The Next Stop On The Art Bead Love Tour Is...

Next Stop on The Art Bead Love Tour is...

SUBURBAN GIRL STUDIO!!!!!

Congratulations Diana!!!!

Art Bead Earring Swap Reveal Day!!!

I was SO excited to join Suburban Girl Studio's Art Bead Earring Swap this time around!  I missed the entry date last year!  I had 2 wonderful partners Jan Onipenco of Molten Mayhem - Etsy shop:  Lakeside Creations, and Lesley Watt of The Gossiping Goddess - Etsy shop:  THEAtoo.

I squealed when I opened each box!  Literally.

Jan's pair arrived first...

Are these not gorgeous?!?  I love the sea urchin spines, and Jan's lampwork beads are beyond yummy!  I can't wait to wear these this summer!!!

Lesley's arrived shortly afterwards!

These are SO me!!!  I love Lesley's bronze connectors and bead caps!   The green lampwork are by a UK artist Rob Johnson from Pebble Dreams and the tiny ochre lampwork are by Pinocean.  The colors are perfect...and I even ordered a new top to wear with them!  

Unfortunately, Lesley's earrings haven't quite made it to the other side of the pond...I'm so disappointed!!  Hopefully they'll arrive safely to her soon!!  In the meantime, I sent Lesley a few pictures I took before mailing them, so she at least has something...damn mailing system!!! :)

My polymer clay florals with shell rounds and clear glass rondelle clusters.  Copper headpins and sterling ear wires.

PARTICIPANTS

Diana Ptaszynski     http://www.suburbangirlstudio.com

Jan Onipenco    http://moltenmayhem.typepad.com/

Patti Vanderbloemen        http://myaddictionshandcrafted.blogspot.com/

Mary Harding   http://www.maryhardingjewelrybeadblog.blogspot.com

Diane Hawkey    http://dianehawkey.blogspot.com/

Lesley Watt        http://www.thegossipinggoddess.blogspot.com

Jenny Davies Reazor      http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog

Melinda Orr      http://www.orrtec.blogspot.com

Cilla Watkins      http://www.tellyourgirlfriends.com

Stephanie Haussler       http://www.pixybugdesigns.blogspot.com

Sally Russick     http://www.thestudiosublime.com

Susan Kennedy       http://www.suebeads.blogspot.com

Amy Freeland  http://www.copperdiem.blogspot.com/

Marla James     http://marlasmudmoments.blogspot.com/

Pam Sears http://crazycreativecorner.blogspot.com/

Tania Spivey http://www.moobiegracedesigns.blogspot.com/

Kathleen Lange Klik http://www.modernnaturestudio.blogspot.com/

Lori Bowring Michaud  http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.com/

Erin Prais-Hintz  http://www.treasures-found.blogspot.com/

Gail Barnett http://www.atlastanewyearsresolution.blogspot.com/

Linda Landig  http://www.lindasbeadblog.com/

Sharleen Newland http://www.shaterraclaystudio.blogspot.com/

Dee Elgie  http://cherryobsidia.blogspot.co.uk/

Mary Shannon Hicks  http://uptwnsh-fallingintothesky.blogspot.com/

Lisa Johnson  http://whimsyswonders.blogspot.com/

Shelby Foxwell  http://sundownbeaddesigns.blogspot.com/

Keri Lee Sereika  http://www.pinklemonade.typepad.com/

Cheryl Brown    www.dragonflybeads.ca

Linda Younkman http://www.lindysdesigns.blogspot.com/

Kari Asbury http://hippiechickdesign.blogspot.com/

Fay Wolfenden http://www.torchfairy.blogspot.com/

Thank you Diana for organizing this!!!

Canyon Earrings

It's been a slow couple of days around the studio...I did however get a pair of earrings made using Tree Wings Studio by Rebekah Payne "ridged round" beads.

Asymmetrical polymer clay canyons, coral, and moonstone with sterling earwires...

And I did get my Art Bead Earring Hop partners packages in the mail this week too!!

New Listings!

Just a few new listings today in my Etsy store!

Expect to see more of these in the future!!  Happy Wednesday!

Heart of Virginia Festival 2012

This was our 2nd year participating in the Heart of Virginia Festival in Farmville, VA (yes, there really is such a place).  While it is a down home type atmosphere, I love it!  You'll find such an eclectic mix of artisans, crafters, and shoppers.  Being from the surrounding area, it's a great venue for us!  It still humbles and amazes me that people are willing to spend their hard earned money on my creations.  The accolades, gushing, and praise will always embarrass the hell out of me though.


Our booth this year:

If you look really close you'll see Moobie Grace herself!  She was such a trooper!  She was up at 4:45 a.m. (and yes, I did write that down).  Her and I had my van unloaded by ourselves before my oldest or husband even showed up!  Now, maybe she moved so efficiently because of the anticipated "end of the day reward!"  Yes, I bribed her with a treat in exchange for manual labor...WHATEVER...you know you've done it too! :)  I did catch a few looks when I kept calling her "Moobie", and I had to explain more than once...

New photography banners we used instead of the tent side panels.  Worked like a charm!  Love that we still had a little privacy, yet keep the tent from being too dark and HOT!  Also my new suitcase (that still reeks of "oldness" after a week of sitting out in the sun airing out and a can of odor out)...no one complained thankfully.  I wish I would have thought to take a few close ups of the assemblage necklaces I had...they seemed to sell pretty quickly!  I was really surprised as this isn't exactly a shabby/boho/vintage crowd.  I did however get one...

