Well It's All Over for 2010 ..... Onto a New and Exciting 2011!!

A quick little picture of Sissy & Jack w/Santa (he came down from the North Pole just for this)!!


Well all of my shows are over and the last of my custom orders have been boxed up and will go in the mail tomorrow. Here are pictures of Tiffany and I at the Cary Academy Holiday Shoppe (it was spectacular) along w/ baby Rhyan who was a trooper to attend at four weeks old.


















The Sisterhood of the traveling Bead Box is ready to leave Cindy Wimmer's Sweet Bead Studio and a new recipient is going to picked on Wednesday December 15th. OH PLEASE let it be me!
The box needs some metals and metal stampings.

Here is more information about the Bead Box from Cindy's post:

For those of you that may be stopping and by and the “traveling bead box” is something foreign, I’d love to share with you a link to the original post! It was fun to go back and see how this traveling phenomenon all began. Beginning with a studio destash, Heather Powers set this creative Give Away in motion. Heather boxed up all sorts of beads and placed them in a small flat-rate box, ready to travel around the U.S. The box has grown and now warrants a medium flat rate box. When the Sister received the box, she simply selected beads and then replaced them with beads from her own stash that were of comparable value. I was happy to join the Sisterhood as the 11th bead box recipient. Here’s a look at where the box has been so far (thank you, Becky for compiling this):

1. ? The Founding Sister ? Heather Powers of Humble Beads- San Antonio, TX.

2. Mikki Ferrugiaro of MFD Beadwork Originals- UT.

3. Nancy Dale of NED Bead -Vermont.

4. Hanna Rosner of Good River Gallery- NM

5. Chris Neit of Good Quill Hunting-Maine

6. Sandy Spivey of Sandy’s Treasure- California

7. Katie Nelson of Katie’s Creations- TX

8. Kristie Roeder of Artisan Clay- PA

9. Lorelei Eurto of Lorelei Eurto Jewelry- New York State

10. Becky Caldwell of The Gritty Bird- North Carolina

11. Cindy Wimmer of sweet bead studio - Virginia

Here is a glimpse of the beads that I found I couldn’t live without:

I was happy to see there were still some Humblebeads left from Heather’s original give away. And oh, just look at the handmade beads and pendants! I chose some gorgeous polymer clay beads from Christine Damm, a one-of-a-kind pendant from Mary Harding, and some sweet Gritty Beads by Becky Caldwell.

There are many treasures awaiting you, should you be the next Sister of the Traveling Bead Box! Here is a peek of what is inside the box now…and I have more to add before it goes out!

You will find these gorgeous focals/pendants by Jangles, Artisan Clay and Gaea among others….

The giveaway: The entire box of goodies, NOW WELL over $400 worth of beads.

The stipulations: Must have an online forum to host the next giveaway. Must be living within the United States to enter and be willing to pay for shipping: $15.00 for flat rate priority mail billed via Paypal.

The rules: You’ll take what you want from the box, add in items of equal value from your own bead stash to replace the items you took and then do the same giveaway on your blog. We’ll keep the beads traveling for as long as we can.

To enter: Leave a comment below, be sure to include your email.

Bonus Entry: Blog, facebook or twitter about it to enter more than once. Leave another comment letting me know how you helped spread the word.

Deadline To Enter: Comments will be accepted until Wednesday, December 15th, at 6pm (eastern time).

UPDATE (by Becky Caldwell)

I wanted to quickly share why it is that artist who do have blogs, journals or facebooks cannot enter the give-away as this is being asked of me as well as commented on… This Give-away was started with the intention that the box would travel around the states and in order to do that the winners/sisters need to have some sort of online forum to host the give-away on instead of just passing it along to friends.

I hope that this is something understandable as it is not meant to leave any one out. We just want the box to travel as long as it can and to cross as many states as it can.

Those without blogs, journals, or facebook pages may consider using this idea to create a more local or private community traveling bead box of their very own….. :)

I do hope that everyone has a safe a healthy holiday!

