Sunday Quickie

Hey everyone! I'm busy busy busy this weekend while working at the show and not able to get online. I wanted to pop in and do a quickie post to say Thank You to everyone entering my OWOH and blog reader appreciation giveaways!

I will post later this week, but to tide you over here are this weeks Bead Blogger links!

About.com Jewelry Making: Catch up on the latest jewelry web news from contests to free tutorials with this handy list of links.

Art Bead Scene: Searching for a way to achieve an etched metal look? ABS has a free tutorial for you!
Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts: Are you a follower? Barbe has a giveway for her blog readers.

Beading Arts: A beautiful glass bead becomes the focal point of a Valentine's Day necklace!

Carmi's Art/Life World:  Carmi did "knot" stress out making this new necklace!

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva: With the help of Vintaj brass, Cindy whips up a set of tethered butterfly earrings with her bronze floral charms.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles: Melanie reveals the delicious ingredients she received for the Bead Soup Party.

Snap Out of It Jean! There's Beading to be Done!: Kim Miles! Who makes prettier Valentine's day, or "just for yourself" gifts than Kim? Wait til you see what she has up her sleeve...the Ace of Hearts, so to speak!

Strands of Beads:  Melissa is giving away a $25.00 gift certificate from Artbeads.com this week!

Avoiding work by indulging in Eye Candy - Calorie Free!

I'm busy tagging, pricing and packing. To take my mind off these dreary tasks here are a few photos of some of the Saints and Sinners jewelry going to the fair.  I'm taking a number of industrial, steampunk items like the 94th Steam Aeroguard necklace above.   Last summer the darker steampunk pieces were popular, so hope that will be that case this weekend too.

This is a group shot of a few prettier things. I'm a little worried I don't have any big WOW pieces, but hope my selection of jewelry will still bring buyers into the booth.

I'm also bring a small variety of bobbypins and fancy hair wear pieces. I want to keep them all but don't have the room LOL.  I love making these and I WISH I had those Hot Glue Gun Helpers by Cathie Filian while I creating them. I saw those nifty tools in action at CHA and I am getting a kit as soon as they go on the market.  I am going to make a few more today, and need to figure out a way to display them. I'd love to have some vintage hat mannequin heads from the 40's to put them on.  I'm also gathering up all kinds of pins and rings just to make sure I have some lower price point items. Many buyers have a much smaller budget this year and I want to have things that won't break the bank.

And in other eye candy news-I was my friend Kecia's Valentine and look at this lot of lovelies she gifted me!!! A handmade valenting box and inside was one of her gorgeous art jewelry necklace pieces made just for me!! Also in the package were Lolita glasses and a Marie Antoinette chocolate pop. I REALLY want to eat Marie's head but its just too pretty!

Being the good friend she is, she was helping to market me at CHA by wearing a

custom headband I made for her. Isn't she the cutest!

Here's a closeup pic of the headband. I used a small papermache kewpie doll and put on a banner with Kecia's business name LEMONCHOLY over it. It looks adorable in person.

I guess its time to stop looking at photos and get back to work. More pretty pics later!

Blog readers appreciation giveaway!

The spirit of giveaways has taken me over. I gave away A Bead In Time book last week and in addition to my One World One heart giveaway, I wanted to do a second giveaway solely for my blog followers.  I appreciate the fact you follow, read and comment and want to offer a little pretty something to say thank you to everyone.

The prize is this sweet little Muertos shrine pendant I created.  It's one of a kind and made with various brightly colored bits and bobs. It's ready to add a chain or use it as the centerpiece in your own Muertos necklace.

To enter, you must be following this blog and leave a comment. I'll pick the winner on Feb 28! Be sure you are listed as a follower otherwise it won't count.

One World One Heart Giveaway

A few years ago, I discovered a great blogwide giveaway called the One World, One Heart Giveaway.  I thought I had missed the deadline to join in this years fun, but I was pleasantly suprised to see the deadline is Feb 7th.

One World, One Heart was started in 2007 by Lisa of a Whimsical Bohemian, this initial event was designed to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet otherwise. It was designed to close the gap of the blog community , enable us to discover new and wonderful people and in the process possibly win something along the way.

