Finally! New Beads!

Well, don't fall over in your seats or anything, but I have new beads! I know, I know, it's been a very long time. But I made it out to the messy studio and melted glass and had a blast doing it. And! There are now 8 new beads on Etsy, and few more will come soon once I photograph them.

Here, have a look, handfuls and handfuls of them!

More Good Bye 2010

Something happened today that made me think. That sounds funny, doesn't it? Well, it's true. I've been beating the drum of good riddance to 2010, because the past few months have been so difficult... like it's kicked my butt and got the best of me, but really, I think, now that I'm, um, thinking, it was *me* that did the kicking - I'm the one that kicked 2010's butt.

This is what happened:

Today, one of my 2010 goals was realized: I got my work published in a real magazine. Check it out, The Flow, Winter 2010 issue, page 7, number 17: two tiger beads by me, aka The Blue Between.



Goal number whatever, get published - check! Just in the nick of time, but that's ok. What were my other goals, do I even remember? Why yes, I do. There were two others - one I didn't manage (getting into a gallery/shop/show/whatever), and one I did - that was a health goal, I was going to finally figure it out and get my body back. And I did that too, thanks to persistence, a handful of good books, and my awesome doctor, not to mention a gazillion dollars in supplements and such... but still, I feel 10 years younger by the end of this year than I did when the year started. If that was all that I accomplished, I'd be more than happy.

But that wasn't all.

* I also jumped into this homeschool stuff head first and I think we are doing pretty amazing with it, now that we know what we are doing.

* I fell in love with Kalypso glass and made some really amazing beads. If I do say so myself.

* I designed my very own Rawr! Tribe of Tiger Beads - original to me and like no other beads I've seen anywhere else... very proud of that, it's a great feeling!

* I started a new store on ArtFire, with my jewelry designs.

* I learned how to make Almond Brittle, one of the highlights of my Christmas holiday this year.

* And! I! get this! reached 500 bead sales on Etsy! And to make that accomplishment even sweeter, I never even blogged about this one, but at that 500 bead sale mark, $500 was sent to the University of Washington's Alzheimer's Research Center and was matched by Microsoft.

So as you can see, a GOOD year. More good than bad. We won't talk about the bad... that is just recent history and won't stick around, unless I keep thinking about it, right?

Time to set some new goals... hmn...

Happy New Year, friends, I'm wishing you all a happy, healthy, creative focus for the new year as well.

Oh Yeah! The Disappearing Sale at Etsy

I should also tell you about the Disappearing Sale - everything in my etsy store is under $20.00, and has free shipping. After 2010 slips away, so will all the beads there. A fresh start with fresh beads for 2011! So if there's something there you want, get it while you can!

Five New Beads

I just listed five new beads on Etsy! Thanks for looking :)

ArtFire vs. Etsy

I just got done visiting ArtFire for the first time in a long time and I have to say, the site seems to have grown up a bit since I last looked (so many great features for sellers!) and best of all, it even worked without crashing my browser.

I have to say, I love the name: ArtFire. Seriously. It's perfect, right? It seems to give me lots of ways to communicate with my buyers, a built in blog... links to FaceBook, etc. And even at the current price of $9.95 a month, that's a better deal than what I'm paying at Etsy.

But then, there is the matter of my 400+ feedback on Etsy. I hate to walk away from that - that took some time to build up! And Etsy has been pretty good to me all these years, I've kept out of trouble there and it's worked out just fine. I am hearing horror stories about people trying to buy things and other buyers stealing the item right out of their carts though, seems like that's always been a danger for people who wait to pay - I don't know why it seems to be a new issue. And I don't even want to think about all the non-handmade things on there. Does Art Fire have them too? I didn't look that close.

Anyway... What to do, what to do?

500 Beads for Alzheimer's

Twenty-nine! 29! bead sales left to reach my goal! The sooner the better. I am mixed with happiness at the thought that I can do *something* that might make a difference in the world about this, and sadness that my grandmother is soon to be moving into an assisted care home because things have just gotten so hard with her. It's very sad to me that it's come to this, and yet I feel great relief that my mother will soon be free to sleep and rejuivinate - she's given everything she had in her trying to do the right thing for Grandma - it's been so hard. In so many ways I have felt as if I were watching the two of them sinking deeper and deeper into this hell hole caused by Alzheimer's - watching my grandmother crash down and my mother getting pulled down with her.... and my 3000 mile rope just not long enough to pull either one of them up and out. So, this $500 - really, $1000 as it will be matched by my husband's work - is the least I can do. I want it to go to research so this disease can be stopped and countless families will no longer have to fall down in it's particular awful hole.

A big fat thank you to all of my customer who have gotten me this far, and for the next 29 of you who will help me finish this off!

Tales from Africa

Sarah Hickey Jewellery of Etsy included my bead in her African themed treasury. It's beautiful, and so are Sarah's earrings - you should check them out if you like big dangley earrings!

The Good Stuff

OK, OK, I can do good stuff too.

First of all, there is this "April" Treasury that Patty Lakinsmith put together - she included my bird egg necklace. April is one of my favorite months, probably because it's my birthday month, and this treasury really does make you *feel* April, doesn't it? See, that's a good thing.

Visit Patty's Store to see her great beads, if you like my beads, you'll love hers! And don't miss her "Meanie" series - those things are so cool!



What else? I have a ton of good stuff about my kiddo. You should see what a great reader he's turned into! All that hard work, and now he's just zipping through chapter books, reading some of the good parts out loud to me because he thinks I'll like the good parts too... and planning what he's going to read when he's done with the series he's on now. And you should see him crack the ball in baseball! Batting lessons are paying off. And you should hear him play the recorder! The kid can read music and really has an ear for which note is which. He did NOT get that from me! And... yeah, I could go on for ever about him, but I won't, because I'm sure you don't want to hear me braggin' on my kid for an hour.

Let's see, about the garden, you know, the weed jungle out there... well there are also tulips popping up in places I didn't plant them. I like that. And my Madrona tree is almost as tall as my house now, I bet she gets there this summer. I love that tree. And the magnolia tree has put on the best show this year, and now is sprouting leaves. And the rhodies are about to explode too. All kinds of good stuff out there beside weeds, it's true.

The diet thing. Eh. What can I say about gaining weight? Not much. But I don't really think it's the diet, because Frank and Luke both seem to be slimming down since I've been doubling up on the veggies and backing off on the starches. And I've been learning some tricks to make the veggies taste better, so people are actually eating them instead of pushing them around on their plates. So that's a good thing.

The technology bit? I love my iphone. That thing is the best thing since sliced bread. And my computer works great as long as all Apple programs are deleted... a working-great computer is nothing to sneeze at, right? I'm thinking of giving this one to Frank, and buying myself a mac book. That would be a Very Good Thing, don't you think?

Oh and speaking of buying things, I love my new Italian espresso maker! That thing makes the smoothest, yummiest coffee ever. And my new shoes, even though they are not flip flops, they are making my feet happy. And the new bag I got to go with them - love! (It's my birthday month, didn't I just tell you that? I go a little crazy spending in April. I'm not going to feel bad about it either, so there.)

Ok, that's enough good for now, I don't want go all Pollyanna on you or anything... besides, I need to go try to find that Muse of mine. She needs to get to work so I can start saving up for that new computer.