I know I'm far far behind in my blogging. (sorry Laura) ;)

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday out of town with my family... and now I'm back in the studio working my tail off to get ready for the Decatur Holiday Marketplace show this weekend.

I haven't done a "finished" show in a LONG time (like 2000... maybe?). By "finished" I mean... not a beadshow. A show where people can walk away with something that is FINISHED... a wearable or useable item... not just a bead. So this will be the first of this type of show for me in a long time.... and I'm a bit nervous for several reasons.

I'll blog more about that tomorrow. I'm exhaustified!!!


tiny blah blah blah...

we're way past coffee time, but I did enjoy a starbucks CDL today

music - it was Christmas Christmas Christmas in the studio today!

Bead Show!!!!!

I'm headed, in a few minutes to the Down The Street Bead Show in Marietta, GA.

I have WAY less inventory than I'd like to have, but I'm not going empty handed. Taking an unplanned week off sort of messed up my groove, but such is life. God was teaching me to BE STILL I guess. A hard lesson to learn... and I know I'm not there yet.

But, today is the show. After a stop at Starbucks, I'll be on my way to make a lime-green and white girly girl table which today will probably be more fluff than substance... but I could possibly find that I have more inventory than I really think I do. I think all people who do shows NEVER think they have enough inventory.

SO... what did I do while I sat still??? I worked on the next retreat...that's what! I found the perfect venue for my Detroit-area girls. It's actually in Toledo, Ohio, but it's only an hour-ish drive from Detroit AND will make it not too bad of a drive for anyone in the Chicago area...not to mention Ohio!

And without further fa-la-la, here is the first look at the retreat info. The image and full information for this project is forth-coming, but this will be the BIG project of the year... the one that launches at Bead and Button. I've always tested my patterns with the bead-divas of Michigan and I'm hoping that they'll help me through this one as well.


Sylvie's Spring Dreams Bead Retreat. March 18-20, 2010. This class will be followed on Sunday by the Great Lakes Beadworker's Guild's Bead Bonanza, so if you are coming that direction and are NOT from Detroit... it might be worth it to stay an extra day for the show. It's a GREAT show for a local bead society!!!

I'll have more info on the retreat in a few weeks. Need to catch up with other stuff first!!


time to go!!!!


tiny blah blah blah...

on my way for coffee

clock radio music isn't really my thing, but Drivin' and Cryin' was just on.

Happy Friday world!!!!!

It's demo day!!!

Tomorrow is bead show day!!!!!!!!

lots to do between now and then.....


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - yes, but need more (but not before I demo!!!)

music - no, but need some!

Well.... so much for all the stuff on my plate that needs to get done this week.

I can't see.

I can SEE... but everything is blurry. I have a few days of it left and then the doctor says I should be fine by the weekend.

I have an eye infection in BOTH eyes, so things are very fuzzy. (luckily my computer lets me put the zoom on big enough for me to see what I'm typing here). Driving... not so much. Beading... HA! Beadmaking... not a chance.

SO, I'm sitting and thinking about what I would be making if I was making stuff.

phooey!


tiny blah blah blah....


coffee - oh how I wish!

music - nothing yet, but I need to find something!

Happy Tuesday world!!!


SO much to do in the next weeks...

1. prepare for bead show this weekend

2. prepare for art show the first week of December (knowing that for almost a week of that I'll be away from the studio for Thanksgiving vacation)

3. prepare for the New Year's Retreat

4. PLAN future retreats!!!!!


not much to do at all!!??!! aaaaaaaahhhhhhh! (I'm not quite panicking, but we could get to that point the first week of December)

Oh yeah... I forgot to squeeze Christmas in there!!!!! That too!!!

so back to work........


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - I'm on my way!

music - need it like I need some coffee! I'm about to cue-up Somebody to Love, the Glee edition

Happy Monday World!!!!!

I had an incredible weekend full of reminders of my purpose in life and reminders how loved I truly am. WOW.

I'm exhausted from the weekend, but have SO much to do today that this has to be quick, BUT I had to write and say that......

THE RETREAT IS FULL!!!!!!!!!!!


Can you believe it??!!! And it booked in a week??? CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!


So now I'm seriously looking at other venues.


and now i'm off to make beads!


tiny blah blah blah...

chick-fil a tea instead of coffee this morning (though I'm freezing and now questioning that decision)

music - Christmas Playlist on deck and ready to go!

Thursday!!! We're almost there folks!!!!