I really enjoy going to each blog to check out what is being given away as well as see all the creative talent I would otherwise never know about.

This years giveaway is for this pair of altered vintage gloves called Black Molly.  I hand dyed in a gorgeous marigold color and silkscreened with a fancy goldfish on them. They are marked  a vintage sz 6 so they are on the smaller size.  You can wear them or add them to an art quilt, altered purse, shadowbox, assemblage or use for display..

To enter, just  leave a comment on this post along with a way for me to contact you. You can link back to your blog, twitter, or email address, without it I have no way of letting you know if you won.

This contest is open to bloggers only, worldwide!International participants are VERY welcome and I will announce the winner on February 15, 2010.  Be sure to check out the other amazing bloggers on the magic carpet of One World, One Heart.

Wonky Week, Bead Bloggers and the Bead in Time Winner

I apologize for not picking the book winner yesterday. My week took an unexpected turn when my 17 1/2yr old cat had a seizure on Thursday afternoon and had to be rushed to the emergency vet. We first went to the SPCA who turned us away because it was after 4pm. I couldn't believe what was happening when they said "sorry you'll have to go to Pets Unlimited". Unreal!   Pets Unlimited is our regular vet but is WAY across town and I didnt' know if my cat would die before we got there which is why we went to the SPCA!!! We've had to go there numerous times before with emergencies, and NEVER before 4pm.   I guess they changed their emergency hours after they built the new hospital.  So while standing there crying  I remembered there is another Vet hospital a few blocks away and we ran there. 

SFVS was wonderful, numerous staff members came out to tell us what was going on, and how sweet she was even while in distress. They a bunch of tests, so she spent the night there.  She is home now, and we are awaiting some more test results to determine what is going on with her. While she does appear to have kidney deterioration due to old age, they think the culprit may be lymphoma.  :-(    I'm praying that isn't the case, but am preparing myself for it just in case.


Now I need to focus on the things I need to get done for next weekend's SFIGF show. I'm tagging and pricing jewelry today. I don't have as much made as I would like but it is what it is.  I will still be making some stuff this week like bracelets and rings. Those usually don't sell well, but with the economy they may do better at this show because they are a lower price point then the jewelry.   I wanted to create some big beautiful necklace displays this fall too,  but that will have to be a project for this spring. Styling a booth isn't easy for me, and I'm always looking at other booths for inspiration. I also need to create a setup that is lightweight and portable. I'd like to do some shows across the country and need things to break down easily and not cost a fortune to ship but still look really good.

Now its time to pick the winner of the A Bead in Time book!!!! Using random.org to pick a number, the winner is --------- BAGLADY!!!!!  Congrats!!! Thank you to everyone for commenting and sharing your inspirations!

I still need to edit some pics for my People at CHA post. I am having fun, reading peoples blogs and FB posts and finding new pics via friends and people online. So while I get that all together for a future post, let me whet your crafty tastebuds with this weeks bead bloggers links!

A Bead A Day
Is it too early to "think spring" or will that make it get here faster? Lisa used her Soft Flex Trios in an attempt to hurry spring along.
About.com Jewelry Making
Are you ready to load up on some Valentine's jewelry tutorials? Are you even making jewelry for this holiday?
Art Bead Scene
Meet the pretty girl with lots of brains plus a whole lotta soul!
Carmi's Art/Life World
After a week at CHA Carmi chooses the sweater surgery necklace as her favorite event.
Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva
Instead of biting her fingernails down to the nub, Cindy makes Grunge Beads!
Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Melanie looks to the skies for the inspiration for some new cloud carvings
Jean Campbell
Jean met up with two very cool artists this week: Gorgeous wool designs (including wool beads!); wonderful women.
Jewelry & Beading
Cyndi is so happy that the third year of the Bead Journal Project has started. This year, she's making a bead embroidered bracelet for each month of the project.
Snap Out of It Jean! There's Beading to be Done!
book review by jean: here's a cool title, harking back to the 60s...Crunchy Granola Charm eBook by Yvette Doss !
Strands of Beads
Melissa creates a new necklace design using cute heart beads from Rings & Things.

Crafty thank you to Stefanie at Craftside!

