Looky What I Got!

Don't you just love getting packages in the mail? I know I do! I just got these wonderful feather earrings from Cali at the The Bead Muse. The pictures don't do them justice - they're beautiful and delicate and so so soft. That's because they're made with feathers that Cali hand selects from her own flock of birds. I chose the red and black rooster feathers (on the left) for my chicken-obsessed daughter. She will LOVE them! And she'll flip when she finds out they came from an actual rooster. The other pair is made with pheasant feathers that are a stunning dark green and have wonderful polka-dotted markings on them. They are so unique and I'm so happy I got them. Check out more feather earrings in The Bead Muse's Feather Jewelry section.

Therapy Thursday

Day brighteners can come in all forms. But the unexpected ones are the best. Today I received a shop banner from my friend Kelly, of KellySchwarkDesigns on Etsy. She has done this before, and I'm still so surprised by it. She goes into my shop and picks out beads, arranges them and adds hilarious captions. Her sense of humor is right up my alley. For a better look at my current banner, go ahead and click on the image above.

Kelly and I met on Etsy - I think in the forums in a "positive thread," which is only fitting. She has two shops on Etsy. One is her graphic design shop, KellySchwarkDesigns, and the other is where she sells her artwork, KellySchwark. She's just now up and running in both shops after taking some time off. If you're looking for a fresh look to your shop and need a new banner, I highly recommend Kelly's work. It speaks for itself.

Below is the banner Kelly sent me last year before Easter. The poor turtle is being stalked by the marshmallow bunny and Peep.

And up until today I had this banner up in my shop:

And here's a painting from Kelly's art shop, KellySchwark:

Happy Thursday, everyone!

L@@ky What I Bought

Nope, it's not edible - though it sure looks yummy! It's murrini, which are tiny pieces of glass with intricate little patterns on them. Two of my fellow lampworkers, Lori Peterson and Kimberly Lynn, began making their own murrini and selling it on Etsy. And a few weeks ago I finally succumbed to the little voice that kept telling me to "buy the murrini, buy the murrini." It was as if I'd been hypnotized or something. The only reason I had resisted up until then was because I didn't really know how to use it. I had tried applying murrini to a bead only a couple of times before, and both times were disasters. When I melted the pretty little piece of glass onto my tweezers, I just gave up. But then I found loriandkim on Etsy and I knew I had to give it another go. So floating around my bead box are a few practice turtles that have been decorated with some of Lori and Kim's fun "Whatever Murrini" - a mix of several kinds of murrini found in their shop. And the other day, when I was making a Christmas tree bead, I decided my ornaments just weren't that exciting. So I dipped into my new murrini and decorated my tree in style.

Now Lori and Kim are selling their gorgeous little creations on their own website - loriandkim - and I'm starting to hear that little voice again . . .

Penguins and Tutorial Talk

The first critter bead I made was a penguin. I had happened upon the Bead Envy website by Emma Green, and lo and behold - there was a lampwork penguin tutorial. I had not planned on making critter beads. My grand plan was to create beautiful, sophisticated beads for jewelry. But when I saw this tutorial for Plop the Penguin I knew I had to give it a try. Emma's tutorial is wonderful - it explains in full detail what to do and in what order - which is very important with sculptural beads. A penguin bead was bigger than anything I had made up until then, and at first I had some trouble keeping the entire bead hot. Sadly, some of my penguins lost a wing or two. But that first penguin I made, which resembled a penguin enough for my kids to recognize it, was all it took. I was hooked. I made penguin after penguin, with distorted heads and broken wings and eyeballs that melted together. But I didn't care - to me, they were the most fun I'd had at the torch yet. So I moved on to Emma's Cow Head Tutorial. The cow head was much trickier for me, but I kept at it. I was so grateful to have these steps outlined so beautifully and easily for me. My penguin and cow beads don't look like they used to, but they also don't look like Emma's. I took her instruction, and as they say on American Idol, "made it my own" - which is how it should be.

If you are a lampworker who would like to give critter beads a try, I highly recommend the tutorials on Bead Envy. If you are a collector of critter beads, I urge you to check out Emma's creations ~ they're just wonderful!

I would love to write a bead tutorial. I'm thinking about doing one for turtles, because I think those would be a good place to start for the aspiring critter bead artists (I know you're out there!). My turtle beads are basic, round beads with layered spots - just add the face, feet, toes and tail and voila! It's a turtle.

Here are a bunch of my original penguin beads - they now live in my daughters' bead boxes.

Penguin in a Pom Pom Hat - see how they've evolved? They even wear hats now!

Penguin in a Santa Hat

I'd love to hear from lampworkers - do you use tutorials? Have you tried a critter bead tutorial? Would a turtle tutorial (a turtle toot) be something you'd be interested in?

Sppoooooky SALE

My Halloween beads are itchin' to get out of the bead box and go scare up some fun ~ so I've put them on SALE! Check out the SPOOKY SALE section in my shop . . . if you dare.

Franken-Turtle (a lab experiment gone horribly wrong)

Spider Skull

Turtle in a Candy Corn Costume (don't eat the candy corn with toes)

Bat & Ghost Pair (these would make fun earrings ~ and I'd be happy to make them for you for a small fee)

Therapy Thursday ~ and boy do I need it!

