February Art Bead Scene Challenge

I will be entering this beauty into the Art Bead Scene monthly challenge!  Have you entered your designs yet? You've got lots of time, the deadline is Feb. 29. This month's painting is a page from a manuscript. The peacock stands right out for me, in this piece.

The Conference of the Birds by Habiballah

Page from a manuscript of the Mantiq al-Tayr (The Language of the Birds) of Farid al-Din `Attar

 ca. 1600; Safavid Iran (Isfahan)

Opaque watercolor, ink, silver, gold on paper

10 x 4 1/2 in. (25.4 x 11.4 cm)

Fletcher Fund, 1963

 

 

Show Your Colors

Have you seen Jamie and Sara's new book, Show Your Colors?? You might want to pick up a copy, especially if you love working with beading wire, and love color.  A phenomenal collection of some of the coolest projects from two successful women in the beading community. You really don't want to miss it. And, yours truly, has a little cameo appearance. That's right. I wrote the foreword. Pretty dang cool, if you ask me. Get your copy here.

bead soup simmering

Yesterday, my bead soup arrived. I was so happy to finally get the package from Jennifer Tough. I have been waiting so patiently for it to arrive from Canada.  I could not get any pictures of the package because I could not rip it open fast enough.  I did take some nice pictures of it all so you could see everything in detail!

Jennifer sent 3 tubes of seed beads in beautiful colors; 2 orange lucite leaves; a selection of Jennifer's own handmade lampwork glass beads in orange tones....

She sent a strand of faceted glass amber/gold rondelles; a strand of lampwork cubes from Unicorne Beads; a strand of matte glass chartreuse leaves....

She sent a handful of her handmade components... 2 hearts, a bead cap, an acorn....

The focal she sent is one of her locked Hearts, and the pendant is a toggle that matches....

Some more Unicorne glass in a glittery orange palette...

A small bag of offset Olive green glass Lentils, a squiggly wire component, and a bronze wire donut.... and she sent one of her own sweet little mushroom charms too!

Jennifer got her bead soup yesterday too! Head on over to her blog, to see the soup I sent!

I am so excited to get started, the ideas are swimming in head and I know I will be dreaming about what I will make. I couldn't be more thrilled with my bead soup!  Be sure to check back in, to see the results and to enjoy the blog hop on March 3rd.

ARTisan Interview with Louise Nelson

Louise Nelson Owl army 2011

Louise Nelson is a glass artist from the UK. I first encountered her work one day when little lampwork owl beads popped up at the Art Bead Scene. Her Etsy shop, Glassdaft, is chock full with birds, owls, fish, tree focals and many other creative beads. Take a moment and get to know her a little better in this newest installment of my ARTisan Interviews!

1) Describe yourself in 3 words.

Contemplative, Contradictory, Conscientious   (in the mood for C’s today)

 

Recycled bottle with copperfoil stained glass, fusing and lampworking. 2011

2) How would you describe your craft and style?

Gosh! My style that’s a hard question for me, I think I am too close to be able to see it. Last year someone I respect greatly called me an “Applied artist”.  I had been floundering for a while wondering what exactly I was as the title of beadmaker was not at all sitting happily with me.  

3) What inspires you?

Just about everything! I know that sounds irritating but really my eyes and ears never switch off.  A simple word or a mood that I witness can spark ideas. I never tire of art galleries or just my art books ( Klimt is a personal favorite right now ). Fabric and threads frequently get me going as does paint, these things are very dear to my heart. Before becoming a mum I drew all the time and “embroidery” was my entire life.

Bird and bottle sculpture Louise Nelson 2011

 


4) How long have you been creating?

I distinctly remember my first go on my mums Singer sewing machine aged about 8 or 9, we had a camping trip coming up and I was entrusted to make the sleeping bag liners. I loved the comforting rhythm of the sewing needle going up and down and the reliable motor powering the teeth. Now the actual job I did was less than “couture” but it was a pivotal moment and it unlocked the knowledge deep within me that I could make anything.  

5) Is this a job or a hobby?

Job sounds so harsh, but I do it full time. It doesn’t support me yet but I live in hope.

6) How do you see your work evolving?

I do love making beads and I don’t think I will ever stop however I need to follow the artistic noises in my head. I imagine I will move into “off mandrel” sculpting or perhaps take lampwork elements back into fusing. Really the future is so full of possibility my head spins a little. 

Lampwork bead 2010

7) I find that I have a love/hate relationship with Etsy....
What is your favorite and least favorite thing about selling on Etsy?

