More Quail Beads

Add caption

I have just put these two small sets of cute little quail in my Etsy shop.  Now I am taking a few days off to rest my wrist.
Thanks for stopping in!

Finally . . . . Some New Beads!

I have just posted these new beads in my Etsy shop. Hope you like them!

Blackbirds .. . .  'Bye 'Bye.

Long Legged Blackbirds.

I hope to be making a few more beads in the near future, however due to my problems with my thumb and wrist joints they will not be large sets.  I can only bead for short periods at a time with several days break in between.  For that reason, I will also no longer be taking any orders - sorry :O(

Thanks for stopping in!

Remember me?

No - well I don't blame you.  It has been ages since I made an appearance here.  I haven't been doing much in the way of torching, as my wrist/thumb joints are giving me a LOT of grief.  I'm not sure just how long I am going to be able to keep making beads.  Hopefully my plan of pacing myself and only torching a couple of times a week will help - time will tell.

I did manage to get enough beads together for the Spring show - Kitty Coleman, Woodland Gardens this last weekend.  The show was not very well attended by both vendors and customers alike, and on Saturday it literally poured down, so that day was a write off.  Sunday and the holiday Monday were much better, and sales picked up - not as good as previous years though.  All the vendors were saying the same thing.  I suspect everyone is "craft-faired out" and not interested in adding any more art of any kind to their collections.  Despite all that, I had a good time, and enjoyed catching up with all the other vendors.

Here are a couple of photos of my booth.  I was on my own this time, as my usual booth partner was home with family issues.

I will try and be a little more consistent in posting - but no promises! LOL.
Thanks for dropping in.

A Little Birdie Told Me!

Making birdy beads is a lot of fun - from my Folk Art chickens, and seagulls to marsh birds, and now I have added quail!

New Country Quail beads in my Etsy shop.

Folk Art chickens - sorry, sold.

Folk Art chicken mini set - sorry, sold.

Colourful Folk Art chicken set, sorry, sold.

Kind of mean of me to post all those pictures of the sold beads!  However I thought you wouldn't mind seeing the beads I have been making lately.

Have a great day, and thanks for looking in!

Miss Emily beads

I had an order from a good customer for two of these Little Miss Emily beads.  I made four for her to choose from and she has made her choice, and now these two girls are looking for a new home.

Miss Emily - front

Miss Emily - back

Miss Emily  front

Miss Emily - back

They are $35.00 from my blog here (plus shipping), or will be $40.00 once I list them on my Etsy shop in a day or so.
Hope you are having a good day, and thanks for looking in.

More Little Missy beads

These little girls are so much fun to make!  These ones will be going into my Etsy shop some time later on today - unless of course you want to purchase one before they get there :O)
They are $35.00 plus $3.50 shipping.

Thanks for looking!

Little Missy Beads

I made this style of bead after my class with Melanie Moertel back in 2010 (I think ?) at Red Deer College.  It was an incredible week!!

Anyway, I am now re-visiting the design.  Thanks to a customer who ordered one.

Little Missy - Garden Girl in blue

Little Missy - Garden Girl in pale aqua

Little Missy - Garden Girl in pale green

Little Missy - Garden Girl in red and yellow poppies.

Little Miss Emily (think Tim Burton)

These beads can be found in my Etsy shop.
Thanks for visiting.

More Abstract Flower Beads

I am really enjoying making these little abstract floral beads.  Here are two more sets for you to look at - they can be found in my Etsy shop.

Purple and white, Abstract Florals

This set is a little more "rustic" than the previous one, due to the
reaction between the Terra glass and the ivory.  I love that
"bubbling" that the ivory does when near the silver glass.

Thanks for looking!

Back at the torch!

I am finally able to get back to my torch - yay!!  Although it is only for short spells on alternate days - but I am grateful for that.

To those of you who have orders you are waiting for - I thank you for your patience.  I am hoping to have all the orders finished by the end of this month, but as we all know, "LIFE" tends to come along and mess up all our plans.  Sheesh!

This is a small set I made yesterday - transparent grey, black, white and red.  I love these colours together.  They can be found in my Etsy shop.

Scarlet Poppies - abstract floral beads.

Thanks for visiting me today.

I Had Such Great Plans for January!

Yes, I had such great plans for the beginning of this year.  I was going to keep my Etsy shop filled, and was going to apply for another craft fair, and even carry on a little bit with my painting.  Well, "life" had another idea in store.  On January 17th I twisted my back (yet again)

, and have been flat in bed ever since.  I even took a trip to the emergency room at our local hospital - I will write about that fiasco another time.  In the end I made an appointment with my doctor, drugged myself up so I could sit in the car, and he suggested that I get an MRI..  Well, the waiting time to get one that is paid for by the BC Medical is just out of sight - probably over a year.  I opted instead to pay for it myself, and I am going tomorrow to have it done - as they say "money talks".  I don't like the idea of a 2-tiered medical system, but the pain is so bad this time, and it has been on and off for 14 years that I have had enough!!! Thankfully, I am in a position to be able to pay for it.

