Look what I just found!

See what I found poking through the leaves in the front yard a few minutes ago! Actually there are three patches of them... Guess I should clean out the leaves one of these days... but right now they make a good blanket!

I just found this wonderful blog about me!

I just found this blog about me! Patty from Broken TeePee Designs wrote this wonderful blog about me and called me a bead maker extraordinaire.... the praise could go to my head!

The necklace on the left is one of Patty's creations it's called Mermaid Jewels... I seem to be hooked on a warm tropical theme here!

Patty and I sort of traded places... she grew up on the Jersey coast and is now in the middle of Montana... I grew up in Alberta and now live on a small Island on the East Coast... I just wish it had palm trees and warm tropical breezes, not ice cold blasts coming off of the North Atlantic.... I like to dream that I can just put a tiny beach lounge on these beads, so that I can climb out of the North Atlantic into paradise!

But I digress... Back to Patty... Not only does she make jewellery she raises Goats, makes goats milk soap, makes bread and rolls and is soon to add baby chicks to the farm ... and she does all of this in a tiny trailer kitchen.... The Goats have a spokes goat called Pricilla who writes her own blog I have trouble seeing/finding my kitchen counter in a real house! If your wondering about the name their property in Montana came complete with a Broken TeePee...

Patty and I are also both members of an Etsy street team called The Artisan Beaders you can check out their informative blog... !

What inspires us to create jewellery?

Over the last year I seem to spend more and more time on the computer and less and less actually making things.... One reason is trying to sell online... I've had a website fireallbeeds for five years at most my sales off of it paid the annual fees.... Then along came Etsy I joined as Islandgirl because I was buying (I'm really good at that) then last February I decided to try and sell something ... well you wouldn't believe the hours you spend taking pictures and writing text to go with the pictures and trying to promote yourself....

One of the promotion tools is flickr . Flickr has all sorts of groups... I tripped over a group called Art Bead Scene they have monthly challenges... (yep that was what my Iris necklace was for) . This months challenge was to design a piece inspired by Henri Matisse's painting "The Goldfish". I made a necklace which I thought was pretty lame except for the focal bead which I really like. So all you get to see here is the focal bead! Then I decided since my first effort was so lame that I woud try and do a peyote stitch bracelet.. the entire bracelet is the goldfish bowl and the toggle is the big one that escaped!

Oh and of course there is this blog.. it wasn't enough having a rant on my website... According to the webbies that know all one shouldn't blog on their on website, you must blog on blogger or....
And then there is twitter... I'm really not sure about it... I think I delete people as fast as I add them.. My criteria, i f you have more than 3 updates in a row that don't make sense .. you're toast!

Freddie the Pheasant

I guess using my mothers logic in naming birds that should be Phready the Pheasant or something... Anyway meet Phready... and note that white stuff he is standing on that is SNOW.. actually it's ice which is one of the reasons it's not melting very fast!

There is also a Mrs Phready this year but she wouldn't pose for the photo... that may have had something to do with the fact that she had two cats in hot pursuit... I actually think that the pheasants would win if one of the cats was stupid enough to attempt to catch one... time will tell as they are certainly determined... not to mention that the two cats are just as likely to attack each other on the logic that that's my bird....

Have you ever heard a pheasant.. it's a bit like a creaky door.. Hope they stick around this year.. it's fun to watch them scurrying around!

Got a new picture of Phready.. marching across the front of the house!

All wrapped Up

All wrapped Up is the result of me playing with combining more than one piece/type of glass into my electroformed pieces.... I really like the way my large holed lampworked hearts have been turning out, so I thought I'd add a fused frit mask to them. I'm reallypleased with the way this piece turned out!

I'm thinking of making a copper chain maille chain for it... partly because the ring faces the wrong way for it to hang from a chain... so at the very least I have to add a ring... but it I'm making one ring why not make a few hundred....

This piece is currently listed on etsy... Who know when it's chain will show up!

Spring Fling Sale on Etsy

The Lest Team on etsy has been reincarnated as Fire Divas.. in honor of our new group we are having a spring fling sale!

COME SHOPPING AND SAVE 20% on anything in my store that has a flower... even if I don't have it tagged as a 'Fire Divas' 'Spring Fling" sale bead if you can find a flower it's 20% off (25% off if you have bought from me before) AND.... if you buy a bead with a flower anything else you buy will also be 20% off .... You can pay at the checkout as usual and I will refund the discount or you can convo me and I'll send you an invoice!!

Sale in effect NOW until March 30 (my husbands 60th Birthday!) To search for other participants just search Spring Fling ...

I want to sell my old flowers so that my new ones don't feel overcrowded!

Craft It Forward

This started on Facebook but I think it's a neat idea so I'm going to do it here too!

I think this started with Marcy Lamberson: I won a handmade item from Lauren (May Beads) she wanted to send me an over-ripe banana but fortunately it won't make it through customs!

The Rules (yes there are always rules!)

The first five people to respond to this by leaving a comment will get something handmade by me.

There are some restrictions, though:

- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
- What I create will be just for you.
- You'll receive it this year (2009).
- You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a mix CD (but probably not, too bad copying my sons awful music from the computer to a CD doesn't get rid of it!).
It may be a poem (not likely, however I do write a mean Haiku). I may knit or sew or glue something (unlike Luaren I can do all of those so you may get a pair of felted mitts that would fit your dog... yes I do have one pair that size.... sigh... they are pink!).
- However most likely you will probably get a bead or two.. if my husband has anything to do with it you will get a pound or two of beads...(needless to say he won't be helping to pack!)

In return, all you need to do is post this text into a blog of your own and make 5 things for 5 people.

Then respond in the comments section... first 5 people win!

I'm not tagging anyone so the first 5 people who sign up get something that I made with my little hands... I'm not joking there really are beads covering every flat surface in this house!

I will accept hints in the comment you leave me on what you would like however I may choose to ignore them!

Emm is sleeping in a felted kitty pie made by me... Emm is a bit larger than the pie... Lucky Zoomies now sleeps in as he is much smaller.. I didn't try to make a bigger pie but Sue of SuziFitz Beads made a larger one and got a kitty pizza!