Still Waiting...

I have an interesting 3pc set in this copy of Bead Trends, I made it with Peach Turquoise and black Agate. I really like to see my pieces in print, it is a good feeling. I am looking forward to getting my copy of the January issue. I guess in Canada we wait longer for our copies...I know most of you have most likely gotten your copies already, so it is frustrating for me to wait knowing you all get to see my pieces before I do. The anticipation is killing me!! lol.

I am working on something wonderful and amazing right now. I am not sure I can say what it is so I will just not say anything. I am also working on my submissions for July. I am thinking rubies... ;)

I have a nasty head cold right now, so blogging has not been on my list of priorities. I did however want to make sure to send out the old year and bring in the new. I will have my one year blogaversary {??} soon, so stay tuned and we will see what I can come up with for that :-)

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Marie

Merry Christmas!! {and the winner is...}

Just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and I wanted to announce the winner...

Linda K.

I hope you will contact me soon to let me know your email address. Just email me at  skyejewels@live.com
ArtBeads will send you your $25 gift Certificate directly.

Merry Christmas again!!!

See you in the new year!!

Marie

3000 Unique Visitors!! And a special gift for you

So here we are...it's almost Christmas and I have reached 3000 unique visitors. If you have visited me once it counts as one, and if you have visited me multiple times it still shows up as one. I am really excited about this Christmas, {even though I already got my gift} because I was able to share with a friend and make her Christmas better. I also got my kids to make up Christmas shoe boxes for children in a completely different country. It was a nice feeling. Now I want to share a little something with you. Some of us who are involved with Art Beads were given the opportunity to share a special Christmas gift with all of you. We all want to give something to someone and make them smile. Well today it's my turn!!

You have a chance to win this $25 gift card from Art Beads just in time for Christmas!!

There is a small, tiny little catch, sort of. I want you to leave me a comment, I will give you a second chance to win if you post this on your blog, I will give you another chance to win if you follow me, I will give you another chance to win if you follow my tweets AND last but not least I will give you TWO chances to win if you become a fan of my Facebook page!! That is SIX chances to win!! Of course you can choose to just leave a comment and be entered once, but why not be entered SIX times!!! You do need to let me know what you did to enter, since I may not be able to track everything myself.

I want to wish you a Very Merry Christmas this year and a Very Happy New Year in 2010!!!

You can also go onto the Art Beads Facebook Page HERE for another chance to win a completely different prize. A $100 gift card!! What a great prize!! You do have to live in the USA to enter this one.

You can also find great deals on the Art Beads website all year round. Like some of my favorites

Here , Here and Here !!!

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!! I appreciate your support!!

Marie

**Disclosure!!** I am not being paid in anyway for this contest, and the product offered has been offered to me free of charge for this giveaway. I am doing this of my own free will, free of charge because I love Art Beads!!**

Flurry of activity!! {and look at my much improved photography!!}

It seems that all of a sudden my Etsy shop has gotten a flurry of activity. Considering how long it took to actually get sales in there, I am impressed with three this week alone!! I know it's not much, but if a few more people can bring something home that I made, perhaps a few more will discover me through those purchases. It seems to be my bookmarks that are pulling people in.  My sales are up to 7 and 5 of them are bookmarks! Locally I have sold over 100 just the last three months. They are very popular and affordable.

I have them for all tastes. Dragons, Mermaids, Dolphins, Tea Pots, Flowers, Stars etc...

I need to order more Dolphins, they are the most popular and I have sold out as well as the Etsy shop where I get them was out of stock last time I checked. Such is life. lol

I sold this one this morning and I look forward to shipping it this afternoon. I guess I should make more!! I have a showcase spot on Etsy for tomorrow. I just pray things will go well and that I will sell a few from that showcase spot!

Have a super day and get creative!!

Marie

Concerto!!

I bought this clasp months ago and was waiting for just the right beads to come along to complete it. There are two lampwork glass bead artists featured in this bracelet. Both are very different but their styles compliment each other well. Blue Seraphim created the lovely thin swirled beads in neutral colours. I found her through Kelly Morgan from Silver Parrot. The funky multi coloured beads are from Art By Lisi also on Etsy. I can not remember how I found her exactly but I bought a long strand of her orphan beads and was very pleased with them. As always I just sort of throw things together and hope it works. I have no idea how my mind just seems to pull it all together, I just know that is how it works.

