Out of the Studio Wednesday

As I feverishly prepare for my bead show this Sunday (yikes - time to update that list!!), I'm adding new bead sets to my line. These beads are 20 mm or 3/4" square. There will be different shapes and sizes! Here's a small sampling of what's in store . . .

BAO Item of the Week

This week, we have 15 members of our team participating in the Item of the Week. Give yourself a treat with some bead art and have a great Tuesday!

Marvelous Monday

With vacation week behind us, I'm diving into this week by sharing an enamellist whose work I have enjoyed over the years. Lisa Hawthorne was a 2008 Niche Award Finalist though this was not her first time. She has won the Niche Award from 2004 - 2007. Her cloisonne enamel is so beautiful with the her masterful use of shading and colors. Here's a few pictures to give you a taste of what she does. If these leave you wanting more, head over to her website and see what she's up to. And have a marvelous Monday!

Feeling the Love Friday

Just a quick post as this is vacation week and apparently I had a lot of things planned. Driving, driving and more driving. Not much to report from the studio this week as you might have figured with the lack of a blog entry on Wednesday. But it doesn't stop the stuff from swimming around my head!

This week, the BAO team had a spring sale. I was lucky enough to get into two of our member's treasuries! The first treasury was made by AKDampwork. It was titled "Modern Metallics". My brown and green reversible bead was featured in it. Both of these treasuries have expired so unfortunately you won't be able to view them live.

So, now for the fun part - I did a little window shopping at Amy's (ADKlampwork's shop) and here's one of my favorites at the moment. It's a lampwork bead called "Ice Crystals". It's rather dreamy, isn't it?

And the other treasury I was in was curated by SmadarsTreasure. The treasury was called "Beautifilogy" and my Champignon Bead was featured in it. Sure wish you could visit this one as well! Sorry, but it's link-less.

So, join me on my little shopping trip here and see what I selected from Smadar's shop. Her beadwoven necklace with a red adventurine donut pendant is definitely my favorite at the moment!

Thanks to Smadar and Amy for those gold stars in my week - you guys are the best! Have a great weekend!

BAO Item of the Week

Another week is upon us and we have some wonderful specials going on this week. First of all, I'm offering 10% off and free shipping on a pair of my turquoise crackle cuff links.

And below is the BAO Team's mosaic of specials. Please click on the image to be able to read the details of each special!

Marvelous Monday

There was recently an exhibit at the Sauer Gallery in Sante Fe, New Mexico featuring the work of Kevin Gordon. It was called "System Nuturae" based on marine life. He studied numerous natural science collections in the Western Australian Museum, Department of Aquatic Zoology.

While examining, and photographing select specimens, he was able to capture the intricate physical characteristics of the marine specimens." Naturae". As you can see, it was featured in his glass art . Hope you have a marvelous Monday!

Feeling the Love Friday

This week started off with a beautiful treasury called "Treasure Chest"curated by Zhella. In it, he featured my turquoise blue crackled necklace.



So, I'm sending the love back to Zhella and showing you one of my favorites from his shop. It's a black, silver and red polymer clay pendant. He's rather new to Etsy, not too much in his shop yet, but I look forward to seeing more!

Here's another treasury by thebeadedlily called "the BAO Welcomes Spring Sale". Here, she featured 12 of our members that are featuring some sort of sale this week. You can read about it here and get your entries in to win some beautiful giveaways!

And here's a new favorite of thebeadedlily's shop. It's called "windows facing east"

The next two treasuries are from SmadarsTreasure. The first one was is called Earth, Wind and Fire. My Tunnel Vision bead was featured in it.

And here's Smadars second treasury. Boy - she's all over those treasuries this week! This one was called "7, 11 & 6" treasury. My Tuscany Series bead was featured in it amongst all my BAO friends.

And I'm sending the love back double to Smadar! The first is her gold lariat with crystal and rose glass beads.

And another favorite of mine is her Ivory Cuff bracelet.

And here's a treasury that was curated by administration over at Etsy. It was a real surprise when I popped up on the home page and saw my neckace. It was right there on that front page! What a great day! What a great week! Thanks to all my Etsy friends for sharing their love!

Out of the Studio Wednesday

How do you spell cholesterol? P - A - S - S - O - V - E - R! There's got to be a healthier way to do this. My 13-year old has brought new meaning to the word fussy. So, I've had a few recipes over the years I thought looked good but had never used. Being in a fix for something to make that would hopefully keep Lily at the table for more than 5 minutes (or at all) I found something that seemed to have all the ingredients she might like . . . no meat. Matzo (surprise), eggs (5) , leeks (I referred to them as onions), heavy cream, cheddar cheese and butter. Leek Gratin - it's a killer. But once a year, okay 8 days, it'll have to do!

