Saturday

Happy Saturday! It's a chilly day here in upstate NY, only 12 degrees with wind chills of -6. Brrrr. That's not keeping us from getting out for some fresh air today. Joe and I are headed to Little Falls, NY, to do a little window shopping at their awesome antique shops. They also have a large indoor mall that houses different local artisan's work like knitted things, jewelry, pottery, wood crafts etc.

I'm showing a necklace that I listed in my shop this past week. I used one of Lynn Davis' polymer clay angel/bird wings as a charm on this necklace. Lynn wrote a fun little story behind this necklace, read it here.

Running Late!

I'm running late. So not much of a post today.

Made this bracelet last night for the ABS challenge! Love how it turned out! New beads from KelleysBeads.etsy.com. Wavy lampwork beads from Blue Seraphim. Poppy focal from Heather Powers. Vintaj Brass clasp!


Here's another new bracelet. It'll end up in the shop at some point this morning!

and, a new profile pic taken today! yay!

Busy Busy Busy Busy Busy Busy Counting Beads

I got a SURPRISE in my mailbox yesterday!

I got the heads up that something was coming my way when I logged onto Doreen's Backyard Beads Blog and it said that Lorelei was getting some snail mail. I was so excited to read this news, and waited patiently to receive my little surprise. When I ripped open the Priority box, I find this sweet little raffia tied box within the tissue. When I got a better look...

The cutest little handmade owl that at first I couldn't tell if it was an old antique artifact, or indeed handmade out of clay. Come to find out, Doreen made it, along with a few other Owl friends. Hopefully she'll show us the others on her blog someday. Inside the package, a collection of the most beautiful handmade polymer clay beads I have seen in a while. The detailing, and the color is truly amazing. A photograph does not do it justice. For Sure! Thank you Doreen for sending some beads my way. I am going to have some fun playing around them.




Here are some new goodies you can expect to show up in the shop today. My first little ring, actually came out pretty cool. I used one of the antique buttons I found on my antiquing trip last weekend. Turned out so cool. Very retro.

Next, a wire wrapped bracelet with some awesome Serpentine nuggets that I found at the Antique fair last summer. I threw in this etched red stone round, a red lamp work bead from Cindy Hoo, an golden ball antique button, and Vintaj Brass tree charm. Old and New comes together quite well!





Simple but funky beaded bracelet with some dyed Buri Nut beads, and an asymmetrically placed faceted Prehnite round. I love the color combination in this piece. I used a handmade picture charm from Lola of The Lola Collection. I handforged some steel wire into a hook and eye clasp.


Here are some earrings using a pair of Lynn Davis' new Hearts. I added a couple of deep red Buri Nut beads as accents. They got really well with the charm bracelet that I also made with Lynn's charms.

My charm bracelet turned out just as I had hoped. This dyed ribbon that I found at Antica, really went so well with the colors of the charms. I added in some buttons, because well, why not?!? And some teal coin beads that are a strange stone I hadn't heard of before. Bought them at BeadsOnSale, they are called: Cuprite

Used another Pin-Up girl pendant from Heather Wynn. I love the colors in this piece. The brown wood accents the whole piece, causing the colors to pop even more. Asymmetrical design again. Little seed beads in between each bead.

And Finally the last necklace. Another Heather Wynn pendant, this time with cute little birds on a branch. The buttons I used were found last weekend, and are antique, and bone I think. They play off the pendant perfectly. This piece reminds me of my Grandmother who was an avid bird watcher, and loved feeding the birds in her yard all year round. I think she would have really loved the use of old buttons in jewelry. xox miss you Grandma.

Are you up for the Challenge?

Got the winter blues? Running low on inspiration? Need a little pick-me-up?? I've got just the right thing. There's a new challenge in town, and Scarlett needs some participants. I just met Scarlett Lanson recently when she started logging in to read my blog. She is a contributing editor over at Beadwork magazine and does some AMAZING jewelry designs. (Read her Blog)
Scalett is hosting a very cool challenge on her blog. It's the USE THE MUSE CHALLENGE! The competition is for all levels and genres of beaders. stringers, beadweavers, and embroiderers

How to play along:
You buy a Muse KIT.
You use the beads in the kit to create your submission. But you HAVE to use the Muse.
What's the muse?

A mystery component, that participants do not get to see until it arrives in the mailbox with the kit. The element complements the rest of the contest kit and may be a focal, pendant, art bead, or unique design component.

The Muse should be kept secret until the big reveal.
The sponsors for this challenge are Brass Bouquet, and Rainbows of Light and they have both donated the BEST prizes I've seen in a challenge in a while!! Read more about the contest. I'm totally participating. What better way to spice things up! A great challenge to get your blood flowing, and brain working. And the use of components you might not normally use! Sounds fun to me!
Hope you all at least read more about it.

