Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Etsy BeadWeavers Challenge for September is on! Specifically, it's on the blog, and the poll's open for voting. I have two pieces on there -- #1 (Tribute to Patchwork) and #11 (Looks Like Candy).

Even if you don't vote for my pieces (but they are really pretty...), go vote! The poll's only open till 9/29. Just check out this GORGEOUS work by me and my fellow obsessed beadweavers!!!

Friday, September 21, 2007


I'm bored easily, and I was getting tired of that same old green and orange template for my blog. I'm way too lazy to design my own, but I found a new template I'm going to try out for awhile.

Other than blog boredom, I wanted to post that I was featured in another blog today! Liana (aka fridaygal) sent me a convo in Etsy to tell me that she had featured my Colorful Skull tags on mixedplateblog.com. Woo hoo! I love these little tags. Halloween shouldn't just be orange and black after all!

That looks like candy. That's what my husband said as I was making this piece. It was inspired by the Etsy BeadWeavers September Challenge, Show Your Colors. As soon as I learned the theme, I went to my bead stash and pulled out the brightest colors and mixes of colors, even though I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them.

The idea for this necklace just kind of popped into my head. The center of the piece reminds me of a seed pod, so I was trying to think of a name that would match up with that visualization... and then my husband looked over at it while I was beading away and said, "That looks like candy." Title done.

Sunday, September 16, 2007


Rugby shirts are so comfortable to wear, and good ones will last for years. I just bought a new one, and the stripes inspired me to make this bracelet. Cool, eh? Isn't it funny where we get our inspirations?

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Indiecontests

I decided to have a sale of sorts, so I posted it onto a new website I found: indiecontests

I have a bunch of new ideas and a LOT of new beadwork to be listed, so I'd like to clear out some of the things in my Etsy shop to make room for new stuff.

So if you're here and you like my stuff, go there (click that icon up there at the top of this post), and check out the offer.


:-)

Thursday, September 13, 2007



I'm not really a flower person, but I'm so happy with this little beaded choker! It began life as an experiment. I had an idea for creating a choker that would use the pendant/cabachon as the closure, but I didn't have a button or anything "worthy" of fulfilling the task.

I decided to mess around with making something myself, and I wound up with this little freeform flower. It's not really a rose, but it kind of resembles one. It's really lightweight and could probably even be worn sitting to the side. Just imagine how nice this would look sitting on top of a black turtleneck!
Check it out in my Etsy shop.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007


My husband can build anything. Seriously. He's built several houses, including the one we live in right now, and he's so good at putting things together. He also has a great imagination, and he comes up with some of the silliest ideas.

One of those ideas recently came to fruition when he designed The Tissue Recycle Center for my girlfriend's birthday. My friend is one of those people who uses a tissue to swipe at her nose, and then rather than throwing that tissue away she tucks it into a pocket or sleeve for another use. Sometimes she places those little crumpled tissues on tables or countertops in her house, and that's where my husband came up with his idea.

He searched through our garage to come up with the materials for this invention of his, and then he spent a couple of days refining and redesigning to make it just perfect. He wrote a whole story to go with it, but since it's so long and some of it would only make sense to my friend, I'm just including an excerpt here.
Premium second-hand tissues – it’s snot just for company any more.

Finally, a place the whole family can recycle together.
This sleek, slender family size brings an additional bit of class to any room.
A look that will make your neighbors and friends envious,
so you might want to hide this product when they come over.

This product is ergonomically designed and user friendly.
Insert freshly-used tissues into the top and retrieve dried, crusty tissues from the bottom.
How simple is that?

This model has an easy-opening retrieval lid,
for those times when you need a quick wipe.

The flexible wire handle turns this unit into a purse,
perfect for the woman and family on the go.

Quality is job #1, so I’ve used commercial grade duct tape for strength where needed.
You might think this feature would cost extra, and you’d be wrong.
It actually comes standard with this model.

Since the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina,
I like to build everything up high.
The legs make it a little less stable, but the payoff equals dry, recycled valuables.
The legs also offer lift and total air circulation of your only-used-once tissue product.
Leg extenders (samples included) come in two different sizes,
for those times when you want that long, sleek look.
Great for the beach.

My test results have varied due to humidity and volume of waste product,
but the average turnover time (moist to hard) is two and a half hours.
So that means what you use in the morning can be reused by lunchtime.

The Tissue Recycle Center was presented to my girlfriend at her party, along with the story, and she got a huge kick out of it. Her plan was to take it to work and display it on a side table so others could enjoy it, although I'm not sure everyone shares our sense of humor.
As for that tissue reuse, I'm still not quite sure how my husband can label that as "gross," since he uses a handkerchief. Isn't that the same thing?

Friday, September 07, 2007



The Etsy BeadWeavers September Challenge is underway, with the theme for this month having been chosen by last month's winner, noeasybeads. The theme is Show Your Colors, and I think I've shown my own colors and a few extras with this bracelet!

It's a tribute to quilting, done with a few hundred beads in a whole range of colors.