Christmas and New Year recap with Hearts!

Hello friends!

Ahhh I took a sweet little break after my last post, but I'm now back up and running making new work. Ricky and I took a nice little 4 day vacation to Colorado to visit with Ricky's family over Christmas. 

Here is a view of our Christmas tree outside at Ricky's parent's house. It was SOOO pretty! It was really nice to have a white christmas :)

As you can see. We stayed nice and cozy in blankets, coffee in hand :)

We also had the pleasure of enjoying Ricky's parent's amazing kitchen! It looks like one of those dream kitchen's you see on Pinterest! 

My dreads have tamed down, thank God. I even dyed my bangs BLONDE! Yep, that's right BLONDE! I have more plans for them... I am going to dye them a color or colors, but have not decided yet.

We also ended up having some family Christmas photos done. My sister set up the photo shoot since my brother was able to join us for Christmas this year. Here is our entire family. From left to right(top row to bottom). Mom, Ricky, me, Santino, Nina, Preston, Dad, and baby Ayla.

I really love this shot of Ricky and me. It's been awhile since we had a nice portrait of the two of us done. I do wish the Christmas tree wasn't in the background so it didn't look so hoildayish. I am totally over holiday decor when the holidays are over :P 

It's been super cold here in Missouri so I guess it has me dreaming of warmer days. Who ever thought I would be waiting for Christmas to end. Usually this time of year is my favorite as we huddle indoors to create and hunker down during the cold time of year. I guess this desire for warmth shows up in my new run of beads ;)

Hearts, ladies and gents! Yep, this year I made them EARLY! Woo hoo! I really do love making hearts, but for some reason I seem to miss getting ready for Valentine's day early. This year I got some made and may have a chance to create more before the holiday! You can find these lovelies in my shop here. 

I created some lovely beachy themed hearts with the stone bottoms(my favorite)! I love the contrast of shiny and stone. I bet you didn't know I was scared to death of the ocean. Yep, something about LARGE creatures swimming past my head or the fact that the "bottom" is so far away you can't touch it with your feet? Let's not forget all of the icky stuff in the sand that touches your feet when you do walk in the ocean and the fact that you can't see through it to see if anything is attacking you. NOPE! The sea is not for me. Maybe that's why I make the beads instead? Lol. It's a sad thing since Cancer is my star sign! 

I also recalled a bead I created for a color example that I named "Queen of Hearts". 

Here was the color chart and example beads to show off the unique rods of Creation is Messy Lipstick.

Here is my "Queen of Hearts" bead. I remembered it in my mind when I went on to create "Dark Heart Dawning", but as you can see it turned out a little different ;) 

After creating "Dark Heart Dawning" I got the idea to stay on that Alice in Wonderland theme and create "Painting the Roses Red".

This heart features a white rose, a half red and white rose and a full white rose ;)

I  was thinking I should try out my "rainbow chakra's" style in a heart design too so I created these "Rainbow Chakra Golden Om" hearts. Aren't they gorgeous?!

Here is "Golden Om". I have to thank the lovely, Maire Dodd for this inspiration. We were chatting on Instagram when I posted my new years and she said this combo would make a pretty bead! Boy was she right. I already sold this baby ;)

Did you know I finally got my butt in gear and got some recycled sari silk in the shop?! 

You can now find 1 yard bundles of sari silk and these wonderful 15mm lobster claws and chain in my shop to create my 18-20" recycled sari silk necklaces or whatever other designs you find bouncing around in your head!

Well that is all from me for now! I will see you again later this week with some new beady goodness!

I stuck to the beachy theme and I even made some beachy DREAD BEADS(or large holed beads ;) 

Stay tuned!

xoxo Genea

Curious Design Challenge- Components for Creating

Hello friends!

Why is a raven like a writing desk?? Did you ever wonder about this question that always seems to be asked, but never answered? Well I have the answer for you! A raven is like a writing desk because Edgar Allen Poe wrote "The Raven" on a writing desk! Ah ha! Isn't it nice to know the answer? :)

How are those ideas coming for our Curious Design Challenge?

I have been cruising around Etsy for some handmade goodies to add to your designs! 

 

Check out these amazing vintage Alice in wonderland stampers! You could stamp these images onto a shrinky dink to make some charms, or do an image transfer onto a scrabble tile!

 

Look at this wonderful Cheshire cat pendant.  

"Alice: But I don't want to go among mad people.

The Cat: Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.
Alice: How do you know I'm mad?
The Cat: You must be. Or you wouldn't have come here."