Surprise!

Welcome to this month's edition of Lorelei's Surprise Giveaways!! Just trying to keep you on your toes! You just never know what you're going to stumble upon when you sign onto my blog! Keep you guessing!! Makes it fun!

This month's giveaway is this lovely 7-1/2 inch (I will resize it to fit the winner) beaded bracelet featuring a round, grey Vintage Button from one of my recent treasure hunting adventures. Brown wood wheels are separated by small teal glass seed beads, and asymmetrically placed along the band is a funky brown and teal swirled Lampworked glass bead from The Orange Bell!!

What you have to do is: Leave a comment on this post telling me what you'd like to see on a website, if hypothetically I started my own. What do you look for in a website? Design elements? What kind of payment system would you be interested in using? Would you want options? How simple or detailed do you like websites to be? You don't have to answer all these questions. Just leave one comment, and I'll draw a random winner on Sunday evening. (Feb. 1st) Please make sure you leave an address so I can reach you if you win.

Thanks for playing along! Good luck to everyone!

One Away!

I created this multi-media necklace yesterday afternoon. Sometimes I'm not so good at mixing a lot of different stones and colors together, but this piece came together pretty easily. I find that I have a lot of brown tones and teal tones in my collection. It's a long necklace (30 inches) and perfect for the season.

It features to artist beads: Stefanie Meisel and Keith O'Connor. Check out Stefanie's etsy shop Distracted Muse! And Keith O'Connor can be seen here!

It is now for sale in my Etsy shop.
I realized yesterday I am only 1 sale away from 400 sales! That's a lot of jewelry. When you think about it, how on earth did I make 400 things in the past 2.5 years? wow!
I should probably do something super special for my 400th sale. I think I will. But it will be a surprise. I wish I could cause balloons and confetti to happen around the buyer. Unfortunately, my super powers do not allow this. But it will be special. I promise. As soon as I think of it.

Have a great Monday!

The Goods!

[*we split the large bag of buttons,
laid them out on the dining room table
and picked out our favorites!]

Tara and I had a great time today, on our little antiquing expedition. We braved the blowing snow and cold, and headed down to Madison Bouckville, N.Y. to check out the shops that are open all year round. There are only a handful of them, that are. We met some really super friendly shop owners, and had a ball looking through shelves and shelves of fun, old items. The gears in both of our heads, spinning and spinning with ideas of craftiness. I think we went to 4 shops in total. The third shop we walked into, had it's very own bead section. How lucky is that! The woman running the shop makes her own beaded jewelry, and sells strands of different gemstone beads. She also offered some large gem pendants individually. I found a couple of faceted Amazonite beads that will be great for earrings.

She also sells some silver findings, and I bought three small silver S clasps. I also bought a strand of the coolest shape and color, Dragonskin Jasper.

They are some sort of faceted nugget shape that is really fun and interesting, with the most beautiful green color. After asking for some buttons and keys, the owners whipped out the {hidden} stash and we made out with a HUGE bag of various buttons and several skeleton keys.

Some other finds of the day were some skeleton keys, and a collection of cool larger sized buttons.

You just never know what you'll find in some of these shops. There is ALWAYS a treasure to find!

Saturday Stew

A smattering of what is going on with me these days.

* yesterday, good news.... I'm among the colorful pages of BeadStyle Magazine this March 2009 issue and my preview issue came in the mail. I'll keep you posted when it's on shelves so you can all go out and buy it, drinking a glass of wine to celebrate on my very first ever publication!! :)

* Very very happy to find out that one of my most favorite jewelry designers is now listing jewelry components like fabulous pendants in her Etsy shop! YAY JADE SCOTT!! Here's the one that's going to show up in my mail box:


* today, I'm going out to breakfast with my honey and some friends, and afterwards, Tara and I are heading to Bouckville NY to do a little antiquing. Looking for old keys, vintage jewelry, BUTTONS!, and maybe some props for jewelry like old books and things like that. I'm really excited. although, I am not excited that the wind chill today is expected to be negative 10. -10!!! that's flippin' cold.

* No new jewelry to show, I spent another night watching some tv last night. Enjoyed a glass of Svenka to celebrate my magazine news. But I hope to get in the studio today to make a few things.

*I am in talks with the computer IT guy Bill, at work, about setting up a website. I'll keep you posted on that. It's very exciting and something I've been looking foward to for a while. I wish I didn't have to depend on Bill for help, but I am just not up to par when it comes to HTML talk.

Have a good Saturday!!