I started selling in March 2011 and so far I have been very impressed with all aspects of Etsy as a selling medium. It is only my inadequacies in computer knowledge that frustrate me. 

Owl beads 2011 in copper tree by Louise Nelson

8) Do you have any advice for other Etsy artisans?

Take good pictures and use all 5 spaces provided to show off your work. (Drives me nuts when there is only 1 picture!!)

As a special promotion, Louise will be including a small glass bird with any order placed today. Just put Lorelei Eurto in the notes to seller when checking out! Head on over to Glassdaft now!

I'm Okay, I'm OKAY

Thank you for all of your beautiful comments yesterday on my crazy post.  Yesterday was not a good day. Today is much much better.

I hate to leave you all in the dark. 2 days ago I finally made an appt. to see a fertility doctor. 2 YEARS ago my doctor suggested that I see this guy in Syracuse, well, because there was nothing more he could do at this point. All the tests that he had done were coming back fine. The more extensive testing needs to happen in Syracuse.

I put it off. For 2 years. For a few reasons. 1. The cost. And 2. because I was afraid of going to hear him say, you can never have kids. Can you guess which concern belonged to who?
So the other day when I sat down to tell Joe I had made the appointment, and the first words were- omg how much is that going to cost!? I had a bit of a meltdown. We are better now, after having talked about it and I do now realize we really ARE on the same page afterall. But he's just different than I am. He's concerned about things like money. Where I am concerned about actually just having a baby.

So, not to worry. I am going to be okay. I just have to get to April and then we can finally start attempting to get some answers.

Rain Down on Me

 

I can describe the necklace above in one word. "Emotional". I created it last night while in the midst of an emotional meltdown. I won't bore you with the details. Rain Down on Me is an appropriate title and I am waiting for the rain to wash away the pain and sadness that I am feeling right now.

But on a positive note. It's cute, right? Like totally Spring-Fever Meets Dancing in the Rain, Meets Bloomed Flowers and the Promise of Good Things to come. 

Cheers to turning the frown upside down.

:)

Jade Scott Pinwheel Participants

Thank you Everyone for adding your hats to the ring in this recent Blog Challenge!

I have picked the winners this morning using the Random Integer Generator.
As you can see the numbers chosen are
2, 25, 22, 7, 29, and 34

which means, the following people will be getting Pinwheels!

SABINE

KATE RICHBOURG

CHARLIE of ClaySpace

SHAWNA TOBIAS

LISA CONE

HEIDI of ExPostFacto

Please email me with your mailing addresses. I will be forwarding them to Jade, as she will be shipping the pinwheel's to you directly!  I would guess you'll be receiving them sometime next week! Get started right away, as our reveal day is scheduled for Wed. February 15th!

And today, probably this afternoon, Jade will be updating her Etsy shop with Pinwheels for anyone that wasn't picked but wants to play along. Happy Friday!!

New Blog Challenge!

Welcome to the newest installment of my Blog Design Challenges... This time we are working with Jade Scott's newest endeavor- the enameled Pinwheel! And just for the challenge, she made them into connectors for even more versatility!

As you see in the photo above, there are 7 pinwheels. I get that pale blue one on the far left, and will be sending off the remaining 6 to the participants. I will send random colors to random people and won't know who gets what color. 

The challenge will be to put this pretty pinwheel in a piece of jewelry for a blog hop that will be scheduled for 3 weeks from today. That would be Wednesday, February 15th. Because of time constraints I will only be accepting US participants this time around. And yes, you must have a blog to participate so that we can all enjoy hopping from one reveal post to another.

If you would like to chance it and try to win one, leave 1 comment on this post. I will pick 6 random winners on Friday  morning- Jan. 27th. If you don't want to risk it but you want to play along, head on over to Jade's Etsy shop where she will be posting a small smattering of Pinwheels on FRIDAY Jan. 27th, for your personal enjoyment.  If you would like to participate in the blog hop on Feb. 15th, please be sure to leave me an email with your blog link on or by Tuesday February 14th.

Think outside the box here designers!!  Be creative. Layer your pendants. Mix your media!  And GOOD LUCK to ALL WHO WANT TO PLAY!

New!

 Elaine Ray tried to stump me with this square shaped white glazed ceramic focal. I tied this Vintaj Butterfly onto it, embellished that top hole with a flower, added a Czech glass brio in the center hole and beaded the necklace with green kyanite, glass, Elaine Ray rounds in a lilac color, and magenta glass seed beads.

 Wood chain from Happy Mango beads - with a wire wrapped lampwork focal- flower focal from Tera of BeadyGirl Beads, and discs from Blue Seraphim. The green stone rounds are from BeadOnSale.