And what am I talking about today?? retreat, retreats, retreats...

I received an email yesterday from one of the women who is coming from Florida to the New Year's Bead Retreat. She's super excited (and so am I!!) and took the info to her bead society meeting. While she was there THREE people told her they want to ride up with her for the retreat. At the time I received that e-mail, I only had 4 spots open, so if they really DO register then I'll be down to ONE spot. I'm totally amazed. I officially announced it on November 3rd, sent out an email to my customer list on November 5th and here we are on November 12th with it 70% officially booked in 7 days and these 3 others would put me at 90%! WOWZA.

What I've learned from this... I'm on the right track. We love going away for a weekend and really getting to concentrate on a workshop. We love the camaraderie of being with a group of people who love what we love... and we're all still teenage girls at heart who love a good slumber party! (and cake... my son keeps saying that cake is what sold it... the fact that I mentioned we'd be having cake) :)

So, having learned that I'm on the right track, I'm researching places QUICKLY because the venues that work best for this book FAST. None of them are beady places, but they work for our purpose... problem is the scrap-booky/quilty people who they are also perfect for already KNOW these secrets and book them a year in advance. I've got feelers out and I'm scouting places, but I'm going to have to act pretty fast and get a calendar firmed up for 2010 in the next few weeks or I'll lose my possible venues.

Currently I'm looking at.... Michigan (small town outside of Detroit OR Toledo Ohio...also close to Detroit), Wisconsin (for pre or post Bead and Button classes?), New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas (either Galveston OR a tiny town off the beaten path but driveable from Houston or Dallas), Oregon (south of Portland), Tennessee (East of Nashville), Colorado and Southern California. Not many choices there huh???

I wouldn't be picking all of these probably just a few. They are all just possibilities at this point....and it's a little overwhelming! I'm really going to need to hear back from prospective students to know for sure where I should aim. I WANT to find a venue in New England and Florida and maybe central to northern CA. Who knows!!!

AND I think I might have one other trick up my sleeve for the New Year's retreat. I'm not making it any larger, but I might have one fun surprise to talk about in a future blog entry (and newsletter).

ok... time to get moving on getting non-bloggy stuff done! Have a great weekend ya'll. I'm not blogging again till Monday. Too much to do!

tiny blah blah blah...

no coffee - Dr. Pepper instead.

music - I've got Pearl Jam's "The Fixer" stuck in my head... need to play some other music fast or that's going to be "playing" all day long!!!!

It's Wednesday!!!!!

And it's SUPPOSED to stop raining this afternoon... PLEASE let it stop raining! I'm sooooo tired of being cold and wet! It rained for the last 30 (?) hours... and it wasn't just sprinkling most of the time... it was RAINING... ugh. It looks like it's stopped now, but it's still grey. I'm HOPING for some sunshine to get me motivated to...

go to the post office. It's shipping day for Sylviebeads!!! (woo hoo!!!) Not woo hoo for me... I hate that part of things and I really miss having an assistant to do that for me, BUT it's a good thing that I have orders that need to be shipped and I hope that my customers will be saying "woo hoo" when they open their packages!

And yes... I know that today is a postal holiday, but I figure, there won't be any lines at the automated machine and I'd rather get in and get it DONE than wait till tomorrow. I've got a lot on my plate tomorrow anyways.


I've been working on my website a lot. A lot of it is behind the scenes work, but it's taking a LONG time to get it all sorted and together. There are still a LOT of things that need to be fixed or added, but I'm getting there.

At the same time, I'm writing patterns and making samples and making beads for upcoming shows. Can you say BUSY?????? Can you say "NEED AN ASSISTANT?" (I know you can!!... said in my best Mr. Rogers voice) Anyhoo... I don't have an assistant right now and it will take quite a while before I'm back to the point where I can have one... but I'm GOING to get to that point.

Things are going really well and I feel the momentum start to build... which is truly exciting! I have a great life!


so... back to work! Lots to do!!!


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - oh yeah... it was definitely a cinnamon dolce morning! Even if I had to get out in the rain to have one!!

music - Taylor Swift. Love that girl!

Good afternoon bloggy friends!

So.....My mom informed me that no one really cares about my Girls Gone Mild Christmas party (she didn't really say it THAT way, but I understood what she meant) and that it doesn't look like THAT big of a deal because there are only 4 of us going. She has nooooo clue how much fun we have that night and what a BIG deal it really is, BUT I can understand that you all might not be as interested in it as I am... but again, it's my blog and I felt like celebrating the fact that the party date is getting closer.

back to talking about beady things....

