The Soup Is Simmering ......

I was SO excited to open my mailbox and see the package from my bead soup partner Tanya Floyd from Glass Migration. Look at the goodies that she sent, and the beautiful colors. The focal is made by Tanya and set with Swarovski crystals along with the round lampwork beads encased with sterling silver strands.

The big reveal is on February 26th so check back so you can see what I create. Also you will be able to hop to the other Bead Soup Participants blogs and check out what they made. Until next time .....

Cheers,
   Stacy

I am starting a new segment on Wednesday's and joining a wonderful group of talented artisians doing the same. When you have a chance you need to hop over and see their "Bead Table Wednesday" (you might already visit them regularly as I have often mentioned them), Lori Anderson of Pretty Things, Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studio, Heather Powers of Humble Beads, Lorelei Eurto, of Lorelei Eurto Jewelry.

Currently mine is messy, messy, messy as I am trying to play catch up from being back and forth to Charleston with my dad on top of my REAL job!

 

The rest of the groups BTW are nice a neat, mine is all over the place, but I know where everything is and that is what is important. 

I am working on some etched rolled pods to make pendants. My daughters bracelet that needs to be made larger. Some soldered trinkets to add to something! So I guess I better get going! Until next time ......

Cheers,

   Stacy

SSD Jewelry Art Show Debut

I want to share a little about a friend who had her art exhibit debut last night. She is a wonderful metal smith Melissa Lowery of SSD Jewelry. She has the best inspirational and positive quotes on a lot of her pieces along with etching a patinas.

Great leather cuffs

Wonderful Patina Cuffs

My Favorite Necklace

 Also, check out the wonderful photography of Leigh Moose of Side Yard Studios who shot the above photos of Melissa's work. 

Blog ... Blog ... Blog or Blah ... Blah ... Blah

I am so far off my mark this year it is crazy. I usually keep this blog to beading and show stuff, but decided this year to expand and include part of my life. The last six weeks have been a wild ride in our home and writing and blogging about it, I believe, will keep me a little more sane!

To start I want to share a very true quote that I saw on a blog that I read religiously Pretty Things by Lori Anderson. It is truly how I feel right now.

Since December 26th when I had to go to the emergency room for which turned out to be a severe bacteria infection that left me with a perforated eardrum, violently ill like nobody's business and the fact that I still cannot hear out of my right ear. Then, the end of December my mother-in-law passes away then my father is diagnosed w/ leukemia. Our family has checked off all the bad boxes for 2011! The doctor is still working on my ear issue, there seems to be nerve damage from the infection and there is a 70/30 chance that I will get it back. Good news, my dad is cancer free after his bone marrow biopsy last week. Whew, I feel better all ready!

Now onto bead and fun stuff .... here is a seek peak and what I sent my bead soup partner Tanya Floyd of Glass Migrations:


She is a great lampwork artist and ironically she lives only about 30 minutes away from me. I am excited to receive her beads (we both are delivering a bit late), and hope to meet up soon. She even offered to show me how to make lampwork beads!

Until later .... Stacy

Metal Stamp Giveaway

Lori Anderson of Pretty Things is giving away a very nice set of metal stamps from PJ Tool if you take a look and comment on her blog.

Lori is a wonderful lampwork artist, blogger and all round beading diva! She runs the Bean Soup Blog Hop that you see me writing and blogging about. The Bead Soup is a great opportunity for people to get out there with their blogs and swap beads with fellow bloggers.and to show what we can create with what other people send us.

Stay tuned as I will post this week what I will be sending to the person that I was matched up with.

Bead Soup Blog Party

It is that time of year again when Lori Anderson hosts her Bead Soup Blog Party. The rules are that you must have a blog and then you send her an email with all the pertinent info:

a) Your full name

b) Your blog address

c) Your shop address, if you have one

c) Are you willing to ship internationally, yes or no?

d)What best describes you -- sterling, pewter, plated, brass/copper?

I did this for the first time last year and it is the perfect exercise for the A-type like myself to get out of the box.

I highly recommend that you give it a try. It is great exposure for you and your blog. Think if it, if you have 75 people participating you will have that many people, plus more visiting your blog to see your soup ingredients and how it come out!

I can't wait! Stay tuned for my ingredients.

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 :)