Lampwork artists

Lampwork artists

OWOH Winner!!!

I tried so hard to read all the wonderful blogs involved in this great event, but sadly I just couldn't keep up. I will go back & read through them all again after over the next few weeks when I don't feel as rushed.

Anyway......DRUMROLL!!!! I used the random # generator & it selected # 29! After deleting a couple of duplicate posts & my own in which I (stupidly) responded to a comment (will know better next year, please excuse this OWOH newbie), the lucky winner of my star bead necklace is MaryAnn from Maine! I've contacted her & am waiting for her shipping info so I can get this in the mail to her ASAP.

Thanks again for all the great comments! I had a great time visiting with you all & hope we can stay in touch!

Featured Artist on AJDJSS Guild

As some of you may or may not know I have shops on etsy and artfire in addition to my website. I've recently joined a new (to me) guild on artfire, Artfire Jewelry Design and Jewelry Supply Guild (AJDJSS). Coincidentally I knew some of the members from before, but even the new members have all been very friendly and I am enjoying getting to know them all.

Well to my surprise, our guildmaster, Margo, Beadlady5 on artfire, selected me to be the featured studio. How cool is that! Here's the blog post. Check it out & check out all the other incredibly talented jewelry designers and jewelry supply shops listed on the blog!

Now I'm sick! :(

I woke up during the night, night before last FREEZING, with the chills, bad sore throat and my skin hurting even. I put on sweats, got back under the covers, where I was still freezing. I tossed & turned most of the night, so it was no surprise when I got out of bed, I had a low grade fever.

I called the doctor's office & they said I needed to be seen. With hubby sick, I had no choice but to drive myself. They did a cardiogram, chest x-ray, blood work up and a throat culture. The cardiogram and chest x-ray were negative. I should have the results of the blood & throat culture by Tuesday.

And of course we had no food in the house so I had no choice but to go out in this frigid cold with temps in the teens. No more leaving the house for me though until Monday when we head back to the doctor. Time for another nap.

Hubby has pneumonia! :(

Hubby's been home sick for a week now. Fever, chills, coughing, etc. Last week when he went to the doctor, they checked & he didn't have the flu. The doctor put him on a new strong antibiotic just to play it safe, but told him he thought it was viral & sent him on his way.

He's been feeling pretty much the same all week, been in touch with the Dr several times. The doctor finally wanted to see him today so I drove him over there. He almost passed out in the examining room because he's so worn out. The doctor debated sending him to the ER, but finally agreed to give him some IV fluids because he was dehydrated. After 3 9% sodium chloride IV bags (of course I happened to notice ), his color finally came back. They repeated a chest x-ray & cardiogram. The cardiogram was fine, but there was a spot on the x-ray that looked worse than last week. Turns out he has pneumonia. They switched his antibiotics. Gave him 2 new ones & more cough medicine with codeine. He has to rest & we go back to the pulmonologist on Monday. Am praying that this works. Please keep him in your prayers.

One World One Heart 2010 - A Magic Carpet Ride

With all the horrors going on in the world today wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all take a magic carpet ride to other corners of the universe? Experience things like we've never seen before, have others come and see how we live? I think that would be a great way, a beginning at least, to work towards promoting peace in our nations.

Well, that is the theme for this year's One World One Heart. I'll be participating in the giveaway event this year. The idea was launched in 2007 by Lisa Swifka as a way to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. Details on previous years can be had on her blog.

Soooo, in keeping with this year's theme and the photo above, I am offering this lovely piece titled "Starry, Starry Night".



The focal bead is a 5 pointed star created with layers of white, transparent turquoise and green glass. The pendant measures 21mm and was wound on a 3/32" mandrel. Included is a dyed silk cord measuring approximately 24" which can be knotted at whichever length you desire. The bead is an artisan lampwork bead created by me in my NY studio. I have a shop on Etsy as well as ArtFire where I have lots of other beads for sale.

In order to be eligible to win this lovely necklace, each person must leave a comment below. Since this is a blog event, this giveaway is only open to other bloggers. 1 winner will be picked at random. Your contact information is imperative as that is the only way I have to contact you. If no contact info is left, I will be forced to select another winner. I'd REALLY hate for that to happen. Contest ends February 15, 2010 @ 12:01 AM. My birthday's in February & I love the idea of giving someone else a gift! :) Here are the dreaded (simple) rules:

1) Entrants must include their blog address in their comment.
2) Entrants must include their e-mail address in the comment or have a way for me to find you.

That's all! Good luck!

Looking For Unique Handmade Stationery?

