Been a while...

I've spent the weekend filling my Etsy shop. My booth partner Tracy & I have had many shows this year, and our next one is in October. I figure this is the time to get off my ass and fill it up!  I will be listing some earrings and silver necklaces, too, so keep checking in!

One very, very exciting thing that happened is that I was one of the winners for the Bead Soup Blog Party (yeah, way back in April)!  I won an awesome metal stamping kit from PJ Tools!  Check out their site, some yummy jewelry supplies.  I will be posting more about them later this week.

Belly up to the table, soup's on!

I just love this part.  All the gut-wrenching moments of self doubt go out the window, and the euphoria of a completed project settles in. Click here for my ingredients.

My generous partner is BeeTree by m.e. She makes polymer clay beads and toggles; her love of nature comes shining through in all of her pieces.  Check out her Etsy store!

We can submit our Bead Soup creations to be judged by an impartial panel.  *crunch* That's the sound of my brain grinding to a halt as a result of some self-imposed pressure.  Never a good thing; but I do it far, far too often.  So I stayed off the internet (ok, not Facebook).  I stayed away from Mary's site.  I stayed away from much of Pinterest.  I barely glanced at others' creations.  I did all this in hopes of coming up with some spectacular designs.  ...and nope.  Nada. Nothing.  Not a damn idea.  (Shocking, I know.)

After beating myself up for a couple of days, I noticed the card she sent me.  It has a beautiful picture of the sun's reflection in the shape of a heart.  Her note reads, "I chose this coral because it symbolizes joy and happiness, it enables the wearer to enjoy life. May you always bead happy." Well duh.  This one is mine.  No working outside my comfort zone, no "Hey, I've never tried this before." like I've done with my other soups.  This one is all for me, plain and simple.

I'm in a rather eclectic, bohemian mood lately.  I'm starting to fill my new (to me) house with bright colors, and I am developing a mismatched and relaxed atmosphere.  So I made jewelry in a style I would wear a lot.

I made a simple pendant out of the focal and some swingy earrings (That's right, swingy.  Not only do I make jewelry, I make new words.)

I'm a big fan of chunky, noisy bracelets.  So that's what I made.

I used the toggle, the coral beads, and the fabric strips in the bracelets. I also added a ceramic Peace bead from my friend Diane Hawkey, and added some copper bells for noise and shiny blue beads for a pop of color. I made 5 separate bracelets for those rare occasions I feel like wearing a simple strand or two, and not the whole kit-n-caboodle.

I believe we cannot move forward without remembering who we've been. We have to accept where we've gone and who we've been.  I rummaged through my keepsake box and I dangled an old key that used to open a porcelain bank from my childhood, and I turned one of my old stick pins into a charm.

Thanks for stopping by.  Please check out all of this round's bloggers on Lori's site.

Memories and Thanks Blog Hop

This installment of Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Hop is a little different. We didn't partner up and test the boundaries of our design skills.  Instead, we are honoring the people in our lives that mean so much to us.

Click here for Lori's full story as to why she made this hop a little different, but this quote beast sums it up: "I created this blog hop as a way of remembering no just Mari, but other people who have deep meaning in our lives."

First up, a confession.  I didn't create a new piece for this hop.  I tried.  I have a couple of different half-created necklaces on my work bench, but none of them clicked for me with the meaning.  I kept comparing them to this simple pendant I created years ago.

A few years ago, two of my oldest friends each received some difficult news a couple of months apart.        I made this goddess to represent the strength and freedom of my friends. No matter how much you want to, you can't take away someone's pain, and you can't fight their battles for them.  The best you can do is give them support and love, a shoulder to cry upon, a place to come to when they need to get away.  My friends have always done this for me, and I try to do this as much as I can for them.

Please take some time and go blog hopping.  These are some wonderful artists, and I cannot wait to read their stories.