The retreat is getting closer to booked by the day! I have FOUR spaces remaining!!!

Which made me get excited and start singing this song in my head...



I can't help it. I'm a child of the Sesame Street generation. I hear a number and I think "Four, Four, Four, Four... Let's sing a song of Four!"

So... FOUR of you need to get your registrations in FAST. I've had WAY more than 4 people emailing me, so people who are on the fence need to move before someone gets your spot!

For those of you who weren't into driving cross-country for a retreat... tell me you want one in your area and I'll see what I can do! I'm looking into possible venues in other states (Michigan and Texas to name a couple), so I'd love to hear from you!


I'm working on another ring sample tonight. More muted colors to show how different the project can look from one color to the next. I'm going to have the kits in 6 different color palettes. This will be one of them.

happy Tuesday everyone!!


tiny blah blah blah...

no coffee today... too rainy to go inside, so I did Chick-fil-a drive thru instead! (it's REALLY rainy here today)

music - just the sesame street song! :)

WARNING... this post has nothing to do with beads or art...

It is in direct conflict with what I've said lately that I'm not talking about life stuff...

I lied. (but I can do that since it's my blog)


I was too busy to really blog today, so this is simply an announcement for all of you who wonder about such things...

How long is it till the Girls Gone Mild Christmas Party you ask???
(see? I KNEW you wanted to know!!!)

It is 39 days till the party!!!!!

We were together this weekend making pre-party plans... and I can't WAIT!


So... the countdown has officially begun.... and can I say one more time how absolutely lucky I am to have these 3 friends???? Love you guys!!!!!


tomorrow we'll be back to our previously scheduled bead programming....

Happy Saturday World!!!

I don't usually post on Saturday, but I forgot to post what I needed to yesterday... so here it is!

This week for the first time since 2006 the Sylviebead News was e-mailed. I am almost certain that if you are reading this you are on my email list, but just in case... if you're NOT on the list and hope to be receiving the newsletter, please click below and sign up.

Sign up for the e-mail list by clicking here

If you missed the news... here's a link (not quite as pretty as the newsletter was in e-mail form, but it works just the same)

Click here for The Sylviebead News

Ok... that's it. Back to your regularly scheduled Saturday activities!!!


tiny blah blah blah...

oh no you don't!!! I'm not telling you what I do on my day off! We've covered that before!!! I've got to keep my private life private!!!

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is an early blog entry for Friday, but I couldn't wait another moment because we have now reached VERIFIED per Google Analytics....

TOTAL U.S. Blogosphere Domination!!!! Woo hoo!!!

Those of you who follow the blog regularly know that I was looking for someone from every state to read the blog, so that it would fill in the little map on the Google site that tells me how many people read my blog, what they've googled, where they live etc. I would love world-domination (because doesn't everyone?), but know that I need to start closer to home, so I went for U.S. domination... wanting someone in each of the 50 states to read the blog.

I diligently "worked" promoting the blog and found readers from the elusive states like West Virginia and Vermont, but NO readers from Delaware came... the state stayed empty. My friend Laura emailed her friends in Delaware and got them to read the blog, and they told her they DID read it, but for some reason, their hits were not showing up on the Google Map and I didn't feel like I could say with PROOF that I had U.S. domination (ok... ya'll should be rolling your eyes and laughing at me by this point... it IS a silly thing, I know!)

Well today... low and behold... I log on to see who was visiting the blog and what do I see???

DELAWARE!!!!!!! It's filled in on the map!!!!!!! We had a reader from Delaware today!!!!

And HERE is what the map now looks like......
So what are we going to do tonight Pinky????





(Happy Birthday Mom!!!!! I love you!!!!)


tiny blah blah blah...

I can't tell you what I'm having for coffee on Friday because it's still Thursday! I'll have to update this tomorrow

Happy Thursday everyone!

And I AM happy... really happy. I love my life! I'm back to doing art for a job and I'm continuing to see that it's what I'm supposed to be doing... as I drove back from dropping kids off this morning I was thinking about jobs and this job of mine and it's a weird job for sure... but it pays bills just like any other job, so why should I feel guilty that I get to make cute things for a living??? (because I was feeling guilty about how happy my job is compared to others.... sounds silly huh?)

