It's Wednesday already???? WOW!

I have been terrible about blogging lately. Mostly because I'm trying to adjust to my new schedule and I haven't got a rhythm yet...when to "computer," when to design, when to make beads, when to play with new ideas, etc. I'm working on it, but it's going to take a little while to find the right balance for things.

But there are other reasons as well. There is a lot of stuff I'm dying to talk about, but I don't know how to phrase it all in a way that is for general public consumption. I have no idea if that makes sense to anyone but me (maybe it does to a few of you). For some reason(s), I'm being self-conscious again about my blog. I feel like if I talk about designs before they actually happen, people expect them all to come to fruition. Maybe they don't.... but I was feeling sort of pressured by it.

I've always used my blog as a way of talking to my customers/friends as well as hammering out ideas for myself... but I'm not feeling as open about things right now. Add to that the number of people who are reading who are not beady at all, it makes me think "how do I explain this in a way that makes sense to non artist people?" and I find myself over-editing. (and at this point some of ya'll are saying, "wait!?? what??? she EDITS??!!! My WORD what sort of hot mess is this blog before she does that??!!!")

But I do see who logs onto the blog and recognize that some are friends and some are not, that some of you are fellow artists, some are customers and some of you, I have NO clue who you are or why you're here (but you are looking for Sandra Bullock quotes or parts for swimming pools or recipes for smoothies or blue journals from Barnes and Noble or some sort of bizarre dessert served at Kroger), but I "see" you logging on regularly from your various servers and cities, which tells me that my audience is a bit broader and consistent than it used to be.... which makes me think differently about things I say.

I thought about the Pioneer Woman's blog (which I love)... that she probably started off writing not having any clue that she'd have TONS of anonymous viewers every day... and that when she thinks about who is reading, how does she feel? Does she feel like everyone reading is a supporter of her? Or does she wonder if people are competitors trying to hone in on her ideas (I'm thinking not)? Or think about her neighbor down the road who is just too nosy and wonder if she is reading too? I wasn't sure, but for some reason I'm thinking that I'm taking things a little more personally than she does.

Then I thought about my friend Regan's blog. She's a writer who aspires to being published. I think the people who read her blog are cheering her on like I am... but wondered if there are other writers who read it and think "oooh I would do that differently" or "ooooh! that's a great idea, I'm taking it!!!" (not trying to make you paranoid Regan!!!) and thought that it might be the case for mine.... and then I got self conscious again.

It does bug me a bit... the thought that not EVERYONE who reads the blog likes me or reads with a positive view of me and my work, BUT I think my hesitation lately is primarily about the art...and feeling vulnerable about it... too vulnerable to be so open here. I'm doing a lot of transitioning artistically and it involves a lot of things that are new and different.... The perfectionist in me is not ready to say "oooh! look at what I'm doing" when I don't completely know what I'm doing. I don't want to give the nay-sayers any more amunition than they already have. Does that make any sense? Probably not.

I just found myself with a WHOLE lot I wanted to say on Monday... about artistic growth and transitions and how ideas form and flow and how it effects me personally and I decided not to post any of it at all. And then that bugged me.... that I'm not saying things that I normally would have simply because I'm unsure of the support I have from my "audience". I never felt like that before when I blogged in the past.

SO.... today I'm going to end with this. If you are reading this and on my team, I probably need some cheerleading through these transitions. It's scary to make changes. When I moved from being ONLY glass to doing bead-weaving projects, the first times out there were scary. I feel a bit the same, only on a bigger scale. I think that the things that are brewing could be BIG for me.... it's just a bit of a leap.

My ex husband used to tell me that I had a good instinct for when it was time to change artistically... that I was usually ahead of the trends and he'd remind me of the various times it had happened. I really appreciate that he said that. It gave me confidence to try new things back then... even if they didn't all come to fruition. I DO have a gift for knowing when it's time for transition.... it's just scary all the same.

So... the conclusion is.... there is no conclusion. I'm trying to figure out where my work is going... where my life is going... how to balance everything... how to know which ideas to follow up on and which to abandon or put on a back burner... and how to support a family doing what I'm good at and what I love. Scary stuff... heavy stuff.... blog-worthy stuff???

And re-reading this post I see that it falls into the category of long meandering blah blah blah from me that should probably be edited... but it's my blog and I'll be a hot mess if I want to. :)


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee today? oh yeah.... Cinnamon Dolce Latte and I could probably use a 2nd one!

music - nope. I really wish I knew where that lost ipod was. :(

I haven't felt like blogging much lately and I don't really feel like it today either.