So anyway, that is my little story as to why I have been so lax in my Etsy shop, blog, Lampwork Etc., and all those other places.  I have been able to keep up with events via my mini IPad, but it is just not the same.

I am hopeful that I will be able to get back to the torch in a week or two.  When I am able to sit for more than 5 minutes at a time I will give it a try.

 As I hate to have a blog without any pictures, I am going to look through my photo archives and find something.

Thanks for "listening"!

Can't remember if I showed you these or not - they are a new type of
landscape/tree bead I developed last summer, and plan to make many more.

This is a necklace I made up a while ago from odds, ends. orphans,
some copper beads and pearls.  I love the way it turned out.
The bead in the middle is hollow.

More of the landscape/tree beads.  The one of the left with the
multi-colour background was one of the first to go at the Labour Day
craft fair at Kitty Coleman Woodland Gardens.  It is one that
I wish I had kept - oh well, I guess I will have to make another.

Yearning for Spring

Although we haven't had a hard winter here on the west coast, I am really looking forward to Spring!  These small sets of abstract violets can be found in my Etsy shop.

Back in the saddle!

Well, it was a slow autumn, that is for sure.  Both in the blogging and torching categories.  Anyway, I am now back at my torch, and have a couple of bead sets to show you.

Mediterranean Splash.  These are now in my Etsy shop. The colour
is actually a lot more aqua than show here.  Not sure if it is my camera that
doesn't like aqua, or my computer monitor.

Purple Poppies.  I haven't listed these as yet, because I can't
decide whether to etch them or not.  They are made with a
base of clear glass, with decoration in cream, purple and "Terra" glass.
What do you think?

I also treated myself to a few new presses in December - a Christmas present to me from me!  I couldn't decide which hearts I wanted, so I purchased all the ones I was interested in.  One of them I think will be too big, but I am sure I can find a home for it.

Three heart presses from Bavarian Beads in Germany.

Here's hoping that I can be a little more prolific this year, both with the blogging and the torching.
Bye for now!

What Have I Been Up To??

Well, I obviously haven't been beading or blogging - lol.  I have closed up my torching studio for a few weeks, and have broken out my totes of paint, brushes, canvas etc.  I set up a little painting studio in the basement and have been painting away to my heart's content.  Well, I must admit that it is a lot harder than it looks - those professionals on You Tube make it look so easy.  Just standing in front of a blank canvas - heck, even a partially finished one,  I "freeze up", and have no idea where to go next.  As a consequence, a lot of my paintings are starting to look alike - I get a formulae and keep repeating it in different colours!

Anyway, here is a sampling of what I have been up to.  The paintings are hard to photograph, and some are on paper in a book, so that has it's own set of photographic problems.

One of the first ones I did.  A collage titled "Art Is . . . "
8" x 10" on canvas panel.

"Letting Go" is another collage on an
8" x 10" canvas panel.

"Memories", a collage on an 8" x 10" canvas panel.
This is one of my favourites.

"Climbing" is an abstract acrylic on 9" x 12" paper (still in the book).
I think it still needs some work - just not sure what yet.

This one and the next 2 are the ones that are all starting to look alike.
Perhaps I can say they are a "series" - some sort of industrial look.
I will have to think of a suitable name for them.
Untitled 1 is acrylic on a 9" x 12" paper (still in the book).

Untitled 2, acrylic on 9" x 12" paper (still in the book).

Untitled 3, acrylic on 9" x 12" paper - torn out of the book.
This was just a paper to blot my excess paint on, and I realized that
it was starting to have it's own merits, so I worked on it, and I
think it is my favourite of these series.  Not sure if it needs any
more work, or if I should leave it alone.

Thanks so much for looking at my paint splashes.  I hope to be back in the studio (glass) in early January, and will work on stocking my Etsy shop.

If I am true to form, I probably won't be blogging again until well after Christmas, so I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, or a Happy Holiday, whatever your beliefs.

Show Review

This last weekend was the annual Cedar Yellow Point Christmas Studio Tour.  As usual, we decorated up our barn/my workshop, and the short walk up to it.  It looked very "fairyland" like, with a path and lights through the trees.  I didn't get any pics of the outside, but you can probably see some from a year ago here on the blog.  We had 418 people come through the studio, and our driveway definitely looks like it!  Thankfully the weather held up, and there was no rain or snow as there was in previous years.

Here are a few pics of the inside, with the various vendors I had there.  I apologize for the poor quality of the photos - the lighting is not great for taking pics.  I tried to get out the yellow with my "paintshop" program, but I'm just not very proficient with it.

An overall view taken with my back to my torch area.

Herb Garden Pottery by Vicki Forkin.

My daughters soap - people came back for more.

Lampwork and vintage cutlery bracelets/jewellery by Judy Baun.

A portion of my set up.

Another portion of my set up.

Yet another portion of my set up.

Closer view of my new "antiqued brass" pieces.

The above three photos are some of the new "Regaliz" bracelets I
made for the show.  I was pleased that they sold very well, and will
definitely be making more.

That is the only Christmas craft fair/show I am doing this year - so now I can enjoy the rest of the year.  Yay!!

Thanks for stopping in.