Contest Entry

Lori Greenberg is running a contest on her blog where the winner receives a copy of Val Cox's awesome book, "Frit Secrets". Here's my entry.......whaddya think???

I love Val's frit & particularly the but one has a cool surface that

It's March & we have over a foot of snow!!! YUCK!

We had over a foot of snow fall in the Long Island area Sunday night into Monday. And only a week or so ago, I went out with just a sweater on with temps reaching 60 degrees. I am SO ready for spring. Never was a fan of winter anyway. I know the kids love it, but my poor husband had to clear out not only our driveway, but then went into work to clear the snow there. Where are you spring??? I'm ready!

Shoe Shopping & Credit Cards

So my son's GF, Sara, wanted me to take her shopping for a pair of boots to wear tonight. We looked all over the mall till she found a beautiful pair of brown Michael Kors boots in her size. They were originally $279, but with all the discounts the final price was $101 & change. I had a Lord & Taylor card, which I attempted to use cause that would've gotten her an additional 10% off only to find that the card was no longer valid since it had't been used for a few years.

Long story short, I opened up a new acct., got her 15% off now instead of 10%. We were very good & resisted doing any more shopping except that I needed a new perfume, which is never discounted, but was able to apply the 15% off on that. YAY! A good day was had by all. :-)

BRRRRR!!!!!!

It is sooooo cold that I just can't seem to warm up today, even with 2 layers of sweats on......AND the heat's ON!!! And, today is warmer than it's been for the past couple of days too! UGH!!! Have I mentioned that I HATE the cold?!??

We're supposed to warm up a bit over the weekend. Might even reach 50 degrees! I'm ready for spring! Speaking of which, check out this bead over on etsy. The colors remind me that spring is not too far behind.

etsy

Groundhog Day

As if this winter hasn't been long enough & cold enough, Punxsutawney Phil awoke this morning, saw his shadow & projected another 6 weeks of winter. Now, I don't want to wish my life away, but this cold & snowy weather we've had this winter is REALLY getting to me. And you'd think with his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers winning the Superbowl, he'd be less inclined to dole out such a dreary forecast, but I guess with the sun shining & his shadow cast before him, he had no choice. OK, I guess I'll have to pull it together for another 6 weeks before we finally get some nicer weather.

Just what I need.....

So I finally succumbed & joined Facebook. I had heard about it, but just didn't want to join yet ANOTHER group that would keep me on the computer for even longer periods of time than I already am.

I found it fun though to find people that I know from other places there. I even connected with a cousin's daughter in Belgium. Anyone know an eligible bachelor for a beautiful 35 year old girl? She's willing to come to the States to meet someone.

So I I've missed anyone, please look for me on facebook, Lea Avroch.

Organization continued.....

I've been trying hard to devote SOME time every day to organizing my work area. I have tons of seedbeads & crystals, not to mention semi-precious stones, sterling silver, findings, etc. So, in searching for that perfect cabinet to put some of the stuff in, I found this great wood CD shelving unit at best buy. And it's on sale for $89.99! BTW, I'm not affiliated with best buy in any way. It's just the perfect size for my needs & if you do a google search you might be able to find a coupon like I did. Mine was a $10 coupon toward my next purchase. Love it! OK, gotta get back to my organizing!

Organization........NOT!!!!

There are some parts of my life & my house that are organized & then there are others like my bead studio/basement that are almost beyond hope. But my friend told me about someone that she's had over to her house to help her organize & ever since I've the organization bug has bit me. OK, more like a little pinch, but it's something.

Her name is Cynthia Braun of Organize Your Life. She's hosting a mini workshop at her house that I'll be attending with my friend in 2 weeks. We'll get a tour of every room in her house & we'll be able to open closets, cabinets, etc. to see how she organizes her house. I'm really looking forward to going. I can't afford to have her come here to help me organize, at least not yet, but maybe I can get some pointers & be inspired to do something with the mess. Funny thing is that I'm finding things I had long forgotten I had & reordered. Well, maybe not so funny actually.

Beadfest

Well Beadfest was absolutely AWESOME this year. I took a 2 day class with Chad Trent on making Blown & Inside Out Boro beads. For those that may not know, Chad is an awesome lampwork artist specializing in boro beads and pendants. I'm not even sure if he works in soft glass at all. His ID is Cosmo on Lampwork Etc.

Chad's a gifted lampworker and an excellent teacher with the patience of a saint. Even with taking notes while he demonstrated I found myself asking a million questions. This is 1 technique that will take quite a bit of practice in order to master it.

Oh Gosh!

I'm so bad about keeping up on this blog. I don't know what it is. I guess not enough hours in the day or something. The summer has been crazy busy. Hubby & I went to Europe with my sister & BIL for almost 2 weeks to celebrate our anniversaries. It was so much fun!

I came home, had 1 day to do laundry & then headed down south to a lampwork retreat with a friend in Georgia. It was so much fun & the ladies couldn't be nicer. I'm friends with one of them & know another from an online lampwork group, but had never met the last 2 ladies. They were all so sweet. We became fast friends in no time. What a great bunch. I don't know which part of my vacation was better, Europe or the lampwork retreat. And I'm only half joking! ;-)

I'm off again on Wednesday to beadfest Philly. I'm taking a 2 day boro class in a technique that I've been dying to learn for some time now. I'm really looking forward to it. And then I want to come home & practice what I've learned & just veg if you KWIM ;-).