(but I thought you were probably dying to know where I was.)

:)

Atlanta's flood... the very terrible destruction and a very needed smile.


I talked a little Monday about the terrible rains and floods we've had here in Atlanta. I've been lucky and not sustained any real damage from the HUGE amount of rainfall we had Friday through Monday. Others have not been so lucky.

One of our own Southern Flames, Atlanta glass beadmakers, Diane Kovach has been hit in a devastating way. Her studio is a basement one and was flooded with over 2 feet of water, completely submerging her workspace, supplies and equipment. I can't even begin to imagine what she's going through. My prayers are with her AND I'm giving a Sylviebeads "shout-out" to any of you who can help. She teaches from this studio, so besides having to replace equipment, furniture and supplies, not covered by insurance, she will also be losing livelihood by not being able to work or teach in this space.

PLEASE consider giving something to Diane to help out. I don't know of an official fund, and I haven't asked her about this, but I'm thinking that if we go to PayPal and send money to her paypal account then she'll get the funds as quickly as possible.

Her e-mail address that you would use for "send money to" is

diane@dkdesigns.biz

Make sure to note that this is NOT a purchase (it asks that... purchase or personal) and choose "gift" as the option. Hopefully this will avoid any service charges paypal might subtract from the funds given to her.

I think that this will be the fastest way for her to get donations and HOPEFULLY she is ok with me posting this.

I don't know many of you who read my blog and I know that you don't know Diane AND I don't usually ask for things (unless it's something silly like having people from Delaware read my blog), but this is important. Consider it a "paid" read today and give Diane some much needed assistance.

Ok... that was definitely the serious side of my blog today. This is the silly. Even in bad times, we need to find something to laugh at and someone in Atlanta did just that with this image. Thanks Regan for sharing it with me!!!


Stay dry my Atlanta friends. I'm afraid we're not through with this yet.

Off to make kits....


tiny blah blah blah

chick fil a sweet tea instead of coffee today
d
music - listening to Jane Austen's Persuasion

It's Tuesday and it's sunny outside. AMAZING! We haven't seen the sun in so long that I'd almost forgotten what it looked like! SOOOOOOO glad to have a break from the rain... even though it's coming back.

I'm re-grouping after the beadshow and trying to get things together for future shows and for online sales. My calendar is starting to fill, which is exciting, but a bit nerve-racking at the same time. How to fit everything involved into my schedule.... but I've done it before, so I need to just keep reminding myself of that.

I had SUCH a good time at the beadshow.... talking to customers, re-connecting with other vendors who I hadn't seen in a while (hi Tara!!!)

I had a great response to the beading retreats and need to get to work right away planning some. If you are one of the people who said that you want to be an organizer, or had your own group of people that you wanted to invite... PLEASE let me know as soon as you can so that I can get something blocked off for you.

Ok... back to beading and kit making!!!

tiny blah blah blah

no coffee today

no music either (and I need to remedy that right now!)

long long long rainy day.

I'm exhaustified after the weekend and today.

I need to come journal about the beadshow, but after a day of mentally taxing jury duty, I'm making this short.

(I didn't get picked for the jury thankfully, but had to sit through over 6 hours of questioning of jurors for a particularly difficult case) I wasn't released until almost 5:30... got there at 8. LONG day.... then had to drive home in scary wet weather.

SO... bead show news tomorrow....

coffee - YES! I had CDL before heading off to be a juror

music - none.

It's Thursday.... THAT day of the week (but I'm not going to jinx it... too much going on today to risk saying the words that cause my Thursday to go wacko a lot of times)

I have a bead show this weekend... my first in Atlanta in a LONG LONG LONG time.... maybe even longer!

I'm trying to get all my stuff together and organized. I'm still sort of flying by the seat of my pants on shows... I just don't have all my display stuff the way I want it. The ISGB show was a quickie show that I just took a little bit of stuff to, so I didn't cart all the stuff that I would have to a show like Bead and Button.

Bead and Button, however, has a lot of the set-up stuff already in place... draped tables, backdrop ready to hang signs, decent lighting (still need table top lights, but the overheads are decent) and I know what to expect.

This show is a new one for me, one that I haven't even attended as a buyer (I did it at a different location in the past), so there are a lot of unknowns that I'm trying to prepare for. PLUS after doing the ISGB show, there are some things that need tweaking for table-top shows. LOTS to do today!!!

so I'll get to it!!!