A non-blurry closeup {finally} of Blue Saraphim's beads. {love the new cameras :-)} You can also get a good look at the awesome copper chain that I paid way too much for.

Here is a closeup of Art By Lisi's beautiful beads. I am quite partial to this bracelet, I have worn it a few times now and I don't know if I can part with it.

Just look at those fabulous beads!! I wire wrapped Lisi's beads onto copper rings and attached it to the clasp, and I made wire wrapped charms out of the Blue Seraphim beads and attached them to the chain.

Here you can see the two strands seperately, making them more distinct.

Please let me know what you think of the new pictures and my new favorite bracelet!!

Marie

New Computer up and photos of my show!!

Looks like I really need to practice and learn how to use my new camera. I am so excited to be sitting at my new computer!! It was more than overdue having had so many problems with the other one for so long now. I have a nice large screen that I can look at everything clearly and I can type without the letters not coming up! I was starting to think that it was my typing skills. lol. It runs so quiet too compared to the other one. I also got to install my new camera, the other one only had 4.1 Mega Pixels this one has 12.1!! It was time to replace that too. Now I have to sell enough Jewelry to pay for it.

If you had seen the previous display I had you would see the evolution. I have a few more stands and busts and my earrings are grouped together. I also have matching table cloths in a nice neutral chocolate. I had two tables back to back at this show. It was nice to be able to spread myself out a little bit.

I have everything on trays or on racks pretty much. Having so much inventory I have a lot to carry and this makes it easier. I am trying to come up with an idea to carry necklaces around, I always seem to get them tangled and I really don't want to damage them so a better system is a priority at this point.

I was unsure about how much room I was going to have so I got this little shelf the night before the show. It was really nice having it and came in handy as I was able to display certain things a little better. The cool tree at the top is from Costco, I love it and got so many compliments on it I should have bought a bunch and sold them at a profit!! I should at least have gotten myself a couple more.

My lovely assistant {just kidding} Held something up just behind the tree so I could get a better picture of the things hanging on the tree without all the background interferance.

Just a closeup of one of my stands with the earring cards I made from scrapbook paper and a custom made stamp. You can also see my terrible setup for my bookmarks. That is going to be a tough one to figure out. The only way to really have the room for these is to stand them up, and with these styrofoam blocks I thought it might work. It mostly did until everyone was taking the bookmarks out of the foam to get a better look at them and then putting them back. This caused them to get loose in the foam. Back to the drawing board. lol. I did have a feeling that would happen.

Note to self: tone down flash or figure out which setting makes the pictures a little less bright.

I wish you could see the stones on some of my pieces a little better.

I also had my baskets of handmade cards there and they did really well! The flowers are actually pens.

That is about all I can show you. I forgot to take pictures at my last show, but it was pretty close to being the same. I had some stuff that was gone {thank goodness} that is the point afterall, and some new stuff.

I plan on fixing up a couple of doors that I have in the garage. They are bifold wood doors and I think they will make a really nice backdrop when not bright pink. lol.

I will also have done a distressed painted/stained finish in green on that little shelf. It was not meant to be left as is but having bought it the night before the show I did not have much choice.

Until next time...

Marie

Key Chains and Lampwork Glass

I have to say I was a little disappointed when this particular piece did not make the cut for Bead Trends, but I still really like it so I thought I would post it. I used a clasp from Tim Holtz that I found in the scrapbooking section of Michael's. They come in a pack of 12 with three finishes; gun metal grey, copper and brass. I posted the other two I made already so you can see what the clasps look like.  These lampwork beads are so fun! Art by Lisi on Etsy. Between her and Sue I think I have the best selection out there! lol.

You can't see the beads as well as I would like but you still get the idea. I wire wrapped them directly to the copper ring and I think I would like to solder the jump ring but I am not sure how to go about that or where to find the brass and copper soldering metal. I have the tool and silver metal solder but that just would not do. If anyone know where to find that stuff, let me know!!

The weather here is really nasty, I can barely see across the street right now, the snow is coming down really hard and fast and the wind is blowing hard. I hope everyone is safe out there.

Marie