 Adlinah Kamsir                   Dream Struck Designs

 Aimee Biondolillo               Aimee's Jewelry Treasures

 Alicia Marinache                 All the Pretty Things 
 Andra Marasteanu               Handmade by Indra Marasteanu 
 Andrea Trank                      Heaven Lane Creations
 April Grinaway                   Brooklyn Bead Goddess

Barb Solem                         Vivi Magoo Presents

Becky Pancake                    Becky Pancake Bead Designs

Beth Emery                         Stories by Indigo Heart

Bonnie Coursolle                Jasper's Gems

Cassi Paslick                       Beads: Rolling Downhill

Catherine King                    Catherine's Musings

Cece Cormier                      The Beading Yogini

Chandra Leitz                     Juniper Goods

Charissa Nesler                   FireStorm Designs
Charlie Jacka                       Clay Space

Christina Hickman              Vintage Treasures Jewelry

Christine Murrow               Charis Designs Jewelry
Christine Stonefield            Sweet Girl Design

Chrizette Bayman               Bead Soup Mix

Cindy Wilson                      It's My Sea of Dreams

CJ Bauschka                       4 His Glory Creations by CJ

Crystal Thain                      Here Bead Dragons

Cyndi Lavin                        Beading Arts

Debbie Rasmussen             A little of this, a little of that

Denielle Hagerman             Some Beads... and other things I like
Diana Gonzalez                  Arte y Poemas

Diane Hawkey                    diane hawkey

Dita Basu                            ankarshilpa

Donetta Farrington             Simply Gorgeous

Dyanne Everett-Cantrell     Deeliteful Jewelry Creations

Emma Todd                        A Polymer Penchant

Erin Kenny                         beadiful therapy

Erin Prais-Hintz                  Treasures Found

Gina Hockett                      Freestyle Elements

Gloria Allen                        Innovative Dreams Jewelry

Heather Marston                 CSW Designs

Inge von Roos                    Inge's Blog

Iveth Caruso                       Creative Atelier

Jacqueline Marchant          Fiddledeedee Jewelry

Jami Shipp                         Celebrating Life!

Jean Yates                          Snap Out of it Jean, There's Beading to Do!

Jennifer Reno                     Musings of a Crafty Jenny
Jenny Robledo                   Peppa's Dream

Jennifer VanBenschoten    Jewelry, Art and Life
Jessica Klaaren                  Cellar Door Jewelry

Jessica Murray                   Whimsical Monkey

Joan Williams                     lilruby jewelry

Jo-Ann Woolverton            It's a Beadiful Creation

Joanne Browne                   josjewels1

Jodie Marshall                    Jodie Marshall Lampwork Beads Wearable Art

Johanna Rhodes                 Fire Phoenix Creations
John Rasmussen                 Rasumussen Gems and Jewelry LLC

JuLee Wolfe                       The Polymer Penguin

Julie Bean                           Blue Pig Blog

Karen Mitchell                   Over the Moon Designs

Karin King                         The Sparklie Things Blog
Karin Slaton                       Backstory Beads

Kat Douglas                       Washoe Kat's
Kay Bolton                        Toodles and Binks

Kelly Hosford Patterson     The Traveling SideShow

Kim Ballor                          Vitamin C ... A Daily Does of Creativity

Kim Dworak                       CianciBlue

Kim Houston                       The Pink Martini
Kym Hunter                         Kym Hunter Designs

Laren Dee Barton                Laren Dee Designs

Lea Avroch                          LA Jewelry Designs

Leanne Loftus                      First Impression Design

Liddy McLaughlin               Liddy McLaughlin Art

Linda Florian                       Lily's of the Valley Jewelry & Creative Creations

Linda Inhelder                     Must-Haves Jewelry

Lisa Hamilton                      Simply Irresistable Jewelry
Lisa Suver                            Fancee That

Lori Bowring Michaud        Artfully Ornamental

Lori Poppe                           Adventures in Creativity with Lorillijean

LouAnn Elwell                    Southpass Beads

Mandi Effron                       Craft-o-licious

Marcia DeCoster                 MadDesigns

Marcia Dunne                     The Alternative Foundry

Marie Covert                      Creating Interest

Marjorie Savill Linthwaite     bennubirdrising

Marlene Cupo                        Amazing Designs by Marlene

Martha Aleo                           Ornamento

Marti Conrad                          Marti's Buttons -n- Beads

Mary Ellen Parker                  BeeTree by m.e.

Mary Govaars                        MLH Jewelry Designs

Mary Lindell                          Mary Lindell Artisan Jewelry

Maureen Connolly                 Mrs Beadsley's Workshop

Maybeline Tay                       The Jewelry Larder

Melissa Elgin                         The Addicted Beader

Melissa Mesara                      one-eared pig beads

Menka Gupta                         Menka's Jewelry

Michaela Pabeschitz              la mar de bonita

Mischelle Fanucchi               Micheladas Musings

Mona Rae Baroody               Who Does She Bead She Is?

