Lovin’ the Disk beads.

Okay, so I just love the look of disk beads.  I admit, I am a wee bit challenged when it comes to making consistent sized disk beads.  My friend Rebekah sat me down at Bead Camp last month and made me make some.  I did three then got a little bored.  LOL  So I CAN do it, I just don’t have a lot of discipline when it come to making them. I’m sure some bead makers think they are easy, but I don’t.  To make them all even and round like that takes a lot of skill and patience.

So I’d like to point you to my friend Shawn Turner of SetInGlass, who is making some fabulous disk beads and has them up for grabs on ebay at some spectacular prices.  Shawn has been making beads for about ten years and is an instructor.  These babies are top quality and just gorgeous.  Check them out here.

Dragon Day!

It’s been a good while since I played with  making dragons, so this week I let myself just make dragons the whole day.  They can be time consuming and my back always aches after I am done, but I love them so!  Enjoy.

New stuff to show!

I’ve been feeling just a little bit burned out on my pressed florals, so I have taken a few days to play around and see what happens.  This is the result.

Some are on ebay and some are on etsy.  I like them and have ideas for more fun stuff.  Don’t worry I’m not giving up on my pressed florals, just taking a minor detour.

When Girlfriends get together, magic happens.

This last weekend I took a last minute trip to Tennessee to visit with some of my bead making girlfriends.  Kaye, Susan, Angie, Vern, Fay, and Marte.

The very best part of all of us getting together is the fun and laughter.  Of course we all get no sleep what-so-ever, but a little sleep deprivation is a small price to pay for all the fun.  Mostly we just ate, drank, and torched.  Everyone shares techniques and challenges everyone else to try new things or to just torch and have a good time.

I have been in busy production mode for a good three months or so, so when I walked in the studio, I asked the girls, what should I make?  Then Susan pipes up with “I dreamt you turned your fairies into Queens”.  She had all kinds of ideas including Mary Queen of Scots-holding her head in her arms after being beheaded.  I’ll have to do something thinking on that one, but sounds fun!

So I made a queen.  The Queen Red Bitch to be exact and her princesses.  Angie thinks she is queen and loves red.  Don’t worry she named herself the Queen Bitch.  I also made a few others, but don’t have decent picture of them yet, as all the princess and the queens left with someone else other than me last weekend.  All the girls deserve a queen or princess of there very own, now don’t they?

So I came home and made the Christmas Queen.  More Queens and Princesses are coming, and maybe even a King, but I need to get caught up on orders, which will be very very soon, before I can play with my Royal Family.  The Christmas Queen in listed on etsy at a great price (her cape flashed uneven and is transparent and opaque).

This is why I love girlfriend time.  Magic always happens.

Randy Pausch~Last Lecture

This is over an hour long, but really inspiring and well worth the time. I laughed and cried at the same time. I aspire to be a Tigger, but definitely have my Eeyore days.  To everyone, Follow your dreams!

A Front Porch Party!

Isn’t this fun? One of the other blogs I visit posted about a front porch party. See it HERE. The blog Rose Colored Glasses lists over 70 participants in the Front Porch Party. Click on it to visit other bloggers porches or dream porches. If you have a thing for porches like I do, it may take a while. Enjoy!.

Here is my front porch in the making. We have lots of plans for it, but so far haven’t gotten to any of them:

The potted plant closest to the house on the left is my herb pot. The other four are our pepper plants. We have a cowbell and red, yellow, and purple bell peppers. The bouganvillas hanging off to the right, usually hang in the front of the house, but they were not getting enough sun right now do to the sun being so high in the sky, so they were moved, for now.

We plan to build a wood porch and bring it up to the actual front door. Those brick steps are really high, which isn’t a problem for us, being tall people, but anyone with aches or pains might have difficulty with them. Anyway the porch was on the schedule for this spring but didn’t make it. Maybe in the fall. It’s way too hot now. Also there are hooks for a porch swing. I can’t wait for that.

And just for fun: My sunflower patch.

99 cent Friday is back

Todays 99 cent auction on ebay:

Do you listen to the Universe? Does it listen to you?

Recently by good friend Susan Sheehan blogged about something listening to her thoughts. Things she wanted to happen started happening all over the place. I believe the universe was listening.

I truly do think that if you put your intentions out there, that is where you will be lead. For instance, here is one of my own examples. I had always thought that it would be wonderful to have a job/career that I could do anywhere. So I could live anywhere I wanted. From a very young age I have wanted this and thought this. It stemmed really from wanting to live in a small mountain town, in Northern Ca. I still love the mountains in CA, however I know I just couldn’t do cold snow for that long. Anyway I digress. I didn’t know what the job would be or how it would come about, but it is here. I now have a job where I can live anywhere, thanks to the internet.

Another example. About 9 months before I quit my last “real” job, I was at a mangers meeting doing one of those “get to know each other” exercises. The question was posed, if you could do anything, anything at all, what would it be? My answer was to have the freedom to travel anywhere, all over the US for an unlimited amount of time. Three months later we bough the RV. Six months later I was unemployed, homeless and making my way to Maine for the summer. At the time I had no idea how that could be done, it was just something I put out there.

I think you get the gist. I think we should put our intentions “out there”….then listen carefully for when the universe answers us, so we don’t let it pass us by. I could have easily let my chance to roam the US in the RV pass me by. It does sound crazy to sell your house and quit your job to go wondering around vagabondish. However, from that adventure I got to travel the US for 4 and 1/2 years and I ended up with a job that means I can live anywhere. Thank you Universe!

My next intention is to write a book and get published. I hope you are listening Universe…I know I am.

New Orleans Marble Tour Continues!

Just a few more New Orleans style marbles from Greg.  Now on ebay.

French Quarter:

City Of the Dead!

A Taste of New Orleans

Every since the first time Greg and I went to New Orleans in 2003, the culture and vibe started to sink in. We found ourselves drawn to the place and anytime we were close (you know close is within 600 miles) we made it a point to stop and spend time here. We visited four times in our travels back and forth across the country, which is saying something since we rarely went anywhere twice, always on the hunt for the next adventure.

When we found ourselves always thinking about coming back, stalking real estate on the internet and in general dreaming of the place, we knew it was time. While we would love to live in the city, dream of living living there, it just wasn’t practical for our situation. First off we wanted to keep the rv (which we are now trying to sell ironically), however keeping it and having a place in NoLa wouldn’t work if we wanted to store it on our property. That is like saying you have a place in New York City or San Francisco and keep your rv with you. Not really doable.

Then there was the whole financial aspect. Wanting a lampwork studio and and office and a guest room meant more and more money to own a place and renting with a torching studio can be difficult at best. Plus the whole property insurance thing down there, ouch! We found ourslelves looking outside of the city. Which is where we found our pretty little cottage in a quiet town, on the north shore. We do love it, but still dream of New Orleans. However, it is close enough to go in whenever we want. Best of both worlds in our eyes.

Still NoLa’s culture, architecture, and it’s vibe have stolen a place in our hearts. Which brings me to Greg’s newest marble:

Garden District NoLa

The ideas for the marble have been roaming around in Greg’s head for about a year now. Finally it morphed into his vision. Stay tuned for the upcoming French Quarter marble.