Thursday, February 19, 2009

Underwater Inspiration

The Aquarium is one of the most inspiring places we visit. I just love it there. The tide pools, the sea stars, the octopus, all the reef aquariums... and nature's amazing color combinations that wow and pop and rock my world. I can't wait to get a chance to melt some glass and see what kind of beads today's eye candy will percolate in my head.

mouth fish

sea stars

clam

Monday, February 16, 2009

10 New Beads On Etsy

This is my favorite of the bunch:

milky way bead milky way bead

The rest:

Friday, February 13, 2009

Eight of Twelve



This is coming along good, though I'm wishing I'd gotten a bigger canvas. The kids love it!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

We Have a Winner! OWOH Winner!

This is how it went down:

Me: Pick a number between 1 and 331.
Luke: 320
Me: Subtract 100
Luke: 220
Me: Divide in half.
Luke: What?
Me: What is half of 220?
Luke: Oh. 110
Me: Add 35
Luke: 145
Me: Add 75
Luke: 220
Me and Luke at the same time: Hey! Look, two 220's! That must be it then!

And so the winner is:
Alexandra Knittel of Germany. Check out her site, she makes beautiful collage art and more. Congrats Alexandra!

And thank you to everyone who participated - this was so fun, what a big small world we live in! So many wonderful comments, you all really know how to make a person feel good about their art. And so many wonderful gifts being given out, I couldn't get to them all, but I'm looking forward to next year!
xoxo
Pam

One World, One Heart

Just a quick note to say I will announce my One World One Heart winner this afternoon once my kiddo gets home from school to do the number work. I wanted him to do it this morning but he was so excited about his Valentines Day party at school I couldn't get him to stay still long enough. But if I do it without him, he will be crushed. So this afternoon... This is how is will go: he will pick a number and I'm going to throw a bunch of math problems at it... until either he decides enough is enough or I do. Then I'll email the lucky winner. Stay tuned!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Three of Twelve

The tall tale flower garden is starting to grow. Three of twelve. How will I fit them all on? We will see...

Saturday, February 07, 2009

500 Beads for Alzheimer's Disease

Our family is dealing with Alzheimer's Disease... it is a completely devastating disease, awful for the victim, worse for the family, and especially hard for the care-givers. My grandmother has it, my husband's father has it. My step grand-father has it. My great aunt had it. So many people I've talked to recently know someone who has it or had it. My step-brother is a medical student and has decided he is going to devote his career to researching it in the hopes of discovering a cure. And I've decided I must do something too, in addition to supporting my family in whatever way I possibly can from 3,000 miles away.

This is what I decided. For every bead sale I make this year, I will donate $1 to the Alzheimer's Association. My goal for the year is $500, which means I've got 469 beads to go. That's more than one bead a day, but I think it's do-able. Wouldn't it be wonderful to double it though! No matter, every bead will count and I'll keep updating my progress through the year.

Friday, February 06, 2009

Today's Beauties

Lampwork Bead

Lampwork Bead

Soon to be listed on my Esty...

Tarot Fun

I was over at Kandice's Color Addictions blog and decided to follow her Free Tarot Card Reading link... asking if I'm on my right path... and this is what I got - pretty cool! Except for the birth of a new baby part. Not going there!

The card represents the critical factor for the issue at hand. Page of Wands: The essence of fire behaving as earth, such as wood or coal: The surprising appearance of a new passion. An adventurer who blazes through life, acting as a catalyst that others may harness. The intense enthusiasm and childlike imagination that fuels any new venture, needing only the application of mind and material to make it a success. Inner fire that can drive away fear and replace it with fury. Can represent a person of some timidity, but whose innate passion can be easily ignited. May indicate the birth of a child.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

New Lampwork Bead Listings on Etsy

tiger octopus space flowers

These, plus the ones I showed off yesterday... except for the one that might have a reserve on it. Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Back in the Flow

It's been a few days since I posted beads. Did you even notice? Well, even if you didn't, I did... and it's because... well... the magic disappeared. Poof, gone. So last night, after a frustrating time melting and messing things up, I decided today I was going to go back and make a Corina bead... you know, the type of bead I learned to make at that class last December with some of my glass friends... and see if I couldn't bring the magic back with some old-fashioned planning and preparation and comfort zone. And that is what I did, first bead this morning was this one:

fossil bead

And then! This one came about! I love it.

tiger bead tiger bead

And eventually a couple like this one.

tiger bead

A good day in the bead studio. Finally. I'm happy.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

It's that time of year again....

School class auction project time, that is. Yes, I signed up again, and I'm looking forward to it - I hope it turns out as great as last year. Today I got the background done, now it's up to the 2nd graders - they are going to draw some tall tale/fairy tale/folk tale flowers with seed pods and stems and leaves... because that is what they have been learning about this year (tall tales, folk tales, fairy tales) and pretty soon their science teacher is going to start a segment on plants and seeds. So it all ties together, but I want this to be wild and crazy and sureal and way over the top. I hope the kids think its a great project too... I'll find out tomorrow.