Sending a big thank you to Stefanie for mentioning me in her blog today!! Visit Craftside for all kinds of wonderful crafty tidbits, how to's and more!

CHA Rewind Part 1 = A Crafty Wonderland!

photo credit Kecia Deveney

Simply put, CHA was amazing. It was a whirlwind of color, products, talking, networking and creating. I got to see, touch and try out so many new products and talk to so many people. As usual, I was too busy "being in the moment" to take anywhere near the amount of photos I had wanted to. Luckily I have  friends who were shutterbugs so I will be able to share some of theirs.  With so much going on, I'm to do 2 blogpots about it, one on the products and the other on the people.

 I saw lots of interesting products I want to buy now, as well as many that weren't my thing but cool nonetheless. The vast amount and variety of scrapbooking papers and products is unbelievable.  I'm not a scrapbooker but I saw a ton of papers I lusted after. I'm kinda glad I'm not into scrapbooking because we'd have to move someplace I could have a room or two devoted to all that gorgeous paper. I also love looking at how creative the booth displays were. Some of them were basic, some nice and some truly outstanding. Makes me feel extremely inadequate with my own little show display but these are certainly inspiring.

 Making Memories had this gorgeous butterfly panel floating above their booth that shimmered in the light. It was stunning in person. They also had a pink Vespa and helmet for people to use for photo ops - supercute!

Tim Holtz had his industrial touch spread across a few booths. This on focused on his product alone and was done up in a definately more masculine "swapmeet chic" style that I just loved. It wa a gorgeous booth with this giant vintage lugguage sculpture in the center of it. IF I had room for such a thing, I'd build one just like it!

Plaid had an absolutely gorgeous booth designed by Cathie and Steve with TONS of retro girlie eye candy. You can see more of this gorgeous shabby glam booth at the Mod Podge Rocks blog.

I Love To Create had a massive booth that didn't get any pics of, darn it. Trust me it was glittery and colorful!

and last but not least, Objects and Elements booth!!! I love the hand drawn banners as the background and display. Yes, you read that right HAND DRAWN!  There was quite a buzz about the products.   I spent a bit of time extolling the joys of ICE resin to the interested crowds that never seemed to diminish around the booth. I'm so excited for Susan, Linda and Jen because I know Objects and Elements is gonna be huge!

This is only a tiny micro fraction of what I saw. I wish I had taken more photos but am happy I remembered to at least take SOME rather than my usual none.

Tomorrows post is all about the people I got to see and meet!

A Bead in Time by Lisa Crone Book Review and giveaway

A Bead in Time: 35 Jewelry Projects Inspired by Slices of Life (Paperback) by Lisa Crone

Publisher: North Light Books (January 21, 2010)

Language: English
ISBN-10: 1600613101
ISBN-13: 978-1600613104
 
There a many wonderful jewelry books that teaching technique first and inspiration/creativity second. What happens after you've completed the projects and feel at a loss on how to make something with your own spin on it if you are unsure how?  That's when you need a book that shows you how to focus on your own creativity.  A Bead in Time flips it around so that the reader thinks in terms of inspiration first, technique second.. 
 
Author Lisa Crone asks "Where do you go to find inspiration?".   She helps you turn your favorite memories into gorgeous beaded jewelry that is personal to you.  For Lisa, a trip to Niagara Falls was her inspiration for creating a pair of earrings. Cascading with clear crystal drops, the earrings look like the water rushing down the falls and everytime she wears them, she is reminded of that trip. 
 
In this book are 35 step-by-step projects inspired by things such as the humble dandelion, yummy candy, and even the Golden Gate Bridge!  Lisa shows the reader how to use their own memories to create similiar yet unique creations of their own.  I think my favorite project in this book is the Dandelion Bracelet, with its bright sunny face. How many of us spent our childhood picking these and braiding them or "popping" their heads off?  These projects are all beginner-friendly but the seasoned designer will also find the book valuable in terms of design perspective.
 
You can read more about Lisa and her daily bead inspirations at her blog A Bead A Day
 
Also, I'll be giving away a copy of this delightful book. Leave a comment below with a tidbit about your own inspiration and I'll pick the winnner on Jan 30. This contest is open to readers worldwide.