Hope to see you there!!!!!

(and a note to whoever was googling "Sylviebead Ring" it's something in the future... not yet. You'll have to be patient. Not even sure how you knew about it in the first place!! Sneaky customers!!!!!!


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - Cinnamon Dolce Latte.... mmmmmmmm.

music - Adele. It's a grey day and it seems to fit. AND Taylor Swift... it's a grey day and I need a pick me up after Adele.

Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!


She's here!!!

At long last... may I present to you... for the first time.... the only time...

Head Over Heels for the Holidays

a limited edition kit
Isn't she fun???!!

She'll only be available until the end of November... then a new girl arrives to take her place.



I made some changes from the original Head Over Heels pattern. She has a pinafore, which I think gives her a bit of a nordic "I live in the North Pole" sort of look. Don't you agree?

Her Jester Hat is available in 3 colors... red (seen here), green (either lime or a true kelly green) and violet (like her shoes in this picture). She was SO fun to embellish!

I just LOVE how she turned out. Hope you love her too!!


off to finish photo-editing! Have a great day!!


tiny blah blah blah...

no coffee and no music. sorry.

I'm really late checking in, but I'm posting something so that my three readers have something to read tomorrow. :)

I had a great day in the studio. I made hollow beads for my Christmas ornament collection, as well as some of the beads for the Holiday Head Over Heels project.

I have to say that a good number of my beads today did NOT go as planned, but I feel like I got work done and that not everything is going to be perfect... right now it's just good to be producing.

I'm doing a bead show this weekend! More news on that to follow!!

ok... this was quick. I'll have much more to say tomorrow.


tiny blah blah blah...

no coffee today. I needed it though!

music - I've already forgotten what I listened to!!! Guess that is a side-effect of no coffee!

Happy Friday Bloggy Friends!!!

I'm soooooooo glad it's Friday! I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow! I need to catch up. I stayed up too late beading last night working on the tiny project, trying to make it less complicated....which is not proving successful YET. I WILL make it easier... it's just hard to make it ME without making it too complicated. I like complicated.

It looks super cute though!!! I think people will love it when they see it. It's something that I'll probably wear a lot...which I can't say about a lot of my pieces. I love designing them, but I don't wear them very often... this one is crazy eccentric, but it's not going to need to be dressed around. It's hard to wear Splish Splash with a t-shirt and jeans. This one will be fun and work with just about anything I wear on a day-to-day basis. Can't wait to finish and show you!!

This is a quickie post because I'm on my way to the Yellow Daisy Art Festival. I'm wandering and looking at booth displays to get some ideas for my own booth and my Dad's future booth (he's an artist too... and he's being forced into the world of shows by his very pushy daughter). Anyways... I've never had an outdoor setup and need to get some ideas and see what's involved.

Preparing for a rainy walk... it's awfully grey outside!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!!!

It's Wednesday again!! WOW! The last few weeks have been speeding by... seems like last week's Wednesday was just yesterday!! Holiday weeks always mess with my inner-calendar!

I have been busy creating and thinking about creating, as you could tell by yesterday's blog entry.

I've already been in the studio for a while this morning working on beads for some prototype projects.

I'm working on a really cute smaller project at the suggestion of my sister... thing is... I'm not real good at smaller projects and I see this one getting more complicated already. I'm going to have to scale back I'm afraid... but that loses some of the "cute factor" OR I'm going to have to ignore my sister's suggestions all together! (which I know better than to do... she's bossy AND I don't want to lose my personal assistant at Bead and Button where this project is headed!)

I also worked for a while on the winter edition of Head Over Heels. She's going to be SOOOOOOOOO fun! Can't wait! But first, I must photograph Holiday girl and get her posted to the website! I'm already over a week late!!!! (sorry Jane!!)

Today is lunch with my friend Marcy. I'm hoping that she'll help me sort through some of the other ideas that are whirling around in my brain. She's such a good one to bounce things off of!

off to lunch!!!!!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - not yet
music - only in my head and it's a really obnoxious song so I'm not going to say it here because it will get into your head too!

It's Tuesday (which is actually the Monday of this week since we had yesterday off) so I'm back blogging.

I have SO many things to talk about that I don't even know where to start... so I'll just throw out random snippets of what I'm thinking about and then get back to work!