Nan Emmett                          Spirit Rattles -- Spirited Earth

Nancy Pedersen                    Something Heartfelt by Nancy

Natalie Davidson                  NorthShore Days
Nikki Douglas                      Bead It and Weep

Pam Farren                           re-maker

Pam, the Crazier Sister        The Crazy Creative Corner

Pam Traub                            Klassy Joolz
Priya Krish                           Hellopalz  
Rebecca Anderson               Song Beads

Rebecca Sirevaag                 Becca's Place

Robin Kae Reed                   Artistry HCBD

Rochelle Brisson                  a creative chelle

Rosa Maria Cuevas              Helena de Troya

Sabine Dittrich                     perlendschungel

Sandi Volpe                          Sandi Volpe

Sandra McGriff                    Creative Chaos

Sarah Goode                         Pookledo
Sarah Singer                         String a Song of Sixpence

Serena Trent                         All Things Made Jewelry

Shai Williams                       Shaiha's Ramblings
Sharon Palac                        Sharon's Jewelry Garden

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson    Sharyl's Jewelry & Reflections

Sheila Davis                         Stone Designs

Shelley Graham Turner        Fabric of My Life

Sherri Stokey                       Knot Just Macrame

Sherry Baun                         Unicorns Jewels

Skylar Bre'z                         Brising Beads

Stephanie Haussler              Pixybug Designs

Tania Spivey                        Moobie Grace Designs

Terri G.                                Blooming Ideas

Terry Carter                         Tapping Flamingo

Terry Matuszyk                    Pink Chapeau Vintage Jewelry

Toltec Jewels                       Jewel School Friends
Tracy Kruse                         Goldkisses Art

Tracy Martin                        Nutkitten's Jewelry

Zia Parks                              Anzi~Panzi's Work Shoppe

Zoe Marcin                          Beads, Tea and Sweets

A Few Early Shots of Some Jewelry

I love living in Michigan, and I love all five seasons (can't forget about construction season).  The downside is that in the winter it is dark when I leave for work and dark before I return home.  I hope to take some better pictures this weekend and list some new goodies.

For now, here is a sneak peek...

A little boho...

And a little raku...

Show this Weekend

This weekend Tracy and I will be at the Pennfield Middle School Arts and Crafts Show in Pennfield, Michigan. Here is a quickie pic of some of my new stuff:

This is the first of the last three shows of the year. Check out my show page for the dates and times.

Getting Ready for My Next Show

I spent the day making jewelry, about 7 necklaces and 6 pairs of earrings.  I'm getting ready for the 2012 Northern Michigan Bead & Jewelry Show at the Cadillac Junior High in Cadillac Michigan on April 14th.  I'll be sure to post pics tomorrow!

I Love the Bloggess

I wish I had a witty post, or a post with some awesome pictures of the necklaces I made tonight...  Oh that's right, my work table has 4 half-finished necklaces and a large dose of frustration.

Luckily, The Bloggess post today made me laugh until I nearly peed myself (The part about doll heads, not the part about being in the hospital.  I'm not that soulless. Really.)

http://thebloggess.com/2012/01/the-post-where-i-make-it-up-to-you-and-then-make-things-worse-and-then-apologize-again/

Something New

Here is one of the new necklaces I created this weekend.  The hand dyed ribbon is from Paradox Art Glass on Etsy, the copper pendant bail is by JustVonna.  I made the glass leaf using raku glass.  This is the only time I've been able to coax the pink out of raku.  I've had the leaf for a few years, so I figured it is time to use in something...

Survived Thanksgiving

Woohoo!  I survived cooking my first Thanksgiving meal.  No stress at all.  I only had 4 people to cook for, although I think I made enough food for over 10.  My aunt and I played several games of Scrabble, and at one point we were playing Scrabble on the table and Words With Friends on our cell phones at the same time.  Nope, we aren't competitive or anything...

Now that the holiday hulabaloo is over, I've listed all sorts of glassy goodness in my Etsy store.  Plus, I'm offering free first class shipping with delivery confirmation through Saturday at Noon (EST).  Just use the code FREEPIG2011.

 This is a simple and sparkling pendant created with some dichro.

I created this necklace with some boro beads I won from Lori Anderson a whole back.

We are currently under a winter storm watch (freezing rain changing to 1" of snow every hour til midnight), so I hope to have some great snow pictures tomorrow.

Goodbye, IE9. Hello, Google Chrome!

It's been a while, bloggerverse. Between growing increasingly frustrated with Blogger vs IE9 issues and just being very busy trying to have a life in the summer, I took a break from blogging. I've been making beads, creating jewelry, reading a LOT, and hanging out with my husband and dogs.