This week I'd been listening to another audiobook about yet another serial killer. This one was called Faces of Fear by John Saul. It's about a divorced woman who marries a plastic surgeon (this will tie in, I promise) after his wife commits suicide. She and her daughter move in with him in his enormous home in Bel-Air. And as they say, there's a fine line between perfection and madness . . .

Which leads me to my Wednesday post . . . which is it - madness or perfection? A few pictures I hope you'll enjoy. I'm going to try to have these beads in my Etsy shop by the week end (free shipping ends April 18). That's the plan.

You might recognize some of my patterns here. There are mosaics, yin yang, madras and now I've got this plant/ocean thing going on - anenomes or coral maybe? And speaking of plastic surgery, Im having a lot of fun with these "mica peels". There might be another tutorial on the way . . .

Bead Art Originals is Having a Spring Sale and Giveaway!

The Bead Art Originals are having a spring sale from April 12 - 18! Plus, every day they are giving an item away!!!! Give away, I say! To see the participating members and find out what specials being offerred are, visit the BAO Blog!!!! Follow the instructions on the blog to participate in the giveaway – every day a new item!!!! There's still time to win Day 1 and Day 2! Head over to the blog and enter to win!

Here's a little preview of the Day one giveaway (by CieloDesign)

And here's the Day 2 giveaway (by SandFibers)

I am also participating in this sale and am offering FREE shipping to anywhere in the world on all my items in my shop during the period of the Spring Sale (April 12-18). I will be adding new items each day that will be included in this offer! Don’t forget to check out the BAO Blog daily for your chance to enter that day’s giveaway!!! http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/

Marvelous Monday

Nano - a brief period of time. Pod - a vessel that contains the seeds of a plant. Though originally formed in 2000, in Taos, New Mexico, Nanopod went through several incarnations beginning with owner Tosca Teran's moving to Toronto in 2001. Nanopod acquired its own domain online in 2003, and in 2005, Nanopod found a home, a hybrid studio located in Toronto. In this studio, there are metalworking , fusing and flamework glass classes.

I found Tosca's work on Flickr. Her work doesn't cease to amaze! Click on the photos in order to see the materials used. If you want to see how some of these pieces evolved, take a stroll through the artist's sketchbook - it'll inspire you to do the same. Hope you enjoy - have a marvelous Monday!

Feeling the Love Friday

I've been fortunate this past week to appear in a few more treasuries. Thank you my Etsy friends for those gold stars!

The first treasury was made by cherrylippedroses. It was titled "Rendevous, the heart of Saturday night". My sushi bead was featured in this treasury.

I'm sending the love back to cherrylippedroses (Kathryn) who is in partnership with her daughter Erin. Together, the own the shop "heartsabustin". A mother-daughter shop - how cool is that? Anyway, here's my favorite item (at the moment). It's called African Fire.

The next treasury was curated by nansglam. Her treasury was titled "Hot and very cool". My midnite forest bead was featured in it. This treasury should still be live so feel free to click!

I'm sending the love back to nansglam. One of my favorite items in her shop at the moment is her Sweet Nectar earrings. What girl doesn't like to jingle? Do you see an orange pattern going on here this week with me? :o)

And this last treasury was a complete surprise. One - because I never knew it existed and two - because it made the front page!!! It was curated by a member of the Etsy admin team. Who knew?

A couple notes about the Etsy treasuries. Did you know there is a flickr page set up by Etsy where you can see all the front pages? Great for capturing screenshots. Here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28488923@N05/

Also, for those of us who have shops and want to search the treasuries to hunt for gold stars - there is an easier way. Just go to craftopolis and put in your Etsy ueername and voila - you get a listing of all the treasuries you're in at that moment (treasury & treasury west). Here's the link:http://www.craftopolis.com/index.php?com=th

Out of the Studio Wednesday - Bead Dreams

Back in March I blogged about a project I was working on. The project was my entry for this year's Bead Dreams 2009 competition. The deadline was April 6th and I'm glad to say, I met the deadline (yes, at the very last minute, of course). Apparently my procrastinaiton thrill seeking habit is still alive and kicking! Anyway, the idea started with a particular color palette in mind. Dreams of Tuscany, actually. And by the way, during this project, I managed to get a little side tracked - that's when I made these beads that I blogged about. This side trip could have been due to #4 (procrastination due to self control). I had never really made a whole necklace of hollow form beads and began the process drawing out different shapes, cutting them out and arranging them in different ways. I'm a focal bead kind of girl so this was a little out of my box. I spent a lot of time making the hollow form molds, beads, curing, filing, sanding, covering, curing, sanding, drilling, buffing each and every one of them. I really should have taken a picture of my nails. By the time I was done, all the nails on my right hand (the one I did the sanding with) were angled upwards. Not pretty.

Anway, here's a few photos of the necklace. There you have it - one big thing crossed off the to do list. Now, where did I put that bottle of wine? :o)