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.