Taters! :-)

I had the pleasure of eating the first of my potatoes this week.  This is only the second year that I have planted potatoes.  Growing food always amazes me.  I have found it to be so much trickier than I used to think.  I read and read and read about growing food.

 I have a peach tree that magically appeared in my yard ;-)  This year hubby maimed the apple tree with his excitement over borrowing a chain saw from a friend-- no apple pie, no apple butter, no apple sauce this year.   And this year my mom and I have 2 community garden plots across town.... cause we fantasize about living in a self sustaining way.  We have started growing mushrooms in the shady parts of the yard and for the first time we dried our sour cherries for using in muffins this winter.    Not bad for a tenth of an acre on sidewalked streets  :-)  

The taters make me very happy :-)

Bead Fest Philly! Wanna Share?

Calling all Bead vendors!

Anybody looking for booth space at BeadFest Philly? -I have a corner booth and I'm looking for someone to share.

Friday Night Fire

My friend Debra is in town from Oregon this week.  (This town is in Pennsylvania)

I have been spending time at her family's house the past few days.

Friday night was for sitting around a fire and enjoying the summer night.  I brought over my fire toys and we made some beads.  Debra's aunt is a clay bead artist as well and she added a piece to the fire.

I am a mess from being out til 2:30 and 1am the past few nights.  I had to take last night off ;-)

Debra is living on west coast time, but I still have to live on east :-)

Dinner Plates and Soup Bowls

I have been working on throwing a 4 piece dinner set for my newly married cousin and her husband this week.  Have I ever done this before??  Well... no ;-)

I have made all the pieces of a dinner set quite a few times before, but I have never made the entire set at one time and to match.  Somehow it just occurred to me and I thought it would be a valuable practice activity and a very useful gift. 

So.... here I am making time to throw a dinner set.  Because I like to make myself work just a little too hard sometimes, because I'm just a little crazy.

Dinner plates and soup bowls down, salad bowls and mugs to go :-)

Soup!

Here is the wonderful selection of Humblebeads I received from my partner Heather Powers.

They are all so beautiful, I wanted to use them all in one fabulous necklace :-)

But the trouble was... The plan fell through!  Nothing fit on my fiber, nothing fit on my wire.... So my big plan of this fabulously movable fibrous necklace didn't work!  and I don't have a lot of golden metal findings to choose from... So instead of one fabulous piece of jewelry, I ended up making 2 simple pieces with just a few bits I had on hand.

Here I braided silk cords and tied on a little tassel :-)

And this one my daughter already took from me.  She's wearing it right now.  I had one gold chain in my bead stash and this is it. 

I love this one!  And the thing is, Since it IS so simple, I will probably get A LOT more wear out of it than my original idea!

Heather's Soup Reveal!!!

Hey all you Super Soupers!!! 

Yesterday was Heather's turn to reveal her Bead Soup creations!!!

I sent Heather a pretty big pile of beads.  It seemed only fair since I already had a gifted stash of hers on my design desk :-)   I am so glad I did!  Look at all these beauties!

For these last 2 Heather used my favorite beads of the stash... (OK, maybe I have a few more favs)

I really really love how Heather used this sprocket disc!  I love all the metal!  I have been thinking about adding more metal to my bead stash....  Perhaps when I go to Bead Fest Philly in August I can find some fun chain :-) 

Isn't this just the prettiest necklace!  I love how the branches shape the body of the necklace.

Thanks Heather!!!   I just love seeing what you made!  I think our beads look great together!

My reveal is on the last day of the party.... Good thing since I haven't been able to really crack down and get my head straight about what I want to make...  So many ideas with Heather's beautiful beads.  I want to use them all, and make one show stopper, but that is trickier than it sounds....  and I am having a really tough time narrowing down which beads to use, since they all match so beautifully! 

I'm best at the last minute anyway :-)   I think I have to head to my local bead shop or craft store and perhaps find a perfect fiber to use...  Just not sure yet

Time to run... Last day at the office for the week then it is all art all the time!

I am working on making a dinner set for my cousin's wedding gift.  Soup bowls, Dinner plates, Salad Plates, Mugs, oh my!  My studio is full of pots!  my toes are splashed with clay!  It is a tricky project for me, since I'm not usually a pottery making potter.  wish me luck!

25% off sale still going strong! And the winner is.....

Just a quick note to let everyone know that since my 25% off sale is doing so well I am continuing it for a few more days!

The photo above shows some of the new pieces I have been adding to my shop.... some are already sold and headed across the country or into Europe......  and some will be added later today in between my packing up some goodies for an upcoming trunk show next week.

And who knows???  If everyone keeps buying up my new listings, I may just keep adding more!

And I bet you are wondering who won the $25 gift certificate  :-)

 THE WINNER IS ROSE!!!  AKA Random Creative!

(Rose-- send me an etsy convo to claim your gift certificate)

Thank you everyone for helping me "pass it on" and for clicking that comment button and letting me know you are there!

SALE AND GIVEAWAY!

That's it! I'm gonna have a sale!

It feels like everyone is at Bead and Button.

I am glad that I am not doing the show, but I feel kind-of like I'm missing something....

So, I call a sale! 25% off everything in my etsy shop except gift certificates for the length of the B&B show.  (I think that is through Sunday)

 I will be adding new work all this weekend so...Stock up now, because I will be transitioning over to building my show stock again since I need to be getting ready for BEAD FEST PHILLY in August. (that means less new inventory going in the etsy shop)

Where did you get that? Pendant

I am also going to have a "PASS IT ON" giveaway.....So, help me spread the word about my 25% off sale and you will be entered top win a $25 Artisan Clay Gift Certificate.  I will choose the random winner on Monday.
Gift Certificates are good in my Etsy shop, My Artisanclay.com site and in person at shows.

Aqua and Black Pendant

So this is a "pass it on" giveaway.  That means that for every time you spread the word about my 25% off sale, you are entered for another chance to win the $25 Artisan Clay gift certificate! 

You can Blog about the sale, share it on Facebook, Tweet about it.... ect.   You can do each of these things once a day.  Leave a comment for each time you "pass it on"

You can also have a chance to win just by being a follower of this blog.    Just leave me a comment and say, Hi there!

Fun and Summery

Today I have been working to get some new jewelry inventory made for a local seller.  

I have 2 necklaces in this style and I have been wearing them almost non-stop.   So-----Fun and summery won!

What are you up to on this fine Monday?

I've got mail!

I received my package of Humblebeads from Heather Powers last week!

Oh Boy!  I lucked out big time! 

What a gorgeous pile of beads!  I have no idea how to start.  Usually I am a fan of the mental sketchbook....you know look at beads, day dream for a week about possible connection points, pull out all possible findings and whip it together.  I don't think that approach is going to cut it this time.  There are just too many beads and too many possibilities!  I am going to have to actually take out a piece of paper.  GASP!    Ha!  Whenever I grab the sketchbook I am reminded of why I never thought I could get anywhere as an artist when I was a youngster. 

How could a person make art when they can't draw worth a darn?  

A ha! The mental sketchbook was born.  I discovered that my brain makes it's own drawings... and I can follow them just as well as an actual drawing.  Sometimes I feel like an engineer.  I'm always working out a construction project, be it wearable or be it with wood and nails....  Laying on my pillow planning my next big project into the night. ;-)

On second thought, I think I may arrange the beads in different ways and photograph the options and pick out my favorites before I put it together.

What about you?  Do you sketch out your designs?   Do you have a design method???  A plan of action?

PS--I blogged about the bead soup blog party on the beads of clay blog today.  What's in the soup?--http://beads-of-clay.blogspot.com/2010/05/whats-in-soup.html