Can I gush a little??

I submitted a photo of my work to The Flow, a prestigious glass magazine, for inclusion into their Winter 2012 Women in Glass issue. I've known for some time now that I was accepted, but was not allowed to mention it until the issue came out. Well, several people received theirs weeks ago, but having waited this long I decided that I would wait for my own copy so I could see it with my own eyes. It came today!! Here it is on page 6! It's the center bead on the bottom left, #7. I feel blessed to be included in an issue with such huge talents, so many of whom are my personal friends! Girl power!! :-)

The Biggest Artisan Cyber Sale Ever!!

Get in on the holiday sales for Cyber week!

The largest Artisan Jewelry Sale ever!

 

I will be offering 

 ~ 15% off  ~ 

in both my Artfire and Etsy shops

use coupon code: AWHOLIDAY

 

I will also offer a giveaway of a 

$25 gift certificate to either of my shops to 1 lucky winner!

Leave a comment below to be entered.

All other participants will be offering a giveaway on their blogs and discounts in their online stores.
Sale and giveaways start on 

Thanksgiving Day & end on Friday, Nov 30th~
There will be 3 exciting "special giveaways" hidden throughout the participants blog posts...so be sure to visit them all and find them!
You can search Etsy with the code: AWHOLIDAY to see participating stores...

Here are the other participants ~ 

ARTISAN JEWElRY

If you would like to participate in the cyber sale as a vendor,
please click here for the details

Pretty Things Cup of Bead Soup

I've participated in Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog parties in the past so was honored when she contacted me asking if I'd be interested in providing beads for her Cup of Bead Soup. What fun! Of course I said YES! The hard decision was what to make. I tried several designs finally setting on the bead above. This bead is a complex one, using silver glass (meaning that it contains fine silver). The glass is very expensive, but so worth it! It creates such amazing colors that are ethereal in quality. The lentil bead has a silvered glass murrini on each side & interesting patterning. Check out Lori's blog for info for participating in this fun project.

Closing In On a Thousand!!

 

I just looked at my facebook fan page and I'm at 900 fans! I'm tickled pink, but of course, I wish it was more! I have almost double that number of friends somehow. I know! I know! I'm a very popular girl. lol!

So.....when it gets to 1,000, I plan on a big giveaway, but to my fans only, so you MUST go to my fan page and select 'like' in order to be entered. And invite your friends! Share the link of facebook! Here's the direct link:

LA Jewelry Designs on Facebook

As an added incentive, check my facebook page later today for a special sale announced to my fan page only! Happy shopping!

What do beaders and those with dreadlocks have in common??

Give up????

They all love using spirals! Here are some spirals I've been working on recently. My friend, Mikki Ferrugiaro, is working on a book with a very unique spiral pattern that I got a sneak peak of (it's gorgeous!). The pattern uses spirals for the focal piece. She makes poly clay spirals as well. They're so beautiful that I had a hard time telling them apart from the glass. It's great to be able to have options. Change out the focal for a new look to coordinate with any outfit.

I sold some recently to people wanting to decorate their dreads. Here's a photo of one of my beautiful customers with a spiral in her hair. I love it!

Can You Smell the Roses?

Cabbage Roses, that is.....

1st of all, is it really a month since I posted?? Part of me often wonders if people are even interested in what I have to say. Plus, quite honestly I've been spending more time on the torch recently. Not being able to torch for about 3-4 months made me miss it terribly & I itch to light up the torch @ any opportunity. And boy, did I have fun making over 50 (I always make extra, just in case) of these sweet little floral beads. Here they sit getting their final bath before heading out the door.

OK, so now that that's out of the way, I recently finished a custom order for someone. Had so much fun making these & when I look at them now in their colorful splendor they just put a smile on my face. OK, so we had a dusting of snow earlier this week, but can spring be far behind?

Bead Trends

OMG! I have been so bad about blogging, but had to share my good news. One of my skeleton key bead necklaces made it into the December issue of Bead Trends magazine. I've been reading this wonderful magazine since it's inception. I'm in love with their photography and am thrilled and honored that they chose to feature this piece.

I've been holding off saying anything until the issue was published, but I got my necklace back in the mail this week with 2 copies of the magazine so can now share the good news. Pick up a copy and let me know what you think.

Black Friday - Cyber Monday Sale!

Looking for a bargain? You don't need to leave the comfort of your home. From Friday, November 26 through Monday, November 29, 2010 I am having a 20% off sale in my ArtFire and Etsy shops. Use coupon code HAPPYTHANKSGIVING. If making multiple purchases from both shops, just message me and I'll combine shipping for you too. Happy shopping!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

I am donating 20% of all sales from my ArtFire shop this month to Susan G. Komen For the Cure. This is a charity that is near and dear to my heart and I'll be adding new listings as the month goes on. 

My son, Justin and his girlfriend, Sara are also participating in Making Strides in memory of Sara's mother Gail. Please visit Team Gail's page to read all about Gail Finkelstein, a beloved mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, friend and teacher lost her life to breast cancer.

I Don't know How It Happened!!

I started out making jewelry innocently over 10 years ago. My love of all things sparkly soon took over and before long my "jewelry studio" looked like this.....

This USED to be my desk. 

The dresser is filled with more beads. The bottom drawer, that's now broken, is filled to the brim with pearls. The rest is miscellaneous. Gotta love miscellaneous. hehe!

 

These bins are filled with gemstones, sterling, gold-filled, etc. (LOTS of etc.!)

See, the thinking behind all this "stuff" is that you never know when you might need something. The trouble is that I stopped being able to find anything long ago and so just kept buying MORE! And, these days, though I still love making jewelry, my focus is on making beads. Where to put all the beads???

As much as I'd love nothing more than to open a bead shop, hubby doesn't care for the idea of getting further into debt, so sadly I must part with some of them. I've therefore opened up a 2nd ArtFire shop, LAJewelryDesingsDestash for destashing some of my beads and findings. I'm slowly stocking it so please bookmark it and keep checking back. I'll be uploading new listings to my facebook page so please friend me if you haven't already done so.

Do All Artists suffer from ADD??

Today I had a plan. As soon as the temps went below 90, I would go outside and work on testing for CIM (Creation Is Messy). CIM, for non-glass folks is a glass company that produces fabulous glass rods in 104 COE (coefficient of expansion) in dozens and dozens of yummy colors, many of which are not available from other glass companies.

My testing glass, all 2.5 lbs. of it, arrived earlier today so I was gung ho on getting on the torch to play. Well, by the time the temps were low enough to torch I had thought of some other things I wanted to work on. I had wanted to make something special for a dear friend. Then I eyed my leaf press & decided with fall around the corner, wouldn't it be fun to make a nice set of leaves? And truthfully, I no longer remember what else is in there, except that I did manage play a bit with the CIM glass (oh so beautiful!) & hopefully tomorrow morning when I open the kiln I will be rewarded with some lovely beads!

First Beads Made On My New Torch!

I have to say that I am loving my new torch! I hadn't torched in several weeks so when I finally got it hooked up, I sat there & couldn't think of what to make so I played around a bit with some fabulous murrini I got from Janel Dudley. They are so realistic, don't you think? I mean the murrini, not the beads necessarily. ;-) then I made several of my 'signature' beads since there's no thinking for me on those any more. And this is what came out of the kiln earlier today.

My second batch is in there soaking right now. Hope the kiln fairies are good to me tomorrow morning. :-)