Stacy :)

Finding Time to Homestead

I have been taking an e-course with an artist that I admire Stephanie Lee. The class is for five weeks and I have only been able to practice what I learned from week one. I have been chomping at the bit to do more, but alas life gets in the way. I have a huge 4 day show Cary Academy Holiday Shoppe starting Wednesday and I had one last Sunday, plus I have a job, husband and kids (go figure!). Hopefully I will get to it in a week or so.

In the mean time, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and ate lots!

See you soon!

Cheers,
Stacy

My Friday Favorite ....

Today is a great day! I get to meet and have dinner tonight with Lorelei Eurto. She writes a blog that I read almost everyday Inside the Studio. She creates beautiful jewelry and often incorporates components from other designers. This was all put together by Cynthia Deis owner of Ornamentea, the best bead store in the world! Go check out the online store. Also joining us is Susan "Boo" Reynolds and Elaine Ray. Lorelei uses Elaine's ceramic beads a lot in her designs. Wouldn't you love to be a fly on the wall tonight!!

A few months ago Lorelei was making a custom piece and she asked me to make a stamped component for it ... I was so honored!

Well I need to get busy working so I can go to dinner tonight. If you are in Raleigh come visit me Sunday at the University Club's Holiday Shoppe 1-5 pm. Have a great day!

Learning How To Flood Solder

I am taking this great e-course from the wonderful Stephanie Lee. I have admired her work and style for quite a while. What I like the most is she uses materials that are readily available at your local hardware store.

We have learned how to flood metal with solder and add bezels. Here is the metal flooded with
the solder:

One of them I have stamped with an alphabet metal stamp. Stay tuned for the samples of these with the added bezels.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Beads!

You must check out Lorelei's blog about the traveling box of beads where people contribute to the loot. If you win, you take whatever beads you wish and replace with beads from your stash! The above picture is the box that she received along with a journal to add an entry if you so choose.

Here's what you need to know to play along:

The giveaway: The entire box of goodies, WELL over $200 worth of beads.

The stipulations: You'll pay for shipping: $15.00 for flat rate priority mail.

The rules: You'll take what you want from the box, add in items from your own bead stash to replace the items you took and do the same giveaway on your blog. We'll keep the beads traveling for as long as we can.

To enter: Leave a comment, be sure to include your email.

Bonus: Blog, facebook or twitter about it to enter more than once. Leave another comment letting me know how you helped spread the word.

Deadline: Comments will be accepted until Friday Nov 5th, at 5pm
[the box will then be shipped Monday Nov. 8 to the winner.]


The winner will then have 2 weeks to go through the box and pick out their items and contribute to the box, and then host their own giveaway.

All I ask is that each time it passes hands, the winner will email me when the next giveaway starts so I can enjoy the traveling and help promote your giveaway!

International bloggers: I'm sorry, but due to shipping only those in the U.S. can play along. But I'm suddenly feeling really bad for my non-U.S. blog readers. If you are outside the states leave a comment and I'll also draw one international winner for a bead grab bag from my own stash of beads.

Hop on over to her blog and check her out. You will be glad you did. Bonus for me .... I get to meet her when she comes to Raleigh in two weeks. I can't wait!

New Stuff

Well we are well on our way to the Holiday Season. Only 8 1/2 weeks until Christmas!! I can hardly believe it. Things have been busy around here, traveling to VA for a couple of shows last month and being the regular mom taxi from swimming to baseball every week.

I have managed to make a few new things for a couple of big shows I have coming in November and December. Take a look:

New Insignia Initial Charms

Sister Necklace

I would love to know what you think. Please leave a comment if you so choose.
Until next time ........

Pricing - Am I Doing This Right??

Jessi of Rosy Revolver had a call on her blog looking for input on how designers price their work. Though I am not at all in her league, I felt that I could contribute what I have learned over the last 4 years. As said before by others it is an evolving process everyday.

Always remember that your time is worth it!! Then it is onto all of your material costs (even the little stuff), design time, cost of putting it in your shop if you are on Etsy, packaging, show costs,etc.

Let me turn you on to a few others that can do this better justice than me and that have already contributed to Jessi's post Bella-Bijou Jewellry and Nova of Sweden.

Cheers!
Stacy