Oh, I'm married?

Last night, I arrived home from work, thrilled to be home after a long day in the office. I quickly ripped open my 3 packages. My second purchase from Betsy at Foundling. A single ring, with red and white fabric, to go with the set I had purchased before. It's really gorgeous. Now I can switch out the green ring for the red ring, and it looks great!
A package of large shell buttons from Etsian Feralia, all individually wrapped in tissue for safe travels. They are super. I made this necklace last night. It's now listed in the shop.

And another set of yummy lampwork glass beads from my favorites: The Orange Bell.

Then in a small break from making dinner, Joe says "I bought you a present!" which made me clap and hop up and down like a little kid! I was so excited. It's been a while since I've heard those words.

My super awesome husband, went to Old Navy, and bought me a SWEATER!! OMG! And it wasn't even ON SALE!!! and he even picked out the right SIZE!!

Here's me wearing it:

So after making this button necklace, I thought to myself. WOW. what a great husband. I haven't really spent any time with him lately, so busy making jewelry. We see each other briefly in the morning. Then at the dinner table. and then not again until we fall into bed and are ready for sleep.

So I decided to take a little time off and we spent some quality time together watching a little tv. Reality tv, no less. The Real World, Brooklyn.

lol

Yep, I'm married!

25 Things

1. I have asthma. And will live the rest of my life taking an inhaler every day.
2. I'm allergic to pollen and cats. And yes, I own a cat.
3. My cat Marley is treated like my child, and is very spoiled.
4. When I was young, I was a picky eater. Now I'm picky about
how I eat. I like to eat things in three's.
5. Making jewelry seems to come quite naturally to me.
6. My parents got divorced when I went to college.
7. I am the oldest of 3. There is 16 years between me and my sister. There is 20 years between me and my brother.
8. I absolutely LOVE my birthday. It's my most favorite day of the year.
9. I am a Democrat.
10. I met my husband for the first time at college when he asked if I would buy him dinner on my meal card.
11. I've never been to the Caribbean. I've also never been to Central US or the west coast.
12. When I get nervous, my head itches.
13. I am really tall, at 5'10".
14. If I could afford it, I would get a breast reduction.
15. If I could afford it, I would have my nose done too.
16. This is the first time in my life where I've been Mostly comfortable in my own skin.
17. When I was a kid, I hated sleepovers and would beg to go home before bedtime.
18. I played the flute. And want to start playing again soon.
19. I've never broken a bone.
20. I have broken lots of hearts.
21. I have Deja Vu, A LOT.
22. In a past life, I think I may have been a photographer.
23. I miss my two Grandmothers so much it hurts my heart.
24. When I create a piece of jewelry, I only love it 20% of the time. The other 80% I think, well, Maybe??
25. I am completely a self-taught jewelry designer.

Owl Love:Post is below this fun Collection of Owl Favorites! Keep scrolling down!

I wish I knew where this obsession with owls came from. It seemed like it happened right BEFORE the whole owl craze started in the jewelry world. Could it have been a premonition? I don't know. I can't say. But the truth is, I love 'em. I can't get enough! I love buying them. I love creating with them. Yesterday I compiled this list of owls from Etsy. Which sparked some creativity and I created 3 owl pieces of jewelry. Took new photos, and attached them to the post- please ignore: Don't mind my icky photos. I've decided to scrap the light box. it's NOT been good to me. There was cursing. And spitting. So these will be listed on Etsy as soon as I get some daylight to retake the shots.

This first necklace, above, uses a pendant that I first saw in the Owl Bead layout of the most recent Stringing Magazine! The seller is on Etsy, Analiese

Above: Owl Bead from A Bead Place

Above: Owl Bead and Clay Focal: Humblebeads
Ladybug charm: Green Girl Studios

January Art Bead Scene Challenge- VanGogh's Irises

This month's Art Bead Scene challenge is to focus on the theme of the painting by Vincent VanGogh Irises. This was tougher than I thought! First of all, I don't have beads remotely close the colors in this painting. Secondly, How should I emulate irises with beads? GAH! I was asked recently in a blog comment if I was going to submit this month, so I decided it might be fun to try. Now that I look at the painting again, the irises look more blue than purple. At least I got the greens right. So my inspiration wasn't about the flowers, but was more about color.

I used buttons. And brass wire. And Czech glass rounds that are a beautiful purple color. And the focal was a heart that I just got in the mail last week from the very talented Lynn Davis of ExpeditionD. I tied the heart onto the necklace using some of Lynn's hand dyed ribbon that has a little bit of purple in it.

My favorite part of the necklace is where I inserted buttons into the center of a handforged brass wire loop. I wrapped the button in with some brass wire so that it would look almost stitched on.

