Wow only six months since my last post, I am getting better! HA! If anyone is still reading my sad little blog…and trust me I don’t blame you if you are not…Thank You!

I have a few shows coming up this Summer/Fall and need to let everyone know!

I will be having an Artist Reception at the Fire and Water Art Gallery in Lowell MI on August 5th from 4 to 7pm. Come in and join me for snacks and refreshments while surrounded by some truly spectacular art!

October is going to be a busy month! Back to back shows on the 9th and 15th. Sunday October 9th is the Bead Bonanza in Southfiled MI, the following Saturday is the West Michigan Bead Expo here in good ol’ Grand Rapids, MI. There will be TONS of great beads and other great jewelry making supplies at both shows. If you get a chance to go please stop by my booth and say Hi!

It’s another big Bead Soup reveal day! This one kind of snuck up on me, but I managed to pull it off. My partner for this edition of Bead Soup was Wendy Blum of Sand & Sea Designs. She sent me the most wonderful mix of beads. Rich earthy colors that I just love. I think I have at LEAST three sweaters in my closet that this new necklace will look fabulous with. I can’t wait to wear it out.

Thanks to Lori Anderson for setting up yet another fun blog party, and thanks to everyone who stops by for participating in this great event! Don’t forget to scroooooooolllllll way down to get to everyones blog on the list

My little beads now have a new home at the Fire and Water Art Gallery in Lowell. It is a lovely gallery featuring 25 local artists working in every medium imaginable. There are paintings, photography, sculpture, jewelry, textiles…you name it! The gallery is literally full from floor to ceiling of cool things to look at and interact with.

I will be working at the gallery a couple Saturdays a month as part of my artist contract. My first day was this past Saturday and what fun it was. I have been working in a cube with computer nerds for the past 12 years so it was nice to be able to chat with all kinds of people about all kinds of art. I will be there again this Saturday learning the day to day stuff and showing off more beads.

I am really looking forward to getting more involved with the artistic community of our little town and learning about different mediums. Who knows, I might just take up painting…..

Here’s a picture of my display. I took it with my iPhone so it’s not the best. I will bring the big camera this weekend and get a better shot.

 

 

 

 

 

I finally got around to photographing the AWESOME bead soup ingredients that Wendy Blum of Sand & Sea Designs sent. I am in love with the colors she sent. She definitely sent enough stuff for me to make two pieces. Thanks Wendy!

 

 

It is time once again for the Bead Soup Blog Party!

For this party I have been paired with Wendy Blum of Sand & Sea Designs. I will be sending her some glassy ingredients real soon.

Check out the results from the first and second parties.

I imagine that the dude in the crows nest of the Titanic looked down at that iceburg and thought “Holy $hit! That’s alot of ice!” …I think I know how he feels! I have been working furiously over the past month (plus) to put together enough stock for my upcoming show at Bead Quest. Considering I am working a full time job and only making beads at night, I think I have a pretty respectable inventory. Every time I look over at my stash I think “Holy $hit! That’s alot of beads!

Here’s the tip of the BEADburg. These two remind me of Belly Dancers so I named them accordingly!

…and here is what lies just beneath the surface…

I do, I am not lying! Not only do I sell on Etsy but I also try and shop on Etsy whenever I can.

I have some good friends that are expecting their first child in the next month or so and I wanted to give them something crafty and handmade. Unfortunately, beads do NOT make good baby gifts. I made several attempts at little bear shaped beads and I even tried to make a picture frame but nothing was coming out the way I really wanted it to.  Soooo I decided to do an Etsy search. If it wasn’t handmade by me at least it would be handmade by SOMEONE right??? Well I didn’t have to search long before I found the MOST ADORABLE little baby gift baskets at The Red Pistachio.

I don’t think my friends read my blog but if they do…Pep and Sarah check this out, this is what you are getting!

If you hadn’t noticed, I am in the process of doing a complete overhall of my blog! I hope you like the new look and feel of the site. I will be adding some new shopping features to sell my tutorials. No I am not leaving Etsy. I love the Etsy community and you cannot beat the selling features and exposure that site brings.

Please bear with me as I go through this transformation, I truly think that you will like the results!

A couple months ago I had my first ever Spring Designer Challenge. I gave away some great beads sets for first second and third place. I only had three entries so everyone who entered got a prize, how cool is that!

During the process I also learned that not everyone has the competitive spirit that I do, and some people are just not comfortable with putting their work out there for others to scrutinize. I’m cool with that, but here is a little food for thought…maybe you are not comfortable showing your work, maybe you are worried that someone will steal your ideas or maybe you are just plain shy. However, if you ever plan to sell your work to more than just your friends and family, you need to get over that and work the Internet! It’s FREE, anyone can use it, but it will only work if you work IT. Every time someone mentions your name or posts a link to your site that’s a little bit of free search engine love. But, you have to get out there and bring in the links they will not come to you. That is really what my challenge was designed to do. To give other artists a chance to advertise themselves on my blog as well as getting a little attention for my own beads.

The following is some FREE advertising!!!!

Kim Forrer of Kim Forrer Designs won first place in the challenge! She just recently sent me pictures of the pieces she made with the beads that she won. They are just spectacular. I really love seeing what others have done with my beads. I don’t consider myself much of a jewelry designer so it’s really exciting to see my beads used in new and interesting ways that I would never have thought of!

This is the set of beads that Kim won:

and here is what she made with them:

Thanks Kim, for sharing those images with me!

Well today is my day for the BIG BEAD SOUP REVEAL! Ta DAAAA! My Bead Soup partner was Tari Kahrs of Pearl and Pebble and she sent me the most wonderful mix of ingredients. The color theme of the ingredients was predominantly green. Green is not a color I normally work with so the challenge was on. I just had to get some orange in there somewhere, so I decided to try using copper wire instead of my usual silver and I just fell in love. Throw in some large carnelian rounds and the color combo is just to die for, if I do say so myself. Tari sent a couple different pieces that could be used as a focal so I picked the one that I thought best fit the color theme of the necklace. I have a bracelet and some earrings in the works with the rest of my ingredients but I just didn’t get time to finish them up before we went on vacation. You can read all about that on our New Lassini Light Works Blog.

Well I won’t hold you in suspense any longer….