• art quilts
• art dolls
• beading retreats
• Queen of Hearts project
• Her Hidden Treasure project
• What to name the ring project
• Head Over Heels for the Holidays
  
• art show applications
• bead show applications
• beading retreats (I'm thinking about this one a lot, so it's getting mentioned twice)
• cowboy boots (ok... that has nothing to do with beading, but I DO want a pair... and probably it's just a wish list item, but I figure if I'm thinking about it, I should include it in my list here) :)
• beaded rings
• chandeliers
• ornaments
• jurying into shows
• show displays
  
• missing bead (I stuck a bead in my pocket and now I can't find it! It's around somewhere but I hate that I can't find it right now when I need it!)
• WORLD DOMINATION!!! (thanks Laura!!)
  

See? LOTS to think about! Going back to work on a project I can actually finish (i'll keep ruminating on the other things while I work!!!)

tiny blah blah blah...

no coffee. no music. boring.

Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the Holiday Head Over Heels sample is complete. I'm making an addition to the pattern which tells how to make some of the details that make the original pattern more "holiday" (like Holly leaves and other embellishment tips). This weekend I'm taking pictures of her and getting kits together. HOPEFULLY I'll have them online and ready to go by the end of next week... which means the Halloween kits will be saying adieu at the same time.

I'm glad I made mine and get to keep it!!! I really like the Halloween girl!!!

And now that the Holiday girl is complete, I can get started on the other 2 limited edition kits I need to get made up... a special limited edition for Bead and Button 2010 and the winter HOH kit...which I'll talk about as we get closer to its premiere (but it's going to be really really cute)

Next on the agenda is shows and classes... must book a tight schedule. MUST.... but it's a little overwhelming finding all the shows again, picking which one to do...knowing if I should be trying for retail art/craft shows or sticking with bead shows... very confuzzling.

baby steps.

time to run. Must deal with car stuff.... ick.

tiny blah blah blah...

chick fil a tea instead of coffee.

music - watching Flight of the Conchords videos while I work. (love the Hiphoppopotamous... I know I spelled that wrong)

Happy September my friends!!!!

We made it through August and we're one step closer to fall. I'm ready for fall!!! I luuuuuv spring and like summer (mostly because I love the pool), but fall is 2nd in line to Spring as my favorite season. And it sort of feels like fall outside today. YAY!!!!!

I'm dying to make fall things... fall-inspired things. The colors of fall are SO fun to work with...so rich and yummy... BUT I have to finish my holiday piece today... no fall until she's done!!!

I spent most of yesterday doing "reverse-peyote" a stitch I'm really good at. I have named it that because it makes it sound MUCH more productive than "tearing every single stitch out that I did the day before" See what I mean??? (I know that you non-beady people have no clue what I'm talking about, so just zone out and I'll tell you when to wake back up.) I HATE doing really repetitive beading... tubular peyote. Bores me to tears. I know some people love it, but it's not something I enjoy AT ALL. I want increases or decreases or SOMETHING to pay attention to...not row after row of the same thing.

And what did I have to re-do???? ALL of the plain tubular peyote of the Holiday piece. I used a neutral color of thread in the skirt because it matched better and when I got to the white part of the bodice I thought "it's light enough...it will work just fine" and it did look "fine" but it didn't look WOW when I finished... so I did one of the sleeves with white thread and it was "wow" white...so I decided to rip out the bodice and do it again. Much better.... but it put me behind schedule.

(ok... you people snoozing can wake back up again)

I think it will take me another day to finish the sample and then I can take pictures tomorrow and have the pieces ready to sell by this weekend. YAY!!!!! Plenty of time for people to make them before Christmas.

In other news... I'm on hold with my car purchase indefinitely. My van is getting a 2nd opinion. Door after door kept closing as I tried to buy a car. Deals that were about to go through didn't, cars sold before I got to them, my title got lost in fedex land the week before cash for clunkers ended, cars didn't pass inspection... the list goes on and on. Upon really thinking about it, I decided that doors were closing for a reason. I'm not supposed to be buying a car right now.... so the only other option is to fix the van I'm driving. VERY COSTLY, but hopefully this other mechanic will find a way to make it not soooooooo scary. We'll see.

At least it frees my brain up from car stuff for a few days.

Frees it up for creative things... which I need to get busy doing!

Have a great week everyone!!!



tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - CDL bought by my generous dad. (thanks Dad! I know you don't read this, but thank you!)
music - nope. Maybe DVDs later.