An Award & Updates

Corinne Sullivan at Daydream Art Studios has awarded me with the marie Antoinette blog award. It's the first award for my little ol' blog, so thanks, chickadee!

Official RULES:

1) Please add the Marie Antoinette award photo on your blog
2) Place a link to the person from whom you received the award
3) nominate 7 exceptional blogs to receive the award
4) put the links to those blogs on your blog
5) leave a message on their blogs to tell them they are the chosen ones

Nominees:

Annie Howes Keepsakes

Gem and Beaded Jewelry

TheBeadedLily's Sketchbook

Wilmoth Farms Handmade Soaps

The Bead Kitchen

Smadar's Treasure

Kerrie Slade

I've spent the holidays beading, when I haven't been shopping or stuffing my face. I'm getting close to being done with my EBW challenge entry for December, so I should have it done before the 5th deadline. We'll see!

Back and Raring to Go!

After several days off, visiting my best friend in Vegas/Utah, I'm back and ready to go. This was, perhaps, the worst trip for traveling (flights to & from were delayed, added to migraines and lack of sleep), BUT I got to see Dawn, her family, her daughter graduate from her program and Dawn's friends from CA that I hadn't seen in a while. It was a super short trip, but any longer & I would have been fretting even more over the work that awaited me when I got back here!

While got, the fab Marilyn included me in a treasury. You won't find me in the treasury if you go look now, as I made my first Etsy sale!!! Hooray! That's a fantastic way to start off my week!

I started my entry for the Etsy Beadweavers December challenge yesterday. I'm not sure I'll get it finished in time, but I wanted to give it a go. Which means I need to finish my todo list I already had started and get my booty in gear!

The Holidays are Coming!

I've been buried in webserver, ASP, HTML and CDONTS work for my mother for the last week and a half and I'm finally coming up for air. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten a lot of beading done during that time, but I have started on my mom's Christmas present, which includes netting bezels around seashells she brought back from the Outer Banks. It's the first time I've used right angle weave (RAW) to start a bezel, and then I'm cinching them up with peyote. I'm rather happy with the way it's coming, but I've only got three done out of the 18 or so that I have to net. Good thing I love my mother :)

Currently, my poor computer is bogged down while I try to upload photos to Etsy and print holiday greeting cards for one of the artists that I carry here in the gallery. My poor pc is moaning & groaning, but I can't help but multitask! Plus, I'll be out in Utah the next few days, so I'm trying to clear some things off my to-do list. I almost wrote "desk" but yeah... the desk will always look like a tornado hit it.

I've finished several of the beaded ornaments and finally got around to listing them on Etsy today. I was going to put them in a friend's shop here in town, and I still may, but for now, they're in my gallery and my Etsy store. They're rather Victorian, but not heavily beaded.

Ornaments!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17541268
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17541069
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17540883
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17540605
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17540328
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17540073
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17539854
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17539549

Back to Beading?

I'm so close to being done with Mom's computer changes that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, the sites I have left to move all have coding changes. I'm a nerd, but I'd rather be beading.

I think I need that on a bumper sticker.

My Google Alerts found this today: http://gem-beaded-jewelry.blogspot.com/2008/11/beaded-jewelry-by-jama-watts.html. I'm rather flattered at the nod, since Zoya featured me in her newsletter a few months ago. I didn't know she was going to post it in her blog later on. Fun. Thanks, Zoya!

The Alerts feature at Google has been helpful in catching items that might have gone unnoticed. The other day, it found a link to my blog regarding an update to my HGTV appearance. The internet can be a fabulous thing sometimes.

I promise to post pictures of the beaded ornaments next week. AFTER I get this website stuff done and off my desk.

Back in Black

I just found my Onyx earrings in this beautiful treasury created by FleurDeIrk who happens to be another great Etsy Beadweaver! (Don't forget, you still have time to VOTE!)

BLACK and elegant

I've been working on web updates for my mom's business this week, which means I've been coding and doing computer geek stuff and not getting to bead. I thought I'd enjoy the break, but it's killing me! I have ideas for my Snow Queen project, as well as my mom's Christmas present and I still have 3 dozen ornaments I need to bead. Not to mention the fact that I really need to decorate the store for Christmas, despite the fact that I don't decorate my home until after Thanksgiving. All of that topped off with the cold from Hades that kept me from doing a show over the weekend and I'm just one big pile of nerves. Woo-hoo!

Ahem.

Pay no attention to the crazy lady drooling over her beads and waiting for her next shipment of sparklies to come in.

EBW Voting Time!

I had a hard time voting myself! Please visit the EBW Blog and vote for your favorite!
Voting begins on Sunday, November 9th and ends midnight November 15th. The best way to show your appreciation for the efforts of these amazing artists by taking on the difficult task of voting for your favorite. (The ballot will appear on the side bar at right on November 9th.) The individual pieces are listed below the mosaic where you can visit each entry for more information by following the link. Thank you, enjoy and be sure to come back to vote between November 9th and 15th!