ANYWAYS... I love my job. It's a LOT of work right now, lining things up, setting things up, getting back into gear, so I'm not getting as much creative time (or as much sleep) as I'd like BUT I'd rather work over-time fielding emails from happy customers and spending time setting up classes than working overtime doing something not nearly as fun! (although I still see Starbucks as a possible backup plan should I need one!)

speaking of work... I need to get to it!

I sent out my first "Sylviebead News" email last night. It was a BIG mailling... my customer list had continued to grow over the years. I finally decided to use a mailing service so that it could field any of the returned email stuff, removing people from the list, etc. It has worked great so far! It was just scary to hit "send" knowing that I was making it REAL... that I was OFFICIALLY back in business (not that I wasn't before... I just hadn't told everyone!)


ok... this is getting long and I have stuff to do... flyers to print... beads to make...

Happy Thursday Everyone!


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee today is Dr. Pepper. I was in a different kind of mood this morning....some days just need a Dr. Pepper!

music - I'm about to put some on... Matt Nathanson is my music of choice today, so I did a Genius playlist on I-tunes and it pulled lots of similar stuff. I do that every once in a while to make a new mix... it finds songs that I didn't necessarily listen to, but had in my collection. Today I'm loving the song it picked from Joshua Radin "What if You" I hadn't ever paid a lot of attention to this song from the album. Beautiful!

If this were facebook, my status would say...

"Sylvie is FLOORED by the reaction to the retreat"

(retreat info here for anyone who missed the entry yesterday)


WOW. All I can say is WOW. I planned this as a Georgia thing... thinking that the local bead gals would love attending something close to home...that MAYBE I'd get someone from TN or NC. I wanted to do a test-run before I do other retreats around the country (because that is my goal). I had NO idea that people from all over the country would be talking about the event.... let alone making plans to attend.

This morning I'm feeling bad that I only have 13 spots!!!! I had a crazy dream the night before last that I was teaching and I showed up with only 12 kits for a class of 12 and there were last-minute registrants making the class over 20 people... 8 of them with no kit. I won't have that situation to worry about (because I SO would not under-pack kits for a class... I always ahve WAY more than needed), but I am a bit anxious that people who said prior to the announcement that they really wanted to attend won't sign up fast enough and the spaces will be filled before they get a chance to.

Wow... just wow.... that's all I can say. It IS going to be a blast, so I'm glad people see it that way and want to come cross-country to be a part of it.

tiny blah blah blah.... speechless blah blah blah...

coffee - Starbucks to celebrate - Cinnamon Dolce Latte

music - Christmas playlist ready for the studio! First Snow in Kokomo by Aretha Franklin... love that song!

Click Here for Retreat Details

TA DA!!!! The official announcement of the retreat!! I'm ready for registration!! A mailer will go out to my email list later today!! YAY!!!!


tiny blah blah blah...

time for coffee!!!!!

It's a BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.

Seriously, it's gorgeous in Atlanta today... makes it hard to be indoors (so I keep sneaking out for errands or picture-taking)

And speaking of "picture taking" at LONG LAST... here are the pictures I've been promising...

Head Over Heels Queen of Hearts

This is the project that has been torturing me for the last 2 weeks... stitching, un-stitching, re-stitching until I got her JUST the way I wanted her... and I did. I love this girl and I can't WAIT to teach her at the retreat!!! (and now that I finally have her finished and photographed, I can advertise the retreat!!) She won't be available for sale until late December, but I needed to have her ready to photograph and kit for the retreat. YAY!!! I'm really happy with her! (can you tell???)

I also photographed the You Are My Sunshine Ring! I will have it in several other colors, but here is the bright cheery one that I've been wearing which "makes me happy when skies are grey"

This is the first project I've ever designed specifically as a BEGINNER project. My sister suggested it when we were at Bead and Button and I really struggled with how to make a piece that would be easy to make, but still had the same whimsy-factor that my work has. I really think I did it with this one. It will be a very affordable kit AND it's super quick to make. This will be the other class that I teach at the retreat. It's lots of fun and students might even have time to make more than one ring if they choose to spend their evening beading time that way.

This project won't be for sale until late December... so if you are the person who searched for it (and I have no clue how you even KNEW about it... you psychic friend, you!) you'll still have to wait a bit. Sorry. :(

And THAT is what I've been up to today. Hope you're having a beautiful fall day wherever you are!!!


tiny blah blah blah....

coffee - one of my field trips out into the sunshine was to Starbucks. :)

music - not really.... wonder what's with that???