 Large ceramic button focal from Kylie Parry, wood rounds, Ceramic spacers from Joan Miller Porcelain, and a flat lampwork flower from Gardanne Beads. Leather cording, and a handmade brass wire hook clasp.

The focal bead on this bracelet was the inspiration for this bracelet. A lot going on! Jasper rounds, golden pyrite nuggets, lampwork glass, ceramic beads, gold sliders, and brass heavy metal seed beads. YUM!

Feeling Heartsy

I put together a sweet treasury this morning. Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days. I've got the winter blues, and haven't been all that chatty lately. I'll be back in a bit with photos of last night's beading session results. :)

 

 

 

'Feeling Heartsy' by lorelei1141

i heart you

CUSTOM mY hEaRT bELoNGS tO Y... PurpleToedGyps... $28.00	Mixed Heart Valentine Cookie... queenoftartsca... $45.00	Pikalda : Handmade lampwork ... veradacraft $14.00	Heart Shaped Chocolate Clay ... MarshaNealStud... $10.00
Barbed Wire Valentine Heart ... TheLonelyHeart $18.00	Vintage Valentine Heart Padl... TheLonelyHeart $40.00	Rainbow in My Heart - hand p... TreeWingsStudi... $8.00	Handmade Bronze Heart Pendan... jennifertough $22.00
Confetti Heart Bead - Puffy ... JoanMillerPorc... $45.00	four pink hearts StephanieSersi... $24.00	Mini LOVE hearts dianehawkey $10.00	LOVE IS GONNA FIND YOU - fin... chocolatnegro $29.00
Cross stitch in wooden hoop ... skrynka $25.00	Free shipping - Sterling sil... dindi $58.00	Personalized Wedding gift AN... DomesticNotion... $72.00	Handmade lampwork glass bead... LoriLochner $36.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio. 

Coral Suede

Figured I would test out that pretty coral suede that I bought last week. First I made this cuff bracelet- Layered with brass filigree, and a Jade Scott pendant. Finished the ends with brass crimp ends and a brass toggle from Vintaj.

 Just playing around with some scraps... This ring was fun. I used an enameled C-Koop Beads disc, with a brass Vintaj bead cap and pewter Green Girl Studios bead cap, as a protruding flower. Tied with some linen cording and a few yellow "stamens". The thing I should have done though, was to tie the two ends together directly underneath the enameled disc. Instead, I tied them with linen cording at the base of the finger. This would probably not last a really long time, so I have to rework it.
But it's purty cute. :)

Bead Soup is on its way to Canada

My Bead soup is on its way to my partner Jennifer Tough. Here's a teaser pic.  I am sending her a little bit of everything so she has lots of options. I can't wait to see what she's sending me.  I am in love with Jennifer's work. She dabbles in a bit of everything, from metal clay, to lampwork. And you may have seen her little tutorial for copper pipe pendants on Pinterest. Very cool. You can follow Jennifer's blog to get to know her better, and to see her teaser pic. 
Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Hop Reveal day is March 3rd.  Be sure to come by to get the hop list- but make sure you clear your schedule. There is 200  blogs to read!

Bees are back

bzzzzzzz

they are back

plus some other newbies

today

at 

NOON est

at

Round Rabbit Extra

cyst.

 Well, what a day so far.

Here is what I dealt with in the past 16 hours. I discovered a very large lump on my right breast. Did not sleep well. Woke up, scoured internet for painful lump self-diagnosis. Rushed to Urgent Care when they opened at 7:30. Argued with the receptionist about why I didn't initially call my gynocologist. Refrained from punching her in the face. And explained that I didn't want to have to wait 4 weeks to get in there.
Saw the doctor who eased my mind when he told me that typically cancer doesn't pop up out of no where, and that it seemed more of an inflammation issue but scheduled me for an immediate sonogram and mammogram.  Upon entering Mammography, was asked if I was pregnant. My face lit up. I said I don't know! MAYBE!  They ordered a blood test to make sure. I waited for 45 minutes hoping and praying I was pregnant. Had Sonogram. Was told it was a cyst.  Was called in for the mammogram. Was told I was not pregnant.  Mammogram was uneventful. Was told I was "all set". I left. Went to work. Got called 20 min. later. "Where are you Ms. Eurto? Your test results are here, you need to come back in to talk to the Doctor". Raced back to the office. Was told for a 2nd time it was a cyst.  Better to have it dealt with - drained or removed are the options.  But my gynocologist can make that call at my annual exam next month.

I'm ready to go back to bed.