Is it really only Thursday? I wouldn't know - I've been in the house all week with two sick kids and a dog with a nasty case of the runs (he got into the cat's food - my bad). And just a few minutes ago our poor kitty had a seizure. He is diabetic, and occasionally will suffer a seizure if his numbers are off. This was a pretty bad one and it took me a while to snap him out of it. Corn syrup on his tongue and lots more food in his belly, and he's doing much better. But while he is experiencing an episode, he sprays uncontrollably. I was lucky in the sense that this time he was on the hard floor, so clean-up was a little quicker. But, as I'm sure you can imagine, my house needs some freshening up! And I could use a bit of aroma-therapy (and a drink, but it's only 9:30 in the morning). So I lit my Monkey Farts candle from DavesHomemade and it's starting to smell much better in here. Don't let the name "Monky Farts" scare you - it's not what you think. These candles have a "unique complex fragrance is anything but disgusting! Fragrance begins with top notes of fresh bananas and juicy grapefruit, middle notes of kiwi, juicy bubblegum, and strawberries; and a hint of vanilla as a base note," according to their description. And I have to concur - yummy!

But my candle is getting low, and I already gave the other one I bought as a gift. So now I think I'll treat myself to some shopping therapy. I'll make my hubby happy in the process, because I'm going for the Fall Trio, which includes Pumpkin Pie, Hot Apple Pie and Gingerbread Cookie (all my hubby's faves - and no calories!).

Happy Thursday to me!

What are you doing on this gloomy Thursday to stay upbeat?

Warning: Sale Ahead

From Friday, Oct. 16 thru Sunday, Oct. 18, I'll be offering 10% off of all sales in my Etsy shop. Just make your purchase and put "Weekend Deals" in the note to seller, and then wait for a revised invoice with the new price, or pay and wait for a refund. Easy as pie.

Take Care of the Girls

As you probably know, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It's a chance to promote awareness of the disease and remind women to go get their mammograms and do their own self exams. It's also a chance to contribute to the cause. The following shops will all donate a portion of the proceeds of the sales of specially-marked items to breast cancer charities.

One-half of the proceeds from the sale of this adorable Hooters For Hooters Bead by StudioMarcy will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Now is your chance to own one of Marcy's sweet critter beads, and know that 50% of the proceeds is going to fight breast cancer. Check out Marcy's shop for more of her whimsical Hooters for Hooters.

DavesHomemade will donate 20% of each Breast Cancer Awareness Serenity Candle sale to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. These pretty pink candles are Pink Sugar scented, a playfully soft women's fragrance with the sweetness of sugar, cotton candy, vanilla, musk and light florals. I happen to own candles from this shop, and they are absolutely wonderful!

bellsandunicorns will donate 20% of the sales of these Pink Ribbon Sandwich Baggies to the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks, which provides monetary and other support to families struck by breast cancer in the Southwest Missouri area. These baggies are perfect for the eco-minded person who wants to help the earth - and also set a good example for the kiddos.

You can find this Boobie Bookmark is in my Etsy shop ~ Maybeads. I'll donate 50% of the proceeds from the sale of the bookmark to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING 9/11-9/13

Woo Hoo! Free Shipping! I'll be listing new beads this weekend, so keep an eye on my Etsy shop.

Getting to Know . . . The Tiny Fig

Connie from The Tiny Fig agreed to answer my random questions so we could get to know her better. Her charming Etsy shop has been a favorite of mine for a while now. You'll find everything from whimsical earrings to stickers and zip pouches. My daughter recently got her ears pierced, so we had a blast picking out some earring studs for her, and also stocked up on a bunch to give as gifts.

And right now, to celebrate the shop's 2-year anniversary, The Tiny Fig has marked down everything in the shop 50%! The sale runs through Sept. 14, so hop on over to The Tiny Fig and check it out! Also, for every item you purchase between Aug. 30 - Sept. 14, you will be entered in drawing to win a new French Toast Tee (not yet available in the shop).

So, let's get to know Connie, creator of the winking toast:

How did you come up with the burnt bread & winking toast (two of my personal faves)? When I first started playing with polymer clay I made a batch of bread slices. I painted some cute faces on them and my little sister said Ii should call them bread buddies. So that is what they are called. A while after, I was making another batch of charms and some how my toaster oven got cranked up to broil. The clay burnt and my whole house stank for hours with all the windows open. I posted about it on the Etsy forums and some people said it would be funny if I made burnt toast! So that's how they came to life. Do you have a nickname? Right now everyone calls me Tiny Fig or Figgy but some of my older Etsy friends and my real life friends call me Coonies as a fun way to say my actual name Connie. I actually use to have a shop on Etsy under that name until someone told me it was a bad word... whoops. Chocolate or Vanilla? CHOCOLATE! Laundry hamper: full or empty? Half full. What did you have for dinner last night? Rice and ribs. Bed: made or unmade? always unmade. Favorite fruit: hmm.. I don't know the english name of my favorite fruit. It's tropical and it grows on my family's farm in Malaysia. I guess other than that I would say white nectarines. Last book you read: I don't read... The last book I read if you don't count my accounting textbook would probably be Heart of Darkness. Ever eat a crayon? No. What's on your nightstand? I don't have a nightstand Favorite color? Purple How do you like your eggs? Easy over. Ever have a perm? no way! I have a round face.. It would look horrible on me. What's on your living room wall? Nothing. I don't really have a wall that doesnt have furniture up against it so it's blank. Deep dish or thin crust? can I choose regular? haha Pets' names: My dog is named Suki Ever try their (your pets') food? No but it smells good. Ever broken a bone? Nope thank god! Do you like guacamole? I love it! Most proud of: Starting my own business.