Wish me luck! There are a lot of FABULOUS entries already submitted! Go see them here!

Thank you MLK!

Yippee! One more day off today! Yesterday and Saturday were quite productive. Yesterday, I was in a zone. My first obsession: Sue Beads. Sue Kennedy's Lampworked glass beads have been sitting on my desk for more than a week. I traded a necklace for some of her lovelies and I'm so glad I did because her beads are delicious! My first 4 pieces were made with her beads.


This first necklace incorporates some of the cooler toned beads from her Earthy set. I paired them with some darkened chain and some silver spacers and the focal is a hand stamped polymer pendant from Heather Wynn. Heather pointed out that the little silver granules on the beads pair perfectly with the aged patina texture. I'd say she's right!! :)








This next bracelet, I used the warmer tones of the same set. I thought they looked great with these wood ovals, that have a nice warm earthy tone to them. The clasp, hooks onto the pewter skeleton key from Green Girl Studios. I love this key that they created. I wish I had a drawer full of them. I can incorporate this key into any piece of jewelry. It's so versatile!



These earrings were made with some teal and cream swirly beads. These came in a second set from Sue. I love the color combination with the copper and brass. They look so nice standing "alone".












This last set of beads, were a set I fell in love with on Sue's blog. She was talking about her love of this stone called Aqua Terra Jasper and she created some beads to mimic this stone patterning. I think she did a fabulous job. In fact, I purchased these beads, minutes after seeing them on the post. Used them in this bracelet where I paired them with some green glass, and smoky quartz. The beads are shiny so it was hard to photograph them, and get the whole depth of color.

This last bracelet, I made with two of my favorite things. 1. Lynn Davis' new line of Asian connector beads, and 2. Red Fossil Jasper. sooooo perfect together!

Ahhh, another day of creating. Hope you have a creative Monday too!

High Tea

Yesterday afternoon, from 2-4pm, I attended high tea with my friends Tara and Maggie. The three of us work at the museum together. Tara found out from a friend that some places do afternoon tea and they found the Rosemont Inn by going to TeaMap.com.
The Rosemont Inn is located on Genesee Street in Utica. It's a lovely old Victorian house and I believe there are 7-8 rooms available. Rita is the Bed and Breakfast owner, and she served us our tea. This was my first time doing afternoon tea. I felt so grown-up and sophisticated. We loved it!
The first course: English Breakfast tea, Savory treats: Curried Chicken salad on little bread wedges, a Mediteranean spread on rye, water crackers with a pesto and cheese layered concoction, Cucumber and mint on bread wedges. It was delicious. The tea was served in one these fancy tea pots that allows you to brew from loose leaves. The dining room was really quite beautiful with a nice marble fireplace and decorative glass balls hanging from the chandelier. (click the pictures to see them bigger)



This first photo is looking from the dining room into the formal double parlor. And here is Maggie enjoying her tea. The second course- Cream scones with cherry, and assorted jams. These were the best scones I've ever had. They were so moist and I love anything with cherries. The tea served with this course was Assam Tea.




Here I am sipping a bit of the third course tea. I can't remember the name of it but it had a much smokier flavor than the first two. The third course was more sweets. I multi-tiered server with assorted cookies, a cake with dryed fruit, lemon tarts, biscotti, and a light citrus fruit cake. Here is Tara with her signature tea drinking pose. ;)


Rita has different themes depending on the month. The one we attended yesterday was the Winter Snowflake Tea. We want to definitely book our tea for next month- Chocolate Tea. Here's the menu:

Available ONLY in February

Pesto Blossom with Pita Crackers
(provolone & cream cheeses, sun-dried tomatoes)
Curried Chicken Salad on Whole Wheat
Cucumber Mint Sandwiches

English Breakfast Tea

Cream Scones with
Assorted Jams & Whipped Cream

Assam Tea

Double Chocolate Rose Cakes
Chocolate Dipped Strawberry
Rich Chocolate Shortbread Tarts
Assorted Chocolate Cookies

Selection of Herbal Teas

Santander Hot Chocolate

And Rita said she may serve us tea in February, in the formal Parlor which is typically where they served tea back in the day. In front of the fireplace.

We got a lovely tour of her B&B. We were able to see 3 of the rooms and they were all equally comfortable and beautiful. All with sweet names like Chantilly, and Lavender.

If you are ever in the area, and need a place to stay, I highly recommend the Rosemont Inn. And if you are ever in the area, call me up and we'll do Afternoon tea!

Reservations: 866-353-4907

Stay@rosemontinnbb.com

www.rosemontinnbb.com