Then look no further. I recently came upon a seller of just that! Her name is Dawn and she sells unique handcrafted notecards out of her etsy and artfire shops.

She's the featured artisan currently on rikrakstudio's blog. They are running a giveaway! Go read all about it & give it a whirl. I know I'd be tickled pink to win anything of hers! Such talent!

My wonderful neice :-)

First let me say that to know Lauren is to love her....and not just cause I'm her aunt mind you. She's as sweet as can be & has a heart of gold. She has been wanting to host a jewelry party for me for some time now. The problem was logistics. She lives in Omaha & I'm in NY.

We finally figured out that this last time when my sister came in for a visit, I would send off my creations with her. My poor sister had to lug home a fairly heavy carry on bag cause I was too afraid for her to check it.

Well, the party was this weekend. I don't have any pics yet, but from what I hear the girls had a blast & she made quite a bit of money for her favorite aunt. ;-) So when are we scheduling the next one??

2010 New Year Goals

I can't believe that not only is this a new year, but a new DECADE! YIKES! I'd better make the most of it. The holidays are behind us and now it's time to give some thought to what sort of goals I'm aiming for in this coming year. I'm not a resolution type person. I feel it sets me up for failure so have decided on goals instead, something relatively new to me as well. ;-) I am hoping that by actually writing them out & having them to refer to down the line I have a better chance of accomplishing most, if not all of the things on my list.

I will check in periodically and post on some of the things on my list to keep me honest. LOL!

Let's make 2010 the best year yet! So, here are my 15 Goals for 2010:

1. List 5 new items a week in my Etsy and/or ArtFire shops.
2. Remain 1 month ahead of the season with my products.
3. Blog at least 3 times a week.
4. Read 1 book for fun every month.
5. Engage in some sort of physical activity 3 times per week. (Note: I'm anticipating this to be my hardest goal as I am not a gym rat, so will be exploring my options).
6. Treat myself once per month. (This could include a pedicure, massage, take myself to the movies, etc.)
7. Contact 1 gallery per month to inquire about carrying my products.
8. Try a new recipe 2 times a month.
9. Spend some time mastering my camera and work on taking better photos.
10. Have a girls night once per month.
11. Replace one glass of diet soda with a glass of water daily.
12. Reach 250 Etsy sales by December 31, 2010.
13. Look for a part time job.
14. Do something to make someone say "thank you" every day.
15. Participate in 2 charitable events.

I reserve the right to add to the list as I come up with new ideas, but for now, these are the things I am passionate about.

What are your big goals for this upcoming year? Feel free to list as many as you'd like - I love getting inspired by other people's ambitions and goals! This blog post came about from reading a friend's very inspiring blog post about her goals.

I wish us all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year! May we all look back next year and realize that we've accomplished all that we had set out to.

Etsy Treasuries

I haven't had much luck myself snagging a treasury lately, but just tonight, when I went to check the treasury clock, I noticed that my work is featured in 4 treasuries! How nice is that!

First is A Touch of Glass by my friend, Barb, of RiversEdgeGlass featuring my fishie in a surrounded by glass creations by fellow Fire Divas.



She makes very cool dread beads including this one in her etsy shop:



Here's You Little Stinker by Heidi of Jamnglass. She selected one of my boro focals.



She sells luscious hand dyed silk cords in her etsy shop like this one:



This next one was a complete surprise since it was created by someone unknown to me, It's a Fine Day. I love when that happens! ;-) It features one of my freeform lampwork focal beads that I'm especially fond of.



The treasury was put together by CreaShines Check out these cool earrings I found in her shop:



Last, but not least is this beautiful purple treasury, Purple Promises put together by my friend Jennifer of HaffinaAgain. It features one of my vintage skeleton keys with an attached boro bead.



I love these beautiful purple earrings of hers that were also in the treasury.

Got a Hat Trick This Week!

I'm honored to have my work featured in 3 separate treasuries this week. The 1st one was created by Mallory Hoffman, rosebud101 on etsy. She makes awesome disks like these:


Next treasury was created by Carolyn of doodlesmosaictiles. Look at incredible painted mosaic fish tiles in her shop.



Last, but not least is Janelle of nomadcraftsetc, another talented lampwork artist. Look at this adorable lizard I found in her shop:

This Weekend's Craft Show

The top 2 photos were a dry run the night before the show, taken in my living room. The rest are the day of the show itself. The last 2 photos are of my friend, Linda's displays. She makes amazing seed bead items as well and we shared a table.

