know why I haven't listed it but it has alot of emotion tied into it. Heart is blackened, broken. This was after losing my mom, sister, job, and marriage all in October of 2012. The red inside was not a sign of rebirth or healing but the red is fire! Anger within a broken heart. It was where I was for a long time since.




 I think it might be time to make another heart like this. This time however, there will be rebirth.

Happy New Year....a bit late

I know, I know, I am a little bit late on the new year but you know how life goes. A new year with new plans and you set out on this journey and things get a little bit crazy during the transition. The main thing however, is that the transition is never over. We are constantly changing things up and what works...stays, and what doesn't....goes! I kind of like that attitude.

So I've been busy decluttering my life. My daughter starts nursing school next month and so we started with her room. Painted the spare room which is bigger for her to make a mess in. Scraping, painting, building shelves..it will be nice when it's complete. Almost there too! Then the next thing is to move the guest room to the middle room so that I can have the end room as my studio. FINALLY!!! I can't wait to have my own space to work. One where I don't have to drag things out every time I want to make something and then have to put it all away when I'm done. No more worrying about dogs touching or knocking anything over so if I'm working on a project, it can stay out until the next day. I am going to love it!

In my spare time I've been working on more hearts. Valentine's Day is right around the corner and have noticed sales on hearts lately. So I'll be making a few more before it gets too late. Here's some that were made awhile ago and up for sale now on my etsy store.

Oh that reminds me.....My main website will be up and running soon! Love that as well. Yes, I have been quite busy :-)