1. Catching A Dream Bracelet - myfairladyvt4

2. Florida Gators Orange and Blue Herringbone Bangle - njema

3. Beaded Ancestral Expressions Petroglyph Totem Cane - SalamanderHouse

4. hands against time cuff - thebeadedlily

5. Celtic North American Native - SilkenLariat

6. The Greek Key - BeadsAndI

7. Hungarian meets French - beaddiddy

8. DNA in Violet and Blue - Wide Beadwoven Peyote Cuff - time2cre8

9. ONE WORLD Bead Woven Embroidered Cuff Bracelet - caraway

10. Trail Mix - ThesePreciousThings

11. Roses and Pearls Necklace - SpringColors

12. Proud to be an American - dreambeadweaver

13. Let My People Go Collar - triz

14. The Hoshen - a Breastplate - beadshead

15. Plaid Pride Bracelet - FrancescasFancy

16. Patchwork Cuff - playnwithbeads

Feeling Thankful

Found myself in a treasury dedicated to the Bluegrass Etsy Street Team today. I've met so many talented people from across the globe with my street teams. If you sell on Etsy and you don't belong to a team, I strongly suggest you look into it. I'm a member of B.E.S.T. (search teambluegrass), Fabulous Artistic Moms of Etsy (search fam team) and Etsy-Beadweavers (search ebw team).

Best of the BEST: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=31585

Finding Myself

I'm always floored and thankful when I find my work mentioned by other people. My Google Reader found the following:

Carrie's Place: My Inspiration

What a way to start out my morning. I only hope the warm fuzzies can carry over - I fear I'm coming down with a killer cold. I had a migraine for most of the day yesterday, ended up in bed around 7:30 and was out before 8. I was a big dizzy this morning getting ready, but once I came downstairs & opened the gallery, the nausea has hit me like a freight train. I have a festival in Somerset this weekend, but if I feel like this, there's no way I'll be able to drive back & forth to do it. I think Mom's got it, as well, and that's why co-worker in my booth on Saturday. What a pair we'd make!

I'm going to tough it out for a bit and work on some ornaments, but I've a feeling I'll be in bed within the next few hours. Booooooo.

Another Treasury and Other Notes of Interest

The Jester is Flying High: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=18987

I've been busy (which is nothing new), but trying to take care of my list of things to do. I've finished making about two dozen pendants for the gift shop at Maker's Mark, but I still need to deliver them. Now, I'm working on netted, Victorian-style ornaments for my friend Lee's open house this weekend. I just hope I can get him at least a dozen. He's an extremely talented interior designer and his retail store is FAB-U-LOUS. I may end up pulling an all-nighter tonight in order to get them and some earrings made. It's been a while since I've worked like that, but I've got a festival this weekend on top of Lee's open house. Unfortunately, my throat is starting to get a little scratchy. I hope I'm not coming down with something, as I need to get to Somerset for the festival. I've got rent to pay!

New listings up on Etsy! Forgot to post them the other day.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16809096
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16809301
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16809468
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16809641
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16809851
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16810041

FAM Treasury

B L A C K: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=31090

The Treasure Chest

New EBW Team Treasuries!

For the Love of It: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=18585
Family Ties: http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=18529

Ancestral Expressions

I finished my piece for the Etsy Beadweavers November Challenge yesterday and I'm really happy with it. It's bright, free and is very much an expression of who I am.

The November theme is "Ancestral Expressions." When I first started thinking about projects for this challenge, everything that came to mind was very literal about my background. I've always embraced the Celtic/Pagan part of me, as I'm part Scottish, Irish & Welsh. I was sketching Celtic knots, the Celtic family tree, thinking of researching my family's different tartans, but it all seemed a bit trite and contrived. I knew I was leaving out more. I'm also English, Swedish, Cherokee & Sioux. So I thought about doing seven panels - each representing my different heritages. But then I knew I was probably leaving out some nationality that I don't know about.

The thought that came to me then is always my response to when people ask me what I am. I always say "Trail Mix." My mom has started researching our family tree, so I know certain ethnicities and a little about my family's past, but it's garbled and missing information here and there. So, trail mix seems to fit. When I thought about that, I decided to design something that represented the different pasts, their varied histories and holes in the information that I do have. What I came up with is my bracelet, lovingly titled "Trail Mix" - full of color, peyote, right angle weave, herringbone, ladder, picot fringe and some backstitch with the embellishment. The holes represent the holes in my history.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16808573

Please visit the EBW blog at http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com between November 9th and 15th, to see all of the entries in our November challenge and vote for your favorite. Search EBW TEAM for more beautiful beadwoven creations and EBWC for monthly challenge entries.