I remember now why I hate doing craft shows. I think it has something to do with all the resellers selling mass produced jewelry...who can compete with $5 necklaces made in a factory in China by small children? Or the person next to me that sold candle giftware and picture frames?

If you want quality jewelry and lampwork beads, there has to be a better way to sell your wares. There are better shows of course, but the fees in the NY area at least range from $150- $300 per day for those shows. With no guarantee of selling ANYTHING, I just can't make that kind of investment for possibly no return.

There were some good things that came out of all this. First of all, I did make some sales, covered my expenses and got to meet some very nice people who all made a point to say that our jewelry was the nicest there. That made us feel a lot better. I also got to meet Russell, the owner of Bead Unique magazine, who seemed to take an interest in my work. I had a nice time chatting with him & he asked for my card. I could kick myself for not asking for his....DARN!!!

So what's a girl to do? Luckily for me, my preference is making my own lampwork beads, which, though may not make me a millionaire, it does generate some income for me. As for the pieces that didn't sell this weekend, look for them on etsy and artfire in the days to come. :-)

Calling All Designers - Introductory Jewelry Challenge!

The Fire Divas are hosting an Introductory Jewelry Challenge! This challenge will be for jewelry designers who use artisan lampwork in their pieces. The winner of the Challenge will receive a beautiful group of Fire Divas' work. This is a wonderful chance for jewelry designers to show off their talents and get exposure!

To get the details on what is involved, please visit our blog for the info:

Fire Divas

Jennifer's Treasure Hunt

I was so moved to have my friend Jennifer mention my bead in her blog yesterday. She's a fellow member of the Fire Divas and an extremely talented lampwork artist.

Cyber Monday Specials!!!

I am participating in Team ESST's Cyber Monday specials! Everything in my etsy shop is 10% off the posted price. You can either convo me requesting an invoice or else I will refund your paypal account following checkout.

Use Coupon Code: C14E9F54F2-3D03328242 during checkout for my ArtFire shop to get 10% off your entire order.

Etsy

ArtFire

Technologically Challenged

I think I've come a long way over the years and though I enjoy learning new things AFA the WWW goes, it's a constant learning experience. I get so excited to learn a new application and as soon as I do, something new comes along. And this happens instantaneously. It never ceases to amaze me that the more I know, the more I NEED to know.

However I did manage to add a flickr application for my fellow Fire Divas group to my blog and also a slide show of my personal flickr page.

What do you all think? Do you like the new look or is it too busy?

I'm in a New Treasury!

My friend Janel, a fellow Fire Diva, put one of my fish beads in a treasury. I'm in the company of lots of talented glassy peeps. Check it out & click away. Sorry I couldn't copy the whole thing here. The screen grab was not cooperating. ;-) Click on TREASURY to find it.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Fire Divas are having a Breast Cancer Awareness Challenge! Several of our members have made wonderful pieces for YOU to vote on. First, you can feast your eyes on these beauties in big, clear pictures. When you're done savoring them, please vote for your favorite in bite-sized images on the right side of the Fire Divas' blog. The voting will stay open for one week - then the winner will receive a really cool prize!

Go vote on the Fire Divas Blog.

Dinner @ Justin & Sara's new apartment

My older son, Justin & his lovely GF, Sara, moved in together last month into an apartment in Park Slope. Due to our varied schedules, Larry & I didn't get to go see it till last night. We forgot to take any pics so I've "borrowed" these from Sara's facebook pics from when they 1st moved in. It looks nice & lived in now & they've really made it theirs.

They now have a small table in front of the huge bay window that looks out onto Lincoln Place. That is where they served us dinner last night. Justin made delicious hamburgers that he made in the grill pan I bought for them. And Sara made yummy brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes for sides. Even Larry, who's not into veggies, had some.

For dessert we brought some fresh fruit at their request since they wanted to eat healthy. But then when we went on a walk around the neighborhood, they took us to a cute little bakery that they love & we bought all kinds of goodies to take back to the apt. for dessert. It was a fun evening and it was great seeing them both so happy.

October Weekend Shopping Extravaganza

Hate having to pay shipping for just an item or 2? Or even a whole bunch? I am participating in ESST's Weekend Shopping Extravaganza. For this weekend only, 10/3-10/4, shipping is on me, no matter how large or how small your order is. Just please add FREESHIP in your comments at checkout & I'll refund your paypal account for the shipping portion. Good deal, huh??

I will extend the same offer to any purchases from my
ArtFire. Just click on Etsy or ArtFire to be taken to my shops. Here's a sampling of some items from both shops:

Etsy:






ArtFire: