Dear Richard,

You are such a good baby! Within the past week, I have taken you to an Art Center meeting (slept the entire time). My doctor's appointment (slept the whole time). We had family visit for the weekend and you were quite enjoyed. I was reluctant to try to take you to the Cars 2 movie that our nieces wanted to see but again, you slept the entire time. The next day, we went to the zoo and guess what? You slept through most of it. When you were awake, you were all smiles. You drank your bottle while peacocks wandered around you (they like to hang out around the restaurant for bits of food).
I got the best picture of a peacock that I have ever gotten! I still can't believe it! He was showing off for one of the females.

I am so glad that you like to go places and I hope it continues. Do you want to go for a walk today? How about Michael's?

Love,
Mom

Inspiration from Bead & Button

Real quick post here...... These 3 pieces were made with new findings from Bead & Button! They are listed in my Etsy shop. Sometimes, it takes getting some new things to kick start the inspiration! It's always exciting to work with new things!

Cleaning out my closet....

.... my jewelry closet that is. My clothes closet will be next. It seems a lot of designers are in the mood to clean house right now. These pieces are from my personal collection, but weren't seeing much action being worn, so I am deciding to sell them. They are all listed in my Etsy shop now, so head on over and see if there is something you can't live without. Many great bead makers are represented: Green Girl Studios, Jade Scott, Anne Choi, Diane Hawkey and Doreen Wiley.

Happy Father's Day!

Today is Jon's first Father's Day and to celebrate, I made him the above key chain. It's for his Camaro, which is orange. He bought the car right before we got married, and he intends to keep it forever. Orange Crush has come up a lot over the years when we refer to the car, so I found these beads at B & B at the Glass Garden Beads booth. I hope he likes it!

Do you remember?

Do you remember - probably about 10 years ago - pottery shard pendants were quite the trend. Any fashion magazine you flipped through, you would see them or some celebrity wearing one. They were on back order at Fire Mountain Gems forever and if you tried to snag one on eBay, you'd pay a pretty penny. I just loved them and it didn't matter to me that they were a trend. It was one of those things that I was still going to wear long after it went out. I loved the colors and patterns and the idea that a piece of a unique object was being used in jewelry. I eventually got my order from Fire Mountain Gems - above are a few that I have left.

A few weeks ago, while paging through a new Fire Mountain Gems catalog I received, I saw that they now made links! I still like this concept (the pottery pieces) and decided to order some. I immediately thought of making a bracelet with them - that's another thing I love, a collection of the same things. Below is the result and it's now listed in my Etsy shop!

Friday's Peacock Find

So while at Bead & Button, Lorelei and I were chatting with Andrew Thornton at the Green Girl Studio booth and all of a sudden, Lorelei pulled my attention to a cute gal walking up the aisle in a peacock dress! Andrew knew her and introduced us - if I recall correctly her name was Shelly (Sassy Shelly as Andrew called her). I asked her about her dress and she told me the website she got it on: Soul Flower. As soon as I got back to my parents house, I looked it up and placed an order! Lucky for me I was conservative with my bead shopping this year. The website is full of cute clothes - check it out! According to the shipping status, my dress will arrive today. I can't wait to try it on and see how much I love it!

BTW (bead table wednesday): B & B Edition (bead & button edition)

I figured since it was Bead Table Wednesday, what better way to show off my stash from Bead & Button. Actually, it's the first time I've been able to unpack everything and load some pictures. Oh, and I've forgotten the password for my flickr account so I need to deal with that. Crap! Do you ever feel like you have so many sign-on's and password that you often draw a blank? I mean, they can't all be the same (due to trying to protect your identity). There are those for email, blogger, facebook, paying bills, ordering online, programs at work (the ones that are always forcing you to change every month even)!

I had a great time at B & B, as usual. Here are my goodies from Green Girl Studios, Andrew Thornton, Humblebeads, Glass Garden Beads, Joanne Zekowski, Lisa Peters, Golum Studio, Pam Wynn, Vintaj, Diane Hawkey, Earthenwood. Oddly enough, I didn't buy any strands of beads or stones this year except for the ancient roman glass - I'd been wanting some of that for some time now.
Lorelei Eurto was my shopping buddy, and it was the first time we met in person after being online friends for several years. I was so glad she was able to make it to her first B & B show! I hope it will be an annual trip for her!

The lovely Melanie of Earthenwood Studio. I really want to make it over to the Detroit area where she is going to be a vendor at the Rustbelt Market most all of this summer!

Unfortunately, those are the only "people" pictures I captured. I am so bad at taking pictures, especially when there are so many beads to look at and people to talk to! Baby Richard attended the show this year with me. I was lucky to have my Mom, Sister-in-Law, and Nephew there to help watch after him while I shopped. I felt bad that not a lot of people got to see him (or even hold him) but he is so good at being peaceful in his carrier that I don't dare to disturb him. I'm sure next year he will be more interactive!

"Oh my! I've just spotted some strands at 50% off!"

"Let's go Mom - I am soooo tired!"

Sale Reminder

Hey everyone - just wanted to give a quick reminder about the sale going on to celebrate my upcoming weekend at Bead & Button. Thank you to those who have made purchases - not only do I appreciate your support, but Richard and I enjoy our outings to the post office! And then we usually stop at Starbucks which is right across from where my co-workers/friends are spending their days and we will ring them up for a little visit!

Here are the links for the other sales again:

Erin Prais-Hintz (30% off June 6th - 12th)
Andrew Thornton (20% off June 6th - 10th)
Heather Trudeau (40% off)
Lorelei Eurto (35% off June 6th - 10th)


And I guess I realized that I didn't put a date on the end of my sale so here goes: my sale will end on the 12th which is the last day of B & B. Please note that any purchases made during that time will be shipped out when I return home. I am really looking forward to the show, but also wonder how different it will be for me to have Richard there with me (getting him started early on learning about beads). I am super excited to meet Lorelei in person and shop with her!

If you're going to the show, see you soon!

Bead & Button Show Sale! UPDATED to add another shop!

This coming weekend, I will be making my annual trek to Wisconsin for the Bead & Button Show. This year is a little different though, as I have a new little shopper to tow with me! I am excited for him to meet family and friends over there. And I am excited to catch up with some of my favorite beading peers at the show.

Therefore, I've teamed up with a few fellow show goers to have a sale in my shop in hopes to have some extra spending money at the show. Use coupon code bbs2011 to get 40% in my Etsy shop. I apologize that I don't have anything new and exciting in there, but there are plenty of pieces that need good homes. Take a look at my fellow bloggers as well to see what kind of sales they have going on in their shops!

Lorelei Eurto

Andrew Thornton

Erin Prais-Hintz