Not the best photograph (I'm guilty of fiddling with Pic Monkey)  Vintage silver plated spoon bowl, hand stamped and stitched on to a shabby, wide fabric cuff, with crocheted trim and vintage buttons/fabrics.  I LOVE making these, and will list the 3 I have left in my Etsy store some time this week!

Just a snapshot of an array of necklaces

Upcycled easel with our store sign...which needs to be updated!

Awesome oval window frame, repurposed in to a LARGE earring display.  It sits on the corner of our booth, and draws people in...mission accomplished!

A few of the antique silverware hooks made by my sweet husband.

All, in all, it was a success!  Granted, there were obstacles to overcome, but despite the all day drizzle, sales were better than I expected, I made a few new contacts, and we all came home exhausted, but happy!  

See you next year Farmville!!!

Kick Off Of Craft Show Season!! (So Much For Having An "In House" Photographer!)

I'm so exhausted I can barely string a coherent sentence together!  Festival was packed despite the all day drizzle!  I was happy that my oldest just received her "I bought it myself" SLR camera, and she was more than willing to snap pictures of the show...although I should have been more specific with my instructions.  I came home, and as she was walking out of the door to go to work, she handed me the SD card.

Here's what I found...

Our dog makes his debut...I'm not even sure when she took these...it was still dark when we left this morning!

Mandatory shot of the notepad, calculator, phone and pen

Obviously, no craft show is complete without a few shots of her Toms...

Vendor assignment tags and sister's foot are required!

Vintage travel sticker on my vintage suitcase...kinda meant for her to photograph the ENTIRE suitcase...

She tends to become a little distracted!

Silly self portraits must pass the time...and EVERYONE must take an upside down shot!

At least this is cute...

"The Mike Tyson"  Yep, that's what the design was titled face painting.

By this point, I've completely forgotten what we actually did today....

Oh...that's right art & craft show...I finally found a few shots!

Finally a shot of the modified suitcase display...whoever G.E.H was I sincerely thank you for the awesome case...complete with travel stickers!

Now it's off to crash for the night!  More on the show tomorrow!

Some Assembly Required

Just a few pictures of this week's creations.  I finally tried my hand at assemblage...

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday. Usually, as expected, I'm in a numb state. Yesterday however I decided to put my energy in to something worthwhile instead. Basically this is my first attempt at any assemblage type jewelry. Everything on it has personal and sentimental meaning to me. 

1. Watch face: was my Mom's but the band was broken beyond repair. 
2. Pennies: I dapped are my children's birth years. 
3. Mother of pearl buttons: are a recent find that came out of my husband's grandmother's sewing box.
4. Photograph was my maternal grandparents wedding day. I printed a copy, then adhered it to a pressboard cutout.
5. Stamped brass oval: July 31st is our wedding date, but also the day my Mom passed away.
6. Hummingbird: When my Mom fell ill we moved her hummingbird feeder to where she could see it. She never saw a single one. The day she passed away there were at least 15-20 that kept coming to feed.
7. Sterling frozen charlotte: My mom owned a daycare, and I made a mold of one of my charlottes, then made this little charm out of PMC (my first ever using silver clay).

All hand forged copper, soldered copper flowers, mother of pearl beads, and vintage crystals and rhinestone rondelles.

I've made another necklace, as well as a brooch, but they are part of my Flap Your Wings challenge...so come back Saturday to see their reveal!!

And We Have a Winner!!!

Sheesh...I go to eat dinner, and found 10 other things that couldn't wait!  Sorry, guys!

Anyway...I *think* I did the giveaway as fairly as possible.  I gave everyone who commented an entry (first comment was entry #1, and so on), then after that list was compiled, I gave all my Facebook "likes" an additional entry.  I even added the comment I received today.  

I didn't have a clue how to post the actual random number generator here, so I just snapped a screen shot and cropped it.  In all, I had 49 entries (not to shabby for the first time)...so without further ado....

#48 was Rebekah of Tree Wing Studio!!  

Thank you to all who entered!!  This was SO much fun, I'll think I'll do it again in a month or so!!  Next time I'm going with the highly scientific method of drawing a name from a hat...I can't say I'm in love with the number generator!

Thanks again! 

I Need Opinions...Please?

As a few are anticipating embroidery framed beads...I had to take a small break from them today.  My oldest pulled a 17 hour shift yesterday afternoon/evening/night/this morning, so I had to tiptoe around the house today while she slept...which meant not being able to drill (where I am in the process), as the studio space shares a wall with her room, so I worked on another design.

I've been toying with this "watercolor" idea for a while now.  There are many similar beads out there (which are freaking amazing)...so I need opinions.

I started with a lentil bead that I made some time ago...which ended up as this necklace:

Made a haphazard mold:

Don't mind the cornstarch "mold release"

And ended with these:

Didn't even brush the drill shavings off before I snapped a picture!

Just a different color combination.

These are still in the prototype phase.  Maybe some in a more neutral color palette (I just used the colors that were on my work space today), making different flowers/vines, bigger and on a flat plate (not molding from a bead), bigger bracelet connectors, different shapes, etc.  Should I antique them, or leave them be?

I'm pretty thick skinned, so critical comments and suggestions are welcome.  If the majority think they are "copy cats" that's ok too...they'll find homes as presents for family, etc.