 

Look at these amazing keyholes!  Do you remember the scene in the Disney Alice in Wonderland cartoon when Alice looks through the Keyholes mouth to see if the white rabbit has gone through the doorway?

 

Look at these wonderful tear drops by Suburban Girl Studios. Remember when Alice leaves the key to the door on the top of the table and cries those giant tears?   

"Doorknob: I forgot to tell you.

[laughs]
Doorknob: I'm locked!
[laughs]
Alice: Oh, no!
Doorknob: But of course, you've got the key, so...
Alice: What key?
Doorknob: Now, don't tell me you've left it up there!"

 

This gorgeous heart by Staci, would be perfect for the queen of hearts!

 

How about these fanciful mushroom buttons that could be used for a clasp? 

"Caterpillar: By the way, I have a few more helpful hints. One side will make you grow taller...

Alice: One side of what?
Caterpillar: ...and the other side will make you grow shorter. "

I hope these wonderful components gave your some inspiration for your pieces!

Happy Curious Creating!

xo Genea

We're in some Treasuries! Check 'em out :)

Hello friends!

Just thought I would share the treasuries in which we have been featured. I always love to check out what other artists are doing :)

"No time to say hello, Goodbye!"  I just LOVE Alice in Wonderland so I am always excited to show up in these treasuries :D The cheshire cat is my favorite character. I even have a tattoo :D

This tattoo is of the Cheshire Cat from the Norturnal Wonderland rave flyer back in 2000. It says "P.L.U.R," which is the "raver code". It stands for: Peace, love, unity, and respect". 

 "Rainbow Bright". You all know that color is my passion so I'm also super excited to show up in super rainbowtastic treasuries as well :D Don't you LOVE that rainbow soap?! So cool!

Ok well I'm off! Lots to do!

Have a fantastic day!

Much love,

Genea

A little bit of Christmas Mayhem

Hello friends!

Are you staying sane in the last little bits of Christmas mayhem? We went out today to a few grocery stores for the last little bits of food needed to make some tasty hors dourves (or horsey doovers as my family calls them :D). We are making a yummy Reuben dip w/ rye chips, some dip with packet of organic dill packet w/Greek yogurt Terra sweets and beets, and some plain kettle chips, some pre-made hummus by Sabre, with lots of fresh cut veggies, and a large can of salted mixed nuts :D

Here is the dip recipe if you are interested! 

REUBEN DIP
8oz corned beef or pastrami chopped
1C sour kraut, rinsed, drained, chopped
1-8oz pkg cream cheese
2C shredded Swiss
1/2 C thousand island dressing

Mix together and serve warm with rye chips or other crackers or bread.

We are using Bolthouse thousand island dressing since it's gluten free so Ricky can partake in the dip. He can't eat the rye chips so we got him some yummy gf crackers :D

I can't believe tomorrow is actually Christmas Eve! Our family always celebrates then and Ricky's parents usually celebrate Christmas day. Ricky's dad is the head pastor at the Vineyard of the Rockies in Fort Collins, CO so on Christmas Eve after a day of services the family all goes to Macaroni grill. His parents sent us a gift card to out since we all won't be able to go together. 

We also got lots of awesome stuff from them in the mail. They always think of awesome gifts and presentation. I didn't photograph everything, but we did get this awesome MONEY TREE and tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

I was excited to be a part of the Secret Santa exchange put on by Lillyella!  My secret santa was Macy J's and she had a special necklace put together for me by Junebell :)

My gift came wrapped in this lovely shimmery bag.

  

Here's my necklace! Isn't it lovely?! :) Thanks to Macy J's and Junebell!

It has been COLD, COLD, and COLD here in Kansas City! I have been such a slug lately. I has been hard to stay warm. I have been spending lots of time under my blanket on the couch with the dogs and my newest knit scarf :D

 

Knitting is like one of the BEST things ever since it your supplies are generally 1 pair of knitting needles and a ball of yarn. This is SUPER convenient for travel or for having a product of sitting on your couch. I productive persons dream, a project completed while sitting around doing "nothing" :D

Ricky and I also started another puzzle! I forgot that Amanda had given me this Alice in Wonderland puzzle awhile back. Winter is the perfect time to work on puzzles :D

 

Here is what the puzzle will look like when it's finished.

 Here is how far we have gotten so far ;) Still a ways to go. This baby is 1,000 pieces! That damn chair takes up like the WHOLE puzzle too! Ack!

Well that pretty much sums up what has been going on around here for the time being. It's been nice to have a little breather before the holidays :)

I hope you all have a Blessed Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

See you soon!

Much love,

Genea