I finally downloaded Google Chrome as an alternate search engine. So far, it is working out well. To be blunt, Internet Explorer 9 sucks. We are on DSL, and with IE9, everything moved even slower. Plus, IE9 doesn't play well with java scripts, so I couldn't print coupons from most websites. And Blogger hates IE9. I would have to create a post and save it, but in order to actually post it, I would have to use my smartphone to post it live.

I've listed a few new items in my Etsy store. With all of my lucky bits crossed, here is a new blog post. :)

A new necklace, created with my friend Sandra's focal bead. I love the deep burgundy and shiny silver of this piece.
This cute little necklace was created with an owl from my first Bead Soup partner, Spirited Earth.

This bead was another steeping stone in my love/hate relationship with Raku/Chalcedony. This one falls in the 'love' category. Just look at the blues, pinks, fuschias, and warm beige colors, all from one glass. YUM!

Pretty Baubles In My Store

On Saturday I had what was pretty much the worst show ever. The only good thing about it was that the thunderstorms they wre calling for never arrived. That meant, however, that the day was nasty, hot and humid.

At least this means I have lots of goodies to put up in my Etsy store. :) I've listed a few necklaces and earrings. Over the next week, I'll definitely be listing many more. Stop by and take a peek.

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful 4th!

Simple Evolution

My Bead Soup partner from last year was Nan Emmet of Spirited Earth. She makes wonderful ceramic pendants and beads (not to mention really, really cool spirit rattles).


This picture is the first necklace I made with her cute starfish pendant. meh. I was going for simple and just got blah. So, I turned to my favorite reason for working with metal - the hammer. :)

I beat the hell out of some copper, made some dangles, and voila - simple without the meh.

Not So Shiny

My goodies from yesterday have been patina'd and finished up, all ready for my show next weekend in Lake Odessa. Putting a patina on copper brings out so many wonderful colors.

All Shiny

Here are some of this week's goodies, all tumbled and ready for some patina.

The piece on the right is another one created with my funky discs. The piece on the left I created with some lovely boro beads from amie3. She has some yummy beads.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the post-patina pics.

Recent Work

To make up for my absence, I thought I would post some pics of my recent work.






I designed this necklace with some boro beads I won from the spectacular Lori Anderson. I am having so much fun with copper and patina. The colors are never quite what I expect but are always what I need (cue the Rolling Stones).





Lately, I have become addicted to making funky, not-quite-round, discs. I primarily use soft glass, but I am in currently in love with Gaffer Chalcedony, Gaffer Blue Chalcedony, and the traditional raku. The chalcedonies and raku have always been vexing for lampworkers. They can produce a wonderful range of colors all within one bead. They also can produce blah colors. I love them all, good and bad.



This is a finished piece I sold at a show in Kalamazoo a couple of weekends ago. I think it shows the variety of chalcedony (these discs are blue and regulary chalcedony).

Goodies from Lori

Back in September I won a spectacular bag of goodies from Lori Anderson. At first, I was overwhelmed by the all the beads; I've been running my fingers through the bag over the past month and just enjoying them. I've finally put all of them into containers, and tonight I started to group things together.

Tonight I made a necklace with some yummy boro beads and copper. I will try and take a picture, but it is dark before I get home from work so I may have to wait til the weekend. Here are the beads I used:

A Night for Choice

I recently created a necklace for an upcoming fundraiser for Planned Parenthood of South Central Michigan. The auction will be this weekend, September 17th & September 18th at the Epic Center in Kalamazoo, immediately following the play, Mitzi's Abortion.

The criteria for the auction was to represent women; their strength, their beauty. One of the most important things for me, and often the most difficult thing to hold on to, is my dreams. For this piece, I created a goddess bead with my favorite glass, Psyche. I crafted all of the sterling silver links myself. I've been holding onto the Bali silver bead with stars and moons for nearly three years. As soon as I heard of this auction, I knew I wanted to create something around it.

Lady Liberty

I love it when people send me pictures of their creations using my beads. Here is a wonderful Lady Liberty necklace GoddessJoy created with one of my goddesses! Beautiful!

Also, don't forget to enter to win one of my beads!

Bead Soup Reveal, part one

Look what Nan did with my beads! It is a beautiful necklace - I love it!

Think Pink

This bead isn't mine, but I wanted to show off the pendant I made for our United Way Silent Auction next week. The bead is by Fay Katherine. Her beads are delicious!