Softflex Designer Spotlight for May

I'm very excited to let you know that Softflex has selected me to be their Spotlighted Designer for the month of May. They had originally contacted me for June, but apparently the person selected for May backed out at the last minute. So I scrambled to get my photos in order the last couple of days, but now it's up. So please go to the Softflex site and check it out. Any & all comments are greatly appreciated.

20% off Sale in my Etsy Store Through 4/7

I am pleased to be a part of the new LampworkEtc. Etsy Street Team (LEST), and to celebrate the new group, everything in my shop is now 20% off!! The price listed has already been calculated to reflect this discount and the original price is listed in the item description! Sale runs now 'till April 7th! Search for LESTSALE for some incredible glass at great prices!!

Northeast Bead Retreat

I'm so excited!!! A bunch of us that met on a yahoo chat group are planning a Northeast Bead Retreat. We met tonight in chat & it's really coming together. The group is made up of people of varying talent, so we're just going to teach other techniques that we know. So, a bit of teaching & a bit of learning combined with lots of fun & laughter making new friends.

1st Etsy sale!!! WOOHOO!!!

I'm loving this whole etsy thing. I didn't understand it for the longest time, but I joined a street team, LEST & I'm learning quite a bit. I made my 1st sale this weekend, 3 items to the same person no less! I think it's due in part to some things I learned from my street team. If you're looking for fabulous lampwork beads, do a search for the tags LAJ (that's me :-) & LEST for the work of the talented LEST street team members.

Etsy Shop Open!

I'm so bad about keeping up with this blog. It's not that I don't have what to say. I just forget ;-). Well, I just wanted to announce the opening of my new etsy shop. I'm going to try to be better about loading things there then I have been about blogging. So, here's the link if you'd like to check it out. Feedback is always welcome.

http://www.lajewelrydesigns.etsy.com

Happy Birthday to Me :-)!

It's my birthday too--yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

Yes we're going to a party party
Yes we're going to a party party
Yes we're going to a party party.

I would like you to dance--Birthday
Take a cha-cha-cha-chance-Birthday
I would like you to dance--Birthday
Dance

You say it's your birthday
Well it's my birthday too--yeah
You say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

OK, so Sunday is my birthday. WOOHOO!!! Yes, it's my birthday, but I feel like giving too so I
am offering everything on my site at 30% off from now until Valentine's Day, which as you all know is 2/14. I have no way of discounting the items or at least I don't know how to do it & my
techie son is away at school so rather than bother him, please just e-mail me at lajewelrydesignsATaol.com letting me know which item (s) you'd like to purchase & I will then send you a paypal invoice.

auction won by Bunny Crosson

I'm so excited! Our auction ended last night. The winning bidder was Bunny Crosson. I love her designs! It's truly gratifying to have it go to the home of such a talented seed bead artist. And, did I mention that we took in $147.50 for the Susan G Komen Foundation??? YAHOO!!!

auction to benefit the Susan G Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research

I was involved in a colloaborative project, a necklace that was featured in the September/October issue of Belle Armoire. We are 5 members of another yahoo group that created the components for this beautiful piece. We've decided to auction the
necklace off on ebay. Should any of you be interested, here's a link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/AUTUMN-NECKLACE-BELLE-ARMOIRE-SUSAN-G-KOMEN_W0QQitemZ1901680\
35237QQihZ009QQcategoryZ110665QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or tinyurl: http://tinyurl.com/34dgzj

Please note that 100% of the proceeds is being donated to the Susan G
Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research. I hope you'll take a look
at this lovely piece and bid generously.

Adult Ed class

My adult ed class started last week. It's a big class! I had asked them to cut off registration at 10 people since I'm teaching on my own, but at last count we're up to 12. I was a bit unnerved by the size of the class & was concerned how I was going to be able to give everyone my attention, but the 1st class seemed to run pretty smoothly since several of them were in my class before. My biggest challenge is being heard. I have a soft voice & it's a chatty bunch ;-), but that's what makes it fun. We even finished a bit early. It's hard to gauge the timing of the class.

The projects that I chose for last sessions' classes were a bit challenging for people that had never beaded so I decided to start with a simple stringing project. We made bracelets strung on beading wire with gemstones & crystals. The bracelets came out beautiful & everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves. It was gratifying to see at least 4 people from last session that had signed up for this session. I guess they liked it ;-)!

I'm still working on this coming week's project. The consensus was that they had wanted to make knotted silk cord lariats. These are actually a bit more challenging than one might think for beginners. They're somewhat freeform so although that sounds like it would be easier, it really isn't. I have to check my stock anyway. I'm not sure I have all the materials on hand for it.

Collaborative piece in September Belle Armoire

Five of us that are all members of the Jewelry Haven yahoo group got together (virtually) to compose a necklace. We submitted it to Belle Armoire and it is published in the current issue of Belle Armoire. I coordinated the project, but everyone involved made charms of their own choosing to include in the piece. Interestingly enough, unbeknownst to one another the 5 of us each used a different media, which proved to add each person's individuality to the project. My contribution was the focal bead & hand torched lampwork leaves. I then took all the components and made sterling silver heart shaped links to attach them to.

Here's an excerpt from the issue:
Five Jewelry Haven members were inspired by Fall to create a collaborative necklace using various mediums. As the season unfolds with the myriad of colors, they have been inspired to capture the best of the season-the changing leaves - the landscape- the changes in our lives and the constancy of friendship.